Damstedt Family

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Memorial Day 2014, Mother's Day, + More...

On Monday morning we went to the cemetery to put flags on the soldiers graves.

This is one tradition that everyone enjoys.

That afternoon we went to a local amusement park to watch our dancer.

Everyone also had a fun time there!

Mother's Day was marvelous this year. I got to sleep in while everyone made a delicious breakfast. I got LOTS of great presents from the kids. James and I got to go to a Mother's Day tea, the previous Friday. I sure feel loved!

Other things we've been doing:

Kate got an award for her dancing~

Every month James and I would join some friends at "The Grandma's" house and make crafts for them.

We went to the "Strong Museum" a few weeks ago and were so happy with what we found:

Jane and her friend attended a Girl Scout event:

"Our Littlest Bird" is so happy about dance:

For teacher appreciation week I had all the kids in Bruce's class bring in a flower for their teacher one morning. This is what it turned out like. (Kate did it too- so sweet)

Arts Fest West was a HUGE success this year:

Jane helped out at the 5th Grade party!

May has been a very fun, busy month!

Saturday, April 26, 2014

2014 Easter in Washington DC / Virginia...

My mom sent me an email reminding me that I haven't posted about our Easter yet- sorry about that :)

Last Friday we drove to see our friends in Virginia. We were so excited to see them again! For dinner we all went to Cafe Rio- I was loving every bite.

They also gave us a "welcome basket" with this guy in it:

On Saturday we headed into D.C. to see Andrew and go visit a few museums.

The weather was perfect!

We first went to the Newseum- it was really amazing and would have been even more enjoyable without children...
Here's James telling us about the weather & we all go to take pictures of ourselves:

The boys doing ninja moves:

We ate lunch at the "Shake Shack" and made a quick trip into the portrait museum.

Then Alexis, a bunch of little kids, and I headed back to her home for some outside playtime, dinner at Chick-Fill A and Easter grocery shopping.

The men and a few other children stayed to see more museums and go to the movies.

Easter Sunday~

We woke up to lots of Easter baskets and happy kids :)

We ate breakfast:

and then got all dressed up in Easter outfits:

We went to church with our friends and the kids even went up to sing with the Primary.

After church we ate a quick lunch because everyone was excited to go on an egg hunt.

We played games,

make a cake,

and made a super delicious dinner:

Then we stayed up talking- it's so fun to be with friends again.

Monday morning we left early to drive home. We picked up Susie- Q and when we got home we had Easter Packages waiting for us:
Thank you Grandma Miller and Grandma Damstedt!!!

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Maple Harvest Festival 2014 + The Pledge + Buddies...

Last week we drove a bit south to attend a Maple Harvest Festival:

We got to touch snakes &

Get our face painted.

Eat Maple "Jack Wax"

James is hammering the spigot into the tree.

We got to taste the Maple Syrup before it got boiled down.

For the last 4 years Bruce and his buddy have a tradition of going to dinner together in March. Here's this year's picture:

Last week Kate got to say the pledge for the school:

She also went rock climbing with her Girl Scout group:

Today Jane participated in the Western New York Region Science Fair. Their project was about how the light of the moon affects the light of the stars. We're proud of you Jane!