Church Retreat & Visit with Leah

Church retreat this year was a week later than normal, which was a bit unfortunate as there were a LOT of FLA conflicts plus it was the weekend that finals started, so we headed up for the weekend, but Karis took Kaleb and Evan home Saturday night so that they could start to study on Sunday (which also happened to be Mother's Day).  There weren't as many people who came this year because of the conflicts, but we still had a lovely time.  Zachary decided to stay home this year, which was a bummer but that seems to be the trend that we've noticed as the teens get older, more of them stay home.

The church service included live animal interactions and flowers for Mother's Day that the kids could choose.  The day was a bit rainy, which kept the temperatures cooler, which was nice!

The service message was about pouring water into the lives of our family (aka why Karis has a big water cup and is pouring into our smaller ones)

Kaleb has never been much of an animal lover, but he did reach out and touch the skunk

Even Dad enjoyed touching the skunk!

What pretty flowers Addison chose!

And Kaleb's flowers

In the afternoon we did the usual haunts, and went to the zoo, canoeing and of course ended the evening with the potluck.  We enjoyed visiting with our friends the Biris, whom we haven't been able to see that much this year!

Neat hawk behind the girls.

Kaleb and Jessa off on their canoeing adventure

Which got into a BIG adventure when they went under some trees to be able to keep going - they made it back safe and sound.

The parental canoeing trip wasn't nearly as adventurous, which is just fine with us!

Our potluck that night was extra fun as it was Mr Bruce's birthday - we sang him a slightly off-key happy birthday.   It rained cats and dogs for about 10 minutes but thankfully stopped quickly and we stayed dry under the pavilion.

Julia H - Memaw - special grandma on the Bergherm side.

Addison enjoyed hanging out with Penny and Alison, as well as London (not in this particular picture)

On Sunday, we headed over to the blob and the rope swing to enjoy before catching a ride home with the Bergherms.  Thanks for letting us carpool!

When we got home, we had the fun of being able to visit with Leah Hicks, who had come down with her friend before they headed out to work at summer camp.  They came Thursday night and stayed until Monday, so it was a short visit indeed but we loved having them - come again girls!  

The girls helped Addison put together a Lego Flower Vase for Grandma as it was Mother's day!

Addison's last Una Voce recital of the year was held at the Apopka SDA church - beautiful music this year - we loved to hear them sing.

And in a random picture, Addison decided to use a hair diffuser and see how curly she could get her hair - pretty curly!

Women's Build, Baby Showers, Celebrating 80 Years & Recital!

It was a whirlwind race on May 3rd and 4th as Amy raced from one event to the other.    There was a Women's Build event first, then a luncheon at our house with visiting Gusso family, and then the capstone in the evening was celebrating Grandpa Lyle's 80th Birthday at Shepherds!  That Sunday was the baby shower, along with Addison's end of the year piano/voice recital.

Amy sits on the board for the West Orange Habitat for Humanity, and they have an annual Women's Build event - in which we were able to come out and help with various tasks surrounding building a home for underprivileged people.  She was a little trepidatious as she isn't the handy one in the family, but they make it so easy that it was really fun, and so special to know that we are making a huge difference in not only the lives of an immediate family today but that it continues to lift that family up out of poverty for generations to come.  Having a secure home in which you don't overcrowded, you are in safe conditions and that you can afford the home is a huge game changer - often it is single mothers who end up with these homes (not always, but often) and it is really heart-warming to see the impact we can make.

Our team of ladies!

Megan is our 3 year finance resident at Winter Garden and she was part of our team - we got a golden shovel for being a corporate sponsor for the event.

After the morning was complete, Amy headed home and enjoyed the afternoon with the Gusso family.  Lauren is expecting a baby in July and it was her baby shower weekend, so we were delighted to be able to see Millie, Kelsey, Ron and baby Olivia.  Addison was of course in love with baby Olivia, so she was in 7th heaven to be able to see her and hold her!

The evening, we headed over to Shepherds and celebrated Grandpa Lyle's 80 years on this year.  He has been a blessing to us, and we are thankful to have him as part of our family!  Grandpa Lyle's grandkids were mostly there, with his son Brian, Leticia and daughter Sarah coming down from Maryland, and then Tori/Greyson who live here.  Happy Birthday Grandpa Lyle!

