Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my most favorite Holiday....has been for quite some time. I just really love the sentiment of giving thanks for what you have been blessed with in life....the good, the bad, & the ugly, because without it all, you wouldn't be the person you are! I so love getting our family together and just enjoying spending time with one another, AND the food is an added bonus!! This year we went to Moe & Jason's house again, and once again, there was enough food to feed a small country! My contributions were coleslaw, deviled eggs(both are my typical staples!), sweet potatoes, and a pear stuffing(decided to try out a new recipe...it was a success!) Addison kept telling us that she wanted to say the blessing and practiced over and over again, but when it came time and all eyes were on her, she had performance anxiety :) Oh well....there's always next year, right?!? It was just such a nice day and the best part had to be....NO DRAMA!! I can only hope that this will be a tradition for years to come....family means everything!!

Mom made place settings for everyone

It's hard work eating all of that food!

Kindergarten Feast

Much like last year, the Kindergarten Village had their very own Thanksgiving feast for all of the families. The 3 classes went on field trips at the beginning of the month to Publix to purchase the food, and prepared it throughout the month. They began the celebration with a performance. It was so cute to see all of the kids dressed as Turkeys and sing their little hearts out. The only bad thing, was Austin's position amongst the class versus where we were sitting. One of the tallest girls in the class was positioned in the front row, directly in front of Austin, so this made picture taking a little difficult :( Brooke happened to be outside with her class when we arrived so she saw us and got to sneak away and join us for the festivities.
After the performance we all loaded our plates up with the delicious food the kids prepared and sat down to a nice meal. Austin was so proud and excited when we asked him about which food he had a hand in preparing. We shared our table with the Gleichowski family. It really is great having Ryan's(Jeff's former teammate) daughter, Brooke, in Austin's grade.






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Owls and Pigs and Green Lantern....oh my!

Happy Halloween!! We were very busy this year celebrating the Holiday! On Friday the 28th, we took the kids to Trunk n Treat at TUMC...it was the largest the event has ever been. We were able to spend the 1st hour together as a family enjoying everything the event had to offer and then I worked at the face painting table for 1 1/2 hours while Jeff took the kids home and got them ready for bed. For the 1st time in a long time, the night turned very cold, which was unexpected since we are so used to sweating our booties off on Halloween. On Saturday, we met Granni and Payton, who she had for the night, at the Alachua Pumpkin Patch for some fun and pictures. On Halloween itself, Addison had a parade at her school, followed by a party in her classroom, and then we went to a MOPS play date party. When Brooke and Austin got home from school, we carved our pumpkin....giving the messy job to Daddy & the girls, and then I tackled the actual carving of the face. You wouldn't think carving a pumpkin would be so challenging, but man....it kicked my booty! We joined Heidi & Jeff and their kids and walked around our neighborhood and Blues Creek....the kids got more than enough candy! It was the 1st time in the 4 years that we've lived at our house that we've really gone trick-or-treating. We had a blast and it is so nice to have such great neighbors to share the holidays with.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE OWL...

Addi's Owl costume, complete with tail feathers was a labor of love created by scratch by Granni & I. I couldn't have asked for a better final product!!


I made Owl cookies for Addi's class party :)



Alachua Pumpkin Patch


Olivia the Pig, Owl, & Green Lantern


Addi at her class party eating the Owl cookies I made


Such a messy endeavor, but they loved it! Addi got the baby pumpkin free :)


Getting ready to go Trick-or-Treating


Home at last with our carved pumpkin

An Ear For Music

Addison LOVES to sing and it would surprise you the amount of songs she actually knows the words to that play on the Sirius stations that we listen to. I always find myself smiling as we drive along in the car and I'm singing to a particular song and then I hear her little voice in the backseat reciting the song(word for word!)

On the way to the gym this morning,Katy Perry's "E.T." came on the radio and Addi said "This is a good song...MOMMY' turn the radio up!!"

I have a slight feeling we may have a future music superstar in the making!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider!

