Christmas 2008

Christmas morning began with Arianna and Bernie opening all of their presents that Santa brought to them. This included many art and coloring sets, a tool workbench,a tent, a princess bike, a ball pit, and much more!

Marty prepared a wonderful breakfast which we enjoyed with my parents. Of course, they came bearing more gifts including a fun puzzle pull toy, farm set, tools, awesome bath fizzies and squirting pigs for the bath.

We had some of Mom's homemade brownie, in which we put candles in and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

After a 3 hour nap, we headed to Marty's parents house for presents and Christmas dinner. We wrapped up the day with some fun time on their patio with eggnog and a small fire overlooking the bay. What a great ending to a wonderful day!

Thank you everyone for a wonderful Christmas!

Click on the collage if you would like to see it enlarged.

Who says you can't use your Christmas present early?

Today was a beautiful 60 degree day in sunny Florida, so the kids and I decided to take advantage of that and my new Christmas present!





Arianna looking at the camera for once





Who needs modeling school?
I got the moves.




I asked Arianna to go sit by her brother
and this is what she did!

Thanks Marty for sacrificing for so long so I could get this great new camera!

Our Tree is UP!

Thanksgiving

Last week Josh and Ashley came to visit us! Thankfully, after all of their car troubles, they finally made it here in a trusty rental car.

My family may be weird, but we celebrated Thankgiving on Monday night so we could all be together without any work schedules conflicting. Mom made all of the wonderful dinner and Ashley made her first pumpkin and pecan pies. I know the pumpkin was delish!

Tuesday we headed to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure thanks to Dad and his free tickets from Chick-fil-A.

Below are a few pictures from the day aka Arianna and BJ in Dr. Seuss-land.

Thanksgiving day we enjoyed some time at home with the four of us until Marty had to work at 5pm. However, he gets to work and found out he didn't need to be there afterall, so he joined the rest of us at his parent's house for yummy food.

While Dad and Mom, Josh and Ashley were getting up at 3 am to serve Chick-fil-A at the mall on Black Friday, I was with Marty's sisters racking up the bargains at Toys R US. $10 for a box of diapers!

Unfortunately, Friday night we had to say goodbye to Josh and Ashley. I think Arianna bonded with Ashley like best friends. By the end of their time here, Arianna pretty much imitated Ashley's every move. I'm thankful for such a great brother and sister who love to spend such quality time with their niece and nephew every time they are around.

Catching Up!

We've been slightly busy around here since Halloween.
We had a rooster and a cheerleader running around here.

"Why are you torturing me like this, Mom?























"Yum, what will I eat first?"
-Arianna scoping out her Halloween loot

No icing? Marty thoughtwe had leftover from BJ's birthday

(one week earlier).

To his surprise, the leftover icing had already been consumed.

So, what else would a creative, loving husband do?

That's right. Use up the Halloween candy for sweet messages.

And last weekend we went to cousin Alexa's school carnival.

"Mommy, Pish! Pish!"
Oh, how Daddy is proud of his little fisher-girl.


















There weren't many rides or activites for Bubby to
participate in, so it was major grass activity time.

















"Whoa, Aunt Dani, you didn't tell me about the
funnel cakes!"
-Arianna, finally brave enough to conquer some rides,
saw so many new things from up high.

Two sweet cousins enjoying the breeze

on the elephants.

1,2,3,FOUR!

Counting, Counting. All by herself!

Camille tagged me quite a while ago to do this survey. And a few weeks later, I'm finally able to do it.

1. What time did you get up this morning? Around 7:30. Made the kids stay in their beds as long as possible.

2. Diamonds or pearls? I like bling, so I'm going with Diamonds!

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? (the cinema?) I honestly can't tell you because it's been a very long time and Marty won't take me because I fall asleep (which is probably why I don't even remember what movie it was)

4. What is your favorite TV show? Not sure. I watch a lot of sports. But other than that Ace of Cakes or Challenge.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? usually oatmeal

6. What is your middle name? Denise.

7. What food do you dislike? This list is long, but I'll shorten it. Mushrooms, tomatoes, marinara sauce, wings.

8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Pretty sure I haven't looked through my collection in a while.

9. What kind of car do you drive? 2001 Mercedes C240

10. Favorite Sandwich? Moxie's Cafe Wild Turkey. It includes bleu cheese, so of course, it's delish!

11. What characteristic do you despise? stupidity and too good for that attitude.

12. Favorite item of clothing? Any item that makes me look skinny.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? I'd probably revisit Italy, to spend more time there

14. Favorite brand of clothing? Anything $10 and under.

15. Where would you retire to? Possibly Tennessee or NC? Mountains and cheaper homes!

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? 4 days ago. Because I'm still celebrating it 4 days later.

17. Favorite sport to watch? baseball and football are priority. In spring it's college basketball.

18. When is your birthday? November 5th.

19. Are you a morning person or night? Morning.

20. What is your shoe size? 8 sounds good.

21. Pets? Can we switch the s and t and make it Pest?? That's what my "married in" dog is to me.

22. Any new and exciting news you would like to share with us? I just colored my hair today.

23. What did you want to be when you were little? Most of the time I said I wanted to be a pediatric nurse, up until high school probably.

24. How are you today? Fantastic! Today was pampering "me" day. And now my kids are on their 2nd nap of the day!

25. What is your favorite candy? I don't really reject any candy that comes my way.....

26. What is your favorite flower? some type of lily or orchid.

27. What is a day on your calendar you are looking forward to? My calender is somewhat empty, so even though I don't have this written in, my brother and sis-in-law are coming for Thanksgiving.

