Time Capsule Opening. . . Drum Roll ^*^*^*^*^*^*

I told you we had a lot of celebrating to do for this Grad.  We celebrated yesterday to my Mom's and Sprat opened his time capsule that we sealed on his first birthday.  Lots of treasures were  found some worth a little dough and some just  very sentimental.  I think Sprat got a kick out of opening it and seeing everything we had put in it.  I know we all had fun watching him.  There were pieces of history enclosed with lots of pictures.  He had a C3PO pez dispenser still in its original packaging, pictures of the hubbs Dad from his service years and patches from his time on the police force.  Mint uncirculated coins from his year of birth, some Joe Camel advertisements from relatives that worked at RJR,  metal toy tractor from my hubbys youth, the cork from our bottle of Champagne from our "romantic" meal we had in the hospital right after we had Sprat, and all the cards from his first birthday and his infant Baptism.  So many memories. . .

Poppy enjoying the cake and festivities . . 

Getting ready to open the time capsule. . . 

Taking in all of the fun. . . 

I do not give a lot of parenting advice but this is and was a very cool idea and I am so glad we did it.  I highly recommend doing one for your little one if you have one.   Stay tuned, we have one more party before Sprat goes off to school. . . 

Lake Pictures . . . More Celebration. . .

Continued from my last post and our Lake celebration of Sprats graduation: 

The hubbs had to get in on the act. 

Big T making a birds nest in his line. . .

Fishing was a little slow but to my crew any day fishing is a good Day!!

Stay tuned more celebratory pics to come. . . 

Random Pictures. . . Lots of Celebration. . . .

They honored our Seniors at Church, we celebrated with the hubbs family, and there are plans to celebrate with my family and to celebrate with friends soon too.  Sprat has been playing HOT Lax these last few weeks and this weekend he played against college teams in a pick up tournament.  He is running daily to get in condition to go to Boston and play. 

Church Recognition 

3 back to back Lax against college teams and a quick lunch at the lake.

Celebratory lunch after Church with milkshakes 

This is my handy work, you cannot tell since my picture is so bad but...

it is a shadow box with Sprats letter and tassel.  Neither of my boys wanted Letter jackets so here is my answer to that.  It really is very neat, I still have to add his pins for Lacrosse from Jr and Sr year and I think he has at least one more star.  The shadow box I found at AC Moore and it has hinges so you can add to it through the years.  You can hang it or you can stand it up on a shelf. 

I am the Slacker Mom. . . But, I do Love my Kids. . .

I am a slacker mom, I have one good picture of Sprat in his cap and gown and not one good one of he and I together.  I must say, I am a little jealous when I see these moms with these great pictures of their boys and their tux at prom and their cap and gown at graduation.  I am just never able to capture those moments, I have other moments but never these perfect moments.
I have this one halfway decent picture of Sprat:

As you can tell, this was a quick snap as he was coming off the stage after receiving his diploma.  He hates having his picture made and that does not help when trying to capture these precious moments. When he was little I could hold him hostage and snap away but, now that he is grown up he is harder to hold on to to grab those special moments.

This is one of my favorites, I love those chubby little cheeks and that smile is contagious.  He has always had such a great smile and was always such a happy little fella. Not many things upset him.

I challenge you to look at these pictures without smiling.  He is just so darn cute!!

So many adventures ahead for this guy, I cannot wait to see what happens.  Stay tuned as Boston is getting closer and closer.  Who knew there was so much paperwork involved in going to College?  I do not remember this much.

Look Out Boston... Here Comes Sprat. . .

Road trip!!!!  We got the package and it is a full academic scholarship and we met with the lacrosse coach this week.
We always talk about how we want our kids to grow and go out in the world and do great things, I just never thought my sweet baby would go 13 hours away to start.
We met the coach on Friday for a tour and to see if this was going to be a good fit for Sprat. The school is small but it is only a short distance from Fenway Park.  I like the coach and his philosophy on things.  This coach is very smart. He took us on a tour of the school then showed us how easy it is to get into the city from school.  We took the subway into the city, three short stops, to the Bleacher Bar in the outfield of Fenway Park. We ate lunch and talked at length about how the coach saw Sprat impacting his program.  After lunch we took the subway by some of the local college hangouts for this college as well as Boston College.  The dorm rooms are pretty big for a dorm room and this college has a culinary school, so many times the culinary students are cooking in the school cafeteria.  No cars on campus, the blackberry stays at home.  All of his Lax gear is provided except for his stick and cleats. Since this is their inaugural Lax program these boys get to help design their uniforms. 
Sprat ' s only concern was the fact that we are 13+ hours away.  On a positive note they do live stream the games, so I will not miss them.  The coach also pointed out Sprat would have 19 new brothers, some coming much farther away than Sprat.
I have been praying about all of this and praying that God's hand will be in this decision that he makes.  It is a very exciting time to see your kid be excited about his future.

