Carly's first Halloween Party

Carly's friend, Clayton, invited her to attend the Celebration Health Fitness Center's annual Kids' Halloween party this morning. We haven't been in years... since Chase was about 2 1/2 years old. They really go all out for the kids. The staff dresses up in pretty creative costumes, hands out candy all throughout the fitness center and then they play games with the kids up on the basketball courts. We didn't stay too long (we had a date with Walmart before nap time) but Cars had a great time. Thanks for the invite Kristin!

In the car

Carly & her skeleton friend, Clayton

Carly & Clayton hugging

Ross, Chase & Michele in 2005

Tools & Building

We took our cub scout den, along with Brooke Webb's den, to Ace Hardware yesterday afternoon to learn about various tools, do some basic work with screwdrivers, hammers, pliers, etc. and then build our own bug boxes. All the tiny screws were hard for the boys to work with, but once we got those in, the bug boxes started coming together. We'll see how long they hold up!

Chase's Second Stitches

Not surprisingly, Chase went in to get his second set of stitches on Thursday evening of last week. The boys were in their PJs, finishing their homework in the kitchen when I turned around to see Chase trying to do "the worm" on the kitchen floor. In the blink of an eye, his hands slipped out from under him and his chin hit the floor hard. But a quick trip to After Hours Pediatrics in Hunter's Creek and a $50 co-pay had him stitched up (only three this time) and asleep in bed by 10:30 pm.

By the way, Nurse Melissa has taken out all the stitches

our kids have gotten thus far. Thanks Melissa!

PS - He almost had to get stitches again a few days later. He split his knee open when he slipped while running in the garage and jammed his knee under the sharp corner of Roger's big metal tool cabinet. We figured his knee will eventually be hairy (and probably be cut many more times), so we just bandaged it up ourselves. It's still healing. Go figure.

Fossil Show

Our cub scout den went to the 17th Annual Fossil Hunters Fossil, Mineral & Gem Show up at the Central Florida Fairgrounds a couple weekends ago. The show was fairly small, but the boys had a great time browsing all the collections, learning about geology (they all earned their Geology belt loops!) and digging in the sand for fossils to take home.

Our den, minus William & Justin B

Learning about geology

Digging for fossils

Dinner at the Zollinger's

The Zollinger's had our family over for one of Rob's gourmet dinners a couple weeks ago. He made Jerked Chicken Kabobs with Mango Cucumber Salsa served over Mambo Rice and Oven Roasted Broccoli. Terri even got in the kitchen and made two mixed berry pies... yum!!! Everything was delicious and the kids had a blast dancing around and jumping off the couches with two of their best friends.

Yummy kabobs over rice

Couch jumping

Their answer when I said it was time to go

Sweet Carly

Carly Barley. Cargo. Cars. CJ. Cargs. Car Bar. Carly June. Googie. Googs. Carly Juney B. I don't think anyone in our family has ever had so many nicknames! This little girl is such a treat... loving, independent, girlie, but tough. We all enjoy & love her so much. Check out some of the latest photos...

She wanted to wear Justin's hat while eating

At the park with her friend Riley

Eating yogurt... yeah!

Doing puzzles with no pants!

More yogurt!

Justin's Birthday Part 3

After Justin's birthday party, he had a few friends over to spend the night. They ate pizza (Papa John's - shhh, don't tell Nancy) worked on the jeep, played hide & seek outside, did legos, played DS, Xbox and Wii, stayed up late and ate cake for breakfast!

Justin with his new guitar from mom & dad

With his lego kit from Grampa J & Grammy Pam,

which he built that night

Justin's Birthday Part 2

Justin's "real" birthday party was on Saturday afternoon at Disney's Yacht & Beach Club arcade and then the Peaches & Cream ice cream parlor next door where we had ice cream, root beer floats, brownies, sundaes, etc. The weather was cloudy/rainy that day, so being indoors worked out well and I think all the kids had a good time.

