Spencer's Party

I really left my comfort zone this month and threw not one, but two parties! We had a little party for Spencer at the park with his Thursday toddler friends, really easy and inexpensive. Spencer had fun, though Lexi was crabby the entire time because I made her wear boy pants (gasp!) under her dress. I didn't realize it was so short until we got there and the only pants I had were Spencer's. Oh well, it went great and I'm glad Spencer got to have a party with his friends just like sissy.

Tavares

We went to stay at my mom's house in Tavares for the weekend. It was a lot of fun, we went to Lake Idamere park, which was really cool and huge! They had a dog park, fishing pier, and the playground was enormous. They had every cool playground toy a kid could ask for, even a stage. If you are ever in Tavares with children, you have to visit this park. We BBQ'd there, and then went to Mount Dora to look at all the lights and stopped for ice cream on the way home. It was a really fun time.

The park had this huge tree that, of course, we had to climb!

This was going to be our family picture for the Christmas cards, but I never got around to getting them done...oops!

Lexi's Bowling Party!

Ok, I'm finally getting around to posting about Lexi's birthday party. It was at the bowling alley and it was super fun! I've never thrown a "friend" birthday party for either of my kids before, I always managed to get out of it every year. We would have our family party, but never one for the kids from school. Well this year, there was no getting out of it. She'd been to all her friends' birthday parties and the jig was up, there was no way I was going to get away with it again. You see, I'm just not a party thrower. I love to go to parties, just not host them. I have this secret fear that no one will show up, it's crazy but that's just me. Anyway, it was a blast and almost all her friends came. I was really surprised at how fun the party was, I was worried that some of the 3-day kids wouldn't be able to bowl but everyone had fun, even Spencer. After the party was over, she asked me if she could have her party at the bowling alley next year too, so I guess that means she enjoyed it!

Look at that form!

Spencer made lots of people nervous carrying the ball around!

They had this really cool slide thing, so even the little ones could get the ball all the way down, the only problem was there was only 1 of them!

I made shirts for all the kids, they turned out pretty cute...

and this is the back of Lexi's shirt.

A little Christmas survey

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
When I was a kid, Santa just sat the presents under the tree. Now Santa must have more time on his hands (or just thinks he does) and wraps them...there's nothing like seeing all the presents under the tree and unwrapping them Christmas morning.

Colored lights on tree/house or white?
I'm a fan of the white, our tree is all white lights, but our house this year has white and red icicles...pretty cool. I don't like a lot of multicolor.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Grandma Dot's brunch

Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
Staying up way too late with my sister trying to get the presents for our parents made in time (we always made them something)...looking back they must have been so lame, but we thought they were awesome ;-)

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
My sister and I always tried to get this tradition started but it never seemed to take off, now we got to Grandma Rose's on Christmas Eve and open a ton of presents!

How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
We put on the Christmas music (Chipmonks for the kids, UGGH, and The Carpenters for me), pour some eggnog (with rum for the grownups) and get to decorating. Nick usually ends up super crabby because it doesn't come out perfect (with 2 little kids and all) and I usually spend the entire time yelling at Nick because he's crabby...it's so much fun!

Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Seeing as how I've never seen snow...I have no idea!

What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Does eggnog count?

What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Greensleeves or This Gift by 98 degrees...I know, I'm a dork.

Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Yum - especially the green ones.

Favorite Christmas Tradition growing up:
Decorating the tree the day after Thanksgiving.

Least Favorite Christmas Tradition Growing Up:
Being incredibly sick every year.

Breakfast or Presents First?
Presents!!!

I'm tagging anyone who wants to share a little Christmas spirit! So feel free to join the fun!

Done!

Hip Hip Horray! I am done for the semester! I'm so happy it's over, I don't even care what my grades are (oh, who am I kidding?)!! Maybe now I'll actually have time to clean the house (again, who am I kidding?) ;-)

I can't wait for December 12!

Uggg....I'm so over this semester. Mon is my Calc final and the day everything is due for my Community Involvement class. Why oh why do I wait until the last minute to do everything? Every semester I promise myself it will be different, and then every single time I end up pulling all-nighters in the eleventh hour trying to get it all done. I'm getting too old for this!

Men knitting

Check this out:



I love the football player knitting on the field, that's something you don't see every day!

My baby is 5!

