This and that of the summer

We had a professional photo session this summer. I now take everyone's photo at one time and love the Target studio in Ankeny. I get individuals of everyone, everyone together, boys together and girls together - LOVED LOVED LOVED the results....Here is an "after" photo, in our backyard, since I had everyone matchy-matchy. I can't show you the best photo - since that will be my Christmas card photo and I don't want to spoil the surprise. This is the "can we do a funny one now mom" picture.

We had vacation Bible school early in the summer. Ken's folks were here on day one - I love the multi-generational photo!

Tomorrow we are having our first annual "McCleary Popsicle Party". We invited friends from church (Faith and Friendship (aka Mother to Mother in some parts of the world)), and the kid's buddies from school and the neighborhood. My current count is around 40 popsicle eaters. This is really an easy party - we bought a bunch of popsicles and ice-cream sandwiches and invited everyone to join us at a nearby park that isn't busy (often when we go there we are the only ones there, or just a couple kids). Strangers already at the park will be offered popsicles too. We are bringing a kickball and bases for my kid's favorite game, a race around the park (wagon ride for the younger kids), chalk for art work, basketballs and soccer balls....and of course the playground for fun. I love this idea because we wanted to have a little get together, but who to invite and how can I possibly get my house clean in time.....so on Tuesday we decided to do it, bought the treats, walked around to pass out invitations in the neighborhood and sent an email to Faith and Friendship.....tah dah - easy peasy party - hopefully this will be an annual event. I figure kids are pretty to easy to please....playground, sports, art and cold treats.

The day we headed North!

I had an errand to run for work in a little town called Nevada Iowa. It is near the fruit farm we like and Ames, home of Iowa State University, which is home of Reiman Gardens. Note - I think this day was voted "one of the best of the summer" and we didn't even go swimming :o) Berry picking isn't the best during a drought, but we got enough blackberries and blueberries to make a lovely fruit cobbler.

We asked the fruit farmer for a "unique" restaurant in Ames and he recommended Hickory Park. This place definitely had its own style and feel and we loved it.

More on Reiman Gardens later - it deserves a post of its own it was so great.

Youth Ministry

I haven't blogged much, because I was busy, got behind and then thought it would take too much brain energy to get things in order. Well - enough of order. Here is a fun picture of Matthew delivering 4577 back to school items to one of two charities in Des Moines (Children and Families of Iowa and Holy Name (inner city Catholic school)).

I love the youth ministry at our parish. It is for grades 6-12 and it is a wonderful way to get the kids involved with service, prayer and fun. Yesterday Carolyn, Matthew and I helped sort all the above mentioned items. (Carolyn was able to help because I went with her, she is going into 5th grade and is chomping at the bit to participate in youth ministry.)

Tournament Time

Joel is at an interesting place in the world of baseball.....first year with boys pitching. Most of the regular season games also had coaches pitch after giving the boys several tries with each batter. By the end of the season though, it was just the boys pitching. Painful is the word that probably describes it best. Our team actually has some good pitchers (for 3rd graders-to-be), but it is still hard to get it across the plate consistently. Let's be honest, as a batter that makes it pretty tough to do your best when the pitches are pretty much "all over the place". The tournament is getting the boys ready for next year when it is all kid pitch. I remember when Matthew was this age and they used really good pitching machines.....really good idea!!! The game had more hitting and fielding! By the summer before 4th grade, somehow the boys were able to pitch (maybe it was 4th and 5th graders). So I am hopeful that next year will have more than just pitch, pitch, pitch. Anyway, I think Joel typically did hit when the coach pitched this season, but this game he walked each time (as did the majority of boys). So the game is 90% about the pitching at this stage and probably not too exciting for fielding. I tried to get an action shot, but I will be honest when I say that there wasn't much action. The game was still pretty fun to watch, cheering the pitcher on when he threw a strike or when someone finally hit the ball (or walked)! Ken called 5 times for updates, because he was able to attend most of this season's games, but this week is gone for the tournament games. I hope the boys win tomorrow night so Ken can see the next game. I teased him that if I was in labor he would have called less. Although he pointed out that he was present when I was in labor, I still think I spoke the truth. It was fun for Joel to give him the play-by-play on the phone after the game. I think Joel likes baseball, so there will be exciting games in the future, where fielding and hitting play a bigger role!

A new face!

I have not only been an absent blogger, I haven't gotten my camera out nearly enough this summer. We had Vacation Bible School and Carolyn and Joel had Art Camp and I didn't get a single picture! They took approximately 1,000,000 at VBS, so I am hoping to download some of those. Father's Day weekend was lovely, starting with my Dad's family's reunion in Dubuque on Saturday. (hope to get pictures from my sister) On the drive home we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse as a treat for Ken. Today we had a BBQ with friends from my mother's group ("Faith and Friendship"). Even with my absent camera lately there was something that had to be captured today. This picture has been a long time coming, since it is the first top tooth lost by Joel! H His baby teeth have been in no rush to come out. The dentist said, "no worries", but Joel was happy for today to come! I need to get the kids to Target to get their yearly professional photograph and capture the moment!

Anna is Five Years old

Anna indicated that she had a great birthday. The best part is that the fun is not yet over. When you turn 5 in our family you get to go to Chuck-E-Cheese or local equivalent. We are going there next Saturday!!!

Here is Anna's cake - she wanted cupcakes with a princess doll on top. We aim to please and glad that this has never been too difficult in the cake department.

Some crazy person gave Anna a guitar for her birthday. ha ha - in my defense I got it on sale for 90% off.....which translates to - she can have fun with it for awhile, but it may not last forever.

Joel's First Communion

Joel's First Communion was quite wonderful. Family photo!

Here is Joel with his Aunt Debbie, Aunt Mary and cousin Liz.

w/ Grandmas and Grandpas!