Happy Holidays...

Happy Holidays to everyone!

It's been a while, and I wanted to go ahead and end 2009 with our annual Christmas photos, a little wrap up, and some resolutions for 2010. As you can see - We visited Santa again this year...


Aiden is on the naughty list, and not too happy about it! Actually, he's just terrified of Santa. Perfect! Raleigh is trying her hardest to look innocent - because she wants toys (nearly every one she sees) and her Christmas list is getting longer by the minute. I can see a second (or third) job in my future with all the things Raleigh NEEDS at 4 years old, I dread her being 15, I think I'm going to be bankrupt!
Raleigh and Aiden are getting along so much better now that Raleigh started school. I guess she is realizing that you really do have to share! Ha! That and she's met several other kids with little brothers/sisters - surely some of them are nice to their siblings - at least the constant copy-catting can do some good, right?
I was talked into a family photo - I try to avoid my picture being taken at all costs - but I guess every now and again it's ok! They turned out pretty nice actually!
Need to do some catching up - a lot has happened since April! Be on the look out for some back posting and pictures! FOr now, I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!!! I miss hearing from many of you since I dropped off the face of the blogger earth - and hope some of you will get back in touch!

Raleigh and her friends...

First of all, Raleigh did this with the magnets ALL BY HERSELF! Her E and I are mixed up, but still, she found all the letters out of the two alphabet sets we have on the fridge and arranged them in the right order to spell her name.

Raleigh met some of her friends at Busch Gardens last weekend. She was in a little bit of a weird mood, unfortunately, and wouldn't ride many rides. But, I think they all had a good time anyhow...
Raleigh, Haleigh, Christian, and Joseph in "Land of the Dragons"
Katie and Raleigh - immediately afterwards Raleigh screamed and demanded to get off this ride, so she never actually went for the "ride" portion. Poor Katie wasn't feeling well.

Raleigh and I on these flying dragons (above) and Haleigh and Kerri (below)...
When I get the pics from the other mom's I'll add to this.

New House

Front (above)
Kitchen:

Entry way...

Great Room

Guest Bath

What would you do....

If you came out of your bedroom and saw THIS...

He's all boy, that's for sure!

Easter - at last.....

Daddy and Raleigh dyed more eggs the night before Easter...
Raleigh and Aiden found the eggs hidden by the Easter bunny...

Aiden slipped into a candy induced coma...
It was a great Easter. The kids really enjoyed it!

Another touching moment....

Ahhhhh, just a year ago I posted some crying pictures of Aiden. I assumed it was a phase that would pass. Clearly, I was mistaken. Here are some snapshots of a touching moment from our day today.


At least Raleigh is smiling! Who knew water bottles and ziplocks were such great toys???? To think of the money I wasted on Christmas presents.

Really, they are both great kids - Chris and I are so blessed.

Easter Eggs

Today we decorated Easter eggs...

Hard to imagine we didn't even make a mess. I was envisioning the biggest dye mess all over everything. She actually did very well...

One of the eggs broke, I ate it, Raleigh was very upset there was one missing and asked me several times why I had to eat it. Perhaps she has just a touch of OCD?! HAHA!
We bought a set of princess egg decorations - so six of the eggs got their own princess stand and crown.

Family is visiting!

We have family visiting from out of town. Yesterday we all went to Busch Gardens! Brooke and Raleigh had SUCH a great time! They really get along great!
Brandi, Brooke, Nonni, Poppy, Grandma Terry, Grammy, Grandpa, Chris, Raleigh, Aiden (and me of course) went to Busch Gardens...

Yep, he's with us....

Aiden is finally old enough to ride on some of the kiddie rides. He just LOVED this "choo choo"! He rode it twice in a row!

These HUGE puppets controlled by people on stilts are always a hit with the kids. Aiden even gave one a kiss on the nose.

Raleigh and Brooke got their faces painted. This was Raleigh's first face paint experience. She was as still as I have ever seen her. She cried when we had to wash her face last night and asked promptly this morning if we could go back and get her face painted again today. Silly girl!

At the end of the day we let the kids play in the sand box. Aiden escaped once and was lost for about 2 mins before we found him running back from across the play area. He was GONE from the sandbox, and I was in panic mode!

The "Experienced Helper"

Last weekend we worked out in the yard all day both Saturday and Sunday! We got at least two hard freezes this winter, very unusual for central Florida, and much of our already dwindling landscaping was killed. The new grass we planted in December seems to be bouncing back...the older grass is more like crunchy twigs and dirt. Guess we'll be putting down some additional sod in another month or so.
We also had some new edging done in December, which you can see in the pictures. Now we just need to mulch (this weekend before the weeds set in!). Here is what our flowerbeds look like now:

And Raleigh's new favorite thing is to help with the gardening and watering the flowers. She has declared that she is an "experienced helper!" I'm sure you can imagine the conversation...
Mom: Raleigh, NO! Don't dig up the flowers!
Raleigh: But MOM, I'm an EX-PEEEEEER-IENCED HELPER! It's ok!
Mom: Raleigh, you just squashed the new flower mommy planted!
Raleigh: It's OK mom. It's just an accident!

Where have I been?

Yeah, that is the question....
It's hard finding time to update the blog. Life has been busy, and I keep adding more and more to my plate! I promise, today, when I get back from picking Raleigh up from school I'm going to post something new. New pictures - and I'll try to make Friday my "update" day. We'll see if I can even stick to that. Thanks to everyone who is bearing with me as I take a year off here and there. LOL!

I'm going back and posting to "catch up" the time from September 2008 through March 2009, so things should be popping up in chronological order...

School Days

Raleigh is going to school 2 days a week (half days). At first, she wasn't so sure about it...but she seems to be enjoying it a little more. Her friend Haleigh also goes there - and she tells me all the time how much fun she has with Haleigh at school.

Here she is on the morning of her first day of school:

Circus Circus!

In January we took Raleigh to the Circus. Besides everything being totally OVERPRICED it was FABULOUS! She loved it! They had so many different animals and it was a nice long performance complete with fairies which Raleigh just adored!