2nd annual Christmas Party....

On Saturday we had our now (since this is the second year in a row) annual Christmas party at our house. We invited our neighbors and close friends that live in town.  There was so much food, drinks, and great conversation, it was perfect.  I worked all day to get the house clean, I always say I am not going to wait until last minute, but I always wait until last minute.  There were over 60 guests including children, and I really think fun was had by all.  The highlight of the night was when Mr. & Mrs. Claus showed up bearing gifts for each child.

The kids patiently waiting for their turn with Santa:

All the grown ups were watching, it was so sweet to see each parent smile as their child sat on Santa's lap:

Poor Charlotte was so nervous with all the people:

I looked over and saw all the "tween" girls feet:

Juliana telling Santa what she wanted (although when I asked her later what she told him, she couldn't remember):

I caught Tyler telling his friends how big he thought his present would be:

Silly girls:

Tyler's turn with Santa:

And off they go on their sleigh:

To be 8...

I love kids, I love the innocence, I love the excitement in the little things...  Tyler has always liked dressing up.  He's gone out dressed like a soldier, a super hero, or just a boy who doesn't care to match.  A couple of weeks ago we went to the mall, he dressed like a police officer.  Even had a fake gun and tickets in his pocket in case anyone was unruly.

I love this boy:

Holiday card time...

Been working on our 2011 Christmas Card...  I wanted to go funny but in the end we decided on a more serious card.  I will not be showing the actual card we will be sending out just yet, but the funny one that didn't make the cut...  Here it is!

An academic museum?

Our last couple of days in Florida we decided against another day at Disney and decided to try out Legoland!  Of course for an added bit of fun we chose not to tell the kids that we were taking them there (although they had said how much they would like to go), in stead we told them we were going to take them to an academic museum!  Their faces were priceless when we told them this, they really didn't want to go, but were good and we all loaded in the car and headed off to expand our minds.  As we were pulling into the parking lot Juliana noticed that we were across the street from Legoland, they started asking and begging if we could go there in stead of the museum (I was shocked they were asking I thought for sure they would of figured it out).  We did tell them we were really going to Legoland and it was all a trick to fool them.  They were super excited!!!  I often think that there aren't enough good surprises in life, so I love when we can pull off a good one!

Legoland was really neat, the kids loved all the Lego creations and rides.

A little bit of Disney...

After visiting Steve family in Naples, FL we headed up to Orlando to spend some time at Disney.  I know many families that love Disney and can't get enough, we all love Disney, but definitely get Disney'd out quite quickly, so we usually just do a couple of the parks each time we go.  This year we went to Epcot first, we went there on our last trip, and the kids liked it so much they wanted to go back.  My Mother and Grandmother met us and we spent the day going on rides, walking around, and eating.  It started off a beautiful day, but by afternoon it started to pour on us.  We all purchased ponchos and carried on with our day.  I never got a picture of us in our ponchos... lets just say we weren't making any great fashion statements.

This is four generations:

My Mother headed home that night and my Grandmother stayed the night with us.  We only had two beds so she slept with Juliana and Tyler... he's such a trooper, he opted to sleep in the tub, he said it was very comfortable!  How many people can say they've slept in a tub?

My Grandmother headed back to Springhill and we had a down day.  But of course when your traveling with us it's never boring.  In the past we've had super high fevers, vomiting, flat tires, missed flights, and so on... this time Juliana cut her leg in the hotel room which caused a "party" as she put it in our room of security & maintenance workers, then on our off day we had to find a doctor because both kids had double ear infections.  Luckily finding a doctor and pharmacy was easy and the vacation continued.

The following day we headed to Magic Kingdom, it's my favorite and what you envision when you think about Disney.  It wasn't busy at all and we got to go on so many rides, the longest line was only 20 minutes, it was great!

Thanksgiving weekend...

Our Thanksgiving weekend began with a 2 hour drive to JFK in NYC to fly to Florida.  Both kids have been traveling since they were little babies and are great travelers.  We flew on Jetblue this trip and it's now become our #1 airline.  The seats are comfy, the bags are checked free, they give you snacks, and the tv's at each seat are a brilliant idea!  We arrived at Steve's parents late on Thanksgiving and woke up the next morning to actually celebrate with our traditional dinner the next morning.  The kids had a blast in Naples before we headed off for other adventures.

 Nothing says LOVE like strangling your brother:

Tyler was actually happy, just going for a subdued face:

Peace out Juliana:

All Tyler wanted to do was fish, thankfully Daddy agreed to fish with him:

The kids went for a short ride in the convertible:

A little tennis is always fun:

Juliana loves hugging the palm trees:

Saying goodbye:

Tyler loves to pose: