HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Halloween was a blast this year. Julia really got into it and loved trick or treating. We started the day at WPS for a costume parade for Matthew and Katie. Julia loved looking at the costumes and Will just slept in the Baby Bjorn. Julia spent the afternoon with "Markie" Sweeney while Mom and Will went back to Kindergarten for Matthew's party. All 7 of use went to the Sweeney's house for their annual pre trick or treat party. What a great time to see all the costumes and have dinner. We trick-or-treated around "the loop" and had a great time. I posted some of our favorite pictures from today. Needless to say, we have PLENTY OF CANDY!!! Happy Halloween to all our friends and family.

HALLOWEEN HAS BEGUN .....

Halloween officially started at the Kane house today!!! Julia got to wear her Witch costume to co-op today. She got to trick or treat the staff at the church where her preschool is located. Mom worked in the classroom today so Baby Will got to wear his Spider costume. We will post pictures of the other kids tomorrow - they will wear their costumes to school for the big WPS Halloween parade. Katie is going to be a Vampire, Matthew a Ninja and Andrew is still undecided (leaning toward football player). As you can see, Julia tried to put a magic spell on Will. She said she was turning him into a Frog. We have a full day tomorrow of parades, parties and more parties and then trick or treating. Celebration is an awesome community to trick or treat in. So awesome that tons of people come here for Halloween night. The traffic is so congested in the front of the neighborhood that we just stay back in South Village.

RACING FOR DAN

Dan and his wife Leah before the race

Last night a group of friends from Celebration ran the Tower of Terror 13K and 6K race at MGM studios in support of our friend Dan Sams who is battling brain cancer. The race began at 9:30PM and afterwards they had a couple or rides open for spectators and racers. I even did Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster!! Sean ran the 13K and had a great time after a full day of football and the kids!! I just went out to support Dan and Sean and was thrilled to have a night out without the kids. We didn't get home until 1:00am!! It has been years since we have stayed out so late. We would ask all our family and friends to include Dan in your daily prayers. You can always check his blog for updates.

In total there were 14 RUNNERS and a bunch more spectators!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We took Julia and Will to the pumpkin patch today while the big kids were at school. Julia loved looking for her "puwfect pumpkin". Will seemed pretty annoyed when we decided to shove him in between all the pumpkins. We are hoping to take everyone up to the patch this weekend!!

13 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Sean and I celebrate our 13 year anniversary today. Boy has so much changed in 13 years. We got married the October right after graduate school at Purdue University. Sean was working at Procter & Gamble and I just accepted a market research position at Ohio National Life Insurance Company. We lived in a small apartment in Cincinnati, OH!! In the past 13 years we have ..

1. Been blessed with 5 wonderful, unique, beautiful, spunky kids
2. Lived in Cincinnati, OH, Jacksonville, FL and now here in Celebration
3. Traveled to Costa Rica twice, London, Paris, Rome, Cayman, Bermuda, San Francisco, and many more fun places
4. Made lifelong friends each place we have lived (you know who you are - Roberts, Walkers, Karakourtis, and all our wonderful Celebration friends)
5. Become an Aunt and Uncle 3 times (we love you Charlotte, Emma Kate and John)
6. Spent amazing, quality times with our parents and our siblings (we miss you Dad!!!)
7. Changed jobs, became a Partner in own firm (Sean)
8. Did laundry, became PTA president, more laundry (Caroline)
9. Coached 9 million baseball and softball teams
10. Been part of 4 amazing parishes - All Saints, St. Pauls, Holy Cross and Corpus Christi
11. But most of all, spent the past 13 years growing up, growing wiser, weathering plenty of storms, crying, some fighting, alot of laughing and knowing 100% that we have many more than 13 years together....

We have been truly blessed!!!

KOWBOYS KEEP WINNING

Andrew's football team won again yesterday. Their record is now 8 - 1 and their last regular season game in next Saturday in Windermere. They have secured a playoff spot!! We are waiting on time/date/location for the game. They played at West Orange High School and the field was Astroturf. The kids thought that was really cool. Mom, Will, Julia and Katie went to cheer Andrew one. He had a sack and was in on a bunch of tackles. He played defensive end the last quarter. I love the picture of him going head to head with the offensive line.

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS A MATEO

We finished up Matthew's birthday yesterday with a Fiesta at our favorite Mexican joint in Kissimmee after Andrew's football practice. We all ate too much and had a great time. The Harts joined us to help celebrate Matthew's big day. At the end of dinner, a mariachi band serenaded Matthew with a peppy version of Happy Birthday!! Check out his sombrero!

GOOD BIRTHDAY MORNING

Our family tradition for birthdays is to decorate the downstairs the night before so when the birthday girl/boy wakes up, they know it is their special day. I heard a faint singing of Happy Birthday this morning at 6:00 am. Matthew was serenading himself!! He waited a bit but opened gifts this morning with everyone still in their pjs. I know I am releasing my Mommy control because in the old world, I would have made everyone get dressed for the picture. It is amazing how the older you get, the less these things matter and seem so riduculous that you used to be that way (no, no, don't think that I will let the kids take their Christmas pictures in sport shorts and t shirts - I will never release control of that one. Can you imagine when Andrew is 19, Katie 18, Matthew, 15, Julia 12 and Will 10 and I still have them sitting like a train in matching outfits?Hopefully I will have let that go. Check out Julia's new duck face - wonder if she will keep that face for the Christmas card photo?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MATTHEW

Today is Matthew's 6th birthday!! Yesterday he celebrated with his classmates. Mom, Julia and Will brought in baseball cupcakes and goodie bags for his friends. His friends sang him Happy Birthday and made him cards! We don't have school today so Matthew has a free day. We don't have any plans yet. We are going to enjoy a slower day around the house and will go out to dinner (his choice). We are amazed that Matthew is already 6. Times flies ... it just seems like yesterday that he was born in Jacksonville and we were making our move here to Celebration. He is such a spunky kid. His favorite things are baseball, Star Wars, watching sports with Dad and Andrew, heelies, turkey sandwiches, his baby brother Will, and of course Apple Juice.

