SARAH'S ALL GROWN UP

My sweet niece is no longer a little girl. How can it be that our Sarah is graduating from high school and on her way to college?

At this age, Sarah continues to touch my heart... I love so many things about Sarah. I love how she has always been true to herself, her honesty, her infectious laugh, her humor, the love she has for her family and friends, her strong will, and even that D'Amico temper she seems to have inherited. I feel blessed to be a part of her life even though I probably invade her privacy and embarras her at times. I love how she acts like she STILL loves my puppy chow after all these years just to please me... her beauty shines inside and out... she has a heart of gold. Some things never change like that irresistable look when things don't go her way, the way she can make me giggle when I really shouldn't and OH... to still hear her call me Aunt Issa just melts my heart. I hope she knows that she always has a friend in me and that I am ALWAYS here for her as I hope all my nephews know that by now. I pray for her to have all the happiness, love and joy that she deserves. I can't wait to see what this next chapter in her life holds for her... Sarah, just keep being you!!!

OUR SWEET CASSIE

Our sweet, sweet, little Cassie! Isn't she precious?!!! Oh how we love our Cassie Girl!

Cassie has always suffered from a heart murmur which has kept us from having her spayed. As a result of not having her spayed, she developed mammary cancer last June and had a cancerous tumor removed. Well, last week we discovered another tumor. She will have surgery this Monday to remove the tumor. We are worried about putting her under as her murmur has gotten worse. We are very scared and I can see that it is stressing the kids... anyone that knows Cassie knows that she is the cream of the crop. I remain optimistic that she will be just fine!!!

HAPPY 11TH BIRTHDAY DANIEL

Birthday tradition in the Patlovany house starts the evening before your birthday by submitting your breakfast meal order. Daniel requested "big" cinnamon rolls... specifically Mrs. Sicola's cinnamon rolls... but I haven't mastered that yet... so my recipe will have to do for now... Grand's Cinnamon Rolls! Hey gimme a break... it's a school day!

Making your way downstairs to the breakfast table you are greeted with tons of balloons, banners and confetti along the way. All of your birthday presents and birthday greetings from your friends and family will be awaiting your arrival at your seat! No need in waiting to blow out candles to open presents... we tear right in! You are appointed "KING FOR THE DAY"!

Before leaving for school, you pick out what you would like for your birthday dinner. In Daniel's case it is ALWAYS a fruit buffet with chocolate sauce. Daniel has requested a fruit buffet for the last 8 years... he just loves it! Of course there is cake involved... but today we will have a simple cake from the store because we save the 'BIG' cake for party day with friends.

Upon returning home from school, all 'rules' are lifted meaning video games are allowable this week day considering the majority of presents are vidoe games these days! Who can deprive their sweet little child of their new birthday present?! Homework can wait today!

I just love birthdays at our house... A day of celebration to focus on the blessing that God has given us!

ARAGON MIDDLE SCHOOL SYMPHONIC BAND/UIL'S - BRADLEY

Let me start by saying that Bradley REALLY is enjoying band!

Aragon participated in UIL's this weekend competing against 20 other schools. They did a great job performing 3 musical pieces and a sight reading. The sight reading contest is an incredible thing to observe. The band is escorted to a room where they are presented a musical piece in which they have most likely never seen, practiced or heard before. Mrs. Hall (our incredible band conductor) has 8 minutes to go through the music with the band without ever playing a single note... after which, the band performs. How did they do you may ask? Well, let's just say... they kicked butt!!!! Below are videos from the contest. We are not allowed to video the sight reading. The quality is poor, but the audio is good! The band received the highest marks (1's) in all their performances. CLICK on the arrow button to view videos!

OUR HERITAGE... King/Swearingen


CONCORD... Grundman
Note: The video below blacks out during the performance due to a power outage from the storms yesterday. It's a shame... they were having it professionally recorded :o(

MASTERING THE ART OF JUGGLING... OR NOT?

How is it that Brad can master the art of juggling his Easter Eggs, but not his homework? Hmmm??? CLICK on arrow to watch video!

STUFFED ARTICHOKES

Stuffed artichokes D'Amico style! Just another one of those mouth-watering Italian delicacies that complete our holiday dinners! Mmmmmmm!

STUFFED TOM

Stuffed Tom after stuffed artichokes!

BUONA PASQUA - HAPPY EASTER

HE HAS RISEN!!! Happy Easter to all our friends and family!

A rainy day forced us to move our Easter egg hunt indoors. That's OK with us... it makes it more challenging. The kids have yet to let us know that they don't believe in the Easter Bunny so we just keep it going! For lent this year we all gave up things individually, but as a family we decided to pray together every single night... a hard thing to do with a travelling husband and busy schedules. I've always prayed individually with my kids, but it was wonderful to get Tom involved and for us to do it all together. So much can be learned by coming together to pray. It was great for the kids to see how God works His ways in time and for them to see our prayers of need turn into prayers of thanks! We will definitely keep this up!

WAY TO GO ALEX

Sending out a big shout out to our nephew Alex while doing the happy dance... WAY TO GO ALEX!!! We are so proud of you for making it into pharmacy school! We knew you could do it!!!!! I'm expecting a picture of you in front of this building when you are at Kingsville!