Happy birthday, Henry!!

Eleven years ago today, this young man was born, and I became a mother for the first time.


We are so blessed to have him in our lives.

This morning, before Henry, Seth and Caroline woke up, Evan and I went to the store to pick up some doughnuts and other birthday fare. We came home and decorated the table just in time for Henry to wake up.
We lit eleven candles in a rather large doughnut, and then enjoyed the doughnuts and some smoothies.

Eleven years and one day ago, I was spending my first Mother's Day in labor with our first child. (Amazing timing, don't you think?!) We had made plans to spend the day with my mom at her house, but instead she, my dad, and my brother, Bill, spent it with us in the hospital room.

I labored all day. Two sweet nurses stayed after their shift was over, rooting for me to have our first child on Mother's Day. That was not to be...Henry wanted his own holiday. So 8 minutes after midnight, when Mother's Day was over, Henry James Nosek was born.

The next morning, most of our family came to visit...Grandma and Grandpa Nosek, Uncle Mark and Aunt Nacibe, Aunt Karen, Great-Grandma, Aunt Debby, and Aunt Shirley. It was such an exciting day full of so much love, and a day that we look back on with such fond memories, and a day very worthy of CELEBRATION eleven years later!

We love you, Henry!!

A Mother's Day Serenade...

...compliments of Evan.

Untitled from Sarah Nosek on Vimeo.

Maybe I'm stretching it a bit. Mainly he was just blowing spit bubbles. However, he did say "Ma" and "MaMa" while doing that, so I'll give him credit.

Congratulations, Mrs. Weimer!!!

It's official...Seth's teacher, Mrs. Weimer, won the "EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR" award for our district! We feel so priviledged that Seth had her for a teacher for two years. Seth is sooooooooooo PROUD of her!

Treasures from Seth

Seth shared this story and artwork with me at the Tea for Two program today.

Seth's teacher also gave her students the beginning of a famous saying, like "A bird in the hand..." The kids were supposed to complete the sentence. The following are a few of my favorites from Seth. I italicized what he added.

A bird in the hand feels funny.

The early bird is always early.

You can lead a horse to water but not a cat.

Don't let the grass grow too long.

The pen is mightier than a pencil.

You can't burn a candle in water.

He's a wise boy, that Seth. :)

Tea for Two with Seth

I am one lucky mom. Look at this handsome, sweet young man that I get to call my son! I love this boy!

Today, all of the second graders invited their moms to a special program called Tea for Two. What a treat to be able to spend the morning with my special Seth, listening to beautiful songs, sweet poems, looking at the stories and artwork he made just for me. Needless to say, I am glad that I packed my Kleenex.

Here's Seth's class singing "A Little Red Box".


And this is a sweet poem about mothers...sniff, sniff. ;)


Seth's class has been together for two years, including 1st and 2nd grade. Seth and his friend, Garrett have been in class together since they were in preschool.

Here's Seth with his buddy, Patrick. I wish that this class could stay together for third grade too!
I had to stick this picture in here because he just looks so handsome in his suit!

Here's Seth's class with their WONDERFUL teacher, Mrs. Weimer! I wish she could move up to third grade with them too! :(

One nice picture, one silly picture, of course...
What a special day!

Feathers

A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew. That night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession.

She got the old parish priest, Father O’Rourke, and she told him the whole thing. “Is gossiping a sin?” she asked the old man. “Was that the hand of God Almighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?”

“Yes!” Father O’Rourke answered her. "You have borne false witness against your neighbor, you have played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed!”

So the woman said she was sorry and asked for forgiveness. “Not so fast!” says O’Rourke. “I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me!”

So the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to the roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed. “Did you gut the pillow with the knife?” he says.”Yes, Father.” “And what was the result?” “Feathers,” she said. A world of feathers.

“Feathers?” he repeated.

“Feathers everywhere, Father!”

“Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind!”

“Well,” she said, “it can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.”

”And that,” said Father O’Rourke,“is gossip!”

Happiness is...

...a hot dog and macaroni picnic with good friends.

You should have heard the giggling going on. :)

Our Seth's First Communion

What a beautiful, joyous, blessing-filled day! It was a perfect day for our young man, Seth, to receive his first communion.

We arrived at the church early, with plenty of time to take countless pictures...

Here he is just before we went in to the church.

Look at these three handsome men, patiently waiting to go in to the sanctuary.

How about these two handsome men too?! Like father, like son.

We lined up outside the church just before the service started...

...and proceeded down the aisle together, mom, dad and son.

It was a beautiful service.

The kids sang several beautiful songs. This one was my favorite...they sang it while they processed around the church.

Untitled from Sarah Nosek on Vimeo.

Here's Seth with Father Karl, who gave him his first communion.

Proud mom and dad with their new first communicant
And then it was time to celebrate at our house! We took "a few" pictures of Seth with family before we let him change in to playclothes. Here's Seth with Great-Grandma...

...and Aunt Debby...

...and Aunt Nacibe and Uncle Mark...

...and Aunt Shirley...
...and Grandma and Grandpa Orton...
and Uncle Jim...
...and Grandma and Grandpa Nosek...He was a very patient picture-taker. I missed getting Seth's picture with my sister, Karen, and my brother, Bill. :(

We had another boy to celebrate today. Our son, Henry, is turning 11 in just eight more days.

Here's Seth with his cake...

The kids and their cousins played hard at the party. Can you tell?!

My sister, Karen, helped Seth to make his beautiful banner that was hung on our pew at the service.

She also made these sweet keepsake cards for the boys...love them!

Seth read all of the cards to us as he was opening his gifts.

A special gift from Grandma and Grandpa Nosek was a rosary that Seth's Great-Grandpa Henry Hoffman. Jean wrote a special letter to Seth that told him a little bit about his Great-Grandpa. :)

There's no doubt about it...Seth is so loved by his family and we are so blessed to have him!

Congratulations on your first holy communion, Seth!