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.