Firehouse Kids

Today we had a family field trip to a firehouse in Miami Beach. Our good friend from church, Ted, gave us the grand tour of this fine building, and the kids ate it up! Ethan couldn't wait to get to the next thing. He kept tapping Ted's leg and interupting him. "I wanna go on that one." Ted was very gracious and patient with him. It was great to see what the firefighters do at the firehouse. Thanks Firefighter Ted!

Did Pops get you those?

My dad finds the coolest shoes!

First Day of School!

Mackenzie's First Day

My baby went to school today! I have been so nervous this summer, thinking about my little girl going off to school. How did we get to this day so quickly?? Everytime I would pass her school, I would think-It'll be forever until she gets there. Yeah right! Last night as we got all of her things in order, I got out my first day of school picture. I had my Dorothy Hammill haircut, smocked Polly Flinders dress, my pencil box that looked like a pair of jeans, and my vinyl Snoopy dog house purse. Dressed to the nines I was all set and so excited to go to school. My teacher's name was Mrs. King. I told her all about it (except I left out the part about how I didn't cry or hang onto my mom in case she was thinking about doing that-WHICH SHE DID NOT. Like mother like daughter.)

She ran into our room this morning all dressed in her uniform. With her little braids and ribbons she ate her bagel and I still couldn't believe that I was going to take her to school. I might as well have been taking her to high school because only big kids go to her school, and she's still little! All right, I'm okay. So, she finished breakfast, we took the necessary first day of school photos, and we were out the door. By the way, Matt stayed home today, and I am so grateful that he did. We got to her school and we took her to her classroom. In my head this whole time I was thinking big kids, little Kenzie. But in her class it was all little kids, little Kenzie. I introduced her to the teacher, and she showed her where to put her things. I wish I had taken a picture of her looking around. She wouldn't say that she was nervous but clearly, she was as she was twirling her little braids. We left the room, and I was a little teary eyed. I'm a goober. Afterwards we went to Cracker Barrel for a BooHoo breakfast because, NEWSFLASH!, I eat my feelings.

Here we are now. She has probably eaten her lunch by now. She has probably had circle time and reading and possibly math. The teacher has gone over the rules with them (at least 3 times), and I am making her sugar cookies. Why? Because when I would drive by her then-future school when Kenzie was 1, I would think someday when she's big Kenzie and she comes home from school, I will have an after school snack waiting for her, like fresh baked cookies, and she'll watch an ABC afterschool special. Oh wait! That's when I was in elementary school. Besides, I don't think she should watch those yet, and I'll weigh a ton if I make fresh cookies every day. So, she'll have to settle with some grapes and SpongeBob.



Mommy's First Day of School - August 1979

Growing Up

Look at this face! I just had to share this shot of Ethan. My big boy!

Hurricanes

Hurricane season. What can I say? I really thought we would be hanging with all our FFF (former Floridian friends) this summer in our new home in GA holding a hurricane party to celebrate our not being part of the hurricanes. A little bbq and beer and we're good to go. BUT...we are here in Florida with our FF (Floridian friends)and (thinking about) stocking up in case of a hurricane. Not to mislead you! I am content and life is good. Then I turn on the tv and have to endure a week's worth of hurricane tracking, and all I can do is dream about a place where there are no local weather forecasters who go out in the middle of a Cat 4 storm to show the people who have no power what a monster of a storm it really is! Or a place where your $500 generator won't be stolen out of your garage if you happen to keep your garage door open for a few minutes to bring the groceries in. (That didn't happen to me but stories like these were all over the news last year!)I'm not bitter! I promise. However, I am counting down until Dec. 1(for all you hurricane virgins out there-that's the end of the hurricane season.)

But that's not what this post is about!! The sarcasm above is really just for laughs and giggles (maybe just my own). A lot of people I know gripe and moan during this season but are perfectly happy after Dec. 1. Me being one of those people. If it
weren't for Hurricane Wilma in '05, we probably wouldn't have gotten to know our neighbors, Maria and Ed and Luis and Luza and their children. Funny enough, we hear stories all over the place about people being forced outdoors during the week after that storm and meeting their neighbors,great friendships forming as a result. We have enjoyed bbq's with our friends, beer and all, and we are even planning a camping trip in October with these two families. If we do experience another hurricane, whether as small as a Cat 1 or as furious as a Cat 5, we know we'll be able to share supplies, food and "hurricane fun" with them. (Just a little bit of sarcasm on the end there.) The pictures I posted are from our 'End of the Summer' bbq last Saturday. It was a blast. We ended our time together by a giant water fight that Matt started. Everyone got the giant water jug over the head and we were SOPPING wet, every single one of us. It was great! Why aren't I in any of the pictures? Because I looked like a wet rat. That's the beauty of being the photographer!

