Oscar was one of 6 contestants in the school speech contest. Theme: teens & technology
Pasture kickball with our country friends
Aliya Saunder's first communion
Odelia Colvin's first communion
Justice Matters Nehemiah Assembly at the Lied Center
Oscar was Prince Earl in the Frog Prince musical...Lucy was the stage manager.
Dave makes a chicken tractor for our chickens. He moves the tractor to fresh grass every day...lucky chickens!
...craft night...
Lucy with school friends, Julia & Gavin
Lucy's confirmation sponsor, Becky Mullins
Archbishop Naumann celebrated the confirmation
Oscar as the server in charge of the bishop's mitre
Lucy & her birthmom, Jennifer and Meadow.
Lucy's birthsister, Meadow, came along to celebrate!
The youth group squad...
Lucy's fan club - Grandma Maureen, Reese, Meadow & Jennifer
7th & 8th grade theater class
Lucy acts as a member of the Johnson family on Family Feud who wins the kindness challenge
Oscar is kid president who won the election (along with his mom & sister) - and Connor shows his disappointment in losing
Good bye, Mini. Our black cat got sick then disappeared. These were great litter mates and mousers. We'll miss you Mini.
1 tractor +
1 implement from our neighbor +
1 amazing man =
our new garden!
Lucy's 8th grade class standing in front of part of their Holocaust exhibit
A fun day hanging out at the park with our McPherson family.
Grandma Maureen & Lucy
Oscar's cheering section - Grandma Maureen, Reese, Aunt Colleen, and Tim (behind the camera) all came to hear him.
St John's band & orchestra at the St Cecilia music fest
Easter Vigil at Corpus Christi
Sam, Billy & Andy all were baptized and became Catholic...what a wonderful celebration!
Meeyoung & Erin
Erin & office mates, Ian & Jim, all volunteered for Junior Achievement.
Lucy's History Day display board on Michelangelo
Miss Fairchild and Mrs Buckner, Lucy's History Day teachers
Pippa White, one of our favorite storytellers, comes to Kansas City
Lucy & Oscar present at the regional club days and Oscar plays his clarinet - they all received purple ribbons!
Mr. Gray and Mr. Black sleeping
We love our cats so... They are soaking up the sun.
Lucy serving Palm Sunday mass
Lucy serving adoration.
Snorta with the Holman-Heberts.
Lucy holding a duck. Poor Lucy had her first experience with allergies and is modeling her swollen face. :(
Oscar holding a ferret at Pet World.
Lucy holding Meadow.
Lucy holding Greyson.
A bowl dad made Mom for her birthday.
Oscar with a dove at Pet World.
One of Dave's famous cutting boards.
Hanging out with the Handzas
Lucy and Oscar.
Lucy and Mr. Black.
Oscar and Alexis building a miniature locker.
Lucy, Oscar, and Alexis dressed up for a party.
Lucy and her class on the D.C. trip.
Oscar with a rabbit.
Oscar's white rabbit.
Oscar skiing...
Lucy and Dad skiing...
Lucy putting away her skies.
Another picture of Lucy and Dad.
Making a puzzle with grandma Linsner.
Oscar's amazing tower of cups!
Lucy chops wood
A little visitor...
Butchering rabbits with Daniel & Bailey.
We had rabbit for diner. Tastes like chicken!
Lucy presents of confident presentation skills at our club meeting and at county club days where she won a top blue ribbon.
Oscar presents on the Heimlich Maneuver at our club & county club days where he won a top blue ribbon.
Lucy & Oscar pose with Donna Wiley who started our 4-H club 53 years ago and is still an active leader!
Oscar plays a clarinet solo at the county club days where he won a top blue ribbon.
Fun times with our family at our annual Christmas Open House
Oscar poses with Dave before the geography bee...
Oscar made it to the third to last round of the geography bee...
a wood pecker at our feeder
Oscar's science fair project is on thermal mass...
...anyone know if this is edible?
