More pics from Florida

At the beach in St. Pete........

John and Norm were fishing for baby sharks right from the beach.......and they were catching them! Rachel got a little freaked out because they had been out on the sandbar the day before which is where the boys were catching the baby sharks. And in Rachels' head, where there are babies there must be mommas!
The kids hanging out on the balcony waiting for an afternoon storm to pass. Timmy and Taylor (below) were practically twins. Taylor is older by 16 months, but they're the same size and are both tough guys!

Fishing with Grandpa

At the beach in Venice

I'm Baaaaack!

Okay, so I know it's been forever AND a day since I last blogged....I doubt any of you even check it anymore! I promise to try to do better..........Here I will provide the highlights of the last 4 months.


In April I went to Phoenix to see Trudy for her birthday. The best part of the trip was the Bon Jovi/Daughtry concert. They were both amazing! It was my dream concert....Bon Jovi and my favorite short little bald man! Sorry, Rick....still too tall! (That's Trudy's fiancee, Rick, below with me and Trudy).


In May Ashley and I went to Georgetown University for a review course. Ashley and I work together and are working on our certification at the COT level (that's certified ophthalmic technician). The boss-man was kind enough to give us an all-expenses paid trip to Georgetown to make us S-M-R-T. Not only did we learn retinoscopy, but we learned that if you walk into a pub after shopping at Victoria's Secret (little pink bag in hand, of course!) you get lots of special attention from the bartenders.


The best part of my trip was that I got to see Carolyn, my best friend from college! She lives in D.C. along with her husband Adam and adorable chillins Sean and Cathleen. As you can see from the picture, Kathleen had just turned a month old. I say Carolyn has a rockin' bod for someone who just gave birth! It was so good to see Carolyn......she's one of those great friends that although we don't see each other very often, whenever we do see each other we just pick up right where we left off.


Our next adventure was in July, when we went home to Florida to see the fam. My mom turned 60 on July 5 and my sister Helen turned 40 on July 12. All my family got together the weekend of July 4 in St. Petersburg to celebrate. It was so fun to have all 19 of us together in one place for the weekend!

Another highlight of the the trip.....we took the boys to the UF football stadium. They loved visiting the home of the Florida Gators! Timmy insisted on wearing his Gator football t-shirt every day. We got to spend a few days in Gainesville, then headed down to Northport to see Maurice's folks. Grandpa took the boys fishing in the Gulf while I visited Grace and Rachel in Tampa. Maurice also got to see his good friend, Phil, in Venice while the boys and I chilled at Venice Beach. Makes me think it's about time to move! It will be interesting to see what the next year brings..........
Coming soon to a blog near you........Summer ain't over yet! Even though the weather has already started cooling off, I'm not ready for summer to be over. The kids don't start school until after Labor Day, so there will be more summer festivities. Maurice is going to Puerto Rico in September for his best friend Carlos' wedding, so stay tuned............

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a while.....I know we've been busy but it all seems like routine stuff. Work is going well; however, the whole j-o-b thing really puts a crimp on my social schedule. I do like my job, though, and I've been handed some new responsibilities lately that keep me on my toes! It's nice to feel challenged.....I hate being bored (and those who know me know what a dangerous thing a bored Sarah brain is!).

Isaac is doing well in first grade. He just got his mid-year report card and he is performing at or above expectations in all areas. He's turned into quite the little reader, too. Maurice and I can no longer "spell" conversations. He's still a rule-follower and eager to please. A perfectionist, too, just like his dad. When ho got his report card the only thing he noticed was the "X" in one of the boxes. Didn't pay attention to all the positive marks, but was concerned that he had one bad mark. I had to explain to him that it wasn't a bad mark at all, just an area that was not being evaluated at this time. He is getting to be quite the LEGO Star Wars master on the Playstation. He is very proud of the fact that he has now gained invincibility.

