A short recap with pics

Here are a few pics. I love my new camera. I can wi-fi the pics from my camera to my phone or tablet so I can easily share them wherever or whenever I want. The kicker....I didn't charge the battery Christmas eve so it ran low right as we were about to open the gifts. So I have a few pics easily to share here. The others are on my other camera and I have to get those uploaded from the camera memory card. I'm hoping to get to that later this week. So in the meantime here are a few to share. If you are on FB with me some of these are repeats, but for those of you not on FB...here ya go!

Of course Christmas morning the boys were full of excitement ready to open the gifts!!

They loved the paint job that Santa gave their remote control cars!! Just like they wanted!!

As I was PJ shopping for the tradition of new jammies for Christmas it was tough. Yes we are in Florida! Can you believe most of the pajamas in the store were either long sleeve and long pants, or even fleece!! What?! The boys would of burned up in those. So I decided to just get them a new shirt to wear with some pants they already had. It didn't match, but you get the idea..ha ha..

Our Christmas dinner picture. It's not like years past with all the family, but we still ate good! Missed all of you!

The boys enjoyed playing with their cousin while we were in Alabama. The gifts were nice from Mimi and Gran J but the gift bags were the most fun!! of course!!

They even got her out to play a little football. She didn't really play, she just got the ball for them when it went in the street. Cute, she looked like a ball retriever like in tennis, not sure what they are called. They all had a good time!

The grown boys having some man talk and staring at the grill...ha ha... Actually they grilled some ribs that were delish!! I have to sneak some pics out the window like this one sometimes.

Dev having a nice chat with Gran J with a cozy warm fire. Another sneaky pic!

I have more to share and hopefully it will be later this week. 

We are on day two of our cold weather, low's in the 40's.. ha ha.. But we are headed to warmer temps. The high today is around 69 and then in the 80's the rest of the week. I know I talk about the temps a lot...I love it! Next year will probably be a different story, we will be cold weather wimps and the 60's will have us bundled up in heavy coats and winter hats!! ha ha!!

Toodles for now. 

It's a New Year already!

Wow...2014 is already here and we are in the 2nd week!! Time has flown by the last few weeks. We have had a great holiday break!!

Christmas was fabulous!! It was different not having all our family with us, but we still enjoyed it. The boys were so excited Christmas morning. It was cute to see how different their reactions were. Dev was so happy and running around the room with several of the gifts he got and Bry was happy but just gave a happy smile and moved to the next gift. I have to say that each of them take after each one of us....it's probably not difficult to decide which of us Dev takes after...LOL....  Can you picture Mike running around the room screaming how happy he is with a gift?? Me either!! ha ha ha    I would say some of Dev's favorite gifts were his new skateboard, his tablet, and his remote control car. Bry's fav's were probably his wrestler guy he wanted, the tablet, the remote control car and his roller blades. This is my opinion of course and they might feel differently. ha ha..  Luckily living in Florida they were able to try out the skateboard and roller blades. It took a little practice but by the end of the day they both were doing great. I think we had temps in the 70's that day. I will have to get some of my pics together to share on here. It was a quick Christmas holiday then a few days back to work and then a week vacation in Alabama.

 We spent the New Year in Alabama with family and friends. It was great to see everyone. The weather was a bit cold for us but we handled it. We ate great food thanks to Mike's parents and had a nice relaxing time. We didn't make many plans and just relaxed and hung out. It was nice. The boys enjoyed having a sleep over with their cousin too. We even made a stop on the way home for the boys to see their Great Aunt and Uncle. They really enjoyed it and laughed seeing some old pics of Mommy hanging on the walls. So we got in around 930pm and the boys had to get up early for school. At least I thought so......good thing I checked the school menu this morning...no school!! Uh oh..I was a little confused even before the holiday not sure if they had school or not. Luckily I checked on it again this morning and they got to sleep in. Otherwise, they would of been the only ones at the bus stop!! I read the calendar wrong, today was a possible make up hurricane day, but we didn't have a hurricane this year and didn't need the make up day, therefore...no school! Silly me...and they are out tomorrow for a teacher day ( I did know about that). So at least the boys got to sleep in and didn't have to rush off to school. Too bad I didn't know that myself because I would of definitely slept in longer this morning before I crawled out of bed to go to work. :-/

