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!

Silly Girl

Ok, this picture is just too funny to leave out.

Ever wonder why your child NEEEEEEEEEDS their blanket? I've figured it out - apparently it also doubles as a hat in case their head gets cold. We came in to check on her and found her like this....silly girl.

Christmas 2008

Here are some pictures of our Christmas season this year:

Raleigh helping to decorate the tree. Any idea how many ornaments you can fit on one branch in one spot of a 7 foot tree? Ha!

We had Christmas Eve dinner at our house. Great Mimi & Great Papa, Nonni & Poppy, Grammy & Grandpa plus the 4 of us! It was nice....

As you can see Santa barely brought anything... (ok, that's sarcasm, we barely had a square inch left to sit Christmas morning)....

Our "little man" turned one!

(Better late than never I suppose)

Aiden turned ONE in December.... Hard to believe a year had already gone by! Nonni and Poppy came down for his birthday and Christmas. We had a small party with family and friends ! Here he is destroying his little gingerbread man cake!