Dave's handmade Christmas present to Erin's mom...
Oscar shows us his moves on the ice.
Lucy checks out the ice...for as clumsy as she is, she has a knack for staying upright on ice skates
Mr Gray watches the ice skaters.
Playing Apples to Apples with Tim & Lucy D...thanks to Oscar's birthfather, Jeramy, for giving us this fun social game for Christmas!
We invited a bunch of our North Village friends for a New Year's Day brunch...so fun to hang out with our cool country friends!
...more North Village friends...
Lucy D gets in on sledding fun down our driveway
Lucy finds her form...
Oscar picks up speed...
Tim goes off course
Oscar bought a ukulele with his Christmas money.
Oscar & Dave cut down our Christmas tree from the woods behind our house!
Sam, Meeyoung, Billy & Andy join us for dinner
Erin's work buddies...Gina treated us to a Rotary lunch and music from the LHS a cappella choir.
...hanging out at Thanksgiving...
The St John beginning & advanced bands
Oscar & Katie make up the clarinet section...
Posing before the Christmas concert
Oscar tries out a brainy jigsaw puzzle
The McLains celebrate Thanksgiving at Colleen's new house in KC.
Jaime & Corey McLain (Erin's bro)
Crazy hair day at St Johns
Casey & Corey McLain (Erin's bros)
Lucy gets braces!
Farm work on a fall day...
Mr Gray climbs high in the tree
sorting silverware with Susan
Dave & Oscar take a hike using Granddad's hand-carved hiking sticks.
The Earth Care Committee washes dishes for the school dinner auction.
Oscar hang out with a cat on the tractor.
Oscar's 7th grade class takes a 4-day field trip to Denver, CO
Hanging at the Mother Cabrini shrine
Stopping by Victoria, KS on the way back to Lawrence.
Trick-or-treating with the Scooby gang...
Aunt Sue & Mary come for a crazy visit
Dad gets help with tractor work
Hitting Mass St with Oscar's birthfamily.
Lucy celebrates her birthday with Julia by getting Ravenclaw shirts made at the awesome ACME store.
Our little girl turns 14!
Celebrating Lucy's birthday with Grandma & Grandpa Schmidt
Lucy & Oscar attend a murder mystery party for teens at the library.
Erin went on a retreat with friends Kris & Cheryl to Victoria, KS
...up in the bell tower in Victoria, KS...
Mr. Gray, the hunter
All ready for a fun family dance - Tanner & Darcie's wedding reception
Tanner & Darcie tie the knot!
...funky clouds...
Dan Saunders celebrates the big 40!
Uncle Patrick and Aunt Merilyn come for a visit.
How many girls can you fit in the back seat of a car?
Helping out at Circle O Hedge School's Farm Tour
Posing with Lucy after the spelling bee.
Lucy took 4th place in the school spelling bee!
Lucy cleans out a chicken...and saved a chicken foot to show her school friends. :)
Oscar and Dave enjoy a campfire.
Lucy & Greyson hang out among the excitement of welcoming Meadow.
Lucy, Greyson, Jennifer, Meadow & Jimmy
Lucy's birthmother, Jennifer, welcomes her third child, Meadow!
Oscar sports his new glasses. He's very nearsighted and while he didn't want glasses, he wears them faithfully and is amazed at how well he can see.
Lucy coordinated the St John Read to Feed team. Here she is at the back to school open house to collect the money the team raised for Heifer International for their summer reading.
Oscar serenades the great outdoors
1st day of school - Fall 2015
Lucy 8th & Oscar 7th
Junior High locker party...
Oscar and Dave construct a rabbit hutch.
Oscar & Chase hit the wristband night at the fair...hours of unlimited rides!
Lucy signed up for the wood working project and Dave helped her make 2 wooden cutting boards. They were made of oak end-grain. She completed them the night before the fair and they won a blue & purple ribbon!
