Happy Birthday Mark!

It's hard to believe that six years ago today, my baby entered our family. We thought our family was complete with our three kids so it was a such a surprise and blessing that he came along. He definately has been our most "challenging" of all our kids. We have gone through things with him that we never experienced with the others. He definately keeps us young. So, we are having a laid back day. I have to go pick up his cake in a little while. He is really into Scooby Doo and Haunted Houses so that is this year's "theme". I'll post a picture later. We aren't having a party with his friends this year. The school never got the directory done so I don't have any addresses. Plus, he ended up getting into a class where all the kids have been together since they were all in play group. They all were in the same pre-school as well. Well, we only moved here a couple of years ago so we weren't "in" the "in group". Some of those kids were just downright mean and I was glad Mark never got "in their group". So, since he had a party last year with his pre-school friends, we decided just to make it a "family event". He picked the dinner menu and he chose chili. After dinner we are all going to see the movie "Cars". I can't wait. I just can't believe how fast the time has gone by. My baby is SIX!!!! So, Happy Birthday, Mark.

Crazy Couple of Weeks

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Getting through all the kids end of year activities and exams is just exhausting. But, "we" all survived and into our 3rd week of our summer vacation.

Lots has happened the last few weeks. First of all, Greg's Little League team won the divisional championship. Yippee. This was his final year playing Little League. He made the High School Legion Ball team so he is still playing ball through the summer. So, I guess I can officially call him a high school baseball player! I thought I had a picture of him in his baseball uniform but I must not have uploaded it yet. I will do that in the next few days.

Elizabeth made her Confirmation on Saturday at Church. She's been preparing for this for several years. The picture above is of her and her Sponsor. (I don't know why the picture kept going to the top of the blog). Susan and I have been friends since the 6th grade. She and her husband Darryl are also Elizabeth's God Parents. She was able to fly down on Thursday and be here for the weekend. She got out just in time before all the bad weather blew in. The mass was beautiful. A retired Bishop from the Dominican Republic who lives in Naples came up and said the mass. She chose the Saint name Cecilia as her name. It was perfect because that was my Grandmother's name (she didn't know that when she chose it. Sadly I never got to meet her because she passed away before I was born). So, it was fitting.

Emily had a belt promotion and is a brown belt!!!! WOW. At only 12 years old. She finished up the school year and got her first ever set of straight A's. Woo Hoo. She always got that one B in Math. But she pulled it off. Way to go, Em!

Mark completed kindergarten. I sure do miss having my "quiet" time during the day but I am enjoying having the kids home. August 3rd will be here before we know it. He is starting a new school next school year so I am looking forward to that. He finished T-Ball and 2 more sessions of swimming lessons. I can't believe what a fish he has become. He loves to swim. Getting the swimming lessons was a must since this house came with a pool. He loves having the pool and is probably the only one of my kids who can't wait to get in it no matter how cold it can get.

Well. Can you believe we are only 12 days into the hurricane season and we are already experiencing the tropical weather. We didn't get hit directly by him but we got lots of much needed rain yesterday. I put on the weather radio last night and it kept going off to where I finally just turned it off. The winds picked up at 3 am and we were all up. There was a tornado warning just before we went to bed. Now it's just partly cloudy with some sun. I don't know what our weather is supposed to be today.

I have been working on my scrapbook room and it is really coming around. I have just one more section to paint and I spent last night sorting through pictures and stuff. It's amazing how much I got done and how inspiring and motivating that has been.

Well, I better wrap this up. I have a mountain of laundry to do. Now that Susan is gone I guess I better get back to all my daily stuff I have let go. It was a lot of fun having her here and I think I even managed to get her hooked on stamping/card making.

I am hoping to spend more time on this blog since it is fun to do. I don't have any idea if people read it but I am going to "spice it up". I love to read other's people's quotes and bible verses. I also love the challenges people post so I am going to give that a try. Until next time.......................