St. Wendel Summer Social 2015

This weekend was our church's annual summer social, which the kiddos have been talking about nonstop for the last 2 weeks!  I had volunteered to work in the bounce house area on Saturday evening.  Before we left the house, I was doing chores when I watch storm clouds "roll" pass us.  There were maybe 10 drops of rain that fell here at the house, but in St. Wendel, it was a down pour with hail!  Luckily, the social hadn't started, mass was still going on, and the rain was over by the time mass finished.

When the kiddos and I arrived, the air had definitely cooled down.  So much so, that I loaded them back into the van to go home and get the kiddos in long pants and grab sweatshirts for everyone!  We then headed back and let the fun begin.  Julianne and Momma got something to eat, and Dallas and Reba headed straight for the bounce houses.  Once Julianne finished her hot dog, she was ready to get in the bounce house with the others.

Sugar did very well until she got plowed over by someone, then she was done and wouldn't entertain the idea of getting back in - even when Reba was the only one in that bounce house!

Dallas spent the evening floating back and forth between the bounce houses and the dunk tank.  Thankfully, they were right next to each other, and I could keep an eye on him while I was working the bounce house area.

Sunday morning, after church, we came home to change clothes and get Julianne a nap before returning to the activities.  We were all thrilled to learn Daddy had the day off and got to join us in the fun!  We first enjoyed the fabulous fried chicken dinner they serve, and then we made our way to the bounce houses (again)!

There was not too many kiddos in the area, so I thought I would let Julianne try the slide.  Guess what!?!?  She loved it!!!

She couldn't quite climb up the "steps" by herself, but Daddy gave her a helping hand.  Reba desperately wanted to go down with her (either side by side or one in front of the other), but Sugar would have no part in that!  Julianne would even "push" Reba down the slide so she would be out of the way.

Dallas was somehow able to get Julianne to go down with him (one time), but I don't think Julianne was very happy about it.

The church sells tickets which are needed in order to play the games (dunk tank, plinko, coin toss, and pick a duck).  This year, I bought Dallas and Reba each a pack of 25 tickets.  Dallas spent all of his on the dunk tank, and Reba spent all of her at the plinko and pick a duck.  She did let Julianne pick a couple of the ducks, but Reba kept the tokens that were won.

Julianne finally crashed for a nap about 5 this afternoon.  She only slept about 45 minutes, but something is better than nothing!

Then she was back in the bounce house!

Dallas also participated in the pedal pull.  This was his first year pedaling the Allis, called Hook and Book.  He did fairly well, but he didn't go far enough to place.

Until next time...

Re-Opening of the Church

This morning marked the re-opening of our church!  After 8 long months, we are finally back to celebrating mass in the church and no longer in the gym of the school.  This morning, Father held a special prayer service for the care of God's creation.  The students and staff were able to attend, and I thought it would be lovely for Julianne and I to go as well.

Julianne did fairly well - she liked being able to sit on the pew (and not someone's lap) and she loved being able to stand on the kneelers to see.  She also got pretty excited when she spotted "Beb" (Reba) - in the center with a white shirt.

 and Dallas - off center to the left in the red shirt with his head down.  As they left to head back to school.

It is simply breath-taking!

Until next time...

Baby Photo Contest

Our church's summer social is in a couple weekends, and new this year is a Baby Photo Contest.  One of the gals in charge, called and asked if I would be willing to submit a photo of our little one.  She actually called a few weeks ago, I just kept forgetting about it.  Well, she sent me a text this morning as a final reminder, so I dressed Sugar and headed out hoping to get a good picture to submit.  These were the ones I liked the best...

After asking a handful of people for their opinion on which one to submit, it came down to the last two.  I finally decided on the last one.  I thought it was her most "natural" smile.

Until next time...

Cleaning the Church

Our church remodel is getting so close to being completed!  In order to get ready for the final touches (i.e. touch up paint, mop the floors, move the statues, etc), the church needed a good cleaning!  There was such a heavy layer of dust settled on everything.

I spent my morning dusting (which is by far my least favorite thing to do) the pews.

Others worked on the pulpit area

While a few others braved the height of cleaning the alter that houses the tabernacle.

I absolutely love the blue ceiling - if I haven't mentioned that before!

I had never been in the balcony, so once my dusting was completed, I headed upstairs.  They added new carpet, pews, and railings.

I was also able to get an up-close look at the details on the pillars.

What a breath-taking view!  We are hoping to have our first Mass back in the church at the end of August.

Until next time...

All Lined Up

The workers set the new pews in place at our church today

They also worked on redoing the "Cry Room", which includes new doors!

Until next time...

Going Up

While we were in Iowa, the workers added carpet to the upper level at our church.  They used a lift to raise the rolls up and over the balcony rail.

The past few days and today have been spent piecing the Communion Railing back together.

According to the Facebook post, the railing was purchased in 1919 and was dedicated to the veterans of World War I.

These awesome guys are going off of the above pictures trying to piece the puzzle back to its glory.

They did it!

Until next time...

Tourney, Swimming and Remodeling

This morning, Dallas' baseball team started their tourney.  They were seeded 4th in the 'B' Bracket.  We have learned that the league divides the Pinto teams into 4 brackets (A, B, C, and D).  The 'A' Bracket has the top 6 finishing teams of the league.  The 'B' Bracket contains the teams that finished 7-12 and so forth.  It is a double elimination tournament, so there is a winners bracket and loser's bracket.  If you win, you stay in the winners bracket, if you lose, you move to the losers bracket and face another team that has lost.  If you win there, you continue in the bracket, with a chance to make it back to play the final winner of the winners bracket.  If you lose in the losers bracket, you are eliminated from the tourney.  Clear as mud?

So...Dallas' team played the first game of the tourney at 9 a.m. against the 5 seeded Corpus Christi Gold team.  We played them in our last game of the regular season and lost.  Needless to say, our boys were on a mission, and they were able to get the victory!  With the win, we were scheduled to play again at 1 p.m. against the number 1 seed, St. Joe White.  We did not play them in the regular season, but our boys played hard, and they defeated St. Joe 8-4!  With the second win of the day, we were finished until tomorrow afternoon.  

It was such a hot day, so the kids were begging to get in the pool once we got home.

In other news, the new pews were delivered to the church today!

Until next time...

Tile Work Continues

Our beautiful church...

I love the pattern they chose for the alter area and aisle

I've said it before, but I can't wait to see it when it is completed!

Until next time...