End of Year Yankees Party

Yeah - we finally have all our end of year parties done for this season of baseball/softball. Last night, we went to Beef O Brady's (our team sponsor) for dinner and trophies!! As I mentioned before, Sean does an awesome job summarizing the year, highlighting each player's contribution and making it a guessing game when he is handing out trophies. It was a fun night and all 12 of our players were there. The exciting thing about this team is that we have everyone returning next spring except for one guy that moves up to Juniors.

Family Update

Another week flew by in a blink of an eye. We have been busy with all the year end activities, parties, projects, appointments, etc. Sean took Andrew, Kate and Matthew to Miami this weekend for the NCAA College Baseball Regionals. University of Miami is hosting and they are going to see 4 games on Saturday and Sunday. They are very excited and so I am (a little down time with just the little two). We are going to clean out drawers and closets!!

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my dad's passing. If you did not know him, my dad was the quintessential awesome dad!! He always made you feel like you were the most important person in the world. He was always into whatever you were into. He was a humble and giving man who I admire (and try to emulate). I was very fortuante to be able to spend alot of time with him once he was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2001. I was with him when he passed away and was honored to be with him at the end of his Earthly life. I am comforted by knowing that he is is Heaven with our awesome God and one day we will all be reunited. I miss you Daddy!!

Muffin Face

Will tried his first chocolate chip muffin today. Yummy - he got alot of his face, but managed to eat the whole thing. You can tell by his face that he LOVED IT!!!

Memorial Day at the Park

Julia - always trying to hold, help, hug or hit Will


Matthew, Will and Katie posing for Mom - what you don't see
is one second after this picture, Will fell head first onto the ground!

Matthew and Will hanging out at the park!

"The Bookends" - Will reminds us so much of Andrew.

The middle children ...

The Fab Five

How Time Flies ....

Tried to take some pictures of the kids today - TRIED the KEY WORD. Got a few good ones but nothing that is amazing. I guess I will have to leave those types of pictures to Terri. But I loved this one of the older 3 in the tree. Look at a picture of the 3 of them three years ago when we went on our Disney Cruise. The time has gone so fast. Just compare how grown up they look now. Makes me kind of sad ....

Off to Jacksonville

In keeping with the Kane family theme or never ending entertainment, ballgames, and resort hopping, Sean surprised the kids with a quick trip to Jacksonville today to watch the University of Miami baseball team play for their conference championship. Andrew, Katie and Matthew went and the little ones and I are going to stay home to do chores. We also finalized our summer family vacation to Atlantis July 22 - 28th. We are totally excited!! The countdown is on. We have tons planned this summer from Katie's trip to Austin (first time in a plane by herself), all stars, a couple of camps for each kid, Vacation Bible School, Melinda, Mom, Charlotte and Emma Kate's visit in June, Meredith & John in late July/August and most likely a trip to Hilton Head.

Wilderness Lodge

What an amazing day of sun and fun at Wilderness Lodge @ Disney. We did get a 2 hour rain and lightning delay but hung out with everyone in the resort. The kids had a fabulous time in the pool, hot tub, slide and of course the surrey bikes (pictures to come from Linda's camera!). Will was too cute in the basket up front.

Emily is celebrating her 5th birthday this weekend!! Thanks to the Whitmires for having us all over. We may go back tomorrow if the weather holds out and we get some chores done around this house. We hope everyone has a fabulous Memorial Day weekend and gets to enjoy friends and family (and yummy food!!!)

Up He Goes

So only a few days of really crawling, and we are onto pulling up. I always hate the glass top table when the kids get to this age. Will continues to pull up on the table all day and then either lets go and hits his head or just screams for someone to rescue him. It won't be long before he figures out how to cruise along. This is going way to fast .....

BFFs - Lauren and Julia

Julia and Lauren are only 4 weeks apart. They are so cute together and love each other so much. They go to preschool together (and will be in the same class in Montessori in the fall). They play amazing together and never fight (except over the shopping cart!). They looked so adorable today in matching shirts - had to snap their picture.

Happy Birthday, Carly June

Will's friend, Carly, turned one year old yesterday. Boy, the year has flown by!! We were so happy when we heard that Roger and Heather had a girl after 3 boys!! We celebrated with a bunch of friends at the park yesterday afternoon and the kids loved the cupcakes. Check out Julia's intense focus on the frosting. It seems like we have been going from one party to the next to the next these days. People must think that is all the Kane family does .... Actually if you saw my house right now, you would definitely think that. This weekend we will be at Wilderness Lodge with the Whitmires celebrating Emily's 5th birthday. Also in the party planning stages for Katie's 10th birthday.

Typhoon Lagoon

We spent last Sunday at Typhoon Lagoon with a bunch of our little league friends. Both Katie and Andrew are Challenger buddies again this season, and the league gives each of the buddies a pass to the water park. We all went and had a great time (lines were short, clouds were plenty, unlimited diet coke!!). Didn't get any pictures of the big kids because they were all over the place on the rides. I spent most of the day in the kiddie part with Jules and Will, but got to do some rides at the end of the day.

Larry the Lavendar Llama

Matthew had to create a Fairy Tale for his end of the year Kindergarten project. His story about Larry the Lavendar Llama is adorable. He presented it this morning in class (this is his teacher, Mrs. Allred with him). The jist of the story is that Larry was born a purple llama and everyone made fun of him (kind of like Rudolph). The king sent his servant out to all the llamas in the land to shave their fur so the king could have all new clothes. When the servant shaved Larry, his purple fur came right back. Larry went to live in the palace and was the royal llama. He missed his parents and they came to live with him. We are very proud of Matthew's accomplishments this year at WPS. We look forward to watching him grow ....

