Medieval Feast

In school, we have been studying about the Middle Ages. At the end of each unit of 9-10 weeks, there is a Unit Celebration to show what you have learned and sum it all up.
With our fellow Middle Agers, we dressed up and went to the Great Coronado Hall (aka Coronado Heights) for a Medieval Feast.
Lots of fun was had by all with food (medieval, of course), music, a play, and an interesting "Relic" game.
Although my batteries were low, I was still able to get some photos!


Reciting "King Alfred's War Song"


Our relic table


Miles explained about King Arthur


Miles and L.J. sword fighting/chasing


Princess' Esther and Susanna


Lord Beckman


The chivalrous Miles the Knight with pretty Princess Susanna




The House of Beckman

Chicken Butchering Fall 2010

Two weeks ago, we had our fall butchering day. Eric's 8 week project was completed!
With our friends, the Kroekers, we took our 125 chickens to another friend's butchering cart.
It went very smoothly, no accidents or problems besides a few bile bursts-Yuck!
We had a chicken this week that Mom salt-brined and seasoned, and was it ever tasty!
Now, we can take a chicken break until Spring!!!!

Loading up!




The hard workers.







The gut bucket.


The weighters and baggers

Nebraska Trip Part 2-Nebraska City

After our enjoyable weekend in Omaha, we traveled on to Nebraska City/Percival, Iowa, to see some of the sights.
On Sunday evening, after checking into our hotel, we went to the Arbor Day Park.
It was a lovely wooded area with a fancy 52-room mansion, home to the founder of Arbor Day.
After exploring the park, we went in search of dinner. (Dinner wasn't lost, but the boys were starting to get hungry.
We enjoyed a swim at the hotel's pool before going to bed. I think we all slept pretty well, but our room was FREEZING.....someone forgot to turn down the AC!
On Monday (Labor Day) we went to the Lewis and Clark Museum, John Brown's Mayhew Cabin, and Arbor Day Farm. We had fun visiting the new places and learned lots of new information!
It was a nice retreat to get away for a few days! Where can we go next??!!!


When we went from Nebraska City to Percival Iowa,
and vice versa, it was fun to cross the Missouri River.


Karly, Susanna, Kaleb, and Miles at Arbor Day Park


I was excited to get this neat photo of Karly and Susanna!


Arbor Day Park had beautiful trees!


Anyone hungry??



Lots to do at Arbor Day Farm!


There were rows and rows of tree seedlings in the Greenhouse.


Playing on the fun marimba's!



John Brown's Cave/Cabin was interesting!


A boat created to be like the one Lewis and Clark used on their expedition!


Arbor Day Mansion!


This photo reminds me of what the Garden of Eden might have looked like.
It was absolutely beautiful!

Happy Birthday, Susanna!

Today Susanna turns 4 years old! She has been SO excited for her birthday!
She is such a blessing to us, and we are very thankful for her life!

The past months, whenever she is asked how old she is, she holds up 3 fingers, and cheerfully says "When I turn 4, I get to chew gum!" Needless to say, gum will be one of her birthday presents!
Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Nebraska Trip-Part 1-The Wedding

Last weekend, our family spent the weekend in Nebraska. This was our "vacation", and we have been eagerly anticipating our exciting trip!
On Saturday, we went to Omaha for a Micah Nelson and Esther Ulmer's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, very God-glorifying and special.
Caroline and I helped in the kitchen during the reception, and had a great time cutting up bananas for Banana Splits!
After the reception, a bunch of families went to the Stangl's house to fellowship.
What a blast! Lots of fun, food, laughter, games, football, Capture the Flag, etc.
We appreciated the Stangl's hospitality and enjoyed our time with the other families who stayed there as well.
On Sunday morning, we worshiped at Millard Alliance Church. Afterwards, a tasty meal, and volleyball!

Coming soon.....part 2 of our great trip!


An excellent prelude was shared by a father and daughter.


Pastor Nelson (Father of the groom)



The lovely mothers-Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Ulmer


Here comes the bride!






Their first Kiss! What a special moment!


The new couple! Mr. and Mrs. Micah Nelson!


Seeing friends! Lizzie Becker and Kelsey Kroeker



The yummy reception-Banana Splits!


Tabitha, Noah, and Elizabeth


The fancy get-away vehicle! It was a total surprise for Esther!


