Third Grade Awards - Update

We didn't receive the Math TAKS certificate until the last day of school, along with his report card of all A's and B's. Wooooohooooooo!!!

Fourth grade, here comes Josh!!

Third Grade Awards

Well, third grade is drawing to a close. Josh worked really hard and made major improvement efforts this year. He even got "Commended" on the TAKS Math test!!!!! We are so proud of him!

At the awards ceremony today, he got several certificates:

Congratulations, Josh! We know you'll have a super fourth grade, too!!

Strawberries

Spring is prime strawberry season in East Texas, so we met Aunt Missy at Grandma's kitchen to do some preserves. Grandma and Josh drove down to Nacogdoches, TX early Saturday to fill up the van with 70 (count them, 70!) quarts of strawberries. Well...20 quarts were for other people, but 50 is still a pretty big number!

There were strawberries all over Grandma's kitchen, and red juice all over the bathroom sink as well. It took us the rest of the morning to prep the strawberries. Grace and Uncle Sean had passed on a trick they learned in class about using a straw (no pun intended) up through the bottom to remove the white core and the stem. It worked really well, and even helped us spot a few worms (yummm, protein) - better still, no sore fingernails! We did 20 quarts of frozen Splenda strawberries for Grandma and us, and 80 jars of preserves for Aunt Missy's family. By the last batch, our tootsies sure were sore but we were pros at it.

We're going back for blueberries and purple hull peas this summer!

Josh passed the TAKS reading test!!!!!

BTW, Josh has officially passed the reading portion of the TAKS test!!! He did it in one try, and did it with an 88 no less!

Way to go, Josh!

Now we just have to get ready for the math portion later this month. We know he can do it!

Josh Photography

Josh went to Tyler to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa over Spring Break. Given that it is springtime, it was a great opportunity for him to get more practice with the camera. He is really getting quite good at it! Here are some of our favorites from his adventures.

He also found some critter holes. The poor snakes didn't have a chance!

He's also caught some Texas wildflowers near home.

Christmas in Houston

Tracy spent Christmas 2008 in Houston while Josh was in Delaware. The Christmas Eve festivities began at Becky's beautiful house. There was a wonderful spread (with Greenberg turkey of course), followed by gifts all around.

We then enjoyed a tour of the Christmas lights in Baytown, and got John John and Robby into pajamas.

The boys must have been really good this year, because Santa was very generous at the Steadman house. He even brought bikes!

And right in the big middle of all the fun, with plenty of presents left to open, Robby actually took the time to read every page of the (carefully selected) book that Aunt Tracy and Josh gave him. He kissed the animals - and stole Aunt Tracy's heart! Check out the video.

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas!! If you are ever have to spend Christmas without your own children, I highly recommend watching the Steadman boys enjoy Santa Claus. I really needed it this year (for multiple reasons most can guess). Thanks Missy and Richard!!!!

Welcome to our new blog! It finally happened...nobody faint! Bear with me while I get this thing up and running.