Today we celebrated Nathan’s first Holy Communion. Nathan worked very hard and put his whole heart into his preparations for this sacrament.

Here Nathan poses with Father Bill after the mass.

Here Nathan poses with his big brother, Father Bill, and his God Parents Aunt Pam and Uncle Brian.

The whole family.

Grandpa and the boys pose in front of the statue of Nathan’s favorite Saint – Saint Francis of Assisi.

Grandma and Aunt Susan relax and enjoy the party.

It was wonderful to share the day with both Grandmas.

… and Grandpas.

We are so very proud of Nathan on this very special occasion.

Well, from time to time when all of the bloggers in the family convene in one place, we all end up vying for great content for the next big blog story. As you know from our previous post, yesterday was one of those occasions as we celebrated Steve’s sister Sue’s birthday.

As the founding blogger in the family, Steve’s sister Joann has set the bar with the blog that she maintains about the daily happenings of her beautiful family. ( http://www.tenkidsandadog.blogspot.com/ )

As we departed from the birthday party we thought that we would take the boys down to the river front of Clayton and take a few pictures to add to our next post. Well, as we approached the river side park in Clayton, we had the stark realization that we had been scooped by the family’s “master” blogger, as she was already snapping away  at the frozen sights to behold of the mighty St. Lawrence Seaway. Well done Joann… well done.

Here is a picture of Joann and her son Dan with big smiles, resting by the river’s edge, almost as if they knew we would be coming.

Pre-Game warm up. “Sean go deep!”

“Nathan go deep!”

“*#%^uuhmmph*#!”

Half time: “Dad, did you know that the Giants coach grew up in Waterloo?”

Game over! The Giants win!

At the end of December we said goodbye to an old friend…our ‘98 Dodge Stratus, and donated the car (the proceeds of the auction) to the Spiritual Renewal Center of Syracuse. 

We bought this gently used car just weeks before Sean was born almost 9 years ago, and then drove him home from the hospital in it.  Steve drove and I sat in the back with Sean.  Sean slept and I cried, not believing that they actually thought it was a good idea for us to take him home so soon!

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Every year at this time we make our way through the mountains and valleys of Pennsylvania, skirt around Philadelphia to the South Jersey “Second Christmas” with Stephanie’s Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and First Cousins once removed.  We enjoy a wonderful meal complete with the family’s trademark homemade noodles, have a pollyanna gift exchange, an annual wrapping paper ”fight”, and a boys against the girls game of trivial pursuit, (which the boys girls typically win).  

One of our favorite parts of the traveling is getting through the mountain (because we can’t go over it, under it or around it) via the Lehigh Valley Tunnel.  It is about a mile long, and it’s always a relief to see the light at the end of the tunnel

On Steve’s birthday morning, we celebrated with presents. 

Then we joined friends at the Strong National Museum of Play.The entire museum is fabulous, but one of the highlights was the new Butterfly Garden exhibit, where incidentally, only Steve had a butterfly “light” on him.  We were able to enjoy the last day of the Bob the Builder Exhibit, and came across a giant monopoly game too.

 

 

 We enjoyed a quiet New Year’s Eve this year and Stephanie, Steve and Nathan stayed awake until 12:10! Sean threw in the towel sometime between 11pm and midnight (Sean thinks it must have been very close to midnight).

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On New Year’s Day we gathered with Steve’s family.  It was great to have everyone together, thanks to ”Skype”.  It was fun watching the Florida Heslers get wheeled around.    

 Unfortunately, Stephanie didn’t feel terrific that day, which turned out to be just the beginning of the end for us all…….

Health and happiness to you in the new year!

Sean’s class hosted a lovely Christmas luncheon at school on Thursday.  It was a nice treat for Mom and Dad to join Sean at school with his classmates and their parents, teachers, and principal, for lunch.   

Thursday night was finally the Saint Francis – Saint Stephens Christmas Musical.  This favorite annual Christmas tradition was originally scheduled for December 13th was postponed due the weather, and then rescheduled for December 17th, and then postponed indefinitely because of yet another storm.  BUT by popular demand, another date was set, thankfully, because many people were so disappointed and after all…..THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

Here the 3/4 grade classes are singing “It’s Snowing Cats and Dogs”

If you look closely in the middle behind the sheep, you’ll see a little shephard boy

On Friday, the Entomology Department hosted their annual holiday party at the Belhurst Castle.   Each year a group of brass instrument players and at least one wind instrument known as the “Bothersome Brass”, dust off their instruments and entertain their colleagues with Christmas Carols before lunch is served.  There are lots of wine drinkers in the crowd, so mistakes tend to go unnoticed. 

Here’s our favorite French Horn player (the one to the left).