What is Facebook?

So both of my sisters have a facebook page and I am clueless to what it is. The other night I couldn't sleep so I started poking around Facebook and decided to make my own page. I am connecting with high school classmates, friends from here in Celebration, my sisters' friends. It is fun ... but I really still have not figured out how to use it or what the purpose is. If anyone knows how to use it, let me know.

Home from the Keys

Andrew arrived home safely on Friday evening after a week in Big Pine Key at Seacamp. We had a great week with lots of fun (and work!) and really enjoyed being with all his friends. We still don't have pictures from the trip, but I snapped this one when he was boarding the bus to leave from school this past Tuesday. He was mortified that his mom was taking pictures, but oh well, he better get used to it. I really missed him through the week but was so excited for him to be away and get a little taste of freedom. He called every night and worked really hard this weekend getting all his school work done. He has a busy week of school and football ... his first football game will be Thursday. I promise a bunch of pictures ....

Storm Game #5 - Finally at Home

Matthew had his first home game yesterday for the Storm Pop Warner team. It was awesome to be at home (no travel time ... tons of people out supporting the kids ...). I took tons of pictures, but they all start to look the same. I loved this picture however ... pure QB joy. Can you see Matthew with both feet of the ground skipping in elation at their 2nd touchdown of the season? We had our longest drive of probably 10 - 12 plays and 3 first downs. We were so excited and Matthew's friend Thomas punched it in after Owen had a couple of great runs to set it up. We lost by 2 touchdowns, but this was definitely our best performance yet. Go Storm!!

Date Night

Wow - can you believe it ... we went on a date last night. Just the two of us ... no diaper bag, no sippy cup, no crayons, no cutting someones food, no spilled drink, it was fabulous to be together without the kids. We went to dinner at Charley's Steakhouse. We were not overly impressed with the food, but we still had a nice meal. We talked and enjoyed each other and then went back to downtown Celebration for ice cream at Kilwins!! Yummy. We came home pretty early because the busy week had taken a toll on both of us. We have to make a point of more nights out!! Thank you sweetie for a great date night!!

A Kane Child Playing with Chalk?

If you know me ... you know how I despise chalk. It totally creeps me out and gives me chicken skin ... as does the bottom of unpainted pottery, finger nail files, and cotton balls. Ugh!! So the only time my kids get to play with side walk chalk is at parties or friends houses. Today we went to our friend Griffin's birthday party. Julia is still under the weather with a low grade fever, so we went to the party (which was at the park) but Miss Jules had to stay in her stroller. She fell asleep within minutes so Will had my undivided attention. Of course, what activity did he choose? The swing? The slide? Rolling a ball? Nope ... right for the side walk chalk. He was eating it, drawing on his clothes, scratching it along the sidewalk. I watched from afar and tried not to jump out of my skin. The pictures, however, are really precious and when I look at them, he is really getting into the toddler stage and losing his baby look!!

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom and Grandma. We hope you had a great day. My mom is doing well, still teaching 2nd grade, loves spending time with her kids and grandkids. After Meredith's baby is born in the beginning of 2009, my mom will have 10 grandkids. Right now the boys are in the lead with 5 to 4. We find out the gender of Mere's baby on October 4th. We will see if boys and girls are tied for boys have a 2 point lead!!

This is a picture from Mother's Day 2005 -- look at how little Julia was!! And that dark hair ... quite a contrast to her blonde locks now!!

Sea Camp

Andrew left yesterday morning for Sea Camp in the Florida Keys . http://www.seacamp.org/. 60 of his classmates left on a long bus ride (8 hours) to the Keys. It is an amazing trip and I am sure he is having a blast. No pictures yet ... but the chaperones are taking some so I will post when I get them. They have a lot of work to do ... they had a full curriculm for the trip including science, language arts, math and even Latin. He is rooming with 7 other kids ... all of his buddies at school. They took the boys and the girls in different charter buses ... it was funny to see the girls with so much stuff and the boys with so little. Many of the boys brought their guitars ... can you imagine a bunch of 7th grade boys thinking they are guitar players? We were so excited for Andrew ... how fun to get away with your friends!!

Battle at the Beach

Katie's softball team played in Cocoa Beach this weekend at the Battle at the Beach tournament. Katie pitched the 2nd game (3 innings) and did great (struck out 8 girls!!) The team has a tough weekend and never really got started ... we are a very young team so we are looking to next year. Katie has really worked hard at her pitching and in improving every week.

