A new pic of the boys

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas from Crash!

Congrats to the boys!

Phil and Jeff both ended their lacrosse seasons with winning records this weekend.  Both also had select team tryouts and each made the team!  Jeff is now playing "Jr." Select (6th-7th graders) and Phil is on the "Sr." Select team this season (7th-8th graders).  Phil's team is basically the same team from last spring, with the addition of 1 new player. 

All the kids that tried out yesterday looked great and I'm sure it was very difficult for the coaches to make their decisions.  Glad I wasn't in their shoes!

Great job boys!  Needless to say, Phil starts "spring" practice tonight and Jeff starts on Friday.  Yup, you got it...no break this year!

some great pics of Jeff's recent games

Look at him with the Long Pole!

Happy birthday daddy!

We celebrated Phil's 34th birthday yesterday.  We got him a set of pushup bars and new tennis shoes (badly needed).  We went to the Kani House (Japanese) for dinner and then came home for some ice cream cake.  I have to say, it was all a surprise and I think he was happy. (he even thanked me again today!)

What an awesome birthday celebration!

We celebrated Phil's 14th birthday on Saturday night.  It was the best birthday party EVER!  You're not going to believe this but I only took 1...yes 1....picture the entire night (at the bottom).  We have it all on video but obviously that does us no good here, huh?

We had it at an indoor soccer/lacrosse venue and invited both U-15 teams (ended up with 26 boys).  Since the party was from 8pm-10pm we only served platters - veggie/meat & cheese/fruit.  Of course we ordered a fantastic cake (lacrosse themed, go figure-but no picture!).  They even built the goals!

Anyway...we had arranged a special surprise guest as Phil's gift from us.  His name is Liam Banks and some of his bio is listed below:

He attended Ward Melville High School where Banks was an All-American Attackman.  During Banks' senior year he tallied an unbelievable mark of 172 points in a single season. Banks continued his pursuit of lacrosse excellence at Syracuse University where he was named a 2X All-American and a member of the 2000 National Championship Team. In addition, Banks was named MVP of the 2000 National Championship Tournament where he scored six goals against Princeton and ensured Syracuse's victory.  The attackman opens his sixth MLL season in 2009 with the Chicago Machine. He began his career with the New Jersey Pride in 2005 and totaled 34 points in each of his first two seasons. He split the 2007 season between the Pride and the San Francisco Dragons, setting career highs with 26 goals and 37 points, and played a second season with the Dragons in 2008. 

He was awesome with the boys.  Played 7v7 for almost 40 minutes then one on one with Phil while the boys watched.  He showed Phil how to do crazy shots (between the legs, behind the back, behind the goal, etc).  We also did fastest shot and he gave out prizes.  Liam gave Phil a new lax head, USA Team shorts (which he put on as soon as he received), and 2 autographed pictures.  He also gave Jeff a new pair of Warrior shorts (he's the Warrior/Brine rep in our area).

It was such a special night.  Mom said I'll never be able to top that party and you know what, I don't want to.  It was perfect.

Update to last post

I guess the team that Jeff was supposed to play got scared b/c they were a no-show after the coach rescheduled them.  Unfortunately that means that Jeff has only played 1 game so far this season.  Oh well.

Phil played Alpharetta this weekend and lost 5-4.  He scored 1.    He got a great email from the select coach earlier this week saying he's seen him out practicing and he's looking really good.  It made Phil very happy.

OH, big news!  Phil cut his hair!  I mean, it's SHORT!  It looks great!  I'll have to take a picture when he's not looking and post it here.  He says he's keeping it short now. I knew if I let him do his thing, the long hair would get old after awhile.  It was a phase and there's more to come.

I can't believe he's going to be 14 next week!  UGH!  We've invited both U-15 teams (his age group) to an indoor lacrosse field for his party.  So far we've got 22 kids.  Should be a fun time!  I'll take lots of pictures.

This weekend's games should be a lot of fun.  The HS has allowed the youth program to use the stadium field so the boys are going to be playing on turf. I plan to video the game so the boys can see how they actually play as opposed to just being told what they did right/wrong.

OK, I'm going on and on.  Ciao for now!

Last weekend's update

Jeff had a bye weekend for lax last weekend. Phil's team played Stars and won 15-1 (YEA MAN)...Phil scored 4 and even tried a behind the back shot which he missed by about 2".  Maybe next time!

The kitties had their first adoption day at PetCo last Saturday. Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending how you look at it), none of them were adopted so we have them again this week.  They'll participate in the next adoption day tomorrow.  Lucky's been a little under the weather this week.  He's been vomiting and really lathargic.  We took him to the vet and they gave him some fluids so he's on the mend now.

They go to the Humane Society today for their 3rd set of shots.

Most of you know what a difficult time we've had with the boat this season.  HOPEFULLY the AC will be fixed by the end of this weekend so we can get back on the lake before it starts to cool down too much.

Schedule for Saturday:
11:15am - Phil's team vs. Alpharetta
11:30am - Jeff's team vs. Cherokee

Guess that means we're split up again tomorrow.

More baby pictures!

I totally forgot to add our most recent baby pictures!  We've decided to keep Crash and Spike.  All got spayed/neutered and microchipped yesterday but seem to be doing well.  They go for their first adoption day this Saturday. 
It's been really great seeing them grow and their personalities develop but it's time to get my bed back!  Even Sarah has begun sleeping on the floor b/c there's not enough room anymore!

1st Lax Weekend

Unfortunately the scores didn't show it but the boys played great this weekend.  Congrats to Jeff for 1 goal and Phil for 2!  Keep up the great work!  BTW, that last picture...yea, he scored :-)

GREAT Labor Day weekend

I know that this is a few weeks late but we had a fantastic time on the lake Labor Day weekend.  Here are some pics!  We ended up staying overnight unexpectedly but had enough to keep us going.  The boys seemed to have a good time as well.  Nothing like 7 lax players stranded on a beach to keep you entertained!

Tough few months

As some of you have heard, Mamaw died on August 12th.  She was buried 4 months to the day (August 16th) of Papaw.  Mom has had a very tough year and I hope you will keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she finally gets to mourn the loss of her parents.  Mom, I love you.

First Day of School

YEA!  School's back in session!  Here is our yearly 1st day of school picture!  Can't believe they're in 7th and 8th grade! 

We've got babies!

So I know you're not supposed to, but after Captain died we started to feed a pure white wild female cat that hangs around our neighborhood.  We noticed that although she kept quite skinny, her belly began to sag more and more.  Well guess what...she had babies.  Not only that, she was keeping them behind our fence in the storm drain (which floods whenever there's a good rain). 

Well of course we couldn't leave them there so we now have 5 kittens in our garage - probably 4-5 weeks old.  We're using Sarah's crate (since daddy thinks she's a big girl now and doesn't need one anymore).  They seem to be very happy.  We've given them baths, used the flea comb on them (will have to do that again), and feed them every four hours.  We're going to spend quite a bit on kitten formula I can tell, and that stuff ain't cheap!

Anyone want a kitten!?