Home

Daily News

History

    2007
    2006
    2005
    2004
    2003
    2002
    2001

About Us

Videos

Portraits

Email Us

 

\

 

 

APRIL 2006
(Hold your mouse over a picture for its caption.)


April 1, 2006

Let me tell you - life on April 1 in a house with two boys who have just discovered what "April Fools" means is quite an experience!  When I woke up (not realizing, of course, the date), Patrick very proudly brought me a glass of milk.  How sweet, I thought.  Well, he'd poured every spice he could think of into that cup!  We were on guard from that point, but that didn't keep the boys from trying every trick they could think of!

Football kicked off today with Alex's first game in the 9 to 11-year-old league.  I think he's going to enjoy this season much more with kids who seem to know what they're doing.  The game was certainly more exciting to watch.  Patch was pretty bored so I put him on camera duty.

Yet another football shot Mom intently watching the game

Jay and Stacey sent more pictures of Caroline and Madeline!  There sure are a lot of tubes, but they are said to be doing quite well.  At this point, they are expected to be in the hospital for another five or six weeks.  Sorry, but I have no idea which baby is which in these pictures!

  Even with all of the tubes, she's so sweet!

Proud Daddy Happy Mommy


April 2, 2006

I found a box in the attic the other day full of toys Mom had saved from my childhood.  Patrick loves the Bright Light!  Would you believe the light bulb that had been stored in it still worked?

He loves creating


April 4, 2006

The school's annual Founders Day Family Night is this Friday, which means I've been busy!  Each class provides a theme basket for auction, and being room mom for two classes, I'm responsible for collecting all of the items from the students and creating the final products for those classes.  As if that wasn't enough, I also am the Volunteer Coordinator for the event, so I've been insane the last week or so organizing all of that as well. 

The gifted class made another reptile habitat "basket" which was a huge hit last year.  The boys are already plotting to stuff the bag with tickets (the auctions are won by a ticket drawing) - as if we don't already have a rather nice (and expensive) reptile cage!  Alex's class made a dog themed basket.  I had it on the floor of my bedroom to heat the shrink wrap with my hair dryer, and when I walked in Boo and Grendel were on either side of it.  I thought it was cute, until I realized they were baring teeth at each other.  It seems they both thought they'd take possession of it!

"It's mine!"  "No, it's MINE!"


April 6, 2006

Patrick's class has been studying native animals this week, so Patrick asked me to bring in his snake for show-and-tell this morning.  He was quite the pro and was able to answer everyone's questions himself.  I was impressed that every child in the class at least touched the snake.  Last year, a few girls practically fled from the room!

Center stage, right where he likes to be!


April 7, 2006

Founders Day finally arrived, after an incredibly crazy week!  I've been at the school every day this week picking up volunteer forms and dropping off reminders - not to mention my normal volunteer time in the kids' classes.  Back at home I've been on the phone with all of the volunteers making sure everyone will be where they need to be.  Oh, and I should mention that Mark's been out of town all week as well.  This morning, the committee met at the school at 10:00 to set up.  It was a HOT day and we were all dragging.  We have a terrific group of ladies and at one point or another, every one of us was told by another to go sit in the air conditioning before we passed out. 

I went home for lunch and a shower, and just to add a little more spice to my day, I was served with a summons!  About a year ago, I saw a flasher in a parking lot and called the police.  Apparently, his case is going to trial and they'd like me to testify.  Lovely.

Okay, back to Founders Day.  Back at school, the food vendors arrived, and we had our first big glitch.  Sonny's Barbecue's truck got stuck in the sand.  It took a couple of hours (in the baking sun, I might add), but somehow they finally got out and the event started as planned.  It was a huge success, the kids had a blast, and 11 hours after I arrived at school this morning, clean-up complete, I headed back home.  For the last three years, we have somehow always managed to win a basket, but not this year.  The boys were devastated!  (Welcome to the real world!)  They were both particularly upset that we didn't win the reptile basket.  At home Mark and I finally figured out why.  It's snake mating season again, and the boys thought that if we had another snake cage, we'd be able to keep the babies this year.  As if four snakes isn't enough!

Wheeeeee!


April 9, 2006

I had a closing over on the west coast this afternoon, so we turned it into a visit with Mike and Mary Beth.  It was a perfect day and the kids swam and played their hearts out.

Mark and Ryan playing cars

Julia and Alex swinging Patch loves to slide!


April 12, 2006

My cousin, Scott, has been working at an event in Daytona for the past week, and is spending this week with us before he goes back up to Michigan.  He got here last night, just in time to help me clear out all of the rooms for the new carpet to be installed tomorrow.  :-)  But first, I had to introduce him to the Florida legal system.  Remember that summons I got last week?  Well, the pretrial conference was this morning so Scott went with me.  It was an interesting process.  We watched several people plead guilty or no contest to criminal charges, and then when it came to my friendly neighborhood flasher, the guy never even showed up!  His lawyer said they were going to trial, though, so I guess this isn't over just yet.

Meanwhile, my other cousin, Rod, became a grandfather!  Erica had a baby girl, McKenna, today!

What a beauty!


April 13, 2006

We had the new carpet laid today, which will finally eliminate all evidence of construction, and wouldn't ya know, they didn't bring enough carpet!  Can you believe it?  They did all of the rooms but the play room, so I suppose it could have been worse.  They assured me it'll be completed next week.  But on the upside, the carpet they did lay looks - and feels - awesome!

