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.