The Pinto Family: Other Random Spring Activities

Here is an assortment of other things we were up to in April and May:

Henry and Nicholas built some Lego creations in hopes of getting in to the Lego magazine (no such luck though :-)

Nicholas was invited by his friend Marco to participate in an after school robot building and programming event

Shawn celebrated the completion of Exodus 90 on Easter Sunday - for 90 days he studied the pages of the book of Exodus while making major sacrifices (think cold showers every day, no sweets at all, no TV, no alcohol, fasting, etc) with the goal to grow stronger in his spiritual life - it was a tremendous success and he even lost about 25 lbs along the way! Henry and Nicholas also participated to a lesser degree, with Henry being particularly eager - he even continued his cold showers well after the 90 day mark.

Shawn and the boys went to the annual Embrace Mass of Remembrance at the Cathedral, in memory of Juliana. (Grace and I couldn't make it due to work and soccer schedules)

When Asher came with Uncle Andy for Grace's First Communion, the kids had a fun time with their cousin - dance party!

Ice cream Sundays

Card games on the back deck, with Grandma

Tub time

As always, this spring, Henry took great care of the yard - any time of bush needs trimming - he is on it!!

Samuel had another great soccer season - he LOVES it!!

Grace also had a great season playing for coach Pablo on the CMSL SPC elite team

These girls had blast together and played really well together!

Henry also played U8 soccer the spring for SPC - he had a ton of fun and played really well! (couple kids missing on picture day)

Grace was Elizabeth Ann Seton for her Famous American oral presentation in 2nd grade

Our friend Libby took our family photo again this year.

We went to a real rodeo for the first time - it was at Wills Park and was awesome!!! Real cowboys and cowgirls competing in bull riding, team roping, barrel racing, calf roping and bareback riding. Of course there was also the funny clown and some great performances by a girl who rides 2 horses at once and does all sorts of tricks on them. We went with several other families we are friends with and hope to make it an annual event now!

Ready for a Rodeo!

In order to raise money for the Odyssey of the Mind World competition in Michigan, Nicholas' team and the 2 other who made it to worlds, put on a car wash, sold popsicles and had a bake sale - it was all great success!

Mother's Day was a lovely celebration, as always, thanks to Shawn and the kids - we started the day with mass.

The kids all made super sweet handmade gifts and cards

Grace made me a coffee maker :-). She knows what her Mommy loves!

The made a lovely dinner served in our brand new dining room with great Grandma's china.

I had Muffins with Mommy at Samuel's school and he planted a flower for me :-)

Henry wanted to make a sign for his garden in remembrance of Grandpa - he sketched several drafts until he came up with the right design, then he bought the wood with his own money and drew the sign out and painted it. With some help, he used a wood burner to engrave the words and then he sealed it with several coats. It was a definite labor of love.

And the final product was just perfect!!!!

We were asked to become Colin Schoenecke's godparents since he previous godparents could not fulfill their duties. We are so honored to be a part of this special little boy's life in this very special way!

Grace and Nicholas performed beautifully at their spring piano recital - Nicholas played Take Me Out to the Ballgame and Grace played Let's Go Fly a Kite.

Grace and Henry are ready for Olympic Day at school (Nicholas was in Michigan for Odyssey)

Little Man never wants to be left out of the picture taking!

It was a great day of fun with friends - Grace won the running race again this year for her class - she's been dubbed the fastest kid in her grade - faster than all the boys even!