Summer...

Well, it officially feels like summer now... it's the first full week that the girls have been home by themselves since school got out. Hubby was on vacation last week and they all were busy getting ready for Becca's graduation party while I was at work, so this is the first week of "doing nothing!" lol!

Jilli started private baton lessons with Sandy, the majorette assistant director, today. She really enjoyed it. She's been taking lessons for about 4 months with the dance studio in town, but the studio and the actual majorettes do things a little bit differently! lol! Since she made majorettes, I told her that she needs to listen to Sandy more than the studio because she'll be performing every single weekend once parades and football season starts! I still can't believe that my daughter is a majorette in the high school marching band! I'm so proud of her!

Her baton recital is on Saturday night. The dance studio has a lot of different classes going on so it should be a nice night. I'm anxious to see her routine!

Becca and I had lunch today after she got her hair cut. It was so nice just to sit down with her and have some girl time. Things have been so crazy with her graduation and her party that we haven't had that a lot lately... so that was nice. I'm still having a hard time believing she's 18 and will be going off to college in 2 short months.... wow. How did that happen???

Welcome to Holland. . .

I want to warn you right now that this is a tear jerker story. If you have, or know, a disabled child, this will most definitely make you cry.

Our preacher shared this story with us this morning. His youngest son, the 4th child, is 7 and is Down's Syndrome. A friend gave him this the day after he was born.

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I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

My girls!!!!

The last few weeks have been hectic and they aren't going to get any better any time soon....

Friday night was majorette tryouts for Jillian, and she made it!!! She is sooo excited!

Friday and Saturday was Relay for Life.... everything went great until at 4:30 a.m. they came around to tell us that we were under a tornado watch! Shocked We moved into the ice skating rink to walk inside. It stormed a while, but all blew over by 11:00 a.m.

Saturday night was a graduation party for Becca's best friend. Sunday was church, then last night was Baccalaureate at the church. It was beautiful...

Today was 8th grade promotion for Jillian. She was awarded the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence which means she has maintained a 3.5 grade average or higher all three years in middle school.

Tonight was the Girl Scout awards ceremony where the girls are awarded all the badges they've earned through the year. Jillian has been in scouts since kindergarten and loves it! She earned quite a few badges this year.

Tomorrow is actually a free day..... then Wednesday is Graduation for Becca.... Oh my gosh, I still can't believe she's graduating!!! I hope I don't cry too much and embarrass her!

Anyway, here's a picture of my girls from today! Jilli just got her braces a couple weeks ago. I'm shocked she even smiled!

Our cruise!!!

Hi all!

Well, we made it back, safe and sound! We had a fabulous time! This wasn't just a regular cruise... it was a Music Boat cruise with the top Christian artists and bands! Both my favorites and the girls' favorites were on board!

Here is a link to a slideshow that I put together with just a few of the highlights of the trip. Music Boat Cruise 2008.

We arrived in Miami Sunday evening and stayed at a hotel that night so that we'd be ready to head to the ship bright and early Monday morning. We were a bit awestruck by the size of the ship! It was so easy to get lost on board! lol! We set sail around 5:00 p.m. and enjoyed a relaxing concert with Dallas Holm and Todd Agnew before dinner. After our delicious meal, I headed out on the Lido Deck to see the Katinas under the stars while the girls headed to see their favorite band, Hawk Nelson. Becca had her new camera with her and was right up front so she got tons of great pictures of the guys! They posed for her while they were singing and she got some great shots.

We had to be up bright and early Tuesday morning to head out to Key West . It was extremely hot, but we walked about a mile down Duval Street to the Butterfly Conservatory. The Butterflies were beautiful! They flew all around us and landed right in front of you. Got some great pictures there, and other great shots of the town. We walked back, stopping and shopping at various stores. We even saw Hemingway's House! We didn't tour it, but took some pictures outside.

Back on the ship that afternoon, I headed off to see Leeland, and my absolute favorite group, Casting Crowns! They put on a fabulous show! Becca and Jillian went to see the Indie Jam ShowCase where unknown bands got to perform and try out to win as the top new band of the cruise. They also saw The Afters. Our formal dinner was that evening, so we headed back to the cabin to shower and change into our fancy clothes. We watched Joy Williams after dinner, then headed off to bed as we were exhausted by then! lol!

