Christmas day 2008

We had family here from Liverpool to spend Christmas day with us, Tony took us all out to dinner at Gaylord Palms. We had a great night. The kids enjoyed having family here it made this Christmas even more special. Sam complained the whole time cos he hates to wear smart clothes, what happened to my Abercrombie Kid........ as soon as we got home he put on his sloppies. Santa brought Sam a new PSP as he lost his original one at a baseball game earlier this year, he was so happy he also got an itouch which he was happy with. John got an xbox 360 and a ton of games plus they both got soccer stuff and baseball stuff.

Santa is Coming......

The kids were excited and opted for an early night tonight. Sam was really looking forward to getting in bed and falling asleep quickly to make tomorrow come quicker. John was excited too and also went to bed really early. We are looking forward to tomorrow when we are going to Gaylord Palms for Christmas dinner with our family that have arrived today. It feels really weird not to be chopping, peeling and cutting on Christmas eve, we cant wait to go to the Palms, it will be a nice change, although I like the house to smell of a Turkey cooking on Christmas day, so I bought one anyway and we are going to cook it tomorrow morning. We wanted to wish all our family and friends a very merry christmas and a happy new year. we love and miss you all....xxxx

Our First Soccer Tournament 3v3 - 3rd Place

Sam played a tough day of footie today, he played 7 games in all and our team (The Mighty Reds - who picked that name?) came 3rd. It was Sam's first experience of real competitive play he came home battered a bruised but was happy with his 3rd place medal. Keith coached the team this year and you can see his experience and knowledge of the game really helped the kids, he was happy with the way all the kids played but was disappointed in the referees who "sucked" he said. The girls team made it to the final but lost in the last few minutes..... Go Girls........!!!!! What a great achievement for these kids to have got so far with so little experience. The sign of great things to come.......

Disney Tournament.....

John was excited to be playing this weekend in a Baseball Tournament at Disney. We all got up at 5.45am this morning and headed off for the Wide World of Sports. We found our team and entered the Disney complex. Boys warmed up and everything looked great. The game started we were on fire. John looked good at bat and the games began......... Next picture

2nd at Bat.......

This is John after batting, he struck at the ball and pulled the muscle at the top of his leg. He fell to the ground like a sack of spuds.....LOL Consequently I felt really sick and fainted I know nothing new there hey........ We got some crutches for him so that he can rest it for a few days. The Flag Football school team has a game on Tuesday I am not so sure he is going to be able to make it, but we will see.......!!! So after all the preparation and the early morning start, John played the whole of 20mins.....

My Great Niece...

Here she is finally, my new Great Niece Quinn Elaine, lovely name Hayley. She came into this world at 5.50am on 22nd November, she weighed in at 8lb 10oz, WOW......... I cant wait to see her, I am waiting to see some more photos of her that I am hoping my brother is going to send to me. So now I have 3 nieces, 5 nephews and 2 great nieces. Well done Hayley, I know your mum would be very proud of you and is smiling down on you and Quinn. Good Luck, we love ya.....

Happy Birthday John

Happy Birthday John 14 today, its my little boys birthday, little boy ha, John is much bigger than me now and he is so grown up, he had a good day in school and spent the afternoon playing with his new itouch that he got for his birthday, it took us a while to sync it from the ipod so that he could put all his music and photographs on the itouch, it really is amazing what apple have done with these systems. I am now a mac computer user and I am trying to convert the family to them, its a challenge but I will get there in the end.

Our Special visitor....

Auntie Jane came over to stay for a week, we went to our best Chinese in Orlando tonight and had lots of good food. John is eating seafood soup........I took some photos of the kids and realized how big they have grown John is 14 on Wednesday how time fly's, I haven't taken any photographs for ages and noticed the change in them in just a matter of weeks. I am awaiting the news of my niece Hayley her baby was due last week, hurry Hayley cant wait to meet my new great niece.........!!!!

Brothers Grimm......

So Johns play was this week, he played the Director in the play Brothers Grimm. I was not too sure how he would perform after earlier events, but it was really good. He played the part really well and had fun. Afterwards we went to watch Sam's baseball game and Sam played really well, he hit the ball each time he got up to bat, which makes me happy as he has started to say he is not gonna play spring baseball.

The Bad News.....

