Noah

Took the kids to the Thrashers Game the other night.   Can you tell it was chilly?

Xmas 2010

Here are some pictures and videos from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.
 Cole was an altar server at the 6:00 mass and he did a great job.   Christmas eve was very low key as the kids were super excited.
Throwing out some Reindeer Food
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PhXMcFoaiY


They awoke at 4:00 am and could not wait to see what Santa had left.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SzitiAVpbI

New Snow Hats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLmKxctPLwk


We actually had a White Christmas this year.  It started to snow mid day and did not let up until late December 26th.

Jordan's Piano Recital 2010

Today was Jordan's 2010 Xmas Piano Recital.  She performed 2 songs.  Apologies for the shaky video. This was the first time using a new phone. 

Jingle Bells http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLfX1DN6dtI

Mr. McGill http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HADXuEtleQA

Happy Holidays

More September Fun

We spent last Sunday celebrating Boone's(Nephew & cousin) 1st Birthday.  It was a beautiful day at the lake.  Here are just a few pictures

Fall Sports

Fall Activity Season is upon and we are on the go once again.   We needed a break from baseball so Noah is playing Soccer and Cub Scouts.   Jordan is playing Soccer, Piano and Dance.  Cole is playing Lacrosse.

After a 2 year absence, Noah returned to the Soccer Pitch in stunning fashion.  He dominated both on offense and defense.  His Team, the United, fell 6-4 in the opener but you can tell it will be a very competitive and fun season

Jordan continued where she left off last season.  Her team, The Defeeters won 3-2.  This equals last seasons win total so this looks to be a promising season.

Cole is making the big leap to Lacrosse.   While still trying to understand the positions, he is taking to the game really really quick.   He loves Defense because he gets to hit people.

It is going to be a great season for all 3 kids. 

Jordan is 8

 
We can not believe our little girl is 8 years old.  For her Birthday weekend celebration, she hosted a party with 15 girls.  They made their own screen print shirts and jewlery.   She had a blast.

1st Day of School

School started early this year.  Really Early.  The 1st day of school was August 5th
Here is a quick pick of our 1st and 2nd Graders.   I'll post pics of our 5th grader shortly

Summer Update

It has been a very busy summer for the kids and it's been quite awhile since I have updated the website.
Here are just a few pictures some of their summer fun activities.
A trip to Six Flags, a neighborhood Carnival and a trip to the Botanical Gardens

Here we go again

Hockey started this week so here we go again.  

Summer 2010

Summer has been flying by and the kids have been having a blast.  They've gone to Science Museums, Botanical Gardens, fishing, camping, and pools, pools and more pools.  It's been a lot of fun and pictures from the 4th of July and other activities will be updated soon

June update - All-Star Champions!

It's over. After 3 long month's, baseball season has come to an end.   Cole's Red Stars won the final game of a 5 game series 13-9.  It was an intense 3 weeks of baseball.  We preached "Defense wins games" and they played extremely well.   It was exhausting, as you can tell from the pictures.  It was hot (mid 90's all week) and last night, we had two lightning / rain delays but the kids never lost their focus.

The final out was recorded after 10:00 PM and the celebration began.

Here the boys are waiting for their names to be announced to receive their 1st place medals

Cole had a great series, not only with his timely hitting and aggressive base running but he also played 90% of the games at Third Base and made some unbelievable plays.   A recap from the other Coach on our Game 2 victory
"Kid bunts the second pitch toward 3rd and Cole charging like a Rhino scoops it up bare handed as it is rolling hard and fast, he gunned it to 1st for a BANG BANG play.  Game Over!"


The boys can now enjoy their summer vacation and as Cole described it after the game, "Yea, i can FINALLY go swimming.  

Championship Thursday

Championship Thursday started out just as fun as the night before.  Once again, the kids were introduced one by one by the PA system.  The fans were great.  All the parents had on their Dodger Blue and the atmosphere was very exciting.  The National Anthem was played and it was "Play Ball"

Unfortunately, the s game did not rival Wednesdays but it was exciting nonetheless.   The Dodgers were down early 8-1 but clawed there way back to make it a very competitive game. 

Final Score

Cardinals 9  Dodgers 7

The boys played their hearts out and were competitive to the end.  I was proud of the way they came back and even more proud of how they handled losing.  The sportsmanship displayed was impressive.
Here is a picture of the post game team. Obviously there is some disappointment on the faces but this was  without a doubt the best team and season we have ever had.     It was a long 3 months but totally worth it.

