Snow, snow, snow (Happy New Year)

This is the most snow that we have received all at once since we moved to Nebraska! Yes, that is my birdbath buried out there in the yard. The snow is up to the middle of the arbor. Crazy. The blizzard made getting around on Christmas Eve a little difficult, but we still had many friends brave the roads and come to our Open House. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed our friends and family very much. Now that New Years is upon us we must reflect about the damage our gluttony from Thanksgiving to New Years has wrought on our bodies and will have to take measures to correct it :)

Nick's extensive tunnel system in the back yard.

Yes, college guys still like to play in the snow!

Happy New Years to all of our friends and family.

Our 2009 ornament

Grandkiddo's decorating cookies

Taylor, Elizabeth and Zach spent some quality time together frosting cookies Sunday afternoon. L' John was taking a nap. They make a huge a mess and have a great time doing it and Grandma gets decorated cookies. It's a win win situation for us all!

This is serious business picking out which cookie to decorate. This year they chose from snowmen, Christmas trees, ornaments, stars, snowflakes and a present.

The weather outside if frightful, but inside it is so delightful!

The snow that Tommy is working on in this picture is still here. It looks like a winter wonderland here in Nebraska. But inside our kitchen the elves are busy working away preparing raviolis for our Christmas Eve Open House. My favorite part about his activity is that all of my children are back together under one roof having a great time. Pete tries to rein in their excitement and keep them focused and productive. He succeeds about half of the time! They are all so excited to be together and are busy telling each other about their lives that they get a little distracted. But in the end we always end up with the raviolis finished and ready for Christmas Eve.

This year they made 160 veal raviolis and 150 cheese raviolis. The bonus is that if any are broken they can be eaten later that day as a late lunch or dinner.

Tonight, Pete will be making meatballs and tomorrow they will conquer stuffed shells. This is a fabulous time in our house! We have so much fun preparing for the Open House and our house smells incredible.

I have a new job!

My good friend and co-worker Linda B. decided to retire this summer. This opened up the position of Library/Media Para. I applied and I am now working in this lovely library. I read to the kiddo's (which I love to do) and check in and out their books. I am responsible for this space and I am thrilled. I work with really great Media Specialists - whom I have worked with for years as a computer lab para. It's a great job and I am really thankful to have it.

Pete's been canning and pickling

Pete decided to try canning and pickling this summer. He was able to use cucumbers from our garden for the pickles. We didn't have luck with tomatoes this year, so those came from friends or the farmers market. The pickles are really good! We haven't tried the tomatoes yet, but I am sure they will make wonderful sauce. It's pretty cool looking in the "wine" cabinet and seeing all of his hard work.

Tommy - Homecoming

Tommy went with a group of friends from his Drama club this year. They went as couples, but not as date, because the tickets were cheaper for couples. Huh? Anyway, he had an ok time. Lots of drama and breakups going on.....didn't he say they went as non dates? And was he not with the drama club....what else should he expect :) I thought he looked handsome.



Tommy's non-date is the one not in a dress. She was going to get dressed after dinner, so the dress didn't get dirty.

Tommy is 16 - Watch out

Tommy turned 16 on September 12th. I would love to show pictures of his birthday, but they are being held hostage within my camera. I wasn't aware that my memory card was not in the camera when I took the pictures and my cable for the camera is no where to be found.


Pete surprised him with his car late in the evening, thus the dark picture. All of our kids have matched us monetarily to pay for their cars. This is a cute little Baretta.....it's been to the shop a few times (in the beginning) and so far seems to be a good high school car. And I love that I no longer have to tote the busy guy to all kinds of different activities.

Nick is off to college

Here he is impatiently waiting for us to be ready to leave. See the happy glow in his eyes....freedom is just about 50 minutes away! Tommy gets to ride shotgun to Lincoln...a little more brotherly bonding before Nick is gone.
We have arrived at UNL and the unpacking commences. Yes, Nick did bring his tot sized recliner. He's just that kind of guy :)

Now how do you make a bed? With sheets on inside out of course....Mom cringes and Dad laughs.

His desk area...looks functional....let's hope it gets used.

He forgot his pillow. He will have to use the dorm supplied one for awhile.

His closet, dresser and vanity area. It's actually a well laid out room.

Tommy just chillin and waiting for us to leave.

A little family pic here and then Nick rushed us on our way. Time for him to settle in and start his next adventure. We are really proud of him and thrilled that he is so happy to get started on the next step to his future career.

Tommy's First Outing As A Pitcher

Tommy's team is a little short on pitching and his coaches felt he had potential, so they put him in last night. He didn't do to bad. He can get it across the plate, not to quickly, but it get there. I was impressed that it didn't rattle him at all. He kept his Tommy smile and had fun with it. His team is having a tough season but....whatever doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. Right?

