Aunt Donna & Uncle Jim's Anniversary Party!

Oh my goodness, time sure flies! Today we were able to travel to Massachusetts and celebrate Aunt Donna & Uncle Jim's 25th Wedding Anniversary. Uncle Jim's parents decided to surprise them early, since their anniversary is September 15th. They were very surprised and happy to see everyone there! It was great to see everyone---even some people I haven't seen probably since the wedding 25 years ago!! Super fun day!

Christopher, my little photographer, took a bunch of great pictures so here they are...

Celebration of Soup Mem's Life

This weekend was 'Soup Mem's Celebration of Life. We piled in the van with my parents and we drove up to Richfield Springs, New York. It's a few minutes from Cooperstown---where the Baseball Hall of Fame is. It's quite a hike!

Anyway, we were able to visit with family and remember good times. It was a nice Celebration to remember our Memere. I put together a slide show with a bunch of pictures from her life. It was nice to watch as we sat together and chatted.

A Day to Remember...

Today was my father, Don Letendre, and his sister, my Aunt, Donna's Birthday. They are not twins. My dad was born in 1955 and Aunt Donna was born in 1962. Then on that same date, December 23rd, in 1989, my father's other sister Diane had a little girl named Laurie. What an exciting day! Christopher came close to being born on the 23rd of December, but he waited and was born on Christmas Eve! :)

December 23rd has always been an important day in the Letendre history, we never thought there would be more to add...

Today, December 23, 2010, my Memere, Bernice Dora Bouchard Letendre Surprenant, passed away after a long, courageous battle with cancer. It was very sad, but at the same time a bit of a relief. She has been suffering for some time with cancer. She was one of the strongest women I know. She never complained, even at the end, when she had to have been in some extreme pain!
We love you "Soup Mem" and are grateful that you are no longer in pain or discomfort. We love you and will never forget you! Hopefully I can make some "Soup Mem Soup" someday that tastes just like yours! The kids think it'll be impossible, but I'm going to try!

Here are a few photos from a slide show I put together. I'm so grateful for the memories...

Happy Birthday, Pepe!

Today was a crazy day for everyone in our family. Soup Mem passed away in the early afternoon. I stayed in town with the kids, but thankfully my parents and Val were with Soup Mem and the rest of the family in New York when she passed away. They came home that evening and we celebrated Pepe's Birthday, Christopher's Birthday and Christmas Eve. It was a little strange, but it was nice to be together. Then they were off to South Carolina to spend Christmas with Jessica and her family.

The best presents of the year were exchanged betweek Aunt Val and Anneli. Anneli gave Aunt Valerie a super cool silly bird pen. It made us all laugh!