Zack & Fonzi's Fabulous Adventures!

Zack's Kindergarten class has a special friend that comes home with them if they've had a particularly good week - Fonzi the dog! Fonzi came home with Zack once in the Fall (went to a soccer game and ran a race with us!) - and came home this past weekend for his second visit. Fonzi got to join us at Relay...



...enjoyed watching Zack and the rest of the "Heat" at basketball practice...





...and then spent some quality time with a (cleanly shaven) Zack and Zoe on Zack's new addition in his room - the old living room couch - reading our current book, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.



What FUN! Here's hoping that first grade is this much fun!

Relay For Life 2010 & Zoe's Dance Recital

This past weekend was Relay For Life of Mandarin - and the whole family was involved in the fun.




Our team, the Zurvivors raised just under $5K - and there is still time to donate - feel free to visit our webpage at www.relayforlife.org/mandarinfl/zurvivors if you're interested! The event has raised over $100,000 and had over 100 survivors in attendance. The kids had a blast (like always) - as did Chris and I - but we're ready for things to slow down just a bit! Totally worth all the work...but ready for a break!

In the middle of Relay was Zoe's dance recital...go figure! Although we arrived a bit after we were supposed to - and Zoe was sweaty and laffy-taffy covered, she did GREAT! She sat and had her hair french-braided (best $5 I ever spent!), did a great job with her tap and ballet routines and loved receiving her trophy at the end.





After the recital it was back to Relay. The kids actually made it until 10PM this year...and got to see the Luminary ceremony for the first time. Kudos to Chris for getting them home afterwards and into bed...rumor has it that while Chris was letting Rhody out, Zack laid down on the kitchen floor and wanted to sleep there...bedtime included carrying, bathing and soothing two exhausted kids. Thank goodness I'm married to the World's Best Dad - who will never get the compliment, because he doesn't read my blog :)

Hey Now, Zack's an All-Star...

Zack was lucky enough to be one of his 6U baseball team's representatives in the regular season all-star game.



It was a ton of fun - the boys all got introduced at the beginning and got medals at the end.



To top it all off, Zack got to play pitcher and first base!

He actually got to play on the same team as one of his best friends from school, and with two other awesome Pirates.





It's been a fabulous baseball season - special thanks to Zack's loyal cheerleaders!



...we start basketball the day after tomorrow :)

Sunday Funday

After an insanely busy weekend, we took things down a notch on Sunday and hung around the house - preparing for another insanely busy week and weekend (RELAY IS HERE!!). Zack and Zoe were too cute for words...Zack read "HoneyBunny FunnyBunny" to Zoe and there was actually family harmony...for at least 10 minutes!



After the reading was over, Z&Z helped Chris wash cars...I'm pretty sure that they hindered more than helped...but I got some great pictures :)

Best Mother's Day EVER!

We had such an amazing Mother's Day in the Benderz household :) Zack and Zoe woke me up (twice) and gave me some really fun handmade presents...Chris took me to the Tim McGraw concert the Thursday before...



Anywho...after church we headed straight to Neptune Beach for our maiden beach trip of 2010. The kids (and Chris) were so excited to have all the gear out and be on the sand...



...and although it was chilly by Florida standards, everyone had a blast being back near the surf...



...and then heading to Rita's for our obligitory Gelato :) Yum, Yum, extra Yum!



Happy Mother's Day to everyone. Hope your day was as grand as ours!

Jack's first pool visit!

We have been visiting the pool a lot this spring...Zack was in training for his tri and it's been so hot, that we're more comfortable there than almost anywhere else! These pics were from Jack's very first pool visit - we were honored to be part of it!



Zack and Zoe loved watching Jack swim with Ya Ya - and we look forward to introducing Jack to our kids water play area soon!

It's here!

Our new couch is finally here :) We shopped, and shopped and shopped for this piece of furniture...which made it even sweeter when it showed up today and fit perfectly! Can't wait for you to visit and check it out!!

The Tooth Fairy is broke.

Zack used his teeth to open a water bottle yesterday and ended up pretty much pulling another tooth out (Chris helped a bit...). The Tooth Fairy visited again last night - and left Zack a crisp $5 bill. We're thinking (hoping) this is the last one for a while...

Zoe had one of her last dance classes tonight and got another sticker on her "focusing" chart....we are so glad that her teachers have no problem getting her to focus...and are considering a focusing chart at home :)



Zoe only has a couple dance classes left before her recital - and since she's not planning on doing dance next year, she's starting to get sad about leaving her teacher. She's not too fond of the tights, but she loves her some Miss Alexis. Aren't they cute?

Gymnastics and Moes and RAIN!

Our Tuesday night plan included Zoe's gymnastics class, dinner at Moe's kids night and baseball practice...but the weather had other plans. The Pirates haven't had much luck with practice this year - they keep getting rained out! But Zack and I had fun watching Zoe at her last class - next week she starts "Dream Team" practice - our gym's version of level 2/3 team. She's excited and the gym seems excited to have her!



I happened to have my camera at class and tried to capture her spunk on the trampoline - but this was the best shot I got. It's a pretty bad picture, but a pretty darn good toe touch - we're working on the straightening the legs and pointing the toes y'all!!

First Coast Kids Triathlon

This past weekend was Z's first triathlon - and it was so neat to watch! He was "anxious" - nervous and excited about the whole thing, but he did a great job and can't wait to do the next one. The event was at UNF and was comprised of swimming 4 lengths of the pool, biking 3 miles and running 1/2 a mile. The kids did transitions sans parents (with lots of volunteer help) - and learned a lot more than how to do a triathlon.

Zack actually ended up coming in 7th in his age group - Go Zack! I highly recommend the experience - and like I said, he had a blast!! Big kudos to the event organizers - we'll definitely be back next year!

EVERYONE had fun...and Zack had tons of cheerleaders! Zoe had fun playing with Ya Ya, Uncle Brian and Jack, and Aunt Laura and Uncle Chuck got in on the action as well!! Thanks to all the Tri supporters!