Love his smile

My baby boy (being tackled by a teammate).  His smile has always made my heart melt.  He is 100% "mommy's boy".  Always has been.  

Zaye's birthday party

My nephew Zaye turned 11 on April 20th, and Tony (my brother) had a birthday party for him yesterday. Tony lives just east of Orlando, about two hours from us, on five acres of land. It's beautiful out there, and it was the perfect place for the kids to run around and play for the day. We took Brendan's friend, Brandon, with us since Zaye likes him a lot, too.

When we arrived Maddox was taking a nap.  Love how he had his blanket over his head.

Zaye on the "redneck slip and slide" (as Tony called it).

Tony and Sean.

This old playground favorite was a hit with the kids, even though it was so small.

My silly brother.  It was so tight it was pulling his eyes up!

Zaye's 11 candles.

The birthday boy.

I love watching Tony playing with my kiddos.  He was tickling Sean, despite the fact that Sean is WAY bigger than he is.

An old helicopter body (prop from Universal Studios) that Tony's roommate, Kevin, has on the property.  It was perfect for the boys since they played for hours with their pellet guns on the property.

Brendan on the hunt for one of the other boys, pellet gun in hand.

Momma, Daddy and baby sand hill crane.  They live on the property, and their nest is in the lake right outside of the house.

Donny is Hannah's oldest son (Tony's friend).

Look at my handsome boy with his new haircut!

Zaye with his birthday gift from Tony.

Tony and Hannah being silly.  Or not.

No, it's not a random picture of the ground.  This is an ant colony that Tony feeds every day.  

"Fred" sits in one of the old abandoned vehicles on the property.  "Fred" as in "I Am Legend" Fred.

Tony in the pen with the turkey and the baby duck.

These two live together in the pen.  The baby duck thinks that the female turkey is his/her mom, and after losing her two babies to raccoons, the turkey treats the duck like her baby.

A daily dose of turkey eggs.  Tony and Kevin get at least one from her every day, and they eat them (there is no male turkey to fertilize them, so they wouldn't hatch anyway).

The gang on the trampoline just before sunset.

Reaction to noise

Erin has never liked loud noises.  

Last weekend when we were at the Rays game and Zobrist hit the grand slam (that ultimately won the game) the stadium went crazy, and it was LOUD.  It doesn't even sound very loud on the video, but it was.  This video of Erin's reaction just cracks me up.  I love that she plugs her ears a second time when she thinks that they are going to get loud again.

It's crazy around here

It's been a while since I posted, but with finals this week I just haven't had much "extra" computer time.  I've spent every spare second reviewing material for the exams, but after this week I will have a few weeks off before summer term starts.  As always I'm looking forward to the quick break in the chaos.

Everyone is doing well.  As you can see we are still finding time to have fun.  This past weekend we went to watch the Rays play against the White Sox, and we had a great time.  We all love going to the games.  Erin was sporting her Longoria t-shirt (our favorite player), and she had a whistle to blow each time they scored (everyone else uses cowbells).  These pictures were taken with my phone.

I'll be back with more updates after the week is over, and I can breath.

Easter

Erin woke up with a huge smile on her face when she saw her big pink basket on her night stand. She promptly went to Sean, Bren and Zaye (my nephew) to make sure that they got something (they did), and to show everyone what she got. Then Sean and I put the finishing touches on the two cakes that we made for Easter lunch/dinner, and made two pans of baked macaroni and cheese.

There are beautiful ducks/birds that have a bright red beak. They do a full dive under the water to catch fish, and it's really cool to watch them.

My beautiful girl in her Easter dress.

After the egg hunt in the back yard. She was showing me her loot!

Later in the afternoon I had to meet Stacie (my ex-sister in law) in Ocala to take Zaye back to her. While we were there I got to see Ivee and Kaid, too. The last time we saw Kaid he was just a baby. Ivee and Erin are only two months apart in age. Of course I had to take a few pictures o them!

(l-r) Kaid, Zaye, Stacie and Ivee

Our Easter cake

We tried something new this year, and it turned out really cute.  Sean and I did this together, and it only took a few minutes to assemble everything.  We made a homemade cake and icing instead of using a box cake mix (blah!), but we followed the rest of the directions from this site.  

Easter Bunny Cake

Last weekend (with Tony, Zaye and Maddox)

Tony was here again last weekend, and this time he had both of his boys with him (Zaye and Maddox).  Zaye actually stayed here, and has been with us all week or Spring Break.  These are just a few pictures from the weekend while Tony and Maddox were here.

(l-r) Maddox, Erin, Bren and Zaye on our street (our house is on the corner on the left)

Zaye being silly

Brendan getting tickled (at the park in our neighborhood) by Uncle Tony

Maddox and his daddy

Bren and Zaye wrestling

Uncle Tony and Bren on Bren's "trick" bike (an old bike of Erin's that he painted and put pegs on)

Zaye on my bike

My baby brother

Tony and Maddox walking back to our house from the park