Summarizes the Game

Tough game at Harmony yesterday for Matthew ... he got pummeled a couple of times!! He was such a trooper and just popped back up and ran the next play. He was not feeling well before the game and really didn't feel well after. His throat was killing him and his allergies are rearing their ugly heads .... he kind of just laid around all afternoon at Katie's game and then Sean took him to Afterhours Pediatrics last night. No strep .. but a raw, sore throat. Our sick little QB!!

This Is What We Do

A picture says a 1000 words ..... Poor Jules and Will. They cry when the hear the word time to get in the car!!!

Another Altar Server in the Family

Katie served her first Mass this past Sunday. She did a great job ... and even though there were 5 servers, Katie got to ring the bell and do several other important jobs!! She will now be on the regular schedule with Andrew. Sean and I really think it is important to give back to church and this is a great way. We are very proud of the young woman Katie is becoming!!

Check this out

http://www.captchamedia.com/

Click on the link above and then choose partners. You will see Pop Warner video of the week. Our first touchdown made the footage!!! You can see Matthew giving the handoff and see him celebrating the touchdown.

Buddies

Rachel and Katie

Is this a slide at homeplate, or sick of the heat?

Look at that form!!

This fall, Katie is volunteering with our Little League Challenger program as a buddy for our special friend, Rachel. Rachel is a spunky little girl that loves sports (and especially batting!). Check out her Dora bat ... she is a great hitter. She definitely loves hitting more than fielding. The challenger program meets every Saturday morning and Katie and Rachel get to spend time together. It is very sweet to see them together and I know that this is a great character building activity for the kids. Andrew also is a buddy again this year to Brandon .. no pictures of them this past week. I will have to get some next time.

Rach

Katie .. Runner, Softball Diva, Photographer?

Katie got a hold of my camera today and was taking some pictures of Matthew and Jules. I have to say some of them are really good (and funny!). Another hobby .....

Tiny Mite TOUCHDOWN

Well they did it ... Matthew's football team scored their first touchdown today against a tough and strong St. Cloud Bulldog team. We lost the game but were so excited to get our first touchdown. Matthew's friend, Owen, had a long run to set up a short gain to push it in the endzone (Owen scored the touchdown as well). Matthew had a nice run on this drive to keep things going. We are improving week by week ... A couple fun pictures from today. It is really neat to see a brand new team (I think only one kid on our team has ever played tackle before) come together, work toward a specific goal (touchdown) and achieve it!! It was awesome.

Another clean hand off

Coach Scott and Matthew .. discussing offensive strategy

A typical day for Will and Julia buckled in their stroller

Owen breaks free ....

Too Tired to Blog

Sorry no posts this week ... been a busy one. Sean left Wednesday for his annual golf trip and won't be home until Sunday. Of course, never fails, that he has to turn right around and leave for business on Monday. Needless to say I am exhausted with the kids, their schedules and trying to coordinate their drop offs and pick ups from activities. I have been able to get to the gym a couple of times this week and make my weekly pilgrimage through Sams. The kids have been great, but between studying for gobs of tests, packing and repacking football bags, softball bags, computer bags, pe bags, backpacks, lunchboxes ..... I just am plain tired.

Matthew has a game tomorrow in St. Cloud (not as far as last week!) and the older kids start the Challenger league through our little league. Both Andrew and Katie are going to be buddies again this year to 2 special needs children. Katie is going to Altar Server training tomorrow and we will try to make it to the 5:00 Mass - what a sight, me with the 5 of them is Mass at the witching hour!!

Just a quick shout out to all my awesome friends who are always willing to help pick someone up, bring someone home, etc. Thanks Adriana, Ashley, Dana, Debi, Kathy and Linda!!

Storm -- Week 2

Matthew's football team improved tons from the lst week. We had 4 or 5 first downs, almost had a touchdown (called back on a penalty), Matthew got to run with the ball a couple of times and Matthew's friend Owen had a couple of awesome runs!!! We are loving watching Matthew play tackle football. Andrew didn't play tackle so young ... they are so adorable!! They really came together today ... next week we play another first year team. Go Tiny Mite Storm!!


Matthew pitches it to Thomas

Rolling out ....

