Snow for Christmas!

The kids and I headed to St. George for Christmas, and we were lucky enough to have some snow while we were there! There was snow when we arrived, then we enjoyed some mild weather, and a little more snow on Christmas Eve, which quickly melted on Christmas Day!

Porter's Baptism

I have been meaning to post this for a while, but I don't have any pictures, so I stole some from grandma Edwards. (Thank you!) It was such a nice baptism, and a great day for us. Porter is a wonderful kid, and he is becoming more mature all the time. I was so proud of him, and David, and I was so grateful to have our parents and friends there to help us with the program and other details!

Happy Birthday Porter!

This was one wild party! Boys have a lot of energy. All I have to say is thank goodness David's parents were here...they were a big help! I think if I was here by myself I might have been trampled or something! Can you believe he is 8 years old? Happy birthday Porter! You are a great big brother, and we love you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

This picture is from earlier in the year when we went to Virginia for a few days. Marik was enamored with this turkey. I guess it was potentially dangerous...here they are having a showdown. :)

Downtown Disney

 

 

 

 

I had to go to Orlando to pick something up, so I went one day when the kids had no school. Just so that it wouldn't be a boring trip for them, we did the free part of DisneyWorld, which isn't great, but these are some highlights. The Lego store, the carousel, and the most exciting, the splash area. Marik started out fully clothed, but when he saw someone without their shirt on, he had a great idea. Oh, and I had to put the pictures at the Mr. Potato Head store, because Marik finds the Darth Vader version very intriguing.

Another highlight for some was going to the biggest McDonalds in the world. It is pretty cool, and includes a whole floor with games just like at Chuck E. Cheese. A must see for visitors to Florida!

Oh, and I need to mention a funny story...Autumn reminded me just now when she said "that says Lando". (What she always says when referring to Orlando) In our Primary Program this year, the kids sang "Called to Serve". Autumn has been singing it to herself a lot, and I caught her one day and had to laugh at her lyrics: "Awkward, ever onward, (yeah, she got the second one right) as we glory in His Name...." I corrected her, and she asked what awkward meant, and Porter said "This is awkward."

Halloween....Still

I just had to add a couple of videos because Marik was really funny on Halloween. He marched right up to every house with total confidence...

Halloween Fun!

 

 

 

 

Halloween was pretty fun this year...Marik got to make cookies and a pumpkin, we went to a few parties, and Trick or Treating was a blast! We were unprepared for the amount of kids that would come to our house...our neighborhood is quite busy on Halloween night!

Porter Saves the Day!

 

Saving the day actually has nothing to do with this picture, I just wanted to do two blogs at once. This is the first bunch of bananas we cut down from our tree! They took weeks to ripen, but now we know to wait longer! They were good though, and it is so great to have food that is free! Bananas for every meal! Back to saving the day, I just wanted to say a little something about Porter because he has been so helpful to me, and he really saved the day when I hosted a book club at my house last week. Marik kept getting out of his crib (all the while crying over I don't know what), and I couldn't get my house cleaned and food ready, so I gave Marik to Porter. He read him a story, and Marik fell asleep on his bed. Then, he came and helped me in the kitchen peeling a taro root, doing some cleaning, taking out the garbage and recycling,etc. It was such a big help to me when I thought I wasn't going to have everything ready on time! It is really nice to have such a responsible and helpful young man around!

The Birthday Girl

 

Just a little tribute to our big 6 year old girl! Autumn is such a fun, loving, happy little girl, and beautiful too! For her birthday she had a little tea party with some friends, and had such a good time. The really sad part is that I just went to get the birthday pictures for the blog, and there was no card in the camera. I will just have to make another cake and take a picture of her blowing out her candles! At least the girls enjoyed themselves! They painted cookies, and had their little tea party, and did the usual party things. It was really cute to watch them play together. Autumn had a great time as she always does! Another great birthday surprise a few days earlier was the "date" David took her on. She was so excited, she wanted to wear a dress and "comb her hair really nice". David took her out for dinner and bought her a cute new outfit that she modelled for us later. :)

Wrestle-mania

Okay, so all three kids are in this video, but there is a star, of course! Note that when Autumn comes in she has a Kleenex on her nose. She tried to wrestle Marik first, and Marik won, leaving her with a bloody nose! We really have no idea where he gets this from. We don't watch wrestling, and this hasn't happened before, except for a few attacks on Brenden Summers when we were in MD!