Wet Locker Room Floors-SICK!

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I just thought I'd let you know that wet locker room floors are at the top of my Most Disgusting Things list. And no, I don't have Athlete's Foot but I was picturing the nasty little germs crawling into my skin while I stood in the locker room waiting for Mackenzie. Where were my crocs when I needed them??

A Summer of So Longs

A portion of one of my December '06 posts:

We will see lots of changes this year with close friends moving away(to Vienna and Virginia) and Mackenzie starting kindegarten(to homeschool or not to homeschool) and Ethan starting nursery school(God help his teacher) and me going to work at his school (oh! you're Ethan's mommy!) and Matt getting a new job(in SoFla or beyond).

At the time I wrote that I wasn't thinking that most of those things would happen within about 4 months time! The Hunters are in Vienna now, and the Rosses are still planning on leaving as soon as they sell their house. The countdown is on as there are 20 days until she starts kindergarten. I had signed Ethan up for 3K, but I think he could stand to have another year home with me. So I will forego any chance of working at that same school (even though I don't think they had any room for me this year anyway). It also looks like we will be around in SoFla for awhile, or at least until the housing market takes an upswing. And everybody knows that will be a long time coming!

Mackenzie has become really good friends with a little girl from her 3K class. Her name is Abby (who, as Mackenzie informed me, prefers to go by the name 'Love'). Her dad is in the military, and we found out recently that they are being transferred to North Carolina. Today we went to a little going away party for her and her sister at their pool. Abby is probably one of the funniest kids I know! I like to keep a journal of all the funny things my kids say, and if her mom does the same she has got to have alot of funny stories! She is such a sweet girl, and it was really sad to say 'so long for now' today. This summer is turning out to be tougher than I expected. But God knows exactly what I need, and He is filling those needs. Unfortunately, I am filling my mouth with unnecessary chocolate to 'feed my feelings'. Is there an Eaters Anonymous?

You did what???

Wow! What a whirlwind of a weekend. That's a lot of 'w's. LeeAnn left this afternoon, and I am sad. But we had a blast together! We couldn't have crammed anything more into our weekend. We started out on Friday going to Ft. Lauderdale beach. We spent a good part of the day there, just lying on the beach. It was the first time in a long time that I just vegged under a beach umbrella, flipping (like a beached whale)at just the right time to fry the other side of my body. When we left home that morning, I felt like I was forgetting something....like the huge bag of sand toys, swim vests, the small grocery store of food, snacks, drinks, etc. We reveled at the perfect temperature of the water, the Naval carrier off shore, the manatee that swam past us and the group of people that ran down the shore after it to catch a glimpse. It felt like it did 15 years ago when LeeAnn and I used to go to the beach as often as we could during high school.

We got home with enough time to make and eat dinner, and then get ready to go out again. We were meeting Amy to go to a coffee shop in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. We made a little detour before getting Amy (again, I am so sorry we were so late Amy!!!) but we'll talk about that a little later...

Coffee talk with LeeAnn and Amy was so nice. We were in no rush. The same Naval carrier we saw off shore earlier unloaded a bunch of sailors that we saw crawling all over the city. It was another relaxing time with friends.

Saturday morning we were off to Lincoln Road in South Beach. Unfortunately, we got there at 10 am and most people in SoBe are just getting home from the clubs at that time, so we didn't run into many crowds. In fact, most of the stores there didn't open until 11 am, but we enjoyed window shopping and people watching. From there, we went to Lisa's house. We all went to high school together and were in the band too. We tried to convince Lisa that she should go into catering because she laid out an incredible lunch spread for us! A lot of reminiscing and catching up was going on at Lisa's house. From her house we went to visit my parents. Going to their house with her, I couldn't help but think about the sleep overs, Taco Bell runs, drives through the neighborhood, coffee house visits, tearful talks about boyfriends, more Taco Bell runs. Good times, good times. We ended the evening at Chili's with some friends from church, Tracy, Sarah, Susan, Scott and Marla.