Cole was selected to be an All-Star so he doesn't have much time to be sad.  Practice starts Saturday

Dodger Update 2

Last night was without a doubt the best game the Dodgers have played all year long.  It was a great experience form the start.  Because it was a Championship game, the players were announced one at a time before the game.

The game was incredible. Both teams came to play.   Our Dodgers had a 9-5 lead going into the 5th inning.  The Cardinals were not giving up and batted around to score 5 to take a 10-9 lead into the last inning.  
Top 6 :  We quickly got 2 men on base but just as quickly made 2 outs.  So with runners on 2nd and 3rd it all came down to this.  Once again Cole was up.   He worked the count to 2 balls and 12 strikes.  In dramatic fashion, he stepped out of the batters box to take a deep breath.    He lined the very next pitch to deep short 2- runs in and the Dodgers take the lead.  He came through 2 games in a row to tie and win the games.  Our little Mr. Clutch

We knocked in a few more for a 14-10 lead going into the bottom of the 6th.

The Cardinals would not go quietly.  They loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning but our boys played solid defense to shut them down.   Final Score Dodgers 14  Cardinals 10.

We are headed to the Championship tonight!

Noah's end of year presentation

Each year the Kindergarten puts on an Under the Sea presentation.  Noah was selected to emcee the Dancing Dolphin skit.   He has spent the past 2 weeks memorizing his lines and he did a fantastic job.  There were over 300 people in the audience and he looked like a natural up there.

He also participated as a Tiger Shark and did a great job.  Check out the Guitar action

I tried to capture the video on my blackberry but as you can see (or not see in this case), I obviously did not do it successfully.   Looks like a flipcam will be on this years xmas list.   Apologies for the quality as well.

Dodgers Update

Tie score, bottom of the last, Cole is up with the bases loaded and........well he walked. Walked in the winning run and the Dodgers Win!!

We are heading to the Championship Game Wed Night.  It's double elimination.  If we lose - Season over, if we win, we play Thursday

May Activities Continued.....

May 16th Update.
Another crazy weekend.

Jordan's Magic

Friday night,   Jordan's soccer team held their final game.  After a long, challenging season, it all came together Friday.  The girls played great.  They were aggressive on both sides of the ball and never relented.   Jordan looked fantastic. She drove the ball from mid-field,  took a hard shot which was stopped but she would not be denied.  She quickly secured the rebound and blasted one past the goalie.   The Magic won 2-1.

Saturday
Cole's Dodgers.   The Dodgers lost a heart-breaker on Saturday 12-11 in the Tournament vs. the Cardinals.  This means we  have to win Monday night to get back into the Championship game Wednesday.
We'll keep you posted.

Once again we quickly shifted from sports to dance.   Jordan had her Dance recital at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center Saturday afternoon.  It was really nice and she looked beautiful.  She was wonderful on stage and smiled the entire time.

Sunday;  We received a call Sunday evening with some Great News.  Cole was selected to the All-Star Team.   This is a huge honor which he deserves.  He is one of the few 1st year Mustang players to make it and we are very proud of him
http://www.sandyplainsbaseball.com/files/2010/2010MustangRed.pdf

The games will begin in June

Cole is 10 !!!

We can not believe that Cole has officially turned 10.    Happy Birthday !

Piano Recital

Today was a special day.  Jordan performed beautifully at her Piano recital.  Too often we are on the go from one sporting event to another.  Today it was so nice to see her in a different environment.  She is so talented and gave a wonderful performance.  

Next week: Dance recital!

Spring Sports 2010

May 3rd 2010

Another Spring is in full swing and that means Baseball and Soccer.   It started in March and we are finally winding down from a very hectic 3 months.  We average 5 days a week at the fields plus Jordan is still doing Piano and Dance - whew!

Cole made the jump to kid-pitch and is having a fantastic season.  He is easily one of the leaders on the team. At bat, he continued exactly where he left off last season and is currently leading the team in hitting.  He is also leading the team in being hit by a pitch but the kid is tough. Bruised but tough.  In the field he has been outstanding at 3rd base.  In addition to having the opportunity to pitch (8 IP thus far with a 1.25 ERA),  he found another position where he has excelled.  Catcher!  He is a natural behind the plate.  He handles all the pitchers well and has thrown out a bunch of kids trying to steal bases.  It has been great to see him with some confidence as he continues to get better each week.    At this posting, our Dodgers finished in 1st place overall.  The 1st winning team we've ever had.  It has been a lot of fun. 

