What we've been up to

We started memorial day weekend on our anniversary with a picnic and time at a playground. We grilled and roasted marshmallows, you see everyone begging for the ones hot from the grill. We even went to a baseball game. The game may have been a lot of fun except Timmy didn't like it. We were in the free section way in the back (so far away from most people). And for a while he looked at the parking lot, trains that occasionally went by, birds flying, the score board, even the game for a little bit. Then he wanted down to run and play and we put the leash on him, so he could have a little freedom. But it was never enough. No matter how far he could go, he wanted to go one step father. So he cried a good amount of the rest of the game. Well, maybe he'll do better next time.



We visited Kathy and Dale at their cabin on Sun - Mon of Memorial day weekend. It was a great time and their cabin (if you don't know was in need of a lot of love when they bought it) is looking great! We grilled and had a campfire. And the kids warmed up to Michelle's dog's. The guys got out some guns and did a little target practicing. Kathy and Dale also now have a paddle boat and we used it! It was fun, their pond is the perfect size for it. You can see fish, some snails at one end and just tool around. Timmy was so relaxed he fell asleep for one ride.


I love this picture. All three of them getting along so well, all it took was a golf cart. Alex drove the 3 of them around the pond a lot! Lucy (Michelle's, Dale's daughter, dog) even got a couple rides.


There were maybe a million tadpoles at Kathy and Dale's. In some spots the pond looked black there were so many. Here Dale and Randy are showing some to Timmy. (There were enough tadpoles Dale just reached in the pond and scooped them out.)



Max had his actual birthday on the 23. He got his presents from us and his siblings that day. He got 2 Pirates of the Caribbean lego sets. So there is opening them, and then everyone watching him put them together. It was a happy day.



Alex is working on his cycling merit badge for boy scouts. To earn this he must complete 2 - 10mile, 2- 15 mile, 2-25 mile and one 50 mile, bike rides. The 50 m. he needs to plan himself and complete in 8 hours. This is Alex after his first 25 mile bike ride (he accomplished 2 weeks ago). This ride was done with some other boy scouts, and an adult leader planned the ride. And Randy was nice enough to ride it with him.

Max's B-day Party

Friday, the boys had a 1/2 day of school, so Maxwell had his birthday party. He wanted his two best buddies from school over, Jason (has the orange headband on) and Ryan. So we picked them up from school to have them at our house for the day. I asked him if he wanted to play any birthday party games. I got a definate no, he just wanted to play.



Everyone went outside to run up in the tree house, sword fight and play on the tire swing. The game on the tire swing was to take turns being on the swing while everyone else threw balls at you. Everyone seemed to have fun. And as a side note, Timmy learned how to climb up the tree house ladder that day but can't get down yet.


A very serious game of Mario chess.


If you're a Steffen this photo needs no explanation. For everyone else, Max is going through the spanking machine. One of our kids started talking about it and Ryan and Jason thought that sounded like a lot of fun, and convinced Randy to let them set it up and send Max through it. So everyone lined up, legs spread apart, and Max crawled through to get birthday spankings. Everyone wanted a turn, but Randy said, "No, no, only the birthday boy goes through the spanking machine."


Max wanted ice cream cake for his party, so I found directions for one and made it. It was probably the easiest cake I've ever made. After ice cream cake the kids played outside some more, played more video games, more chess, and Randy grilled for supper. After supper we took the boys home.

Mother's Day and Fishing

Here's our latest family picture taken on Mother's Day.






I was spoiled with a very nice, relaxing Mother's Day. We had a nice breakfast with Kathy and Dale after church, then split up and our family went for a drive, which I love to do on Sun. We went all the way to a beach on Lake Ontario. It was cold so we didn't sick around too long but long enough to let the kids run and yell for a little. We had a late lunch, (after going to a restaurant that had closed and one that turned us away). Walked to see my mom's memorial stone at church, played at the play ground and ended the day playing in our on yard. It was a great day - with very minimal fighting and whining- yea kids!



Max's cub scout den went fishing Monday. Nobody caught anything but there were lots of nibbles. Randy said the boys had a lot of fun despite nothing was caught.