Timmy is as much like me as Isaac is like Maurice. It's so funny to us to watch them. They're like little mirrors. Here's a classic moment: Last Saturday we took the boys to see the new Horton Hears a Who movie (great, by the way! the boys loved it!). On the way home the boys were having a good time "play fighting" in the back seat, hitting each other and laughing. It was starting to get on Maurice's nerves and he asked them a few times to stop but they weren't listening. I turned around and asked them "Now who's going to be obedient?". Isaac raised his hand, but Timmy smiled with those big dimples and shouted "not me!". Classic. Timmy recently got his first "big boy haircut". A few weeks ago he requested that he get his hair cut like Isaac's next time. He's so proud of his hair......we're not allowed to touch his hair because he's afraid we're going to "mess up his haircut". The first few days he asked me every morning if his haircut was still there. One more Timmy story.....He wanted to show me his boo-boo on his thumb the other day. He was having a hard time finding where it was and said to Isaac: "Isaac, we have a problem! My boo-boo got lost!". He's a funny kid......at that age where he's making all sort of developmental changes.

Maurice is super busy, especially this week. Things should calm down a little bit after Easter this weekend, but he's always busy. Between regular administrative things, rehearsals, and writing and arranging, he stays plenty busy. Then there's the whole pastor thing. It's been really cool to see how he's stepped into the role of pastor, not just music man. Takes up a lot of time, but it's neat to see the influence he has on people's lives.

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to get some pictures up of the boys. They've changed so much recently. Not babies any more!

Rachel's birthday/ Winter Retreat

So what have we been up to.........? It's been a crazy month again (as you can see by my lack of blog) but I'm not quite sure where all the time goes. The first weekend of January I went home (by myself!!!!) to spend the weekend with my baby sis Rachel for her birthday. That's us with Gracie....what a weekend that was!

A few weeks ago I went on the Sr. High Winter Retreat with my kids from the youth group at BCC. It was kind of wierd to be at their last retreat ever! (sniff, sniff) I've been their youth leader since they were in 7th grade and it's strange that they're Seniors and all grown up now. I mean, they'll be able to vote for the President this fall! We had a great weekend of tubing, snow-man building and hanging out. And we must not forget the Senior girl dance party! Since it was their last retreat, we found an ipod dock and let them stay up until the wee hours getting jiggy with it.
These are some of my girls (and Jordan, who managed to be in every single picture that weekend)
L to R: Keeler, Rachel, Sarah, Me, Katie, Chelsea, Kristen and RileeThe boys (at least some of them!)
Me and Julia.....we have one of these pictures from every retreat.
Me and Chrissy. Everyone always thinks we're related.

Me with Julie, my co-hort in crime. She and her husband Sherwin are fellow leaders (he's the Jamaican in the picture of the boys.....otherwise known as "the brown guy").

Update

It's been a while, so I'll give you the highlights of the past few weeks. Here goes!

On December 16th, Maurice and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. I surprised him and took him to Niagara Falls the following weekend. It's just a little over an hour from Rochester, and it was nice to get away for an overnight without the kids.

Here's a view of both the American falls on the left and the Canadian Falls on the right. It was difficult to see the Canadian Falls this time because of all the mist. It was so cool.....all the railings around the falls are covered in thick layers of ice from the mist.

For New Year's we went to Boston for an Overholt gathering at Maurice's brother Matt's place. It was great that everyone could be there: Fran and Elma, Matt, his wife Mary and their 3 kids Anne, Wesley and James; Shelli and Collin (her new husband!) and us. It was a full house but we had a blast! Here Timmy (in blue) and Wesley (in the red hat) are "shoveling" the walk.Isaac got his fill of sledding. The weather was nice, and we got a beautiful wet snow on New Year's day.

I made my first snowman ever! It was so much fun!!! Everyone got to play outside in the snow, and we had a whole village of snowpeople. Anne even made a "snow chair" to watch the festivities in.

Me and Reece New Year's Eve in Boston. We took the kids into Boston along with Matt, Mary, Anne, Collin and Shelli. We took the subway in and ate at Legal Seafood (yum!), watched the parade, looked at the ice sculptures, and caught the early fireworks. The boys had so much fun! I don't know which they enjoyed more, the fireworks or the "train ride". I know I enjoyed my garlic shrimp!
We also made gingerbread houses. Isaac and Maurice did a great job while Timmy and I "supervised" and sampled the candy.
Isaac and his finished product.

