Veterns Day

Two More Losses

Taylor had his last soccer game of the season this morning. I offered to take him and boy what a mistake that was as it was freezing out on the field @ 8:30. Brr! They didn't play too badly but ended up losing the game in the last 20 secs. Bummer!

We left the field, ran home to pick up everyone else and then headed to Westminster to watch Kenzie play a select soccer game...everyone except Connor & Alex, Connor was going with friends to watch the high school soccer game and Alex stayed home to do some schoolwork. It was another chilly game and the girls ended up losing 3 - 0. Kenzie ended up letting 1 ball go by her to score...but it did take a funny bounce so it was hard to save. And she didn't have any opportunity to get near the goal to make any scores. Next week is their last select game and then the season is over til spring. Yay!

Oh So Close...

Alex received his very first report card for high school today and after a rocky start to the semester, he ended up with 4 A's (Honors World History, Honors Biology, Catholic Christianity and Computer Science), 2 B's (English and Spanish) and 1 C (Honors Algebra II). He just missed being on the Second Honors Honor Roll...he had the overall % needed but he couldn't have any classes with a % lower than 80% and he had a 79% in his Algebra II class. Oh so close and yet so far. I can't even begin to express how proud I am of him. He worked really hard this semester, balancing sports with his schoolwork, and it really shows. Congratulations Alex! Keep up the good work...and we'll get that math grade up yet. ;)

Sports Banquet

Alex is off to his first sports banquet tonigh. Hopefully he and Andy will have a good time. Here they are all dressed up and ready to go.

Pea in a Pod

or in this case, Baby in a Basket. Keari loves to climb in/on/under things. We can constantly find her sitting on the bottom shelf of our bookcase. We also have a small end table that she likes to climb inside. Tonight this is where I found her...she's such a cutie. =)

Cake or Football Anyone?

We had my family over to celebrate all the October & November birthdays. This was supposed to be our free weekend but the rain the previous weekend pushed everything back to this weekend. Kenzie is upset because it meant that she had miss seeing her new cousin because she had to be in Virginia for her softball tournament. I told her I'd take her over to see another weekend but she wasn't thrilled about it. So while Andy, Kenzie and Connor headed to Virginia, I tried to get the house in some semblance of order to have people over. When everyone arrived, we had to celebrate quickly as Tyler had a football game to go to.

Here's a picture of our combined cake and one of Keari trying out her own special cake. She wasn't too thrilled with getting all messy but she did get into at the end.


Then I had to leave everyone to get Tyler to his football game on time. He is really enjoying playing flag football this year. And what a lovely day to be outside for a while. Not nearly as cold as it was yesterday.

Champions!!

They won! They won! Kenzie called me after the game to tell me that she made the winning run...apparently there is a 15 run slaughter rule in the Championship game and Kenzie's run was that 15th run. I'm so thrilled for her, especially since she had struck out twice during the semi finals game, to have her, in the Championship game, rip a ball through the infield that 3 players missed...and score the game ending run. How exciting for her! Yay Lightning!!

35 - 3

That is the total of the runs scored during the first three games of the Halloween softball tournament that Kenzie is playing in. And, unlike last year, her team had the 35 runs. Woohoo!! The kids played awesome! And I was so proud of Kenzie...her first time up to bat she smacks it to center field for a basehit. In addition to that, she had a walk, a perfect bunt, a strike out and a complete flub up that started with a dropped third strike and ended up with her on first on a run scoring. It was crazy! They are top cede so they skip right to the semi finals tomorrow.

Ice Skating

Alex came home stating that his school was having a free skate at the ice rink. Of course free skate doesn't mean that it was free. ;) LOL So we ended up making the trek to Easton to drop him off so he could spend a couple of hours with his friends. A handful of kids showed up and he seemed to have a good time. Meanwhile, Connor and Kenzie had their last soccer training class til next year although I think there is still one more makeup game for Kenzie's soccer team on 11/17.

Trick or Treat

The kids had a great time trick or treating last night. We dropped Connor off with friends and then headed over to another friends house. I'd forgotten how dark their neighborhood is but it was a lovely night to be out. When we were done, we sat around a fire, staying toasty warm while eating some delicious spagetti. Yum!

Here's some pics of the kiddos...

Happy Halloween!

Another Year Older

Yup, today is my b'day. Hasn't been a bad day so far. Got a beautiful homemade cake from one of my coworkers. It was almost too pretty to eat...almost. LOL

I also had a cake waiting for me when I got home that Andy and the kiddos made me. Haven't had time to celebrate yet as Kenzie has a soccer game tonight and then Andy and I have a bible study class. We'll celebrate when we get home from that. And for once, Alex doesn't have a ton of homework so he'll be able to keep and eye on the kiddos while we're gone without losing time that should be spent studying.

