Good Bye 2007 - Good Bye Wet N' Wild

Well, on this New Year's Eve day we went to Wet N' Wild to use our passes one last time. The day started out cloudy and overcast, but the forecast was for sun later on so we spent the morning sanding down the kitchen cabinets (more on that later!), then headed out right after lunch. Well, the sun never did really shine but the lines at Wet N' Wild were almost non-existent because of it so it was a trade-off. We had a lot of fun - walked on every ride and rode just about everything in about 2 hours. Our teeth were starting to chatter by then so we stayed a little while longer, then headed home. Our evening will consist of pizza and bubbly (sparkling cider) for dinner, sparklers outside later on, a movie ("It's A Wonderful Life) with ice cream, and I told the kids they could stay up as long as they wanted to on this one night of the year. They were thrilled with that! They are outside right now playing Big Foot (thanks Uncle Jim for teaching them that game! They love it). I'm going to walk to a neighbors with them to watch some fireworks. Happy New Year to you all!

Another Puzzle or Two

This frog puzzle is one we did over Thanksgiving break, but never posted a picture of! It was very hard, being odd-shaped, but a lot of fun.

Okay, this picture is lacking in quality, but Jordan took it...that's what I get for letting my four-year-old take a picture right? Anyway, it's a cute Disney puzzle that we got for Christmas and put together in only one day so we didn't get our money's worth out of that one! It was over too quick. But the kids are putting it together again so maybe I'll get a better picture the second time around.

The Dog He Never Had

Our kids would so love a dog...maybe someday...but I'm just happy for now with our little herd of hermit crabs. Anyway, when we were at the Church ranch Tucker fell in love with this dog. He was so happy to have his picture taken with him, and even happier that the dog cooperated and seemed to pose for the picture.

Airboat Ride

I forgot to post this picture under my blog from when my sister was here to visit. Here we are ready for an airboat ride.

Missionary Apron

Here is a picture of the apron I made my nephew who will be serving a mission in March/April.

This is the apron that I made for his college roomate who already has his call so we could put his exact mission on the apron.

Check out my Slide Show!

A few weeks before Christmas we took the kids to Animal Kingdom at Disney World. I'm just now getting around to organizing all the photos on my flash card and finally getting this slide show posted. Yeah! One more thing to cross off my "to do" list.

My Santa Baby

I have to post this one last picture - it's my favorite of the morning. Jordan came down to our room with the rest of the kids and said, "I'm wearing my Santa hat, Mom!" He wore it for a better part of the morning. It is so fun to have a little one still (even though he's getting so big...)

The Gift of All Gifts

Okay, this is the last post for a while (even though it's the first post you'll be reading!) I have to post a picture of this awesome, cool, rad, PINK bike that my husband surprised me with. He said my squeals of delight were worth it all! I haven't even ridden it yet, but can't wait to go out with Spencer who also got a new bike. Have you ever seen a more awesome bike?

Gifts from Taylors

We loved the gifts from Aunt Denise and Uncle Corey's family!

Your gift to the boys was the second one they played with this morning. I'm telling you - they LOVE legos! Courtney was in awe that all three of the girl's shirts came from Aeropostle. She said, "Aunt Denise is so cool, she always dresses kind of like a teenager." I think she means you are so hip! And Brady has been enjoying his CD for several weeks now so thanks for everything!

Gregory Gift

Thanks so much for the game STARE. That looks like a lot of fun to play - something that every age can get in to so THANKS a bunch!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Nixon

The kids were so thrilled to get the game of LIFE. They have already played it once. And they were also very excited to get the new Harry Potter DVD. Everyone loved the calendar. It's perfect! Brady is already thinking about making one next year. We really love it. Thank you so much!!!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Waite

Hey mom and dad, this post is for you. The kids loved their gifts from you! Here are some pictures.

Meghann's cute dress

You can click on this picture to get a bigger view. Courtney's face is priceless. She was AMAZED to see a Webkins as part of her gift - thrilled to say the least! The green thing on her lap is a shirt that went with it.

The three boys got pajamas, a 2-pack of Star Wars action figures, and glow-in-the-dark Star Wars underwear. Tucker's reaction to the underwear: "Huh? Underwear?" Spencer's reaction: "Cool! Underwear!" Jordan's reaction: "If I don't get Star Wars glow-in-the-dark underwear I think I'll die!" Hence, the modeling job below.

He has his Yoda figure on top of his head.

Spencer opening his Star Wars figures.

And here are the lamps you gave us. We loved everything. Thank you!!!

My Sister Michelle and her Family

Here is a picture of our guests for the weekend.