So, here is the long awaited post, as you can tell from me not posting earlier the boys soccer team lost. I know, how did that happen......!!! Its a really long story and wont really go into it, but we didn't play as well as we should, and have played way better in the past, Friday we just didn't perform, we didn't take one strike at goal. John has been on fire all season and wouldn't you know they scored the winning goal with 6 minutes to go. He was inconsolable, (is that how you spell that....) on the flip side he made a 4 fantastic saves, so the score could of been 4-0 rather than just 1-0. Anyway, I don't want to talk about it every again........Lets move on to my next post!!!! LOL

Championship Game Here We Come.......

The Celebration Soccer Team won the Semi Final today 2-0 so now its on to the Championship game which will be played at home on Friday at 4.15 pm. Our defense played a good game and John had to do very little although he did make a great save by tipping the ball over the bar. I am not allowed to take my camera now to the game as I haven't for the last few weeks so the "Birchall's Superstitious minds" are not letting me take it. We had our friends here from Liverpool Alan and Karen so they came to cheer on the team. Sam is already planning the school team next year, and how good they are going to be. I will post as soon as the game is played on Friday. John tried out for the school flag football and made the team and their practice starts on Monday.

Halloween at Celebration

Celebration is always great fun at Halloween, everyone really makes a huge effort to make it the best one ever. We played baseball at 4pm and were home and back in Celebration by 7. The kids got on their outfits and out we went, Sam was a Banana and John was a scouser. I told John that no one here knows what a scouser is, but he looked funny and played the part well in his track suit, I thought he looked more like Terry Sullivan off Brookie. Sam took out a pillowcase and it ended up full of sweets way to many to allow him to eat. We met some of the boys friends and took some pictures, Rayan dressed up as a girl and he looked gorgeous......... We ended the night at the Ashe familys halloween party. We had a great time and walk home at 1am, at least it was a warm night. This week is a busy week, the School Soccer team has the play off game tomorrow and the girls team play on Thursday. John and I are coaching a soccer team as the head coach is away and has asked us to step in, that should be fun........

School Soccer Team...... UNDEFEATED

The school soccer team finished the season undefeated. They won all 6 games, John made an amazing save in the second half and was congratulated by the opposing coach. The boys all played fantastic and battled on until the end, they played Horizon today who were also unbeaten. Play offs now are on the 3rd November. We will have friends here from Liverpool to come and cheer them on too.

Old Enough to Bike Ride to school......

So Sam has been driving me insane for months about riding his bike to school. Finally, I decided that maybe he is old enough to cycle to school by himself, although letting him go off on his own my heart was in my mouth........ John does not want to cycle he is still going to have me take him in the car to school. Sam is ready to set off, and here he is off on his own. He looks such a big boy on his bike with his backpack and helmet on, he leaves the house at 8.05am and it takes him about 10 minutes to get there. Also he gets home the same time as John and I walk through the door. The boys are off now for 2 days so we are just gonna relax and chill out might take them the movies and hang out at the pool for a few days to top off my tan...........

School Soccer Team 5 wins 0 losses

The school soccer team are on a roll we have won all 5 games we have played so far, only 1 more game to go. We played our only away game tonight at Bellalago and it was a tough game, the score was 3-1 the boys all played really well and they can all now taste the championship. Our next game is Wednesday 22nd then its onto the finals....... The picture is of John at Celebration soccer fields, I didn't take my camera to Bellalago so much for being a blogger I never have my camera with me. It happened the other night we came home from our friends and we drove past 3 huge black hogs out by the lake. We stopped to take a look at them and they just grunted and stirred at us for a long time before running off to the woods, after that night I said I was always going to have my camera with me..........!!!!

The Pink Swoosh....

So here it is, its Breast Cancer Awareness month and as promised Sam has changed his swoosh in his baseball cleats to Pink...... he is so thoughtful to keep remembering these woman who are suffering from this illness. Just a quick shout out to Jeanette my tennis partner, get well soon I am missing you on court, I keep losing on court without you, and you know how I hate to lose.......!!!!!!

The Eagles

Johns new Baseball team are called The Eagles. We are doing fantastic we have played 8 games and we have won 7 of them. We have a tournament that we are gonna play over the Halloween weekend, its going to be great, and our friends Karen and Alan will be here from England to watch the games. John is now playing in left field and is doing a good job, he has made loads of catches in the outfield and his hitting has really improved. The coaches are really good with the kids and John really enjoys this team.

Friends from the "pool"

We have hooked up over here with Robert Lacy and his wife Louise. Robert used to own Lacy Roofing in Liverpool and now has come over to Florida to live. They live over in Keanes Pointe and have a great house on the lake and have a Jet Ski, of course when the Birchy's arrive all hell breaks loose and everyone is ragging the jet ski around the lake, screaming and laughing breaking the peaceful evening. John took a little bit of persuading to get on the jet ski after Keith scared him in Grand Cayman, but once he was on he went off on it by himself and he was away he wouldn't get off. Rob is a massive Liverpool fan just like us and ofcourse the Liverpool flag had to come out to please Sam. We really miss the footie so it was nice to talk Liverpool stuff.

