4th of July--Summer 2010

We celebrated July 4th on July 3rd this year...since the 4th landed on a Sunday.
We had the privledge of hanging out with Gene's cousin, Rachel Izu and her 3 ADORABLE boys, who live just an hour north of us. We did a homemade slip n slide and ate a yummy BBQ. Then we headed to Mason in the evening for a fireworks show. It was a fun day! THANKS Izu's for hangin with us! :)
CUTE CUTE BABY!! Jonathan Izu...he loved playin with the big boys!


WATER FIGHT & SLIP N SLIDE!


Daddy getting in on the action!










Rachel & Jonathan


Wait...who's that hunka hunka burnin love in the blue swim-trunks? Oh yeah...thats MY hunka hunka burnin love.... :)

Camping at Winton Woods Summer 2010

Gene found this wonderful campground only 25 mins from our house that has a lake for fishing and paddle boating. It has a splash park with playground and picnic area, a petting zoo, and cute little cabins to stay in...in case it rains! :) The kids had a ball! Two ducks would come waddling over to our campsite several times a day looking for leftovers and the kids thought that was the best thing ever!
William & Isaac talking to the ducks...


Dad (Gene) cooking breakfast!


Fishing!


Petting Zoo....Audrey & William

Audrey, Isaac & William




SPLASH PARK!....which also had a little cafe with the best icecream!

William turns 4! June 14th 2010

My sweet baby boy is growing up. Sometimes we like that fact and other times...not so much. He still likes lots of hugs and loves, and even asks me to "cozy with him" (hold him on my lap on the couch), but one day he'll start resisting all that lovey-dovey stuff, just like the rest of 'em. I can't bare the thoughts of that, but I'll just have to chase him down like I do the rest to make sure they get their daily dose of hugs and loves from Mom.

William is WAY into Star Wars these days. Hasn't even seen the movie. But loves for Austin to read him the Star Wars books from the library. And he asks me on a regular basis "Why would Aniken want to be on the dark-side Mom?" :)

He also loves to play UNO, bowl, swim, play Wii, have light-saber battles, and have someone read him stories, but his favorite thing is usually doing whatever his older brothers and sister are doing!

William can write his name and knows most of his ABC'S & 123's. He memorizes books and can "read" them to you without actually knowing the words. And he LOVES to BOOGIE....the boy can dance. And we all know who he got that from! ;)

We LOVE YOU William!






Daddy make the AMAZING cake...of course!

Pool Days Summer 2010

We LOVE our neighborhood pool! We go everyday except Sunday. What would we do all summer without the pool? ....Mama would probably go a little crazy! ;)
Here is William doing a SUPER JUMP! Go William!


Here is Audrey with her friend Sophia.


Isaac learned how to dive this year! Way 2 Go Isaac!

My SWEET Grandad, William Archibald Steadwell, died today May 12, 2010

I'm just betting there was a sweet reunion for him with my Mom (his daughter) and his wife, my Grandma today. It makes me smile just thinking about it. He was born on March 20, 1920. He served in WWII. And he taught this girl (Sheri) that men DO cry, and its ok. He called it "water on the brain." :) And he didn't go by William or Archibald. Everyone called him Bill.

He and my Grandma would come from Canada to Florida and park their RV in our yard for 6 months out of the year when I was growing up, and oh how I loved that! You could count on getting some kind of treat anytime you went and knocked on their trailer door for a visit. And we watched a lot of Wheel of Fortune together.

When I would get home from school Grandad would say, "Well Hello there Miss Sheri! How was school t'day a?" "Did ja kiss any of those ugly old fellas?" And it always made me blush and grin from ear to ear. Then he'd get to laughing so hard, and tell me he just had to tease me.

When I got a little older he would offer me a beer everytime I went to visit him in the RV. He got a kick outta me saying "No Grandad!" "You know I don't drink beer!" And he told me that if I ever got the itch to try smoking that I'd better let him teach me and no one else. I never got the itch to smoke, and somehow I know he was glad about that.