Wednesday we slept in a bit. We didn't arrive in Calica/Playa del Carmen, Mexico until 1:00 p.m., so we just took it easy in the morning. Mexico was fabulous! Our personal tour guide, Eddie with Edventures, met us at the dock. He took us to the Tulum Mayan Ruins first, which were beautiful, but it was very, very hot! We only lasted there about an hour, then headed off to snorkel in the Dos Ojos Cenotes in the Riviera Maya. Those are underwater caves and caverns where we got to snorkel all around. The water was so cool and felt great after being so hot in the ruins! We left there and got on a boat with another family from our ship and headed out to the ocean. The water was very, very rough and the guides decided that it was too rough to explore the coral reef, so they took us to a calmer area and we jumped out of the boat to swim and snorkel with the huge turtles! We slowly made our way back to shore, then got back in the van and headed to their private lagoon to do some snorkeling there with the many colorful fish. What a peaceful and beautiful place! By then, we were all pretty much exhausted, so we headed over to a small little Mexican restaurant on the beach and ate our dinner, watching the waves and the sun set...

We made it back on the ship shortly before 10:00 p.m. and the girls headed off to see Hawk Nelson again, but this time on the Lido Deck under the stars! More great photos for Becca! By this time, the guys in the band were used to her snapping picture after picture! lol!

Thursday was our day at sea... we all slept in! We spent the late morning and early afternoon sunbathing on deck while listening to The Afters, Rush of Fools and Echoing Angels perform. Jillian enjoyed Dance Praise in one of the lounges… it’s like Dance Dance Revolution only with Christian music. Becca and I went to listen to a few comedy headliners and laughed quite a bit. Our last dinner that evening was again delicious, and the wait staff sang a farewell song to us! We headed back up to the Lido Deck to again hear Leeland under the stars. There is nothing like watching a ship full of people with their arms raised in praise to God!!!

We had to have our suitcases packed and ready to go before going to bed as the ship was scheduled to dock at 7:00 a.m. We got up Friday morning, dressed, ate some breakfast and were off the ship by 8:00 a.m. Our cousins from Ft. Lauderdale , Deb and Al, picked us up and took us to their house to change into our swimsuits and head to Danai Beach for a bit of swimming. After changing clothes, we stopped at his biker club to check it out. They took us to dinner at a BBQ restaurant then took us to our hotel. Our flight left bright and early Saturday morning and we arrived back in Pittsburgh later afternoon.

It was a wonderful trip that we will never forget! Becca and I took hundreds of pictures! We won’t bore you with them all, but take a moment to watch the slideshow to see some of the highlights of the trip.

Music Boat Cruise 2008

Countdown Time!

I can't believe it... we leave for our cruise on Sunday!!!!

Tonight is the Prom....I'll post pictures either later tonight or tomorrow!!!! Tomorrow is packing day and making sure we didn't forget anything on our list.

Sunday a.m., we plan to leave the house around 8 a.m., stop and get some breakfast and be at the airport by 11:00. It usually takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to the airport. Our flight doesn't leave till almost 1:30, but I do NOT want to take any chances! lol!

I'm so excited that I can hardly think straight!!!!

We need a bigger mailbox!

I love to order things online and have them delivered to my house. The problem is, my Mail box isn't big enough! lol!

Saturday morning was the only day I had to sleep in... so I did :) That means that I didn't get my shower until later in the morning. As I'm stepping out of the shower, I hear the doorbell ring! What the heck? Who could that be? I throw on a robe and run to the door, and it's the mail lady... I have three packages, and they won't fit in my Mailbox!

With all the choices of Mailboxes we had when we moved in here, Frank chose one that was not very big... I would love to have one like this one! Gorgeous, isn't it?

I know that the next time I decide to look into purchasing a mail box, I'll definitely check out Mailboxixchange.com! They've got a large selection of Mail boxes to choose from. AND, they even have an affiliate program!

No more running to the door in a robe for me! lol!

Grease!!!

Well, tonight is the night! The first performance of the High School's production of Grease!

I can't wait to see it! The girls are both in it and have been working like crazy! Practice night after night after night.... but it will be worth it in the end. I honestly thought Becca might quit and not be in it because she had to miss so many practices because of work. But I'm glad she stuck with it. It's her senior year and all her friends are in it, so I know she's glad she stayed.

Frank and I are going to see the show tonight, then Friday night I'm turning pages for the pianist in the pit band. I went to their practice on Tuesday night and boy does that music zip! Wow! It is non stop! I couldn't watch any of the show because I had to keep my eyes on the music the whole time! lol!

Then Frank and my nephew Kenny are going to camp for the weekend and Mom and I will go to the show on Saturday night. I can't just go one night ;) I have to watch it several times! lol!

I'll try to take a few pictures and post them!