Elainea's First Communion - June 8, 2013

Elainea looked so precious!

Elainea and Fr. Vidal

Wow it is November and fall is already gone and I have not posted since the spring. Boy how life goes so fast these days. I love watching my children grow and how quickly they change. Part of me is frightened at how quickly it goes by. This summer we introduced the kids to camping. Had a blast camping with some friends and family.

Hannah threw a surprise anniversary party for us. It is hard to imagine that Joe and I have been married for 15 years now. Hannah turned 9, Elainea turned 6 and Hayden turned 3. We will not discuss the other two birthdays in the family as they are now on the bi-annual basis (Joe and I both agree to this philosophy).

Learning a lot about ADHD and dyslexia. Hannah is learning how cruel kids can be. Trying to find so tools to help Hannah feel good about herself.

The girls joined the Children's Choir at St. Mary's. Hannah has a beautiful voice. Elainea has a contagious energy and sings with gusto. We just need to help her find the right notes...

Hayden started preschool and loves art. He is taking after his Grandpa and Grandma Joe and JoAnn in that department.

The kids started at a new daycare so they can start to take some music lessons. Hannah wants to play the guitar and Elainea wants to play the piano.

Hayden likes to play with cars and trucks!

Enjoy the pics!

Union Station

Cute as a button.

I did not tell her to pose that way. It was all Hannah.

We took the kids to Union Station so Hayden could see the trains. Little did we know that he would be petrified because of the size of them. We thought he would love them since he is so enthralled with Thomas the Train. We tried to put him on the engines and he just cried and cried. The girls however loved it and we got some great photos.

Camping at North Fork

We went camping with some friends and had a blast. They saved a spot for us and we joined them for a couple of days. When we pulled up they had reserved us a parking space and then made us a sign for our tent. I must say our tent received a lot of attention. All that seems to be missing is the picket fence and some window boxes! After getting back both Joe and I agree that we are too old for tent camping!

Elainea's Kindergarten Graduation

She did it!

Not only did she do it, she nailed it! When Elainea started the year she was in the 30th percentile. They figured it was because of being in an orphanage. Then she started school and had Spainish thrown at her. She finished the year in the 90th percentile. YOU GO GIRL! Do not get me wrong I would have been proud of her anyway, but I am so proud to see that she is flourishing. She is so excited to start going to a full day of school next year. Lets hope for a fast summer!

Stevens Graduation

My nephew graduated from High School and I did his senior pictures. I thought I would post a few.

Easter 2011 (cont.)

Easter 2011

Time is like the wind, it lifts the light and leaves the heavy. ~Doménico Cieri Estrada

So much time has gone by since I have posted last. Hayden had his tonsils out, Hannah got braces and Elainea is now reading. Wow! It is amazing how so much can change in four months. We just celebrated Easter and we are all pretty exhausted. When school is in we are pretty much in a rut of work, dinner, homework and bed during the week, and try to get the house in order on the weekend. I wonder what next school year will bring when Elainea will be going full days and Hannah starts the fourth grade. I am worried about her progress this year. I was so hoping we could get her up to standards with her schoolwork. The girl can not focus for more than five minutes on any task.

I thought I would share some pictures of the kids on Easter. I do not even know if anyone still looks at this blog or not, but I will maintain just in case...

Thanksgiving Day!

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~ GB Stern.

Well today I wanted to start some new Thanksgiving traditions in our family. I wanted to create something that was uniquely ours so our children would remember our holidays together. We started with our Thanksgiving tree. We drew a tree on a big strip of paper. I am going to transfer it to poster board and hung it on a door. We then cut out leaves and wrote on them what we are thankful for. Here is what we wrote:
Joe: The ability to provide.
Pam: My Faith
Hannah: Shelter, Food and Love
Elainea: My Family
Hayden: Frucks (Trucks)

We then sat around our candlelit table with our best linens and dishes and ate tacos with cold duck. We toated to each of our gratitudes. We laughed and had a wonderful time.

A day at Lagoon

Joe and Hannah on the 'Turn of the Century'

Our little tail gunner. Grandpa Joe would have been so proud!

Our little flying ace!

Not sure who is driving this boat, but Hayden sure liked the bell.

My Mom works at Lagoon so we can afford to take the kids to Lagoon. Every year employee Lagoon day and Catholic Lagoon day are on the same Sunday. We go and have a blast. This year Hayden enjoyed all the rides. He loved driving the boats and cars, but I think he liked the helicopters the most. Here are some pictures of the fun we had. Enjoy...

Hannah's First Communion

If we but paused for a moment to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament, I am sure that the thought of Christ's love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude."
- St. Angela of Foligno

What a wonderful day we had! We did not think that Hannah would be ready for this special sacrament, but we were told by our spiritual advisor that she will be ready. She really surprised us. She was one of six children selected from the 77 that were receiving first communion to be part of the offeratory procession. She was to bring up a bouquet of flowers. We selected roses in honor of Mary. Hannah was so reverent and respectful during the service. We are so proud of her. She looked flawless in her dress even though she has a rash over 85% of her body. She handled herself with such grace. Thanks to all of our friends and family that made this day so special for her and our family. This will be a day we remember for the rest of our lives!

Elainea's Art Show

A sincere artist is not one who makes a faithful attempt to put on to canvas what is in front of him, but one who tries to create something which is, in itself, a living thing.::: William Dobell :::

We are so proud of our little artist Elainea. Her preschool held an art show for all of the students. They had punch and cookies for all those that attended and I think Elainea ate her age in cookies and Hayden ate twice his age! Hayden thought it was awesome because the treats were on a table that was low enough for him to reach. I thought I would post some of the pictures of her artwork.

Happy Birthday Hannah

Hannah and her best friend Emily
The party kids

A new case for her DS

Climbing poles in her dress. Typical Hannah!

It is official, Hannah is 8 years old. I can not believe how time flies. We had a party for her and 12 of her friends at a fun center. They played laser tag and miniature golf. Hannah is very blessed to have such fun friends.

It is 3:30 in the morning and I am unable to sleep. I am worried about her. Her pediatrician recommended that she be evaluated by a psychiatrist for autism and she is seeing a pediatric neurologist to be evaluated for a tic she has developed. The pediatrician suspects Turret's syndrome.

I think she is getting teased by some of the kids in school because she is in a special reading class. I ask her to talk to me and I get the feeling that she is too embarrassed to share with us. I think this stems from her perfectionist tendencies and she feels that if she is not perfect we will not love her. Oh if she only knew how much she is loved by so many people!

I feel so utterly helpless right now. All parents want the best for their children. They do not want them to have the same feelings of alienation as they had growing up. My poor daughter has is so much worse than I ever did. I do not know if anyone even reads this blog anymore. I have not been the best at keeping it current. I just needed to get this out and did not want to call anyone at such a horrid hour.

Wishing you all well. Love Ya, Pam