Grant's house is "Scary"

Check out the progress on Grant's house that he Owen and Daddy are building. Grant has since named the house "Scary's Restaurant" and eyeball soup and snake surprise will soon be available at a Scary's near you!

Grant's new "Do"

Just before the Christmas card photo was taken Grant decided he needed a trim! Check out his work above......

After the buzz.....

Grant turn's 5 !

Grant's Birthday was a true celebration in Grant style this year. First,the whole family went in to Grant's class for the Montessori School birthday celebration, then that eventing he requested to have his favorite dinner at home rather than go out for dinner. We had terriaki pork tenderloin, rice and tomato feta salad for dinner on his birthday. After dinner Grant wanted to go to the Celebration downtown "snowfall" and then off in the convertable for Christmas light hunting, hot chocolate and caroling! It was a great night and I must say Grant knows how to plan relaxing fun! The Sunday after his birthday Grant planned his actual party at the local park with all of his friends there. Grant wanted to have a party in the park, making Christmas ornaments, breaking a pinata and eating a snake birthday cake which he decorated himself. Everyone had a great time and it was a georgous day for a party.....Happy Birthday Grantie!

Fall Baseball comes to an end

Fall baseball is over and the boys had a great time this season. Grant learned a lot and took a few practices and games to get use to playing a team sport. I think he liked playing in the game but got a little bored at practice. Overall he enjoyed the season and liked that his Daddy was the coach.
Owen had a good learning season too and actually played our only catcher this fall. He liked catching but said "it is hard work" and very hot!! Owen ended his last game feeling sick but hit a homerun!
Until next season Owen will take a shot at basketball and Grant will take some time off!! Mommy and Daddy too!

The Pifer boys visit the farm

During our November trip to PA the kids and I took a trip to see Jeff's Dad and his wife Rhonda(aka "Anna") in Punxsutawney at their farm. The kids had a great time visiting with their grandparents and all of the animals at the farm and enjoying the cool fall air. Owen and Grant had such fun raking, blowing and jumping in the piles and piles of leaves! Looks like fun!

Owen and Grant also got to meet Pa-Pa Joe and Anna's new basset hound puppy Lola! Owen just loved her and played with her the whole visit. It sparked his interest in having a dog again and he has since put a puppy at the top of his Christmas list this year! Look out Santa!

Jeff's Mom gets married!

It's been so long since I blogged but if seems like so much has happened to keep me away from the computer!

For example, Jeff's Mom Susan got married on November 2 and we all went to Pennsylvania to be in the wedding. It was a beautiful weekend and it was nice to meet Tom's (Susan's new husband) family and friends. They were all great and seemed to keep up with our side of the family which is a feat! I guess we'll keep them!! Ha, ha!

Here are a few pictures of the wedding, Congratulations Susan and Tom!

Halloween 2007

Check out Team Pifer this year....




All in the name of fun!!!

Run for Dan Sams

A dear friend of ours has been diagnosed with Gleoblastoma Multiforme stage IV (brain cancer) in July 2007. He invited all willing family and friends to train with him for Disney's innaugural Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 6.5K race last Saturday October 27th. Lots of family & friends joined him in the race in which he completed with no problem after finishing radiation and 2 rounds of chemo! Dan is one amazing guy!!

I injured my achilles tendon and could not run but Jeff ran the entire race next to Dan while a group of us non-runners cheered him and all of the other runners on. Way to go Team Dan!!

Grant & Dad's New Project

Jeff decided to have a project that he and Grant

have as their own. They are working in our garage on an "extra-house for sleepovers" for Grant and his friends. Grant is the chief engineer/designer

and Jeff is the general contractor for the project.

Grant has several drawings and many ideas as to what this is to look like.
Grant is very enthusiastic about this project and is really working hard with his Dad. Daddy is allowing him to use some of his power tools and saws for the construction of the house. So far, one wall is built that has a frame for a door and a window. Grant and Dad have made a few trips to Home Depot for supplies and are working on the next wall now. We will keep you posted on the progress of Grant's house, so keep checking!

Pre-Halloween Fun

We had some friends over to carve Jack-o-lanterns with Owen and Grant for Halloween. We had 5 pumpkins to carve and 8 kids to "help". It was loads of fun for the kids and loads of clean-up for the adults! Remind me next year to PAINT the pumpkins instead of carve them! Everyone did an awesome design on their pumpkin and at the end of the day the jack-o-lanterns looked great!

Oktoberfest 2007 at the Pifer's

The beer was done, the costumes were rented and the food came in by the truckload! Thanks to all of our friends for making our first annual Oktoberfest in Celebration a big success! Everyone came in such a great party mood and each couple slaved over an authentic German dish to share with the crowd. The food turned out great and even better, the beer Jeff and Rob brewed won the blind taste test!
Jeff and Rob's hombrew beat out some stiff competition of Yingling lager (2nd) and Spaten (3rd). Their hardwork paid off! The event of the night was when Jeff and Rob revealed the name and label of their prized beer. They chose Dan Sams to roast and "honor" with his photoshopped image on the label (Jeff and Rob just couldn't help themselves.) "Randy Dan's" lager was the hit of the night!! Thanks Dan for getting the joke and being such a sport!