Sunday was a more restful day as we began the day at church. We laid around watching tv and dreading the drive to the airport the next day. But it came, and now she's gone. Wait! The little detour...

A long time and many Miami Ink episodes ago, I mentioned that I'd like to get a tattoo with LeeAnn. We laughed about it and talked about what we would get, never thinking that we would actually do it. When we made the plans to get together, she said she wanted to go ahead with the idea. I was really excited about it, but then got nervous. I didn't mention it to anyone because I thought I would chicken out. Had LeeAnn not been so steadfast about it, I would have. We decided what to get and we picked a tattoo parlor, and 2 sets of butterflies and a lot of lollipops later, we are both inked! She got her set on her foot and I got mine on my lower back. A permanent (and slightly painful) symbol of our friendship!

I will go to Tallahassee tomorrow to pick up the kids. I'm really anxious to pick up each of them and give them big squeezes and a load of kisses! While I missed them so much, I'm so glad LeeAnn and I could spend such a girly weekend together!



LeeAnn's foot



Kim's back



The folks at Silver on the Mount were really nice, and Adam and Mike did a killer job on our tatts! (You'd think we got a huge back piece.)



Ft. Lauderdale beach



Do you see that? No sand toys, swim vests, fruit snack wrappers, juice boxes, etc.



The beautiful table setting at our friend's house. Ladies Who Lunch.... I could get used to this.



Going out on the town!


Feeling like sixteen year olds again...

Enjoy the Silence?

Shh! Do you hear that? No, me neither. There are no children here making noise. No one to say at 6 am, 'wake up daddy! it's morning time!' Or no one to say while I'm making pancakes, 'can I flip them mommy?' The neighbors will be happy. I worried about them up until I hit Orlando, then I sort of got over it. Until I heard, 'i love you mommy' on the phone, then it hit me again.

The kids are visiting Matt's parents in Tallahassee this week. The kids and I drove up yesterday where I deposited them. Then this morning I left and came back to a quiet house. Mackenzie must have asked me about 5 times when I was leaving, and Ethan was too busy running all over the house to know that I was going anywhere. They did take a second out of their pool time to hug me and kiss me before I left, and for that, I was grateful. They have a cram-packed schedule of manicures, fishing, IMAX movies, museums, and lots of swimming, all to be done with their cousins, Caitlin and Duncan.

So while I'm sad that they are there and not here, I will glad tomorrow when LeeAnn gets here!! Hopefully I will have lots of great pictures to post of our time together.

Swell

Not my ankles in this summer heat and humidity. The way life feels right now. One of my friends keeps a Thankful Thursday post on her blog, and I would like to start something similar. A Swell list. So what's shakin' baby?

*I got a great haircut and I feel like a rock star.

*We're going to the beach today with some of our best friends. (The beach would be perfection without the sand, but that would be a pool without waves. What's my point? I don't know but I feel swell.)

*My kids are going to Tally for a week while Matt and I play the childless life.

*My best friend in the whole wide world is coming for a visit during the childless period. We're going to party like we're high schoolers which isn't saying much but who cares!!

*The last installment of Harry Potter comes out in less than a week! (Yes, I'm a geek. But I don't have any Harry Potter paraphernalia so it could be worse.)

*My little baby bird is gone, so I can only assume that he flew away. (Or he got eaten as Mackenzie suggested, but that suggestion doesn't make me feel swell. And that wouldn't go along with this post, would it?)

*My super cool West Coast cousin who is the originator of the Swell post. Thanks Leah!

What makes you feel swell? :)

Chop Chop!

With a snip snip here, and a chop chop there
Here a snip, there a snip, everywhere a snip snip.
Old McKimmy chopped her hair! E I E I O!!!

Card-Carrying Audobon Society Member?

I think I'm becoming borderline obsessive about this dadgum bird. Last night I made sure to keep my blinds open just so I could catch the first glimpse of my teenage neighbors going anywhere near the baby bird. They would step on him and not even know he where was there! But they didn't come outside. Then this morning, after the morning bike ride I had to go over and say good morning to it because he was expecting me to do that, right? WRONG! Now I'm the one who has to trust that God is taking care of the birds, not ME. And if the teenage neighbors step on him, se la vie. Such is life. Sad, but true. I'm still not an animal lover though.

