Spring Busy-ness

The first Saturday in May the Waterbrooke youth had a busy day - we went bowling, out for pizza, and wound up at Feed My Starving Children to pack food for two hours.

First they give you instructions and demonstrate how to make each package the right weight and combination of ingredients.

Then we picked out jobs. Some are warehouse workers who replenish the ingredients when the packers run out of product.

Some stick instruction stickers on the plastic bags that hold enough food for six meals. We got to taste the food - it reminds me of a chicken rice casserole, with no chicken! It's really not bad, and a great improvement on grass, rocks, and dirt that some children eat around the world.

We packed enough food to feed over 7,000 children. I wonder where they will send it this time?

The second Saturday in May was Waterbrooke Spring Cleanup Day. Joe (in the golf cart) is the boss and put us all to work at various tasks. Paul is getting his assignment.

You've got to be kidding me - move these rocks?

Oh ... RAKE the rocks that the snow plow pushed into the grass back into the parking lot. Hopefully by next summer that will be an obsolete task. Raising $20,000 to pay for tarring the lot is a bit of a challenge.

Of course, there are plenty of weeds in the gardens to dig out as well as hostas and things to plant.

Everyone pitched in, from four year olds to senior citizens!

Okay, Anna mostly watched, but she was a big encouragement.


Carl wielded a mean weed whipper, so the younger ones had better stay out of his way.

A popular choice in jobs for the older boys was cutting dead wood for the fire pit, and manning the fire to get rid of dead branches.

The little guys would have preferred making s'mores.


The third Saturday in May Paul and I played and sang at a wedding. Would you believe the bride and her sister were named Jane and Joyce????

Today (another Saturday) I am blogging, exercising, and cleaning to get ready for a Casey invasion on Monday - Memorial Day. The brothers (plus me) will hit the links at 8:00 am.m and then were having a brat bonanza back at the ranch. I'd better go get to work.

Easter Update

I am a little behind in the family blogging entries - you've probably already seen the Catlin/Bracken/Casey/Perry pictures on Jane and Heidi's blogs, but I have to add my two cents worth, you know! We had a great day at Ted and Pat's after a wonderful morning at church. Spending time with family is the best way to celebrate, and we are thankful to have so many close by. We do miss Christie and Alison, Tom, Kim ,Katie and Griffin - but just think of it this way - we have a great excuse to go on another vacation!Here's Matthew, Phebe, and Maddox getting ready to hunt for their own special colored eggs out in the back yard. I think we had just as much fun following them around and snapping the pictures!

Maddox has quite a collection there.
Phebe and I had fun playing ball after the hunt was over. She is going to be quite the athlete - she hit it over my head and made me run! Nothing like a little exercise to wear off those jelly beans!
Matthew prefers to push the 4 wheeler this spring. Maybe by fall he will let the engine do the work.
It was a nice day out on the deck, but the guys soon moved into the basement to watch the Masters. OK, OK ... a few of us gals were interested, too.
I know you're wondering - who is watching the kids???
The little kids had a ball with Summer - Pat's sister Pam's granddaughter. It is great to have extended family, the more the merrier! The kids make every gathering a entertaining event. They are a joy to watch grow and develop their own special personalities.

Well, that's all for now, folks. We stay busy with church activities - yesterday we organized a youth group outing - bowling (Paul took top honors with a 147), pizza at Joey Nova's, and then spent two hours at the Feed My Starving Children organization in Chanhassen packing a food product specially designed for kids dying of malnutrition. We packed 7,344 meals that will save the lives of 20 children! If you ever get a chance to participate in a day there, you will be blessed! Golf season is upon us, only one month of school left, and then ...?