Okay, now back from bible study and have done cake and ice cream and got this lovely bracelet for a present. I love it!

Sick Day

One of these days I'll learn not to drive into work when I wait up feeling off because it makes for an extremely long drive home. I decided after being at work for 2 hrs that I really needed to go home cause I wasn't feeling well. Found out after getting home that Bekah had also been sick that morning so it looks like there is some bug going through the house. Let's hope it doesn't get everybody.

Homecoming Dance

Alex's school had their homecoming dance tonight...and he took a date, Sarah. Gosh, he doesn't seem old enough to be doing that yet. The evening started off with a prehomecoming party at one of his classmates house. Parents were invited to stay for the party, I believe, so they could be used as sources of transporation from the party to the dance. ;-) Andy then took Alex and Sarah to the school where the dance was being held where he was able to meet Sarah's mom since she had forgotten to bring her dance ticket with her. At the end of the dance I went down to pick them up and to take Sarah home. They seemed to have a great time as Alex said they danced the entire 3 hrs.

Surgery

Andy had gallbladder surgery done this morning. He ended up getting the first surgery of the day which meant that we needed to be there at the crack of dawn. It's bad enough I have to get up early to go to work but it's even worse when you have to get up early to head to the hospital. Surgery ended up taking about 1 1/2hrs...then took another hour to get him into an observation room. From there things went downhill as trying to get anything out of the nurses was like pulling teeth. Started with him being given the wrong control to use for the nurses call button...good thing nothing serious happened cause we sure wouldn't have gotten any nurses with the control he had...and ended with it taking almost two hours to get discharged because of lack of communication on the different nurses part. Good thing is that the surgery went smoothly and dr indicated that it was good that the gallbladder had been removed as it was inflamed. Andy came home with 4 bandaids on his belly...pretty amazing when you think he had an organ removed through one of those tiny cuts. He has some good pain meds so so far he's doing okay. I'll be off for the next two days...took vacation for today and tomorrow...and will work from home on Friday assuming Andy is up to handling the kids some.

Keari's 1st Birthday

Hard to believe it's been a year ago that I brought home a new little baby. How things have changed during that year. She's gone from being a helpless newborn to an independant toddler. There's is no keeping her still...she's constantly on the move which I'm sure is one of the reasons that she is so small. She burns everything off. She also has a bit of a temper. Hmm, wonder where she gets that from...can't be from me. LOL She loves her brothers and sister...and they simply adore her. She's sprouted 3 teeth in the last month so needless to say she's been a bit cranky but now that they are through she's doing much better. And she loves real food...will eat just about anything you put in front of her.

Time to go Home

Josh has finally been released from the hospital. Yay! Although I'm a little sad that I won't get to see him as much now. He was in a hospital right down road from where I work so I've been able spend some time with him every couple of days. But I'm glad he's finally home and is doing well.

Happy Birthday, Bekah!

We now have a big 3 year old in the house and she's very proud of herself for accomplishing that feat. LOL She's such a person and has no qualms about expressing her opinions...and she loves bossing her brothers around.

A New Baby

and for once it's not mine. LOL My sister had her baby today...Joshua Logan, 8:41 am, 7 lbs 3 oz...born a month early...he wasn't due til Halloween...guess he was anxious to get here. She ended up having a c-section due to placenta previa and then had some trouble with bleeding afterwards but they were able to get that under control. He's having some issues with breathing and is in NICU but doing well. Congratulations Von and Richard!! You guys did good!

18

That's how long Andy and I have been married. Hard to believe we started as a family of 2 and are now a family of 9. Since getting married we've moved 5 times (not counting the 2 times we moved before that), bought 3 houses...one of which we had built. I still work for the same company that I did when we get married...makes it easy to remember how many years I've been working there as I started there the year we got married.

Andy has some before and after pics if you'd like to check them out. You can see them here.

We went out to dinner tonight to celebrate at a place right in our own neighborhood...we were a little worried because the last two years the places we have picked have been terrible. Tonight, though, was a totally different story. The food was great! And the service was quick. We both had crab brisque to start...then Andy got NY strip w/garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus while I got a crab cake sandwich & fries. For dessert, we had chocolate cake and strawberry shortcake. Yummy!

The only problem was that they were too quick...we were back home again an hour later...not nearly long enough away. LOL

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!!

