Spring Concert and Art Show - May 14

All 3 kids, (Sophia, Max and Alex ) had 2 pieces of art in the art show this year. The kids got to choose what they displayed in the show.  I ,of course, forgot the camera.  After the art show was the spring concert. The band performed 1st and Alex had a solo. (Like I said, I forgot the camera! Ugh!). He did a nice job and sounded really good.  Later Max sang with his class during their chorus part of the performance. It didn't look like he moved his mouth, but he assured us he was singing. :)

May Crowning and Cub Scouts Moving Up Ceremony - May 13

May crowning at St. Rose has become a big deal for the 6th graders.  The 6th grade does much of the mass.  They get to dress up and then get to go out for lunch with their classmates and parents after mass.  (If you don't know May crowning is a special day Catholics remember Mary. We remember what a wonderful example she is to us in her total obedience to God when she agreed to being Jesus' mother. )

St. Rose 6th graders.  Alex is in the middle row 3rd from the left.

Aunt Kathy was nice enough to take the 3 littlest so Randy and I could both be there.

Alex and his best buddy, Ethan.

Jeffery, Jacob, Michael, and Alex.

The cub scouts had their moving up ceremony Monday night. Max completed all the requirements for his Bear badge and is now considered a Weblo.  (The parents (and little brothers if you have them) go up and stand next to their child when they receive their badge so we did a picture at home).  Congrats Max !

I made a cake for the ceremony.  There is a bridging over part for the Weblos 2 who become boy scouts.

Mother's Day - May 12

When you have 6 kids . . .

to get a picture of you and all of them, it takes . . .

many . . .

many tries . . .

to get a good one.

I had a great Mother's Day this year. It was a relaxing, laid back day with a trip out for breakfast with Kathy, Dale, Samantha and her boyfriend Jay, not too mention Randy and our crew. A long drive to nowhere (which I love on a Sunday), ice cream for lunch and more relaxing later on.  Not too mention well behaved children ,and many wonderful hand-made gifts.

Sophia's Ballet Recital - May 8

This school year Sophia took ballet on Wednesdays from October - April.  On Wednesday, May 8 she and 2 other little ballerinas performed the dance they had been working so hard on all year.  It was great!  She was very pleased with all the flowers she received.  And she was so happy that Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dale were there, as well as her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Cerivno.

Before the show with her flowers from Aunt Wendy and (godfather) Uncle Bob.

During the show.

All 3 girls during their performance.  (Sophia is all the way to the right.)

All done. Sophia with all her flowers,and  Kara and Randy.

Camping at West Point

April 26-28 Randy and Alex went to the annual Boyscout Camporee at West Point.  They had a great time!!

There were a LOT of people there (around 5000 campers).  This gives you a little idea of how close everyone's tents are.  (There's Alex getting out of his tent.)

Bright and early everyone got up at 5:45 to be ready to start their run and exercises at 6.

Alex getting out of his tent.

Tossing the football around. 

There was a camo -face painting contest, judged by the West Point cheerleaders. All these boys painted this one boy's face. (Alex's group didn't win, maybe next time.)

This is a Lakota helicopter.  The boys got quite a bit of time to look in it, sit in it and ask questions.

In the helicopter.

There was time for patch trading too. A lot of the boys in Alex's troop are into this. Alex seems to enjoy it too. The boys trade patches from camps they attend. No one trades badges they earn.

There was HUGE bonfire that night. Big enough the fire department was there and had to spray it down to control it.  The pile of wood was about 15 feet tall and the fire was probably 30 ft.

After the jamboree was done, Alex's troop got a tour.  A leader that had been part of their troop now teaches at West Point and got the boys an inside look at the campus.  This is General George Armstrong Custer's grave in the West Point Graveyard.

Alex's troop.

Here the boys are  holding a chain that was used during the Revolutionary War.  This is a portion of a chain that was stretched across the Hudson River at West Point to stop British ships. It was never put to the test, the British never came up that far up the Hudson.

The dinning hall where all the students eat lunch, at one time, in 25 minutes.  ( I thought Randy had said 45 min., but he's sticking with 25 either way it seems you'd learn to eat fast.)  Randy and Alex got home about 10 Sunday night.  Tired but excited with a lot to talk about after such a fun weekend.

Lucas turned 7 months old

April 27 Lucas turned 7 months old. He eats a lot of baby food and loves it.

He enjoys his baths.  He kicks and kicks so much I usually end up fairly wet, myself.

All snuggled in his soft cozy towel.

He has also decided his exersaucer is a fun place to hang out.

We have also been without a working dishwasher since the last Friday in April, so most of us have taken  turns washing the old fashion way.  Although Alex and Max always complain they usually have fun.

Randy introduced the oldest boys to the game of Axis and Allies.  Henry and Timmy desperately wanted to play, too.  But they'll have to wait until they're older.

We had visitors!!

Randy's brother, Dale and his wife Audrey and their daughter Madison came to visit those of us in NY over Easter (March 28 - 31).  It was so great to have them here. The first 4 pictures are from our trip to the MOST ( a hands on science museum geared for kids).  We spent a lot of their first full day here trying stuff out and looking around.

Aunt Audrey helping Sophia climb the rock wall.  This wall you climb horizontally not vertically.

There were a number of fight simulators.  All the kids loved having their turn to try them out.  Madison is patiently watching Sophia while Dale looks out for Luke.

Everyone also took a turn digging for fossils, Henry and Timmy are having a try here.

I already posted a couple pictures of all of us celebrating Alex's birthday.  After the celebration we dyed Easter eggs.  Everyone got involved.  (Sophia, Audrey, and Alex)

Alex patiently helping his little brother, Timmy.

Uncle Dale helping Henry, while Madison and Sophia dye eggs, too.

I helped some too. Here I am by Alex helping Tim.

Here are our Easter eggs in all their glory!! You can see some are stripped, we put rubber bands on them when dying them, which left white strips. Them some of the eggs were re-dyed to color the strips (An idea from pintrest that worked!).  They turned out beautiful!

Easter morning, after church with their Easter loot.  (Alex got arrows, Sophia a Skylander, Henry got Green Lantern and is also holding his chocolate bar, Max got a Skylander, Timmy got a firetruck, and Luke got baby food. For those of you over 12, skylanders is a video game that requires action figure)

Luke checking out his 1st  Easter basket.

I could not get Luke to smile, apparently he is terrified or very surprised by the whole Easter thing.  ( A little side note, these are actually the day after Easter. Monday I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of Luke by himself on his 1st Easter and I felt bad. So I dug his Easter clothes out of the dirty laundry, dressed him up and took some pictures.  I was going to keep it a secret but thought, nah, let's be real.)