It seems I hardly find time for my blog/scrapebook/memory keeper anymore.
I'll try to wind up October and November in one post so
I'll be short on words and pictures.
Michelle's Baby Shower
My last post was my trip to Illinois to see the kids but I forgot to post about
baby shower that that my sisters, mom and I gave for our baby sister, Michelle.
Isn't she such a cutie.
Tammy and the girls made the diaper center piece.
So sweet.
We are so excited as a family to be adding a new little girl to the mix.
Congratulations Michelle and Damien.
Michelle's Baby Shower
My last post was my trip to Illinois to see the kids but I forgot to post about
baby shower that that my sisters, mom and I gave for our baby sister, Michelle.
Isn't she such a cutie.
Kim made the most adorable favors with the help of our niece Rachel.
Tammy and the girls made the diaper center piece.
So sweet.
Michelle and the baby were blessed with tons of gifts from family and friends.
We had lots of good food and treats.
Congratulations Michelle and Damien.
Dylan's 6th Birthday
Dylan's favorite thing in the world right now are legos
so naturally it was the theme he choose for his sixth birthday.
Melissa always does such a great job decorating.
Publix did such a great job making his lego cake.
It's not even one they usually do. We just told them legos and
colors and they did the rest. Thanks Publix.
As you can see, he's clearly been to the face paint station already.
But his most favorite thing of all was his homemade lego table
that his Dad made him.
Happy Birthday Dylan. We're excited to see what this year brings you.
Taylor's 18th Birthday
For Taylor's 18th birthday, she wanted a weekend at the beach with her girl friends
and Mom of course. :-)
But we had a little family dinner on her actual birthday.
On her birthday she got her nose pierced which I am finally getting use to and
actually kind of like now. She got a ton of ballons from friends at school.
She requested her favorite meal. Her mom's homemade chicken nuggets,
mashed potatoes and corn.
Her cake was almond flavored.
Happy Birthday Baby Girl.
We know your senior year is going to be great and
we are looking forward to seeing what lies ahead for you.
Just slow it down a little.
And Poppy says no matter how old you get, you'll always be his Wing Nut
Green Meadows Farm
We rounded out the month with a visit to Green Meadows Farm with
cousins and friends.
There was so many of us they thought we were one of the school field trips.
I could do three posts with all the pictures I took but I'm "trying"
to condense this. That's what I get for being lazy about posting on time.
Jessica and her kids
Grandmother's with their grandkids.
Even though I posted Halloween pictures before,
here is a little Halloween summary.
We alway make mummy dogs. Dylan's getting very good at it now.
My one Fall Craft this year.
Dylan's school had a parade for Halloween.
They could dress up as a character in a storybook.
Dylan was the army man from Toy Story.
The kids got really creative.
I will say this was my favorite below.
Dylan's class.
The grand kids Halloween Costumes this year.
Disney Hilton Head Island
For our Anniversary this year we booked a stay at Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort.
My brother Rick, sister Kim and their spouses, Marlene and Pat joined us. Loads of Fun.
We even took a day to visit our favorite city, Savannah.
I took lots of pictures of the resort and I'll do a post in the future about all they have to offer.
I really loved it there and we will definitely be going back.
But here is just a few shots to document the trip.
One day we decided to explore Hilton Head Island
Beautiful views from top of the lighthouse
and a lovely row of shops to explore
Even though the weather was too cold for beach fun we took the bus over
to the Disney Beach House which is a couple miles from the Resort.
We really enjoyed ourselves. For a Disney Resort, it's very laid
back. We were there the week before Thanksgiving and the Christmas decorations
were already up which was a plus. You won't see characters here but you will have
the same excellent service you have come to expect from Disney. The staff was
friendly and such a help. I think in the future I'll plan a trip with my kids and grand kids.
It's really set up well for relaxing family reunions.
November sleep overs with Dylan
Of course our theme was turkeys.
Turkey sandwich dinner
We had some great sleepovers in November.
I think we saw "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" at least 1007 times. Ha
Turtle Club 25th Anniversary
Mike has previously been a member of
the Turtle and Tortoise Club of Florida. As a matter of fact,
he was the President at one time.
They were having a big 25th Anniversary Day so
Mike, Melissa and Dylan went to support the club's big day.
They were auctioning turtle cakes to raise money and Mike
asked me to make a turtle cake.
Well since I have a little guy in my family (Brody) who loves
Leonardo the Ninja turtle, I decided to give it a try. I'm pretty happy with
how it came out even if he is a little dorky looking but a
cake decorator, I am not.
Dylan and Poppy had a great time and Dylan came home with a little turtle.