Lucy put together a party tableware kit for her 4-H leadership project consisting of reusable plastic plates & cups, metal silverware and cloth napkins that can be checked out from our parish. Above Lucy marks the silverware with a red nail polish dot.
Lucy talking to the judge about her cutting board.
Oscar, our tie dye king, goes strong this year. He went through 15 tubes of dye and made a lot of shirts, aprons, socks and even a tea towel...because what kitchen couldn't use a little more color?!? He entered 3 shirts in the county fair and they each won a blue ribbon!
Lucy & her birth brother, Greyson
Greyson thoroughly enjoyed his first taste of sugar!
Uncle Sam and Aunt Reese...a guaranteed good time when these guys are around!
Lucy's birth brother, Greyson, turns 1...and Jennifer, a party planner by profession, planned a great celebration!
Oscar makes an amazing creation with his Keva planks.
The amazing Lawrence Library hosted a lock-in at the library for 25 lucky teens. The evening included games, videos, cooking, and capture the flag complete with full-out running in the library. Lucy & Oscar had a blast and didn't get one minute of sleep all night!
Celebrating Sr Mary Liz's Golden Jubilee - 50 years of being a sister!
Oscar's birthfamily comes through for a visit on their way home from KC.
Lucy takes a donkey riding lesson from farmer Sophie.
Part of the island is washing away and our house seen here was literally in the water...
Dave found a coconut on a beach walk to Pelican Island.
McLain Family Vacation 2015 - Dauphin Island, Alabama
Oscar takes in some close-range bird watching from our deck.
Fun at the water park!
Roasting hot dogs at Oscar's 12th birthday camp out with friends, Connor & Chase
Lucy returns from a walk in the woods with wild flowers in her braids.
Lucy was away at Grandma & Grandpas so Oscar served mass by himself...and did a great job!
Lucy & Oscar spend the day at Schlitterbahn with Lucy's birthfamily.
Tim O'Brien turns 50 and has a fun musical open house/party.
Late night music fun at Tim's 50th...
Our neighbors, Doug & Bayliss, hosted a super fun Homestead Hoedown. Dave took riders for a hay ride.
Lucy & Oscar help grandpa out by mowing his lawn!
Grandma McLain made a quilt for Oscar - it really brightens up his new room!
Oscar says farewell to his 8th grade book buddies, Raegan and Erika, at their 8th grade graduation.
Oscar made the Eagle Honor Roll and Lucy made the Principal Honor Roll.
Oscar plays the clarinet in the spring concert.
St. John's Alleluia Singers
Sticky note covers made for mother's day and teacher gifts.
7th grade girls
...our actors...
Robin Hood, the school's musical.
Lucy is the basket maker, though we called her the basket case. :)
Lucy sings in the chorus
Oscar is one of the rich people
Grandma Maureen, Casey and Grandma & Grandad McLain come to cheer on the young actors.
Oscar's birthmother, Michelle, came by for dinner and to check on the progress.
Oscar ran track again this year.
Michael Kennedy & Leeann Hartwick - amazing teachers & coaches
Oscar & Chase hang out on the canoe
Fun in the park with our friends Billy & Andy
Lucy gives her 4-H project talk at the Neuvant Home in Lawrence
Oscar & Chase make us a sweet Dutch baby for breakfast!
Lucy take her free flight lesson that she won at a camp last summer...and the pilot offers to take Oscar along, too...his first trip into the sky!
Lucy & Julia hang out downtown and are caught by a reporter and Lucy appears in the paper the following day...
Oscar breaks in our griddle making pancakes with corn meal that Tim grew and ground in our mill.
Oscar attempts to suck the filling out of a chocolate egg with a straw.
The 7th & 8th grade theater class. Lucy's team performed The Giving Tree.
Good bye 1314 Kentucky #6
A great new game - the top of the cistern is the perfect 'court' for it.
Oscar's band performed in a catholic school's concert.
Our little clarinetist
Lucy & Oscar serve mass on Palm Sunday.