My Bird Story By: Kim

The pitiful baby bird


The momma bird is right in the middle of the picture. (It may help to click on the pic to make it larger in order to see her staring angrily at my camera.)

**************WARNING!! LONG- WINDED STORY AHEAD!!!***************

Those of you who know me know that I'm not exactly an animal lover. No mom, I don't hate animals! I just don't want to cuddle up with a stinky, furry, slobbery thing that isn't named Mackenzie or Ethan Cates. 'To each his own' as my Grandmother would say. But then I found a baby bird. Wait. I'm still not exactly an animal lover, but my heart went out to this poor little baby who fell out of his nest and landed on the sidewalk next to my car. He's little, and he still has some of his baby birdie fuzz. His little bird legs are curled up around his head and he has no fur or feathers on his little skinny pink legs. Ahhh! So pathetic!

I don't know much about birds, but I thought that when a baby bird falls out of it's nest, it is 'bye bye birdie' and it's momma won't take care of it anymore. So, being the non-animal lover I am, I scooped it up with one of my kids' sand shovels and, yes mom, gently placed it in a water pitcher. I was afraid it would a)fry in the sun and then b)get eaten by ants. I made sure to put it in the shade closer to my front door, also thinking that maybe it's momma would still be able to see it if she came looking. What do you know? She came looking. Every time I would go outside to check on it, I would see her hopping around near the pitcher, and I think she even tried pulling the baby out.

The day went on, and I kept checking on it. I didn't know what to feed it, short of regurgitating my morning waffle, so I just kept checking. The evening came, and after I had shown all the neighbors my 'show and tell' object for the day, Matt told me I should put it back in the bushes where I found it so it could die. So, with a heavy heart, I did that, thinking that, surely, in the morning it would be dead. (Or eaten and thrown up like the baby's sibling I had seen the morning before. Ewww! Sick!) But lo and behold! When I went to check on it, the baby was still alive, just where I had put it the night before. It seemed really weak, and I thought that for sure, it would be dead by lunch time. A couple of hours later, I found the baby in a different spot, more in the shade. Weird. So I left, and when I came back while I was checking on it, it's momma came back with a worm in it's mouth. Wow!!! She was taking care of her fallen baby. All this time I thought it had been abandoned, but she was taking care it! I was amazed. I can hear you now. wow BUT SERIOUSLY!!! Isn't that cool? I am seriously amazed at how God has made his creatures. And just like that bird momma takes care of her bird baby, our Heavenly Father takes care of us so much more. Ok. This is elementary school stuff. But I think it's pretty cool.
The End.

Pictures I Like

Matt and the team returned from Grenada one week ago. They made it back safely and with all their luggage. Matt hired himself as the 'team photographer' and he took over 400 pictures. I chose a few that I liked. If I can convince him, Matt will post about his Grenada adventures.


Matt jumping into the water


Matt, king of the jungle (and the little man who sits on his shoulder and convinces him to do crazy things on missions trip-if you click on the picture you'll see what I mean)


A beautiful waterfall that was at the lake they swam in


2007 Grenada team

A Visit from the Chins

Jacob


Kenzie, Chloe and Ian blinded by the light on the camera


The girls when they were about a year old


The Chin Family (sorry for the foggy look! It was quite humid this morning.)

In middle school I met one of my dearest friends, Christie (or 'Korn' as some of you know her). It was a strange beginning to our friendship. She noticed me for my rainbow assortment of Reeboks, and I noticed her staring at my rainbow assortment of Reeboks everyday in biology. We soon became inseparable. As I got to know her, I got to know her family. She has 2 sisters and 1 brother, and I've developed really sweet friendships with both of her sisters. Her sister, Kim and her family (the Chins) were visiting South Florida last week, and they came to stay with us this weekend.

They moved away to GA about 4 years ago. When they lived here, we got together for coffee and banana bread alot and our girls sat and watched each other drool on toys. Her daughter, Chloe, was one of Mackenzie's first playmates. They now have 2 more kids, Ian and Jacob. Ian is Ethan's age, and since their names are so similar, Kim's family calls Ethan 'Charlie', so as not to make conversations too confusing. Long story short, they coined this nickname 3 years ago after the hurricane Charlie. Little did they know that he would live up to the name.