Reunited

After a week apart, the entire family is finally all back together. The 3 older kids had a great time at the beach with their aunt and uncle. They all seemed to have grown some in the time they were gone and all have gotten nice suntans. Kenzie was so overcome with emotions that she burst into tears upon seeing me. I guess she missed me. ;) Connor, on the other hand, burst into tears because he wanted to go to vacation. LOL

While they were gone, the twins participated in a VBS where they got to play games...Ty picked basketball and Tay picked soccer and they both loved their individual sports. With them at school, that left Andy with just Bekah and Keari so it was a relaxing time for him. And the first 3 days of the week I was gone to Cape May with my mom. That was nice relaxing time. Mom's already planning on when to go next year.

A Tooth

Keari has her first tooth...bottom right one. Yay! Of course, she decided to get it while I was away but I'll just pretend that it broke through on that day I got back. ; ) She hasn't figured out yet that she can chomp with it so lets hope that takes her a while to figure that out. LOL

Vacation Time

Whew, it's about time. I was more than ready to get away for a few days...just my mom and I...no kiddies to worry about. Although that's going to be weird because I'm definitely not used to being away from them for any length of time.

It was a foggy morning to take a trip on the ferry but we were able to see a few dolphins playing around in the water. Wasn't about to get any pics of then because of the fog, though, but I did get a foggy pic of the water. Kind of eerie looking.

Before heading to the bed & breakfast, we took a detour to see a lighthouse and a bunker, walked around on the sand a little and looked at their exploration center.

We stayed at a place called the Linda Lee in Cape May, NJ. It was a lovely room which had a private balcony off the back. Bathroom was super tiny, though. And the parking was atrocious...definately can't park a decent size car in their lot.

We spent the days walking around Cape May and eating way too much. We did take one excursion to Atlantic City to go to the Tropicana to watch a magic show and play the slots a little.

All in all, it was a lovely trip and I'd love to be able to go again next year. Maybe my sister will be able to join us next year.

Carnival

Since it was such a gorgeous evening, we decided that we’d go to the carnival tonight. Alex was working at the fish bowl stand as part of his volunteer work for the firefighters so he didn’t get to go on any rides. Andy and I split up…Andy getting Connor, Kenzie, Ty and Keari and I got Tay and Bekah. It was such a fun time watching Bekah on the rides. She thoroughly enjoyed them this year which was evident by the fact that she rode every kiddie ride available and then started back through them all again. LOL Since Tay isn’t as adventurous as his brother, he made a good partner for Bekah…although she didn’t need one. She definitely had no fear about getting on any of the rides. In fact, when we wandered over to see what the older kids were up to, she was insistent on riding on the big kids swing…which is the one big kid ride that Tay will ride…and was very upset when I wouldn’t let her. Older kids had just as good a time…they love a ride that looks like a big roller…takes forever to load and unload that ride but they stood in the line to ride it twice.

And it wouldn’t be a carnival without a funnel cake and this years was delicious.

If you’d like to see a few pics, click here which will take you to my hubby’s blog where he posted the best of the pics I was able to get. Very hard to take pics of kids on moving rides. ;)

Last Baseball Party

Tonight was Alex’s baseball party down in Tower Gardens. Alex has been with this same coach for a number of years now and the party always begins with a parents vs kids baseball game. When we first started years ago, the parents had no trouble beating the kids…today is another story. It was a rousing game of baseball with family members pitching to each other. The game ended when the last parent batter ended up getting hit with the ball during the pitchers warm up throws. Oops! I think the parents just used that as an excuse to end the game since they were losing. LOL

Then the party progressed to the beach at the bay where a cookout, kayaking and tubing took place. There was a huge turnout this year and everyone seemed to have a great time. We noticed towards the end of the party that one of the kids was paddling a kayak along the shore up the bay and was quite a distance away from us. When Andy finally caught up with him in his own kayak and asked the kid where he was going, he was told that he was paddling to the bridge. Mind you, the bridge was probably 5 miles away from where we were and he just matter of factly stated that he was paddling to the bridge. Kids! What are you going to do with them?? LOL

On the way home, we dropped Alex and Connor off at their youth leaders house from movie night and a sleep over.

New Altar Server

Kenzie is sooo excited. Altar server training class was scheduled for tonight and she's been anxiously awaiting this day for months now. Needless to say, she came home from the class beaming. =)

Alex came home from youth group tonight talking about a white water rafting trip that is scheduled for the middle of next month. That got Connor thinking because his youth group is also able to go on the same trip so it looks like we will be losing both boys for a couple days next month. ;)

Car Woes

Cars are definitely more trouble than they are worth. I took my car in for it’s 120,000 service and $1,600 later, I get my car back. And this is on top of the $2,400 car repair bill I had last year. This time is was everything from needing rear brakes to transmission fluid to a thermostat. Oh and don’t forget that when the tech went to start my car, he stated that the key just spun in the ignition. Ugh! That’s the only part of the repair that I didn’t do as I’ve never had that problem happen to me and it would have cost an addition $500 and take 4 weeks to get the part. Hopefully this will tide me over for awhile but that's what I said last year too.