Fun times at the Stangl's! Elizabeth and Micah


What a lovely trio! Caroline, Lydia, and Katy


A group of the girls-All dressed up for church!


Some of the boys! Gotta love some of those expressions!

Conglomeration

When coming up with a name for this blog post, I was thinking about what I was posting about.......A conglomeration of various pictures accumulated over the past month or so.
Hey-conglomeration is a good word! I wonder if there are any synonyms that I could use
to describe the post-
Here are a few I liked off of thesaurus.com-Agglomeration (a close cousin to conglomeration)
collection, combination, combo, "everything but the kitchen sink" (my favorite!!!!) hodge-podge, mass and mish-mash. Aren't those fun! (Try and use one of those words today!)

Elizabeth: "Mom, why do we have so much stuff(good descriptive word!) in the front seat of the car-It is always so full, nobody can sit up there-We must have everything except the kitchen sink up there!!! (I say this ALL the time!)

So, to our hodge-podge, mish-mash of pictures. These are a combination I've taken from a variety of activites.

To start out with, a collection of our Hyllningsfest weekend.
We've been planning this occasion for a year, and what a wonderful time we had.
Our dear friends, the Ulmer and Kroeker Families came up to spend the weekend starting out by surprising Mr. Kroeker for his birthday. Dad also had his Men's choir concert that night!

It was amazing! Although the weather was the best, we had fun watching some Swedish festivities downtown, going to the parade, having a hymn sing, playing the chimes, going to church in the "bus", walking, football, food, staying up late (or early-5:00 am!), everything was a total blast!
Thanks so much for coming Ulmers and Kroekers! Can't wait to have ya'll again!

SURPRISE!


Smoky Valley Men's Choir
(Dad is on the left towards the bottom)


The whole group at the parade-All 32 of us!


The Mom's!


It was SUPER cold out!


The four older boys-Those grass stains are from some
serious games of football!


Miles, Eric, Micah, Kyle, Moses, and Kaleb


Lots of play time!


Lots of yummy food!


Hymn Sing



"Oh, the wonder of it all, The wonder of it all, Just to think that God loves me"-How true this is! God's steadfast love for us is shown all the time-Throughout the whole weekend, the love of the Lord was our common bond.Everything else was secondary-Food, Fun, Friends, Family, etc.


Swedish Susanna!


The Beckman children in Swedish Costumes


Bountiful Sweet Potato Harvest!







We had some lovely fall days!
But, I think winter is coming as we've got the fireplace going,
and we even had snow yesterday!


We celebrated Memaw's Birthday with an Italian Dinner-Mmmm!


The cake-Italian Creme!



In October, I had the opportunity to spend some time with
the Anson family-Scott (Mr. Anson) was gone for a week, and I was
able to help Lydia (Mrs. Anson) out with the 4 boys!
They are all lots of fun with LOTS of energy!
I was weary when I got home, but I had a great time!

It was beautiful outside, so we went to the park!


Marcus



Rolling down the hill!


Paul loves to climb!





Phillip


Having a snack!


Phillip, Marcus, Baby William, Paul and Me.



Caroline made it to State Piano Auditions, so Dad, Caroline and I went up to
KU in Lawerence where she participated in that.


Dad and Caroline


Caroline


Outside Allen Field House, there is a statue of Forrest "Phog" Allen (thus, Allen Field House)
Dad posed the same way as the statue and looked hilariously suave!!!



Susanna loves to read her little Bible while we are doing our Bible reading-Mom's glasses had broken awhile ago, but Susanna likes to play with them-She was so cute sitting there!!










The Kroeker children came for the weekend, when Mr. and Mrs. Kroeker
were in Kansas City. As always, a super fun time, but never enough time to do everything!

Moving some firewood












The girls dressed-up! But the boys played "Risk" (the WHOLE weekend!)





Caroline also had her Symphony Concert last Sunday-They did a great job!





Behind Caroline are two of our friends-They all car-pool together every Saturday morning.


Well, are you about to collapse, drop, faint, give out, or wilt from all this?
I hope not! Hopefully you are feeling astonished, asounded, out of this world, peachy,
extravagant, fabulous, fantastic, phenomenal, terrific, etc.

Really and truly, I hope you enjoyed all the pictures, and are encouraged today!


Remember to: "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!" ~Psalm 100:1-2