Owen's "Real" Birthday

We just finished celebrating Owen's "real" birthday according to him! He and Grant were off school on Friday, his birthday, and Owen decided what we should do for the day. Owen wanted to go to A & W drive in and have a birthday lunch consisting of a hot dog with cheese and a rootbeer float. After lunch he wanted to go to the store and spend the money he got for his birthday which was burning a hole in his pocket rather quickly! Owen's beloved hand held game player broke a few days before his birthday so he decided he wanted to use his money to purchase a new one. Boy was he a happy birthday boy after that purchase! Later that evening we took Owen and his good friend Tyler out to TGI Friday's for dinner at Owen's request. The wait staff came and sang Owen Happy Birthday (which he loved) and then they sang to two other little boys as well. Owen went to their tables and wished them a very happy birthday too! On the way home we picked up another one of Owen's friends Justin and we all then went home for a sleepover birthday party. One more round of Happy Birthday was sung to Owen this time with a Carvel ice cream cake and his good friends and family. The boys all had a great time and so did we. Happy Birthday Owen! Grant you're next!

Happy Birthday Owen!

Owen is 7!

We celebrated a week early on 9/30 with an "eco-tour swamp buggy ride" with lots of Owen's friends along for the fun. It was a beautiful day for a ride in the swamp which was actually not too swampy due to lack of rain the past few months. We didn't see any gators but everyone got to feed the local cows oranges and the driver let Owen "drive" the swamp buggy for a few minutes since he was the birthday boy. Owen thought that was so cool and so did all of his friends! We did have a slight problem with the swamp buggy when it just stopped in the middle of a field miles from anything around. We all thought we might have to walk but luckily our driver John was pretty handy and got it restarted within 10-15 minutes!! That was a close one!!

After the ride we took everyone back home for pizza and a piece of Owen's requested Titanic cake! We had lots of fun climbing Daddy's climbing wall and playing in the sandbox. It was a great day we all agreed!

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Another new family member

Meet Frogger! He has become Genevieve the turtles' companion. Genevieve seems really happy to have a friend around now! Both animals seem content in their aquarium and are now extra happy because we finally found a food they both like. We were worried because Genevieve seemd not to eat anything for about 2 weeks. The local pet store suggested freeze dried shrimp which she really seems to like now. Frogger is enjoying dining on live crickets! Geez, even our amimals are picky eaters!

Fall Baseball Season Opener

It is that time of year again--fall baseball season here in Florida. Us southeners are fortunate enough to have beautiful weather during the fall/winter season which allows for an "extra" season of baseball. This is just great for Owen because he LOVES it! Grant is just starting this year and he's not so sure about baseball yet. He says "it's too hot and the bugs are biting". Maybe once he gets to play a game it will get into his blood too!

Owen is playing for the machine pitch team the Cardinals. Daddy is the head coach for Owen's team and the assistant coach for Grant's t-ball team the Riverdogs. Mommy is playing a role too, as Team Mom for the Cardinals and "assistant" team Mom for the Riverdogs.

Thursday night was the season opener for the Cardinals. We played the Nationals and had a rough 1st game. The weather was not cooperating and we had to stop mid-game because of lightning and when we resumed the game we only played maybe a half hour untill the game was called again. We all still had a great time! Owen had a base hit and this was his first time playing catcher! He did great and seemed to really like it. We all are looking forward to his next game.

Riverdogs 1st Game ---Cancelled!

Poor Grant, he was psyched to play his first tee-ball game (which we were not sure he would) tonight and it was cancelled due to poor field conditions and the threat of more lightning storms. Grant had even asked his teacher Mrs. Saint Leger to come and watch his game and she accepted! He wasn't too broken up though, beacuse he said to me "Don't worry Mom I'll play in another game".

Here are some pictures from some recent sleep over we had. Enjoy!

We have a new addition!

Grant found this turtle in our driveway and has decided to adopt her. We have now set up an aquarium and made a comfotable home for her. Grant chose to name his turtle Genevieve after the dog in his favorite book "Madeline's Rescue". Genevieve is a great new addition to our family. We love her

Jeff and Rob Zollinger make beer!

We have decided to have an Oktoberfest party this year. We are asking everyone invited to bring an authentic German dish to share for fun. Of course an Oktoberfest would not be complete without beer so, Jeff decided he should have some fun and be experimental and actually make it. He twisted his friend Rob's arm (not too hard) to help him and we now have a glass vat of Oktoberfest beer fermenting in our guest room bathtub!