6 Weeks ... not exactly a vacation though!

Well - I've been off work for almost 3 weeks. I'm recovering from a hysterectomy. Yuck! BUT, I know I'll feel tons better once I recover fully. I go back to work on September 2nd. I wish I could say I'm enjoying my time off but it's been kind of rough. I am getting better every week though - I just wish it was FASTER so maybe I COULD enjoy some of my "time off"! Matthew and Mikey go back to school tomorrow (SO early!) so at least I'll get to go have lunch with them before I go back to prison ... I mean, work! haha! Hopefully I'll get a couple of pictures tommorrow morning ... it's a BIG step for Mikey. He starts Kindergarten and goes to the "Big" school! He's excited and a little apprehensive. Luckily his BEST buddy, Joey, is in his class! How awesome is that! He was so excited and so was Joey. I went to "Sneak a Peek" last Thursday and saw that Joey and Mikey are sitting at the SAME table! I said to his Mom "Should we tell the teacher?" and she said "Nah, she'll figure it out soon enough"! haha!

Matthew's All Star Team

Here's the team photo of Matthew's All Star Team "The Raptors". They won (I have details in an older post)....Matthew is to the right of the really tall kid in the back row ...

Florida Pictures!!

I know it's been a while ... had a lot going on... but here are some pictures from our family trip to Florida in June. We had SO much fun!
I love this picture - my Mom took it. She was taking a picture of the boys and had just finished taking pictures of Hannah and Grace - see them in the background being silly! I love it!

Here's a cute one of Matthew & Mikey - it's tough to get them to slow down and sit still for a photo op!
See what I mean? Immediately after the photo was taken it was an impromptu wrestling match! haha!

Hannah while we were still at the dock. She's so cute!

This is my big brother, David, on the fishing boat, clearly having a great time! You can usually find him with a smile on his face... especially if he's fishing! He IS his father's son!

My 3 guys on the fishing boat! It was a fun day - we all really enjoyed fishing, the weather was glorious and we caught quite a few fish. I even got in on the action ... I caught a couple of Red Snappers (they were HARD to reel in). They got thrown back though for being under 16". I caugh a couple of other smaller fish but we got to keep those. Poppy has them frozen ... well, by now he's probably eaten them!

This picture cracks me UP! That's my niece, Gracie ... check out the expression on her face! She's so tiny and Scott is so, well ... LARGE! haha! Priceless...

Here's a shot of Matthew & Poppy. Matthew LOVES to fish ... I know Poppy is just SO disappointed about that (NOT!) We are so blessed to have my Mom and Dad in our lives and have them so involved with the boys. Poppy takes Matthew & Mikey fishing all the time at home too! Matthew is an eager student and really loves fishing. They had a BLAST on this fishing trip in Florida! I wish I could remember the name of the boat we went out on. They had a mate on the boat who was a woman and she was amazing with the kids! She picked up on Matthew's love of fishing pretty quickly and took him out on the back part of boat (not sure what that's called but it's closer to the water) and helped him fish with LIVE bait! It was so cool! Matthew loved it!
Matthew collecting seashells. That little bucket is from the restaurant the night before ... all the kids got one. Came in handy the next day - they each had their very own bucket!
Matthew & Hannah hunting for "treasure" on the beach!

This is my niece Gracie! She is small but mighty! She really loves the beach and has so much fun building stuff in the sand and also collecting "creatures". Her favorite is Sand Fleas. (YUCK!) Isn't she cute? She and Matthew are big buddies - they have a lot in common and they are only a year apart.

Mikey chillin' in the shade!

Matthew - ever in motion - playing football with Scott in the surf. He's never played football as a sport on a team ... but he has quite an arm !He throws well AND catches well!

And of course, lots of catch with the baseball - we don't go ANYwhere without gloves and baseballs! Here's Mikey patiently waiting for Scott to throw the ball!