28. What is your full name? if you read this you know.

29. What are you listening to right now? Alabama vs LSU

30. What was the last thing you ate? Choco Cake leftover from bday dinner at Macaroni Grill.

31. Do you wish on stars? not in my first 26 years....

32. If you were a crayon what color would you be? green.

33. How is the weather right now? Very nice, but not quite nice enough to open windows.

34. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? I don't think I've even spoke on the phone today even at 4:40pm. That's a first.

35. Favorite soft drink? Fountain Diet Coke.

36. Favorite Restaurant? Not sure I have a favorite.....

37. Real Hair Color? medium brown

38. What was your favorite toy as a child? the thumb I sucked...oh wait, that's not a toy.

39. Summer or winter? Summer is refreshing and bright. But winder (in FL) is nice because it's not so hot or cold.

40. Hugs or kisses? Depends who it's from. Defintely not a huggy person, but definitely like to kiss my husband!

41. Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla coffee, choco cake/ice cream.

42. Coffee or tea? Not so much coffee or tea, but I'd most like choose tea over coffee.

43. When was the last time you cried? I think I was sitting at Red Lobster with Marty right before Arianna's 2nd bday

44. What is under your bed? extra blankets.

45. What did you do last night? Good day to be asked this question, because I actually did something besides sit at home with kids. Marty and I went on a date for my birthday! E & E Stakeout!

46. What are you afraid of? spiders are gross.

47. Salty or sweet? ususally sweet.

48. How many keys on your key ring? 6?

49. How many years at your current job? 1 year, 8 months.

50. Favorite day of the week? Saturday and Sunday.

51. How many places have you lived in? Shreveport, Oldsmar, Birmingham, N. Redington Beach, and now Pinellas Park.

52. Do you make friends easy? Before I had kids, yes. Now that I have kids, I'm not ususally in the social making areas.

53. What is a pet peeve? People that are happily married not wearing their wedding rings.

54. We all waste time. What do you do that wastes the most time? TV

55. Are you a nerd? What's the definition of nerd? I stay at home a lot.

56. Fiction of nonfiction? I haven't read much lately. Shame on me.

57. What is something that you miss? Being able to go shopping and buy things for me whenever I want.

58. Have any hobbies? picture taking and editing. making my kids laugh.

59. What is something you're passionate about? pass.

60. What is something you've learned from your current job? I don't like corporate because I've been there and like my current non-corporate place much better. I'm not as smart as I thought I was.

Look Who Just Turn ONE!

Happy First Birthday my little buddy! This year has been such a blessing. Thank you for giving us so many sweet smiles and laughs. You are completely opposite from your big sister, but you love her with all your heart.
Please keep your gentile little soul and let it be contagious to others.
And don't ever stop melting my heart.
Love you Bubby!

Great-Grandparents

Family Photo

Daddy's homemade construction cake

MMM, Did you say CAKE?

Go here to view the rest of the birthday album.

Paps and (Great) Grandma

We're so glad you're here to play with us. Thanks for spending time with us and bringing new toys. Play-doh, books, and trucks are un-ending amounts of fun!

Love, Arianna and BJ




And if you can't tell, the sun was in everyone's eyes.

I Like to Ride my Bike

Thanks to Hollie & Co. #5782

Family Carving Contest

Team 1

Team 2

Go ahead and vote which is best. Then I'll tell you which team won!

Shocking

The National Debt Clock has run out of digits.

2 year Portraits

My sweet friend Hollie did a fantastic job on these pictures. She took the pictures and edited them to mark this special time of Arianna turning 2.

You can view the rest of the album by clicking here.

Let's Go Rays, Let's Go!!

Birthday Princess!

Arianna had a great weekend celebration and I believe she felt extra special.


She was a little shy in opening her presents and needed some help from Daddy.


When she saw something she liked, she wanted to play with that and not continue on


with other gifts. The cake had to be her favorite!

Arianna is 2!

This child has a history of not eating very well. But you'd never know by these pictures....

Making the birthday cupcakes with Mimi and Mom


Licking the icing away

Okay, I'll stop eating and take a picture with you Mom.

This is only day one. The birthday party is actually tomorrow. But we had fun testing the cupcakes today.

Presidential (candidate) drive-by

Today at work, Barack Obama and his motorcade drove along the road I work on.

We got word from some construction guys down the road that they had to pack it up because of the big drive-by happening. A few minutes later, we all heard the sirens sounding off.

No doubt. It was Obama. Apparently going to this hotel for a three night stay.

Regardless of who gets my vote, it was pretty neat to see the potential future president drive by on a Tuesday afternoon.

Our Day at the Park

5 day weekend, 4 sick ones

Besides the four of us being sick at the same time last week, we welcomed Josh and Aunt Ash to town! Arianna and BJ warmed up pretty quick to them and had so much fun with their new buddies.

On a double date at the Rays game:

Noticing her shadow at the beach:


Pool time with Daddy:


Smiling BJ:

Josh and Aunt Ash, we had so much fun with you guys. Thanks for laughing, playing and hanging out with us. Can't wait until Thanksgiving!

They've got it, I don't.

Here's one of my mom's many talents:


Here's one of my sister-in-law's talents:


And this is what I can do:

Yup, that's right. I made a post about the ribbon I velcroed to the wall to hang Arianna's hairbows. No worries. I know I lack creativity and crafty talents.

Tickers, as she calls them

This weekend, I gave Arianna a page of stickers and this is what she did!

And don't miss what BJ thought of them.