What's Going On

Off to OBX

 We're heading out tomorrow morning to the Outer Banks!  Will be a long drive, but so worth it! 

This week, Stephanie and I were at camp at our church, Summer with the Shepherd.  I worked outside and ran "recess".  Which meant filling a baby pool, turning on and off a sprinkler, helping little kids get socks back onto wet feet.. and makign sure there were fun things for the older kids to play with as well.  this meant any type of ball for the boys.. and anything they could use to hurl water at each other.

Chris was at basketball camp at our high school.  the boys and girls varsity coaches and players ran the camp,   Chris loved it,  he said it was very organized :-).

Photo business is going well, I've had many, many orders!  Things will slow down now since my photos ops are diminishing with the end of the school year.  But hopefully I can shoot a few events over the summer.  I'll definitely get to shoot baseball!   Maybe some swim team and soccer as well..   I have new pictures up, you can see them at www.kcassens.smugmug.com

Here are a few pictures from the end of the school year:

5th grade graduation:

Chris and his teacher.. yes, that is his teacher.. all 24 years old of him :-)  Heis a Mets fan, Chris thought he was very, very cool

Here is 5th grade field day.  This first one is Chris giving his teacher a "high 5" after Chris threw the ball and hit the target that sent the Principal into the dunk tank!!

These are pictures of the Math Fair.  Surprise, suprise, Chris did a math game that had to do with Baseball!

 

Here is Derek playing a math game..

 

Steph socializing...

(Steph and Derek both had their own table with their own math game as well).

 

This cute guy in the middle is a friend's son... I took pictures at kindergarten graduation.. very cute!

 

Steph's end of the year gymnastics show at her new gym.. I got a lot of good pictures, just not a lot of good pictures of Steph!! :-)

 

Saturday

Today Steph had gymnastics pratice.   Chris had baseball practice.  Did some shopping for Outer Banks.. some shopping for my empty fridge.  I was not a popular mom this morning when they both wanted waffles and we didn't have any.

So I never told you about Whale Watch.  Chris and Jeff got on the coach bus on Wed morning (2 weeks ago?) with the rest of Chris' class and headed to cape cod.  The teacher went as well and a second class went in a second bus.  The weather wasn't great, but it actually worked out well, they did not have the sun beating down on them when they went on Salt March exploration.  And, when they finally got on the whale watch boat, they saw over 30 whales and 2 sharks (the safe kind they assured me, whatever that means!!).  They slept in cabins, had a camp fire, did some shopping and eating in Plymouth, went to a Plymouth re-enactment and talked to the pilgrims.. I will have to ask Chris to be a guest blogger and tell you all about it.  They returned home Friday night, very tired.. so tired Chris decided to skip a birthday aparty he had been invited to for Fri night.   But they had a really great time.  Somwhere on this computer, there are pictures that Chris and Jeff took.. but I'm not sure where they loaded them!

Last week, we had a flying-up ceremony for Steph's brownie troop, they became junior girl scouts. 

 

Gotta run, more tomorrow!

Have a great Sunday and Happy Christening Connor!!!!

Hello!

Hi everyone, can you believe it, I have updated my blog 3 days in a row.. OK so Dilynn gave me the content one day, but there has been something here for 3 days now.

Today was the first full day of summer vacation so I took advantage and put the kids to work!  We cleaned the living room and dining room.  Steph cooperated, which didn't surprise me, but Chris cooperated too.. which surprised me!  Tomorrow, after gymnastics and baseball, we'll see how good they mop floors and clean toilets... heh heh heh.. mean mommy.

Chris and Jeff have officially started All-Stars.  They have a pretty good team and are having fun practicing as often as possible.  The rain kept them off the field today, but they will be there bright and early tomorrow.

If you want to see photos of the end of the year gymnastics show at Steph's new gym.. go to my website, www.kcassens.smugmug.com   Unfortunately there are lots and lots of photos.. and only some are of steph.  She has brown shorts, white tank top and two pig tails.. so you can try to identify her.

Photography business is goign well... I photographed Kindergarten graduation, you can see those photos on my site as well.. and that was popular!

Steph is doing more exciting tricks at gymnastics.  She swings up and squats on the low bar (uneven bars), then jumps off and grabs onto the high bar.. yikes.   She also is doing side airials (sp?) and working on back tucks.. she is loving it.

Fifth grade graduation pictures will be on my website soon.  That celebration was very nice. 

