Train Time

While Sean and his dad are away at Pebble Beach, Oma and I decided to do some house projects. One easy (and FUN!) was to bring in the train table from the garage and set it up for William. We just needed some elbow grease and in a couple minutes, it was a clean and ready to go. We set it up while he was at nap and he noticed it right away (check out that smile when he first saw it) when he woke up. He is definitely too young to really play trains, but he likes to move them around ... and sometimes throw them (ouch!). Also, it didn't take him long to figure out how to climb up on the table and use it for a stage!!

Peace Out

So this year we were not put together for Halloween costumes and had to run at the last minute to Party City (with the rest of the world) on Saturday to get a costume. Katie's costume choices were limited, but her outfit turned out really cute. Not so sure about the boots (look at those 3 inch platforms) but they did make the outfit. Saturday night she was invited to a Halloween party of a boy from her class. Her good friends Maddy and Casey both went. They had a blast and she didn't get home until 10:30!!! 8:00 Mass came quickly in the morning ..... Many more Halloween pictures / events to come ....

First Grade Play Date

Swingin with Friends

Nicholas and Matthew hanging out

We had a very fun playdate at the Keene's Pointe Park on Friday after school for Matthew's first grade class. His teacher, Mrs. Fagan, was there along with all his buddies!! It was nice to get to chat with the other moms and let the kids play a bit. Got a few fun pictures of Matthew (and one of Will!)

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We went to the pumpkin patch last night ... the big kids were such good sports, humoring me by getting dressed in matching clothes and posing for pictures. I love the face cutout at our pumpkin patch and it had FIVE FACES ... how perfect.

Happy Fall From the Kanes

WPS FOOTBALL ROAD TRIP

We traveled over 125 miles ONE WAY to go see Andrew's game is Bronson, FL on Tuesday night. I took all the kids because Sean was in Rochester,NY. It was a fun road trip and we actually didn't have any trouble finding the stadium. It was a fun game .. the Lakers scored 3 touchdowns and had some great stops on defense. For our first year, the boys are really doing a great job. We have an abbreviated season because we put our schedule together late, so this Friday (Halloween!) is our final game at home at 2:00pm. I am sure to have some great pictures!!

Andrew is running the offense very well ... he really likes the Offensive Coordinator, Coach Rat and works really well with him. He gets his exercise too because he has to run to the sideline between each play.

Andrew is one of the three captains this year for the Middle School team ... he has called the toss each time!

I have some new software that I am fooling around with ... I tried to colorize just Andrew.

Disney Quest

Matthew got to invite a few buddies to go to Disney Quest on Sunday to celebrate his birthday. They all came to the house prior to have pizza, cake and presents. Sean and Katie were the chaperones and had a ball. The kids were excellent for Sean and he was quite impressed with their behavior. There are so many fun games and activities at Disney Quest but I think that Skeet ball was the big winner. Sean even took them to the big candy store after they were done for more treats!!! Matthew got some great gifts and has been playing with them non stop!!! Check out all the funny face pictures ... I love this age when the funny face picture is still fun and not embarrasing for your mom to request!!

Matthew's Birthday Extravaganza

So birthdays are pretty big around here ... and they seem to come often. I guess that is part of a big family. Matthew turned SEVEN on Sunday. Wow ... I can remember when we moved to Celebration, he was only 8 weeks old, so that is how we keep track of how long we have lived here, Matthew's age. He is an amazing boy ... our spirited child. Tons of focus, intense, smart, witty, athletic, snuggly, imaginative ... Our Mr. Moo. Stuck right in the middle ... the only child that has both an older brother and sister and younger brother and sister. Everything comes pretty easy to him (especially anger!!). Oma keeps reminding him that they have anger management schools in Naples if he wants to get a weekend away. He is a tough guy on the outside, but a total teddy bear underneath. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH MATTTHEW!!!