Maurice brought his Playstation which turned out to be a great attraction for kids of all ages during the heavy snow. All the kids took a turn. Here, from left to right, are: Jamie, Anne, Isaac, Collin, Maurice and Timmy. My favorite was watching Matt, though. He was so good! And it was nice to see him kick back an relax a little.

Here Timmy is listening to my new ipod that Maurice gave me for our anniversary. When I asked him what he wanted to listen to he shouted "Bon Jovi!" I gues I'm raising him right. Rock on!

Merry Christmas!

Office Holiday Party

My office had its holiday party a few weeks ago. This is my friend Tracy (a.k.a. Jenna....don't ask). She's my work bud at the Rochester Eye & Laser Center. Everyone at work says the atmosphere is totally different since we started last year. I believe it! We're rather goofy (not to mention a little twisted) and not afraid to show it. Tracy and I used to work together at my last job. I didn't know she worked at RELC until I walked in to my interview. Was I suprised! Now we have a blast and keep everyone on their toes.
The other member of the Three Musketeers, Ashley. We like to call ourselves the Dream Team.
My honey and me. It was so nice to have a night out without the kids! I was the entertainment director for the evening. One of the docs did a "rap" (and I use the term loosely) describing our year. He did pretty good for a 65?-year-old Jewish guy. We had a white elephant gift exchange and a penny auction to benefit our coffee fund. It was a fun night! Next year......karaoke!

Timmy turns 3!

I realize it's been a while since my last post. A lot going on, but no excuse! Timmy turned 3 on November 20. Hard to believe that my babyis 3 already! We had a little party for him at Chuck E. Cheese's with our good friends the Barber's. He was so excited to have a "real Chuck E. Cheese's party". He's the only kid I know that puts the "s" at the end of Cheese's. Everyone else says "Chuck E. Cheese".
He was so thrilled to get a "king hat".

My mom was here for two and a half weeks around Thanksgiving, so she was here for Timmy's birthday as well.
It was so funny to see the difference between the two boys. Isaac is Nana's boy, and every night he would give her a hug before he went to bed (sometimes he would even give her a kiss, but we can't tell anyone because Isaac is apparently too big to kiss anyone other than Mommy any more). Timmy, on the other hand, would tell Nana "good night! No kiss, no hug" every night on the way up the stairs to bed. One night my mom was trying to play the sympathy card and pretended to cry. When Timmy asked her why she was crying she said "because you won't give me a hug or a kiss". Timmy replied, "Yep! Goodnight!". Well, last week Timmy and I went to the post office to mail Nana's Christmas package. I let Timothy carry it into the post office, and I noticed he was talking to the package. I asked him what he was saying and he replied: "I say: To Nana, I love you, too. No hug, no kiss." I nearly died laughing!

Me and My Trudy

I went to Phoenix last weekend to visit my bff Trudy. I was sick the whole time, and, being the great friend I am, gave the gift that keeps on giving. By the time I left Trudy and Brandon were sick, too! Fortunately, Trudy is the kind of friend that is fun to do anything with, even if it's just lying around on the couch and watching movies, which is what we did all weekend. Trudy and Brandon are the only ones I'll watch scary movies with, mostly because they laugh so hard when I jump at things that go "boo" that I forget to be scared.
Trudy's boyfriend Rick. He's a good guy, it seems. Great sense of humor, which is always important!

Me and Bran and my Sonic cheeseburger. One ritual that I must always do in Phoenix is go to Sonic. I love their cheeseburgers more than just about any other food. Of course, if we had one around here I probably wouldn't love it quite so much, but still............ I actually ate Sonic twice. On Sunday with Brandon and then again on Tuesday cuz it was 1/2 price burger day!

True Story

A quick funny story about Isaac. Yesterday I gave him a pair of Power Ranger gloves that I picked up after Halloween on the clearance rack. They matched his costume perfectly. He immediately started crying, sying that it was too late, Halloween is over, etc. I told him he could wear them when he plays dress up with Timmy. Of course he responded, "Only girls play dress up." After a few minutes of trying to pursuade him that boys can play dress up, too, and that he used to play it quite frequently with his friends when they were superheroes, I grew quite frustrated with him. I finally told him that I would have to stop giving him suprises if he was just going to cry and make a fuss. To which he responded, "Actually, those were tears of joy!".