Marik is definitely two

 
 
 
 

It has only been a short while since Marik turned two, but he is doing his best to get in all of the mischief he can, including enjoying diaper rash cream, being stung by two wasps (both on the same eye...not his fault, of course), trying to scare other kids with the Darth Vader mask, getting into mom's lipstick...He just recently found the little knit cap he wore in the hospital after he was born and has been wearing it around the house. This kid is so funny! I do enjoy Porter and Autumn so much, even though they don't appear in this blog as often! I will definately add some more about them soon!

Visitors!

 

We have been so lucky to have TWO of our favorite families from Maryland visit us here in Florida...the very sad thing is that I didn't take many pictures at all, so the Hulls aren't even pictured here! They are coming again, so the picture will have to come after the next visit! The Braithwaites stayed for a few days, so the camera was more likely to come out, but I still did a poor job! It was so fun to see you guys, and we look forward to going to Maryland someday for a visit to you and the rest of our favorite people! Just a little post script about the collage...Autumn was practically glued to Miles, the baby in the picture, so the sad look on her face is deceiving...she was thrilled, and would even wait outside his room while he was napping to tell Holly when he made a noise! Since she started kindergarten, every picture of our family that she draws includes me with a "girl baby" in my tummy. Oh boy. I gave her a speech about how fun it is for us to be the only girls in our family. I told her we could do really fun things just the two of us, and she got really excited of course, because she is Autumn...mostly so happy and easy to please!

He's Two!

I love these pictures! They just show what a fun personality Marik has! He is such a little comedian, and always brightens our day! I can't believe two years have gone by already. He is still my sweet little baby. Every morning he gives me a great big hug and pats me on the back which is one of my very favorite things. David wanted me to add the picture of the lame cake, and I had too because it is so funny, but don't let the cake fool you...we really do love Marik and wanted him to have a fun birthday. He thought it was great!

First Day of School in Florida!

The kids are really liking school, despite the fact that it starts really early in the morning! (The second picture was taken indoors because it was still dark outside!) There was some light just before the bus came, thus, the outdoor picture. We have to be at the bus stop at 6:55, so that was tough at first, but getting better! We go to bed pretty early around here these days!

10 Years!

 

 

Can you believe it has been that long?! Don't we look so cute and young?! (I guess we really were!) Happy Anniversary, David! I love you and look forward to the next 10!

Our New Friends....Kieth and Carlos

Cool names, right? We couldn't resist these little guys at an exotic pet fair, and they can be outside in our yard, so they are the perfect pets for us!

 

 

 

They are about 10 week old angora lion head rabbits. They are so fun to have, even thought their cage requires a lot of cleaning!

The Cruise!

So...as a Christmas gift, in celebration of graduation, and my birthday, and maybe our 10th anniversery as well, David and I went on a Caribbean Cruise with Carnival. It was so much fun, but sadly we lost half of our pictures. I nearly cried when I found out, especially because we had such a wonderful time in Grand Cayman, and all of those pictures are gone forever! We went to a turtle farm and saw the cutest little turtles. We were able to pick them up, and they would struggle, so we would just rub their necks and they would calm right down. It was so cute, so we had a million pictures of that. The highlight of the trip was feeding the stingrays...we actually had a picture of one on David's back, and me holding one, amid many other amazing shots that the world will never see. Enough of my whining though, I guess. We had a great time, gained a little weight, (was that just me? I didn't ask David.) and enjoyed the time to relax and spend time just the two of us. Thank you to Maxine, Megan, and Ken for watching the kids. They had a great time too!

Our Little Tap Dancer

We Made It!

 

 

David graduated from University of Maryland on May 16th! He received his MD/PhD in two separate hooding ceremonies, as well as a couple of receptions, so it was a full week! Ken, Maxine, Megan, James, Lisseth and Andrew came to celebrate with us. It was so nice to see them all, and especially nice that Maxine and Megan, and Ken for part of the week, stayed to watch our kids while David and I went on a cruise. More on that to follow!

Match Day

Pictures will be to follow because they are with David on his camera, but I promised a post today, so here it is....
David will be doing his residency in Gainsville, Florida! We were really suprised, but we are happy to move to the warmer weather, and hope that everyone that wants to go to Disney World will come stay with us!

Marik Coloring

Marik felt left out when Porter and Autumn were doing homework today...



I sure hope he doesn't have bad eyesight!