We went to Chick Days and bought 17 chicks...12 hens and 5 meat birds (not to be named)...
For the hens, we got Americanas, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Silver-laced Wyandottes, Gold-laced Wyandottes, Cinnamon Queens, and a Blue-laced Red Wyandottes
Sr Susan Yerkich, Oscar's 5th grade math teacher, passed away on 2/23/15 at the age of 69. Oscar & Erin gardened with Susan and took care of her cat, Gracie, her mail and gardens when she traveled last summer. Rest in peace sweet friend...we look forward to tending the heavenly gardens with you.
Lucy was selected as one of three 7th graders to participate in Math Jeopardy. Dave poses for a pic with our math wiz.
Lucy is one of six students at St. John school to be awarded for the virtue of the month: FORTITUDE! Fortitude is the drive inside your heart to continue with things get hard to do or are painful. You stand up for your beliefs, even though your belief may not be the most popular idea. You show courage in trying new things and are able to continue on if you fail at something. You are strong in your faith in God and Jesus Christ as our savior and you find peace within that faith.
proud papa!
a happy chicken pot pie...
Crazy hair day at school...
The St John Earth Care Committee volunteered to wash the dishes after the school auction. I'm here to tell you this crew knows how to have a good time! :)
Erin, Marlee & Jane dry and sort silverware.
Lucy's valentines - magnetic clothes pins with scrabble initial - for use in lockers. :)
Oscar's valentine gnomes
An amazing picture that Aunt Colleen took over Christmas!
Lucy gives her 1st project 4-H talk at County Club Days in Leavenworth. It was on on Confident Communication Skills and she received a top blue!
Oscar gives his first project talk at County Club Days in Leavenworth. It was entitled Healthy Hydration and he received a top blue!
Oscar's science fair project was on how different music affects a person's heart beat.
Lucy's science fair project was on how pigment affects the color of an object.
Oscar made us a big batch of pancakes.
making posters for the 4-H project talks
Oscar gave his 4-H talk on healthy hydration.
Lucy gave her 4-H talk on confident conversation skills.
Oscar & Chase
Louise & Lucy
Julia & Lucy at the junior high formal. We are very impressed with St John school and all the fun things they do, esp for the junior high. The highlight of this formal for Lucy was the flashlight tag. And the smart teachers there had the kids put the room back in order before they had the drawing for the i-tunes gift cards! :)
Dressed up (complete with attitude) ready for the junior high formal.
Lucy & Oscar were on their school's Future City team and went to K-State to compete against other schools. Oscar was on the presenting team. It was a wonderful experience...look at how intent these judges were to hear the ideas that their team came up with!
Lucy gets outfitted to go skiing with the junior high!
bundled up and ready for skiing at Snow Creek
Lucy & Oscar both made the honor roll!
Fun at the park with cousins...Christmas in Kansas turned out to be a beautiful day!
Believe it or not, this is a skit of the Christmas story.
Our apartment Christmas tree...the top of a pineapple...thanks to our creative boy, Oscar, who really likes to decorate for holidays...
A hot pot meal with Clayton & Jo. Everything lined up on the counter is placed in the cooking dish in the middle of the table in courses. Each person makes up a sauce in their bowl and after each course cooks, everyone can serve themselves from the pot. So fun & so yummy...why hasn't this caught on in America!
Sorting and inventorying food at Just Food with friends
The St John Alleluia singers perform
Lily, Jazzy, Oscar & Clara get ready for their first band concert.
Lucy & Oscar volunteer as elves at the Children's Holiday Shop.
The 6th grade theater class
Oscar is King Cole
Lucy & Haven make a volcano for science class
Lucy's 7th grade class took a 4 day field trip to Denver, Colorado.
They stayed at the Mother Cabrini Shrine in the Old Stone House...
Fun included a trip to Casa Bonita.
A view of Denver from the shrine.
They were snowed in at the shrine one day with 8 inches of snow
Hanging out at the land...enjoying a great fall day!