Our SEVEN YEAR OLD

NEW LEGO SET AND UM HAT

WITH MOMMY AND DADDY

Hot Pink Cast

Katie went back to the doctor yesterday and YES ... she has a hard cast on her right hand/arm. And it is BRIGHT PINK which actually surprised me ... when they took the temporary cast off, her hand still really hurt and although they could not see a fracture on the xray, the pain she described led the doctor to believe that the bone may be broken down the middle and not able to see with the xray. So she will wear this for 3 weeks ... a short break from softball and piano. We wanted to be conservative since it is her dominant hand!! She is begging us to let her friends sign her cast ... we decided that she could get signatures the last week!! I don't think I could look at scribble scrabble on that cast for three weeks ... not the fun mom!!

Final Tiny Mite Game

Matthew had his final football game this past Saturday. He was the captain for the 2nd time and loved going out on the field for the coin toss. We played pretty well and the defense had their best game of the year. We didn't get into the endzone, but had a lot of good plays and several first downs. After the game, the boys gave each of the cheerleaders a flower. That was too cute .. good idea Jeff!!

What an amazing experience we had with fabulous coaches, great teammates, fun parents, lots of instruction and tons of fun ... We practiced 3 days a week plus games on Saturdays. Matthew had perfect attendance for the whole season and loved every minute of it!! What will we do with all our time? Play outside? Study and ready? Play football in the yard?? Mom is looking forward to the break ... I bet Matthew will be itching for basketball to start.

Birthday Boy @ School

We celebrated Matthew's 7th birthday a few days early at school on Thursday. Mom, Jules and Will went to eat lunch with Matthew and then we brought ice cream bars to all his classmates. It was so much fun to see Matthew in school interacting with all his friends. He has such an awesome teacher and wonderful friends!!! The kids were so polite and nice ... was a joy to spend a little bit of time with him. Katie even came over to visit on her way back from the nurse's office to get her pain medicine for her arm. The kids also had a pajama day for their class only for a classroom reward for good behavior. The entire 1st grade eats lunch together so when they sang happy birthday, it was a rowdy rendition from over 70 1st graders. What a terrific start to Matthew's big day!!

Storm Game #7

A great picture showing a handoff from Matthew to Owen

Another Pop Warner weekend at home .. Pawpy was here this weekend and got to see Matthew play. We didn't win, but Matthew got to play alot of defense this week. We had a great first drive with Thomas running around 30 yards. I think that was the highlight of the game ... we had to rush out of there to get to Katie's tournament in Disney!!





Getting the play in the huddle from Coach Scott

Weather Woes ... WPS Football

Taking the snap ...

Getting the play from Coach Rat

Just liked this picture ...

Back on track now with my computer .... lots of catching up to do. A week ago Thursday, we traveled to Deltona for our 2nd football game. Driving over, the weather was looking ominous. We were holding out hope for the weather to stay clear, but boy did it not!!! We got creamed by the worst storm I have ever driven in. The game actually started and after 10 minutes, was called due to lightning. They put the players under a pavilion to wait it out and I ran back to the car with all the kids. Sean was stuck on I4 trying to get to the game but the weather was already over him. About 10 seconds after I got the stroller in the car .... bam, the rains fell. And boy did they ... it poured for almost 2 1/2 hours, lightning, funnel clouds, hail, you name it, we got it!!! Andrew was totally bummed that the game was called, and I was totally bummed to have to drive in that mess!!!! Our third game is this Tuesday North of Ocala ... quite a trip ... 2hours. Should be fun .. wouldn't miss it for the world!!

Waiting for the game to start ... little did we know what was in store for us!!

WPS Fun Run

Yesterday at school, Andrew, Matthew and Katie participated in a fundraiser called Boosterthon Fun Run. They got pledges per lap and then ran around a course (track) over 30 times!! It was a great program ... really fun music ... alot of cheering parents ... and alot of money raised to build an outdoor sport court to use for overflow practices. My camera died before Andrew's class ran!! William loved being outdoors all morning and it was fun to take a breather, just hang out at the kids' school and forget about the long TO DO list!!!

