World War I Museum--Atop the tower

 

Vaccination Day!

                                         

Birthday Season 2021 is complete!

Left to Right: Isaiah is 13, Mara is 7, Gideon is 3, Bernadette is 11, Kateri is 9, and Pia is 5

                           Our baby shark (not such a baby anymore)!

Homemade doughnuts to celebrate All Saints' Day and Mara's baptism day

 

Ready to take on Daddy in a fencing match at the Shakespeare Festival

 

Fun at Ben and Beth's wedding

 

Benefit bake sale for Chase Downard

Making pillows for Grandpa Peter

 

The last diapers

It was a risky venture, to decide to potty train Gideon without warning, while beginning a new school year and adding a new student (welcome to kindergarten, Pia!). There were bribes (M&Ms: official potty training candy of the Friedrichs family), power struggles, many many clothing changes, endless books read to the protesting potty sitter, and school lessons done or checked in the bathroom while Mama sat with him. When the dust settled, Gideon was happily wearing underpants, and our very last two packages of diapers were dropped off at Habitat, to be brought home by a new family. Onward!

First professional haircut

He swears he'll never let Mama cut his hair again, and we weren't sure he'd let Pam do it, either, but he did, and she was great!

Book club on the couch

 

Coolest appliance in the house...

 

Junior Reserve Grand Champion

 Table setting: a Michaelmas Feast. Yay, Kateri!!

 

Like Mama

All his life Gideon has watched me read before bed. On this night, I returned from the bathroom to find him immersed in the poems of Phillis Wheatley. 

Handsome, Happy, Loves Trains

 

In Pia's Words

 (After being helped by her mother to blow her nose): "Thanks! Now I can snort like a warthog!"

"Behind the clouds, the sun looks like another cloud that caught on fire."

Mom (Trying to shoo Pia out of the bedroom): "I'm going to get ready for bed now."

Pia: "OK. I'll go. I don't want to see your butt."

I'm serious!

 

Mask portraits

 

Shakespeare Week--September 2020

When the Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival was cancelled due to COVID-19, we started planning the first Friedrichs Family Shakespeare Week. The kids colored Shakespeare quotes, played with Shakespeare character finger puppets, baked Shakespeare cookies, enjoyed music and films based on Shakespeare plays, and learned scenes from "Twelfth Night" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Here are a few photos from a very fun and memorable week, which ended with an outdoor performance and a great party.

Golden boy

Photos by Aunt Liz

adventurous

Mom's birthday

The boy (Gideon)

front porch view

Sunday morning