March Birthdays....

There are quite a few....

First gig

Back in January, Michael played his first official gig at a local restaurant called Chelsea's. It was very exciting and as you can see from the photo, many family members came out to support him. Everyone definitely enjoyed this very special performance. Thanks, Michael!

Our Mr. Smee...

In January 2007, Michael was chosen to play Mr. Smee in the Pelham Children's Theater production of Peter Pan. After many long hours rehearsing, the final show was performed over the weekend of March 2, 2007...and what a show it was! Michael was a fabulous Mr. Smee. His unique personality shined each time he took to the stage...and oh, how the audience laughed when he took a swig from his rum bottle and made the sign of the cross before being sent off to his unfortunate death! This is certainly only the beginning of Michael's future in acting and we are all looking forward to seeing what comes next...

First time for everything...

A free manicure gift certificate from Brownie Bingo Night brought Samantha a wonderful chance to experience her first manicure. Not surprisingly, her best friend Anna came along for the fun! You can tell from their smiles that a fun time was had by all! June 2007

St. Lucia's Day-December 13, 2001 and December 13, 2006

St. Lucia's Day...December 13, 2001

This is Samantha on her first St. Lucia Day in December of 2001. On that day, we made a special visit to Aunt Toni and surprised her by dressing up as St. Lucia and bringing her some special treats.
Since then it has been our family tradition to celebrate St. Lucia Day each year as a way to remember and honor our Swedish Papa, James Johanson, Sr.
This day has also become a special way to remember Aunt Toni as she shares her birthday with St. Lucia's feast day.


St. Lucia's Day...December 13, 2006


This year Samantha decorated special Christmas tree cookies for her third grade class to bring in for St. Lucia's Day.

After explaining the holiday of St. Lucia to her class Samantha read aloud from one of our favorite St. Lucia books, Hanna's Christmas.

St. Nicholas Day-December 6, 2006

In honor of St. Nicholas' feast day on December 6th we baked delicious sugar cookies decorated to look just like St. Nicholas...complete with his miter (the tall-pointed hat he wears) and crozier (the crooked staff he carries.) We also read two special books entitled,
The Miracle of St. Nicholas and The Baker's Dozen.

Christmas lights 2006

Michael had complete control over our outside Christmas lights display this year! Not only was he the creative mind behind the entire project, plotting the exact location of each decoration with exact precision, but he also served as a one-man installation company...moving items out of storage, bringing them outside, staking them into the ground and running their electric! It was quite an amazing feat for one young boy! Thanks, Michael for making our light display one to remember!

Next came the real deal...our full size Christmas tree! Dad and Michael picked out a beauty and set it up in the stand for us. Mom hung the lights and Michael and Samantha did a fabulous job decorating it all by themselves! The final product was certainly a sight to see! Well done everyone!

The little Christmas tree

Michael and Samantha had fun putting up their own little Christmas tree. This tree was a gift from Mema who set it up for many years in her own home. It is just the perfect size for two perfect kids to decorate all by themselves! Thanks, Mema!

The Jesse Tree

In December we began preparing for our Christmas holidays by creating a Jesse Tree. We learned that the Jesse tree is a tree that reminds us of the history of Jesus before his birth. It's symbols represent stories from the bible. These stories tell of God and the many promises he made to his people. The tree's ornaments follow the heritage of Jesus Christ, beginning with the Creation Story and ending with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Samantha and Michael had fun painting the ornaments and gluing on their images.