Surprise!!

I decided to surprise the kids yesterday after school by taking them to the beach. We were all excited to play in the water and collect some shells. We went to Treasure Island because it's free to park there. It's also the widest beach on the west coast of Florida. The weather was perfect with a nice breeze. Everyone was having fun.
The kids were all digging in the sand and I decided to go for a swim in the Gulf....bad idea!! Stingray mating season is in the summer and it brings all the rays to shallow water. Everyone that lives around here knows to do the "Stingray Shuffle" to scare them away. I was doing that and out of nowhere I feel something get my right foot. Sure enough I got stung and it hurt sooooooooo bad! So here I am in unbelievable pain alone with three kids. I called Matt at work and he dropped everything to come and get us. The walk to the van from the water was not so fun. Treatment is to soak your foot in very hot salt water for a couple hours. It took about 30 minutes to get home and my foot soaking.
It's feeling much better today. About 1/2 my right foot is black and blue and very tender. As much as that sucked it would have been so much worse if one of the kids had got hit. I will be keeping out of the water for a while at least until mating season is over.

Elijah's 1st Birthday Party

Luke

Cara, Maggie & Austin
Elijah is 1!!
Nana giving her cousin some love
Sam & Elijah opening gifts
John

Austin
Daddy & Nana
Nana
Luke

Luke's 1st violin concert.

Nana & Mommy ready for the show.

Luke ready to perform.
Luke & Nana in Dylan Crane's Garden.

(Dylan passed away from Ewings Sarcoma in 2005 & was a former student at Perkins)
Nana & wind chime.
In front of Perkins
Short video of Luke playing the violin.

Thank You Bucket's

I made these cute little buckets for the boy's teacher's to thank them for all their hard work. Luke only has one teacher but Austin has 4. It was pretty easy to make and the teachers love them. I got the bucket, ribbon and Hersey's Kisses from Wal-Mart and the rest from Michael's. Inside the tissue paper is a bunch of Kisses that I tied with red ribbon. I used a 6 inch yard stick that I glued to the small piece of wood (I painted it silver to match the bucket). I painted the "Thank You" and glued on the apple and pencil. I used scrapbook stickers to write the school name and 07 & 08. I threw in a little pinwheel and kazoo. We also rolled up colored paper with quotes about teachers.
Luke took his in on Friday and Mrs. Bouwman called me after school to thank me. I told her that I wanted to do more for her gift. She said "you couldn't have done anything better".
I just wanted to share a good gift idea!

Update with pictures.

This was Nana last night after a fun day at the beach. She took all the toys out of the bucket and replaced them with blankets. We were all pretty beat.

No, that's not a beached whale, it's me playing in the sand. We love to dig big holes and build tall castles. The best part is crushing everything hen your done.
Another shot from the beach. Matt went with us and it was a great afternoon. I didn't have to do much over the weekend, Matt did everything. He's the best!!
Austin is really getting into reading lately. I think he enjoys 'getting away' with a good book. This is new haircut too.
This is Nana's new do. She looks so cute with it and it will be much cooler this summer.

They are best friends.
See!!
My flower garden.
My garden. Since we live in Florida most of our yard is sand so I'm using pots.
This show is what the music classes work on all year at Luke's school. The kids are amazing and some play a few instruments. The show was great.

Luke all cleaned up.
Austin out front.
After an hour she was done!!
Outside of the theatre. It was built in the 20's and is beautiful building.
A day at the beach with Nana a couple weeks ago.

My nephew Josh & Ashley headed to Prom.
My nephew Dylan opening b-day presents from us. He is learning to play his drums so we got him sticks from House of Blues in Orlando.
Grandma Donna, Dylan & Nana being silly.
Nana helping Dylan open gifts.

It's been a crazy couple weeks. I'm looking forward to Summer Break so I can sleep in. The kids and I like to do fun stuff all the time. We have a new park about 8 blocks away. It's has astro-turf so it's soft. I hate parks with sand or dirt because my kids always bring home a couple shoes full. Well I need to get working on my laundry. Thanks for checking in.

Sierra

I am sitting here, yet again trying to understand why another child has to die. I'm wondering how many of our children have to suffer from cancer before we are outraged. Some will say that childhood cancer is rare; I'm sure it doesn't seem so rare when it's your child. Our children are fighting this beast with drugs that were made for adults and they ravage a tiny body. The treatment is often what kills our babies. It just isn't fair that even after they have fought so long and so hard that they pass.
My heart is aching for the Kessler family right now. They were given a wonderful gift that was taken away way to soon. Sierra has always faced challenges with a smile. She was born with Downs Syndrome and later diagnosed with leukemia. She recently finished treatment for leukemia and within days she had relapsed. She was able to reach remission again but her body was exhausted from the fight. Sierra entered Heaven's gates yesterday morning. She leaves behind an amazing family and adoring friends. Please pray for Sierra's parents, brother and sister. I can't imagine what they are going through right now.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sierrakesler