Happy William

So many times I tend to document all the big things (school functions, games, birthdays) so I decided I was going to try to highlight some of the everyday things. William was in an awesome mood yesterday. He is really coming into his own. So smiley, cooing, and looking around. He is such a calm guy and laid back. That is a huge plus for this family. He is over 16 pounds now and is trying to hold his head up while in the car seat (extreme ab work!). We are so lucky to have him and he definitely keeps us in the moment of our hectic life!!

KISSIMMEE KOWBOYS: 7-1

Andrew's football team continues it's successful season with another win this past Saturday. They won 47 - 0!!! They have 2 more away games before the playoffs. It is amazing how much time tackle football takes. He has been practicing 2 hours a day, 4 days a week since July 17th!! Tons of conditioning, running and sweating!! Overall, it has been a great experience to learn about hard work, dedication, teamwork and obviously football! We are very proud of Andrew.

FALL IN CELEBRATION??

Last night, Will, Julia, Katie and Mommy walked downtown for the Oktoberfest and Falling Leaves Festival. Brightly colored paper leaves fall from Market Street on the hour -- Julia got a real kick out of it. Will still can't focus that far away so the festivities were lost of him. They had the German band from Epcot singing the traditional German songs!! We met up with friends and enjoyed the cooler weather (85 degrees), ate dinner and did a bit of shopping. Andrew was at football practice, Matthew was hanging out at the ballfields with his friend and Sean was playing in a Charity poker contest. We are going to an Oktoberfest party (no kids!) tonight with a bunch of our friends!! Looking forward to it.

MATTHEW'S FIRST HOMERUN!!

At Matthew's baseball game last night, he was 2 for 4 with an in the park HOMERUN. Sean is his coach and they have a scrappy, little team. Matthew is still tball age but we decided to move him up to the next division (a lot of 6 year olds move up if they have played a couple of seasons of tball). He is the youngest on the team but is doing pretty well. It is a big adjustment hitting off the pitching machine. His team is the Cleveland Indians!! We will try to post some pictures of him hitting at the next game. He is playing 2nd base in this picture. The little boy in the left of the picture is his friend, Caleb, who was 3 for 3 last night. His dad is the assistant coach, Tim.

Hangin with my Brother and Sister

William is really starting to respond to the kids. He loves Matthew and thinks he is hilarious (kind of like the rest of us!). Katie is such a good sister and helper to mom. She just hikes Will up on her hip and away she goes. She will be an awesome Mommy someday.

Kane Family Update

This has been my longest amount of time without a post!! It has been hectic around these parts. A quick update on our weekend. First and the best news, Baby John (Meredith and Jeff's new baby) is off the phototherapy and is at home in his momma's arms. He has gained 8 ounces or so and is doing wonderfully. He is so beautiful and I can not wait to visit him in the beginning of November.

I took my first shot at a porch sale this Saturday. The rain was torential but the sale went on. We made a little bit of money but bettter yet, cleared out a bunch of clutter. Sean's mom and uncle from Holland came for a visit this Saturday. We had a free day after the sale because all the games were cancelled due to the rain. Not Andrew's football game!! They are now 6 - 1 and have secured a place in the playoffs. Andrew has really enjoyed the football season (5 days a week and all!).

We spent the day on Sunday at Animal Kingdom with everyone. It was the first trip with all 5 kiddos to one of the parks. Will did great!! We have switched the kids rooms around a bit. Now Matthew and Will are roommates. Will is quickly outgrowing the bassinette so he will make the move upstairs this week. He usually is sleeping between 7 and 8 hours a night!!

DISNEY DAY FOR JULIA AND WILL

Mom, Dad and Julia took William to Magic Kingdom today for the 1st time. The big kids were in school and we got to enjoy a relaxed day at the park. Julia really wanted to see Cinderella Castle and go on the Pooh ride. She also went on Snow White, Dumbo, Small World and Buzz Lightyear!! We had a nice lunch at the Plaza and then left when it began to rain. What an easy day at the park with only 2 kids!!!

TEAM DAN DAY!!

Today at our Monday Bible Study (Women for Families) we celebrated with Leah (one of our leaders) the good news she received last week!! Her husband, Dan, is fighting brain cancer (and I do mean FIGHTING) and had a great result on his first round of treatment and MRI. You can view their blog (Sams Family) from our blog. I am very blessed to be surrounded by so many beautiful and faithful women. I have been a member of this Bible Study since 2002. We meet every Monday morning and we are currently studying the book of Romans. Did you notice we all had t-shirts on with a Superman D on it? These are Team Dan shirts and we wore them in support of Dan and Leah today. Please lift both of them up in your daily prayers.

Baby John is HERE!!!

JOHN MICHAEL BROWAND has arrived. He was born around 8:00 Seattle time and is 6 pounds, 9 ouncess and 19 inches long. He got an APGAR score of 9,10!! Meredith is doing great and Jeff, the proud daddy, sounded thrilled on the phone John Michael is named after Caroline's dad and Meredith's husband dad. Now Caroline's mom has 8 grandkids (4 girls, 4 boys) - John had tied it up. Caroline and William will be traveling to Seattle Nov 5 - 9 to visit the new baby and proud parents. We can't wait.

Pictures to follow as soon as we get them!!!