Arcade games, air hockey, basketball, pinball, racing games...

you name it, they have it

Check out Owen & Tyler getting in trouble for blowing spit wads
through their straws and Justin talking to Goofy on the phone

Justin's Birthday Part I

I think it's nice to have your birthday during the week, because it almost always guarantees more than one day of festivities. Justin's 8th birthday fell on a Friday this year, so we celebrated with a powdered donut tower for breakfast, cupcakes for lunch at school, his favorite meal (Mad About Pasta) for dinner and a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for dessert. Yum! Then we played a little bit of two-on-two balloon volleyball in the livingroom, followed by music & crazy jumping off the couches. What else can you ask for? More birthday to come...

My sign doesn't look quite as neat as Caroline's, but it's pretty good
Cupcakes with mom & dad for lunch

Lighting the cake with Chase at night

UCF Family Weekend

UCF hosted it's annual Family Weekend the first weekend of October where families can visit their college student, check out the campus, visit some of the college open houses and enjoy a Knights football game. Unfortunately, it was a busy weekend for us and we weren't exactly sure of the schedule at UCF, so we missed the open houses, but we got to see Blake's apartment (the kids & I hadn't seen it yet!), visit his fraternity house (Delta Tau Delta), walk through a good part of the campus and witness all the "tailgating" going on before the game. Before the season is over, we'll get a babysitter for the kids and join Blake & his friends for some tailgating and one of the games. I haven't been to a college football game since I was in college!
More to come on Blake's school & frat activities...

A friendly game of foosball
Out in front of the Delta Tau Delta house

Yacht & Beach Club

Our good friends, the Zollingers, were enjoying some time over at Disney's Yacht & Beach Club and invited us to join them at the pool one day. It's always fun for the kids to spend some time together, although I never get much time to chat when Carly is around water. She has no fear, just like Chase, and prefers to keep diving in the water. Luckily, we stuck around the sandy pool, so she was occupied with digging and stepping on everyone's sandcastles. Thanks Z Family!

Athletes for a Cure Triathlon

Roger & I (along with our friends Tim, Jeff, Al, Risa & Rob) competed in the Athletes for a Cure triathlon on September 21st at Disney's Fort Wilderness. It was my first olympic distance triathlon (.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 10K run) so I was a little nervous. But as soon as the morning came, it was all about fun, exercise and enjoying the slightly less warm weather we'd been having. Roger did great, finishing in 2 hours 46 minutes. My goal was to finish in 3 1/2 hours and I came in at 3 hours 26 minutes. Roger's next feat is his second Ironman up in Panama City Beach next weekend. I have yet to sign up for another race, but am planning on running the Celebration Founder's Day 5 or 10K here in town...

Another Tornado Warning

I could have sworn that I posted a picture of our first tornando warning where Melissa, Owen, Grant, Chase, Carly & I all crammed in our master closet to wait out the storm, but I can't find the pictures. Luckily, we had another tornado warning a couple months ago while the Pifer boys were over for dinner, so here we all are in the master bathroom listening to the weather radio, playing games and making faces. Fortunately, Celebration was spared in both circumstances and we have yet to really experience a tornado!

Chase's First Baseball Season

Finally, Chase is old enough to play baseball after watching Justin for 4 or 5 seasons! He is on the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx this year with Coach Scott and Assistant Coaches Jeff, Eric & of course, Coach Dad. He is having a great time and, for the most part, is paying attention at the games. He's gotten a couple good hits at each game and made a few good plays. We look forward to watching him improve over the next couple years. Go Chase!

Popcorn for Sale

Every year, Celebration Cub Scout Pack 125 sells Trails-End popcorn as one (of two) way to raise money for their activities. The scouts not only raised money for their pack, but had the opportunity to earn prizes for themselves based on how many units they sold. Justin did well this year, selling at the booth set up in our local Publix grocery store, at Roger's office and a little bit of door-to-door. He sold 60 units and earned himself a $30 gift card at Walmart and well as a cool hat with his name embroidered on the side. Congratulations Justin. Way to go!

Justin hiding behind the booth

Justin & Brendan in Roger's office

Justin & Ryan