You can set me up

"I've been waiting for something beautiful to blow up in my face."

I'm not superhuman. I forget that sometimes, but then reality hits. Sometimes I wonder if I've taken on more than I can handle. I won't give up. It's not who I am. But it's hard, and it's going to get more difficult before I can breath. C'est la vie, right? I chose this path.

How fun!!

Our neighbor (lives directly across the street from us) pitched his first game with the NY Yankees last night, and it was so exciting to see him. Tyler Clippard has been the pitcher for the Tampa Yankees (the NY Yankees farm team) for several years. We've known since last year that he was most likely going to be drafted by the NY Yankees, and he proved himself to be worthy of every bit of it. During his first major league game last night, he gave up only two runs, and was named the player of the game. Way to go, Tyler!!

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070520&content_id=1976925&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

CHAMPIONS!!

They pulled it off! The Thunder won the championship this morning, 10-7 over six innings. It was a great game, and a wonderful season for the team.

After the game, the league had a huge pizza party for the last two teams, and one of the parents had a huge cupcake cake with the team name made for them. The league also provided drinks, hotdogs and hamburgers to everyone. Each member of the team was awarded a gold medal. Here are a few pictures from the day.


The four officials, and two coaches for the coin toss


Brendan receiving his medal

The champions!

The cupcake cake. It was huge!

Wild kitties

We were outside with our next door neighbor when we saw a kitten run alongside her house. We walked over and looked, and burrowed underneath one of the bushes in her yard was the home of three beautiful kittens and their mom. They had apparently been living under this bush their entire lives, and the ground was dug down so that they were sheltered. They were wild, and the mother was livid that we were trying to catch them. After two hours, the five of us (adults) caught the three kittens, but could not get the mother. The following day, we lured her onto our lanai where the kittens were staying, and we managed to catch her. We've had them all week, and it has taken all of this time for the mother to stop trying to attack us. You can tell that the kittens have never seen or been around people before, because even now only Sean can get near them. They still try to attack. A local safe shelter is adopting them all together, so we feel good about trying so hard to get the mom to keep with her babies. They are so cute, and I wish that we could keep them all, but Greyson isn't very happy about them being here!

Championship game...here we come!

Brendan's baseball team won tonight, and advances to the championship game on Saturday! The team that they played tonight was one of the tougher teams in the league, so it was a great win. I've nearly lost my voice from all of the screaming that I did tonight. We had a blast, and are anxious for the game on Saturday.

Here is the video that I made for the team this year. They all watched it on my laptop at the field last night, and loved it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdfjPz8vTf8

Way to go, Thunder!!!

Special flowers

Aren't these beautiful? My mom and Larry sent these to me for Mother's Day. The huge pink daisies are so pretty, and the dark pink lilies are to die for. The entire arrangement is just gorgeous. Thank you both!!! You made my day.

Miss you already

I won't get to see her for another three months. I'm bummed.

We had a great time at Lake Eola and Downtown Disney, but it just went too damn fast. I'll post a lot more pictures of everyone tomorrow. Right now, this is the only one that matters.

Beautiful girl

(click to see a larger view)

I can't believe how grown Erin looks in this picture. She just gets more and more beautiful as she gets older. It's killing me to see her grow up so quickly.

In other news, the boys are finished with school in one week from today. Sean had a party in one of his classes today, and I delivered 12 pizzas, crazy bread, cake and brownies to the 22 kids. They had a blast. I made the cake and brownies for them, but I bought the pizza and crazy bread. I kept Erin home with me today, so she got to join in, too.

I start back to school on Monday, and I'm excited. The two classes that I'm taking in the summer semester are both major courses, so I'm really looking forward to them.

We are meeting Pam and her family this Friday in Orlando, and I cannot wait. They are already in Florida, and it's killing me that they are only 4 hours away and I haven't seen them yet.

The swingset is done. Instead of two days, it actually ended up taking three, but that's ok. We were outside swinging last night until about 10:00pm!

The boys will be flying to Atlanta to spend a couple of weeks with their family there in June. Then Sean will be flying alone to Oregon to stay with Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Larry for the first week of August. He's going to get some air miles this summer! Hopefully he won't be spending it with a cast like he did last summer! No more broken bones, please! I know that Grandma and Grandpa are excited to have him there, and they have a lot of things planned for him. He's very excited about the trip.

That's all for now, folks!

My poor baby

As if he hasn't been through enough with his teeth already, Sean now has to have his two lower wisdom teeth removed. During his monthly orthodontic appointment yesterday, x-rays revealed that the two lower wisdom teeth have grown in impacted, and are putting direct pressure on the molars, directly conflicting with what the braces are trying to do. So, it's off to the oral surgeon for Sean. He's not thrilled with the fact that he's going to have to go through this, but he does know that it will all be worth it in the end.

And yes, this is just another thing for Sean that is ahead of schedule since most people don't even get their widsom teeth until their late teens or early twenties! He's twelve and already has them!!!

