Spring Break

I love spring break! It's such a tease for us teachers of what summer will bring. We look forward for months for this one week off and then it seems to go by in the blink of an eye. It's Saturday night now - the night before Easter - and I go back to work Tuesday.

We've been in our new house for a month now and we absolutely LOVE it! I think we're all happier here. We each have all the space we need and had no problem settling right in. It's great to be only five minutes away from my parents - I can easily drop the kids off at their house when I need to do something on my own and the kids love being with their grandparents. My mom babysat Wednesday night so Brian and I could go out to dinner to the Melting Pot and see a movie. It's nice to be able to do things like that again!

We spent the other days of spring break getting things done around the house and Hallie was still going to school every day (her spring break is next week). We did make it to the beach one day, colored Easter eggs, and went to an egg hunt. However, Aiden was a little scared and not too sure what to do at the hunt - I'm hoping he does better tomorrow at our house.

I'll be enjoying the last 2 days of my break off, and then Tuesday it's back to my commute. It's only taking me about an hour each way and I'm getting used to it, but I've been filling up the gas tank in my car every other day and I look forward to the day when I can get a job closer to my home.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The days keep going by and I feel like I have less and less time to get things done. We're busy here getting ready to move in less than 3 weeks to a new home in Port Saint Lucie, FL. It's going to be a long commute for me to get to work, but it will definitely be worth it to own our own home and be near my parents. Our 4 bedroom home is also going to be 1000 more square feet than we have now! Hallie and Aiden will get their own playroom for all their toys. I can't wait to get it all set up!

We're celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow by going to see Cinderella at the Miniaci Center. We haven't been to a show since Christmas time and I know the kids will enjoy this one. Today, we went to a birthday party for Hallie's friend Madeline who's turning 5. She had a blast and I had to beg her to leave. I know she is going to miss her friends when we move, but I'm praying that there will be other 5 year olds near our new house.

One of the most exciting things we did this month, was watch a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis! We took a cocoon home with us from my Aunt Cindi's last Saturday night, and Sunday morning right when Hallie woke up he started crawling out. It was incredible to watch. . . and a little difficult for us to let our new pet go. You can see the picture below of Hallie and I taking the butterfly outside for the first time and giving him a chance to fly.

Last month, I took Aiden, Hallie, and her friend Ashley to the circus. There's a picture of the three of them before the show started. Also, Hallie had her first dance performance of the year at Floranada Day. They did their tap routine, "Rhino Tap". My mom was able to come down and watch the performance with us. Unfortunately, Hallie's going to miss the recital with her class here, but we're hoping she'll start soon enough at her new school that she'll be able to be in their recital. Her new dance school is affiliated with the same school my mom dances at. I'm hoping they'll even let my mom and Hallie do a tap routine together!

Happy Holidays!!!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've written anything! That just shows how crazy we are this time of year! I'll do my best to sum up the events of the past few weeks starting with Thanksgiving.

We headed up to Ocala to celebrate with Brian's family. We ended up staying at his parent's house the entire weekend. We had planned to take a short camping trip after the holiday, but had to cancel since the temperatures were going into the 40s at night! However, it was almost like camping at his mom's house since she lives on a dead end street and is surrounded by trees. Hallie had a blast playing with her cousins all weekend. I'm sure she was happier there. Thanksgiving was nice - as usual, there was plenty of delicious foods and all of Brian's immediate family was there along with Uncle Jim's family. The trip also gave Brian a chance to say goodbye to his grandfather who passed away only a few weeks later.

Back in Fort Lauderdale, Hallie and I had three short weeks of school before our Christmas vacation. Brian was able to take the kids to see the play "A Christmas Carol" at the Broward Center. Aiden still laughs if you say, "bah humbug" to him! He sat on Brian's lap the entire time watching intently. He LOVES the theater!

I spent a day with the children at my Aunt Cindi's house making Christmas cookies. The favorite was the S'more cookies that took me almost the whole day to make and were a huge mess, but definitely worth the effort!!!

The best news we have to share is that my parents have semi-retired and moved to Port St Lucie, Fl, which is only a little over an hour away from us! This has actually inspired Brian and I to start looking at houses in this area since they are so inexpensive. We put an offer on a 4 bedroom with an office that we loved - so please say a quick prayer that it gets accepted! It was a short sale, so if we don't hear anything in a few weeks we have two other houses that interested us that we can consider.

It was very exciting for us to be able to spend Christmas with my parents and not have to get on an airplane to see them. We'll be heading back to Port St Lucie tomorrow to visit with my brother who is on his way driving down with his wife as a write this. I will probably stay at my parents with the kids through New Year's and then head home and go back to work Monday :(

That's how are holidays have been in a nutshell! Hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year!

Trick-Or-Treat!

Happy Halloween! Both my kids absolutely love Halloween and we had a whole week of festivities for them to enjoy! The first was a Halloween story time at Barnes and Nobles the week before Halloween. Thursday, Hallie's ballet studio had a Halloween party for the kids to enjoy. After snacking on pizza, candy, and treats each girl had the chance to perform a dance in their costume. The night before Halloween I downloaded the theme song for Strawberry Shortcake for Hallie to dance to. Hallie has been listening to it non-stop every since. Straw-straw-strawberry shortcake! She loves to perform and being in the spotlight and did a great job dancing for her classmates!

Friday night Brian and I took Aiden, Hallie, and her friends Ashley to downtown Hollywood for some early trick-or-treating. They had the opportunity to walk around and get candy from the local businesses and then play in the bounce house afterwards. The two girls had a fabulous time and Aiden was the cutest baby by far!

Saturday was Halloween and we got to enjoy a special "Scary Story Time" at the local library. After listening to a Halloween story, Hallie was able to paint and decorate her own pumpkin. After the story time we went to the Town Center mall for more trick-or-treating there. Hallie was already tired from all of the activities and kept asking to sit down to "rest". We didn't stay long since she needed a break. When we got home, she sat out front with me handing candy out to the trick-or-treaters. I think she had more fun handing out candy than getting it herself. She is such a giver!

Luckily, the weather was gorgeous for Halloween weekend. I got a chance to relax at the beach on Sunday. I forgot how nice the beach is this time of year and plan to make a trip there every weekend!

Hallie's Glory Night Video

Fall is Upon Us . . .

I always find tons of things to do once the holidays start approaching. The first is always Halloween. We always start off the fall season by visiting our favorite pumpkin patch and taking tons of pictures. This year was no exception. We also picked pumpkins for each member of our family which we will probably carve later this week. This past weekend I took the kids to a special Halloween story time at Barnes and Noble. They got to dress up in their costumes, listen to a story, make a craft, and trick-or-treat around the store. Hallie dressed as Strawberry Shortcake and looked absolutely adorable! Aiden is going to be an elephant again (since the costume actually fits him this year). He's now officially walking and was incredibly cute running around all the kids in his elephant costume!!!

Brian surprised Hallie's teacher and bought little pumpkins for each kid in her class. Today they were able to paint them. However, instead of making faces on the pumpkins, the kids decided to mix all the paints together and just paint their pumpkins green. Very interesting. At least they had fun doing it!

Hallie's preschool had their annual fall festival this past weekend, Glory Night. The preschoolers get a chance to go up on stage and sing all the songs they've been practicing all year long. When Hallie was 2, she was too shy to actually sing at Glory Night. This year, Hallie not only sang, but did all the hand motions - and some of her own! I'll be uploading the video here shortly. She had a blast after her show running in and out of the bounce houses with her favorite school friends.