Happy Holidays!

We had a fabulous Christmas!!!











Now it is off to the Keys to bring in the new year! Jay is making sure the boat is fit as a fiddle!

My decorated cookie...

Oh what fun we had! Michael put Jay in his high chair to watch Jacob and Jayda decorate their gingerbread men. Jay was happy of about a minute or two and you could tell he wanted in on the action!

Life Size Gingerbread Boy!!!!




Jacob's
Jayda's




PS: They taste really good! Even Jay likes them!

"Cookies...mmmm...me love cookies!"

Okay...I am sure you know who I am talking about!

Jayda and I were off to the grocery store and came home with scads of baking supplies!

We started working about 10 am in the kitchen and quit at 4:00 pm!

The first batch we worked on was called Loaded Oatmeal and then I made a home made icing to go over the top...delish! So soft!
Then of course were the traditional sweets! Hershey Kisses, Reeses, and mini snickers candy went inside these peanut butter goodies! This is the kiss version! I also made some regular peanut butter!
These are a new batch I whipped up this year. They are called Chewy Chocolate Buttery Cookies. So soft and rich!
Then there are these two big numbers! We are decorating them this evening once Jacob gets home from helping Michael! Oh to be a kid again! Love this gingerbread recipie...so soft and tasty! You can not see them but we have 5 different candies, sprinkles of every color, m and m's raisins, chocolate chips and many different icings.

Watch for follow up completed gingerbread men! They just were not fast enough to get away!

I still have cookies to bake! Chocolate Chip, Monster Cookies, Pecan and Brown Sugar rolls, White Chocolate Coconut Cookies.

Mom I cant find that lime and coconut cookie recipie you sent me a while back!!! @#!*%$!!!@

Speaking of limes and coconuts....I am no longer nursing. Last night he was cut off. Actually, he is so congested with his cold and snotty that he can not even think about breathing out of his nose. Thus, nursing would be futile! Weaning him now, while the weaning is good! Woohoo!!!

Someone pour me a very weak coconut rum and lime drink....no sense in getting all crazy and dancing on the dining room table tonight! At least not while the children are awake! Yeah, I know you are laughing...like Michael would stand for such silliness!!!! Ok, how about I save the table dancing for the Keys!?!

You know I have never danced on a table! Not even in college!

Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

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Jay's first Christmas Gift 2008

Thanks Uncle Bill and Aunt Susan...we let him open it early because he spotted it and he wanted it and he was making us crazy and we wanted something to keep him busy...LOL!!!!

My Dad's early birthday gift from my mother!

This was taken from mother's cell phone. The grass was just put in a week or so ago and the painting was finished on the outside in the last 4 days or so.
It's gorgeous.....one more reason for you all to come visit!
They have a walk through on the 18th and close the 26th of this month! Can anyone say holy smokes that is fast? But...they got a deal and a half and it is stunning!

Jay has his first cold. Started yesterday. A cough. Kind of whiny. I have a real sore throat!!! Ugh! Bummer! No fevers yet but man sakes alive!
Unfortunately, there was a child at story time last week who was coughing all over the place the nastiest cough I have ever heard...his mom kept trying to cover his mouth. Just so happens he sat down by Jay and I. Coughed all over us. Gross! Now why don't people keep their sick children home!?!? Oh the best part, everyone kept giving her looks and she had the nerve to tell us all..."He has allergies".
Yeah, and I won the lottery this past weekend!

Early Bird Catches the Worm

I must admit, it is 5:56 am. I have been awake since 3:33 am. The baby awoke and then I could not fall back to sleep. At 4:30 am I decided to get up. I had some things on my mind and I wanted to write them down as when the baby is awake, I have no time to write down my thoughts. {giggling}
After I completed what I set out to do...I figured I might as well complete another layout. I have done 2 since Friday and was going to start a third...but how do you go about scrapping a picture of yourself the day before you break your leg? Hahaha...you know what...I only think I have one picture of me with my broken leg. It was a family portrait we had done...you can't see my broken leg...but I rem it very well! Anyway, I can not post the layouts because they are for the design team I design with and it's just not time to reveal it yet.
So, then, I decided...hmmmm why not complete my blog???
I have a great story to tell!