"I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it"

I get to see Pam again!! Woo hoo!! I am beyond excited, and counting down the days again. She and her family (Scott, Joey and Quinn) will be visiting Scott's parents in the Miami area, and they are driving up to Orlando for two days to spend some time with us. The four of them, and the five of us, will meet at Lake Oela on Friday morning, stay overnight and then they will head back down to Scott's family on Saturday. It'll be a short visit, but I'll take any time we have together. I'm so anxious to see Joey and Quinn again, too. Quinn was just a baby when we were in Philadelphia together, and now she's a big 2.5 year old!! She and Erin are going to have a blast together. And of course Joey has grown like a weed, too. He and Erin are almost exactly the same age (Joey was born on my birthday in 2003). Oh, we can't wait to see you, too, Scott!

12 more days...

I can't wait to see you again, Pam!!!!!!!

I think I can, I think I can...

I keep repeating that over and over to myself. After the next three days are over, I am going to do some major celebrating! My three final classes of the semester are today, tomorrow and Wednesday, and it is taking everything that I have to get all of the assignments completed. Anyone that has ever worked full time and gone to school full time, kudos to you. This is tough! Thankfully I have 2.5 weeks off before the summer semester starts, so I will get a bit of a break. I need it. We'll be putting up the new swingset in the back yard, and I'll be doing a lot of nothing except watching the kiddos play.

Three more days and then I can breathe for a little while. Whew.

Such an imagination

One of the perks of working from home is that from time to time I keep Erin home with me, and we get to "play" when I'm not busy doing something. So she stayed home today. She told me that she had "plans". So while I was working in my office, I could hear her talking (I just keep the french doors in the office open, and the sliding glass door to the house open so that I can hear her). I went around through the house where she wouldn't see me, and this is what I found.

After I snapped a couple of pictures I asked her what she was doing. She apparently has a classroom setup, and all of her babies and stuffed animals are her students. She is the teacher (of course!!) and she is having a class, teaching them how to write their names. So she has all of this stuff from her room setup in the corner of the eat in part of the kitchen, behind the kitchen table. It was so cute, and listening to her instruct her "students" was adorable. She was so serious, and kept asking them if they had any questions. She would even pretend that they asked a question, and then respond to them.

MORE Webkinz!

That's right! Another box of Webkinz from Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Larry showed up on our door today. We cannot find these things ANYWHERE here, and yet Grandma and Grandpa continue to find them. Today the kids received Pegasus, Leopard, Monkey, Koala and another White Terrier. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!! The kids are having a blast with these critters (as you know since you play with them online!).

On another note, I have ONE MORE WEEK of classes in this semester, and then I have a three week break before summer classes start. I am SO looking forward to that break, too. I've finished up my 4th year ASL class, and I love it more than I did when I started.

The boys are out of school on May 23rd. They'll fly to Atlanta to spend some time with their family there, and then Sean is planning to take a trip to stay with Grandma and Grandpa in Oregon towards the end of his summer break. Hopefully this year he won't have a cast for summer break!!

WEBKINZ!!!!

The long anticipated box arrived at almost 10pm!

Barely able to stand the wait, they finally dug in

Going through each of the bags inside of the box.

21 Webkinz!!

Erin and her "girlie" Webkinz. Terrier, Yorkie & Poodle

A few happy kids

If you haven't heard of Webkinz yet, something is wrong. They are the newest "hot item" for kids, and the addiction is spreading quickly. They are cute little stuffed animals that come to life in a virtual world online. Around here, you can't find them ANYWHERE. Literally every store that sells them is sold out, and continues to sell out within an hour of getting more in stock. So...Grandma and Grandpa to the rescue!! They sent Sean, Bren and Erin 21 Webkinz!!! Most people around here can't even find ONE, let alone 21. Grandma and Grandpa even have their own, and they play online with Sean and Bren almost every day. Again, thank you Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Larry.

Oh, and by the way, when they realized that they were in such hot demand, they drove over 30 miles away to find a store that carried them in Oregon. You guys are the best! And...they have more on their way to us!!

www.webkinz.com

Easter goodies from Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Larry sent Sean, Bren and Erin Easter baskets filled with goodies! They loved getting the treats in the mail, and it extended their Easter by a few days. Thank you both!!!!

Easter

We spent Easter Sunday in Deltona with the family there. It was a beautiful day, and we all had a great time. The egg hunt was the biggest ever! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

Sean and Bren's bunnies. They were 18 inches (before the ears were eaten!)

My sweet nephew, Zaye

Nana, the matriarch of our family

Zaye and Michelle

Sean flying a kite

Sea Camp 2007

Self portrait

One of the sharks that they swam with

A live conch and starfish

The barracks where they slept

Sean got back home this morning at 1:00am from his first trip to Sea Camp in the Florida Keys. He left on Friday at 6:45am.

The trip was sponsored by his school, and there were 45 students and five chaperones. Sean has been looking forward to this trip all year, and he has worked hard in his classes to ensure that he would be able to go. Our deal was that as long as he remained on honor roll, he would go. It cost $550.00 for him to go, and it was worth every penny to see him as excited as he was about it. It was an all-inclusive trip, so it was a great deal. He loves marine animals, so this was the perfect trip for him. They went snorkeling, swimming with sharks, sailing, wading, and lots of other fun activities. I have no doubt that he'll be going again next year.

I've included a couple of pictures that Sean took while he was there. He didn't get nearly as many as I had hoped for, but I know that he was more interested in doing the activities than taking pictures. The site for the camp is http://www.seacamp.org/

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.