Her Big Debut(s)

Two big debuts this week: First, my grandmother, Glenda Bishop, came to town for a few weeks to help out my dad after his first knee surgery. We sent her home with a big dinner at Sakura.


The second debut is Olivia's first softball game. Here she is at bat for the first time.

And here she is when she realizes how fast the ball is coming at her. Eventually she was walked and then she scored a run.

Birthday Boy and a New School

Mitchell is officialy seventeen. His birthday was yesterday. For his birthday we all enjoyed a sushi dinner and then a strawberry, chocolate cake. His big present is a computer of his very own (in his room)... we may never see him again.

More good news- Olivia has earned a high audition at the same arts middle school that Charlie is attending. Olivia will be in beginning band next year. Many of her friends will also be attending the school, and she is over the moon with excitement.

Happy Birthday, Mitchell and Congratulations, Olivia!

Dad Update, New Camera

Steve is recovering much better this time than last from knee surgery, but he is still in pain and stuck in the hospital. He's pretty bored and restless by now, but at least he's alert and breathing. Our fingers are crossed that he gets released from the hospital early this week, and he can go home to a more comfortable, familiar place to heal.

We found the Dames Point Bridge park this afternoon so that I could try out my new camera. It was a bit cloudy, but seeing the bridge from a different angle was cool.




This is a really big ship just squeezing under a really, really big bridge. We saw a few ships last night in the dark when we celebrated Audrey's birthday at a restaurant right on the river near Mayport. Tonight we are not watching the Oscars because tomorrow is the beginning of FCAT (our state test). Everybody needs a good night's sleep.

Happy Birthday, Meme! How old are you?

Good News

The surgery went well. Steve came out this time much better than the first knee surgery. He was awake and alert in between dozing off. Hopefully the pain will not be too bad, and he will heal well. The next surgery will be sometime in the next 6 to 12 weeks. One down, one to go...

The Good, the Bad and the Serious

First, the serious: My dad is having two more knee surgeries. The first one will remove the artificial knee and replace it with a temporary, antibiotic-infused plastic one that will hopefully kill any infection. Six to twelve weeks later, he'll have a new knee put in. The last surgery did not go easily, but this time the doctors seem to be more in synch and his heart doctor is working in tandem with the orthopedic doctor. Plus, he is getting his very own post-op nurse so that if he doesn't remember to breathe, he or she will be there to remind him.

Second, the bad: From the looks of our white patch covered throats, Mitchell and I have strep throat.

Third, the good: I'm getting a new digital camera. I'm hoping to increase my posts because I'll have pictures to share!

Christmas Flakes

I know that the holidays are over, but I wanted to share the group picture from the Flakes Christmas.

Charlie survived his operation pretty well. The first three days after surgery were the toughest. Right after surgery he commented that he could breathe through his nose. I guess that was unusual for him. He did not like the experience of going under anesthesia, but he did not get sick afterwards. Now he's all better.

Can you believe that January is almost over? We've been enjoying the post holiday lull, although things are heating up again. Charlie and I saw Sweet Charity with Molly Ringwald this weekend. It was a good show. Molly can sing and act, but her dancing is not as great. The other dancers were fabulous. Awesome music, costumes and sets.

In March, Olivia and I will see The Lion King. I must say that, as good as the traveling shows are, seeing a play on Broadway is much grander. The stage and sets at our theater cannot compete.

I'm trying to get back into the Sunday update routine. I'll do my best!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. We've had a lovely, low key day. This morning we were up early to open gifts. Last year was our final Santa year- the big guy fell along with the Easter bunny and the Tooth Fairy. The stockings were still stuffed this year, though. Some things never change. Later we went to Meme and Poppy's house for some lasagna, the traditional Christmas Day food.



This is the monster tree that nearly killed me. Next year- smaller family room tree!




Here's a shot of Olivia lighting the candles on the Menorah. Brad actually made latkes tonight for dinner. Happy ChristmaHanukkah!

Tomorrow: Charlie's surgery.

Celebrity Sighting

We had dinner tonight with Gene Hackman (actor) and Byron Leftwich (injured Jaguars quarterback). Well, we were at the same restaurant, eating dinner at the same time. Brad's business dinner holiday party was at an exclusive spot in Jax Beach. We were mingling on the patio when somebody pointed out the celebs. What fun!

Flakes

It was not snowing today. Actually, the weather was very warm, but our house was full of Flakes anyway. We hosted the annual Flakes Family Christmas celebration, and it was a wonderful success. The food was great, the entertainment was great (Audrey's DVD), and the company was great. I'll write more and post pictures as soon as possible.

Ouch!

Poor Uncle Ned has broken his ankle. He was playing hockey when some other players smashed him into the boards. OUCH! Get well soon, Uncle Ned!

Surgery is on Tuesday. We'll all have our fingers crossed for you all day long.

We spent most of the day at the Jaguar game. We beat the Colts 44 to 17. There were a lot of Colts fans at the game. They were happy for about one play, then they got really quiet. Here's a song we heard some Jags fans singing to Colts fans:

M I C (See you real soon)
K E Y (Why? Because we beat you!)
C O L T S

The holidays are here!

The big news this weekend: the Gators are going to the National Championship game on January 8th. As soon as Brad found out, he started planning the party. That's right, there's a party at our house for the game! Also, the Jaguars AND the Islanders won this weekend. I guess that makes it just about perfect for Brad.

This is B and O making a pie together on Thanksgiving. They worked really hard on it. It was pretty yummy, too.

I never showed you a picture of the finished living room. Here it is with one of our undecorated holiday trees.

