A little war re-enactment goin' on here...

Let's just say that Andrew has been reading a few books about war lately.  His interest has inspired the younger set to pose for a few photos.

Ready...set...march!

The battle begins (and never ends).

No... I didn't give them any ideas.  They did this all on their own.

Since our dishwasher died, we have been training in new helpers.  Joseph, Tim and Stephen washed dishes long enough to have moved into professional status. Then they all grew up and got paid for their labor.   Needless to say, we can't afford their going rate. Clare is gone to camp this week, probably happily washing the dishes for the Schoenstatt sisters.  In a nutshell, this means I've called in the reinforcements.  Some of their work leaves something to be desired.  Namely, dried on food...blech!  And, of course, there always has to be the funny guy that takes FOREVER to get the dishes washed but has such a jolly good time that I have to record it for posterity's sake.

This was his best Santa imitation.

Random Pictures

Our little Brudie's home girl.

Deacon Dabes



First strawberry of the summer!

Will Johnny be the lucky one to eat it?

Some snuggling with the little sister.

Garden Update

I only got around to taking pictures of the flowerbeds.  What a difference compared to these photos earlier this year!

Hostas are looking a little sad after the hail awhile back.

Zero luck with the rhubarb on the end. It always turns yellow. 
What's up with that?  Certainly isn't a lack of water this year.

This bed really perked up since it's last photo shoot.

Friday Night Volleyball...

has returned to our house for another summer season.I keep forgetting to take pictures of the actual volleyball games (or soccer depending on the mood), but here are pictures from the kickoff Mass.  

What do you get when you throw a couple of priests, a whole lot of  young people, some sand and a net together?

A mean game of volleyball!

Latest news at our house...

Timothy quit his job after the first week.  He feels like a quitter.  This bums me out.  I keep telling him it was a great experience and now he knows that he really wants to give the college thing a try.  It's all good.  Right?  Nah, he still feels like a quitter.  So I'm posting his latest endeavor with his resurrected band, These Guys.  They will be playing at Sonshine Fest in the music tournament.

Check it out!

Yarn Along

For the past few weeks, I have been working on this Oaklet Shawl.  I really like the variegated yarn and think it will get more use as a scarf, since we're not really shawl people around here.  My problem is that when I started my 2nd ball of yarn, the color pattern got all messed up and I think it looks bad.  I'm going to have to rip back and try again.  Any advice from the Yarn Along bunch to help me out of this pinch?  Maybe this yarn was a bad choice for this pattern?

My book this week is Brideshead Revisited.  I am only reading it because a friend gave me the book and said that it was a classic Catholic novel.  I'll be honest.... I'd rather be reading the medieval mysteries by Margaret Frazer that I had been gorging on at the beginning of June! Think I'll go back to them after this little side trip.

Check out Ginny's blog for more Yarn Along adventures.

Dad's solution

With the warmer weather and less clothing, Marianna has decided it's more comfortable to go without a diaper.  I, on the other hand, am not ready to tackle potty training her just yet.  We can't put her to bed in a diaper unless she is wearing at least a onesie.  Our clever Daddy came to the rescue with this solution...

...Gabriel's underwear make the perfect diaper cover.