Addison remembers Greyson from when he was born, so has always held him in great affection!

The next day was Lauren's baby shower at the Brownlow home - a lovely event.  We can't wait to meet the baby!

Addison, Olivia, Kelsey and Wendy Everts

And we concluded the weekend with Addison's piano and voice recital at FLEC.  She has done a nice job with her piano and sang beautifully.  Miss Esther had to put one of her dogs to sleep the end of the week, so she brought her second dog who was in mourning - Addison thought that was quite special!  We didn't have a nice outfit for Addison to wear to the recital, so we ran out to the mall and went madly from store to store until we found this dress - very cute, but literally found it, put it on in the car and drove directly to the recital!  Talk to sliding into home base!

Piano Recital

We are proud of you girl!

High School Sports Awards

FLA had its sports awards banquet this year, and as Zach was a senior golfer on the golf team, we knew that he would get a medal that could be worn during the graduation ceremony - so off we went!  

Cristian, Zach and Erick

The full golf team

They gave out the typical "best xxxx" type awards, and each of the 16 teams (girls and boys) would come up on stage for a picture etc.  We told Kaleb to come as well to support his brother (and we had received an email from the school saying that our son would be receiving an award......which we assumed was Zachary for being a senior golfer but we weren't 100% sure so to be safe, we made sure that Kaleb came too even though typically it is the seniors that get the awards).As they were giving out the awards, Kaleb's car alarm went off for some reason and he ran outside to turn it off.  When he came back inside he went down to where he was sitting and was talking to a friend about the car alarm when the emcees (Allen and Larry) started the Athlete Scholar awards.....and Kaleb won as a Sophomore!  What was funny is that he didn't hear them call his name clearly, so he was a bit confused as he had been talking and didn't want to go up on stage only to find out that he indeed hadn't been called so he paused at the stairs until given the encouragement (quietly) from those around him that indeed he was the one who had been awarded that recognition!😂 

Only one female and one male in the whole school receives the Athlete Scholar Award - congratulations Kaleb!

Congratulations boys!

Random pictures:

Miss Jennifer took the kiddos out to Tijuana's one day - Addison and London were happy as clams to be spend time together, and Zachary is always delighted to have food and hang out with daytime Mom.

Triple Threat

FCSL always marks the whirlwind end of the school year - it is something that my kids always look forward to, and Karis always finds himself being the coach of their team.  Amy can barely handle the stress of the game, so does her favorite "sport" of talking to distract herself! 😆

The season started off rough - not enough players, loss after loss - slowly but surely they turned it around and won!  This marks her 3rd year of coming in first.  The Zs I think between the boys and Addison have collected 10 wins with Zachary having 4, Kaleb 3 and Addison 3.  In Zachary's words, he would have had a 5th if Covid hadn't scrapped the season that year.  

The winning team!

Triple threat!

Lots of cheering family was there to support her - win or lose!

Little sis London - also a soccer player for her own team

Spoiling a Special Lady!

 Kelli's 50th birthday should of course be celebrated in style, so Amy organized a brunch party with her close friends at the Hamilton Kitchen in the Alfond Inn, followed by a spa pampering session for those who wanted had the time and desire.

Leslie, Heather, Vasti, Kelli, Amy, Kim and Lola

What a beautiful pink tree behind us!

The brunch was in a private dining room within the restaurant, and the food was delicious!

Happy birthday girlfriend!  May you enjoy another 50 years of healthy life!

Afterwards, only Kelli, Amy, Heather and Lola were able to treat ourselves to massages.  Heather had to dash out afterwards, but we remained behind to enjoy visiting and to drink the non-alcoholic bubbly in celebration of 50 years well lived! 💖

Stone heated beds - Kelli was hot in 2.5 seconds 😂

We couldn't linger too long either, because FLEC had their spring concert out on the lawn that evening.  Una Voce sang, so we were dashing out to be sure that we didn't miss our kiddos in action!

Addison had a special play date on Saturday afternoon, boating with Alison and Elin - they had a great time trying to stay on the tube, whether it was laying, standing or "submarining" - which involved going about 2 miles an hour around the lake - in Karis' words "we'll never make it off the lake at this rate!" 😜 It was super fun to watch her laughing with her friends!

Alison & Addison

Submarining the tube...