Steph and Derek both found out who their teachers are next year.. they are both happy and have lots and lots of friends in their class.

Yesterday we went to see the movie "Land of the Lost".   I highly recommend you skip it!  We left before it was over.  It was bad.. and bad language, not for young kids!

Today we went to see "Up".  If you have not seen it, GO!  Is it very cute, very funny, great for both kids and adults.

Have a great weekend everyone, more tomorrow (I hope!)

Dear Aunt Kathy

Fine Aunt Kathy if you wont blog then I will. I am hoping to influence you to blog more. FOURTEEN DAYS WITHOUT EVEN ONE POST!!!!!!!!!!! Tsk tsk tsk, shame on you:-) . The weird thing is that I am always reading your blog but I know everything that you are going to write so it's kind of weird. Anyway, this week i have had no school but the little kids do (MWAHAHAHA!!!!!) so I have been going to dance camp. we did ballet, hip hop, modern and flamenco. It is really fun. well, and i will warn you that next part of this blog entry is kind of random, there are THREE cases of swine flu in are school since Monday. Personally, i think people are making way too big of a deal about it but I  dont want to start the great debate so I will make a big deal about it too so, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! THREE WHOLE CASES OF SWINE FLU!!!!!!!! Okay there you go there is my freaking out about the swine flu. On a different note, this summer I am going to sleepaway camp in Indiana for two weeks. It is really cool. they have 6 dogs and like 14 cats. We are going straight to camp from obx (not exactly on the way is it). Well that is pretty much all I have to say. (Is this guest blogger entry too short Aunt Kathy? If it is you can justy put it in really big font. 

Dear Dilynn,

Dear Dilynn,

Hi!  How are  you?  What have you been up to?  I haven't seen you in about 4 hours.  Hope you had fun at dance class.  Are you glad school is out?  Are you glad that you are done school and Derek, Chris and Steph still have to go to school?  Are you very excited about goig to sleep away camp?  Are you excited to go to OBX?  I am!

You need to be my guest blogger!  Will you do that for tomorrow?   I have been a really bad blogger lately due to my new website.   I have not blogged about whale watch or the 3rd grade bike ride...  I will do taht soon I hope!

See you soon Dilynn,

Love Aunt Kathy

What's going on?

Been spending lots and lots of time here:  www.kcassens.smugmug.com

Take a look.. lots of new pictures.

Steph's dance recital last Saturday went very well.  Steph really loved it.  She told Nana "if I couldn't perform.. I just don't know what I'd do!!"   Nana, Uncle Richie, Aunt Chrisie and Dilynn came to the recital.  Dad was back on Long Island sick unfortunately.  Hope you are feeling better soon dad!  Jeff and Chris had a playoff baseball game at the same time.  Steph handled that better than I expected.  They will have to watch the video tape.

The baseball dudes lost their game, but Chris still manages to have fun.  He got to pitch, catch, play shortstop and first (I think).  He and Jeff came up with a "code" while he was pitching so Jeff could tell him what kind of pitch to throw.. he thought that was way cool.

Jeff and Chris left this morning for the 5th grade whale watch.  They do this every year.  The whole 5th grade goes on "whale watch".  They actually visit a salt marsh, a plantation, go on a boat ride and then a second whale boat.  Today was salt marsh.  He called a little while ago and talked non-stop.  I think that translates to "he's having a great time".   He and Jeff are in a cabin with all of Chris' best buds in his class.  Jeff knows the dads so they should all have fun.  So far I hear one teacher stole the S'mores from the other teachers class.  And Jeff was accused of turning "starting a campfire" into a competitive sport :-)

Steph is loving gymnastics still.  She is now almost doing a "back tuck".  If you don't know what that is, you're lucky.. don't Google it, you don't want to know.

Today Steph and I went out to ride bikes.  Next Friday the whole third grade goes on their annual 18 mile bike ride (with a parent!, that's me).  Steph has not ridden her bike in a very, very long time.  She learned how to ride it 2 years ago, then got a new bigger bike, and has not really ridden it much in 2 years.  She (and I) were not looking forward to this practice.  But typical of this daredevil.    In the hour we rode, she went from whiney and grump and "I can't do this", to speeding as fast as she could so she could slam on her brakes and make skid marks.

Well, back to photos here.. Chris informed me he is taking lots of photos for me at whale watch.  He listed everything he took photos of:  "hermit crabs, hermit crab holes, rocks, marshes...."  I asked him to take a few people pictures too :-)

Have a great Wed!