Yesterday, Michael left early to head into the office to meet his dad and his crew to begin tearing down the models at the office in order to refurbish them and place them on the new office sites. I went Christmas shopping and feel I am done...except maybe a few stocking stuffers...when is enough ehough?
I digress...
I stopped at my mothers on the way home, because I couldn't bear the thought of being alone another day and chasing Jay around the house, up over things, and keeping him from fishing in the toilet bowls!
Then, my parents basically kicked me out...hahaha...just kidding....they had to fill out paperwork for the house they are putting a contract on today. YAY FOR THEM!
Yes a side note here...
It appears mother and dad did not tell anyone else in the family about this house they were thinking about buying...not because they were hiding it...actually mother had been looking for a home that was made of block rather than wheels. My dad is always fretting about bad weather and tornadoes and unfortunately this fall we have had more tornado warnings/watches than I care to remember. So, I can completely understand when your permanent residence is on wheels and made with kite material{despite how darn cute it is and all flamingo-ied out} that there are days you may not feel so safe. This being the case I am all for the 4.3 mile further distance they will be living from me!
Now they were just looking at homes and I should put looking in quotes because it was just a curiosity and with home prices being what they are... So, looking for a 55 + community close to our family where you own the land and it is cinder block structure- they are few and far between. Then Victoria gardens popped up in mother's searches. Much by happenstance, on their way back from one of mother's many shopping trips, they stopped in just to look...
They really liked it and they were shown one house in particular that the people that were to close on this month backed out. It is nearly complete and stunning. To boot, they were given such a huge reduction...it became a little evident they needed to give it a little more thought as a strong possibility. A few days later, they made arrangements to take me over and show me the house. I liked it alot and went over it with a fine tooth comb as I do not want my parents getting the shaft in anyway! The house is absolutely stunning in a gated, staffed community with amenities and a clubhouse that is to absolutely die for. The one pool is HUGE and stunning...however, they have access to the other two communities pools which are more "kid friendly" for when company comes. As we were being given the tour of the clubhouse and told about the activities and parties, the sweet sales lady told us that outside people are invited to the parties!!! Woohoo...we can go to!!!! I told her big mistake telling my parents that when I was there...now they can not escape me! hahaha However, this will be awesome so when my Aunt and Uncle are down they can participate in the activities with my parents! I might add, if you are reading this Uncle Gordy...you will want to live here too when you move down full time!
{Holy smokes this is turning into a long long story!}
So back to my side story....
so it is not as if they are hiding their actions from anyone...it is just the fact that it has been a snowball effect turning into an avalanche! They stumble on this goldmine of a deal, show me, I love it, mom goes to Cleveland, comes home, gets paperwork in order and is putting a contract on it today if all goes well. They get a killer mortgage rate as it is one of those end of year deal thingies! We have all gone over with a fine tooth comb, run the numbers, etc etc etc and looks like it is going forward.
Bottom line is folks...
there is an upgrade cable put out on the lanai right next to the outlet for the refrigerator...IT WAS MEANT TO BE! Oh and if that wasn't positive enough...they currently live on Abbottwoods Lane...they will be moving to Abbot Way. How cool is that!?!
Ok, now back to my main main main story, so I leave there and still do not want to go home alone on a Saturday...so I call Mike and tell him I am bringing the baby down to see his Grampy! Sure enough, I did and he was soooo sweet to his Grampy. He was in a dead sleep and awoke when I got him out. Grampy met us at the car and started talking to Jay, Jay immediately reached out to him to be held by him! How cool! Then Grampy went and showed him to his crew and then into the office they went and Jay sat on his lap for a few minutes before he realized he would rather be running around the office!
We go and head home because I wa shaving my parents over...or we may have been gong out to use our gift certificate to the outback. Big decision...we decided to go out. So when Michael got home and cleaned up we headed out to pick up my parents. We had a call ahead seating reservation for 6:30 pm. We arrived shortly before and the parking lot was SWAMPED...eeeeks! I let Michael off and I began through the parking lot wondering where we would park. Lo and behold as I drove a woman jumped in her car and pulled out right up front! WOO HOO! Our lucky day! We get in and it is so crowded. They told Mike could be 20 minutes. We were seated in less than 10! Wow! Now, I am not sure you are all familiar with the Ocala Outback story...but it ends up they cooked our steaks horribly...all absolutely burned and well done. NIGHTMARE...so we were given a gift card to come back and try again.
We all order tentatively and tell the waitress exactly how we want it to look and she told us how to order...
Things are going well, jay is eating everything in sight and having a ball. Our food comes and we all immediately check our steaks. Mine was done the least of the bunch...Dad's was completely well done, Michael's was almost the same and dry and mine so so. We have to ask for our waitress to come around after waiting about 10 mintues she gets there. We tell her our steaks were not done right. Tell her we are here on a gift card from the company because they screwed up the first time...she goes and gets her manager. She looks at our food tells dad she would have never eaten a bite of his, said to Michael you didnt even eat 1/4 of yours and to me she said that's not right either.
She tried to take it back and make us a new one...we were all almost done eating anyway, no thanks...she says how about this...can I get you some dessert to make up for it? Nah that's ok, well are you sure...I am not going to charge you so you might as well...she really pushed the peanut butter pie on us and we agreed to one. It was delicious! Well, then we assumed that our steaks would be taken off the bill and we waited and waited for them to come and bring us the check(mind you mother ordered ribs and they were delicious and perfect). They come back and I said may we have the bill and she said, there is no charge for anything, you do not have to pay.
That was not our goal or our intent...however, WOWZERS! Needless to say, the waitress got a huge tip from us!
We went from discussing how we would never eat there again to deciding when we would go and use up the gift certificate we still have and try the Outback in Daytona Beach. Taking bets on whether or not they can get the steak right. I have heard they are top notch there. I am hoping so!
So, to that story there is an end and no more side stories.
If you read through this whole thing...your name must be Peggy!
{I knew you would get a kick out of this story and it was written specifically for you!!!}