Of course it lives at our house. Ha
Melissa also won passes to Gatorland and Mike won a canoe trip through
raffles so it looks like some future field trips are in the works.
The Grand kid's Thanksgiving Gifts
Every year for Thanksgiving I gift the grands with
Christmas pajamas, a Christmas book, their Christmas ornament, hot chocolate
and a treat. I like to give it to them then so they can enjoy it throughout the season.
This year I found both boys dinosaur Christmas pj's at Children's Place.
They also both love the "Little Blue Truck" book series and this year a new one
was added, "Little Blue Truck's Christmas".
This year I added cutes little mugs from Target to drink their
hot chocolates in.
Dylan is crazy about star wars legos so his Christmas ornament was the
Lego Darth Vader. It was actually one of the Lego key chains that I just
took off the metal circle and added a Christmas hook. Perfect.
Taylor got hers but I forgot to take a picture.
This is a tradition that I really have a lot of fun with and I hope the kids
will always remember how special they are to me.
It may seem like a lot for Thanksgiving but I plan ahead and pretty much
get everything on sale. I'm even already looking at after Christmas sales now
thinking ahead for next year.
Carrie's Golden Birthday
This year Carrie turned 27 on November 27th which makes it her Golden Birthday.
It also happened to fall on Thanksgiving this year and 27 years ago I went into labor
with her on Thanksgiving day. I think that makes this a pretty special reason to celebrate.
I decorated in gold and tried to theme all her gifts in gold.
Carrie is not much of a cake girl so she usually chooses pumpkin or peanut butter pie.
I can't believe my beautiful baby is 27.
We had a nice family dinner of her favorite foods and enjoyed
celebrating our Care-Bear. Dylan always seems to find himself on her
lap for birthdays and Auntie loves every minute of it.
Happy Birthday Carrie.
Thanksgiving
Our home has a few new additions this year.
Mike's were the turkey and fox from Pottery Barn.
He's really into animal themes for seasonal decorations.
Mike also got me a turkey platter this Thanksgiving. I've always wanted
a good turkey platter but never really found one that I loved until now.
It's from Williams and Sonoma. We got it on sale plus they give a military discount in
case you didn't know. So does Pottery Barn.
Since we had Carrie's birthday on Wednesday night and we were all
going to my Mom's on Thanksgiving afternoon I decided not to
have my usual Thanksgiving breakfast for my kids and add to
the hustle and bustle of the day. I'll admit I was a little sad not to have them there though.
I made Mike a small version of a few of our usual breakfast fare and then
we watched the Macy's Day Parade. Of course. I just love it. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving
with the parade to me.
Mom makes at least 2 turkeys every year and Mike is in charge of
carving. It seems we're collecting the wish bones. Ha
This year Taylor and Rachel pitched in and helped set the tables.
Since there's about 30 of us each year that's a lot of place settings.
This year I made pumpkin bread, chocolate pie, pecan pie cheesecake and
apple pie. I did get a quick phone photo of some of our yummy desserts.
Mom also gets coconut and chocolate pies from a local bakery everyone loves.
An that my friends is it for our Thanksgiving photos. Pathetic!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and the sign above says why it means so much
to me. I found this picture on facebook but I didn't find a link. I would love to buy this sign.
If anyone knows where it's from please comment. Thank you.
Christmas Tree
The day after Thanksgiving we always go pick out our tree.
We usually get ours at Lowes. Being from Orlando doesn't
lend itself to Christmas Tree Farms. But I will have to say we are
very happy with the quality and price at Lowes.
With that I'll close out my October/November happenings.
Tomorrow I plan on getting through December and "try"
my best to post in real time for 2015.
Exciting things are happening in the coming months.
On this New Year Day I wish you love, health and
happiness. What else is there.
Dylan's favorite thing in the world right now are legos
so naturally it was the theme he choose for his sixth birthday.
Melissa always does such a great job decorating.
Publix did such a great job making his lego cake.
It's not even one they usually do. We just told them legos and
colors and they did the rest. Thanks Publix.
A table to make Lego faces and outside there was a face painting station.
Melissa made lego bricks to hang on their fence.
As you can see, he's clearly been to the face paint station already.
Almost without exception he got legos for his gifts which he loved.
He was also very happy about his money gift.
But his most favorite thing of all was his homemade lego table
that his Dad made him.
Happy Birthday Dylan. We're excited to see what this year brings you.
Taylor's 18th Birthday
For Taylor's 18th birthday, she wanted a weekend at the beach with her girl friends
and Mom of course. :-)
But we had a little family dinner on her actual birthday.
actually kind of like now. She got a ton of ballons from friends at school.
