Addition...

No we are not expecting another baby and we certainly aren't adding on to our home, but we do have two new additions to our family.

I would like to introduce Darwin and Blaster ( I know they are not so original, but the boys couldn't resist naming them after there favorite movie G-Force)!



Dylan is really funny with his, but we are still trying to teach him how to hold his Guinea pig "gently"!!



A little story time.



And just when I am questioning myself as to how we let them convince us to buy these creatures and secretly thinking that I still have 10 days to return them, Tyler hands me this...





So, it looks like I will be cleaning up after two stinky little rodents for a few years!!

Snuggly...

What more could you ask for, then an adorable baby fresh out of the tub, in comfy pj's, waiting patiently in her favorite chair to be feed, snuggled and put to bed. Nothing better then that!!

Have a good night!

7 months...

Wow...where has the time gone. I can't believe our baby girl is already 7 months old. Oh, how she melts ALL of our hearts everyday. You are sweet, easygoing, observant, beautiful, you love to play in your pack-n-play (it must be a third child thing b/c the boys would never play alone in a pack-n-play for the length of time that Grace does), love your jump-a-roo, light up when the boys walk in the room, love when your daddy kisses all over your face, love your crib, take wonderful naps, already trying to crawl, thought you would have a tooth by now but you don't, love your cereal, you are a wild women in the tub, flip all over the place while getting your diaper changed, are in the 90th percentile for your weight and the 80th for your height, you are everything I could ever ask for...we are truly blessed! I love you Grace Elizabeth and I am so happy to know that I will forever have you as my best friend!!

This was how happy she got when the boys came outside...she went crazy!

love this picture...ran into the house (don't worry I could still see them) and this is what I saw....Priceless!

Had to add a few of the boys...and loved this pic of Tyler!

Bath Time...

I figured I better get a few pics with them all together in the tub, because according to Tyler he only likes showers and he is getting to old to take baths with his brother and sister. Grace was so funny she kept trying to turn around and find the boys, which would make her fall over. The boys thought it was hilarious. Needless to say, she didn't last very long in there with them. Well, other then our daily day to day routine we have had a very quiet week. We all ended up getting the horrible stomach flu that is going around and let me tell you it was the sickest our family has ever been. It was just awful! We are all feeling better and looking forward to a fun weekend. We are heading up to JU tomorrow night to watch our first game. It is going to be so weird seeing Tommy in a uniform as the coach and not a player!! And then Saturday one of my best friends is heading into town for a short visit! Yeah! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

So sweet!

The crew...probably my one and only group bath time picture I will ever get!

And Tyler so nicely cooperating for the picture but what he is really thinking is hurry up and take this stinkin picture because I really don't want to be doing this!

Happy Valentine's Day...

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day. My mom came into town on Thursday and we have been enjoying every minute with her. We have done a lot of hanging around the house. We did venture out yesterday to the science museum and had a great time. And today my mom and Tyler actually managed to walk to the park without freezing to death. I swear we moved to Antarctica. I can't believe the difference in temperature from back home. We only moved 4 hours north and it is just ridiculously cold here. I am seriously ready for some warmer weather! Well, besides Dylan waking up with the stomach bug last night we have had a wonderful weekend. Today was spent relaxing at home and praying that no one else would get sick!

Isn't she such a cutie?? We sure think so!




Here are my favorite gifts from my two very special little valentines. The best part about my cards was that the boys went and made these all by themselves, without anyone prompting them to do so. It was really, really sweet. Tyler loves to write. It is amazing how well he is doing.



And Dylan has been working so hard the past few days on drawing hearts. He was so proud of himself as I was too!

My Boys...

Everytime I look at this picture it makes me smile. Lately, this is what my boys do. Dress up like "real country boys" and head out back to fish, climb trees and explore. I just love the memories they are making together!

Tyler has gotten so good at fishing. He does everything on his own. He even unhooks the fish and throws it back without any help! He is so much like his Daddy.

Explanation...

I really do have some explaining to do but I promise I have very good reasoning. I mean 10 months...really? I can't believe its been that long since I have blogged. I told myself that I would blog at least once a week come January so here it goes. Where to begin? I promise I will make this short and sweet. So, last post was when Tommy was in spring training playing for the Royals, doing unbelievable and thinking we were headed to Kansas City! Ha! How quickly things change and when I mean change they certainly changed for us.