12 Days of Christmas

I am taking Jeanette Heardman's 12 Days of Christmas Class online! I love it so far! She has great ideas for inspiring new Christmas traditions with your family! So much fun! The children are having a ball with it!
Last night I made my journal after I had helped the children create their's. Jacob came up with their title for both of their journals!


We usded creative imagination christmas paper to cover their journals and the silk holly I had gotten at the dollar store.

On my journal, I had some fun!



I used vintage spel*ingo letter cards to spell out joy. Then I added one more card showing the back side of the cards I used. I added white frill, vintage tickets from my friend Bree, the silky holly and brads, vintage buttons from my mother in law, red stickles all over the showing heavy cardstock and added 12 days with black thickers!
They all turned out adorable...but the best is the writing in the journals by my children!!!

Taking a closer look.....

It is such a wonderful time in Jay's life. Or is it mine???? I think it is mine. He is such a sweet child...despite how precocious he is! I will say to him, "Come and give mommy love and kisses!" He comes running from as far away as the other room, throwing himself into my arms and putting his forehead on mine{his way of kissing} and cuddles into my arms. Ah, it is motherhood perfection!
That precious moment that seals my heart strings tight around baby Jay's.........so that when Jay is a teenager and I want to absolutely kill him~I will spare his life as these moments have been seared into my brain! hahaha

My father and I are going to pick up my mother from the airport this evening. She is in Cleveland in the snow and cold...andxious to return to Florida sun as I write! She was judging English Bulldogs and French Bulldogs at a dog show in Cleveland. Everything went well!

I need to run and get Jacob!

It's just so early....

Everything wa son track last evening.
Dinner prepared, eaten, cleaned up.
Took leftovers over to my dad for his dinner this evening.
Baby had his bath and ran around here and played a bit.
We went "night night".
I tucked in Jayda and Jacob asked for the 149th time if he could get up at 3:30 am to go to the airport too. I said no, he huffed off. I told him goodnight and I loved him dispite his evident distaste for me at the moment.
Crawl into bed.
Read for an hour.
{This is when it goes a little sour.}
I begin to get indigestion.
It creeps up on ya nice and slow and then erupts rather like a volcano to full blown discomfort.
I try and ignore it, then begin to take some rolaids.
It's almost 10 pm.
It is past ignoring and guess who wakes up and is rolling around fussing? Jay.
So he is up, I am up, and my stomach is forcing me to hiccup it was so acidic.
10:30 baby is back asleep.
I am still awake.
The indigestion hit a peak...let's just say I took 9 rolaids over a 2 hour period and drank three bottles of water!
Michael has on a show in the room I can't take my eyes off!
It's after 11 and I finally fall asleep!
Peaceful, sleeping soundly.
3:01 am Jay wakes and so do I.
Perfect! I needed to nurse him before I leave at 3:55 am to pick up my mother to take her to the airport!
3:25 up and dressed.
3:30 my wake up call from mother.
3:40 breakfast and blogging.
3:50 am I hear a really weird noise outside and it freaks me out because in 5 minutes I need to go get in my car!
3:52 am I am thinking I better cut it off here and get ready!

I'll be back around 6 am and my day will begin!

My mom and dad are moving!

Can you believe it? They had a house here in FL and a house in PA. They sold my childhood home in PA and now they are selling their house and moving about 4 miles further from us! Not bad at all!!! You see where they lived was a 55+ community{although my mother is only 27} and they did not own their land below their house. This was not gonna work for my dad! They are moving HERE and it is a gorgeous community! Make sure and click on over and see the website!
I had the pleasure of taking the second walk through of the community with mom and dad. Quite frankly I would LOVE to live here! I am envious of their amazing amenities and FUN activities! I wish I was old!
However, if it was crazy enough for my mother...I am up at 3:30 am tomorrow to drive her to the airport. She is judging at a dog show in Cincinnati, I think! Her flight leaves at 6:30 am and returns sometime the next evening.
Yeah, I know...can you believe I agreed to drive her to the airport that early? Crazy....
Yesterday we went to story time at the library! Jay loves story time and all the kids. He wants to interact with them so badly, although he has no idea how. He bulldozes into their circles and ends up tripping and falling on some little unexpecting critter and it ends up his attempts are all foiled by his lack of balance! Everyone loves him there though! He has become quite the liked little boy among little people! Mrs. Claus came by with cookies! Animal cookies...Jay ate about 8 of them...he kept walking over for more!

