Family

This is my dad's side of the family. (mine too, of course)

Uncle, Aunt, Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, 9 siblings and 1 Cousin

My poor little cousin can be overwhelmed but we love to have him around.

My Aunt and Uncle have taught him to mind his manners, we take shameful advantage whenever possible.
This picture shows my cousin getting teased for not making bunny ears or a funny face. With so many of us right there in front of him, how did he resist?

Library

The Madison Public Library is the best place to hang out and kill time. When next you are in town. Come see me. I will be here.

I am always here.

My employer is becoming very upset with all my accumulated vacation time. If I am not here when you stop by please ask whoever is here if I have been forced out to 'enjoy myself.'

Library weathers storm...

Nebraska had some bad storms this spring. Lots of wind and rain made the electricity a little less than reliable.
Power was out at the library. Emergency power was enough light to read.
Even in storms a library is a great place to be.

Pool time

My brothers and Jonas in the pool.

The boys saw me taking pictures and immediatley struck cheesy poses.
I had every intention of getting some sweet action shots,
but I was threatened with mooning...

So I quickly left the boys to their fun!

Dad has very kindly allowed his children to set up the pool this summer.
Everyone gets in on the fun. Ben and Katherine spend the most time out in the water.

They have almost perfected tricks involving all kinds of inflatable pool toys.

Sometimes they just have to show off for the camera to prove just how amazing they are.

As far as I know, all these much loved floaties are popped now. Too much loving is too much.

MLE

Emily came to visit me.

It was supposed to be a vacation for her.

Somehow she got stuck with the job of ice-cream distribution.


The sombrero was just an added bonus.

Thank you, Emily for your wonderful help;

not just with the Summer Reading Program,

but with cleaning and the library and housework...

Praise the Lord

Teresa' s dad is in the hospital because of a massive heart attack.

My friend took a break from the hospital to help lead worship at her church.

Teresa

What an amazing testimony.

Hannah

God deserves our praise even in the hard times.

HomeSchool2

Learning at home is not limited to a designated "school year." Haphazard experiments are happening all the time. Here is a three part experiment. The first part was us trying to hatch out four chicken eggs. Hypothesis: eggs will not hatch because of extreme heat(110 degrees) and extreme cool(37 degrees.)

we conducted the cracking ceremony in the pit, far away from the house

The second part was the eggs had rotted while being kept under the heat lamp. Hypothesis: eggs will stink when cracked open due to exposure to prolonged warmth.
The third part was to determine if we had at least partially succeeded to hatch out chicks. Hypothesis: embryos were killed midway through incubation.

sorry about this. i am not as smart as i think i am.

Our experiment was a complete failure,but we were kind of glad we hadn't killed any unborn baby chickens.

This would have been a lot more interesting for you if I could have figured out how to upload the video of breaking open the eggs.

HomeSchool

One of the perks of learning at home is that pets are allowed to attend.

Unless the pets are used to torture the tutor. Hannah's pet ended the day in the toybox.

Her tutor couldn't take the stress.

Hannah was entirely too creative at thinking of ways to startle/sneak up on me.

a friend

Sharing friends with a sister could be tough. However, I have a great sister and we have an awesome friend...

Teresa

a.k.a T

loyal, weird, musical, talented, beautiful: she fits right in with us

Joanna and I love to hang with her, even when we don't do anything. We are proud of her and love to be her pals.

Church

My idea of church and yours may be very different.

Do you stop in the middle of a church meeting to have a friendly discussion?

Some of the best Sunday Moments are spent disagreeing with the same people we agree with the most!

Are you sad to say good-bye to other church members?

Our friends are wonderful to, and for, us. We want to spend every moment we can with them.


You may not have a church like ours, but you can have the same God we serve!

Behind the Scenes Work

So many cute scenes for the Book Banquet. I am actually getting quite excited to see what the kids will think of it all.

Three Little Pigs' Houses. Red Riding Hood's Grandmother's cottage. The Witch's Candy House.

Adorable? I thought so too. Each house and setting was hand crafted for this event. Imagine all the work involved in making a little-piggy house out of toilet paper rolls or straw. Not to mention the Gingerbread house with all that glued-on candy.

Thank you Battle Creek Public Library for having 4inch Accu-Cut letters!

Every so often something I see will strike my fancy.

Please enjoy this small wire castle, but you don't have to study it for ten minutes like I did. Disregard the dates on these pictures. I used the library camera instead of my own. Foolish of me.

Information Age

I have the joy of both a new camera and babysitting three rambunctious children!

What does a six year old farm boy take pictures of when given free use of an amazing camera?

I have been informed that this is a skidloader/backhoe, NOT a tractor! My bad.

This is not a machine, a truck, or a tractor, it is simply a front loader.

Not even this is a tractor. It is much more. This is a duely(doolee) tractor.

When asked what duely means this brilliant child informed me "Duely means it's got lots of tires!"

Amazing what farm children know, isn't it?

MOVIE attack!

The Library has new movies.

We are in the process of processing them into our catalog system.

I would be busy doing that and not have time to blog, but I have a wonderful boss who wants the DVDs added a certain way.

Hooray for meticulous bosses!!

What happened to valuing the old places? homesteads, buildings, nursing homes...? Just kidding about that last one. The city has a beautiful old building just collecting junk. Someone, PLEASE come rescue this great place before it decays beyond repair!!

book banquet 2011

We are definitely keeping busy here at the Madison Public Library. Our Book Banquet is coming up in just a couple of weeks. Yikes! I am not ready. I will dress up as Goldilocks. The theme this year: READ...and Live Happily Ever After. Not sure why Mrs Robertson, our coordinator, wants a Goldilocks. In the fairy tale I was told, she doesn't get away from the 3 bears and is never heard from again. Happy thought.

Anyway, Madison Book Banquet March 17, 2011 Madison NE city Auditorium. Be There!!