Gracie's birthday

I went home to surprise Grace for her birthday. She had no clue that I was coming. Rachel and I finally kept a secret! It was so good just to hang out with my girls. I flew into Tampa Friday night and we met Norm out for drinks. He and Anna are so cute together! We spent the night at Anna's place and then just hung out at Rachel's on Saturday until we left for St. Pete Beach late in the afternoon. We stayed at the cutest little hotel just a block from the beach.
Grace, Rachel, and I getting ready to go out on Saturday night. We went to Crabby Bill's for dinner (yum!). I got some good shrimp and oysters. We just don't get good seafood here. Then we went out to a little beach bar and watch Rachel spank all the guys playing pool.
On Sunday Rachel and I went up to Gainesville to visit Mom. Mom had fallen the previous Wednesday and broken her left kneecap. She had to have surgery to put a metal plate in her knee. She's starting to do better, but the recovery is going to be a long one. She isn't supposed to put any weight on that leg for 3 months! We girls are now very sure to get our calcium every day!
I had quite and adventure getting home. I had to be back by Monday night to play in the year-end concert for the elementary school chorus that I accompany. When I left Tampa, my plane got sent back to the gate because of brake failure, which resulted in me missing my flight in Philly. I was so upset! They were supposed to hold the plane for me and I missed it by 2 minutes. Anyway, the next available flight would have gotten me into Rochester at 8:05, an hour after the concert was supposed to start. They said there was nothing else they could do. Well I started walking the airport looking for a flight to Buffalo or Syracus, anything to get me to the concert in time. I found a flight that got into Syracuse at 6:00, so I called Maurice and asked him to drive to Syracuse. He brought my concert clothes and I changed in the car as he sped back to Rochester. We drove up to the school at 7:20, just as the band was finishing, and I walked onstage and played the concert. I was a little nervous because I hadn't touched a piano in a week, but everything went fine. Whew!
One last note........Maurice's sister Shelli got engaged on May 19! We are so happy for her and Collin. The wedding will take place this Fall, probably in Cincinnatti. And that is what the Overholt have been up to.

Mother's Day weekend started the Lilac Festival here in Rochester. Highland Park has over 1200 lilac bushes, and over 500,000 people visit Rochester during the Lilac Festival. We went to the parade that kicked it all off. Unfortunately, we got stuck in traffic and missed the float that my friend Lindsay, the Lilac Festival Queen, rode on.
Here's Isaac at the parade. His favorite entry was the Federation Club, which had Star Wars characters. They looked like they stepped right out of the movie. Isaac's favorite character was Darth Vader, and Timmy kept saying "Chew Bacca" the rest of the day.
Speaking of Timmy, here he is enjoying his first parade!
The lilacs were in bloom, which is always a plus during the festival. It's kind of a bummer when they're not. The whole area smelled delicious! This is a rare picture with Timmy without his pacifier.
The boys love taking turns riding on Maurice's shoulders. It's a good thing he's strong! Timmy weighs about 40 pounds and Isaac weighs over 50.

Here the boys are wearing Maurice's shoes. They think it's funny to wear our shoes.
A few weeks ago I threw a baby shower for my friend Pam, who is expecting a baby girl on June 27. I think this picture is funny, because both Pam (on the left) and her friend Bekah were trying to get out of the picture.
I was so proud of this cake that I made that I had to take a picture.
Pam and I had 4 garage sales last year getting rid of all of our baby gear, so when she found out last October that she was pregnant it was quite a shock. I'm glad she got to get some new baby stuff. Her oldest is turning 6 on June 28, and it's amazing how all the baby stuff has changed since she had Maddie!

Overholt Update, Part Deux

Now for more from the Overholt family....... We went to Ohio the first weekend in May for Maurice's cousin's wedding. We stayed with Maurice's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ed. WE had such a good time! The wedding happened to coincide with Fran's (Maurice's dad) birthday. The boys were so happy to hang out with Grandpa! Kathy and Ed live in the middle of farm land, so the boys hung out quite a bit in their back yard with Grandpa, watching the tractors.
Isaac and Timmy made sure to wear their Gator gear all weekend, as Maurice's family is full of Ohio State fans (they live right outside of Columbus). Isaac made sure to proclaim loud and clear that Florida had beat OSU, not once but twice. The uncles and cousins were having a good time picking on him, but he finally shut them up by saying, "That's okay, we still beat you in basketball AND football". That's my boy!
Timmy had fun playing on the slide with Grandpa. I was suprised that he played outside barefoot. I love to run barefoot, but the boys are wierd about wearing their shoes. I guess they have to be like their dad in some ways!
A rare picture of me and hubby by ourselves. Usually I'm the one behind the camera, so we don't get our picture together. We went to brunch before the wedding with Maurice's parents, his sister Shelli and her boyfriend (now fiancee) Collin, and his Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ed and cousin Amber.
Here's the boys playing at the end of the wedding reception. They were pretending that they were so tired they were sleeping. Maurice and I should have been the ones tired! Timmy lasted only 5 minutes into the ceremony, and they kept getting up and running around outside during the reception. The funniest part of the reception was one time that Zach and Aliyah kissed. Isaac stood up on his chair to watch, then yelled for everyone to hear : "Yuck! That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen!". He's kind of anti-girl/kissing/marriage right now. He tells me that he's never getting married, he's going to live with me until he dies and then they can put his bones next to mind. Sweet and creepy all at the same time!

Ok, so here is the long awaited Overholt Family update (part 1). Drumroll, please. Well, on April 14, I wrecked our family car. Stupid accident, totally my fault. But I hurt my back and put the car in the shop for 5 weeks. Fortunately, our friends Sherwin and Julie loaned us their car for the whole 5 weeks! Talk about generous. And my back is doing much better. During the time I had off (I took 2 weeks off from work while my back started its recovery process) I visited my bestest friend Trudy in Phoenix. I haven't seen her since New Year's ( I know, it's only 4 months, but that's forever when you're separated from your other half) and we had such a good time!

We hung out with the robin at Red Robin, searched for the perfect Coach purse (Trudy's only wish for her birthday, besides me!) and went to an ophthalmology conference. Okay, so the conference wasn't great fun, but we got to make fun of people. And we went out afterwards with some of Trudy's co-workers to celebrate Trudy's birthday. I was also made to watch Sean of the Dead. I'm not usually into zombie movies, but it was funny. And then we went to see Hot Fuzz, a recent movie that has basically the same lead cast.
Jared (Trudy's son and my godson) was out in AZ visiting, too, while I was there. It was so good to see him. Even though we both live in Rochester, we see each other more in Phoenix. Here he is getting some batting practice in. He's working on getting into shape for baseball tryouts next year.
April 28 was Katie's prom. I got to go over and help her get ready. She and Jacob were so cute together! For those of you that don't know Katie, she's one of the boys' regular babysitters and a very special young woman in our lives.
Speaking of the boys.......no blog would be complete without a picture of my cutie pies! They love wearing their Gator gear, and proudly tell anyone who will listen about the Gators being Champions!

oh, and by the way.......did I mention that I'd rather be independently wealthy and not have to work?

Sorry, guys, that I'm such a loser. Life is too crazy to do much blogging, but I'll try to get some new pics up soon. Take care!