Fun at The Henry Ford

The kids enjoyed learning about assembly lines today and were able to do a hands on assembly line activity (after watching the "I Love Lucy" episode teaching them what NOT to do on an assembly line ;)

Everyone had their job to do and took it very seriously.
Samuel had the best job of running the conveyer belt. He loved it! He got to speed it up and make people work hard. :)

After Mass and lunch today we headed out to The Henry Ford. (http://www.thehenryford.org/) We were without Brandon because he attended a Catholic Youth Conference this weekend in Detroit. The rest of us had a great time exploring the museum. We've been sick and haven't had a lot of good "family time" lately. Today was ideal with Mass, lunch out, the museum, dinner, family Rosary, and now the kids are watching Leave It To Beaver. Brandon is very tired and went to bed an hour ago or so.

I hope your Lent is going well. We are recovering from our sicknesses. A few of us are hanging on to a cough. I'm anxious for spring to come (and for those of you that know me, you know I really love winter but this illness stuff has GOT to go!!)

Fr. John gave a great homily today about how, often times, people run out of mass before it's over (or as soon as possible after) to get to the "important" things in life. The things that we *think* will make us happy and fill us up. Really, only Jesus can fill that void in all of us. It's so true and after taking alot of different dead end roads Jesse and I are FINALLY figuring that out. Fr's homily can be heard or downloaded at http://frjohnriccardo.libsyn.com/ I highly recommend listening to any of his homilies whether you are Catholic, Christian, or anything else. His words are full of so much wisdom and truth. What a wonderful man we are blessed with in our Parish. We have three great priests, actually. How blessed we are!

Well, I hear Mary Therese calling. May God bless your day!!

More Birthday! Samuel is 3!!

Sammy turned three years old today. I asked him if he knew where he was born and he said "Yes, at Great Wolf Lodge". I guess he wished he was. Really he was born at home in the bathroom off of my bedroom. It was a wonderful experience having a baby at home and I *do* hope to do it again someday (sorry dad ;) ).

We had a low key day. We've been fighting off the flu/fever thing so we just stayed in. Grandma and Brandon went to Bible Study and we sang to Sammy after that. He had a few gifts to open. Some he opened this morning and one this afternoon. I got him a "Birthday Boy" shirt from Gymboree which he has referred to all day. "I'm the Birthday Boy" "You have to let me because I'm the birthday boy, my shirt says so". Note to self - hide birthday shirt after today. ;)

Off to take care of Mary Therese. She has a fever now. :( Have a blessed day everyone!!

It's Fun to be One!!

Thank you for the cake, Grandma!!

Birthday Week!

Above : Mary right after her birth. Below : Mary on her first birthday!

Above : Samuel celebrating at Spanish Class. Below : Brandon on his 16th birthday!

Happy Birthday to Mary (2/15), Brandon (2/16), and Samuel (2/20)! It's a busy week in the Ekblad house! Some would say we have too much spare time in May......Anyway - Mary Therese is now 1 year old! I can't believe it! The year really flew by. She's such a darling little girl. Very happy and still with BLUE eyes!

Brandon turned 16 today! No, he's not getting his license. We firmly believe that 16 is way too young to drive alone. He does have a permit and will continue to practice for a year or two. We're mean, mean, mean and we like it! Brandon celebrated today with a few of his friends at zap zone (http://www.zap-zone.com/). The boys also came over for lunch and hung out for a while. We had a very, very, very last minute dinner of pizza and cupcakes at grandma's. Tomorrow we're having a family party to celebrate Mary, Brandon, and Sammy.

Yesterday we celebrated Mary and Sammy at Spanish class. I think they had a nice time.

I'm fried so that's about it. Just wanted to post some pictures of my birthday kids. We are so, so blessed and should remember it more often. We were reminded of it again during mass today by transitional Deacon Clint. What a wonderful man he is!

Also, Jesse and I began a couples prayer series this week. I highly recommend it. They do have child care available at ours so maybe they would at one close to you as well. http://www.coupleprayer.net/

Have a blessed day everyone!

Lent Begins

Above and Below : Brandon went skiing with his friend Johnny (and his family) this weekend. Can you believe these wonderful people have seven children of their own yet make room for my son too? We are so blessed! He had a wonderful time skiing and hanging out at the house!

Below : I got an idea online for putting the Stations of the Cross up the stairs. A good reminder everytime we go upstairs and also a great place to kneel as we say the stations! I bought the prints at www.catholichomeschooling.com and the frames at IKEA. I ran out of room on the stairs so the last three stations are at the top.

Well - Lent began yesterday. We had a crazy day with Jesse being home sick and lots of really bad weather. I spent many hours on the road. God is good, though, and since Jesse was home I was able to take his car which I feel much better about driving in the snow with than the van. We made it to our lessons and back safely. So, no mass for us, unfortunately. Just ashes. Grandma took the younger kids to Jungle Java for a couple of hours and I was able to rest a bit and get lots of laundry done.

So, the kids gave up video games and computer games. God bless them. That's a tough one! Jesse also gave up his favorite computer games. I tend to "give up" and try to improve things. So no more coffee mate for me or fancy coffees out, limited computer time, but really I just need to get things more in order, pray more, and be nicer!!

That's about it from here. Must get back to the kids. Have a blessed day and a peaceful Lent!!