his father's son

Joseph got very upset today because he was not allowed to mop! If I only wanted to clean half as much as he does...

so big!

Joseph dressed himself (the shirt anyway) for the first time last night :) At 23 months he is measuring 35 1/2" and 34 lbs. I thought kids leveled off when they started walking, but he is still growing quickly. He was a square 32" x 32 lbs. when measured for the tux for his Aunt Tracia's wedding in March. Here is a serious pose from that fun event:

lions, bears and bunnies

Joseph's latest request for bedtime stories is "Roar, babo, hop hop." Luckily we do indeed have a book, a couple actually, that incorporate lions, bears and rabbits.

thirsty thursday

Double-fisting his ICE water.

tuna fish jones

Jude's sister Autumn was driving through town so we took the opportunity to meet her for lunch. We picked Jude up from work and enjoyed a picnic lunch downtown at the Lincoln Foundation summer concert series. The band this week was Tuna Fish Jones, a local blues/rock group that does a lot of covers. Joseph enjoyed the people watching, music and especially playing in the water running through the courtyard!

corn on the cob

Joseph decided that he had had enough cut corn and wanted to eat like everyone else!

memorial day weekend

Relaxing on a friend's porch in the hammock.

dictionary of Joseph

Although he still signs a lot, Joseph is had a linguistic explosion this week. He added bus, honey, boom, mommy, two, blue, and his first sentence to his repertoire, which has prompted me to sit down and record what his almost 23-month old self can say and sign:

Words
Bob
boom
bus
bye-bye
dad(dy)
day
down
happy
honey
hop(pity)
ice
Jesus
me
mine
mom(my)
nana
need
no
nun
papa
peace
pop
up
uh-oh
ten
that
this
two
Winnie (as in Pooh)
whoa
wow

Approximations
ammy (yummy)
babo (bear)
blu (blue-or the French pronunciation)
Neno (Nemo)
oww
sis-sis (sissors)
un-hunh (yes)
un-un (no)
wain (rain)
wice (rice)

Sounds
bird
cold
cow
dirty
drink
food
horse
hot
lion
liquid
motorcycle
Santa/snowmen
sheep
siren
snake
tractor
train

Signs
bath
bib
bird
brush teeth
book
bubbles
diaper
dog
down
flower
gentle
hat
help
hurt
jacket
keys
kisses
milk
more
no
pacifier
peace
please
pray
rabbit
run around
spider
sorry
thank you
tickle
up
water
wash hands

farmer's market fun

concupiscence

Joseph has begun to wage war with his tendency to sin. He will go to a drawer that he is not supposed to play in and tell himself without so much as a warning from me "No, no, no!" Sometimes this is accompanied by clapping, which I do to get his attention when he really is disobeying. Often there is arm flailing and other signs of distress, even tearful eyes and reddened cheeks. Other times he will put himself in time-out, with his hands against the wall, as if he is being frisked. He certainly gets his self-control and discipline from Jude and not from me.

Romans 7: 21-23

first three word sentence

"I need this."

The comment was directed at Jude's wallet! Although Joseph does not truly grasp the usefulness of money, he very much enjoys "feeding the lion" (his bobble-head lion bank) and roars whenever he sees money which could serve as potential "food".

may crowning

Flowers for Mary at our May Crowning celebration.

QUEEN OF THE MAY

Traditional 13th Century Catholic Hymn

Bring flowers of the fairest

Bring flowers of the rarest

From garden and woodland

And hillside and vale

Our full hearts are swelling

Our Glad voices telling

The praise of the loveliest

Rose of the vale

O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today

Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May

O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today

Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May

home improvement

We are back in town with some projects on our to-do list:

Jude painting the trim for Joseph's room.

Me working on the garage door.

Papa and Joseph planting the vegetable garden: onions, peppers, squash, zucchini, tomatoes and potatoes!

day 4 cont.: afternoon

Apparently I can only post four photos at once. Here is the rest of the day:

Pine cone races with Dad.

Fireman Joseph at the Nebraska City Fire Museum and Educational Center.

A truck from the oldest volunteer fire department in the state.

Our Lady of Lourdes...Pray for us!

family fun: day 4 arbor day farm

A morning swim at the Lied Lodge.

At the top of the 50' tree house at Arbor Day Farm.

Jude retrieving the hat Joseph threw off his head at the top of the tree house (after being warned to hold onto the hat since it was windy)!

