Report Card Day

Report cards came home yesterday!  Maddy has been doing so well in school I just knew that her 2nd quarter report card was going to be better than her first quarter report card!  I was not disappointed!

Math - C
Reading - B
Written Communication - A
Spelling - A
Handwriting - Outstanding
Science/Health - Outstanding
Social Studies - Outstanding
Art - Outstanding
Music - Outstanding
Phys. Ed - Satisfactory

Maddy's report card isn't perfect but Mike & I are so proud.  What counts that she is trying her best.  Her Effort Scores for every subject are Good - Excellent!  That's our girl!

MMO

Over the last few months Mikayla has been growing and developing at breakneck speed. Becoming a 'big girl' means doing some new 'big girl things'! Today I enrolled her in a local Mom's Morning Out program. She colored, molded play dough, had a story time, had a snack, played on this cute little playground and she met a couple new friends... without me! :) Mikayla had a great day and is excited to go Mom's Morning Out again. I'm so glad, this is something we'll BOTH benefit from!

Bingo, Potties & The Tooth Fairy

This weekend, Mike & I took the girls to the condo to see Grandma. Grandma works full time and lives an hour and a half away so we don't get to see her very often. In fact, Grandma hadn't seen the girls since Christmas and hadn't seen Cousin Cam since mid-December! Grandpa has been out of town on business a lot this month so a visit with the grandkids was just what Grandma needed.

We arrived Saturday evening just in time for sunset.

Although this visit was low key and relaxing, it was still memorable. First of all, my Mom-in-Law took me and Allison to play Bingo Sunday which was a first for the both of us. It's not exactly the healthiest environment to spend a few hours in (unless you like secondhand smoke) but Betty enjoys playing and was excited to bring us along. We didn't win but it was fun.

While us ladies were playing Bingo, the guys were back at the condo looking after the kiddies. Mike took Maddy & Mikayla in the pool. He's been eager to start potty training and also hates changing messy swim diapers. To make a long story short, Daddy got Mikayla to use the potty for the first time! Way to go Mikayla and way to go Daddy!

Finally, Madelyn's 6th loose tooth was a stubborn little bugger. With a little help from Mikayla, Maddy's snaggle tooth finally came out while the two of them were playing! Thank God too, Mike & I were getting ready to find some string and the nearest doorknob! So Maddy had a visit from the Tooth Fairy at the condo.

Busch Gardens

For the last few months, Mike had been dying to get Busch Gardens Fun Passes. We had passes years ago when Madelyn was a toddler but we let them expire when I was pregnant with Mikayla. At the time we were pinching pennies and frankly we were somewhat bored with the park... so we figured it was a good time to take a break. Well, that was almost 3 years ago. This weekend Maddy had a 4 day weekend, the weather was beautiful so we decided it was the perfect opportunity to visit the park and buy our passes for 2010!

We always start on the east side of the park. Mike likes to ride the Montu, grab a beer at the Colony House and walk through the Edge of Africa where we see the lions, hyenas, giraffes, zebras, lemurs and meerkats. Our favorite part or this habitat is this aquarium. It's full of pretty fish, turtles, ducks and 2 hippos!

After seeing the animals on the Edge of Africa we walked over to the Myombe Reserve to see the chimps and gorillas.

Next we visited Timbuktu. This is a fun area for kids. There's games to play, 2 small roller coasters, a carousel and a handful of kiddie rides. Madelyn is now 46'' inches tall (in her Sketchers) which means she is now tall enough to ride not one, but two roller coasters at Busch Gardens! The Scorpion (which goes upside down) and the Cheetah Chase. She loved them both! Mike was SO proud of his brave girl!

Here's Mikayla on the Carousel.

After we left Timbuktu we breezed through the Congo area. It wasn't a good day for a ride on the Congo River Rapids but we were excited to see that Jungala was now open! Only we were SO excited about the new Tiger Encounter that we somehow missed the new 3 story rope maze for kids to climb! (A must see for the next visit!) Anyway, the Tiger Encounter is awesome! This pod is accessible underground so that people can get up close AND personal with the tigers!

Here's Maddy & Mikayla saying "hi" to one very lazy big cat!

It took awhile but we finally made it over to the west side of the park. Here's where we noticed some big changes. The Hospitality House, where Busch Gardens served free samples their Anheuser Busch products is no more! Upon this discovery, Mike and I realized that beer was available in more locations throughout the park. So no more free samples but at least a cold beer is easier to find. We also discovered that the kid zone known as Dragon Land has closed. In two months it will be reopening as Sesame Street's Safari of Fun! I must admit, Dragon Land was a bit outdated so this will be an exciting change! The girls can't wait to play there!