Back in the Gym

Julia started up with her gymnastics again .. this is a really fun class because it is all her friends from Montessori. She is going on Wednesdays right after school so it is so convenient. She is still the shy girl, but did better this time. It makes us laugh because she is so outgoing at home, but still tentative in public .... we are sure this will change.

I am a Nerd

Ok ... I admit it .... I am really a nerd. I was so happy for a week with my newest organizational attempt (I think this will really work). As a mom on this technology highway, I am always looking for ipod chargers, batteries, DS games, cell phones, the list goes on and on .... so I decided to consolidate all of our technology to one place and this is what I came up with ...

So I took a over the door shoe organized and labeled every pocket with different items (cell phones, ipods, game boys, etc). Now I have let my kids know that the ONLY PLACE I WILL LOOK for their things, is behind the coat closet door. I still am opening the door 10 times and day to admire my work ... BIG NERD!!!

Katie's Hand Update

She looks pretty cheery for having a hurt hand??

No fun ... no one can sign this cast!!

Just back from the doctor … they put Katie's hand/arm in a temporary cast for a week and then we are going to go back and he is going to re xray it and determine if it needs a hard cast. He said it is really hard to tell on kids when the fracture is around the growth plate. She still can’t do anything, but there is a chance that she might not have to have a cast for four weeks. She at least got the day off of school today.

Quick Update

I have neglected the blog this week ... I am switching computers (upgrading to Andrew's old laptop.. he, he) and I don't have my photo software on this new computer. Week has been busy with football, softball, school, church, life. Sean leaves for NYC tomorrow for the week. Katie broke her hand this morning at softball so tomorrow we will be trying to get into a orthopedic doctor to get a cast on her (if need be!). We have a full week, but have lots of fun pictures from this past week. When I can steal a minute or two, I will post some pictures!!

Road Trip to Miami

The boys (less Will) took a road trip to Miami yesterday to the Miami / FSU game. It downpoured the whole time, the Canes lost (but made an amazing comeback) and they spent more time on the road to and from then at the actual games!!! No one complained ... their love for all things Canes runs deep!! This is the 3rd year in a row they have gone to the FSU game.

Race for the Cure

Today is the anniversary of Katie's first 5K ... see my post from last year. http://celebrationkanes.blogspot.com/2007/09/katies-first-5k-we-were-so-proud-of.html.
Since then, she has run 5 more 5Ks including today. In fact, everyone ran this morning. Sean, Katie and Andrew ran the competitive 5K .. we are not sure on the exact times but both Andrew and Katie got their personal bests (Andrew around 26 minutes & Katie around 28 minutes). Matthew ran (sprinted some parts) the mile fun run and came in right around 11:30. I ran with him pushing Jules and Will in the running stroller. Julia ran the kiddie fun run which was not really that fun. It was only 60 yards and took all of 5 seconds!! It was a fabulous morning ... especially since everyone got to participate. Sean and I decided maybe on our family goal list we should add the whole family completing a marathon together. We will have to wait about 13 more years for Will to be old enough ... but that would be way cool!!

If only Julia would be looking!!

Gearing up for the race!

Julia and Matthew after the Mile Run!!

Andrew in the home stretch

You can see Julia in the middle of the pack .. Look for the pink bow!!

Pictures from the Keys

Better late than never ... just got these today.

Two Touchdown Day

Getting ready to hand off ... look at that concentration

Yeah baby ... another touchdown!!

Matthew's biggest fans

The offense after their 2nd touchdown ... look at the little kid on the left ... he is making sure everyone knows they scored TWO touchdowns!

Owen, Matthew and Thomas ... full back, quarter back and tail back

Our little Tiny Mite team accomplished another FIRST today ... we scored two touchdowns. Yeah!! It was a fun morning ... it is a joy to watch 6,7 and 8 year olds play tackle football. We only have 2 more games left (and 6 more practices ... but who is counting?)