Fresh

I love this time of year. The oranges are ripe on the trees and our neighbors are so kind to share. (They must not have a nifty attachment for their Bosch that will juice these babies like nothing! That's okay, I do :)!

First, take a bag full of rather ugly looking oranges (that's Florida oranges for you - they're not much to look at).

Slice 'em in half.

Then turn on the juicer. Beware, though, as soon as the kids find out what you're doing, they'll come a running to take a turn juicing.

These oranges are pulpy so I like to pour the juice through a strainer.


There you have it, a pitcher of fresh squeezed orange juice, just waiting to be consumed! Mmmmm, it's delicious.

It's hard to go back to a frozen concentrate after that!

We've Got Ourselves a Gator Fan Here

Jordan is a self-proclaimed Florida Gators fan. I'm not sure why he decided he would be loyal to the blue and orange (probably because his teacher is a Seminole fan - big rivals) but nonetheless, he's become a big Gator fan. He always points out their colors whenever he sees them.

Yesterday he brought home a coloring page from church. The lesson must have been about Joseph Smith. Jordan didn't get much coloring done on the page, but he did give Joseph a Florida Gator tie (and gator hair). Welcome to the team, Brother Smith.

ICE

Last week we woke up twice to frost (well...ice on the windshields, is that the same as frost?). You would have thought it was Christmas morning all over again.

The kids were running in and out of the house, telling everyone who wasn't outside already to

COME OUT AND SEE THIS!

Taking pictures, grabbing their jackets, trying to eat the ice off the windshield (all the while leaving the front door open like it was the middle of summer!).

It was quite an event around here.

(the kids assure me there is frost on this grass but it's hard to see in the picture)

The Big One-Oh

Tucker reaches a milestone today - he turns double digits. That's right, 10 years ago I gave birth to this boy. Has it really been 10 years??? The calendar says yes, so we're celebrating a birthday today!

Fr-Fr-Freezing

So, overnight low temps last night were about 28 and tonight they're predicitng overnight lows of around 24.





I know, for those of you who reach zero and below in the winter, 24 might sound balmy. But, I tell you, here in Florida those numbers are news-breaking! It's all anyone is talking about!

Covering their plants,

breaking out the moon boots and winter parkas

Brrrrrr. We're doin' our best to stay warm!

Remembering

I came across these pictures as I was trying to clean up my desktop and remembered how much I loved seeing the lego men visiting my Christmas village when it was out last month.

To Make You Smile

Here's something that came in an email from Courtney...where do pre-teens find all this stuff to forward???

But, this one made me chuckle so I'm posting it for all you who remember these Disney classics.

Hope it's not too small to read... try clicking on the image if it is.

Addicted

Did you know that power sanding is addicting? It has to be...I was able to get four kids to leave the Wii and come outside on a Saturday afternoon to help me sand, with the promise that they could take turns with the power palm sander (the fifth child was feeling a little too prissy for sanding so we put her on clean up - wiping down all bike seats after we were done).

My friend gave me two dressers that were PINK - definitely not going to work for my boys who needed dressers. So, we sanded down the pink and found a white coat of paint. I was going to just paint over the white, but I'm telling you, it is addicting! The more I sanded and chip by chip, cut through the white to see the gorgeous wood, I was hooked. I couldn't stop until I had every last bit (okay, almost every last bit) of white off.

Here's a cute picture. My friend, Dina, fell in love with Scott in high school. She's had these dressers since then too and when I cut through the pink paint I saw "I heart Scott" in fingernail polish on the side of the long dresser. She married that Scott so I have to send her this picture!

Now that I have the paint almost off, I'm in a delimma about what color to paint them. I want something neutral and that will be in vogue for a long time - nothing too trendy. I am looking at these two: Mississippi Mud (top) and Carriage Door (bottom). They don't look too different here on my screen, but one is more of a brown tone and the other more of a green tone. Any ideas??? Also, what can I put over the paint to keep it from getting scratched up? I was going to go with a satin finish paint because I don't want them real shiny. I wasn't sure if I wanted a polyurethane over that because that would give me the shine I'm trying to avoid. Any ideas you wood-workers out there???

