Now THAT is what I'm talking about!!

This is a copy/paste of an email that I received from one of Sean's teachers today.

Ms. Andrews
A few things, while I have this e-mail address. (1) Thank you so very much for the home made carrot cake. It was so delicious. Words cannot describe how wonderful it made my birthday. (2) I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful son you have raised. He is so respectful. Even when I have to discipline him, he still stays kind and respectful to me and that shows character. (3) Finally, thank you for the quick e-mail response about the cell phone. I have returned it to him. Please let me know if you ever have any questions or concerns that I can assist you with.
Sincerely
Mrs. Fisher

As a parent, hearing #2 is about as good as it gets. You know how they treat others when you are around, but to hear things like this, and to know how Sean treats his teachers when I am not around, is one of the greatest feelings I've ever had. Sean loves school, and adores his teachers, and so it really should not be a surprise, but it's still so nice to hear it directly from those that are with him during the day. I am so proud of him. Oh, and by the way, they got report cards again yesterday, and they are honor roll again! That's my boys!!!

Posing puppy

It looks like she's posing for these pictures, doesn't it? Especially with her legs crossed in one of them. She was laying on Erin's Dora the Explorer bed, taking a nap. I woke her up as I was getting ready to snap the first shot, but that's ok since these turned out cute, too.

A day at the park

One of our favorite things to do is go to one of the local parks. We went to Chestnut Park this past weekend and had a great time letting Anah play in the dog park, feeding the wild squirrels, playing on the playground, and just taking a walk on the nature trail to see all of the beautiful animals.

I love that they have a faux fire hydrant in the middle of the dog park

A crane that stood taller than Erin

A view of Lake Tarpon from the tower along the trail

The squirrels are very tame. We always bring seeds for them.

Happy St. Patty's Day

Before we started

Erin after Daddy smashed a cupcake into her face (just playing around, of course)

Erin decorating a cupcake

A couple of the finished cupcakes

All done (minus those that we ate along the way)

We had our very own celebration tonight. After dinner, we made homemade french vanilla cupcakes, and then decorated them with cream cheese icing, green vanilla icing, and green sprinkles. The kids had a blast, and the finished cupcakes tasted delicious.

Hope you all had a wonderful day, too!

The game ball

Brendan pitched a no-hitter for two innings today, and ultimately ended up receiving the game ball. He's evolved into quite an awesome pitcher! They are now undefeated for the season, 6-0.


Brendan with the game ball for 3-17-07

Relay for Life 2007

Brendan's school is participating in our local Relay for Life (they are the Trailblazers). We were recently sent a notice stating that the children would be able to purchase t-shirts for the walk, and for an additional donation the name(s) of someone that we knew who has or had cancer could be added to the back of the shirt. Every child and parent that purchased one of these shirts will have these names on it. So we purchased one for each of the boys, and included the names of Asher Carlson and Mitch Harper.

Asher is the four year old son of a friend of mine in Arizona. He was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, a cancer of his brain, in 2006. He has gone through five rounds of chemotherapy, and is currently undergoing stem cell transplant.

Mitch is my older brother, and a skin cancer survivor.

So this is one small way for our family to honor the courage of Asher and Mitch.

Anah Belle

After more than a year of research, interviewing breeders, and personal testimony from owners, we have adopted Anah Belle. She is an AKC tri-colored Beagle. She's eight weeks old, and is the only surviving puppy from her litter. The mother refused to feed the entire litter, with the exception of Anah. She is a very small breed of Beagle, which makes her very unique. We got home from the breeder last night, just after midnight, got Anah settled in her crate, and she didn't make a single peep all night. She was very content to just sleep. Everyone here is just in love with her, and so far she and Greyson are getting along just fine.

Happy birthday, Grandma!

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday Grandma Laurie,
Happy birthday to you!

My mom is celebrating her 21st birthday today (yes, I know that this means that I am 2 years old), and I wanted to wish her a wonderful day. The boys and Erin are anxious to call her this evening to sing to her. They actually wanted to call her before they left for school today, not quite understanding how early it would have been there with the three hour time difference.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!!

Greyson

Please welcome Greyson to our family. We visited the SPCA this past weekend, and all of us immediately fell in love with him. He's a beautiful Russian Blue breed, and he has no tail. It was apparently cut off by a previous owner. We had to leave him at the SPCA so that he could be neutered, and we picked him up last night after he was microchipped. He's already well-adjusted, and loves all of the attention that he is getting.

Just a few more

Daddy and Erin waiting for the wedding party to arrive at the site of the wedding

My little skipping girl

Talking to Brooke,the bride, while she gets her pedicure

The two flower girls, Erin and Jordan

Erin getting her nails painted

All done, and ready for the wedding!

I've been so busy lately that I just haven't had much time to update my blog. Spring break is next week, so I have a short break from school, and a bit of time to try and get caught up. Whew! Here are a few pictures from the day before Brooke's wedding. Early in the day Erin went with the bridal party to have her nails painted for the wedding, and then later that day (Friday, March 2nd) was the rehearsal and dinner. I'll post a few pictures of Erin from the day of the wedding soon.

Siesta Key

After picking strawberries last weekend, we took a short drive south to Siesta Key. This is one of our favorite beaches for sand dollar searching, and of course the beautiful Gulf of Mexico water and sunsets don't hurt either. It was pretty windy, but otherwise a beautiful day spent outside picking fresh berries, searching for sand dollars, playing in the sand, and just enjoying one another.