Danny's Officially Twelve

What a great day today was! At church, Danny was ordained a Deacon. He is so excited to finally be in Young Men's and start passing the sacrament at church. It is so fun to watch him watch the older boys do the job. You can almost hear the gears turning inside his head. Danny is such a great example to his friends and brothers. Yes, we have our day when we wonder if he really is the oldest one by the things he does, but doesn't everyone have those days?

We love you Danny and are so proud of you!

Abby's Third Annual NICU Reunion

Can you believe it's that time of year again. St. Joseph Mercy Hospital's NICU holds a reunion for the preemies that were born there. This year's theme was "Down on the Farm". So Cute!! I can't believe this is Abby's 3rd one. She had a TON of fun! So did the rest of the crew.

Danny's 12th Birthday

I can't believe that Danny is already 12 years old. Boy, where does the time go?

If you remember, we celebrated Danny's birthday earlier in May when Tom and Michele were here. With the craziness of the month, Danny will have his party at a later date...to be determined. But here are some fun pictures of him on the day we celebrated.

I am so blessed to have kids that are flexible!!

Honor Society Awards Ceremony

This year Danny has done a wonderful job adapting to life in the Middle School. It has always been a very detailed and goal oriented child.

With that said, Danny achieved A+'s in all of his classes. Lincoln does not recognize anything above an A so his GPA is an even 4.0. Regardless, Matt and I are so proud of him. All the hard work paid off. With doing after school sports, scouts and baseball he still was able to keep his grades at the highest is amazing in itself. We had to laugh after the ceremony because Danny was a little disappointed that he didn't get the 100 percent attendance award too. He missed one day because he chose to go with his dad and brothers to "Take your Child to Work" day at Ford. We kept telling him that he probably learned more going to work with his dad then he would've at school, but that didn't help. He told us that he probably won't go to work next year with Matt and the boys. Only time can tell what he decides to do. I personally hope he goes with Matt because that will be more of a memory than a pin that tells him he had 100 percent attendance for a year. =)

Danny, we are so proud of you and love you for who you are. Keep on this track for the rest of your schooling and great things will come your way! We love ya!

Best Looking Mechanic

A few months ago Matt and I were talking about selling our family car. We have had it for about 6 1/2 years now and it is 10 years old. Matt noticed that the engine wasn't running as smooth as he would like and some other minor things were wrong with it.

After checking out what we could sell it for and buy a new used one, we decided it wasn't worth it. When the economy is the way it is, we weren't that excited about having a car payment since we haven't had one for about 4 years or so. Matt did some checking into some other options and decided that it would be cheaper to just replace the engine. It took awhile to collect all the different parts to build a new engine but after some time and only about $1200, it was time to get the project started.

Boy, was I nervous when he started unhooking things and pulled the old engine out of my car. What if he wasn't able to get it done in the 2 days he planned to? What if he got everything back together and it didn't work? What if . . . ? The questions kept running through my mind, but in the end all I need to say is, "Ye of little faith." I should know buy know that when Matt has a project he wants to have done, he will throughly do his research, do the job meticiously and enjoy the process.

Well he started the job on a Friday morning and finished by late Saturday evening. The poor guy hardly left the car's side, or should I say front =), all weekend. He was so excited when everything was complete and the car started without a hitch. He did an awesome job! Since the engine has been replaced we learned that our gas mileage is a lot better.

What happened to the old engine Matt took out, you might ask? Well, Matt posted it on Craigslist and someone bought it to put in their car. Bonus!! We even made money on the deal! Now we know we have a great running car without any monthly payments to go along with it.

Thanks honey for doing all the hard work to save us even more money. You're pretty amazing!

Danny's First Choir Concert

Danny was invited to join the 6th grade choir. They only met 3 days a week at school once they arrive before school begins. I know, that is confusing. The kids get off the bus about 7:30 and school starts at 7:50 so that gives the kids a few minutes to put bags in lockers and off to the choir room they quickly go for a 15minute practice. When it came time for the concert, I was surprised to how well they did with that little bit of practice time. I think Danny enjoyed being in the choir. It was fun to hear him practice around the house. It has been really fun to see Danny grow this year in middle school. He has had a lot of opportunities to grow and have fun.

First Baseball games of the season

Last night we had the first of our 10 double headers for the season. I think I would rather have 20 games in 10 days instead of going to the ballpark for 20 games on 20 different days. Danny and Jake's team, LA Dodgers, played first and totally creamed the other team, 27-4. Both of the boys did really well. Danny was able to pitch the fourth inning and true to his pitching talent, threw across about 15 balls and only one boy got a base and the other 3 struck out. Talk about a quick inning. Great job, Danny!

Aaron and Caleb's team, Seattle Mariners, played really well. In coach pitch, they do not keep score so we don't know the final score. Aaron hit everytime he got up to bat, of course and Caleb surprised us by hitting one on his first time up to bat. I was able to watch him run across the home plate since the Dodgers game just got finished. He was so excited about being able to make it around to all the bases,even with his short legs! Great job to all the hard working ball players. We're in for a great season!

Aaron Ready to Play

Caleb Throwing the Ball