Westphals.net » Holidays

Mom and Her Boys

Brian — Fri, 27 May 2011 00:00:08 +0000

On Easter while Linda had the boys in a photo taking mood and me with the camera she wanted pictures with each of them.

She almost couldn't convince Kieran to pose

Owen knows how to strike a pose

Declan's always ready for a picture

Easter 2011

Brian — Thu, 26 May 2011 03:54:35 +0000

Easter was not a huge to do this year. Just a very nice meal enjoyed by a happy family. That’s enough isn’t it?

Owen appears to be very happy about the dinner Mom made for Easter

Here’s the centerpiece Linda created for the dining room.

Candles, flowers, and eggs - the colored and the peanut butter kind

It’s not often that all of us guys put on something that isn’t a t-shirt. So when it happens there must be a picture.

Family photo from Easter 2011

Thanks to this picture I finally replaced the old banner image for this site. This one is much better. Hope you had a nice Easter.

Dexter Day

Brian — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:34:59 +0000

Last Saturday, the day before Father’s Day, Linda worked all day. So the boys and I went into Dexter to visit her in the late afternoon. We finally got a chance to visit Warrior Creek Park which is right behind the Dexter District Library. After that we went to the Dexter Pub for a Father’s Day dinner, just a little early. A nice day in a nice place with the family!

Declan spent most of his time in the park trying to throw sticks into Mill Creek

Kieran and Owen preferred to play on the playground equipment

Declan was excited to find a feather

This is the Dexter District Library from the park

Mill Creek winds through the park behind the Dexter library

Owen put on a brief puppet show for Declan and I at the library

Owen and Declan hamming it up in the park

Linda spotted this little critter walking along the woods in the park. I think it's a ground hog.

Kieran jumping off the swing - caught in midair

Half a Garden – With Plants Even

Brian — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:22:41 +0000

The Memorial Day weekend was full of work on the gardens. We did take Sunday off for a welcome visit with some family that we haven’t seen in a long time.

Saturday while Linda spent eight hours working at the library, I spent about three or four with my hands covered in mud sealing up the gaps beneath the garden beds. That’s mostly done. I had to quit when one of my nails tore rather badly. I guess they were getting soft after being wet for so long.

Monday was a day full of dirt. Specifically new dirt. Kieran and I headed off to Lowes and loaded up a cart with 25 bags of top soil. That was only part of what we needed, but I didn’t think the cart would hold any more. When we got it to the van I decided I should probably check the vehicle’s maximum hauling capacity. Turns out it’s 1200 pounds. So with 1000 pounds of top soil plus the two of us we were there. In the end it took five trip to Lowes to get everthing. Kieran and I moved just over two tons of material back to our place. We had quite a thunderstorm during the second trip so that delayed us for a while.

While Kieran and I were hauling material home, Linda was putting some of it into the first garden bed. Unfortunately, it started to rain again in the evening so the bed wasn’t completed.

That first bed was finally completed today. Linda even transplanted most of what she wanted in that bed into it. It’s not quite all there yet, but at least there are plants in the garden!

Sorry the picture is dark, but I was losing daylight fast.

Easter Eggs

Brian — Tue, 18 May 2010 02:36:40 +0000

So you know those Easter Egg coloring kits that you can buy in the store? I’m sure you do. They come with the cardboard egg holders, the little metal thingy that’s supposed to make it easier to get the eggs out of the dye water, and those dye tablets that fizz up like alka-seltzer. Well, there has been none of that nonsense around our house for a while.

Last year Linda created dye from vegetables. This year she used Kool-aid. Some hot water, a little vinegar, and a packet of Kool-aid. The unsweetened kind.

This year our Easter eggs were colored with these Kool-aid colors

Here's the finished product

Santa in May

Brian — Sun, 16 May 2010 04:04:47 +0000

Time to start catching up. Way back in December we went to Kieran’s school for a function and it turned out that Santa was there. This was probably announced at some point, but before we arrived I was unaware. Oops. So after a quick trip back home for the camera, the boys met Santa. It was a much more laid back setting than the mall! Owen seems completely unimpressed.

Santa came to school. I wonder if he was checking report cards.