Joseph loves tractors!

family fun: day 3 Nebraska City

A beautiful spring day with the cherry trees in bloom at Kimmel Orchard.

Jude and the Giant Cottonwood.

Prairie dog village at the Lewis & Clark Visitor Center.

Joseph with his favorite babo (bear) shirt and some real bear skins.

family fun: day 2 happy mother's day!

Mom & Me out to lunch

Joseph, Bob & I at Holmes Lake

Jude & Joseph on the dam

A family of geese on the lake

Blessing Prayer for Mother’s Day

God of Love,
listen to this prayer.
God of Holy People,
of Sarah, Ruth, and Rebekah;
God of holy Elizabeth, mother of John,
of Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus,
bend down Your ear to this request
and bless the mother of our family.
Bless her with the strength of Your spirit,
she who has taught her children how to stand and walk.
Bless her with the melody of Your love,
she who has shared how to speak, how to sing
and how to pray to You.
Bless her with a place at Your eternal dinner table,
she who has fed and nurtured
the life that was formed within her
while still helpless but embraced in her love.
Bless her today, now, in this lifetime,
with good things, with health.
Bless her with joy, love, laughter,
and pride in her child/children
and surround her with many good friends.
May she who carried life in her womb
be carried one day to Your divine embrace:
there, for all eternity, to rejoice with her family and friends.
This blessing and all grace, we pray,
descend upon the mother of our family:
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

from Prayers for the Domestic Church/A handbook for worship in the home by Edward Hays

monster cookies

This afternoon the rain kept us inside, so we had family nap time, read books, played Leap Frog's Memory Mate, where you match the Spanish and English word for various items in a game of Memory (Joseph almost won!) and made monster cookies :)

Monster Cookies
Yields 30 cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup raisins
1 11 ounce bag of peanut butter & milk chocolate morsels

1. Preaheat oven to 350 degrees and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, by hand or by mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat the mixture until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

4. Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or a large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

5. Place dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets by large spoonfuls (about 2 tablespoons each), leaving at least 2 inches between.

6. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Slide cookies (on parchment) onto cooling rack. Let cool, and store in airtight container.

family fun: day 1

Jude has been working a lot of long hours, so he decided to take the week off to spend time as a family. We considered traveling out of state since we still have 3 1/2 months before Bob's arrival, but considering we have been to Texas three times since October, we are a little road weary. So...we decide to stay a little closer to home and "vacation" in Nebraska!


Our first outing to the Haymarket Farmer's Market this season.

The steel drum band PANgea.

Joseph's favorite-the trains! Choo-choo!

Climbing with the big kids.

more keys please

The key bandit strikes again! This time he stole my keys while at Mass and took off down the aisle as fast as he could. The jingling caught quite a bit of the congregation's attention. Luckily, he paused to bless himself at the holy water font where Jude was able to apprehend him.

gardening with papa

The weather is getting warm enough to finally plant our garden. This year Joseph gets his own patch for pumpkins and other vegetables. Here he is planting potatoes and onions with Grandpa. He loves to dig and water; however his planting technique could use some work-he just threw the onion bulb into the hole!

keys please

This weekend Joseph showed his devious side! I was on retreat and Jude and Joseph were having a fun father-son weekend. They played at the park, planted some flowers, visited the pet shop, ate mac and cheese. Joseph was having so much fun, he got up extra early on Sunday. They had breakfast, got dressed, and were on the way to 9 am Mass when Jude realized his keys were missing. I had the spare set, so he had to find them. He remembered that Joseph had been playing with them the night before.
-Do you know where the keys are?
-(Sign for keys) Un-hunh (yes)
-Will you show daddy?
-(Wandering off)

They repeated the dialogue many times as Jude looked all around the house. Jude even gave him a second set of keys and asked him to put them with the others. No luck. He eventually decided they must have fallen out of his pocket. Still dressed for church they went to the waterway down the street where they had been splashing and wresting the day before.

No keys.

Joseph did spot a jogger and make his bird noise (Ahhh!) at him, which yielded them a funny look.

Returning to the house, St. Anthony came through and Jude found the keys hidden away in a side pocket of his computer bag. Just in time for 10:30 Mass!

welcome

Welcome to our corner of cyberspace! We hope you enjoy the funny stories, photos and random observations that will make up this blog because...life is beautiful!