Christmas

The boys got rollerblades and so did I. And I also got this white TV stand that I have been wanting.

Summer got a blow up swimming pool and thanks to the 80 degree weather and a little hot water from the tub, the girls played in it for 2 hours.

Taylor also got this pogo stick and they got some video games they have been playing a lot.

Amy got a new bike. Max got the talking Elmo and I have to say that all of the kids have enjoyed playing with it. We got Horton Hears a Who which is a great movie and also from my parents we got a Clearplay DVD player which takes the garbage out of any DVD. Shelby got Pedipaws - I'll have to practice with it though - it's basically a dremmel sander.

It's orange season again.

We actually went to the beach the day after Christmas because it was so warm, but we didn't takes our suits, just played on the beach.

Max still isn't too sure about the beach.

Last day at Disneyworld

Today was our last day at Disney before our passes run out. Can you believe it is almost Christmas and there are gorgeous flowers blooming? I couldn't resist taking a picture of the kids in front of them by the ferry. All the kids have grown - Summer started out at about 40" and is now 44" and could ride Space Mountain.

Dale's trying to pull out the sword in the stone - you go babe!


The Merry -go-round

Captain Hook and Smee

The Wishing Well

Max waiting for the kids on the race track.

It was 80 degrees today - I'm still amazed at the weather here.

Cute Boys

I found Max snuggled up with these two one morning.

He has learned to climb and gets up onto the table. He thinks he's pretty clever.

Here Taylor is ready to go to his first concert to play the handbells. He did a terrific job.

Gingerbread Houses

Before After

Our fun friends the Smithsons suggested getting together to make gingerbread houses which was a great idea. They taught us the trick - hot glue the pieces together! How smart are they. Also, the kits from Target come with the frosting already made.

The kids had so much fun.

Hollywood & Bear

Taylor has been wanting a Turkey leg at Disney World all year so when I took the three older kids to Hollywood Studios Saturday, I decided to get them all a turkey leg. A few bites in and they all were gagging it down. Word of wisdom - stick with the pizza.

We waited in line for 90 minutes for Toy Story Mania which was totally not worth the wait. Rockin' Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror were good though and Fantasmic was pretty good.

Kendall earned his Bear and is now in the Webelos den. Yay! I'm thinking of darkening my hair back to its natural color, what do you think?

Thanksgiving who? Let's go to Disney World!

We decided to visit Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving thinking nobody would be there - WRONG. It was very crowded, but we took it easy, used fast passes, and saw the parade.

This is us after the parade waiting for the crowds to disperse.

Max loved the parade - and the sucker.

Cinderella's castle - it was a beautiful day.

I took all the kids to Epcot another day and we were sitting on a bench eating some pastries when Minnie, Mickey, and Goofy walked right out of the gate by us. What luck - no lines. Max is trying to figure out what that giant mouse is doing.

Everything was decked out for Christmas.

We couldn't resist trying on silly hats.

Brevard Zoo, A's, and Thanksgiving Dinner

We have the whole week off of school so today we went to the Brevard Zoo with our next door neighbors who graciously gave us their guest passes. There was an area where you could feed these birds which were very friendly.

You could also feed the giraffes.

Dale's brother Spencer and his wife Annette were in town a few days so we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner early while some family was around. It was so fun to have them visit us and the girls are in love with their Aunt Annette. The boys enjoyed some golfing action with Uncle Spencer and Dale.

Taylor got all A's first quarter so he was awarded a certificate and sworn into the A's Club. Go Taylor!

Last Weekend

Last Friday there was a night space shuttle launch. We were watching it on TV and wondered if we would be able to see it from our house. We stepped out onto the patio and the sky was lighting up then what looked like a huge fire ball was emerging into the sky. It was such an awesome site. Then Saturday morning Dale, Taylor, and I ran the Winter Garden 5K. We were all a little slower this time, but it was fun to run one that was so well organized. We will definately do this next year.
Then later that evening we were having a picnic at the park when some Mexicans pulled up with their fishing nets. We watched them throw these nets out into the shallow water and pull in some nice sized Tilapia. We might have to bring our fishing poles to the park next time - catch and release of course for us, but they were catching their dinner.
I'm getting excited for Christmas when I see all the decor in the stores so I have put some Christmas music on the blog - hope you like it.

Who Knew?

At first when we moved here all the lizards running around really freaked me out. But now they don't bother me at all and obviously they don't bother the kids either. Who knew they would bite onto your earlobe and hang out for ear life?

Do you see something different about Taylor's smile? He got his braces off and has his 2 front teeth - hooray! Two of his teeth fell out the day he got the braces off because the brackets were holding them in.

Birthdays & Extreme Fun

Kendall is now 10. I can't believe how time flies. He had a friend birthday party which was a lot of fun. We played cootie, copy cat (as seen here) and musical chairs. We had pizza and a pinata - all the things that kids enjoy.

Dale's region won some money to do a little get together so he planned some "extreme" fun. They went on this fun go-cart track, hang gliding, and swamp boating. His guys said he was a maniac on the go-cart track.

It's our 13 year anniversary tomorrow. We went out today for lunch and Dale gave me a CD of all the songs on my playlist. What a great husband I have - I feel so blessed :)

Halloween

Max and Summer came back a little early and I couldn't pry this sucker from Max's sticky fingers.

Shelby and I hung out at home and greeted the very few guests that we had.

Here are the pumpkins the kids carved.

Actually Dale carved them. They were the toughest pumpkins I have ever had and I usually do most of the carving, but we had to rely on Milwaukee this time.

All ready to go!

Ward 5K

Today our ward had a 5k race. Dale came in 2nd with Taylor and Kendall right behind him. The boys didn't even train and they did it in 25 and 28 minutes. I did it in 31 minutes and was feeling good about it.

Beach Day

Max doesn't love the beach - yet. He kept dipping his cracker in the sand and wanting to eat it. He was so mad when I would take it away. He did get used to putting his feet in the water.
The kids love to just dig in the sand - except we forgot the buckets and shovels this time.
Taylor got pummeled by a wave and received this battle wound.
Summer stays in the very shallows or on the beach.
Amy is a maniac and can catch a wave like no other.