Lucky Duck

Last month Courtney was invited by a friend from school to go to the Carrie Underwood concert. They had six tickets - four were on the 10th row of the FLOOR and two were in the stadium seats. Well, Courtney, her friend, her friend's sister, and her friend's sister's friend (got all that?) sat on the floor and the friend's parents sat in the other seats. She said she was close enough to touch Ms. Underwood! I couldn't believe it. I was so jealous.

If I knew how to put cute words ON my pictures, I would put one right on that hand on the right side of the picture that says, "Courtney's hand!"

This is a singer from Little Big Town - the opener (I only know their song "Life in a Northern Town") and that's Courtney's friend's fingers there at the bottom of the picture.

Does she look happy or what? What a thrill for a little 11-year-old Carrie Underwood fan.

One Last Hoo-Rah

Two weeks of Christmas vacation came and went way too fast. As one last hoo-rah, we went camping.

The Cast of Characters:

The K.S. Family (I'd better just use their initials...what if they don't want to be plastered all over my blog for anyone to seee???)

The L.B. Family

And the B.N. Family

(can we just play a little game of "One of These Things is Not Like the Other" here? Can you look at the three above pictures and guess what it is? It's Me! I'm the only wife that likes to camp so the other two wives were home enjoying some quiet time. I felt a little rediculous. Maybe I'll stay home next time too.)

The Setting:

Jetty Park campground at Port Canaveral Florida. It was gorgeous - right on the beach. It is also right on the inlet where the cruise ships come in and out.

If you look in the far distance of the picture below, you might be able to see the ships that came in early Saturday morning and were docked. The one in the forefront is called "Liquid Vegas" - it's a gambling ship that goes just off shore that it's legal, you gamble all night, then come back with your winnings (or take your loss, whatever applies).

We were just getting started on our tin foil dinners when we saw Royal Caribbean's "Monarch of the Seas" heading out to sea. Everyone dropped what they were doing and ran for a picture. Everyone but Courtney, that is. She took her tin foil with her!

Doesn't it make you want to go on a cruise? It does me!

We made up some mean foil dinners. They were delicious!



Then while the coals were hot we popped our Jiffy Pop popcorn (remember those?):

AND roasted marshmallows for s'mores. There was no shortage of yummy food here!



Along with plenty to eat, there was plenty of entertainment. For starters, we were just a short walk to the beach where the kids could dig for hours. Several of the boys took turns being buried.

Have you ever seen Spencer looking so buff?

Jordan was all excited about being buried until the girls started turning him into a Mermaid.

When they wanted to put Mermaid "parts" on him, he was outta there!

Brandon, on the other hand, was very comfortable in his mermaid skin. I'm thinking next time I'd like to get buried - I've never been a double D before!

There was also a playground, then back to the beach at night for games with the glowsticks.


Saturday morning L.B. had the patience of Job as he taught my kids to fish.

Courtney was quite the fisherwoman. She caught a biggie, but darned if he didn't get away! Nate was the only one to reel one in.

Meghann slipped and fell on the slippery rocks and narrowly escaped a trip to the emergency room. She cut her hand open pretty good, but we decided a few bandaids would do the job. I'm sure she'll have a scar, but a scar on the hand isn't so bad is it?

Saturday was the most glorious beach weather I think I've ever experienced. The temperature was around 80. The humidity was low. The wind was almost non-existent (which is rare for the beach). It was so glorious, in fact, that Brady and I promptly fell asleep in our beach chairs for a little cat nap.

A big THANK YOU to K.S. for remembering his camera. I forgot mine, which is why I'm actually IN some of the pictures!

It was a wonderful way to say goodbye to a relaxing, memorable Christmas vacation. I'll be sad to send my kids back to school tomorrow. It's like the first day of school all over again!