Halloween - Part Two

Fun pictures from the school parties, trick or treating around the track, etc.

Halloween -Part One

I am so thankful that our school embraces Halloween!! It was so fun getting the kids in their costumes Thursday morning. We were a myriad of themes ... a rocker, zebra, bumble bee, gangster and flamenco dancer. I think the kids all looked great!!! We are going to spend tonight with friends in Windermere so the kids can trick or treat with their friends.

Rebounderz

We celebrated Matthew's birthday at Rebounderz (and indoor trampolining facility). It was a total blast and 10 of his buddies joined him to celebrate the big EIGHT!!! Julia and William also jumped and had a blast. The kids got so hot and sweaty and really tired. They got to bounce for an hour but had to take breaks every so often. We did pizza and cake and then the arcade. You can see by the looks on Matthew's face that this was a Great Birthday!

Sweet William

Movie Star Monday

Today starts Spirit week at WPS - Movie Star Monday!! Katie was so excited to dress up as a cross between Elle from Legally Blonde and Paris Hilton (with a dog in the purse and pink, pink, pink!). She has tons of school spirit and is getting so involved!! Love it ...

Casey & Katie

We are so happy that Katie has such a nice, sweet, responsible BFF in Casey. They went to Mickey's Not So Scary last night with a bunch of friends!!

Snow up North ... but 90s down South!!!

So to all our friends up North ... it is still in the 90s here!!! Wow .. it has been a hot, hot summer and fall. We spent the afternoon at the pool today .... some cute pictures of the little ones.

Andrew's First Undefeated Season

Yeah ... WPS won their last regular season game last night 32 - 27!! Wow, what a game. They other team has the ball 1st and goal with 42 seconds left and couldn't pop it in!! We were talking on the way home and this is Andrew's first undefeated season ... he has had some close ones. First year of CLL machine pitch baseball .. 17 -1. Kissimmee Kowboys football 7-1 .... Celebration Flag Football only 2 losses. But FIRST PERFECT SEASON!!! And how sweet it is to go from 0 - 4 last year to 8 - 0 this year. We have one more week left, middle school championship next Thursday at Lake Mary!!!

15 Years and Counting ...

Today is our 15 year wedding anniversary!!! October 22, 1994 was a beautiful, fall day in West Lafayette, IN. We had such a lovely wedding at my parent's church and reception at the Purdue University ballroom. We have had an amazing 15 years .... 3 houses and cities, 5 children, travel, sports, job changes, loss of my dad, 5 nieces and nephews, but most of all a convenant in front of God to love and cherish each other. I am very lucky to have met Sean in graduate school and to have married an honest, hardworking, dedicated father and husband. Looking forward to what is ahead for us .....

p/s Sorry for the picture quality .. just took a quick picture of some pictures. Below is my sisters and brother .. look how young!!!!

More of the Farm Girl

Liked these two pictures .. one of the adorable t-shirt the teacher made for the kids and just a sweet picture of Miss Jules.

Green Meadows Farm

We had a fantastic day at the Green Meadows Farm for the WPS PK4 farm field trip. We have been to Green Meadows several times and it is such a fun place. The kids got to ride the train, go on a hayride, visit the pumpkin patch and see so many animals. I was really excited to just spend the day with Julia focusing only on her!! She is such an independent little girl that does her own thing, that the other kids overshadow her when it comes to my attention. We really had a nice time!

Another Season Over ...

Katie's volleyball season came to an end tonight. They lost in the tournament to St. Lukes (a really excellent team!). Katie played tough, gave 100% and had a couple of amazing digs. She only got to serve once (can you tell it was a tough game?), but it was a great serve!!

Being a part of the middle school volleyball team was an amazing experience for Katie. Not only did she grow leaps and bounds as a volleyball player ... but she met an whole new group of friends and it made her transition to middle school almost seamless. We will definitely miss the volleyball season ... but she is going to be trying out for a travel team this weekend. The only way to get better is to play with those that are better than you!!

Cheering on the ace!!

Way to go Red ... great season!!

Casey and Kate ... BFFs

Great Serve!!

Eight is Great

Matthew turned EIGHT yesterday .... growing up so fast. He had a normal Kane birthday. Woke up to his letters (yes we did his nickname ... something different and a bit shorter for Mom to cut out!). He had a bunch of presents and opened just one before school (it was a pretty cool present of the entire 2009 MLB baseball card series!). At the end of the day, we had cupcakes and ice cream delivered to his class! Surprise. We had a Mexican Fiesta night and opened more presents. We will have his big, blowout bouncing bash on Sunday with all his school and Celebration buddies. Will definitely post pics!!

Katie ... Hard Work Pays Off

We did not have a great start to our tourney. We are a young team and in a 12U tourney this weekend. We play an elimination game this am at 11:00am. Katie pitched great ... she battled, struck out 6, and worked through the last inning after she got beaned in the knee at the plate. I think she got hit yesterday 3 times. She had a couple of great at bats .... ended up walking, stealing 2nd, moved to 3rd on a passed ball and then was stranded at 3rd.

We are excited for the announcement this week of a softball coach hire at WPS. They are in the end stages of completing the field and it is beautiful!!! We know that this first couple of years will be building up the team, but so happy to have the opportunity to play at school.

Battling ....

Ouch ... getting beaned in the knee

Touchdown!!

Starting his touchdown run!!

Touchdown!!

Stiff arming a Cane to get the FIRST DOWN!!

Today's game was WONDERFUL for many reasons ...

1) The temperature started at 60 and it was sunny, breezy and amazing!

2) We tied Mt. Dora ... we executed a great game and really played hard.

3) Matthew stripped the ball TWICE ... but there are not turnovers in his division ... but next year!

4) Matthew had 2 first downs!!

5) He was in on TWO BIG TACKLES to stop their drives.

But best of all ...

6) He scored his FIRST TOUCHDOWN (and for all of you that know me well ... yes I purposely made this #6 ... 6 points for a touchdown, get it?)

The season is over ... we have great memories of winning our first ever game, reconnecting with old friends, making new ones ... we had a great group of parents and coaches!! Now for some rest ...

Sports Night

Big sports night at WPS ... Katie played at 4:30 against a strong Circle Christian team .. we won the first game but lost the last two. Bummer!!! We ended our regular season 10 - 3 ... we go into tournament on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

Football won 36 - 12 ... we are 7 - 0!!! Only one more game before the middle school championships ... next week in Ocala!! Andrew played great defense (and he still is a bit under the weather!) We played really well as a team and this football season has been such a joy to watch!!

Nothing better ....

If you know William, you know his obsession with "workers" ... garbage men, police officers, lawn crew ... so at co-op yesterday for fire safety month, the firefighters came with their truck!!! He was over the moon ... all of his classmates (remember they are TWO!) sat for a 30 minute presentation. They got to stand by the truck, wear a fire hat and watch them raise the big ladder up!! I was the worker mom at co-op ... I loved watching William watch the firemen!!!

Look at that ladder!!

Shaking the fireman's hand!

Ms. Julie with all the co-op kids!!

My Creative Juices ....

One thing I do miss is being creative and doing crafts and art projects. With scrapbooking becoming blogging and most of my time taken driving, I was excited to head up the Teacher Appreciation Committee at school this year. We do a small gift for the teachers each month. For the first gift we had small note clips with a coupon for a dozen cookies and this month a small bag of candy with a poem.

I had such a fun time creating this fun window theme for Julia's classroom .... "Cream of the Crop". Katie and Julia helped me with this ... it was nice to work together with the girls.