In the Garden

We decided to mulch our flower bed in front of the house this year. We also put some edging in and planted some hanging flowers, strawberries, peppers and tomatoes. Sophia was very excited to help, and did a lot of helping. Henry helped a little, but mostly played in the yard.



Timmy didn't really help with the gardening he mostly ate goldfish and bopped around.

Exciting Week

Max received his 1st Communion this Saturday (April 28). He was so excited when the big day came. He was very glad Grandma, Aunt Coco, Kelli, Aunt Sara, Oliver and Parker could be here for his big day. It was a nice ceremony, we were all proud of him. We came back to the house to celebrate with pizza, opening gifts and hanging out with our family. It was a great time.



These pictures should probably be flip-flopped. First is Max leaving the church and the next is Max reading part of the responsorial psalm. He did a great job.



There's Max so proud,and here's our family so proud of him.


Here's Grandma after the ceremony with the grandkids that were here. The first row is Sophia, Grandma, and Kelli. Behind them is Timmy, Parker, Oliver and Henry. And standing are Alex and Max.



Here's Max with his 1st Communion cake. It was his idea to have a chalice and hosts as his 1st communion dessert. We all enjoyed eating it.




On Monday Alex received his Arrow of Light. It is the highest honor a cubscout can earn. He also became an official boyscout and will attend his first boyscout meeting this Monday (April 30). He was very excited and is looking forward to boyscouts.

Other moments at Sara and Eric's

Timmy stuffing his face on the way to Sara and Eric's.


Right after I took this picture. Alex said, "Mom, we're not playing together." I replied, "I never said you were." Alex came back with, "I know you took the picture to make it look like we were playing together. But we're not." So for the record Alex and Oliver are only playing side by side. :)





We spent a fair amount of time outside - in the sandbox, on the swing set, picking dandelions, just playing.


Everyone took turns trying to build a tower taller than they were, they weren't successful but had a lot of fun trying.


An empty box is always fun!

Easter at Sara and Eric's

At about the last minute we decided to make the drive to Illinois to spend Thurs.- Mon. of Easter weekend with Sara (Randy's littlest sister) and her family. We had so much fun! The kids played well. The sun shined and the weather was nice. Best of all we did a lot of relaxing and visiting and just hanging out. It was wonderful. (Of course there were the not so wonderful moments at mass Thurs. and Friday. Well moments might be an understatement. But the kids were nice enough to take turns having there difficulties. Parker took Thursday and Timmy took Friday. Needless to say we weren't the only ones in the cry room/ back of the church.)





Easter Eve. I believe Sara had the brilliant idea of having the kids take turns one at a time dying their eggs. And then as the eggs sat in their assigned colored cups we read the kids stories. It worked amazingly well!!! We will be making this a tradition at our house each Easter Eve from now on.





Easter morning!! After staying up late chatting, all the adults were glad the kids waited till a little after 7 to wake up. As you can tell by the red jell between Timmy's teeth and Parker's sticky peep smile the 2 littlest were much more interested in the candy than the eggs. But all 7 kids had fun searching for eggs, and checking out their Easter baskets.


Each year the Easter frog comes to our house and so he hopped his way over to Sara and Eric's to find us again. He leaves rocks hidden around the house and terrible canned goods nobody wants to eat. Here are the 3 oldest with there treasures from their amphibian friend.



No Easter is complete without family pictures right? It was beautiful so we took them outside. You all know all of the ya-hoos in our family. If you don't know the other family is Eric and Sara (Randy's littlest sister) and their children Parker, 1, and Oliver, 3.





At the end of the day, Alex and Max hid plastic eggs outside so the younger kids could have an outside egg hunt as a nice end to all our Easter fun.



On our way home we made a quick little stop to see my Aunt Eileen (we would have liked to see Uncle Pat and my cousins as well but understandably everyone had to work). It was so sweet, there was a Easter basket for each of our little munchkins and an inside egg hunt awaited them. They had a lot of fun. And have enjoyed their goodies. It was so nice to stop, we only wish it could have been longer.