Easter Sunday

We had a wonderful Easter again this year.  After a very late Saturday evening for both girls, they both awoke early on Sunday morning to find their Easter baskets, which were a hit.  We then got ready and drove to NH.  First stop was Grammy and Grampy's house, where we celebrated with the extended Roy family.  When then visited Grammy and Grandpa, as well as Auntie Kathy and Uncle Peter, before heading home.  It was a lovely day, but went by very quickly!

Emily's basket.

Elizabeth's basket.

Amazon gift card and chocolate (of course!) from Aunt Denise!!

The perfect Beanie Babies for both girls from Chris, Chip and Jessa!

Manicure kit and a gorgeous mirror from Aunt Sylvia.

Grammy made the girls a beautiful photo album.

The weather wasn't great, so we had to take our Easter photos inside.

A few photos at home.

That's a lot of loot!!!

The Old Men

Apparently, if you want to lift like a rock star over the age of 40, you need to train at The Refuge.  All of the competitors from Lee's gym at last Sunday's meet were over the age of 40.

New England Revolution

Last weekend, Lee competed at the RPS New England Revolution and did incredibly well.  He achieved a new personal best in squat, deadlift and overall total.  Although his bench was not where he wanted it to be, he didn't let it get to him and went on to pull his best deadlift ever.  For the last several years, I have watched how hard Lee works and while he has had some very good competitions, he never seems to meet his full potential on competition day, much to his frustration and that of his teammates.  This time around, something was different.  He was very focused during his training cycle (and considering the schedule in our house, that alone is quite a feat) and lifted very heavy weights.  He had a plan going into Sunday and executed it almost perfectly.  I am so proud of him for achieving new personal bests in his first competition as a 40 year old and I am happy that his hard work paid off in such a great way.

600 pound squat (after squatting 550 lbs and 585 lbs).

385 pound bench press.

585 pound deadlift (after pulling 570 lbs).

First place in both the Open and Masters (40+) classes.  And Best Lifter, Pro Lightweight Division.  Not too shabby.

His first Best Lifter trophy since turning Pro.  Could not be more proud.

Reconciliation

On Saturday, Emily and her classmates made the Sacrament of Reconciliation and attended their First Communion Retreat.  It was a beautiful day of baking and breaking bread, reflecting and learning.  I was so proud of how much Emily knew about these two sacraments and how seriously she took the whole process.  We are really looking forward to her First Communion, which is just a month away!

Baking bread.

We spent a lot of time talking about the Last Supper.

Making her banner for church.

The bread that Emily made - we shared it as a family for dinner that night and it was delicious!

All State

When Elizabeth started playing the flute last year, we had no idea that she would fall in love with it and that she would learn to play so well.  Earlier this winter, she and four other students from her school were selected to play for the Connecticut Future Musicians All State Gala Band.  She was so excited and could not wait to begin learning her new music.  The concert was last weekend and we were so impressed - not only with the Gala Band, but all of the other musical groups.

Ode to Joy

The Never Ending Winter

It's the end of March and we had snow showers this morning and three inches of snow fell just yesterday.  These photos are from back when we still thought that all that white stuff was great...

February Odds and Ends

Photos that didn't make our February posts:

Super Bowl napper.

First storm of February - back when we still thought that the snow was pretty.

Elizabeth's science presentation - Giant Pandas.

Researching boarding schools on a snow day.  This kid is as serious as they come.

One of the city's giant snow blowers, used to widen the streets after our fifth storm.

Having a friend over is the best!

Birthday party at Polka Dots.

Aren't you jealous?