Ben's graduation!

On May 17th we boarded the plane and headed to New Orleans... it was a wonderful trip and we had an absolute blast celebrating Ben and spending time with family! 

The night we arrived in New Orleans, we took a tour of the city. It was neat to see the city at night and all lit up. I must admit, I was pretty exhausted and fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel :) The next morning we were bright eyed and ready to go. 

We took a tour of Tulane's campus (it is gorgeous), and got to sit in on Ben's accapella group as they sang a few songs (including Ben's solo song!) and they sang The National Antheum. They are a very talented group and it was fun to see them live singing instead of on YouTube! Friday, we also got to see the Art Exhibition. Ben did a beautiful job making the advertisements for the exhibition, and his piece in the exhibition was extremely creative. Ben was and is a very valued member of the Art Department at Tulane and is very well respected by his professors. It was fun to meet a few of them, and some of Ben's friends. 

We stopped Friday for lunch at The Rum House, which was to die for. The tacos were out of this world! Let me tell you something about New Orleans -- if I can take away anything from my short time there, they know what they are doing with food. It was some of the "best eating" I've ever experienced. That afternoon we enjoyed a walk around Audubon Park and the Wave Goodbye Party on campus that evening. After the party, we took the Street Car (so fun) downtown and I experienced for the first time ... Cafe Du Monte. One word- amazing. Beignets are out of this world. Coated in powdered sugar, a billion deep friend calories a piece, and worth every single melt in your mouth bite. 

Saturday morning we woke up early and got ready to roll for the BIG DAY OF GRADUATION at the Super Dome! Tulane's graduation was no joke -- complete with bag pipers, jazz bands, Trombone Shorty, Ruby Bridges (the first ever African American to walk into an integrated public school during the Civil Rights Movement) being awarded an Honorary Degree, fireworks, confetti, and oh the list could go on. Talk about a celebration! And of course, the best part of the graduation-- Ben earning his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and Digital Media. We couldn't be more proud of him. Ben is extremely gifted, and we know that whatever he puts his heart into he will succeed. First stop, UCLA in the fall. Next stop, we're anticipating seeing his name in the credits for Pixar in the near future ... Congratulations Ben, we can't say it enough, we are SO proud.

The night of graduation we had an exceptional meal at Commanders Palace. Words can't even explain the delectable food, wonderful conversation and the overall experience that was...Commanders Palace. That night, we headed to bed early in anticipation of a very long drive home on Sunday. We arrived home Sunday night after a wonderful trip to New Orleans. We couldn't have done the trip without Gaye and Jim's generosity. We were so happy to have been there to see Ben graduate and get a small taste of where Ben has been the past 4 years.

Congratulations again, Ben. We are glad we got to be at your big graduation day. UCLA is going to be blessed to have you join their campus... and oh the places you will go... 

Love,

Sam & Katelyn 

Waiting to hear Ben's acapella group, THEM sing. 

Riding on the Street Car! 

Po'boy sandwiches for lunch-- YUM!

Just a small glimmer of the fireworks...

A very proud momma with her two bow-tied sons!

What a great trip!!!

Life lately...

 HELLO from Sam, Katelyn and Ethel! 

Sorry we have been missing in action from our blog, life lately has been crazy. 

May started off with 3 birthdays, Sam on May 8th, Ethel on May 10th and Katelyn on May 11th. Birthday week was definitely a success! Above, you can see that between my sweet husband and myself the kitchen was festively decorated for the week.

 Happy Birthday Sam!!!! Enjoying breakfast before heading off to work/school. Sam requested birthday brats for his b-day dinner and I put in my request for waffles. Overall, we had wonderful birthdays and felt very celebrated and loved by our family and friends. A few weeks later, Sam completed his 2nd year of seminary on May 16th-- I am SO incredibly proud of him and I finished up the school year at Hancock on the 23rd.

 Happy 3rd Birthday sweet dog! We celebrated Ethel's birthday by giving her some new Dingo Chicken Chews. She was pretty pleased with how we celebrated her 3rd birthday. She even got some leftover steak that night. She's pretty spoiled -- just look at that sweet face!

Other exciting news in the month of May- we got a new couch!!! Our good friends, Anna and Scott bought new couches for their house and asked us if we would want their current couch... OF COURSE we did! Here is a picture of Sam and Ethel relaxing on the couch. Special thank you to Jim and Gaye who brought the couch down to us AND spent 3 hours helping us put it together. It was much more complicated then you think. 

May has been a crazy, busy and fun month for us. Not only did we celebrate birthday week, complete our 2nd year of seminary and finish up the school year at Hancock-- we also attended one very important and exciting graduation for Ben Haist!  We thought his graduation deserved its own blog post, so see the next blog for our adventures in New Orleans! 

We have spent our Memorial Day weekend relaxing, taking naps, hosting our Community Group BBQ, and tomorrow we are planning a picnic in the park with our good friends, Amber and Sean. Tuesday I (Katelyn) start back up at the daycare...just for the summer! We hope all of you are enjoying your long weekend, and remembering our soldiers both past, present and future this weekend.

Love to all of you. 

Katelyn & Sam

Praise the Lord!!!!

I am ecstatic to announce that I signed my first teaching contract this morning! I will be teaching K/1 at South City Community School! I couldn't be more excited! Even though I can't start setting up my room (I love the sound of that) until August 10th, I've been going through all of the teaching stuff I have accumulated in the basement tonight and it is so much fun!

A little more about the school. This was taken from the school's website. The SCCS's teaching philosophy relies heavily on the 19th century educator, Charlotte Mason. Here are few of the things both Mason, and South City Community School value:

Children participate actively in their own learning – wondering, observing, exploring, experimenting, mastering, creating – and become communicators of that knowledge.

Narration, or telling back, is used in all subjects as a tool for learning and assessment.

Living Books - books (either classic or modern) that are excellently written, tell a story, and inspire children to love the subject and hunger for more - form the foundation for our curriculum.

Nature study, Artist and Composer studies, foreign language, Art, Poetry, and Music are a regular (at least weekly) part of every student’s experience, building an appreciation for the fine arts and nurturing these gifts at an early age.

Enrichment Trips extend learning beyond the walls of the classroom.  Classes at SCCS take monthly or bi-monthly trips to various locations throughout the St. Louis metro area.

Support for homeschooling families through a Homeschool Community Day program offered one morning a week for Kind - 3rd grade.

Small class sizes –  (below are maximum class sizes)

    8 children in PreK3

    10 children in PreK4

    14 children in Kindergarten

    14 children in 1st grade

    14 children in 2nd grade

    14 children in combined 3rd / 4th grade

Family involvement is seen as a vital and required role for the success of each student and our school community.

You can see more of what goes on at the website:  http://www.sccommunityschool.org/home.html


I don't know a whole lot about Charlotte Mason's Philosophy yet, but I am SO excited to learn more about her and her view of education. One of the things I love about Mason is how much she values and nurtures the whole child.  I will be going out to North Carolina for a conference with one of the Heads of School and three new teachers June 6th-9th to learn more about Mason's philosophy. I will begin training on August 8th and setting up my room, then school starts on August 23rd!

Thank you to all of you who have been such a wonderful support system. Thank you for the prayers the past 2 years and all of the encouragement you have given me in some of the most discouraging times of my career. I am so blessed.

Praise the Lord, for he is GOOD! 

Love,
Katelyn (and Sam)