Trying to get the corner

Leaping Llamas

So on our way home from Matthew's game today, Sean spotted out of the corner of hsi eye a guy walking two baby llamas ... He shouted "Llamas" and made me jump. Some of you may know that Andrew is obsessed with Llamas. Actually, one of his fantasy teams was called the Llama Lords. Not sure why he loves these animals ... but he does. So Sean pulled over and we jumped out and took some pictures. Andrew and Katie slept in this morning and didn't go to the game ... much to Matthew's dismay. Well we got Andrew back ... he missed his one opportunity to meet a real llama!!!

Jonas Brothers

Casey, Sydney, Madison and Katie

Katie was invited by her friend Sydney to go to the Jonas Brothers concert last night. She was sooo excited and couldn't wait for Thursday to come. Her friends Casey and Madison also went. Sydney's mom picked them up early from school, drove them to the Hard Rock Hotel that is right across from the concert, where they had a room to get ready and eat. There was actually 11 kids all together with four moms!! I haven't had a chance to talk in detail to Katie about the concert, but it sounds like she had a fabulous time. Another friend emailed me this morning and told me she saw Katie on the Jumbotron!! She didn't even know Katie was at the concert. Katie went back to Sydney's house last night and spent the night. They were up bright and early to go to school. Can you imagine how tired she will be today?? Will post more details when she gets home!!

Getting ready .....

The Infamous Jonas Brothers (sorry, I don't know which one is which!)

How fun!!

Getting ready for school this morning ...

Had to Get in the Fun

Julia couldn't let Will have his own photo shoot ... so she wiggled her way into some pictures. They turned out very pretty. I love the not so "cheesey" pictures.

13 Months Old

Over a year ... Will turned 13 months yesterday. Snapped a few pictures this morning of him on the front porch. He loves to stand on the porch, looking for birds and dogs, and squealing in delight. He is very cautious by the stairs and doesn't even get close. That is so typical for a Kane boy ... Will has lost his baby look and is really a toddler.

"Mom, I Have a Fever"

Since my blog is becoming my journal, I couldn't resist a summary of this morning with Jules. She is not loving school, but puts on a brave face when people ask her if she likes it. She kind of just smirks and nods her head. Well this morning after waking up early, playing a board game, eating some yummy chocolate chip pancakes, and even getting a 1/2 of Blue's Clues in ... she started. And I quote...

• Mom I have a fever -- at least 210 degrees
• Mom, I can stay home and Windex with you ... it will be fun.
• Mom, it is too long at school and the kids are big and scary
• Mom, I want to be home schooled
• Mom, Can I go back to my little school? I will give my birthday back to be 2 again.
• Mom, I won't talk all morning, I will sit quietly in the corner and watch you on the computer
• Mom, please no, I can't go, my legs are broken
• Mom, Mommy, Momma, sweet mommy, you are my best friend, you are so pretty, you are not fat anymore, please, please don't make me go

If this was my first child, I would be snuggling her, coddling, wiping the tears, and probably keeping her home. Oh well, 4th child, I scooped her up, put her in the carseat, told her it was her job to go to school, carried her in, gave her crying to the teacher and turned around ... I was a bit sad for her inside, but she will get used to it. I have to admit, some of her excuses were pretty ingenious!!! Always an adventure ......

What I Love About Andrew

I noticed that not many of my posts have been about my first baby, Andrew lately. His football season is starting a bit later so I am sure he will catch up, but as I sit here in a quiet house I was thinking about what a nice young man he has grown up to be and how I only have 6 more years with him until he leaves for college!! There are so many things I love about Andrew, but here are a few:

1) He was my firstborn, my guinea pig, my most cuddly baby, and my most sensitive child

2) I remember how he used to look in one of his books and exclaim, "I love that Caterpitter"

3) My favorite sports memory of all time is watching him and Sarah Stellwag in tball playing shortstop and 3rd base and instead of being "baseball ready", they were tossing their gloves back and forth. The cool thing was ... they were actually catching them.

4) He is still scared of lightning and thunder and he is an amateur meteorologist, checking weather underground daily.

5) He will hold my hand in church, kiss me on the lips, and stand over the balcony every night and say, "I Love You Mom".

6) He actually "minds on the 1st time"

7) He is competitive and hates to lose ... kind of like looking at myself in the mirror

8) He takes pride in doing well is school ... even when isn't the cool thing to do.

9) He has a tender heart, he is so amazingly sweet to Julia and Will, and loves Katie and Matthew very much (even if they bicker!)

10) He is my Andrew ... I love him so much ... God has richly blessed me with him.