School Soccer Team....

I haven't got any photographs my camera isn't working but I thought I would blog anyway. Johns school soccer team is playing really really well. We have played 4 games and won them all. John has only let in 1 goal , he is doing fantastic. The goal he let in was a brilliant goal "Pepe" would not have saved it. John is captain of the team and takes his role really serious, he organizes his back line and tells the team where they should be. There are only 6 games in the season so only 2 more to go to make it to the finals which I think we have a great chance of winning. Great job John......

Finally......

Sam, hit his first home run tonight. It was an in field triple and then a throwing error took him to all the way to home plate. His hit was a great hit to the outfield, and then his speed on the bases took him to third, he was like lightening and finally made it home......!!!! He is so happy and proud of himself and now he never stops talking about it. Great Job Sam.....!!!!! We lost one of our Coaches tonight, Coach Nelson is a Professional Jockey and left to go back to New York to race. I didnt take my camera tonight, I was kicking myself I should always have it with me now I am a blogger....

Orlando Home Show

It was the Orlando Home Show this weekend at the Convention Centre. It was a good show, no where near as big as it has been in the past but still a good show, we managed to get a few good leads so it was worth it. We took Sam with us on Sunday and put him to work, handing out brochures and leaflets, always works to have a cute kid on your booth to drum some business up. Plantation shutters are the "in" thing now, as people are deciding to upgrade rather than move house, which is good for us. We have very loyal customers who are keeping us going with repeat business and referrals. Its tough out there in this market, things can only get better.........!!!!

Big Smiles....

There are always lots of big smiles around the baseball fields on a Saturday morning, Coach Dave, Alex and Sam all love the game of baseball and it shows...... Coach Dave is a fantastic Coach for the Athletes. Dad, Coach Dave was our All Star Coach last year, John was on his team. All the kids love Coach Dave.......

Double Buddy....

We are on Red Sox this season with Challenger and Sam is a double buddy, he plays with Alex(Top picture) at 9am and then plays with DJ at 11am, he has partnered up with Diego to play with DJ. It was Sam's first time as Alex's buddy and they hit it off straight away, they really got along well. DJ is new to the program so I think it will take a week or two for him to settle down he was bit tearful today. The boys love doing challenger so much that Sam is not gonna play soccer, the games are played at the same time so he chose Challenger over soccer. Its great that the boys understand what a commitment is and they knew challenger was not a one season deal.

Fall baseball started..........

I took this photograph of Sam pitching, its not a very good picture, my camera is rubbish for action shots. Sam did a good job of pitching and struck two kids out, he threw a couple of wild ones but on the whole he did good for his first time. It was our first game and we had loads of fun, the kids played in all positions that they never played before Sam pitched and played centre field and second base. In the last inning of the game Sam made an sweet double play. The ball came to him at 2nd base he ran and tagged the kid out and threw the ball to first base to make the second out. Great job Sam.....

Footie Season starts

John had his first school footie game today, they won 8-0 the game was ended on the mercy rule, when your ahead by 8 goals they end the game no matter how long has been played we played for 45 minutes. It was a good game and our team was really looking good we had a tough defense, and they kept the ball away from John which was great. John made an amazing save that could of gone in over this head. The kids that made the play were all on Keith's soccer team last year and you could tell they had listened to what he was trying to teach them. There is only 6 games to play in the school season so 1 down 5 to go. Coach Connelly has given John the role of being team Captain, he did a great job telling his team the plays and where he needed them. All but one of our games are home games its always good being the home team, its seems like the whole of Celebration came out to cheer them on........

Challenger Starts again....

Our favorite time of year, this Saturday Challenger Baseball started, we are all Buddies and we couldn't be happier. John is still with Ricky, and Sam and I are gonna have a new athlete this season, as Adrian is going to be horse riding instead of playing fall baseball. This Saturday Coach Dave just wanted to see the new athletes and what each kid liked and disliked, he made the athletes and the buddies run the bases, John and Ricky ran the bases in a quick time, John was so determined to have Ricky win he pushed his wheelchair so fast in 90+ heat I don't know how he did it. John said it was all worth it, look at Ricky's face...... John your a great kid.......

WOW......