It was great seeing them. What was even better was seeing the girls pick up where they left off. They had such a nice time playing, dressing up, and putting on makeup. Kim and I got a kick out of looking at the old pictures we had of the girls at the beach when they were a year old. It was bizarre fast forwarding 4 years to the present and seeing them run after each other as big girls. Ian and 'Charlie' kept to themselves, although 'Charlie' had truck envy and tried to run away with a few of Ian's vehicles. And Jacob, he enjoyed sitting on the Time Out bench. (Only because he couldn't get off the bench.)

We were sad to see them leave today, but we had a great time with them and we're looking forward to our next visit with the Chins.

Kim, do you take this woman?

I totally missed the pastor calling Matt a woman. But his brother Todd didn't miss a beat... he made sure to write it on my car. And my bridesmaids should've brought lots of tissues for themselves, but I don't think they expected to cry because of the groom's emotional response to our vows. (To make his "rep" as a man wasn't tarnished, he said he was crying over his 'lost freedom'. hahaha) Not to mention, I'm sure the drive thru worker at McDonald's was surprised to see our decorated "Just Married" Saturn drive through at 10 pm that night. (What?? We were hungry and hadn't eaten much at the reception.)

Thinking back 10 years ago to our wedding day, I am reminded of the good times we had with our families and friends. It was an incredible day. That year both of sets of my grandparents were celebrating their 50th anniversaries. We made sure that they had a special anniversary dance. We through a little Latin flavor in and my grandpa jumped right in. My niece was only 3 months old! It's funny to fast forward these 10 years and look at the two beautiful children we have today and how they were just twinkles in our eyes. Mackenzie is still trying to figure out where she was on the day we got married.

I wouldn't change anything about these last ten years. If you are reading this Matt, I love you!! See you in 4 days! Love, Kim

Going to Grenada

The short term mission trippers are off. They left this morning to head out to the airport, but due to a late plane, they didn't take off until after 4pm which caused them to miss their connecting flight to Grenada. So they are spending the night in San Juan, Puerto Rico tonight and they'll leave tomorrow for Grenada. I spoke with Matt when he got into San Juan, and he seemed to be in good spirits. Pray that they make it safely to Grenada tomorrow and that their flight will be on time. I will keep you updated!

Rome-Part 1

These pictures are way out of order, but I took it upon myself to take pictures of all the "Welcome to ..." state signs. There were lots of them.


Pennsylvania


I'm a fool for Jim and Pam, so I had to take a picture of the Scranton sign. And I tried real hard to find Dunder Mifflin from the highway.


1.5 miles to Verona/Rome! You better believe we were jumping for joy when we saw this one.

Georgia was only on our mind for a few hours.


South Carolina...


My long time friend Christie and her husband John. We stopped in to spend the night at their house on the way up. They live in North Carolina.


A picture of a nasty window. The state sign might be Maryland?

Rome-Part 2

Here they are folks... the long awaited pictures. This is the abridged version-I took more than 300 pictures!!


Mackenzie stole the show with her scooter skills!


UBJ and his most favorite Mackenzie in the whole world. (Remember, they even have a secret handshake.)


Why the foolish picture? Because I can...


Awww! Get a room! :)


water bombs from the dollar tree-$1 pack of 6 water guns from the dollar general-$2
Water fun with the family on a hot summer day-PRICELESS


The Green Lantern Motor Lodge- our accomodations for our stay in Rome, NY


Kenzie and I at the anniversary dinner


The happy couple, Janice and Everett


The Cates family


My cousins, Leah and Matt, his wife Karen and my aunt Susie


The Sisters Hall-Pat, Carol (my mom) and Susie


Leah and her right hand gal


The family picture-anniversary t-shirts and all


The grandkids. To think, we were the little rugrats running around catching fuzzies and blowing bubbles at 6248 Lorena Road just like my kids were a couple of weeks ago.


Baby Olivia


My aunt Pat, John, and Mackenzie


Bubbles on a summer day in Rome


One of the many fuzzies that Ethan detained


The Beeches, the inn where we held the anniversary dinner


The boy and his big wheel


Kenzie, wearing the hat and shoes my grandma wore on her wedding day

A picture of my grandparents on their wedding day 60 years ago