Well it's back to the grind now. On my to do list...house projects, organizing, menu planning, and back on the exercise regimen schedule. I did eat well over the holidays that's for sure, now it's time to get back to the healthy stuff!
I see all the cold temps around the states and I'm not jealous at all! Wow,, I can't believe how cold it is in some of the states we have lived! We are going to be down to 37 tomorrow with highs in the 50's so that is really cold for us, but it is only lasting one day and then we will be back to the 80's by the weekend! yay

I think that's all I have for now for our holiday recap. I will get the pics together from our great holiday and get some posted on here in the next day or so. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Here's to a great New Year ahead...CHEERS!!

Total excitement

Well my Mom Express ride of hot cocoa, golden tickets, and a snowball fight with cotton balls was a hit!! The boys loved it!! This was a lot of fun! We left the hot cocoa at home while we drove the neighborhood to look at lights. The cocoa was pretty hot and I didn't want them to spill it on themselves. By the time we got home it was the perfect temperature!!  When Bry saw the tickets he wanted to know of I was going to punch them.... of course!!  It was very cute! 

The totally loved the snowball fight! I think we sat in the driveway at least 20 minutes while I was trying to get some pics!! LOL...but they didn't mind, they just kept throwing them!

I put faces on the mini marshmallows to represent the melting snowmen..funny after a few minutes as they truly melted!!

One  morning the boys woke up with red noses!! Mark the elf colored their noses red while they were sleeping since Mark's favorite movie is Rudolph the red nosed reindeer! The cutest part was that neither boy wanted to wipe the red off their nose all day!! Love it!

Also had to make a fun breakfast for the boys to keep in my tradition. How about a sausage,egg and cheese burrito with gingerbread man topping and some grinch hats!! I have to admit, I really love making them fun treats and seeing their face when they see them!

So Mark left he boys some snowman poop as a warning to make sure and not be naughty or they would only get snowman poop for Christmas! Bry told me that Mark was only joking because he had been good every day!! Ha...I told him...Mark must have known something to warn you....LOL...

Boys are making some yummy treat bags for friends. Of course the first question is always can we eat some now???

The elves have been busy around our house getting ready for Christmas. We worked on the remote control cars. We had to stencil the cars and then paint them. I worked on the stenciling while Mike worked on the motors, here are a few of the before and after paint pictures. We have some more to do on them and I'll post the finished pics, I think they are looking great though! The boys will be so excited that the cars represent their favorite teams!!

So one of Mark's last adventures is playing tic tac toe on marshmallows with the Lego robots!

The boys did go swimming on Saturday but I forgot their Santa hats!! Maybe I can still get the pic this week! Saturday night the neighborhood Christmas party was very nice. There was pizza, cookies and a chocolate fountain that the boys loved.... They had music and pictures with Mrs. Claus and Santa. Bry also made a very nice ornament with swirled paint inside it. It was a very nice event! They are emailing out a link later today with the Santa pics. Dev had to try to hold his hands up to cover the chocolate he dripped all down his shirt! But, it worked out great because Santa happened to hold his hand in the air for the picture and almost covered Dev's arms...too funny. Can't wait for the pic! I have to admit they were some of the oldest kids there, but hey..they enjoyed it and that's all that mattered. There were a few other boys there that my boys know, but I don't think the other boy's parents were there. I'm not ready to let go like that just quite yet. We went as a family.

So, I think that's all for now. I'm not sure if I'll be back on here before Christmas or not. If not,   MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!!!

Another day in the life

So Mark the Elf was pretty active last night! He decided to take my cell phone and take some "Elfies" of himself! LOL..the boys loved it!!

He also had a sack race with the wrestlers the night before. It was cute when I got home from work the boys had made a finish line for the race!! ha ha.. 

