Happy Birthday, Montgomery

Monday, May 30, 2005

Happy Birthday, Montgomery 11 years and still going... More pic's at Montgomery's Album

Home again

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Home again Current mood: Happily exhausted Such a great weekend. Family. Laughter and hugs, stories and memories, giggles and pictures... Tired now though. The drive home was only 7 hours, but I jumped right into unpacking, laundry, packing the cooler for Montgomery's party tomorrow, making my list for the store tomorrow... and there were 40ish scorecards to get entered from the 2 tournaments this weekend. *big happy yawn* Going to go finish unpacking, then get a few hours sleep.

Hot days, broken air conditioners

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Hot days, broken air conditioners It took til the end of May, but 90 degree weather finally hit us here. A very late start to hot weather. And along with it, the news that the coil on the air handler is rusting out and needs to be replaced. And the 7th tech in 7 years to tell me that we've got a really crappy installation. Thanks, previous owners! The good news is that there's still a year left on the warrenty, so the parts are covered. Bad news, of course, is we have to pay labor. Blech. One more day til the road trip - Samantha and I will be heading up to my parents for a few days. It's my baby brother's high school graduation (and at 18, I'm sure he doesn't really want to be called anybody's baby anything, but what are big sisters for?)! This will be the second time in a year we've all gotten together, and I've mentally had my bags packed for days. I can't wait to get on the road. One more day!

Montgomery graduates!

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Montgomery graduates! Current mood: happy My boy is growing up. Seems like just months ago he was going off to preschool, and yet here we are... Yesterday, he graduated from 5th grade. The school had a very loooong awards ceremony, where they stopped and thanked every child for every hand they ever held, every t crossed and i dotted, every pushup done and every spelling bee won. Did I say it was long? Wars were fought, kings overthrown, I think the US deficit doubled. Montgomery brought home certificates for Sunshine Math, Spelling Bee, Perfect Attendence, A-B honor roll, and his graduation certificate itself. And then as the icing on the cake, perfect 5's on both reading and math on his FCAT . We celebrated with a near - rained out cookout, and some Key Lime Pie. A few "Great Job!" cards (Nanny and I need to shop at different card shops it looks like - or the shop we go to needs a bigger selection! ). A great end to a wonderful 6 years at Neptune Beach Elementary, from K - 5. Only a few short weeks until middle school begins at Kirby Smith . Summer is ahead, with long days of no homework, lots of sun, and a few camps. What more could a 10 year old want?

Hump Day

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Hump Day Current mood: listless The middle of the week has caught up with me ... so has the cold that Samantha and Sean shared last weekend. Mostly just a sore throat from my nose running that a'way a night, which should ease as soon as my coffee cools off enough to soothe it. So I'm going to take this cup of coffee and sit outside and pretend I feel great; maybe it will start to come true.

Just a couple o' Regular Guys

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

The Show Current mood: busy Another great show from "Just a couple of regular guys" last night - that would be Sean and Chris, who do a 2 hour sports talk show on ESPN Radio here in Jacksonville every Monday night. They broadcast live from Bob Marlins in Jax Beach, and usually pull in a nice crowd of regulars to have a few drinks and listen to the show. So here are the regular guys themselves in the far left of this photo and some of the crowd there to see them in person If you're not in Jacksonville, you can listen to them on Monday's by going to ESPN 1460 Radio and clicking on the Listen Live button - good stuff!

More Mother's Day

Sunday, May 08, 2005

More Mother's Day Current mood: peaceful Beach Pictures - Mother's Day, 2005 Montgomery, Samantha and I had a few hours at the beach with Laura, Tim and Madison to celebrate the day. Beautiful day - I can only imagine how nice it was out in the kayaks, but it was great on the sand. The girls ran themselves giddy-tired, and had a blast. The boys are still on the water....

Happy Mother's Day! Happy Birthday Dad!

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Happy Mother's Day! Happy Birthday Dad! Current mood: sleepy Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and moms to be in the world. May you raise your children with love, integrity, and the ability to laugh - at the world around them, and at themselves. It's harder than it sounds. Happy Birthday Dad! I'll see you soon to count your grey hairs myself. A good share of them are due to me, it's the least I can do to see how many I gave you... A longish weekend is made longer when the people around you don't feel so good. On Thursday Samantha started coming down with a cold... a slight fever that faded overnight but then kicked into a full chest cough on Friday. She (and I) didn't get much sleep Friday night, but the cough seems to be the worst of it for her. Saturday we were all up early so Sean and I could go to Georgia for the day and work a golf tournament. Beautiful day, although it did take me even more than usual to face it. By last night, Samantha and Sean were both coughing their way thru the night - not, of course, on a schedule that would keep them miserably together but on one that had a 15 minute gap in between. I got back to sleep around 4:30, and am very much groggy this morning. My Mother's Day may not be complete without a nap. My own present from Montgomery and Samantha (taken on Sean's phone / camea - not the best camera I've ever worked with to be sure) My coffee maker has gone on disability, so I'm off to find a cup of brew and a new machine this morning. Must have my coffee!

Montgomery the math man!

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Montgomery the math man! Current mood: excited Montgomery does it again! The Sunshine Math Program is used by schools to motivate intrest in math. Montgomery has participated since first grade, when he won at the school level and went on to take 5th place city wide. This year, his 5th, he again won the school level competition. City / District competition has grown - there are now over 10,000 kids in the 5th grade. He was understandably excited to be one of the 28 finalists sent to the District competition. Held at Englewood High School, it's an hour long written test followed by an hour of wiggling anticipation as the moderators give us updates on the scoring ("The kids did so well, we can't even score their tests - they're all winners!" Translation - the kids are smarter than the test givers and they can't figure out why they don't have enough ribbons to go around.) Finally, they found someone (probably a 10 year old) to figure it out for them, and the winners were announced. They started with the lower grades, so there was an aditional 10 minutes of anticipation. Finally the 5th graders were herded onto stage and the names were called out. And then his name was called.... tied for 4th, Montgomery Steele!