Then we stopped by the tree for a photo! Easier said then done...


As I was taking the pictures, he reached out and touched a few of the balls and it started a chain reaction of rolling balls across the floor! YIKES! You would have laughed so hard watching me chase the rolling balls around!

Christmas Parade

How much fun did my mother, Jay and I have??? We went to the DeLand parade. It is held at night and the floats are lighted...soooo much fun!
After parking our car, we walked a block or so to town. Yes, we got the last spot in the lot...next to the dumpster.{My car smelled a little funny once we got in afterwards...} The parade was to start at 5:30 pm...we arrived a little before 5 to a packed house! We got second row at least and it was perfect. Well, my seat was. My mother got stuck sitting beside two of the bratiest children ever...like beyond belief. But, they are a clear cut product of their parents poor parenting. Next to them were the two ladies who shouted to everyone in the parade. Still not sure what that was about...
You see here I am talking all bad about the parade already and it hadn't even started! Well, at least I didn't tell you about the young girl who walked out of a skateboard shop and vomitted all over her friends. Ooops, there I just did! hahahaha
The parade was great! Don't get me wrong!
Here we were waiting for the parade to start....

All he cared about before the parade was the dog behind us.

It was time to start!



This was one of the floats.


Jay LOVED the parade and would bounce to the music in his stroller and clapped with the music and clapped when they went on by! He was in it from the beginning to the ...almost end. hahahah

Mother and I busted out early! Can you believe it? They were about half way through and we said...let's get out of here and go have dinner! We went to Bumbino's Italian restaurant and I had eggplant that was to die for!!! The owner came out to ask us how it was and I had to politely tell him it was FABULOUS!!!!!! I told him it was as if I was in New York City! You know the best food that can be found is in NYC! This was so awesome. Michael says we will have to go try it out! I would like that. A date with my husband...now that is a nice thought!
Don't get me wrong....my mother is always a great date!

Here is what Jacob and I worked on all afternoon for science before they headed out in a limo for a birthday party at Wonder Works in Orlando...yes I said LIMO! Kids these days.....

Oh Christmas Tree...

Last night we went to see, Journey Through Christmas. A live walkthrough of the Child's birth through His life. It was a great idea. We had dinner, cleaned up and then headed over to the church about 6:45. It started at 6:30 and ran through 8:30. We arrived and received a number. It was number 36. We would be in group 36. Upon arrival, they were on group 11. At exactly 10:00 pm...we walked out finished with the walk through. The walk through lasted about 20 minutes total. I am sure you are better at math than I am. We waited A LONG TIME!!! In the meantime, they had puppet shows, singers, and musicians in the sanctuary to entertain the crowds. In no way do I think this Orange City Church planned on over 1200 people on the first night!!!!!!!
Yes, we are all exhausted! However, the baby was an angel....no pun intended!
In the last few days, I have decorated our Christmas tree this year. Unfortunately, Jay is a little too curious and wa sin no way going to settle for just looking at a single decoration. Rather, he would prefer to completely destroy and decorate in his own manner! So I was relegated to a table top tree this year. Could not even get a tree dress...he would pull it off the table.
Mom, when you see this tree you will realize I needed to visit Griffin's to add to the tree! It is so their style!


The flocking falls off the tree daily...but I still love it. And, I am not so sure a little elf I know is not shaking it when I am not looking which causes it to fall!
I passed up going shopping today with my mother. Jay and I are going to go to story time at 10:30 am.

Holiday weekend!

Wednesday evening we had a little mishap...

Thanksgiving day was spent at mom and dad's in Ocala. We had a great time and of course ate way too much food. Delicious and they outdid themselves as usual!

Don't you love the baby's bib? That was daddy's idea! A cute one at that! hahahaha
Yes, he managed to get his finger in the pie! Can you believe it???

Of course, a nap was in order!
Isn't that what everyone does on Turkey Day?
Friday, we did this!!!

Oh what fun we had in Bass Pro Shop on Saturday(today). He was fixated on these little lights and it is a wonder he did not break any of them! Bass Pro puts on a huge children's area complete with free photos with santa! Too much fun! Jay got ahold of his first store freedom out of his stroller! He spent the majority of the time chasing around the stroller as he pushed it, and of course any random cart that someone left go of for a moment was moving whichever direction he was going!

Daddy thought he enjoyed the quad runner best of all!
But ultimately, it was the freedom he had that he truly enjoyed!
By the way, a tree is definitely going to be out of the question this year...it is my honest opinion the child would try and climb it!
What a wonderful start to the holiday season!