We spent 6 fun-filled hours at the park, it was the perfect amount of time for all of us. By dusk Mikayla was getting cranky because she hadn't had a nap and Maddy was pooping out too. But that's the beauty of the Busch Gardens Fun Passes! We can go back as often as we want... and stay as long as we want! It's a zoo, it's a theme park, it only takes 1 hour for us to get there and it's always lots of fun! And thanks to the Fun Passes it's affordable too!

Birthday Fun

Today was our friend Collin's Birthday Party. It was supposed to be last Saturday but his Mom Jackie postponed it because of the weather. Last Saturday it was raining and 38*, today it drizzly and 68*. It was a heat wave today in comparison! Jackie kept the party simple and everything worked out perfectly despite the drizzle. The kids played, ate pizza and decorated their own cupcakes. Everyone had a great time. It was a fun way to start off the weekend.

Swingin' with the girls

Mikayla & Conner

Madelyn & Collin - Buds since they were babies!

Penguin Project

Maddy was studying penguins at school this week and one of her homework assignments was to create a full scale model of a King Penguin. It could be drawn, sewn, molded out of paper mache... anything she wanted. Maddy & I thought of feathers! We picked up a few supplies and this is what we came up with. Maddy's penguin has a black felt head & fins, a white feather belly and one button for his eye. Maddy also had to write a small report about her penguin. We learned some interesting facts... here they are in her words.

"King Penguins are 3 feet tall. They weigh 24 to 35 pounds. They live on islands near Antartica. King Penguins can dive 350 feet deep to find food. They eat squid and fish. They have orange ear patches and a orange beak."

Yesterday, after Maddy and her classmates presented their penguins in class they were displayed in the Media Center for the whole school to see. Great job Honey!

Little Mikayla

In the 8 months since I started this family blog, very few of my posts have been about our little Mikayla. I've been feeling some major 'mommy guilt' over this. Mikayla is growing and developing everyday and I feel terrible that I haven't been acknowledging her many recent achievements on this blog! My youngest baby is not much of a baby anymore. She has changed so much in the last few months, she deserves an entire blog post devoted just to her.

- Mikayla is currently 2 years, 7 months and 1 day old.

- She can count 1-20, give or take a number or two.

- She can say her ABC's give or take a letter, or two, or three.

- She's still learning her colors but purple is by far her favorite.

- She loves to change her clothes, dress up and cook us meals in her Dora kitchen.

- Mikayla also LOVES to color.... on anything and everything.

- She loves baths and showers, she'd take three a day if I let her.

- She loves SpongeBob and a cute little show on Nick Jr. called Max & Ruby.

- She loves scrambled eggs & fruit but her favorite foods are Mc Donald's cheeseburger Happy Meals & pizza. (big surprise huh?)

- She's spunky, bossy and stubborn but she can be sooo sweet. She melts my heart everyday with her hugs, kisses and 'I love yous'.

Here's a little video I recorded of Mikayla with my new camera. She has a big and beautiful personality for such a small little girl. She is such a blessing.

Winter Fun

This past weekend we experienced the coldest weather in Florida since Mike & I moved here 12 years ago. Sunday afternoon Mike started a fire in the backyard. My "Florida Natives" stayed outside just long enough to toast a marshmallow and eat a s'more and then they retreated indoors. :)

Mike & I enjoyed the crackling fire a little while longer. It was so warm and mesmerizing!

Baby It's Cold Outside 2

It's Saturday and another Arctic cold front has come through! Our temperatures didn't get above 38* today and boy are we loving it. This is mine & Mike's 11th winter in Florida and this is the only one that has felt like winter.

Today we're taking advantage of this glorious gloomy weather by hanging around the house all day! Mike & Maddy are playing their new Wii games that Santa brought. Mikayla is napping. I've been busy in the kitchen, I just made a batch of 'puppy chow' and now I have a pot of my famous chili simmering on the stove for dinner. Mmm Mmm!

