Irish Blessings

We are so lucky in love, we have 3 little Irish blessings to celebrate St. Patrick's Day today. We set up a trap for that little leprechaun last night, but he got away from us again this year and turned our milk GREEN!!!

3 little Irishmen

After a little too much green milk!
Dancing the Irish jig Max style

Biggest and Littlest brothers

Our middle boy was already off playing!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

4 Wheelin' Baby

Watch out, Max has wheels and he knows how to use them! He LOVES his four wheeler that Uncle Sean, Aunt Erica & his cousins got him for Christmas. He is all over the place with it and getting braver all the time.

First he mounts the machine and intimidates his opponents with an evil laugh
Then he howls with excitement as he gets ready to race off the starting line

Once he's going he leans forward for extra speed :)

When it is all said and done he pushes back to the starting line, cuz 4 wheelers for 1 year olds don't have a reverse button :)

Yay Max!!!!

Blake: 1st Grade Musical

Congratulations to Blake on a rockin performance at his 1st grade musical: The Earth Worm. He was singing along and nailing the dance moves, sooo proud of our guy!!!
Blake with his teacher, Mrs. Serafinski

Family helps

Whenever a family loses a loved one the one thing that helps ease the pain is spending time together. We were so sad losing our Grandpa and we spent several days together sharing memories of the man we all love so much. He truly meant so much to each of us. He would have been happy to see us all together, it doesn't happen too often since many live out of state :)

The "older" girl cousins

Me, Jenni, Valeri, and Michelle (missing are the 2 younger girls: Debra & Angela)

Allen, Me, Chris, Michelle

Jenni & Valeri

Snuggle time on the couch: Aunt Shelly, Debra & Me


then Uncle Dave wanted in, too ;)

We miss Grandpa every day, but we know he is in heaven with Grandma playing cards and getting an ear full!!

Lent

It is that time of year again, Lent begins tomorrow! As we feast and indulge on this Fat Tuesday we prepare for a time of focus. Last year I gave up my "Free Ride" (see blog post February 2010) and it made me a better person. It impacted my life so completely that I made permanent changes for the better that I brought forward, past Lent. It was a truly meaningful Lenten period and so how do I match that for this year?
I will of course strive to avoid indulgences and maintain a prayerful focus, but this year I will also pay special attention to gifts. What "gifts" might you ask? Well, God has blessed each of us with our own individual gifts and we often lose sight of our gifts as we yearn to have the gifts others have been blessed with. Follow me? For example, I always compare myself to others, wishing I was "the Pretty one" or "the smart one" or the "musically talented one", but I forget that God gave me my own gifts to be thankful for. I will spend these days working to be happy with who I am because this is how God made me. I will also serve others by working to recognize and be thankful for the gifts each person brings to my life. Time passes on so quickly and we never know what tomorrow will bring, so it's important to be happy with who we are and to let others know we appreciate them and we are thankful for what they bring to the table . . . all thanks to God.

Grandpa Al

My Grandpa, Allen Eugene VanDeVusse, passed away this morning at the age of 79. He was a super sweet, kind, fun loving man who will be greatly missed. He had 4 children (my Dad is the oldest), 9 grandkids, and 4 great grandkids (all boys).
We are very sad, but tyring to take comfort knowing that we will see him again one day. Blake especially, is heartbroken, just trying to understand this process. We love him very much and will miss him every day.

Rest in peace, Grandpa

xoxoxoxoxo

Blake is 7

Happy 7th Birthday to our Blake Vincent!

We threw together a celebration for him and he came up with the agenda

Soo, after a game of Simon Says started the party, Who's ready for a magic show???

Our friend, Jonathan, was kind enough to put his magic powers on display :)

It was a great show that kept all the kids on the edge of their seats!!!

Blake LOVED all the presents, he is a very lucky boy to have such great friends

7 candles on yummy cupcakes

One of the gifts Tim, Bryce, Max and I got for our birthday boy: a music stand so he can display the songs he writes while he conducts. He writes musical notes every week after church!

He would 100% agree that he had a magical 7th birthday!