Party Weekend

Saturday we spent the day at my SIL’s house. It was a beautiful day to hang outside…kids swam (although their pool was freezing!!), played badmitton, had scavenger hunts. Everyone thought Keari was an angel child…boy did she ever have them fooled. LOL

Sunday we had a pool party for Connor’s baseball team. It was another fun day although the weather was a little warmer/muggier than it had been on Saturday. We supplied the pool while everyone else supplied the food and there was more than enough to feed everyone…even my hungry crew. LOL Kids had a great time playing volleyball in the pool and having races to see who could swim the length of the pool the fastest. The adults sat around and chatted the afternoon away. All in all, a good day. =)

High School Youth Group

Tonight was Alex's first night with the high schoolers for youth group...he's previously been going to the middle school group. I think he was a bit nervous because he wasn't as proactive with getting information about it as he normally is. During the summer months, the youth group is held at a house located on a point of land where every where you look, you see water. And the houses in this community are huge! Makes our 7 bedroom house seem puny...which it is compared to these houses. He seemed to have a good time if his smile when I picked him up was anything to go by. They started off by talking about a C S Lewis book, then did a cook out and played volleyball. I can't say enough about the youth groups that Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church hosts...they open it up to any kids of the appropriate age which is wonderful since we don't actually attend this church...the youth minister is awesome. He just has a knack for putting people at ease and relating to the kids.

9 Months

Wow how time flies. Hard to believe she's 9 months already. Here's a pic of her from today.


And here she is the other day on the move LOL What a big girl she is. =)

Moo?

I saw this on Venessa's blog and I had to laugh cause I most definitely am not!! LOL

Cool Letters

I saw this letter maker the other day on Meari's blog and finally had a chance to play with it. You can make your own here.

Off to the Races

Okay, not literally but Kenzie does get to visit a horse farm today and to say that she is excited is a huge understatement. Andy met a gentleman almost a month at Southern States...he was there to buy chicken food and the gentleman was there to buy horse food. They struck up a conversation and it turns out the gentleman owns race horses and has a grand daughter named Mackenzie. He invited our McKenzie to come play with his Mackenzie anytime. Not sure that he really thought we would call though. LOL I'll be back later to tell how things went today. =)

What a fun day! We were at the farm for about an hour and both Kenzie and I got to ride on a horse...although I'm not sure if having a horse walk in circles truly qualifies as riding. LOL Kenzie got to start and stop the pony by herself and tell it to turn in whatever direction she wanted. It's the first time either of us had ever been on a horse. When they offered me the chance, I couldn't turn them down...couldn't have my 9 yr old daughter show me up. LOL Kenzie is on a pony named Autumn Falls and I'm on a quarter horse named Marshall. Here's a few pics of our morning

Happy 4th of July

What a fun 4th we had although the day did start off with some cleaning...seems like a never ending job around here. After lunch, the kiddos all headed off to watch a movie while Andy and I took the kayaks down to the creek. We paddled all around the creek, watched some guys putting out some kind of traps in each of the little coves...not sure exactly what they were trying to catch although we are speculating maybe muskrats. We actually saw one swimming around...it was pretty cool as I've never seen one that close before. At one point during our paddling, I ended up running aground and had to walk my kayak to deep waters...deeper being past my ankles LOL To say that creek is shallow is an understatement. In alot of spots it's less than an oar lengths deep.

After dinner, Alex and I ended up going back down to the river as he really hasn't had the chance to do much kayaking. I was so tired but I couldn't turn him down and we had a great time although it was tough for us to pull the kayaks from our house to the water and back. Guess we aren't as strong as Andy.

A Day on the Water

Yay! Our kayaks arrived this morning, so after a quick lunch we headed down to the river pulling our kayaks on our homemade carrying cart. Amazing what you make out of old stuff that you have laying around the house. I had Kearsyn and Taylor in the kayak with me while Andy took Bekah and Tyler. We had a great time although it was a bit windy which made steering the kayak a bit challenging. Keari did great! I was a little worried that she wouldn't stay still but she did and at one point Tay said she was even trying to fall asleep. Of course, I kept dripping water on her from paddling so that didn't work too well. LOL Alex, Connor & Kenzie missed out on the maiden voyage as they spent the day on a friends boat but Andy did take them out when they got home. They all seemed to enjoy it. Now we know to what to ask the grandparents to get them as Christmas presents...two kayaks for all of us just isn't going to be enough. ;)

Andy has some pics of the kids and the new kayaks here if you want to take a look.