Mark's Graduation from STCC

Today was Mark's graduation from the Nursing Program at STCC.

Stacia, Bill, and "Auntie Amy" joined us for a cookout in the afternoon and the graduation which was at 6:30 at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield. The parking was a little tedious; imagine cars from the whole student body and also their families converging on a parking garage at the same time!

I snapped a picture of Mason and Marley on our way out the door. Cute, aren't they?



Here are a few pictures of the graduation.





These are the nursing students coming in.



We went back to Mark and Janelle's for cake and ice cream afterwards.





Yes, congratulations Mark!
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P.S. Happy 11th birthday Marley!

Mark's Pinning at STCC

Today was the Nursing Pinning Ceremony at STCC. This is a "symbolic welcoming of newly graduated nurses into the nursing profession. The new nurses are presented with nursing pins by the faculty of the nursing school. Often the nurses recite the Nightengale Pledge" (Wikipedia Pinning Ceremony).

I loved this ceremony. It was so nice to see the interaction of the nursing students with the faculty and professors, so nice to put names to faces that I had been hearing about, and so nice to see them all so happy that it was over!!

Paul and I are so very proud of Mark. It has been a long two years (even longer, actually, taking pre-requisite courses to get into the nursing school). And, can I brag a little? He graduated with honors!

Here are some pictures of the evening...





(Kris and Toby were in the overflow area and watched it on a big screen).



(Mark is in the back row on far right).









So... congratulations Mark and to all of the 85 graduating nursing students at STCC!

Memorial Day

"
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy

Today, being Memorial Day, I wanted to visit the N. Blandford cemetery to see if any of my mother's family were veterans.

To backtrack a little.....after receiving a comment on a post (see post May 22, 2012) and discovering a new found cousin who has since told me so much about my mother's mother's family, I decided that it was time to find out more about my mother's father's family.

I found out that the grave above is my great-great grandfather, William C. Higgins who fought in the Civil War.

Today, I give thanks to all of our veterans, and to all who are serving now. Freedom really does come with a price.

Annual birthday trip to Build-A-Bear

Tonight was our annual trip for the birthday Build-A-Bear. This is Marley's 8th year, and Mason's 2nd year. I think the adults that go have as much fun as the kids; I know I do!

When we walked into the store, Mason spotted an Iron Man outfit. He is really into Super Heroes right now, and that was it. He knew what he wanted. He chose a black teddy bear to go into the Iron Man outfit.

Marley, on the other hand, took longer to chose her stuffed animal. That's half the fun, looking at everything and trying to decide. She finally chose a pony.

The next step in building your bear is to get it stuffed. Mason, again this year, was a little leery of this.



Marley, on the other hand, is a pro.



Then you put a heart in him.



And then you can add a sound. They have all kinds of animal sounds, Happy Birthday, etc., or you can record your own. Marley chose the horse sound, but Mason wanted his bear to say, "I'm Spiderman." So...Mark recorded it, but the first couple of times Mason said it was too scary. Mark finally got it right, LOL!




The next step is to brush your animal and fluff him up. Mason really liked this part. In fact, he kept going back to do it some more!



Then it was time to pick out clothes and dress them. This is one of my favorite parts. They have so many cute outfits. Marley dressed her pony in a Western outfit, checked shirt and denim skirt, cowboy hat and saddle! Mason had the Iron Man suit (with a light saber which was supposed to go with a Star Wars outfit, but when you are almost 3 anything that you like goes!).



Mason was so proud of his bear showing Baba.







Marley's pony is adorable!



Then it was time to name them and fill out the birth certificate.





Ahh....another successful birthday trip to Build-A-Bear. This is so much fun; I almost wish I could come up with an excuse to do it more often!

Eleanor S. Higgins and children

This is a picture of my maternal grandmother, Eleanor S. Higgins, with her children, Jean (my mother), Lee, and Ross. I think my mother was about 4 (or so), so this would make the picture 1935 (or so).

About a month ago I got a comment on my blog post William Ross Harper. Come to find out, I have a second cousin, my grandmother's sister's granddaughter, Wendy.

Since that time, we have been e-mailing back and forth. She has filled in a lot of blanks about my mother's side of the family. I have been so excited about this (most of you know how much I love Genealogy!).

So.., we have decided to send each other pictures. I found this picture of my grandmother Eleanor, sister to her grandmother Marian. I am going to e-mail it to her along with a few others, and I thought this would make a good Throwback Thursday!

Daisy/Prims Rally Day

Today was the Daisy/Prim Rally Day in Charleton at the Southern New England District offices. This is the third time that I have gone. It is a fun day for the girls. We meet at the church at 8:30 am and travel in the church vans. This year we had 10 Daisies and 11 Prims, which is the biggest group yet. There are all sorts of activities for the girls and a picnic lunch.



Even though the adults are all exhausted when we return, everyone agrees that it is a wonderful day!

The picture above was of the whole group.

This is the Daisy group (kingergarten)...



and this is the Prims group (1st and 2nd grade).

Throwback Thursday - Four generations - 1974 (Radtke)

This Mother's Day I gave Stacia a cute little book and wrote in it "To Grandma Joyce, From Grandma Radtke", which is what Mason calls us.

I came across this picture of the real Grandma Radtke, Fred's mother. It was a rare day when she came to our house and we got a four generation picture. I am so thankful to have it!

This boy loves sports!

This boy LOVES sports. Tonight it was too wet and buggy to play in the yard, so he played basketball under the carport. We have a kids basketball hoop, and tonight Mason wanted us to put the hoop up higher. This kid really has good aim.





Mason has also been loving baseball this Spring. Of course, Mark loves to play baseball with him. But really, he has a good eye. He also has the lingo down. I was pitching to him a few nights ago and when he missed the ball, he asked me what I was supposed to say. When I said "what", he said, "keep your eye on the ball." He also says, "I got a piece of it" plus, numerous other baseball sayings.

Mark (and I) were playing with him in the yard the other night, and here are a few cute pictures....











Minnie was watching from her perch in the cellar. LOL!



On May 12th Mark had a tennis match at the Enfield Tennis Club. Paul and I went to watch Mason while he was playing. Big Baba went too. The club has a second floor where you can watch the games going on, and also it has a room for "little tennis players." Mason and I played "tennis/baseball" (playing with a racquet and tennis ball, but hitting the ball like a baseball, LOL) for almost the whole two hour match. He just can't get enough of it. Here are some cute pictures.....