Jackson is 10!

Life has been blowing past me these days......I cannot even keep up with this blog it seems...hopefully next week when school is out and we have a quiet week at the lake planned I will have some down time and get properly caught up!  We are currently in the tailspin of the month of May which is really busy for both of us with work, included a trip to Chicago, Mother's day, a trip to the lake, two birthday parties and both Jackson and Sarabeth's birthdays, 10 and 7 respectively falling also during the last week of school!

Our sweet Jackson Case is 10 today...I cannot believe he is 10!  Being that it is Memorial Day, he woke up at the lake, with friends, had donuts for breakfast, amidst birthday balloons and decorations, and when we returned home this afternoon following the long holiday weekend he got to open his presents from us as well as family members who had sent gifts.  Thanks to everyone who remembered our big boy on his special day today!  At ten he is average height and weight, he is starting to care more about what he wears and how his hair is styled, he loves rubix cubes and is really good at solving them quickly!  He is very talented at playing the piano, and at playing golf, he still loves a good set of hot wheels cars and the sets and tracks that go with them, he loves Roblox toys and techdeck toys, airsoft target shooting with his dad, Moorings tennis camp, riding his bike, swimming, basketball, and just about any active activity!  He also loves to travel with his favorite vacation still coming in as a Disney Cruise.  Happy birthday buddy! We love you!!!

Life since spring break: field trips, Blue Angels, Wedding showers and travels, saying goodbye to Bella, birthday celebrations!

Life since we returned from our spring break cruise has been flying by...we have had a very busy 6 weeks!  This time of the year is always hectic for us as season here comes to an end bringing a mad flurry of work for us both, and school goes full bore for one last big burst between spring break and the last few weeks of school!  Mix into that an out of town field trip to St. Augustine for a day with 30 4th graders and a group of moms and their wonderful teacher Mrs, Lewis, there and back including 6 hours of bus time...we left at 5 am and returned home at about 6:30 pm on a Friday.......this was a marathon but such a fun day and I am so glad I got to participate, next up, the amazing Blue Angels came to town again for the Vero Beach air show and spent a week in town whizzing and whirring all over Vero literally around my office building and over the beach as the turning point back to the airport, Jackson had his piano recital and Sarabeth and I then made a

trip to Ohio and back for wedding shower celebrations for aunt Megan over a long weekend, and we returned just in time for our house to be torn apart (finally so the water damage from the upstairs bathroom leak that occurred in JANUARY could finally be fixed) and just in time to say goodbye to our beloved family pet of 12 years, Bella, and we then celebrated back to back weekends with two bang up early birthday parties with school friends including an art party at an artist's studio for Sarabeth, and an airsoft range party with a traveling airsoft range at our home with Jackson and his friends...we have had a FULL and WELL LIVED 6 WEEKS! 

The fun is not stopping any time soon as we are preparing to make the trek to Chicago for a long weekend for Megan and Erik's Chicago shower this coming weekend where we look forward to seeing everyone and to seeing and tasting all the fun that Chicago has to offer, and then we really hit the summer count down as we prepare to spend our FIRST weekend at the lake since before spring break where we will celebrate memorial day weekend and Jackson's 10th birthday!! After that we have one last week of school and then school is out on June 1st and we head to Disney for a long weekend of celebrating the start of summer and Sarabeth's 7th birthday and we will cap that off with a week at the lake the first week of June.

Here are some pictures of our life and the experiences we have shared these past 6 weeks.  We have had many highs these past 6 weeks, and the low of losing Bella.  She was a good girl, and loved our family and we are all still adjusting to her being gone.  Bella was with us for most of our marriage, and was here and welcomed both kids without any problems as our family grew, and she moved with us 4 times to 4 different houses all in Indian River County!  She was adopted from our local humane society when she was just barely two and lived to be over 14.  We hope she is running with our beagle Trey in doggy heaven over the rainbow bridge with lots of lizards to chase after...even down to her last days she would go out into the yard and look for lizards around every nook and cranny of the patio furniture where she knew they liked to hide.  Her heart finally gave out at the end and she was having so much trouble breathing her last night, I was up with her half the night and told Jon that morning we just had to take her that day.  Congestive heart failure it was and the doctor said she was in pain and it was her time.  Thanks to Jon for taking her and dealing with this, of all days I had an out of town buyer coming in for their closing and there was nothing I could do.  We were all totally spent that day and thankfully it was a Friday.  Jack really loves animals and took it very hard.  It took Sarabeth a few days to process it all and then she was also upset.  Buckeye is adjusting to being an only dog child and seems to be doing fine.  We are keeping him on his routine and got him extra toys and new stuff to play with and keeping him active.  He is still chasing after Ariel our cat..maybe they will grow to love each other!!!

***These pictures got all out of order...I will do a separate blog post in the coming nights, one for Jackson's birthday party and one for Sarabeth's party!  It is amazing to me even seeing all of these photos how much Life we have lived in the last 6 weeks!!!