Happy Spring!

It has been awhile! I missed posting. I ended up with a sprained rotary cuff and couldn't type except for very slowly with one hand. I am in a lot less pain now and it is slowly healing so I thought I would get some pictures posted and catch up a little on what we have been up to.

We have a new game that the kids and I are pretty obsessed with. It came in a cloth bag shaped like a banana. It is called Bananagrams. It has 144 tiles you put face down and depending on how many players, you pick up the amount of tiles it tells you. If 2 to 4 of us are playing you each get 21 tiles. All tiles are face down and you say "split" and each player turns their 21 tiles over and begins making words that connect just like scrabble. When a player has used all their letters they yell "peel" and everyone picks up an extra tile. This goes on until all 144 tiles are used. If you need to exchange a letter you yell "dump", but for each tile you exchange you have to pick up 3. Once all the tiles are out of the middle "bunch" and you use all your letters you yell "bananas". The other players can challenge you on any word they think is misspelled. If none are found you win. If a word is misspelled you become the "rotten banana" and are out until the next game. I am a very bad speller, but have become a little better over the years. I have beaten the kids most games until they examine my words and find I interchange a letter or two. Let me just say I have been the rotten banana a few times :)

A week or so ago Milo went in for a shampoo and a shave. I love when he is shaved and you can see all his spots. He smells much better too.

We have a big project going on here! We are getting a new couch. Ours is old and holey to say the least. Now most people just take the old couch out and get the new one delivered. Not us :) We bought one that has a couch, love seat, and wedge. So it will be bigger then our couch now. We had to remove the organ from the living room and put it in the kids bedroom. Since I can't lift anything indefinitely it was up to the kids. Of course I was right behind them taking pictures! Their room is starting to look more like a storage area, but that is how it has to be for now. The new set comes Wednesday so we have a lot of moving around to do by then.

Sunday was Easter, I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! We had a great one. The boys played their instruments in church for all 4 services. So they were gone by 5am. I went to the 8am service. They all sounded wonderful. There were 2 trombones, 2 trumpets, and a timpani drum along with our usual organ. After church we loaded the car and went to my sister's house for dinner. We also celebrated my niece's birthday which is coming up next week and my nephew was in from college. After dinner we watched a tape of a vacation we took together in 2001 to get in the mood for our trip coming up. We are all getting excited and can't wait.

I think I am all caught up now. I do have a few picture to put up. I am going to do that next.

Have a great day!

Our New Game

Milo's New Haircut

At Least They Made It To The Kitchen

Our kitchen is really small! It was not made to bring an organ through!

Will it Fit Through The Bedroom Door?

They Made It Into Their Bedroom

They Made It!

The organ is in it's new home!

Coloring The Eggs

We just did regular egg dye this year and only a dozen.

Easter Morning About 4:45am

Easter Day 2008

Happy Birthday Kimberly

The Hunt is Over!

A Note About the John Braden Diary

I should post every so often what this diary is and dates to let some one just coming to the blog know what these pages are and who wrote them.

John Braden is my great great grandfather. He was born December 19, 1864 in Illinois. He started this diary when he moved to Webster City, Iowa in 1898. The diary spans over a year with a few entries after.

I though since I am putting John Braden's diary on here, it might be a good idea to put some information about his family here too. I was just writing this last entry and looked at some of the dates I have that he wrote in the back of his diary and realized his wife, Lucina would at this time be pregnant with what will be twins. She also has a one year old (she will be my great grandmother) along with a 7 year old boy and a 4 year old boy when we left off in May of 1899. The twins will be born in October of 1899. I do wish I would have Lucina's thoughts on paper too. I am thankful for the diary I have, but it just peeks my curiosity about Lucina life. Here below is the information John wrote in the back of his diary.

John Braden was born in the year of 1864 December the 19th
Lucina Gatton was born in the year of 1867 November the 11th
Lora May Braden was born in the year 1891 of May the 4th
Harry Vanburen Braden was born in the year of 1892 September the 25th
John Young Braden was born in the year of 1895 June the 26th
Cora A. Braden was born in the year of 1898 June the 29th
Ray B. and Fay G. Braden were born in the year of 1899 October the 19th
Dorothy J. Braden was born in the year of 1902 July the 17th


Lora May Braden died May 26, 1893
Fay Gatton Braden died October the 15, 1900

Sadly it looks like when he wrote this diary they had already lost one child. They lose Fay just under a year after she was born.

Page Seventy Six John Braden's Diary

sunday the 16
i pout up the cook stove

monday the 17
pay day i got $9 65 paid the store $7 95

Wensday 26
graces baby dide yesterday morning we went to the funarl to day

monday the first of october
pay day i got $12 00 i paid the store bill $5 02 paid my father $1 00 i got $___ per day since last monday the 24

Page Seventy Five John Braden's Diary

thursday the 6
wife & effie went to Jeses & to the cannon factory

friday the 7
Effie & Kaloss folks went home to day wife left the babys with mrs broon & she went to the de pot with effie & blanch i quit work at for oclock & went to the depo

saturday the 8
i went up town after supper

sunday the 9
i worked untill noon in the foundry reading all after noon roat John a letter may & Vernal was here a little whill ed Braden came back

Page Seventy Four John Braden's Diary

SEPTEMBER the 2 sunday
effie went to church with Joe Barmes & at night she & wife went to the christian church

monday the 3
pay day paid the store bill $6 60

wensday the 5
the night of the cake walk Jo & famly mr & mrs Kallor elmer garfield & elsye ferril __ Phairs sadie Kaler mrs broon & children was here we all had a hot time we dansed one set pulled the old cow out of the mire looked for the north star & played other games to numerst to mentchan sung songs & played the fiddle rattled the bones Harry danced a jig

Page Seventy Three John Braden's Diary

monday the 20
pay day i paid the store bill $3 59

tuesday the 21
chart effie & lee Phairo came to Webester City chart & effie came here lee went to John magors

wensday the 22
chart went out to ferls

thursday the 23
____ & effie went up town

friday the 24
we all wint to georges for supper

saturday the 25
chart came tonight

sunday the 26
chart went to len cars to day came back here to night i don the choars i wint over to georges bought his 2 cows $70 00 & he give me the churn

monday the 27
pay day i paid the store bill $4 65 chart started for ill to day i bought wash boillar & wash board $1 50 lee Phairs came here to day i bought me a ___ $1 50