The Tournament starts May 8th and with any luck we will continue the winning ways.

The Rangers, Noah's team on the other hand has had a tough season. We finished our the season in dead last place. 1 win, 11 losses and 2 ties. Who knows, they may turn it on come tournament time.

That however does not diminish the effort of the kids and how amazing Noah has played this year. He absolutely loves the game and has had a lot of fun over the past few months. He quickly proved to the coaches he can flat out play. He is the starting Shortstop and continues to amaze us with his defensive prowess.

In addition to excelling at Piano and Dance, Jordan has found her niche in athletics. Soccer is Jordan's sport. We moved in the NASA Jordan started out a little hesitant during here first few games however she got tired of being shut out and became a super aggressive little player. Unfortunately, like Noah, her team did not win many games. We are so proud of how well she has played.

Volcano

This is awesome. (Brilliant for my UK colleagues)

The flight pattern on the way back from London today took us near Iceland

Not sure of the quality of this but it's a picture of the Volcano in Iceland that's been spewing ash for the past few weeks.
Not something you see every day.

Very cool

-S

Spring Break 2010

We just returned from our 4 day visit to Sand Key (Clearwater Beach), FL. We had a great time.  This was the 1st vacation in a long time where we had absolutely no plans other than to relax at the pool or the beach.   And that is exactly what we did. 

We stayed at the Marriott on Sand Key and the service was exceptional.  They really treated us well.  When we arrived, all the kids wanted to do was burn off some energy after being in the car for so long.   The weather was great so we headed to the pool area and just lounged while the kids dove, jumped and swam. That night we headed to what the locally renowned place called Frenchy's for dinner.   Our Review "It was OK but nothing special" but when the kids are hungry, anything will be the best meal ever.  We capped of Day 1 with some ice cream on the boardwalk by our hotel.

Day 2 was a beach day.  We found a great spot on the beach and just chilled while the kids spent 3-4 hours of playing in the sand, searching for seashells and just having fun.    After a great lunch at Maggie Mae's we did the resort pool thing for the rest of the afternoon.


    That night we drove South to explore the area and found a great restaurant.  Salt Rock Grill in Indian Shores……    We sat out on the dock overlooking the bay.  The food was great and both Cole and Noah polished off a nice sized (8 oz) filet.   

Day 3 started off a bit rainy so we decided to drive to Tampa to do some very brief site seeing.   Actually our main goal was to check out the Yankees spring training home, George Steinbrenner field.  We arrived early and enjoyed a quiet walk around the stadium and gift shop.  It was really cool to see.

Our next stop was Ybor City but unfortunately there was nothing really open so we just made it a quick driving tour.    The Sun was making its way out again so we headed back to the resort where we spent the next 4-5 hours of lounging around soaking up the sun, swimming and enjoying lunch.     We had tickets for the Yankees / Rays game that night and headed to St. Petersburg that night. 

We arrived pretty early so we decided to see batting practice.   It was very cool because for fans, the left field bleachers are great.  Baseballs were being hit all around us and the Yankees players were literally 5 feet away.   Noah was really excited to see CC Sabathia, A-Rod and Joba Chamberlain.     During BP, most of the pitchers hang out by the OF fence to shag flys and toss the ball around.  Nick Swisher hit a Home Run ball that bounced right in front of us and back onto the field.  Normally the players will throw the balls back in but Chan Ho Park (not exactly Yankee Royalty but we'll take it) flipped the ball up and played catch with a row of 4-5 kids.  He pointed to Jordan to make sure she had a chance to throw it to him.  Both Jordan and Cole played catch with him and without a doubt was the highlight of the night because the Yanks got rolled 9-3.

It was a great few days and we will definitely be back

Talent Show

Cole's elementary school talent show was this past weekend.  He auditioned a few months back to be the emcee.  When asked why he was trying out, he responded "Because I don't really have any other talent!"  

Well the judges loved him and the rest is history.  He has spent the past few weeks memorizing his introductions and one-liners and Friday night he delivered.  

He was awesome.  We were so proud, impressed how cool and confident and funny he was.  He did a great job handling the role of Master of Ceremony and kept the crowd laughing.