I am not sure I am ready for all of this.  A whole lot of changes working in our family right now.

Lax practice fields 

Campus

St Lucia, West Indies Winners Trip

We got delayed in Miami, we will catch a ride home tomorrow morning.  We slept in the airport, not the brightest idea for someone with a bad back. We got home this morning around 1000.
My hubby, after being laid off two years ago and re hired, came in top 14 in sales and won this amazing trip.  We were off to St Lucia, just me and the hubbs. We stayed at the Sugar Beach resort that rests between two volcanos called the Pitons.  We had the most amazing time and I was pampered in ways I could not have begun to imagine.  We resided in a true paradise for a few days and experienced breathtaking views at every turn. We were immersed in the West Indies culture.  This is an experience I will treasure forever.
The hubbs company truly went all out for their top sales people. We received gifts daily, whether it was new Ray Bans or new flip flops or gift cards, there was always something.  We enjoyed excursions:  deep sea fishing, snorkeling,  or the spa.  We had lavish dinner receptions and all day cocktails provided beach and pool side.
On one of our boat tours around the island we got a little history lesson from two local fisherman. They shared the history of the island and some salacious tells of some Hollywood stories. Mat Damon reserved the entire resort for his family one time and even bought out the local fisherman for a week to keep the beach private.  They showed us the resort where several episodes of The Bachelor were filmed.  They also showed us a bat cave where thousands of fruit bats lived. According to our guides they use bat guano (poo) to make mascara. Our guides said, "you have to get shitty to get pretty."  Mick Jagger, Oprah Winfrey,  and George Forman also have homes in St Lucia.  That is all for the Hollywood news.
It is going to be very hard to go back to my regular life.  The hustle and bustle of taking care of two growing boys and holding down the house hold.  I will hold this last week in my mind forever.

Our morning view from our Villa

The Hubbs and I with a little smooch and the two Pitons in the background after our boat tour 

This is the Great House where we had breakfast 

Our dinner view from the beach bar. 

It Just Got Real!!!!

Things just got real!  We just celebrated Senior night for lacrosse, and I just realized I have a a senior.  Really???   Are we sure, because I really believe he is only a freshman, sophomore or maybe a junior.  He cannot really be a senior, can he?  I see a lot of ugly crying in my future, you know the kind I am talking about.  I am talking UGLY crying. 
We got the cap and gown, I sent the announcements and we are preparing for Summer orientation at my dear Sprats College of choice.  Now here comes the monkey wrench.  My son loves the game of lacrosse and I wish he had found it sooner.   He has spent last year and this year falling in love with this sport.  He eats, breathes, and lives for this sport and being the Mom that I am I tried to help him find a way to be able to play lacrosse in college.  His college of choice does not have a men's lacrosse team so, I created a profile  for my son on "berecruited " to see if any colleges would be interested.  To my surprise he has had a lot of interest and a couple that sent email and one that called.  The unfortunate part of this all is that the one that is most interested is located in Boston, we are in NC.  This school is small and does offer his program of choice which is unusual because not many schools do offer it. 
Sprat has applied to this school, he has talked with the coach and we will probably go for a visit sometime in the near future.  This school does not offer athletic scholarships but it does offer academic scholarships and we are waiting to hear about all of that.  When all of this came out about me setting up the "berecruited" profile for Sprat, Big T said, "Mom you have to set one up for me, I want to go to Maryland and play lacrosse."  And there ya go. . . Big T has been playing lacrosse for three years now and he also loves the sport as much as his big brother.  Whole lot of changes coming down the road for our house.  Stay tuned, oh and do not forget the UGLY crying too. . .