This morning the University of Florida Department of Agriculture came to Stepping Stones with a spider exhibit. Addison was so excited about the prospect of seeing, AND holding spiders(who is this kid?!?) Most of the spiders that Mr. Edwards brought with him were dead and in a vile, but he had a few live ones. Addi and I were sitting right up front and when he would hold out a live specimen on his arm I would have visions of it dropping on my leg....EEK!! He showed the kids a scorpion and then pulled out the Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula. Addison kept begging to have it crawl on her, and was excited when the kids were told that they would be able to pet it on their way out of the room. Addi was the 1st one in line and lit up when she got to pet the spider's back. I of course, kept my distance!

Our New Child from Malawi

We just got back from the Step Into Africa that Trinity has been hosting for the past week. I wasn't sure what to expect other than the things I had heard from friends and Trinity members, but I was overwhelmed with emotion! It was so moving and such an eye opening experience!! Something spoke to me even before we went through the experience, and by the end I knew what we were called to do. We sponsored a 7yo boy named Potidyera, who was born on the due date(mo/d/yr) of the 1st baby we miscarried *FATE*!! So grateful TUMC brought this experience to our community and we have somehow been able to fill a void in our lives with a blessing!!

Pumpkin choices

This morning Addison and I were enjoying a morning at home....I was cleaning and she was watching Dora on tv. The episode that was on was the one where the seasons were all mixed up. As I was cleaning the tv, I looked up and Dora had just found a pumpkin(which was talking as one would on a cartoon) out of place. It got me excited thinking that Halloween was just over a month away and prompted me to say "Addi.....a pumpkin! We will get to go very soon and pick out our own pumpkin for Halloween." Her reply was "Oh yeah....I like that talking kind!" I found myself chuckling and had to tell her that the pumpkins we would be picking from wouldn't be able to talk.

Shopping With a Toddler

Not that I like to document the embarrassing moments in my life, but this particular one was worth getting down in writing. This morning after dropping Brooke and Austin off at school, I needed to run a few errands before heading into work and bringing Addi to class. We stopped into CVS so that I could pick up a few items and while I was looking for a particular type of tape, Addi decided to put an economy pack of Depends into my shopping basket that was lying on the floor. When I noticed what she had done I was super embarrassed and grateful at the same time that no one had come down the aisle that we were in and seen the "product" in my basket. The best part was when I tried to remove them, Addi got all upset and started arguing with me, telling me that "I needed them!" HAHAHA
I sure hope that won't be the case any time soon dear Addi!

Addi's 1st Haircut

The baby locks are gone! Ok, ok, I am totally aware that she is 2 years, 8 months, and 6 days old and this was LONG overdue, but there is just something about a little girl getting her hair cut for the very first time. I remember when we took Brooke, although I can't exactly remember how old she was off the top of my head, but I assume she wasn't even 2 yet. We took her to a place in the mall by Belk and I totally didn't bring my A-game that day, because not one picture was taken....AND most importantly I FORGOT to get a lock of her hair!! By the time I realized it, I was in tears. Luckily we scoured her clothing and found enough to be sufficient :) Addi has the same type of hair that Brooke does...long, thin, and stringy(they were blessed with their Mom's hair genes!) I hadn't cut it up until now because at least with some length it gave the appearance that it was a bit thicker than it actually was. This morning I looked at her and said, "I'm going to cut your hair." What was I thinking?!?! I've done nothing more than a few bang trims, but I figured....hey, I've been going to Salon La Di Da for almost 10 years now and have watched 3 stylists work their magic...how hard can it be?? HAHAHA....seriously....this is what went through my head. Well, I got my good shears and went to work! I am proud of the results and now she looks like a little lady with a cute shoulder length haircut(AND most importantly....we saved $15!)

Look Out Preschool....Here Comes Addi!

Addison started Preschool @ Stepping Stones today. She will be going 3 mornings/week....two of which I will stay and work, which will be so nice! She was so excited to have her very own backpack and felt like a big kid....just like Brookie & Austin. I truly can not believe how fast my little baby girl is growing up. Is there a pause button?!?!