4D...... how amazing is this technology. This is my brand new great niece. She is due in to arrive into our family in about 10 weeks, she looks just like my niece Hayley. Hayley its been fun watching you grow up, and even tho I am miles away over here I always think about you, and what you have achieved, you have grown into a smart, clever young lady, and without a shadow of a doubt your mum would of been so proud of you........ just like we are..... we love you xxx

Virginia Grace

Hanging out with Daniel, Mary and Grace is always a pleasure, Grace is such a little dream, she is really good natured and is always smiling, Grace took a shine to Sam and was always lovin' on him, hugging him and sitting by him, it was funny. Sam wasn't sure of how to handle the attention that Grace gave him. I remember taking Sam out for breakfast one morning just the two of us, a few years back, and the waitress came over and said to me "wow, mom I think your gonna be fighting the girls off with a big stick in a few years," somehow I think she might be right....... Hanging out with Grace made me realize how much I miss our kids at home, Lauren & Catlin my goddaughters, my little nephew Jack and the rest of the big kids probably bigger than me now and of course my new niece or nephew hopefully arriving very soon. It makes me sad to see my kids and how big they are, and remembering them at Graces age, and the things they used to do, how time flys..... John is taller than me now and Sam is really catching up. We ended the night with a competitive game of scrabble. We had a blast and of course the Birchall's competitive streak came out and we all ended up fighting.......LOL It reminded me of our Friday nights in Liverpool with our best friends Kath and Paul, they used to come to our house to hang out we would play scrabble all night, we had John and Sam at the time Kath and Paul had no kids, instead of being out on the Razz, they chose to hang out with us, we are blessed to have such good friends its a shame they are so far away in England. Changing the subject completely, we are still freaked out about Popash, Daniel and Mary took the same route to Sanibel the week before us, last night we were chatting about the drive down there and all the stuff you see, when I said to them, did you see Popash, Mary said "no, I know what it is because its in the Weird Florida book but we didn't see it", I freaked out there is no way you can drive down to Sanibel going that way and not see Popash.........!!!!!!

Turkey time.....

We decided to fry a turkey for dinner, Daniel, Mary and Grace came over to hang out and the fun began. The bird was a huge 14lb we fried the turkey in peanut oil in the back yard it took about 50 minutes to cook and when it came out it was a golden brown colour and look delicious. 50 minutes to cook a turkey thats amazing, I think we will be frying turkey on Christmas day rather than getting up at 5am to put it in the oven. After the turkey was cooked we took to frying everything in sight. We put potatoes in the fryer. and the insides of the turkey in the fryer. Dinner was really good, and everyone was stuffed we ended the night with dessert and a couple of glasses of wine and a competitive game of scrabble......

1st AAU Game

John has his first AAU game today, they played against an all star team and did really really well they lost but only by 1 run. It was only a scrimmage game so it was all fun. It was hot a really hot day for baseball. John got a nice hit, he got walked and struck out. It was a 9 inning game. All good fun and this afternoon we are frying a turkey pictures to come....

Diving Lessons.....

So Mark gave us all a lesson in Diving this weekend, look at the amount of splash another perfect dive Mark.......!!!!! The more diving he did, the worse he got, he made us laugh thats the main thing, although nearly damaged his back when his legs flipped over and kicked himself in the lower back. I have no idea why but this is the only video that would upload to the blogspot, hmmmmm

End of a fab weekend....

Nothing like dessert at the edge of the pool. We all didn't want this weekend to end, we had such a nice time down with our good friends. Last night we had a nice meal for dinner then we all went to the movies, the boys went to see a boy film and the girls went to see a chick flick. I finally gave in and went to see Mamma Mia...... Kathy and I laughed because I didn't realize it was a musical I thought it was the ABBA story, Kathy and I went and it was good I must admit. We left early this morning and on the way home John wanted to stop off at Popash, we said ok and set off looking out for it, we drove down the country lanes heading home and we could not find it, this was really weird because on the way to Kathy and Marks we saw it straight away it was a huge brick building that stood out a mile away, on the way back we must of drove right passed it even though four pairs of eyes were looking for it, there was no way we could of missed it, or did we even see it at all...........SPOOKY.......!!!!!

Friday Nights..............

Friday was a relaxing day we all just hung around the pool all day and had a cook out for dinner joined by the gator. We spent tons of time talking and eating and relaxing in the spa. Kids had fun playing pool volley ball again and watching Mark do Olympic diving. I will post the video if it will upload, anyone remember Peter Kay from the high diving board, Marks dives were a thousand times better.