Memorial Day

We found ourselves spending Memorial Day celebrating a coworkers 1 year anniversary up at their lease site in the mountains. Their trailer is right on Boggs Creek and the kids had a blast playing in the creek and just running around being kids. We had a really nice time relaxing and spending time with friends, Phoenix and I even tried our hand at Karaoke.

Funny, I always get the urge for a change once I've been somewhere for 3 or more years. And true to form that urge is starting to surface (we have been here 2 1/2 years), chances are we will end up somewhere else at some point (not any time soon though, gosh lets not get those rumors started), but for the first time since we have moved here I actually consider Gainesville home. For 2 1/2 years I could easily have packed things up and moved back to Florida and picked up where we left off without batting an eye. But that day driving up to the mountains to celebrate a friends anniversary I realized Gainesvlle finally feels like home, and aside from the people in Florida I have no desire to go back there. And now I have the urge to move again, go figure. My mom did that for 20 years, must have been hard to just finally get settled in only to up and move again, by necessity, unlike me who has the desire to move, guess thats the by product of being a navy brat, it just gets in your system and it is hard to shake (wonder if I will ever shake it?).

Griffins Birthday

Well, I am a little behind, and several people have asked me what about Griffin's birthday. So I am posting Griffins birthday pictures. We did a small celebration at home then he had a party at school with his classmates. I attempted to make a pirate cake but it was a very busy week at work and preparing for an out of town trip, so that whole Martha Stewart thing was not happening. But we tried to stick with the pirate theme as best we could, as shown in the pictures (his hair has been cut since then, man he was looking like a girl). Griffin was so excited with those cheap little trinkets. He got a rock tumbler, so we have been polishing rocks ever since (boy is that thing loud). Its hard to believe my little guy is 4. He's trying so hard to grow up on me, he is counting the days until he is seven like his sissy. But with another year came the deep seated desire to do do everything in his power to annoy and agitate his big sis. And, man he knows how to push her buttons, all of a sudden I am nothing more than a referee in my own home. Funny thing, I know God gave me kids to teach me patience, but it ain't working. I pray for patience every day, but He never gives it to me, I am impatient waiting for the answer to that prayer, along with a whole list of other things I want or think I need.

Enjoy the pictures!

Chris's New Do

Chris got a new do...not sure what has gotten into him, I would say a mid-life crisis but 32 is kind of young for a mid life crisis I think. There are two significant things about the new do: first he actually has some hair to DO something with (he's always kept it buzzed for the nine years I have known him) and he had it colored. I have to say I kind of like the change!

Girls Weekend/Dude Stuff

This weekend was Phoenix’s weekend to celebrate her birthday with her friends. Her very best friend from Fort Myers came up for the weekend, and her best friends here came to our house for a certified girls weekend. Daddy and Griffin went to the woods to do “dude stuff” as Griffin put it.

Phoenix choose to take her friends to a little girls boutique and get their hair and makeup done, she is such a good girl, she choose orange and blue hair spray for her finished doo, GO GATORS. We then came back to the house and the girls played while the mommies talked. We made cookies and pizza and had ice cream. Mommies indulged in some Irish Coffee ( I was painfully reminded why I do not drink after that experience).

Around 8:30 daddy called on his way home, apparently Griffin was a little cold and actually started having some breathing issues so they came home to be safe. So much for “dude stuff” we made them stay in the basement so we could finish our girls night.

The girls summoned Uncle Kevin via video chat and proceeded to act like little girls being silly, not sure if Uncle Kevin knew quite what to think, but the girls had fun doing it.

They settled into mommy’s bed in front of Disney Channel while the mommies settled down on the sofa bed watching a chick flick. I think we were all up until about 1 am…and had to be up at 7 to get to church in the morning. It was an awesome night.

None of us get to do those sorts of things very often anymore. It made me really appreciate my family and the awesome friends I am blessed with. They just love me for who I am and we enjoy each other. Those sorts of friends are harder to find and make as we get older, so when you find them you really, really appreciate them!

Enjoy the pictures!

Phoenix turns 7

My little girl turned 7 today, hard to believe. She decided she did not want a party but wanted to go with her friends next week to have brunch at the American Girl Place so we celebrated as a family today. We got started late because mom was up late making the cake (yeah I surprised myself with that cake, to quote someone who told me this week, I'm turning into a regular Martha Stewart). We decided to get her a computer, but I am not sure if she was more excited about the computer or the doll cake. To my surprise, she knew a lot about that computer, I guess they teach more than reading, writing and arithmetic in school today.

She is growing into a remarkable young lady, extremely sure of herself, knows what she wants, and quite bossy (she gets that honestly I think) and she loves, I mean adores, her little brother, and he adores her. We got lucky in that department.

Atlanta Math Fest 2008

Today was Pheonix's big day, it was the next level of Mathfest. Her along with 7 other first graders (and 45 other students from the other grade levels) from her school we made the trek to Atlanta for her to compete. We started this whole journey with absolutely no expectations, and as such we did nothing to prepare her for the competition except to tell her to have fun and do her best. I do not think she understood how big of a deal she could have made it. Chris and I were more nervous for her than she was for herself, which was good I hope.
So out of the eight first graders from her school participating, six of them (out of 200 total first graders) made it to the top 50 and moved on to the second round. Phoenix made it somewhere in the top 30 (between 20 and 30), they only gave medals to the top 16. I was very proud of her. There were kids coming out of the second round room (it felt like American Idol while we waited outside the door for the kids to come out when they were eliminated) bawling their eyes out, they were so crushed. Phoenix comes out looking a little worried, but she sits in my lap and says its ok because the rest of her friends were still in there and she was proud of them! I was truly impressed. So of course I asked her what kind of problems she was missing she tells me, I was astounded at the complexity of the problems they were giving first graders, and they were getting them right. She said she got the problem X + 41 = 185 what is x right but missed the 38 times 3 because she only had 5 seconds to answer the problem and could not write 38 down tree times to add them together in 5 seconds. Right before she was eliminated one of the proctors came out and told us these first graders are doing 3rd and 4th grade math.
The whole event was well organized, there was a a huge exhibition hall with games set up all over, games that encourage math of course. While waiting for their event the kids could play the games and earn tickets to redeem for prizes. That was a lot of fun.

Mother and Daughter

People always tell me my daughter looks like me, I just do not see it, but I ran across this picture of the two of us taken not so long ago and boy it just jumped out at me. she is her mothers daughter.