Two in Elementary School

Is it quite possible that we now have not one, but two kids in Elementary School?? How can this be?!? Sending the kids to school this morning was such a bittersweet moment as I was so proud to be the Mommy of both a 1st Grader and a Kindergartner, but at the same time I was so sad that our kids seem to be growing up faster with each blink of an eye.

It is going to be so awesome having them in the same school this year, with the same schedule, etc and now that Jeff's radio show has moved to the noon-2pm time slot, I will be getting help with the driving. It is going to be a glorious year for sure!

Brooke got the teacher she was hoping for, Ms. Dolan, and Austin followed in her footsteps and got Mrs. Donnelly(this we are thrilled about!) They didn't exactly get all of the friends they were hoping for in their homeroom classes, but since PKY is doing the Community Learning model, they will have plenty of time to enjoy with familiar faces!

The jump from Kindergarten to 1st seems like a HUGE leap! All I was able to do was walk Brooke down to her bench and she was officially not a little kid any more. As I walked away I could only reflect on how different things were from last year. We did, however; enjoy hanging out in Austin classroom as he got acclimated and made new friends all the while exploring his new surroundings. I have a feeling this is going to be a monumental year for that little guy!

Good Times

Last night we went out with good friends to Dragonfly and then The Top. We had an absolute blast just hanging out, eating good food, and enjoying a FEW cocktails! I can't remember the last time Jeff and I have had such a fun night in the company of friends....it was just perfect!



I can't remember the last time I've laughed so hard enjoying being total goofballs!

Austin turns 5!!

On Friday, Austin turned 5, which seems absolutely impossible to me! Gosh, when I think about it we spend out entire adolescence wishing to grow up, but then when we are adults and have children of our own we find ourselves wishing to push the pause button and have time stand still for just a little while. Being a parent is such a rewarding job, but when I think about how fast these little munchkins are growing up it makes me sad! Much is to be said about cherishing every moment you are given and not taking a second for granted....when you have children, it becomes even more true!
We decided to have a small bowling party to celebrate the big day and allowed Austin to invite 3 of his friends. We headed over to Splitz and played games in the arcade for a good 45 minutes, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed and then headed to our 4 private lanes located behind the bar/restaurant. It was so much fun having the area all to ourselves and feeling a little like VIP's :) Guests included Granni & Grandpi, Aunt Neekee, The Wagner's(Reid being one of his special friends), The Litchfield's(Joey being his 2nd special friend), and Larett & William(his 3rd special friend) Dietrich. We had so much fun eating, bowling, and just enjoying the company of one another. Most of the adults, with the exception of Jeff, myself, and my Mom & Dad didn't bowl, but we certainly had fun doing so! On two of the lanes we put the 4 boys(Austin, Reid, Joey, & William) and then the 4 girls(Brooke, Addi, Katy, & Riley)....they had so much fun!
We decorated everything in a Spiderman theme, including a fabric bunting my Mom & I made, and a delicious cupcake-cake from Sam's.
For his big present, Austin got a Nintendo DSi, which was from us, Granni/Grandpi, Nana/Papa, Mimi, & Aunt Neekee(et al). He LOVED it!! I can't recall how many hugs we received thanking us and telling us how much he loved it. Here's hoping #5 is a wonderful year for our special little guy!

Apparently Austin didn't think he got enough for his birthday so he gave himself a busted lip this morning at Sunday School requiring one stitch!! He was horsing around and fell into one of the little play tables......Boys!! :) Thankfully his Daddy thought quickly on his feet after picking him up and took him to Coach Eric's office and he fixed him right up. Guess we'll remember his 5th birthday forever!!

Happy 15th Nala!

Yesterday Nala turned 15!! I honestly never thought she would see her 15th birthday after her stroke in December, but alas she proved me wrong :) I can still remember every detail surrounding my purchase of her. I used to visit her in the mall pet store(yes, that's how long 15 years ago is, as now the mall is completely different and there is no trace of a pet store!) almost every day until I got her. I borrowed $ from my then boyfriend and best friend and worked as an intramural volleyball referee at UF until I earned the $400+ to pay them back. It has been a crazy 15 years together, but in the end I couldn't imagine her not being such an importnant part of my life!