3rd Grade

Gabe had a wonderful year in the 3rd grade. He loved his teacher Mrs.. West and was excited that one of his favorite friends Gregory was in his class again. In the beginning of the year he set a goal to make honor roll all four semesters, and he did it! He was very proud of himself. He also received many awards this year at all the awards assemblies. He received student of the month, computer achievement award, outstanding achievement in Math, music award, and the excellence in physical fitness award. He also was so proud to bring home his EOG scores. He got a 4 in the math and a 3 in reading, he just missed getting a 4 though. I thought is would be neat to take a picture on the first day of school and then again on the last day to see how he changed and grew.

First day of school

August 2009

Last day of school

June 2010

We are looking forward to a great summer and excited to see what 4th grade has to bring!

The Graduate

Teresa had a wonderful time in preschool this past year.  She loved her teachers Ms. Barb, Ms. Tammy, and Ms.Tina, you could see how much these ladies enjoyed working with the kids.  She met some great friends, and made some great memories.  She is completely and totally ready for kindergarten and can not wait to go to the “big” school with Gabriel. 

Kindergarten here she comes….

I’m Jammin….

The girls and I (Gabe was still in school and very disappointed he missed out) had the privilege of meeting up with a wonderful family for a morning of strawberry picking.  The girls had a blast picking berries, playing with the Pollard kids, and I enjoying catching up with Beth.  It was a great afternoon that even ended with delicious ice cream from Bergey's.

 

 

I had wanted to pick enough to try and make some jam, but what was picked that day didn’t last long around here.  We were than blessed by a wonderful local family that owns a farmers market.  The Powell family opened up their fields for FREE to any local church members.  So my friend Diane and I went out one early  Saturday morning  and picked, and picked , and picked.  I came home with a good bit, with hopes of getting a few jars of jam out of them.

I gathered my supplies, did a little googling, and set out to make some freezer strawberry jam.   I have never made jam or canned anything so I was a bit nervous on how this was going to turn out.  Of course the girls wanted to help.  So they all took turns mashing, stirring, and adding the sugar.  The process was a bit easier than I thought it was going to be.  A little time consuming and I made a nice mess, but it was all worth it.  

 

I found these cute tags online and made these to give to Gabe’s teacher as an end of the year gift.

( I can’t remember the website that I got the tags from, but they were a free printable)

The jam tastes delicious and I love to hear the kids say “ Hey Mom, can we have some toast with that yummy jam you made”. 

EMS Provider of the Year

On May 14th Jason had the privelege of being honored as the City of Chesapeake’s EMS Provider of the Year. It was a great night that we shared with great friends and Jason’s parents. I was so proud of Jason and glad to see him get recoginzed for all his hard work. This kind of thing is totally out of his comfort zone though. He is probably one of the most humble people I know. He is always putting 110% into what ever he is doing and believes that no matter what you should always do your best. He has high expectations of himself and takes his job seriously. Being a firefighter/paramedic is truly the profession for him. That evening they also honored a good friend of ours with the Firefighter of the year award. Jeff has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and had to retire from active duty last year. In my opinion the department honoring Jeff with this award is another example of how the department really has that “brotherhood” feel about it. Of course there are some “work politics” but for the most part, in my opinion, they really “take care of their own”. I know that when Jason joined the department 10 years ago we met some of our greatest friends, and for that I am thankful.

Jason, Jeff, and Forrest

Jason and his Parents

Mother’s Day 2010

Okay so I know I am a month behind on a Mother’s Day post but since this is my “scrapbook” I wanted to make sure I documented the great weekend we had.

Teresa’s school had a nice Mother’s Day tea the week before Mother’s Day. Teresa was so excited for it and it was so cute to see all the nice things they made for the occasion.

Over Mother’s Day weekend we traveled up north to our friend’s house for their daughter, our goddaughter’s First Communion. Danny and Jen live outside of Washington D.C. so we decided to stop on our way up on Friday. We went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and the American History Museum. It was a bit crowded due to all the school field trips but it still was a fun time. We enjoyed seeing the dinosaur exhibits, the hope diamond and the exhibit on mammals at the NHM. I am pretty sure I enjoyed the American History Museum more than the others. They had a neat display of the Inaugural gowns of the first ladies which I enjoyed, Gabe and Jason not so much. They also had Julia Child’s kitchen on display which again I am sure I enjoyed more than the others, especially after watching the movie “Julie&Julia”. We also saw the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, Kermit the Frog, Brian Botanio’s ice skates, and Natasha Lukin’s gymnastic leotard. We really could have spent an entire day at each museum but we were only able to stay a few hours. After the museums we walked by the Capital building, Lincoln Memorial, and did a drive by of the White House. It was a fun afternoon and I am so glad we took that opportunity to see the sites of D.C.

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the Hope Diamond

Saturday of that weekend we had Ava’s First Communion. We were so glad to be able to be there for this special occasion. I still never will forget Ava’s baptism. I was so embarrassed. They didn’t have her baptized during a Mass, just a small service with just a few people. And Gabriel SCREAMED the entire time. Not just a little fussing but a full on fit and there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t take him out because I had to be there and there was no one that I could give him to either. The funny thing now when I look back on it is that the entire time Danny’s dad was video taping. I kept thinking…really are you even getting anything the priest is saying or are you just doing this to torture me so we can forever have documented the awful fit Gabe was throwing. Thankfully this time around everyone behaved themselves and it was great to be able to celebrate this special occasion with her.

Danny and Jen live on a great farm in Maryland. We all had a great time but I think that Teresa enjoyed herself the most. She loved being able to play with the chickens, rabbit, goat, and pony. I think her favorite thing was to walk down to the creek and play in the water. It was so pretty there that weekend and I had a chance while the little girls were taking a nap to take some pics…

I wish this picture would have come out better. These four guys (Jason, Pete, Danny, Antoni) have been friends for years and now all these years later they have 10kids +1 on the way between them! It is always so great to get together with them…no matter how much time passes it is like it was just yesterday that we all saw each other! The blessing of those “forever friends”.

On Mother’s Day we left early and drove to see my parents. It was great to get to spend the day with my Mom. We were able to visit for a few hours and then we were on the road home. It was a whirlwind weekend but so worth it. It is times like these, spending time with great friends and family, that matter’s most!