@#$%#!!! Rabbits

My poor garden! I have never had the rabbit problems that I am having now. They are eating everything in sight. My wonderful husband put chicken wire up around certain areas that contain roses, but we can not fence everything. This Asiatic lily below had at least six flower buds on each stem last night.....they are now gone as well as most of the leaves. I am sure that plant will live, but there will be no flowers from it this year.
This rose should have leaves on it. This whole little section of roses have been stripped clean. It now has chicken wire around it, so hopefully it will rebound.

And ....if it isn't the rabbits. It is some little green worm that has eaten most of the leaves on the roses. I have now turned to chemicals, which I do not like to use (bad for the earth) and have started spraying the entire garden. It's to bad chemicals do not work on rabbits :)

Nick's Graduation May 16th

Well he did it! Our son made it through high school. He was ready to be finished and cannot wait to start down at UNL. He intends to major in Wildlife Biology with an emphasis in Herpetology (snakes). Pete and I are excited for him, but we are not so sure that we are ready to let him go. That will be a long car ride back from Lincoln in August.

We were planning on having Nick's party in the backyard, but the weather had different plans for us. Thankfully, we have wonderful friends next door who provide their garage. It is a new building with lots of room and counters. It worked out great and Nick had a little over 200 people come through. He requested Italian food (shocking) and Pete complied with sausage and peppers, meatballs and Italian beef. We nearly ran out of food and we did run out of cake. The kids particularly liked the root beer keg!

Nick's shrine.

Nick is behind the balloons visiting with some baseball friends.

Thank you to Aunt Connie, Andy, Kelly, Michael, Joe, Michelle, Joey and Kylah for coming to see him.

Big Birthday Week

Nick is 18 today! It seems like just yesterday that Pete asked if I would be willing to have more children. I told him that I already had 2 daughters and I would only have more if he would guarantee a son :). And being the type of guy that he is, he promised a son! A lo and behold a son was born. He delighted everyone, except Ashley, who wanted her new baby brother to disappear. She wasn't happy about giving up her "baby of the family" status and throughout their growing up together, she did try to eliminate him a view times. Pete was so excited he sent our friend Cherie out to buy some blue spray paint. He then went home and sprayed "It's a boy" on a sheet and hung it from our garage. You know the saying...You might be a redneck if ...(fill in the blank here).
Nick has provided us with 18 years of entertainment. A boy we thought was shy thrived on the stage and in speech meets. He now wants to go off to college to be a Herpetologist....he wants to play with snakes. Ewww. He wants to go off to jungles and find the most dangerous varieties and milk them (for anti venom, for all of you going in a weird direction). He expects to go off with the Peace Corps in the summer of 2010. I think he is going to provide is with a lifetime of entertaining stories.

Here he is this morning with the traditional Mickey Mouse pancake. He is surrounded by 18 Cub colored balloons and the traditional Mylar balloon. He gave me strict orders not to post this picture. That worked out for him, didn't it?

I neglected posting on Ashley's Birthday. She turned 24 on March 30th. She was my very shy child who hid behind Mommy when someone was over. I hear the incredulous laughing now. For anyone who knows her cannot believe that would be true. But I assure you, that for a brief little moment, she was shy and if you can believe this, quiet. Later in life, she sang everything, everywhere. The Little Mermaid songs were often heard coming from the bathroom. And once, I overheard her reading the back of a shampoo bottle in an advertising type of voice.

As a teen, she angered every adult that she came across. You see....Ashley was always right, just ask her coaches! She gives a little now, but....well, just ask her husband John if she has given up that stubborn streak. But God is good, he has given her a lovely daughter with the same disposition! My mother was fond of saying that my behavior would come back to haunt me in my children.....it's so nice to see that it just goes on and on.

As an adult, she is doing very well working a personal banker and as a mother and a wife. She has worked very hard to get her life to where it is now and Pete and I couldn't be any prouder of her.

Isn't she beautiful?

I am so blessed to have four happy, healthy children! Give your child a hug every day and tell them how special they are!

Spring Fever!

I am so excited that it is finally April. This is the month that the garden comes alive! My rhododendrons have buds and will be beautiful.
I have leaves! William Baffin, a Canadian rose, has already started to leaf out.

I am not sure you can tell from the picture, but my Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry is just full of flower buds. It blooms with the prettiest little white flowers. In a few months it will have berries, which the birds will eat in one day.

And this is my most favorite place to sit and view the garden. Soon there will be peonies, hostas, daylilies and daisies surrounding it. There are two Blueberry Muffin viburnums planted just behind the watering can. I hope that they bloom this year. Welcome April!