The twins are doing beautifully, as you can see, and it looks like they'll be going home much sooner than expected.  Their nanny, Darice, made them these adorable caps with their names on them so we can tell them apart.

Precious Holding Daddy's hand


April 14, 2006

School was closed today so Mom, Scott, the boys and I went to the Kennedy Space Center.  It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast (pardon the pun - couldn't resist!) checking out all of the stuff.  The ships and fuel tanks and engines were so much larger than I ever imagined! 

Patrick, Alex and me - ready for takeoff!

Mom, Scott and the boys under a mock space shuttle Scott in front of the rocket boosters for the shuttle

Captain Alex five, four, three, two, one . . . LIFT OFF!

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home, and Patrick checked his blood pressure.


April 15, 2006

We headed to the River today in the hopes of showing Scott some of Florida's nature.  Boy, Mother Nature didn't disappoint!  We had the most wonderful, relaxing visit with Mark's parents while we took turns kayaking with the manatees.  Mark's mom pointed out that in December Patch will be 8, which means he'll be allowed to drive the little blue boat by himself, so Mark took him out to practice.  Scott was determined to head back to Michigan with some color on him, and I suppose he succeeded - by the end of the day he was the color of a tomato!  Yikes!  Towards the end of the day, a mama manatee came up to the dock with her new baby and a yearling and hung out with us for quite a while.  What a special treat!

 Alex going solo

Scott and Alex A manatee was saying hello to Scott

Captain Patch Mark and Alex in the water with the manatees

Mother manatee with both of her calves on her left side The baby got a boost up for air while the yearling hangs on her other side

Jay and Stacey got an early Easter present when the twins were released and went home today.  Aren't they beautiful?

First walk around the block

We got home just in time to color eggs for the Easter Bunny.

Don't look so excited, Alex


April 16, 2006

Happy Easter!

We had our annual Easter block party/water balloon fight with all of our fabulous neighbors.  I'm sad Scott had to leave this morning because he'd have loved it!  We headed outside around lunch time and had a feast, as always.  Not only are our neighbors wonderful people, they can cook, too!  We played and ate and visited until about 7:00.  What a wonderful day!

Patch hunting for eggs Alex had his body armor on for the water balloon fight

Patch sat with Mr. Travis to warm up.  Mark had on Harry Potter quiddich goggles!  LOL Sarah moving in for the kill

Sarah thought Grendel should get wet, too Alex is in the middle ready to bounce down the Slip N' Slide

Travis had a way with baby Daniel


April 18, 2006

I was driving down our street and noticed this rather healthy looking gator sunning himself in the pond across from our house. 

Howdy, neighbor!


April 20, 2006

Woohoo!  The carpet is finally done!  Everything looks awesome, and did I mention, it's done?  DONE, DONE, DONE!  :-)


April 22, 2006

Patrick was Mommy's helper today and cleaned the windows.

Boo is kindly replacing all of the smudge marks as Patch removes them


April 23, 2006

Alex has been sick for a few days (just a nasty cold) and loves cuddling with the dogs when he's not feeling well.

Better than any stuffed animal


April 25, 2006

Alex's cold has turned into an ear infection, which kept him - and me - up all night.  We went to the doctor today to confirm it and get some medicine, and as the day has worn on, I've been feeling myself getting sick.  I really thought I was going to escape this one, but I guess missing a night's sleep did me in.  Argh!


April 27, 2006

Patrick's class has been rehearsing for a month for their big play, Bugz, and tonight was the big night.  His class were all fireflies, except for two kids, one who played the praying mantis, and Patch, who played the stink bug.  Back when the assignments were made, the teacher had said that whoever plays the stink bug has to be able to handle being picked on.  Patrick said it was perfect for him because he's used to being picked on by Alex all the time.  LOL

Well, wouldn't ya know, Patch woke up this morning with this cold we've all had.  He probably could have gone to school, but I wasn't sure he could handle school and the play tonight (this cold really wipes you out).  I called his teacher and told her what was going on, and she said definitely keep him home from school and rest him up, because his was the one role she could not replace.  So that's what we did, and Patch was very excited as we headed off to school for the play.

There were four classes in the play, each class a different type of bug.  While I knew Patrick had a big role in his class (he had 12 lines to the other kids' 2 lines), I didn't realize it was a big role throughout the entire play.  As the kids filed onto the stage, he veered off into the wings and stayed there, making appearances periodically and "stinking" up the other classes' performances.  The play ended up with the praying mantis giving all of the bugs flowers to cover the stink bug's smell so he could be a part of their group.  It was an absolutely adorable performance and all of the kids did great.  Patrick's antennae kept falling into his face, which just added to the cuteness. 

Waiting at the side of the stage and trying to fix his antennae His head band drove him crazy!

Sitting on stage while everyone sang to him that being stinky is okay Saying his lines into the microphone


April 30, 2006

I've always wanted to hang a swing from the big oak tree in the front yard.  Now that we've had the landscaping done and removed the big flower bed from under the tree, we finally hung a disk swing.  The kids surprised us and went crazy with it, spinning each other into oblivion!

Alex spinning Justin Patch giving Alex a ride

Patch watching the world go round