Best gift!

Ginny surprised me with pictures taken at the beach this summer! My best gift!!!!

Rockin' the BLUES!

Away from Facebook, I can totally brag on how Katey ROCKED her first gymnastics meet! They called her the very last and she scored the best on all events. Me, the proudest Mom in the room got all teary (shocker!) and even though it's an ugly picture of me (with the tears and all) I am posting it. Katey was nervous and weird all day so I was a little anxious wondering how she'd perform.......guess I didn't need to worry about that. She is SO excited and I am thrilled beyond belief!!!

Happy (early!) Halloween!!!!

Katey is so excited about trick-or-treating tomorrow night! Thought I'd take a few photos pre-H to capture a few less-chaotic shots. Oh, also, our pumpkin project last week...........took forever, and I'm very bummed that I have to toss them in a few days. Next year, I we will decorate fake pumpkins so we can keep them!!!

Islands of Adventure!

Part Deux of the Birthday Extravaganza was a trip to Islands of Adventure in Orlando. It ended up being just the girls, but SO much fun! We were at the park at 8am (got in an hour before the "General Population!") and didn't leave until about 7:30pm......exhausting, but such a blast! We decided that Disney/Epcot do not even compare to this park........especially now that they have the amazing Harry Potter world. We went on rides over and over and got drenched over and over and just had a fabulous day. Katey and I are already saving for next time........we can't wait to go back!

8 IS GREAT!

Wow! Can't believe that Katey is 8! She's been counting it down for so long (since 9/3/10 practically!) and it finally arrived! She was SO excited that she woke me up at 3:30am.....are ya kidding me? I told her "no way Jose," but after that, neither of us really went back to a good sleep. Anyway, she came back at 5:30 and then finally at 5:59 I threw in the towel and got up. Needless to say, the rest of the day was fueled by adrenaline. She loved all of her gifts and had an awesome day at school being the birthday girl. We then headed to Gam's for the family party where more fun and more fun gifts were in store for her. I have to say that I was very excited about how the cake turned out. I was a little apprehensive until it all got put together and the end result was more than I had hoped. Happy to say, it tasted great too! The celebration continued into Saturday when we took Katey to The Melting Pot for dinner. She loved it! Amazed at how the chocolate fondue has evolved over the years......so many options! We chose the white/dark combo called "Ying and Yang"......it was beautiful, and tasty! Greg gave her the 2nd Harry Potter book and a Hedgewick look-a-like which totally thrilled her. You'd think that would be enough? Tune in next weekend to catch "Part Deux" of the BD celebration! (I'm tired already!) HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATEY!

2nd Grade!

First day of 2nd Grade! Katey had a wonderful day, loved her new teacher, Mrs. McClure (no kidding!) and saw all of her friends. It's going to be a great year!!!!

Camp

Yesterday was the last day of camp for the summer.......Camp Bayshore that is. Camp GAM starts on Monday!!! Katey will be heading down to Sarasota for the 2 weeks before school starts to spend time with Gam and her cousins.......she's SO excited. I'm so excited to be able to gut her room and get rid of all of those annoying little things she's been gathering. Being a pack rat (not quite to the hoarder stage!) does run in the family, so it's good that I do get in there and clean it out from time to time. The funny thing is that she never misses a thing that I take out. I'm going to miss her though. Back to Camp Bayshore.......Katey had a great summer. They do so many fun things: swimming, Rays games, Chuck E Cheese (yuk!), the zoo, etc., but never once did they go fishing, which is why this picture is so hilarious to me. Ah yes, the memories of Camp Bayshore and all the fishing we did...........NOT! Cute picture though, so I'll let them slide. Happy Summer......well, what's left of it! :)

So much for fireworks!

The plan was to head down to Bayshore to watch the fireworks at 9. Problem was, Katey started the eye rubbing at around 7.....I knew then, we would not be seeing 9. We went outside and lit a few sparklers just so we could say we did something.... it wasn't even dark out! Oh well, we still had a fun day together. Katey was asleep by 8:45..........Happy 4th!

The Recital

All I can say is: thank Goodness it is over! No more class, no more buns! Katey is on the fence as to whether she'll focus just on gymnastics in the fall, so this might have been the last recital ever. Katey was in dance #37, so you can only imagine what we had to sit through before she took the stage.....some delightful, many utterly painful. Katey was fabulous, so all in all, it was a great evening!!! ;)

Epcot, Part Deux.......

Within the week, we were back. This time, Greg came with us and we met up with the Lamberts and the Griffins. It was great to see our China friends again and we had a lot of fun. I can honestly say that I'm "Disney'd out" for a while. It's fun, but exhausting.

Disney/Epcot fun!

The last two days of Katey's Spring Break were spent at Epcot and Disney World. Epcot was fun, but very hot and hectic......Disney was fun and a beautiful, more relaxing day. Disney won because of the weather and the rides........I'm so glad we had our "funner" day on the 2nd day. The whole trip was great, but exhausting, and we spent the rest of the weekend hanging out. School/work tomorrow......I'm actually looking forward to it!