She requested her favorite meal. Her mom's homemade chicken nuggets,
mashed potatoes and corn.
Her cake was almond flavored.
And her favorite little brother got her a lovely ring for his special big sister.
Happy Birthday Baby Girl.
We know your senior year is going to be great and
we are looking forward to seeing what lies ahead for you.
Just slow it down a little.
And Poppy says no matter how old you get, you'll always be his Wing Nut
Green Meadows Farm
We rounded out the month with a visit to Green Meadows Farm with
cousins and friends.
There was so many of us they thought we were one of the school field trips.
I could do three posts with all the pictures I took but I'm "trying"
to condense this. That's what I get for being lazy about posting on time.
Jessica and her kids
Pumpkin Patch
Grandmother's with their grandkids.
Horse back riding
Hayrides
We had a great time. The weather was perfect and the kids really had fun being together.
I think we may have to make this an annual trip.
First Prize
Taylor was put in charge of the homecoming float for her school club.
Of course this time of year is always pretty busy and needless to say a lot of the
student volunteers were not as helpful as they might of been. Plus her mom was out of town
on business and I was in Illinois visiting Makenzie and Brody so we weren't there to help.
It was a very stressful time for Taylor who was trying her best to make the float
on a very limited budget. Even the adults at the school seemed to be not very
encouraging about her ideas. Their homecoming theme was Alice in Wonderland so
the club choose the theme of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. I made it back
in town just in time to catch the parade and low and behold, their
float won 1st place. It was wonderful.
We were so proud of our Taylor and all the hard work it took
for those involved. Whoop! Whoop!
Halloween
here is a little Halloween summary.
We alway make mummy dogs. Dylan's getting very good at it now.
We make monster donuts for breakfast.
My one Fall Craft this year.
They could dress up as a character in a storybook.
Dylan was the army man from Toy Story.
The kids got really creative.
I will say this was my favorite below.
Dylan's class.
Disney Hilton Head Island
For our Anniversary this year we booked a stay at Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort.
My brother Rick, sister Kim and their spouses, Marlene and Pat joined us. Loads of Fun.
We even took a day to visit our favorite city, Savannah.
I took lots of pictures of the resort and I'll do a post in the future about all they have to offer.
I really loved it there and we will definitely be going back.
But here is just a few shots to document the trip.
On our day trip to Savannah, I finally got a chance to visit Back In The Day Bakery.
It's on my must do list for our future Savannah visits.
And the cookies above are my new favorites.
And if you're a Nehi fan, you simply must have the Peach Nehi while you're in Georgia.
We've never tried The Lady and Sons on previous trips so we took a vote and
decided that would be our dinner destination on our Savannah Day.
It was really good. Everyone agreed.
The Pink House is still my favorite but every single type of food our party tried there
was delicious and the service was excellent. I definitely think
you should put it on you list of Savannah destinations.
The Hyatt Hotel life size gingerbread house.
One day we decided to explore Hilton Head Island
Beautiful views from top of the lighthouse
and a lovely row of shops to explore
to the Disney Beach House which is a couple miles from the Resort.
While I was out on the beach taking pictures, Mike and Kim froze on the deck.
It was a little cold while we were there (which I love cold weather by the way) and the
rain held off till the morning we left for home.
We really enjoyed ourselves. For a Disney Resort, it's very laid
back. We were there the week before Thanksgiving and the Christmas decorations
were already up which was a plus. You won't see characters here but you will have
the same excellent service you have come to expect from Disney. The staff was
friendly and such a help. I think in the future I'll plan a trip with my kids and grand kids.
It's really set up well for relaxing family reunions.
November sleep overs with Dylan
Of course our theme was turkeys.
Turkey sandwich dinner
Turkey candy dessert
Then it was time for some turkey crafting to take home for Mommy's house.
We really had fun with our watercolor feathers.
And of course we had turkey pancakes for breakfast.
We had some great sleepovers in November.
I think we saw "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" at least 1007 times. Ha
Turtle Club 25th Anniversary
Mike has previously been a member of
the Turtle and Tortoise Club of Florida. As a matter of fact,
he was the President at one time.
They were having a big 25th Anniversary Day so
Mike, Melissa and Dylan went to support the club's big day.
They were auctioning turtle cakes to raise money and Mike
asked me to make a turtle cake.
Well since I have a little guy in my family (Brody) who loves
Leonardo the Ninja turtle, I decided to give it a try. I'm pretty happy with
how it came out even if he is a little dorky looking but a
cake decorator, I am not.
Dylan and Poppy had a great time and Dylan came home with a little turtle.
