May Birthdays and Happenings

Greenfield Village opens every year in mid-April. After she got home from college in mid-May, Maria was able to tag along with the Ekblads and give Paulina a fun day with friends!

 The Houghtens moved to new digs! Portland, OR from San Diego!

 Just miscellaneous pics from walks and the start of lazy summer days...

 After Maria comes Grandma Paula's birthday. She gets younger every year!

 We had to move out of our office near the end of May for some electrical upgrades. I was able to "work from home" a few days and set up shop with Lucy at grandma and grandpa's and they took me out to lunch!

 Maria and her 2018-19 roommates: Katie, Jacinta and Jessica - Jacinta is holding Luciana Jacinta :)

 Since 19 is the legal drinking age in Canada, Maria and Mike headed off to celebrate his birthday with a quick trip to the Great White North...she didn't even get carded!

 Of course we celebrated at Sunday at Grandma's too!

 These pictures are horrible but Maria had this brain child of setting up a little harness for the cats and having them pull Luciana around. She put her old Heely shoes under the bumbo and tried to create a yarn harness for Rosie and Pablo...who were rightly having none of it. LOL

 Very cool temps do not deter Paulina from her own private beach visits!

 Isabel and Katie at "Skip Prom" whereby one gets dressed up and skips the actual Prom.

 More visits to Brighton with grandma and grandpa

End of the School Year...

Just before the end of the school year I noticed Mikey was on the calendar for altar service. He'd missed the training day in 5th grade and only done it a time or two, though we didn't get great pics, he got to serve with his friend, Daniel and I was blessed to be there.

 Once again, another Denja picks South Carolina for the State Fair. Of course I found the items I had saved from Mikey's presentation literally the day after the fair when Maria and I cleaned and organized the basement.

 Sister John Dominic is moving on from Principal to another position where she'll travel more and promote the Education in Virtue program. Thus we had a big good-bye celebration on Field Day.

 A little out of order, but some quality pics from the May Crowning at school.

Junior Prom and the Heartwalk

Mike flew down to Florida on Maria's birthday to spend some time with her before the drive back. While he was gone, my parents were kind enough to watch the little girls while I worked. 

On Wednesday afternoon, May 2, we had a baby shower at work for my colleague/friend Kelly and mom/dad brought the girls up so they could attend with me and then picked up the boys from school for me. Paulina had the best time helping Kelly open the presents and pick prizes with Stephanie.

 I was able to take Friday off since Mike/Maria were still on their way and picked up my dear friend Patty's son, Dan, from the airport Friday morning. He came to be Carmen's date for junior Prom. What a treat to have him with us! We spent the morning while Carmen was at school showing him some of the highlights of downtown Plymouth.

 Later we met Carmen at my parents where she and her friends were going to get ready for Prom. Katie and Carmen have gone to almost every big dance together and she lives in Brighton. Unfortunately the power went out for a bit during preparations!

 After preparations in Brighton they headed out to a big fancy house in Orchard Lake for pictures. Then on to Laurel Manor in Livonia for the actual Prom and then back to grandma/grandpa's after.

Below are a few pictures of a new mural the kids worked on at SSA.

On Saturday, May 5 we had the Heartwalk which we have participated in every year since 2009 in memory of grandpa Bruce. Lucky for us, with Prom the night before, the walk didn't start until 11am so everyone was able (if not willing) to participate and it was a beautiful day!

After the Heartwalk Saturday we went over to grandma Rose and grandpa Bob's for some Cinco de Mayo tacos. The oldest kids left to see Katie Ekblad in Annie on Saturday night and mom and Lucy stayed at the condo so they would have more room for sleeping at our house so they didn't have to drive out late at night. Of course Sunday we woke up and did Mass and Grandma Paula's as usual - it was another beautiful day - celebrating mom/dad's 46th anniversary and Maria's 19th birthday and our last day with Dan :)