Happy 4th & Memories from Crystal Beach

I have lots of pictures to share from our trip to Crystal Beach but I wanted to share this one first ... it IS the 4th of July after all! This is a photo I took when we were headed out on the fishing boat. I looked up and saw this beautiful (in my opinion) display of The Stars & Stripes. The sun was shining, it was breezy and warm and ... well... just LOOK at the color of the sky! I felt so lucky and blessed to be right where I was right at that moment. And it made me stop and think about all our men and women who were in places they would probably rather not be but they were there on our behalf. And over the years there have been so many who have given so much. I was instantly grateful and overwhelmed at the same time. It was such a contrast in emotions ... to feel so happy and lucky and also remember so many who likely wish they were right where I was. We are all very fortunate to live here in the USA. We are blessed in so many ways. Please take a moment to say a prayer for our men and women who are away from their families right now and those who have served in the past and those who have lost their lives. They all deserve our respect and gratitude.

Stay tuned for some fun pictures from Crystal Beach ... and Happy 4th of July!

All Star News & Pictures ...

Matthew Catching

Matthew on the Pitcher's Mound

Matthew at 1st Base

Above: Matthew in the Dugout, Team Rally

Matthew's Team WON the All Star Series! It was a VERY exciting game ... The Red Raptor's took the win at the bottom of the 6th inning by ONE POINT! I wish I could have gotten a picture of the boys running out onto the field. The smiles on their faces were absolutely priceless. Matthew played a fantastic game with great batting and fielding and we are very proud of him. Mikey worked hard as the team's Bat Boy and even received an All Star Gold Medal with the rest of the team (thank you Coach Frank!) After the game was over we took the boys to Bruster's ... they had ice cream for dinner!

All Stars!

Matthew made the All Star team and is having a blast and he is playing SO well! We are very proud of him and so happy that he is having so much fun. Mikey has gotten in on the action as well ... he suits up for every practice and every game and gets right in there with the rest of the team. Coach Frank has been so sweet to Mikey, letting him practice and even letting him be the Bat Boy during games. We have been absolutely thrilled with Matthew's coach - he is very positive and the boys are learning a lot from him. He's a super nice guy and his wife is very sweet as well. Scott, of course, is coaching too. There are only 2 more games left in the series. It's "best of 5" but they are going to play all five games regardless. Right now we have lost one and won two! Coach John (our good friend and Matthew's team manager/coach since he started playing baseball) and his wife Annette and their son Ryan have even come to a couple of the games... Matthew loves that!

Matthew is also participating in the Pope High School Baseball Camp this week. The first day out they separated the kids by age. Matthew was in the 8 and under group (he JUST turned 8). Apparently the 10 year old group was short one guy so they pulled Matthew over to play with the 10 year olds and that is where he has stayed the entire time! He even won a throwing/catching contest yesterday!

Next week both Matthew & Mikey go to the Sandy Plains Baseball Camp ... it's just a 1/2 day but I think they will LOVE it! Two of Matthew's best buddies from this season are also going and he's really happy about that! After that we go to the beach and I get to see my nieces and my brother and Laurie! Hopefully we will have nice weather ... we are all really looking forward to it!

Stents & Stuff

GOOD news! Last Friday I had a bunch of CT Scans ... my kidneys, ureter and bladder are all healing just fine. I've been having a lot of pain and Dr. M thought maybe I had a "stricture" in my ureter which would have meant surgery followed by another stent. The thought of another stent made me want to cry. So after the scans were done he sat me down to talk to me about what he found and that all was well in kidney land! There is the one stone still in my kidney but he doesn't want to mess with it right now. It's relatively small. I'm cool with that. So then he tells me that although kidney stuff is great ... uterus and ovaries are not so much. Apparently I have a bunch of fibroids in my uterus and a decent sized cyst on my right ovary. Still, I was grinning ear to ear (because I knew I was now at no risk of needed a dreaded stent). He said "I've never given somebody such bad news and had them be so happy"! haha! So I'm going to my OB/GYN next Tuesday and we'll take it from there. I'll be really glad to not have this lower pain anymore - I'm looking forward to a permanent solution!