Tuesday, October 29, 2019

First Snow!

When I was a child, growing up in Kansas City......
When I taught school in both Kansas and then Nebraska.....
When my children were little.......

And even now...........
It's always so exciting to see the first snowflakes coming down!

Isaac was the first one out of the house to enjoy it!






This morning there was still snow on the ground before it started to melt.



More snow is expected tonight and into tomorrow!
It's starting to feel very holiday-ish!

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Life Skills Continue!


Living in an older home certainly gives the boys new and expanding opportunities to
learn those life skills that are so important!

We had a new water heater installed, as well as a softener and RO system.  Getting the
very messed up wall painted, behind where the old equipment was, was a top priority.

The delightful green wall behind the washer/dryer will have to wait until another time.........













The boys came through with flying colors!

They also painted the stairs to the basement with a textured deck paint to prevent
slipping.  This is all getting wrapped up before the carpet is installed!!!
Primer coat was applied first.

Poor Isaac was fighting a cold and cough and was wearing out fast.




Great job to all of the Krause men!  You three did a
marvelous job!!

A New AWANA Experience!

Isaac and Joshua are certainly having a fun, and new, AWANA experience!!
They were a bit nervous at first at joining in with a new, and much bigger group,
but they are having a BLAST!



Actually, we all are!!


Monday, October 21, 2019

Beautiful Autumn Trees

With the weather cooling down, the trees all around Lincoln and the surrounding
area are turning many lovely colors.

Isaac found this one when we were out doing errands.



Beautiful trees by the Seward Library.





And the trees in our yard are absolutely lovely!






Enjoy all the lovely colors!


Monday, October 14, 2019

Swimming Lessons!

Years ago, our older children all took swimming lessons from Mrs. Todd, who had a huge
pool house in the back of her property.  Lessons went year round, and our children
made great progress and all became accomplished swimmers.  Mrs. Todd has long since
retired and moved out of state.

Isaac and Joshua never really had an opportunity for lessons in Arizona.
It seemed as if we were always out of town during the sign up period for the local outdoor
pool.  Rachel tried teaching them at her apartment pool, and when we stayed at RV parks that had
pools, we worked on basic skills there, too.

But they never really learned much and had a big fear.
So imagine my great surprise, and total delight, when I found out that the lady who bought
Mrs. Todd's home and pool house years ago, also gives year round lessons!  
I immediately signed them both up
for beginner lessons, which they passed with flying colors.  Hurray!
So the tradition continues!



Talk about deja vu........it's probably been 18 years since we've been here
for swimming lessons!  
This is also about two blocks from where Joe grew up.











Isaac is ready to jump off the diving board.



Joshua - mid jump!


I think they boys will progress nicely.  They seem to have overcome their fear and
really enjoyed their lessons!

On to Level 3!!

And just for the fun of it..............we had cold, rainy weather for their last
lesson, so this is how they looked!


Homeschool Lego Club

The boys love LEGO's and they were thrilled to find out that there was a
homeschool lego club.  We quickly joined in the fun!

The theme for this week was "Skyscrapers".









****************************

The next meeting's theme was something from your favorite book or movie.

Isaac built the mountain and pirate traps from "Swiss Family Robinson"!



Joshua built Caire Paravel from the Narnia series!



Fun times!

Settling In


We were grateful that our ABF trailer made it to Nebraska in one piece!



Everything looked like it held in place fairly well.  Joe's pointing to Pastor Paul's
water that he mistakenly left in the trailer! Ha Ha!



Isaac and Joshua really pulled their weight and then some!  Between Joe, who has
back problems, and the boys, they got the majority of the items out.
We did have a helper for the extra heavy things - one of the remodelers who was
interested in making a little more money!







Finally........a meal in the kitchen!



Figuring out the best place for everything is challenging!





And the yard.......and flowerbeds!  So much to do!!





But the yard looks gorgeous with all of the mowing that Joe did!




Very peaceful and serene........I think we're going to be very happy here!

Getting There......

Ready to hit the road!!!!



We started off in fine shape, making it through Albuquerque early in the morning, which was a
huge improvement.  Traffic there is so bad!!!
But then we soon entered into Colorado, where we always have trouble.
We have experienced terrible thunderstorms, a flat tire two years ago, saw a horrible wreck in the torrential rain, and on and on it goes.

This time was no different.  We had stopped at a rest stop to use the bathroom, and Isaac noticed that one of the trailer tires looked a bit low.  I looked further at it and saw a large screw buried in the rubber.  Ugh.  Fortunately we had a spare, which Joe and the boys quickly got on.






We had to stop in Colorado Springs the following morning to see if the Walmart Tire Center
had the trailer tire we needed - to replace the spare.  Fortunately they did.

While we waited, we watched a large number of hot air balloons soaring over the city!



The delay put us behind schedule about a day, but we all cheered once we left Colorado 
and entered into Nebraska!



The remaining trip was uneventful, thank goodness!  We celebrated by stopping
by one of our favorite Nebraska restaurants - RUNZA!


Loading Up!

We had a GREAT team of helpers you very generously gave of their day to help us
load the ABF truck.  But on the flip side, it was a wonderful day of fellowship and great fun!







Isaac and Joshua were a huge help, not only in the packing up, but in loading totes!



Pastor Paul was the master in organizing the interior of the truck!



I think Mr. Chad and Joshua quickly decided that four totes at one time
was too much!





Plenty of food to go around for all of the hard workers!!!





Mr. Kaufman and Joshua horsing around!



The Crew!
Zach Ryan, Luke Kaufman, Pastor Paul, Chad Peterson, Josh Ryan, Mike Kaufman, Joe





Thanks everyone for your wonderful help!