March Visit from Maryland

Greg's cousin Bob and his family came to FL to visit his parents while the kids were on spring break. That made for a great occasion for the extended family to get together at Jeff and Kay's house (Greg's brother and his wife).

Bob bought steak and chicken and Jeff, the Grill King, cooked it. The guys hung out around the grill, of course.


The food was fabulous!


Chase always has room for dessert!


Chase, Carys, and Morgan didn't need much time to get reacquainted.


The boys are on the computer in AJ's room.


Carys and Robbie are playing on the laptop.



It was Palm Sunday, so Cary's Sunday School class made these donkeys. AJ carried her around on his soldiers while she sang "I love donkeys. I love donkeys." Soon, it changed to "I love my AJ!"


What a great day!

AirFest 2010

After months of planning the weekend of March 20-21 arrived and with it AirFest at MacDill AFB in Tampa. The Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, particularly Group 3, assists the AF in pulling off the event. Landon is now the Chairman of the Cadet Advisory Council for Group 3, and he applied for and was named Cadet Commander of the event.

He did an excellent job in planning and many kudos were given to him and the rest of his staff.


It's so funny to see pictures of him with other people his age. Landon takes after his dad and is much shorter than the rest of them!


Lieutenant Joyce Lampasona was the Commander (senior member).


The real crowd pleaser this year was the Navy's Blue Angels. They were awesome!


They worked really hard. Landon had some trouble with blisters as did a few other cadets.


Landon decided to give awards this year at AirFest just like they do at encampments.


Gerren was named the Outstanding Line Staff of AirFest. (Landon was against it because he thought it would look like favoritism, but he was out voted by the rest of the staff!)

A representative from the Air Force gave him a very cool challenge coin.




Landon also received a challenge coin for being the Cadet Commander.


I am one proud mama!

Friday's Fave Five #5

1. Airsoft - Landon invited about 20 kids over to play airsoft Sunday. I believe there ended up being 17 of them - 14 boys, 2 girls, and 1 dad. Unfortunately, Gerren had a bad week and wasn't allowed to play.

2. Strawberries - It is strawberry season in Florida. I got a flat from Ferris Groves Sunday. Although, I didn't like the price ($15), I do love the berries. I'll be making what's left into jam today or tomorrow.

3. A Lighter Schedule - This was the last week the someone in our family has a commitment every week night. Starting next week, we'll have Tuesdays and Thursdays mostly free. Yippee!

4. Birthdays - We have a birthday almost every month from January - June. I love this because it means eating out. We don't get to do that very much right now. Gerren's birthday was this week. We have to wait until May, though, for Chase's birthday.

5. Family Fun Night - I just love pizza and movies on Friday nights. Tonight's pizza is BBQ Chicken and the movie is Hachi: A Dog's Tale. Unfortunately, Chase has already lost her privilege, and Gerren's not far behind. We'll see what happens.

Gerren's 15th Birthday!

We celebrated Gerren's 15th birthday Wednesday. The kids love it when birthdays fall on weekdays since birthdays are school holidays at our house. Dad hung around for Gerren to open his presents in the morning after a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon.


Gran sent a card with $20. Money is always a popular gift. :) Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kay gave him a card with $20 on church Sunday, too.


Dad picked out another silly Hoops and YoYo talking card. I don't know why the kids love those so much.


After attending Disciple Now at Cornerstone one weekend, Gerren asked for a new Bible. He wanted a parallel Bible with The Message and another version. We could only find NIV, which was okay with me since we've memorized everything in NIV since kindergarten.


This airsoft gun wasn't really one of his gifts. We had to return his other gun since it stopped working, so we decided to wrap this one up just for fun. We intended to get him some bullets, but couldn't find the kind they use locally. We picked some up later that day in Ocala. Don't you love his face?


On Landon's birthday 10 days ago, Gerren lost his watch in Tampa. So, a new watch was a last minute addition to his list.


iTunes gift cards are another popular gift with the young people in our family. Dad cleverly inserted this one between 2 packs of ramen noodles.


Gerren requested blackberry cobbler for dessert. It looks good...


...and it tastes good!


We spent the afternoon and evening in Ocala doing a little shopping, having Gerren's yearly pictures taken, and eating at his request restaurant - Moe's. I like Moe's much better eating there 1-2 times a year, instead of 1-2 times a month. :)

Carys Funnies

Greg was fixing a transition strip between two different types of laminate flooring the other day. Carys came up to him and said, "Dad, that looks incredible! You are such a good worker! High five!" upon which she raised her hand to give a high five! We were rolling on the floor laughing to say the least.

Happy 17th Birthday, Landon!

Sunday was Landon's 17th birthday. I just can't believe my baby is 17! I was not feeling well that morning, so we skipped church and just went to Sunday School. That gave us a little bit of time in the morning to open presents. It's a good thing, since we weren't home until 8:00pm!

Landon actually asked for a Star Wars book, The Essential Atlas, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $20 on it! Instead I got him the paperback version of a book he checked out from the library and loved, The Next Hundred Years. I think he'll be loaning it out! It was only $10. :)



Landon had asked for a new magazine for his airsoft gun.


We got him a funny card that made fun of his smelly breath. He also got minutes for his cell phone and a $10 iTunes gift card. Gran gave him $20 as did Uncle Jeff and family. Grandma Epie and Papa JoJo always give $500 for the college fund.



On our way home from Illinois in July, we ate dinner at a California Pizza Kitchen. It was so wonderful that Landon said then, "I know where I want to eat for my birthday." So, after Sunday School we headed to the International Mall in Tampa for CPK. It was a fabulous lunch!


After I took a picture of Landon, Carys wanted me to take a picture of her.


Then she wanted to take a picture of Greg. Since he wasn't in any of the other pictures, I let her.


They brought Landon a little sundae with a candle in it for his birthday. He let Carys blow out the candle.


After spending very little time looking around the mall, we had to head back to Inverness. I had choir practice at 5:00pm, and the choir was singing in the evening service. Unfortunately, the service went on FOREVER. Landon had a conference call at 8:00pm and really needed to get home and eat something before that. We zoomed out of church during the last prayer! His conference call lasted until 9:15 when we finally got to have his requested dessert "Classic Coconut Cake".



When Chase was looking in my "cake supplies" box for candles, she found this Cinderella and her coach. She put them on Landon's cake for a joke. He's so good-natured that he laughs right along.


Happy Birthday, Landon! We love you and are so proud of you.