Of course it lives at our house. Ha
Melissa also won passes to Gatorland and Mike won a canoe trip through
raffles so it looks like some future field trips are in the works.
The Grand kid's Thanksgiving Gifts
Every year for Thanksgiving I gift the grands with
Christmas pajamas, a Christmas book, their Christmas ornament, hot chocolate
and a treat. I like to give it to them then so they can enjoy it throughout the season.
This year I found both boys dinosaur Christmas pj's at Children's Place.
They also both love the "Little Blue Truck" book series and this year a new one
was added, "Little Blue Truck's Christmas".
This year I added cutes little mugs from Target to drink their
hot chocolates in.
Dylan is crazy about star wars legos so his Christmas ornament was the
Lego Darth Vader. It was actually one of the Lego key chains that I just
took off the metal circle and added a Christmas hook. Perfect.
Brody and Makenzie weren't here this year so I had to mail their packages.
Brody got the same jammies, mug, snack and book. He, however, is
crazy about Ninja Turtles. Specifically Leonardo. I couldn't find an
ornament that I liked but in the toy section the Ninja turtles came out with small
turtle toys. I just screwed in the eye hooks and they were the perfect size.
Makenzie's Christmas jammies were from her favorite clothes store, Justice.
Her book was Anne of Green Gables and her ornament was Elsa (from Hallmark) which
she is particularly fond of this year. Her mug came from Target also.
Her jammies, mug and hot chocolate were all reindeer theme which was just a cute coincidence.
Taylor got hers but I forgot to take a picture.
This is a tradition that I really have a lot of fun with and I hope the kids
will always remember how special they are to me.
It may seem like a lot for Thanksgiving but I plan ahead and pretty much
get everything on sale. I'm even already looking at after Christmas sales now
thinking ahead for next year.
Carrie's Golden Birthday
This year Carrie turned 27 on November 27th which makes it her Golden Birthday.
It also happened to fall on Thanksgiving this year and 27 years ago I went into labor
with her on Thanksgiving day. I think that makes this a pretty special reason to celebrate.
Carrie is not much of a cake girl so she usually chooses pumpkin or peanut butter pie.
I can't believe my beautiful baby is 27.
We had a nice family dinner of her favorite foods and enjoyed
celebrating our Care-Bear. Dylan always seems to find himself on her
lap for birthdays and Auntie loves every minute of it.
Happy Birthday Carrie.
Thanksgiving
Our home has a few new additions this year.
Mike's were the turkey and fox from Pottery Barn.
He's really into animal themes for seasonal decorations.
Mike also got me a turkey platter this Thanksgiving. I've always wanted
a good turkey platter but never really found one that I loved until now.
It's from Williams and Sonoma. We got it on sale plus they give a military discount in
case you didn't know. So does Pottery Barn.
Since we had Carrie's birthday on Wednesday night and we were all
going to my Mom's on Thanksgiving afternoon I decided not to
have my usual Thanksgiving breakfast for my kids and add to
the hustle and bustle of the day. I'll admit I was a little sad not to have them there though.
I made Mike a small version of a few of our usual breakfast fare and then
we watched the Macy's Day Parade. Of course. I just love it. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving
with the parade to me.
I didn't bring my camera to my Mom's on Thanksgiving so I am very limited
on photos for the day. Just a few from my phone. Bummer!
Although I know my family was probably glad about it. I'm sure
they get tired of my constant documenting of every event. I just love having visual
memories of our special family times. Sorry guys.
Mom makes at least 2 turkeys every year and Mike is in charge of
carving. It seems we're collecting the wish bones. Ha
This year Taylor and Rachel pitched in and helped set the tables.
Since there's about 30 of us each year that's a lot of place settings.
This year I made pumpkin bread, chocolate pie, pecan pie cheesecake and
apple pie. I did get a quick phone photo of some of our yummy desserts.
Mom also gets coconut and chocolate pies from a local bakery everyone loves.
An that my friends is it for our Thanksgiving photos. Pathetic!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and the sign above says why it means so much
to me. I found this picture on facebook but I didn't find a link. I would love to buy this sign.
If anyone knows where it's from please comment. Thank you.
Christmas Tree
The day after Thanksgiving we always go pick out our tree.
We usually get ours at Lowes. Being from Orlando doesn't
lend itself to Christmas Tree Farms. But I will have to say we are
very happy with the quality and price at Lowes.
Tomorrow I plan on getting through December and "try"
my best to post in real time for 2015.
Exciting things are happening in the coming months.
On this New Year Day I wish you love, health and
happiness. What else is there.
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