Dance Recital

 

 

 

  

This was her favorite outfit:

 

 

Dance, dance, dance and softball

Well Steph has been spending a lot of time at the dance studio these past few weeks.   I think they are all ready for the recital tomorrow.  Steph is in 5 numbers.  One opening circus act where she is none other than the cartwheeling acrobat.  Then she is in 2 tap numbers (Clowning around and Clown March), aand then two ballet numbers (Flying Trapeze and Circus Horses).  I will try to get a few pictures taken! Four of her 5 numbers are in the first act, so I should have lots of photos of the second act!  Nana and Papa are coming to the recital, so are Aunt Chrisie and Dilynn.  Steph is excited about that.

Chris has a playoff game tomorrow.  They won last Monday so now they face the 1st place team.  I will not be there to get photos, bummer.   Should be a great game!

Today Chris' class walked to the middle school to tour the building and to meet some of the teachers (YES!  He will be going to middle school next year!  My baby :-) )  He loved it.

Steph has chosen the instrument she will play next year, she will play clarinet just like her mom (and just like her cousin Derek!).  Chris tried to convince her to play french horn (as he tried to convince everyone else in the school!).  His music teacher had him play french horn for the 3rd grade to help convince them it was a cool instrument :-)  she has trouble getting enough "french horners".

Here are some photos from yesterdays softball game:

Actually, if you want to see all of them, go to www.kcassens.smugmug.com and click on "galleries" then "softball".  They are definitely worth looking at, these girls are so cute and so, so funny!

Here are a few of  Steph:

 

 

 

Hope all is well with you guys.. no takers for guest blogger, huh?  Either that or there is nobody out there listening!!!  :-)

Have a great weekend!

Funny Story

I found this story to be rather funny.  We went to Carmel for Steph's soccer game last Sunday.  And while we were waiting to get started, Steph's coach was reminded of a funny story about soccer in Carmel. By the way, Carmel is about an hour drive from Rhinebeck.

 A few year back, coach went to Carmel with his son for a soccer game.  Another family, we will call them the Jones family (Chrisie knows this family well), they had a son on the team too.  So the Jones family, who owns a farm, drove their pick up truck to the game.  The game started when all of a sudden, the fans were looking at something running around near the field.   It was a CHICKEN!  There was a chicken running around the soccer field.  So the Jones' look over and they say, hey, that's OUR CHICKEN!!  Turns out that the chicken used to like to lay eggs in the back of their pick up truck.  It must have been in the back of the truck when they left and it took the ride all the way to Carmel, then got out to see what was going on.  They chased down the chicken, put it in the cab of the truck until the game was over.

Steph's team played very well on Sunday (best game yet.. no still didn't win). Steph's foot is finally strong enough and she is back to her old self.  She scored a goal. 

Here are the crazy girls:

 

Here is the goal:

Christopher's soccer team did not win either, but it was a close one!

But Chris (and Jeff's) baseball team did win the first round of the playoff games!  And it was exciting.  Tie game in the bottom of the last inning.  Two outs.  Spencer hits a triple to score the runner on 3rd to win the game.  the bench clears and piles on Spencer at 3rd base.  A lot of happy campers.  Steph and I missed it, we were at gymnastics.  she is really enjoying this new gym.  The family that owns it is very, very nice and VERY knowledgable in coaching gymnatics.

Been spending lots and lots of time making CDs of photos for my customers... I've been offering CDs of all the photos from specific events.. getting a lot of interest!

Dance recital is on Saturday.  Will not get lots of photos, will be spending lots of time as part of the "pit crew" who has to change Steph into her next outfit in record time :-)

Hope all is well with everyone.  Any guest bloggers out there?   Tommy?  Vincent? Dilynn?  Danny?  Derek??

Have a great Thurs!

Let's Go Mets!!!

Went to Citi Field today.  Great day!  Great seats!  Weather was perfect.  The stadium is very cool, you should check it out.  Only down side is the Mets did not come out on top.. oh well.  

Thanks again to Maria Grasso (LaFonte) who sent us the great tickets!!

Here are a few photos (I brought my old point and shoot camera.. wasn't sure they'd let me in with my mega zoom lens!)

 

This is how close we were to the field.. this red headed woman was sitting in the row in front of us.

  

Jackie Robinson Rotunda...