I know Mark the Elf will have some more fun the next week leading up to Christmas!! I'm looking forward to it!!  

I'm excited also about this weekend. I am going to print out some Polar Express type tickets for the boys as a surprise. We will drive around looking at Christmas lights while they are wearing their PJ's, having some cocoa, eating popcorn, ringing their Polar Express bell and having a snowball fight (with cotton balls of course, we live in Florida now remember!! )  I will be sure to post some pics after the weekend. 

Our neighborhood is having a Christmas party on Saturday at the clubhouse with treats and Santa. I am taking the boys, thinking this might be the last year of Santa for Dev. I hope not, but he is growing up and I wouldn't be surprised if some of his school friends have already been talking...  :-(

I think I'll also take the boys to the pool this weekend, the temps are supposed to be mid 80's!! I want to take their picture wearing their Santa hats while standing in the pool in their bathing suits!! ha ha!!

I am proud of myself for sending out some Christmas cards this year. I didn't do it last year. I also used a very casual picture of the boys. I usually try to get us all dressed up or put on our cheery Christmas stuff for the picture, but this year I did casual. I'm just happy I got them mailed though.

I can't believe Christmas is next week. I think part of it is that we are still wearing flip flops, but I don't mind. I am excited to make some yummy treats this weekend too! 

I got the best Birth-mas preset (as Dev says). My combo birthday and Christmas present. A new camera!! yay....I really needed a new one that will take better action shots of the boys in sports and all around better pictures. I have fought the idea in the past, because I do really like having the camera that will just fit in my pocket. This camera is great and now I have to learn how to use it before Christmas!! Thanks to my best hubby and boys for a great gift!! 

The weather has been much cooler in the mornings here this week. It sure makes it hard to get up at 430am for my workouts. I have only managed to get up one day this week so far to work out. My bed just feels to warm and cozy with the cool temps. It also is not helpful that they are having all the yummy lunches and treats at work this week...eeekkk!! 

Well I think that's all for now!!  Toodles..... 

December already!

So my birthday has come and gone and I have to say it was the BEST birthday ever!!! Who cares that I'm 40!! It's time to have fun!!! Mom did tons of great stuff for me and decorated the house, surprised me at the hair dresser with balloons, goodies and paid for my hair appt, and made it special. Then I headed to NYC with 3 great girls!! We had a fabulous time!!!!

Arriving in style!!

After standing in the standby line for David Letterman...they come out to tell us (we are next in line) that they only have 1 seat left!! My two gracious friends (one hadn't arrived yet) let me be the one to go in!! It was so great and only added to my fabulous NYC trip!! There I am above the letter V!! Thanks to my Mom for the still picture!! I even saw Rupert after the show,he was helping sell the merchandise.  You know the guy David Letterman teases sometimes that has some type of little convience store or something. It was a great show!

Then of course the Kelly and Michael show was awesome!! I was one of 5 that tried to be the travel trivia dancer but I didn't get picked...oh well. It was still a blast and Michael and Kelly were so nice. They talked to everyone during all the commercial breaks. Kelly talked to Lisa and me about 40. She saw our 40 tiaras. Michael also wished us a happy birthday. Then they also taped some pre-recorded parts for the New Year's Eve show...so I should be on TV again!! yay...!! LOL... you can see me in this pic that my friend sent me. I'm on the right with my 40 tiara on!!!!  ha ha ha....

My friend Lisa's sister also was able to get into the 2nd prerecording show as a standby. My other friend gave up standing in the cold and headed back to the hotel. She was so happy, because she loves the show. So I'm happy she was able to get into part of the show!!  She had a great seat in the middle and I'm sure she'll be seen on the New Years Eve show. Kelly and Michael were very down to earth and seemed to really enjoy themselves. 

We tried to do as much as we could while we were there in a short amount of time!

The tree was unbelievable!! It was huge and gorgeous!! I would of loved to have ice skated in front of the tree but it was super cold this evening and we wanted to walk around to see other stuff. The window Christmas decorations for Sax 5th and Macy's were beautiful!