A week before our beautiful baby girl was born Tommy was released and decided that he would not look for a new team and that his 10 year playing career had come to an end. And that is when the fun began. Find out Grace is breech. Head to the hospital 1 week early to perform an aversion that is successful and 48 long hours later Grace joined our family. Three days later find out she has a heart murmur. Tommy registers for classes full-time. Tyler begins kindergarten and Dylan starts pre-k. Pure Chaos!! So, somehow we survive the months of August and September and I am finally starting to feel like a human being again. Then Tommy shows up at the park and drops a bomb on me. I got a job coaching and we are moving to Jacksonville. What?? Leaves that night to spend a week with the coaches and team. Comes home and three weeks later we put our house on the market thinking it won't sell or rent until after the holidays. Wrong!! Six days later our home is rented and we have 10 days to be out. Find a home in Jacksonville through the Internet, pack, clean, patch holes, paint, rent a moving truck, stay with my parents for a few days and then load up our family and head to our new home. And on December 1st we pulled into the driveway of our new home, which remind you I had never even been to Jacksonville. Unpack, decorate for Christmas, register Tyler at his new school, travel back home for the holidays, visit friends, head to Georgia for New Years and settle back into our home and gear up for what 2010 has in store for us!! Whew! So, in a nut shell that's why I have been MIA from the blogging world. But God is so good and the baseball life truly prepared me for what God had in store for our family. It taught me to roll with the punches, to never doubt God's plan, to go outside of my comfort zone, and most importantly it prepared my kids to be confident and resilient. We just know and trust that this is his plan and we are where we are meant to be (at least for now). We feel so blessed!

Man "Meats" Wall...

I got a text from Tommy this afternoon that said,"go to msn.com" and that was it. Our Internet has been down for the past week so I ran over to my parents (they live across the street) to get on-line. My initial thought was that something bad had happened, but thankfully what I saw was Tommy smashed up against the outfield wall! Hilarious!! The boys thought it was especially funny. They could not stop giggling. So, if you get a chance go to http://www.msn.com/ and if the picture is not on the main page anymore, I am sure you can click on the sports link to see it! Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I will be back to posting pictures soon our Internet will hopefully be working by tomorrow!

Guess what...

It's

a

Girl!

I am still in shock this morning! I can't believe it! Tommy and I went back and forth whether or not to find out the sex. I wanted to know and he wanted it to be a surprise. We didn't find out with Dylan and it was awesome, but with us having a baby in the middle of season and a week before Tyler starts kindergarten, I wanted to be prepared! Especially if they only give Tommy two days to come home like they did with Dylan. So, we came to an agreement and this is what we did. I had the lady put the results in a sealed envelope for me (we all know it needed to be sealed because I definitely would have peeked) and fax the results to Tommy's hotel. I called the hotel and they put it in a sealed envelope for Tommy as well. As soon as he got to the hotel we got on our web cams and opened it at the same time! It was awesome! My family was here and we were all going crazy. Dylan actually started crying because we all scared him half to death we were screaming so loud! Before Tommy and I hung up the phone last night I said, "Can you believe you are going to have a little girl?" And he said, "No, but it makes this so much more exciting and she is going to be soooo spoiled!" Isn't that the truth!

I can't believe that I can now shop for dresses, bows (jenn I will need bow class 101 because as we all know I am not very good with that), cute shoes, and everything else pink, pink, pink. I especially can't wait to start decorating the nursery.

Another year another season...

Can you believe the season is already here again. I swear each off-season seems to go by faster and faster. The past two seasons have been filled with new teams, new friends, new cities, new excitement, new fears, and new challenges. I am so excited to see what new things God has in store for us this season. My prayer for our family is that we would have peace knowing that God's plan is perfect and that he is completely in control.

For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).

Praise the Lord! Isn't that such a great relief! Especially in the baseball world where you don't know from day to day what will happen next. I pray also for all my baseball girlfriends and there families as they begin to prepare and adjust for the season that they as well will have a wonderful, healthy and blessed season!

Tommy we miss you so much! Especially this little monkey!

We love you!

A fun reunion...

Yesterday was a great day. The McPherson's arrived a few weeks ago and Jenn and I have been making plans for awhile to see each other and we finally did! We had such a great time together. The boys just loved Reese. I have never seen Tyler act this way around any other toddler. He especially just couldn't get enough of her. There main goal for the day was to do as many silly things as possible to make her crack up laughing. Reese was hilarious! She laughed at everything they did and surprisingly didn't get sick of them. She is the cutest little girl. I have never seen anyone sport a pair of sunglasses the way she does either. I think every person inside Chick-fil-a and in the drive through got a kick out of her on our way out to the car. It was so funny. The boys were asking all day today when they were going to get to see them again. We have lots of fun things planned over the next month. We can't wait to show them around!