Goodbye to our sweet friend, Sr Marcella. We will miss your kind spirit & amazing smile at St. John.
a tired boy after a very busy weekend...
Hay ride for Lucy's 13th birthday
All ready for hide-and-seek in the forest
Jason, Billy & Andy have their first canoe ride.
A day at the park with our new friends Jason, Billy & Andy.
Grandpa Schmidt turns 70
playing in the fog...
Our former KC neighbors, Mary Ann & Gene stop to see us on a visit from Nevada.
The 6th grade celebrates All Saints Day by giving a skit during the homily at the school mass.
Erika, Lucy & Clara at the junior high black & white party.
Oscar & his buddies at the junior high black and white party.
80's day at school. Lucy & Oscar couldn't believe that we pinched our jeans tight and rolled them up...and actually thought that was cool.
School junior high party - theme: black & white. Mom & Dad came at the end of the party to wash dishes and can attest that everyone had a great time...lots of games (flashlight tag was a fav), photo booth, and group dancing
The 6th grade class receive bibles from Fr Mike.
The awesome and newly formed St John's Earth Care Committee doing some recycling at the Oktoberfest.
Oscar canters at a school mass...so sweet.
Erin's Christ Renews His Parish team...amazing St John's women and Fr Jeff
Oscar sings in the choir for the all-school mass.
Lucy & Oscar helped coordinate Heifer International's Read to Feed program this summer.
The St John Read to Feed team raise $2090 and bought: 1 heifer, 3 schools of fish, 1 water buffalo, 2 llama, 2 sheep, 1 pig, 1 goat, tree seedlings, 3 rabbits, 2 honeybee hives, 2 flocks of chicks, a flock of ducks, & a flock of geese.
Lucy & her birthmom, Jennifer, and baby Grayson
Our St. John school girl, Lucy
Oscar has fancy pancakes to begin a day of celebration for his 11th birthday!
Orienteering at South Park with new St John friends.
1st day of school: Aug 18, 2014
4th of July progression - shooting fireworks at our land in the afternoon...
...more fireworks with Willa...
...crutches in order for the following day from a twisted ankle on the trampoline.
Lucy participated in the Kansas Aviation Youth Camp at the Lawrence airport - and was given a certificate for a free flying lesson!
July 3, 2014: Lucy prepares for her first time off the ground. Pilot Cheri takes her up on N172-Foxtrot-Romeo.
Sporting the head gear.
Lucy even controlled the flight for a time...and when she landed she was jealous of the birds. :)
Oscar got 'egged' at the St John fiesta
Oscar is growing his hair out - here he sports 'crazy hair'
Oscar is selfie-crazy
Monkeying around at Just Food with Maya, Elijah & Gigi
A month later the project is nearly finished at Just Food...Will & Jack help us with the final crates of food to be sorted.
Volunteering at Just Food on the first day of summer.
Helping sort 24,000 lbs of food with Andrew, Clara & Willa.
St John Junior High Honor Roll Students
Lucy earned a 4.0!
Oscar makes us chocolate chip cookies!
The St John Alleluia Singers
Oscar sings with the Alleluia Singers
in their spring performance.
Lucy goes to the junior high party
St John junior high friends
Oscar was Acorn, the dancing squirrel & Lucy was Margret, the fabric shopper in the St John musical, Cinderella
A friendly audience watching Cinderella
Easter Family pic...and yes, the kids wore shoes to Easter morning mass.
Oscar runs the dashes
Oscar's #1 fans
St John track team
team spirit day at St. John school...
Lucy has taken a couple horse riding lessons at Fox Eye Ranch in Lawrence
Kansas City friends, Vivian & Nora
playing basketball with Oscar's birthfamily
Oscar was part of the St John green team who won a grant for raised beds
good bye 6509 Holmes Rd...
a farewell party with St. Peter's 6th grade friends
February 17, 2014 first day at St. John Catholic School in Lawrence