These are just a few of the great things we did in NYC! We did tons of walking, up 5th avenue, saw the Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, walked around inside Grand Central station, walked through Chinatown and ate in Little Italy, saw Grenich village and Soho, Brooklyn bridge...ah...what else?? It was a lot considering we only had 2 1/2 days!! It was so much fun!!! We ate some good food and some great sweets. We tried some mini cupcakes at a local bakery and then ate more sweets at the Cake Boss Cafe, yum!  I can't even describe was a fabulous trip it was!!!! I'll never forget my 40th that's for sure.!! We could Central Park from our hotel room!! It was awesome!

So, yes Mark our Elf as arrived back for the season. He is making his rounds around the house. Here are a few of his more mischievous antics.

So now that all the birthday excitement is over, I have to get focused on Christmas! I can't believe it is next week!!! I have most of my shopping done, but still need to finish up and also get to wrapping!! I am loving the weather we are having here!! It's been in the 70's and 80's with highs this weekend to be 85!! Wow..I have to say I am not complaining at all about the warm weather!! I'll look at the snow on TV, oh and it did snow one day we were in NY so that was good for me!! I think we might just have to go to the pool this weekend in our bathing suits and Santa hats!! love it!!

The boys are doing good in school still. Soccer is over now. Bry's team made it to the championship game, that was kinda a shocker...but they won all their playoff games. They didn't win the championship game but it was still fun. Dev's team made it pretty far but didn't win either. Both boys had fun, but I think we will check into a more competitive team for next season. 

Oh yeah, so Bry was 1 of 3 finalists for the science fair project!! He was very excited!! He didn't win in the next round, but came home with a finalist ribbon that he was very proud of!! Ha...very interesting project, and by the way I would NOT let your dog lick you in the mouth based on what we saw with our project....just saying!!

So what else??? That's all I have for now....

Looking forward to spending New Years with family and friends!!  

Toodles for now..

oh my oh my oh my!!!

I GOT MY TICKETS IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY!!! I am so happy!! I sent off a request (or should I say sent off many,many) for tickets to the show while we are in NYC. I got the tickets!! I can't believe it!! I am in such shock!! I went running all around the house like a crazy woman....my hubby and son thought I had been bitten by something...LOL...


It's bittersweet though....for some reason I only got 2 tickets. I requested 4 because there are 4 of us going on the trip...booo.......I'm hoping one of the other girls gets a letter this week!!!!! But...at least two of us will be there, most likely me and the other birthday girl!! I"m hoping to get the attention of the camera, so look for me!! Dec 10th!!!!!!!  Yippee!!!!!! I just can't believe it!!!!!!!

so happy....I thought the trip was fabulous in itself!! Now, it got even better than I ever thought, so very cool!! Can you tell I'm excited!! LOL.....

Where o where?

Where have I been?? I know...it's seem the last few weeks have just slipped by!! I don't know how the time is going so fast.

I did take the boys to the indoor trampoline park I mentioned. They had an absolute blast! They got to jump around, play some trampoline dodge ball, and make some basketball dunk attempts while jumping on the trampoline. They had a really good time. It was a nice place with many workers around to help keep things safe. I'm sure we will visit it again in the future!

So we are still having our soccer games. I think each boy only has 1 more game each until the playoffs! They both played really well the last weekends! Dev's team is still in 2nd place. They played the 1st place team this past weekend. They did lose, however they played the team very well. In fact I think they out played the other team, but his team made a few silly mistakes that allowed the other team to score. We'll see how the playoff goes in a few weeks!!

I'm really excited and anxious for my NYC birthday trip!! Only 2 weeks left!! I've already gotten all my outfits together and a few goodies for me and the other birthday girl!! I know it will be cold, I'm just hoping it's a mild cold..ha ha...if there is such a thing in NY in December!! I can't wait to see the huge tree in Rockerfeller center while ice skating and drinking hot chocolate with my best buds celebrating our birthdays!! I haven't been gone from the boys in awhile, so I know they will miss me. I will have to find some fun things to bring back to them!