Left to Right:

Maik (also known as the German boy), Lyndsey, Jim, Brandon, Michelle

After we took their picture, Jordan jumped up on Brandon's lap and wanted his picture taken with them.

More Gator Watching

Brady drove everyone out to Lake Jessup Sunday afternoon to look for more gators while I finished getting dinner ready. They saw a few more, and one that even got close enough to kiss (okay, not really, but he got close!) The pictures aren't great because it was getting dark, but you can see the beast.

Visit from the Hydes

My sister Michelle, her husband Jim, and their kids Brandon and Lyndsey, and their foreign exchange student from Germany Maik all came to visit last weekend. They went on a cruise from Ft. Lauderdale for a week, then drove up here afterwards to visit for a few days. We met them at the Church ranch on Saturday for an airboat ride. All I can say is it wasn't the best day for gator-watching! Last time we took an airboat ride in December we saw more gators than we could count - at least 100. This time, just two! The weather wasn't all sunny and warm so the gators weren't out on the banks sunning themselves. Darn. But, airboat rides are always fun and the first group did see wild pigs, turkeys, beautiful birds, the second group saw a turtle, beautiful birds and more so it was still fun, just not as exciting as counting a hundred gators!

Here we are putting together a gingerbread house.

Preschool Program

Jordan had his preschool program last week with a cookies and punch tea afterwards. He did such a good job singing all the songs. Our favorite was something about, "There was a little baby - oh my Lord, oh my Lord. There was a little baby, way down in Bethlehem, waaaay down in Bethlehem." Complete with actions. Here is a picture of him with Santa afterwards.

Merry Christmas!

Here is one of my gifts from Brady - a new header for my blog! I love it. I wanted something with daisies and he did a great job. I'll post more with pictures, etc. of everything that has been going on here the last week or so...lots to write about!

Universal's Grinchmas

Brady has a few days off this week - use it or lose it time before the end of the year. On Tuesday after all the kids were off to school he and I headed down to Universal Studios. Since our season passes were good for two years (the kids' have expired), we decided to use them and see the new Grinchmas show they have going. It is a live stage show where the actors do all the singing/talking etc. live. It was really good, except for a little problem with Cindy Lou Who's voice in the first song. Ouch. I think I might try out next year - I'll bet I could get the part, off key and all. Anyway, we had a LOT of fun! We rode a few rides before the show started, watched the show, then went to HARD ROCK CAFE for lunch! We haven't been to one of those in ages. Back in our newlywed days we thought it was fun to eat at one whenever we traveled. Okay, so we'd only eaten in San Diego and Maui, but we were on a roll, right? Well, when we ate there on Tuesday, we realized why we'd stopped that little tradition - cha ching! $$$, especially for a family of seven. But, we had a great time there on Tuesday - just the two of us. We got home at 3:00 p.m., just in time for the troops to start coming home from school!

Got a close up of these funky looking "snouts" the actors had for noses. It was kind of freaky looking!

Chicken Pineapple Quesadillas

Pulled Pork Sandwich, fries, cole slaw, baked beans

Meghann's nails

Meghann takes after her Aunt Denise - look at these nails that she did by herself! She did Courtney's too (they are Santa hats and a tree on the thumb if the picture is too small).

Girl's Night Out Party

I went to a Christmas party Saturday night with a bunch of friends. We had a $10 gift exchange. This is the tote bag that I made - but I thought it would be funny to put 10 $1 gift cards in the pockets of the bag. I went to about 25 stores just to get 10 that would sell me a $1 gift card - most didn't want to sell one less than $5. And yes, I got a lot of STARES! Oh well. My favorite was the Victoria's Secret card. It was a darling gift card (even though it was only worth a buck!) Anyway, the bag was cute and the gag was funny!

Outdoor Christmas Concert

Well...tonight was the big night. Our 5th annual outdoor neighborhood Christmas concert. On Saturday it was almost 80 degrees, and today it didn't even reach 60 so I was very nervous about the COLD weather, but these Floridians love to "dress up" in their warm coats (that we have to dust off) hats, mittens, etc. and we had a BIG turnout! The cold weather made it seem like it really should be Christmastime. We had a fire going, delicious hot chocolate and 6 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts! Oh, not to mention the great piano playing of my husband. We had a few other talents shared from neighbors, a violin piece and a few other piano pieces, and Courtney and Tucker sang a song that was quite darling. I'm going to try to get it on Youtube and post it. Anyway, here are some pictures. It really was a lot of fun.

Meghann and Natalie

Meredith and Kent

Okay, Meredith took a fuzzy picture of us (she's a professional scrapbooker for pete's sake!) but look - I'm wearing a COAT!

The reason for our concert - my musical husband.

Three cute Santas!