~~I AM still among the living~~

I hope you all haven't forgotten me considering the fact that I've been gone so long..... So MUCH has happened since my last post that I don't know where to start! Catching up has seemed like such a daunting task that I have put it off and put it off so that I am now at a point where I'm totally overwhelmed. I will do my best to give a readers digest version of the craziness that I call life lately... After Nic's last tournament, we had our friends over and one thing led to another and the guys ended up going to check this out. It is now ours and I REALLY CAN'T BELIEVE IT! lol (Click here for a slideshow of the new addition if you'd like to see more). We've talked about trying the whole "camping" thing in the past, but never really did anything about it. All of the travel and expense with the three girls and their softball this year really made us step back and think about it again. Our other reason for renewing our discussion about camping is the fact that the beach house we have rented for the last 16 years will now become the owner's retirement home, so we will need to broaden our horizons! lol In any event, we stumbled upon a very good deal and we are now "RV'ers"! We took our first trip with the above mentioned friends a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. . . We celebrated Emily's 14th Birthday on our first camping trip - what a beautiful young lady she has become, inside and out! I am amazed that she has started high school - I know it sounds ridiculous, but I really DON'T know where all the time has gone! ... and then again today with one of her friends, who also recently celebrated a birthday! They made themselves another cake, put candles on it, sang to each other and then enjoyed! It was too cute! I found these unbelievable knitted pillows on clearance for $5.00 and $3.00 respectively and HAD to have them - they actually unbutton to be washed and match the interior of the camper perfectly :) There is another small one in the same color as the larger... and here is Beau, all pooped out from checking out the camp ground, enjoying them. He slept there all night, poor little guy (looks like he is guarding my little knitting bag! We watched Lyss play her last travel softball game this year.... School started, work is in full swing, Matt went back to college, we are still trying to choose a Senior Portrait from Lyss's portfolio (they all came out so good it's torture choosing!), Nicole finished her tournaments a few weeks ago as did Em and Field Hockey is now THE sport (along with pitching, of course)! lol Nicole's surgery has been scheduled and I have no doubt that all of you Mom's out there will know exactly how I feel about it all. I'd rather it were me - please keep her in your thoughts and prayers - she will go in at the end of October. There has been some knitting happening here - I will save that for the next post - I am all tired out myself. I apologize for my lack of posting and commenting, I am hoping to get back to visiting all of you wonderful ladies (and gentlemen) again soon.