Christmas

Christmas Morning

All Smiles


Does this look like a ridiculously huge pile of presents-don't worry it's an optical illusion.



Mr. Cool with his new guitar (wearing a Snuggie)

Catching Up

First let me tell you-we are creatures of habit. We do the same things over and over and over. Zoo, Beach, Gingerbread houses, you get the drift. This blog is over a year old and I am starting to post the same activities over and over. Just giving you a heads up so you will be prepared.

So in December we did the following:

Ceramics painting




Visited a News Studio




A chilly Visit to the Zoo



Volunteered at "J's" school


A second visit with "Santa"


Made (and ate) Gingerbread Houses


Dressed up the dog in our PJs-whoops

We had a “family reunion” of sorts in Orlando the week before Christmas. The kids got to see their only Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. We stayed at a big house in Orlando and had a great time visiting the Disney parks and hanging in our own pool. Here are a few highlights of the trip.

Where is everyone else you ask...aren't there 14 of you on this trip..."they" were resting, relaxing and enjoying a cup of coffee. Not us-this isn't a spa holiday.


The Adventurers-up at the crack of dawn-go-go-go be the first in line.




Goofing off




Cooling off at the playgound






Rides-rides and more rides. Our kids LOVE rides-the faster the better. We maximized our ride opportunities with my expert touring plans-not for the faint of heart…or for those who want a relaxing vacation.




Dinosaur-(the ride of course)


Drummin


Monkeying Around


Meeting Minnie Mouse


I know it is a fake castle-but it was so pretty


Eaten by a shark


Grandpa’s 70th birthday celebration


The girls had a makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique-inside of Cinderella's Castle no less. “J” chose pink hair extensions. And “M”,cousin-of-a-cousin, went with traditional brown.




First a princess makeover-then it's off to battle aliens...all in a day's work for "J"


Cousin KiKi loves Italian


“J” with uncle Dennis

Fun Day

The Picture

My daughter’s school does a wonderful thing. Instead of a run-of-the mill school photographer, they use a wonderful local portrait photographer. She does a beautiful job and her prices are reasonable. She also photographs siblings who don’t attend the school.

A few weeks ago I went to view my "proofs." Everyone had been commenting on how great the kids photos had turned out and I assumed they were referring to the on-line slideshow showing all the students pictures.

What I hadn't realized was that the photographer had chosen a portrait of my kids to enlarge and display as an example of a framed enlargement. It was lovely. I am far too cheap to have ordered something so lovely but I couldn’t resist buying it and the photographer gave me a great discount since she had chosen it to enlarge.

It will be a wonderful addition to the “new” basement.

Scenes from a Mall