Merry Christmas!!!

Well, Sarae is only 4, but it seems she has already been typecasted... She was an angel last year in the church play and this year was an angel both at school and church : ) Top 3 Santa questions from Sarae this year:

1. Why did Santa talk like a girl this year and a boy last year? (Her school must not have been able to find a male)
2. How does Santa get into our house since we do not have a chimney?
3. Where does Santa go potty? Me: Maybe he doesn't drink anything before he gets in the sleigh. Sarae: Mom, he drinks all the milk! Therefore we had to clean her bathroom just in case Santa had to go.

Sarae's favorite parts of this Christmas (besides the toys) was the candlelight service at church (she got to hold her own candle)and spending time with the family. Although she loved all of her gifts, I believe the one she has played with the most is the Tag Reading system. She is a reader just like me! Buddy and Cody's favorite parts of this Christmas were all the leftovers they got to eat and having Sarae and I home more than normal. My favorite parts of Christmas this year were all of the decorations and watching the children put on their plays. Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas too! See below for more pics!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Sarae and I definitely did. We started the day by making our traditional turkey cookies using Sarae's hand as a template (the other picture are of cookies I made for her class). Later, we had the traditional dinner with my mom and Tia. That following Monday, tia, Sarae and I spent the day at Harry Potter World at Islands of Adventure with my sister Lynne, her daughters, Amanda and Tracey and Tracey's children, Lexi and Colton. Tia and I were very excited about finally going to Harry Potter's World. It did not disappoint! The next day we went to Magic Kingdom and had absolutely beautiful weather and hardly any crowds. Lynne's husband, Dave, was able to join towards the end of their trip so we were able to spend time with him as well. See below for more pics. Now we are just preparing for Christmas. I love this time of year!

Fun at Harry Potter World, Islands of Adventure

Fun at Disney!

Playing Doctor and the Corn Maze

We've had a busy, busy weekend. Our friend, Claudia came to visit and brought Sarae a Dr. Kit. She absolutely loved it and has played with it all weekend. We have had gorgeous weather and the high on Sunday was 69 degrees. We decided it would be a great day to go to the Corn Maze in Mt. Dora. Our friend Elyn was sick and could not join us, but luckily Diane, our wonderful neighbor, joined us. Sarae got us through the maze and afterwards we played on the playground, in the sandpit and ate yummy corn and other delicious food. If you live in Florida, this is a great place for kids and it is open until Nov. 28th.

Star Light, Star Bright, first star I see tonight...

I wish I may, have this wish I wish tonight. I wish to be a mermaid! This is what Sarae would wish every night when we saw the first star while walking the dogs. So, no surprise she was a mermaid for Halloween. She was Merliah, from the block buster hit, Barbie and a Mermaid Tail. Here in Florida we celebrate Halloween all month. So, Sarae got to trick or treat at SeaWorld, the Zoo, Downtown Disney, at school and at our neighborhood clubhouse. Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

Summer Time!

This summer has flown by so far. The first picture is of Sarae and her friend Savannah before their dance recital. The rest of the pics are of Sarae and her "best friend" Cody. She's a dog-lover just like me! Hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

Virginia & DC vacation!

Sarae, Tia and I hit the road on April 30th and headed up to Virginia. Tia had never been there, so we planned on seeing as many historic sites as we could fit in, along with catching up with friends. We stayed in a great condo (thanks to my sister and her husband for getting us such a great deal!)in Williamsburg, Virginia. We toured Williamsburg Saturday and half a day Sunday and then headed up to D.C. to see Marsha. Marsha had worked 18 days straight and I am afraid did not get much of a rest on her one day off since she took us on a whirlwind tour of D.C. Monday, we went to the Washington Zoo, Arlington Cemetary, Smithsonian (Natural History and Tia ran to the Archives for a quick peek at the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution), White House briefing room (yes we got to stand where the President stands when addressing the reporters!), and wrapped the day up by running around the monuments. The next morning we got to tour Marsha's work at NBC studios. We left Marsha and headed to Monticello and ended the day back in Williamsburg. Wednesday we toured two plantation houses - Berkely and Shirley. Found out the heir to Shirley is an eligible bachelor in his 40's. Tia and I thought it would be a great idea for he and I to meet, but unfortunately, it wasn't like a Harlequin romance book and he never appeared on the scene. Thursday we went to my hometown of Petersburg to see Blandford Church. This church was made into a monument for the Confederate soldiers and Tiffany was commissioned to make 15 stained glass windows - beautiful! Besides Marsha, we also got to see Mr. & Mrs. Durham, Duff, Lisa, Michelle, Jack, Megan, Kay, Kendall and Kary during this trip. Catching up with everyone made this trip extra special! A special thank you to Duff for loaning us his GPS, it made getting around the state much easier!

Happy 4th Birthday Sarae!

Happy 4th Birthday Sarae!

It's taken me a while, but I am finally posting pictures from Sarae's birthday party that was held on March 6th. We had a beautiful day for the party and had lots of fun. Thanks to mom and Tia for helping set up, Jim and Dana for grilling and Vanessa for setting up, taking names and cleaning up. Sarae had a great time with all of her friends and was worn out by the end of the day. The theme was Diamond Castle Barbie, which has two main characters - Alexa and Liana. The afternoon before the party, when I went to put her birthday cakes together, I realized I had neglected to measure the Barbie dolls and the height of the cakes. After momentarily kicking myself, I cut holes in the cake board, decorated a box and cut holes in the box as well and set the cake board on top of the box. This way the Barbies legs could dangle down into the box. I was so proud of figuring this out I am posting the pictures. Hope everyone's spring is off to a great start!