Yep, I built that

This is the bookcase I built for the boys' room; the first of two.

The back is bead board, though you can't tell in this photo.

Here you can see the bead board better

(a new tongue twister!).

The whole thing is on it's side here, so I could paint the bottom.

It is too hot and humid to paint in the garage, so the dining room

has morphed into a studio of sorts.

I have also finished a book rack for a baby shower gift and a picture frame for

our bathroom today. Theo is drawing a picture for my frame.

I'll share that when it's done.

I am loving my new hobby! Learning carpentry has long been a dream of mine,

and I am happy to be working at it.

Watch out, Matt; I'll be pushing for that move to Alaska soon.

There, I can build my own house without any codes or conditions.

Happy Birthday to Matt!

Everyone likes to help open gifts.

(It looks like we have a rare, poodle-headed female in our family).
Here is the happy 49 year old, with his loot.
Notice the kids are wearing hteir swimming suits--
they swam twice today!

For Le-le to see

If you are on Facebook, you may have already seen this, but I know Le-Le is not on FB, and I wanted to show her how the pictures came out.

I really like having them all together on one wall for the first time. Usually we haven't had enough wall space to hang them this way.

At first I was unhappy with the space difference between the boys' and the girl's frames. However, I have lowered my standards and am just happy that they are on the wall, and done.
It took a while to get Marty's photos done and framed, but the gal in Fayetteville found the exact same frame as Theo's even with there being a 8 year separation between framings.

The only thing I would do differently (but I didn't think about at the time) would have been to have Marty's large portrait on the right side of the frame, to make it a mirror image of Theo's. This way, though, I can hang them anywhere and it won't matter. Any more kids and the whole arrangement will have to change!

My Mother's Day gift

Here she is!

I think I should name her, like we always name our favorite appliances.

How about Maude, or Penelope, or maybe Hortensia.

I'll get back to you on this....

A trip to the farm

We took a little field trip last week with some friends. This farm has been in the Gillis family for over 200 years; it was a nice quiet place where we could walk about on our own time and look at the animals and nature. When we were done, everyone enjoyed homemade ice cream, made right there at the farm.

Left to right:

Chas, Marty, Sarah, Euin, Theo, Charlotte,

ShaLynne, Grace, Amy, and Henry.

Theo and ShaLynne take aturn at the saw, while Chas supervises.

Left to right:

Marty, Grace, theo, Amy, Sarah,

Henry, ShaLynne, and Charlotte

(Chas and Euin were into something else right then).

Spring Piano Recital

More Easter

I want a large Risen Christ figure for the mantle and can't find one I like.

This was the year I tried to make one with paper mache'.

I guess it turned out a bit modernistic.

Whether I save it or not is yet to be decided.

Our prayer table turned out nicely, though. The floral arrangement was from my sis, and it was lovely. This is the litlle Risen Christ I usually use with the paper mache' tomb.

This year the tomb stayed in the closet, but I missed the boys putting their soldier figures in front to guard it.

Finally, I have found a Holy Week scene I love in a Catholic catalog.

It's $125.

Not loving that so much.

We're all about being trendy around here...

I keep seeing in magazines the trend to use furniture in kitchens, so we thought we'd get with it when we got our new sofa and love seat. Here you can see Theo and Amy relaxing in our kitchen.

It fit there just perfectly when the carpets were being cleaned.

Yep, we're all about trendiness...

Easter in the "Land of Pollen"

We had a very intense pollen season this year. Here you can see the girls' black shoes after they walked throughthe grass at church. I read that normal spring brings "high" pollen counts aroudn 500; this year the count was in the 3,ooo's!!! Just crazy.

Here we are, all together in our loveliness.

Timothy turns 1!

Timothy the Terrific turned 1 year old on March 30th. He is ornery as he is cute, but we sure do love him and are happy he is part of our family.

He needed this black and white candle to match himself

He thought wet food was the BOMB!!

(ps --Call our house when we're not home to hear him answer the phone. He's so talented!)