Me & Gavin Time

Gavin and I sat down on a Saturday afternoon and played his version of checkers. He loves to stack all the colors up the sides, he jumps your checker from all the way across the board, or he just stacks them up, but you're not allowed to move your checkers or touch any of his. You basically just sit there and let him control the board and laugh.

Playing checkers with Gavin

Gavin loves to play checkers, well at least his way of playing, LOL!

Father's Day

They couldn't wait to dive right into the Fudgie the Whale cake!

Fudgie The Whale

Well Brandon saw the T.V. commerical for Carvel and wanted to get a Fudgie the Whale cake for John for father's day. I ordered the cake weeks ahead of time. The night before father's day John and I were out running around and decided to stop into the Carvel store to pick up a few packages (I saw a few packages) of flying saucers for the kids. When John opened the freezer, what was right on top, his cake! Oh well! So much for surprises! He still loved it! I went back the next day with Brandon (& everyone else, including John) and picked up the cake!

No more fudgie!

I guess they could have licked the cardboard cleaner? No leftovers!

Feeds how many?

Well not in my house, I guess they mean smaller serving sizes, LOL!

Justin's Fifth Grade Graduation

It's hard to believe that Justin has graduated from fifth grade already. Where does the time go? Now onto middle school, which is a totally different world. I hope that he keeps the same friends, and makes some new ones too.

This are a few of his friends; Robert, Justin and David. He has known David since they were in kindergarten.

Justin and his Friends

Justin, Dillon, Michael John and Robert after the 5th grade graduation at Emma Havens.

Justin's 5th Grade Graduation

The fifth grade Emma Havens Graduation

Brandon After his award

Brandon was so happy that he received an award for thoughtful student in his class. He ran right up to me after the ceramony and wanted me to take his picture.

Character Award - Thoughtful Student

Brandon received a thoughtful student award. This was the assembly they had to honor the kids who received the awards. He was presented with a certificate and pin to wear. Go Brandon!

Justin - Dare Graduation

Justin took a course during school, taught by a police office, to teach the children about drugs and alcohol. This was their graduation from that program. They also received a t-shirt and mug.

Dare Graduates

Mrs. Wilbert's 5th grade class - dare graduation

Back at the House

Me, Brianne, Justin, Brandon, Nicholas and Gavin back at the house after the communion.

All of Us

Me, John, Brandon, Chrissy, Wayne, Anthony, Ashley, and Nicholas

Brandon

Brandon & Anthony

Brandon and his good buddy Anthony made their communions together. They both did a great job!

At the Church with the Boys

You are not allowed to take pictures in the church while the service is going on, because the Communion is during the regular mass. So we took pictures after the service in the front of the church. It turned out to be a beautiful day.

Me & Brandon

We took a few pictures before we headed to the church for Brandon to make his First Communion. He looked very hansome in his suit (which was from big brother Justin). He has come such a long way from when he was first diagnosed with autism. It was a very exciting day for us.

Mother's Day

Who doesn't love Cookie Puss? And better yet, on Mother's Day!

Gavin's First Movie

Gavin and John (dad) had their daddy and Gavin day and went to the movies. This was Gavin's first time at the movies. They went to see "Up," which they said was funny. Gavin sat like a big boy, ate his popcorn and enjoyed the movie! Great job!

Gavin Passed out

Gavin hasn't been napping these days, but apparently still needs to. I found him in front of the computer on my chair passed out!

Nicholas' Project Page

Nicholas had a book from his preschool class which had different drawings in it. When I was flipping through looking at everything that he did, I came across this drawing. It says "I sleep with my weiner dog!" Nice!

Brandon's Jeans

Brandon got off the bus and had all this stuff all over his pants. Then I realized it was tape! He apparently tore his jeans at school and his teacher did a quick fix by taping it! Very funny!

Brandon's Poetry Night

Emma Havens Young School had their annual poetry night. Brandon's LD class was invited to participate as well. It turned out to be a play-type reading. Each child in the class read their part of the play aloud to the parents. They were all so cute and did a wonderful job.

Gavin's Easter Project

Gavin getting on the Bus

Gavin's First Day of Preschool

Our Visit to Corinne & Anthony's House

Me, the boys, Mom and Johnny went to visit Corinne and Anthony, who live right around the corner from my mom and Johnny, in Ocala, FL. I've know Corinne since we worked at Lockheed Martin together (well, GE, Martin Marietta, etc...) back in early 1990's. We have remained great friends ever since. They always welcome us into their house, put on a nice spread for us and deal with all my crazy kids! The boys always have such a great time at their house and ask when they are going to go back again. Thanks for your friendship and great hospitality! We look forward to the next visit!

Going back home to New Jersey

One of the bridges on the way home.

John Driving Home

John drove all day and all night long to get us home. He was determined, since he spent the day before being sick all day. It's not my favorite thing to do, drive all night long. The kids dislike it too. We really wanted to stop, but it was nice to just get home after driving all those hourse (21 hrs).

A View from the Backseat

Driving back home...

St. Petersburg Beach

This was the view from where we were sitting. What a view!

Me & Gavin

We went back and forth to the water to get buckets of wet sand to build a sand castle.

Where's Gavin

Riding the waves in

Riding the waves in on Grandpas' back. They really got a big kick out of this!

Justin

Brandon Loves the Beach

Brandon loves playing in the sand and running into the water. This beach was great for that, since the water was only up to your ankles for several feet into the water.

Nicky G

Nicholas having fun on the beach

Nicholas & Gavin Playing in the Sand

Nicholas and Gavin had fun building sand castles at st. Petersburg beach.

Breakfast at Chef Mickey's

Our last day at Disney we had breakfast at Chef Mickeys' located in the Contemporary Resort. It's always a good times and great food at Chef Mickey's.

Goofy and the boys

Goofy was being goofy! He even through Nicholas' hat off his head. Right up Nicholas' alley!

Minnie and the Boys

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I love Minnie. She is funny how she walks and holds her hand out!

Me & the Boys with Donald Duck

Donald Duck cracks me up, because he signs the autograph books "Donald Duck #1!" He does that becase he's at Chef Mickeys!

Magic Kingdom

We didn't really take any other pictures at the Magic Kingdom, with the exception of these. It was pouring rain and windy, so I didn't want to destroy my camera. It was also hard to take any pictures like that. I have my lovely rain poncho on, but it did keep my legs from getting soaked as well. If we didn't pay a fortune to get into the park, then we would have spent the day inside. However, since we had a small fortune invested in this day, we bought the rain gear ($6/each), and pressed on! What troopers everyone was!

Magic Kingdom

John sporting his rain gear with the boys.