This whole week has been all about mittens, flannel pajamas and fuzzy slippers. It's such a refreshing change! My sister-in-law Allison also posted a blog about our winter weather. She commented on how in Florida on a sunny day you can feel guilty if you aren't out enjoying the weather. She's right! We feel like that all the time! So it's so nice when Mother Nature intervenes and creates the opportunity for our family to just relax at home together. It's been wonderful.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Florida winters are generally warm. Highs in the 70s. Lows in the 50s. Warm enough to wear flip flops but cool enough to shut off the air conditioning. Every winter we get several cold fronts that plunge down from the North and cool us down at least 20 degrees. Normally these cold snaps only last a day or two. This year we are breaking a new record. Not a record for cold temperatures but a record for how long these cold temperatures are sticking around! Our Highs have been in the 50s with Lows in the 30s for the last 6 days!

These cold temperatures have been hanging around so long that I had to buy Maddy & Mikayla mittens! It's comical but Madelyn wasn't even able to go outside with her new mittens for recess yesterday because the shaded playground was 38* at 1 o'clock! I know that sounds like a heat wave to some people but that is quite cold for kids that aren't used to it!

So, it's supposed to warm up a bit on Friday... right before an even colder front plows through our state. Our Highs will be in the 40s with Lows around 30* this weekend! Holy moly! Cover your plants, bring in the pets and bundle up Floridians!

Build-A-Bear

My cousins in Eagle River, Alaska sent Maddy & Mikayla Build-A-Bear Workshop gift cards for Christmas. This past Saturday I realized that Maddy's Winter Break was winding down quick and that we should use the cards asap. So off to the mall we went. The girls picked the same pink tie-dyed bear. They have heart-shaped bellies, heart shaped noses and internal giggle buttons. Maddy dressed her bear in a cute rainbow fairy outfit with pink sparkly shoes and named her Emily. Mikayla also wanted to name her bear Emily (monkey-see-monkey-do) but I suggested the first name that popped in my head... Charlotte. (it must have been a subconscious-sister-thing) Mikayla dressed Charlotte in a Tinkerbell outfit with silver sparkly shoes. Both bears are adorable. Maddy & Mikayla LOVE the new friends they created!

and no trip to the mall can be complete without a visit to the play area...

So Long 2009! Hello 2010!

This year Mike, the girls & I spent New Years Eve with our best friends the Hacketts and our new friends the Papineaus.

Jessica started our kids off with chicken nuggets & french fries for dinner!

Then she set them up with a movie & popcorn in the playroom!

Unfortunately, the kids only made it halfway through BOLT when the energy of the night got the best of them! They were bouncing off the walls the rest of the night!

Mmmm... appetizers for the adults! Everyone LOVED the buffalo chicken dip and mini fruit pizzas I made!

Jessica has some mad bartending skills. She made me this chocolate peppermint martini! It was awesome!

Me, Jessica & Jackie

Mike, Brad & Ken

We really had a great night. The kids had a ball and so did the adults! We dressed the kids in their pajamas and decided to let them play and play. Amazingly, the kids were still going strong at 10:30 when it was time to say goodbye. Of course, time flies when you're having fun.

The girls were still WIDE AWAKE when we got home. Mike & I decided to let them stay up till midnight for the first time ever! We watched our neighbors shoot off fireworks and watched the ball drop on tv. We even had a toast! The girls toasted with sparkling white grape juice and Mike & I toasted the New Year with champagne.

2010 is off to wonderful, happy start for our young family. We are so blessed.

Family Time

So this last week of December 2009 was undoubtably a busy one, especially because my Dad & Step Mom Karen came to visit us! Here's a recap of the weeks events!

My Dad is very handy when it comes to home improvements and repairs. Not only did he help set up our new computer but he also helped Mike tackle a few projects around the house. We went to Lowe's to pick up our supplies and throughout the week my Dad helped Mike replace our kitchen faucet, our r/o filtration unit and all of the light fixtures in our master suite. Thank you Dad for all of your help!

Sunday afternoon Karen's mom Jean and sister Elaine also drove down from Georgia for a few days getaway. Wednesday evening, Mike & I had everyone over for a big pasta dinner.

Mikayla had tea-time with Grandpa.

We did enjoy eating out a few times while Dad & Karen were here. We ate at the infamous Chinese Buffet and Outback Steakhouse.

This morning, after a weeklong visit it was time to say goodbye to my Dad & Karen. We went to Perkins for breakfast before they hit the road. It was sad to see them go but we'll see them this summer when they visit again.

Guest Pups

From Sunday to Wednesday, this past week we had two special guests staying with us. We pup-sat Stella & Dempsey for Auntie Allison & Uncle Mike while they were in Chicago for Christmas.

This is Stella... we bonded!

And this is Dempsey, she was a good girl. She always is!