My Grandad never liked to sit for very long. He liked to stay busy. And if he did sit, he would always fall asleep. Unless, he was talking politics or religion! And he could chop wood like nobody's business, right up until he died.

When I got married he would tease me all the time about having to name one of my kids "Archibald", after him. And when I was pregnant he would always ask me, "So how's that little Archie doing a?" Then he'd laugh. But I showed him, and I DID name one of my children after him, but I chose William, instead of Archibald.

In my mind, my Grandad was nothing but love and kindness. And I cant wait to talk politics and religion with him again on the flip side! :)

I love you Grandad! And I hope by now you have realized that the "other side" isn't so bad after all a? :)

Love your #3 Grandbaby,
Sheri

This is my Grandad and Grandma on their wedding day. Don't they just OOZE love??!


More of Grandad and Grandma




Grandad in his later years


Grandad with my Dad

Austin gives a SPEECH May 2010 7th Grade Awards Night

My son is NOT me...and I am SO glad! I would have shriveled at the thought of standing in a gym FULL of my peers and their parents (and the 8th graders too) to give a speech all about my 7th grade experience. But not Austin. He did a FANTASTIC job! Not only with the content of the speech, but with the delivery as well. My eyes were smarting the entire time. And afterwards, I overheard so many people say what a "good job that kid did with his speech!" Yep, he's MY KID! And I couldn't be more proud....yes, I said PROUD!!! :)

May 2010 Gene and Sheri go to Puerto Morales Mexico ALONE! :)

Gene and I have not been alone with just each other for 14 years! And yes, we go on dates at least once a week for approximately 2 hours, but those don't really do for me what 5 days of absolutely no responsibility does for me. Hopefully somebody out there will "get" that.

THANKS to Aunt Natalie, who loves our kids like they are her own, we were able to go on a 3 day, 4 night trip to Mexico!!!!

Words really can't describe or express what this trip was like for me (Sheri). I'm not even sure if I should try? The resort was and is BEAUTIFUL, the food GREAT, the weather was PERFECT....but mostly the experience as a whole fed my soul. I haven't felt so rejuvenated in a long time. I think I actually forgot that I could even feel THAT WAY!

Here are some pics of our excursion.......








This is the adult only hot tub...our favorite place...go figure! :)












Gene kayacking....


Gene jumping off the rocks into the deep rock hole..


Sheri in Puerto Morales, Mexico...a little fishing village

12 years ago today......missing my Mom....LOVE YOU MOM!

Shadow--The Dog--- March 2010

We finally did it. We got a dog. Its a male Austrailian Shepherd that is 1 year old (human years). Very sweet, and kind of obedient...we'll work on that I suppose.
The kids are thrilled! And hopefully they will use that enthusiasm to take VERY GOOD CARE of Shadow! :)

Audrey's #10 Birthday Party was FUN....and LOUD, LOUD LOUD! ;) Feb 2010

At our house, our kids get birthday parties with friends every other year. So hopefully after seeing the post of Austin's recent birthday you don't feel too bad for him, because he'll get a friend party next year.

Audrey had a great time at her party! But I seriously wondered if I would loose my hearing after it was all over. Little girls sure know how to squeel! But it was worth every minute for our sweet Audrey Girl. Its hard to believe she is 10, but she is growing into a very beautiful and sweet young lady and WE SURE LOVE HER!

GAME: KISS TROY ON THE LIPS
Audrey went first...we applied lipstick to each girls lips, blindfolded them, and turned them around to get them dizzy. Then they had to try to kiss Troy. Goodness gracious ALL 12 girls (yes, 12!)LOVED this game!




GAME: HOW MANY M&M'S CAN YOU HOLD IN YOUR MOUTH?
We passed around a bowl of m&m's. The girls had to pick 2 without looking. If they got 2 of the same color they could eat them. If they didn't they had to hold them in their mouth until the game was over. Pretty funny!


Each girl got to decorate their own heart-shaped cake and take it home with them at the end of the party....because we had an ice-cream birthday cake still to eat!





GAME: We played spin-the-bottle to decide whose present Audrey would open.




CAKE TIME! Our Dad made the icecream cake for Audrey. It was DELISH!!!