My parents gave us this enormous tree. It was a huge amount of work to get it up. I complained. Brad said that it was like childbirth- afterwards I'd be happy and forget the pain. We'll see. I'll post pictures of the decorated trees when they're more finished.

See you next week!

Thanksgiving

Thanks to the multiple hurricanes of seasons past, our school board has worked some "weather days" into the school calendar. I'm not sure why they can't just tack on some days at the end of the year like they do in snowy areas. Since this was a quiet weather season, we have two extra days added to our Thanksgiving break which has given us six days off in a row. We don't go back to school until Tuesday!

We had a quiet T-day since Meme and Poppu were visiting the Seattle relatives. We did manage to cook up a mini feast for ourselves. On Friday we went to the beach to look for shells to use for making ornaments. Last night we trecked downtown to see the fireworks at the end of the boat parade. We couldn't see the boats because there were too many people, but the fireworks were awesome. Today we had another mini feast at Meme and Poppy's house. There is never a dull moment around here.

Throughout it all we've been playing games. Scrabble has been the new favorite diversion. I can't imagine why we haven't been playing for years considering all of the readers in the house. Other faves: Hilarium and Imaginiff.

Brad has to go back to work tomorrow, but don't worry. He's happy. A few days at home is all it takes to make him thankful for the relative quiet of the office.

The Day After Christmas

Charlie is having his tonsils and adenoids removed the day after Christmas. This is good because he'll have two full weeks to recover without missing any school and he may be able to breathe a bit easier. On the other hand, he is going to have to give up his winter break to recover from surgery.

We have a cat scan that gives proof that he has a brain, and that his sinuses are clear. His adenoids, however, are large and in the way. There is a chance that his voice will be changed by the surgery. Right now, his voice is hindered by not being able to force any air into "the mask" which affects his tone when he sings.

Poor Charlie has had a difficult year. First braces, then allergy shots, and now surgery. The only good news...

Ice cream, we're gonna have ice cream...

“It’s time to update it!”

I’ve been given a directive from my grandmother to update the blog. Honestly, I didn’t think that many people were reading, but she’s not the only one who has expressed an interest, so….

From now on I promise to try to do an update once a week. Sunday nights. What's that old saying? "Be careful what you ask for..."

To start, here are a couple of Halloween pictures. We had an awesome night in the new neighborhood. One tradition that we always enjoyed in our old neighborhood was trick or treating, but I think our new neighbors are even more excited about the holiday. Most folks were sitting in their driveways with their bowls of candy, the streets were full of kids (and parents) in costume, and lots of houses were decorated for the holiday.









Mitchell stayed behind to give out candy while Brad and I walked around the block with Charlie and Olivia.



Charlie is a Roman Emporer, and Olivia is a witch.

Living Room

I'm grabbing a moment to get some pictures of our decorating and painting efforts. Here's the white walled living room. We've painted it blue now- a very aqua blue.




Here's Olivia painting.



Charlie is hiding out in the chair in this picture.

Art

I have a lot to post about: Leslie, Josh and Charlotte's visit, Charlie's braces, my recent decorating experiments... BUT I just found this awesome website and I have to share.

Jackson Pollack is one of my favorite painters. I love abstract expressionism. While I was surfing for ideas to create art I stumbled upon this awesome site.

Go there and make your own painting. Click the mouse to change colors as you scribble.

Amazing House Moment: right this second, Mitchell and Bishop are playing chess downstairs! THAT has never happened before. This is just another example of how the house has changed our lives. I was worried that we would interact less with more space, but the opposite is true.

Summer, Summer, Summer

You might think that summer would afford ample opportunity to blog, blog, blog. As you can see, that has not been the case. I apologize for the long delay between posts. There is so much to say, too much- so, "lemme sum up..."

We went to NJ, NYC, Long Island, the Poconos and Philly- all in one week. We've just about recovered. Seeing Charlotte, Josh, Leslie, Stephen and Ned was a blast, not to mention all the other relatives at the big B'nai Mitzvah. I was thrilled to be in New York City with Brad and the kids (and everybody else). We saw the former Lafer house in Long Island, and the amazing Torah covers made by Brad's mom and dad at their former Temple. And, we also stayed at both of Ned and Stephen's homes, which were cool in their own unique and totally different ways.

Mercedes is coming to town tomorrow and Leslie, Josh and Charlotte are coming next week.

School starts in 3 weeks.

On top of everything else we've been spending a lot of time at the pool and the library. I've been savoring the relaxed pace (well, somewhat relaxed) of summer at HOME.

I'm currently actually sewing new window treatments for the game room. I'll post pictures as soon as they are done. This is my first big project for the house.

May

I know, I know... Not much action here lately. May has been busy. Brad turned 40. We had a big party. Bishop graduated from high school. We celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. And, there were all of the end of the school year award ceremonies and field trips. Whew!

Denny got this shot of Bishop at graduation. I think it captures the excitement of the day perfectly. We are so proud of our graduate! Congratulations, Bishop! Way to go!

Party at our HOUSE! May 6th!

If you are reading this, you are invited to a BBQ on the 6th of May to celebrate our official housewarming and Brad's 40th birthday. If you didn't get an official invite in the mail, let me know and I'll get one right out.

Can't wait to see you all!

We LOVE it!!!

The most often asked question by everybody is: Do you love your new house?

And the answer is: YES!!! We love our new house! There is plenty of room for everybody. We feel grateful to live in such a wonderful home. Each day is a joy.

So, why haven't we been sharing the joy on the blog? Well, we've been overwhelmed with house tasks and we are not even close to unpacked! I'll try to keep you all better informed about our many home making projects from now on.

Don't forget, on May 6th we're breaking in the BBQ!