Big boy Tyler striking a pose!

Look who has mastered the monkey bars.

And her comes Mr. Silly.

Jenn has a few more pics of Reese and Tyler that she is going to email so I will add those tomorrow. Sorry for the duplicate in pics for those of you that read Jenn's blog!

I'm back...

I know it's been a while but things have been extremely crazy these past few months. Tommy left for Arizona this week and is absolutely loving his new team. He is adjusting to the time change and dry weather but other then that no complaints. Great coaches, great guys, new facility what more could he ask for. We on the other hand are still trying to adjust to him not being here. I thought it would get easier each year but I was definitely wrong. The boys miss him so much and the things they say just break my heart. Our plan this year is to skip spring training and drive out to wherever he is in April. It's going to be a loooong 6 weeks but I am praying that it flies by fast.

Christmas Preschool Program...

This is Tyler's third program that we have attended over the past three years and this one brought tears to my eyes. They put on the most amazing program! And you will not believe this but Tyler had a speaking part. Yes, that is right the little boy that wouldn't go to anyone or even go in the locker room with his daddy when he was little actually got up in front of tons of people and spoke on the microphone! They chose two children from each class and when we got the letter home to practice his lines I couldn't believe it! Our little boy is growing up!

Here comes "Mr. Handsome".

HO.HO.HO...

A new tradition began tonight with a visit from Santa Claus! Our neighbor dressed up like Santa and surprised the kids and then Tommy returned the favor and dressed up for his grandchildren. Tommy was hilarious today, he walked around all day pretending to be Santa. It was so much fun and the kids couldn't believe that Santa made a special visit to their house before Christmas. We decided that we are going to do this every year from here on out! I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful holiday season as much as we are!

Here is Santa entering in from the back of the house. We banged on the door and had the kids run out front to see what the noise was and as we were all coming back inside this is what they saw! The kids went crazy!

Dylan giving Santa a big hug!

Santa passing out crayons and coloring books.

All the kiddos (Riley, Dylan, Luke, Julian and Tyler).

The boys trying to get a glimpse of Santa and his reindeer's!

It's been awhile...

and I have so many things to fill you all in on, so I will start today with....Tommy has officially signed with the Kansas City Royals!! This means lots of changes again for us. We were thinking he would re-sign with the Marlins and commute 20 minutes to spring training and if he didn't make the team drive his truck to Triple-A in New Orleans. That would be way to convenient..right? So, now it's spring training back in good old Arizona and Triple-A in Omaha, Nebraska!! We are going to stay positive and pray he makes the team because we heard Kansas City is awesome and the manager is suppose to be a great coach! We really feel like this is going to be a great opportunity for him and our family!! Best of all we get to explore another new city! Hope everyone is doing well...more news to come!!

Mission Accomplished...

I can not express how happy I am to say that Dylan is officially potty trained. We started potty training back in February and have been trying on and off every since. I know that everyone says, "they won't go to kindergarten in diapers", but for a while I thought Dylan might be the first one! Thankfully that won't be the case! He is doing such a great job! I am so happy that this long process has finally come to an end!

Happy Halloween!

We had such a great night tonight! We were worried that we were going to get rained out, but the weather ended up clearing up just before it got dark. The night was perfect and the weather was cool, which resulted in "NO" complaints from the children that their costumes were too hot! Which is always a concern in South Florida! You should of seen our train of 14 children going house to house. They were all so adorable! When we got home they all immediately sat down and dumped out their bags to see what kind of treats they got. With all the kids candy laid out you could barely see the floor. It was hilarious and probably the only time that you could have 14 children unattended without a sound coming out of the room. All of us adults actually got to sit around and have adult conversation without getting interuppted every 2 minutes! We all had so much fun. Can't wait to do it again next year! I hope everyone else had a happy and safe halloween as well. Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend!

The Castellano's Family

Adorable Brandon and Ms. Patti

The Boys

The Mama's

Mr. Power Ranger and Mr. Army Man

Here are a few of our party treats!

The boys and their cousin Riley worked very hard on this haunted house!

I think they did such a great job!

Our Pumkpin!

And last but not least my hilarious brother Stephen, his adorable girlfriend Brittany, Dylan, Julian and Tyler!