Lexi,

I can't believe you are 5 years old already, it seems like just yesterday when you were born. You were the first baby I ever held and the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. Your birthday is also the anniversary of me becoming a mother for the first time, and I couldn't ask for a better present than just being able to be in your presence every day. You have grown up into such a smart, talented, funny, beautiful little girl. You love ballet and gymnastics, being crafty like mommy, telling jokes, going to school, your friends and family, being sneaky and stealing marshmallows when nobody's looking, and playing any sort of game. You constantly ask me when you can be a grownup so you can do all the fun things grownups do, and you love to pretend you're going to "meetings and school" like mommy. Your new favorite things are makeup and hair accessories, and you have a certain flair to your walk that can only be described as "swishing" (I have no idea where you got that from!). You hate being told it's naptime/bedtime, no matter how tired you are, because that means you may miss out on something fun when you're sleeping. You are very caring and loving, and you truly feel bad for other people when they are in pain. You are always the first one to ask your brother if he needs to go to the safe place and you are right there with him holding his hand, getting him water, and showing him the different ways to breathe. You can translate his words when even mommy and daddy can't understand him, and you are right there to jump in with a "you did it" whenever he accomplishes anything. I love you so much Lexi, you are growing bigger, faster, and stronger every day and I can't wait to see what the next year will bring for you, my big 5 year old...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Dierks...

Yes, I found tickets and we got to see Dierks in Valdosta - it was so much fun!! It turns out, the tickets that I got were really bad, but if you got to the park early enough you can find a seat in the lawn chair section. Those seats were much better, but we didn't bring any lawn chairs because we had tickets for reserved seating. We got to the park 45 min early and there was already a huge line, but we waited and ran to the concert pavillion and got decent seats in the general admission area. I was under the impression that you had to sit there all day if you got those seats, but you only had to set up your lawn chair and then you could go enjoy the park. Well, since we didn't bring lawn chairs Nick ended up saving our spots while I ran to Walmart to buy 2 cheap chairs. It was pretty crazy, but it all worked out and we got to see Dierks, Miranda Lambert, and the Randy Rogers Band. It was very cold, but I had to break out the little white tank top for Dierks. It's a wonder I didn't get sick, standing out in 40 degree weather in my tank top. Oh well, it made for great memories!

Playing miniature golf at Wild Adventures

Waiting for Dierks

Dierks!!

Pumpkin Patch

Some pics from the pumpkin patch next to Labschool:




Yay, she can do the monkey bars...my little girl is growing up. I remember when I first visited Labschool and the big kids were doing the glider, I thought to myself "my baby will never be that big." Now she's a big 5 day kid doing the monkey bars and swinging herself - time flies!!

Halloween

I guess I'll start with Halloween since I never officially added pics. Lexi was a princess, Spencer was a pirate. We always get to dress up twice because we go to Sea World's special Halloween a couple of weeks before the real Halloween. We always go with my inlaws and it's a lot of fun, although this year it was disappointing. Anyway, since Sea World is sort of a "dress rehearsal", I get to try out makeup looks before the real day. I couldn't decide how to do Spencer's makeup and Nick was no help, so I ended up with what Nick affectionately refers to as "the gay pirate":

Here's a better look:



I was going for a Johnny Depp look but somehow didn't end up with the same affect. I guess only Johnny Depp can pull off all that makeup. Here's the princess (her makeup came out beautifully by the way):




Some more pics from Sea World:



My sister-in-law Ashley with Lexi and Spencer

Lexi about to ride the new Shamu rollercoaster

Lexi and Ashley (I think this is one of the best pics of Lexi)

Spencer laying down on the conveyer belt through the shark tank

Photos from Halloween night:

I don't know what is with her and this pose, it seems to be the new thing.

Much better makeup, I don't know why I didn't think of a beard the first time.

Awww....

That's about it for Halloween, we just went trick or treating in the new neighborhood and had fun. Now on to the next post....

So sorry!

Wow, so it's been an extremely long time since I've updated. It was always on the back of my mind that I needed to come on here, but I didn't realize how long it's been until I (finally!) logged on. I promise, a BIG update is coming soon...and by soon I mean this afternoon, hopefully. My dad just yelled for me, I've got to take him to BJ's (I've been neglecting him all weekend) but as soon as the kids are down for a nap I'm coming on. Get ready for tons of pics!!!