Kowalski vacation

Steve, Angie, Matt and the girls left on Tuesday morning. It was so nice having them here, and we already miss them. The girls are truly some of the best-behaved children I have ever been around, and they made the week so enjoyable. Ana stole my heart with her contagious smile, constant waving, and silly giggle (as well as being a willing subject for my constant picture taking!). Alex is such an easy going little girl-so easy to please with a heart of gold. It was so nice to be able to celebrate her birthday here with her. And Laura...well she and Erin are one and the same child. They are both adventurous, outgoing, and always looking for a challenge. They are the "keep you on your toes" girls. Sweet as can be.

This post will be heavy on the pictures, but these are just a sample of the many that were taken while they were here for a week. Enjoy!

4/24/08

Briana (Ana)

The Kowalski brothers, Steve, Matt & Brian (l-r)

Matt getting ready to throw Bren in the water

4/26/08

Angie and Ana at the baseball field

Laura

Alexis (Alex)

Laura and Uncle Matt at Clearwater Beach

Laura and her Godfather, Uncle Brian

4/27/08

The birthday girl, Alex, and little sister Laura after Build A Bear

Uncle Matt and Ana

The four girls at the cottage

Happy birthday, Alex!

4/28/08

Steve and Ana (aka mini Steve)

All of the Kowalski's together in Brian & Michelle's den

Uncle Matt and Alex

Oh my

Steve, Angie, Alexis, Laura, Briana, and Matt are here from Milwaukee, and I am really enjoying having them here. We spent the evening at Clearwater Beach yesterday, and I got some really great shots of all of the girls. But this one picture just really stood out for me, and I love it. Briana is such a sweet little girl.

I have TONS more pictures to share already, and they will be here for four more days, but you'll have to wait until I have more time to get them all resized and uploaded to blogger. For now I'll leave you with my favorite.

More baseball

Bren had a great game yesterday. He did some great pitching (as usual), but he also made a couple of awesome plays in the outfield. During the second inning he made a double play by himself by catching a line drive and then tagging a base runner! The parents went crazy, and I was screaming like a maniac (nothing new).

It amazes me sometimes that Brendan hasn't gotten tired of playing after all of this time. He plays all year long with only a couple of weeks to break in between the Spring and Fall season each year. Thankfully we live in a climate that allows him to play year round. When you watch him play you can really tell that this sport is his passion, and I really do have a good time just sitting there watching him. I get a little crazy at times, and I am "one of those parents" that is up at the fence cheering and yelling throughout the game. They can get pretty rough out there at times (just watch these kids coming in to home...whew!), as you can see from one of the pictures of Bren at home plate trying to get an opposing team member out.

Enjoy the pictures from yesterday.

Busy as bees

It has been one busy start to spring for us.

I'm wrapping up spring term at school. Two more weeks, and then I have one week off before I head right into the summer term. I had a couple of really interesting classes this semester.

The boys are in the middle of spring break so Brendan has been out and about with his friends in the neighborhood, and Sean has been spending a lot of time on his laptop! Is it Monday yet???

Brian and I are ALMOST finished with laying the 700 square feet of travertine in the kitchen and spare bathroom. It is absolutely beautiful, but it has been one of the most difficult challenges that we've faced in the work that we've done in the house so far. These are 18x18 tiles, and they are heavy. They came four to a box! We also completely gutted the spare bathroom, replaced the tub and toilet, and had a custom (solid wood) cabinet built with a granite top and vessel sink. The same travertine is going to be put around the walls in the new tub in that bathroom. It's going to be nice once it's done, but it's driving me insane right now because of the mess. The house looks like a war zone. You can't even imagine the dust unless you've removed tile in your house before. We are on a serious deadline to get this all completed because Brian's two brothers, sister-in-law and three nieces will be here in less than two weeks. Woo hoo!!!!!

So THAT is what we have been up to.

Brendan and baseball

Brendan has been playing baseball since he was three years old. It's apparent now, at the age of 11, that this is a very serious thing to him and that he is VERY good at the sport. All of his coaches agree. He is now the starting pitcher, and the backup catcher.

I love watching him play.

Birthday party for Erin's "boyfriend"

Lars turned five on Sunday! Erin and Lars go to school together (and have for three years), and a lot of their friends were there to celebrate.