Bad to the Bone...

Just had to share some pictures we took of Cooper for a photo contest at an upcoming rescue event! Doubt we'll win, but we had fun taking the pictures!

Our First Christmas in Florida

Our first Christmas in Florida was very fun...though a little lonely since all of our family wasn't together. We went to a beautiful service last night at church and then started a new tradition of going out for Chinese dinner...complete with PuPu platter!
This morning the kids didn't get us up too early before they went ripping into their presents! Looks like everyone was on the nice list again this year and the kids all seemed happy with their gifts!
After lunch, we headed to Anna Maria Island to start another new tradition of going to the beach on Christmas Day! It was about 81 degrees and the sky was a gorgeous blue with fluffy clouds! The water was too cold to swim today, but we spent about an hour and a half, walking along the shore, collecting shells and playing football! All in all, a perfect way to celebrate our Saviour's birth!

A Little Christmas Cheer...

Here's a little holiday fun from Isabella and two of her friends, Haley and Maddie! This song is from one of our favorite Christmas books, Where Did They Hide My Presents? . Sorry for the shakiness (was holding the dog) and I have no explanation for the ending...?

Desoto Speedway...

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny, breezy day and Evan and I heard from a neighbor that they were racing Lamborghinis (or Lambos as Evan refers to them!) at the Desoto Speedway! Even though it's only a few miles up the road, we have yet to go there. Racing is usually a Dad and the boys thing, but Bruce was still out of town, so Evan and I got to spend the afternoon together! To my surprise, it was really fun! We walked around the parking lot looking at all the entries (while Evan gave me the low down on each and every one of them!) . We watched the time trials and then a bunch of drag strip races. As Evan likes to say..."there's nothing like the smell of burning rubber in the morning!" WARNING! LOTS OF CAR PIX BELOW!!

...a whole lotta Vipers!

Shelby!

Finally!

Isabella finally lost her first tooth! She got her baby teeth really late...like right around her first birthday, so I expected her to lose them late. She's the only one on her class tooth chart that didn't have at least one missing tooth! So tonite was the night! ....with a little help from the professional tooth puller

Christmas In Florida!

I've been without a camera for a loong while, that's why there haven't been any posts...my underwater camera is back for repairs for a third time (it froze on Evan's birthday and my other camera has mysteriously disappeared!). I bought another camera (hoping the missing one would suddenly turn up!) for the holidays and tonite was the first time I used it...but I forgot to put the memory card in so I was only able to take a whole five pictures!

Tonite we went to Christmas on Main Street! As we were walking in, we ran into the Big Guy in Red himself, who was just strolling down the sidewalk alone so we got a picture with no waiting! There was an awesome ice skating rink set up...actually it was some kind of plastic that you skated on with special skates, that looked and felt like real ice skates! Jonah and Caitlin loved it! We also saw an awesome model train display, which brought back memories of taking the older kids to see the display at Farmer Fulks, when we lived in Gaithersburg, MD. Then the kids spotted...SNOW! There was an actual hill with snow on it and the kids got to sled down it on a tube! What fun! Jonah was very homesick for Maryland when he saw it and at first, he didn't even want to sled down it because it would "make him miss MD too much"...but he couldn't resist and I think he's glad he did it! We also watched the dance team from the kids' elementary school perform, ate Christmas cookies, saw the huge tree lighting and wandered through the shops on Main Street while drinking hot chocolate...because you know, it was cold! It was 59 degrees! It was pretty funny to see everyone in sweaters and scarves...Isabella even had on her hat and gloves and I had on my winter coat! Guess our blood is thinning already!

You can't really tell from this picture how beautiful the palm trees look with all the lights on them!