Preschool Beach Day

Julia had a fun beach day at school last week and lucky me, I was the worker mom that day. Nothing like getting 8 3 year olds into swimming suits and keeping them a focused outside in three baby pools. They actually did pretty well and it was fun!! Wanted to get a group shot but that was impossible.

End of Year Cardinal Celebration

Matthew had an awesome Spring baseball season on the Machine Pitch Cardinals. Sean was his coach and their team rocked!! We had great hitters and fielders, and I think the most dedicated group of parents and players. We wrapped up their season on Saturday morning at the new mini golf place across from Celebration. The kids got to golf, have pizza and cake and got their trophies. Sean always does the trophies the same way for each of his teams. He starts out by saying something special about each player and then announces their name at the end. He always says for our kids, "This player has the hardest job on the team -- Coach's son/daughter". The kids are really lucky at how involved Sean is with them. They won't appreciate it now, but will later. GO CARDINALS!!!

Happy Birthday to Us

So a little bit late, but I wanted to post this picture of our birthday celebration at Season's 52. Debi, Deb, Kathy, Linda and myself treated ourselves to a birthday luncheon a month ago!! Our birthdays are all within four weeks so we decided to do a power birthday luncheon!! Will joined us and even got to eat some of the yummy desserts. I am so lucky to have great friends here in Celebration. Can't wait until our birthday celebration next year!!

Will Squared

Just had to post this picture for Wil and Linda Santry. Love it!! We spent the day at Typhoon Lagoon on Sunday with a bunch of friends from little league.

We are so lucky to have such special friends in the Santrys. Wil has been so sweet to Jules and Will. They love him so much. Linda always helps me with the kids wherever we are!! She is a lifesaver.

Mr. On the Go

Forgot how quick they go from sitting, to crawling, to cruising to becoming a full fledged raccoon. Will is all over the place. He is loving life being able to move around!! His top two teeth FINALLY broke through. He now has 4 teeth but that isn't stopping his appetite. He has graduated to table food, including yummy things like cookies, crackers and of course ice cream. He is so sweet and such a joy to our family. He is a smiley guy and just melts your heart. He is so cuddly and snuggly and adorable!!!

Go Riptide!!

We had a blast today at Katie's end of the year softball celebration. Everyone was there and we did pizza, cake and trophies. The girls really jelled this year and they had a lot of success. Sean did a great job with the trophy presentation, highlighting each girl's accomplishments this year!

Women For Families

I am so fortunate to be part of an amazing group of women called Women For Families. We meet every Monday for Bible study, led by Ashley and Kristen. We met this past Monday for our final study of the year and to celebrate our dear friend Jackie's move to Texas. For many of you who keep up with my friends here in Celebration, Jackie is the amazing woman that lost her husband, Rick, to pancreatic cancer last January. Her strength and love for the Lord has taught our group so much and we are so sad to see her go, but know that God has plans for her. To all my sisters in Christ, thank you for our Mondays together!!

Katie's Recital

Katie has been taking piano lessons for three years now. She just got a full size, weighted keyboard and is loving it. She had her recital on Sunday and did a great job. She is really getting good and we are recognizing more and more of her songs. Way to go Miss Kate!!!

Little Cousins

We attempted to get a photo for the cousins on Sunday morning before our Mother's Day brunch. Our plans were to do the photo shoot outside, but it was raining. So this was our best effort. Not the best picture, but at least one with no one crying.

Check out Melinda's Blog

Exciting news on Melinda's blog ..... http://greergirls.blogspot.com/. Wonder if they might have to change the name of their blog??

Happy Graduation, Jed

My brother, Jed, graduated this past Friday night from Purdue University in Education. It was a great ceremony and very touching. After he received his diploma, he pointed up. My dad would have been so very proud to see his youngest receive his college diploma. My dad was very proud that all of his children went to Purdue. I have to say it was bittersweet, but Dad was there in our hearts. My brother looks so much like my dad when he was younger!!! If my brother is half the man my dad was, he will be an amazing husband and father someday!! We love you Uncle Jed. Way to go!!!!!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends out there!! Hope you had a nice day with your families. I was traveling home from Indiana with Jules and Will, but it was so nice to be with my mom and sisters (and brother too!). Both of my sisters (Melinda & Meredith) are amazing mothers. I have learned so much from both of them. I love this picture from this morning!! Wish I had one with each of the kids ......

Spunky Girl

Took some great photos of Jules getting ready for our trip to Indiana in her "travel suit" as she calls it. She has a big personality - wonder what she will grow up to be ..

He's on the Move ...

Will is officially a crawler (not just the soldier crawl anymore). He is all over the house, trying to climb stairs, pulling up and basically what we like to call a racoon. I love this next stage when they are still so little but are mobile!! A lot of work to keep an eye on them, but totally adorable!! He has discovered the toilet paper, the tupperware cabinet and my computer paper. Amazing how they all go for the same things!!

Mother's Day Celebration

Today at Julia's school the children gave us a wonderful Mother's Day performance. The welcomed us with a singing performance including the ABCs, Itsty Bitsy Spider, Jesus Loves Me and He Has the Whole World in His hands. They made Mother's Day sashes for us and we got a beautiful tulip. We have been very blessed with the CommPres preschool for Julia. Miss Erica is a wonderful teacher, very loving and patient.