So it's Thanksgiving week. Another unusual year for us now that we have moved away from the majority of family. I'm so used to having all the family over for a big feast. Well, we will still have a big feast (sorta) and enjoy the day. The weather will be lovely too, so I'm looking forward to that part. I am also ready to get my Christmas stuff out!! Last year I couldn't decorate much since our house was on the market and I didn't want my masterpiece to seem like clutter to someone else...ha ha...so this year I get to go all out! yay!! I love decorating for Christmas!! The subdivision is also having a turkey trot fun run and 5 K this Saturday. I think I've convince Bry to do the kids run. He isn't as excited about the running races as Dev is. Dev and Granny will be doing the 5K while me and Bry help volunteer with the festivities. I'm glad the neighborhood is having some fun community events!

Still working on my Christmas shopping. NO, I won't be out on Black Friday. I really don't get into that shopping day. I need a few more gifts for Bry. I pretty much have Dev done.  I keep asking them what the want and they tell me a few items, but that's it. Last year, they both had a huge list. It makes me wonder....are they wondering about Santa?? I think I'll have a better idea once our Elf on the Shelf Mark returns the day after Thanksgiving. I'll see how the boys react.....

Still working on the house organization. It seems never ending.....the lack of storage area in this house is killer. I feel like I just keep moving boxes from room to room...ugh....but it's slowing coming along I guess.

I'm hoping to maybe get a picture together some time this week so that I can work on a Christmas card. I didn't send them out last year, but I"d like to this year. Although, I better get going huh??

The boys are still doing good in school. We are working on our 1st science project!! For Bry!! His advanced class requires them to do a Science project..eekk...not too happy personally...but we are working on it. We are experimenting whether a dog's mouth is cleaner than a humans. So we swabbed three people's mouths and three dogs to see what kind and how much bacteria grows. It should be interesting. I just hope we get some kind of results in our Petri dishes..... we'll see how it goes and I'll let you know.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Toodles.

Soccer, TKD and more

We had a great Saturday of Soccer this weekend. Bry decided he would not worry so much about how his team plays and just play like he wants to. Wow...what a difference. He made three goals and played great. I have to say his team is improving though. He just doesn't realized that some of the other boys have never played until this year. I'm happy he was back to himself and having fun and playing soccer!

Dev did great also! He also had 3 goals! His team is in 2nd place for the season so far.

Today they are out of school and are going to a soccer camp for the day. I think they will have fun. Something they love to do and hopefully they might learn a few extra tips also!

A few weeks ago they both tested in TKD. They both did awesome and both broke boards! It was fun to watch because we don't get to watch their classes through the week. They go to TKD as aftercare and they take class before we are able to get there to pick them up so we don't get to see them in class very much. They practice a lot at home but it was nice to see all they had learned.

I was able to take the day off Friday and have a little fun shopping with Mom. I found a super cute store and some really cute stuff for my NYC trip!! The cutest part was when I modeled the outfit for Mike and the boys. Keep in mind, I don't think the boys know anything about me taking a trip to New York. So I come out in my outfit and Bry was like..."Mommy!! You look like New York!!!" wow...that was so funny!! I was so happy!! yeah...just the look I was looking for!! ha ha ha.... I'm getting super excited about the trip!!

The weather is still really warm here! wow..in the 80's today!! Don't get me wrong, I like it, but maybe the 70's would be a little better now that's it's November!

There is a new indoor trampoline park that opened here. I'm hoping maybe to take the boys this weekend for a little jumping fun. As long as they are good this week at school. Dev had a few " talking in class" checks for last week, so I told him he has to do better this week or we won't go. I"m guessing he is making a few new friends in his new class and is starting to get chatty.

Happy Veterans Day!

Playing catch up

So..let's see where to start.
We had what seemed like a very busy week leading up to our Disney weekend trip for Bry's birthday. I ended up taking the whole day off on Friday and we headed out about 9am. Wow, I just have to say over and over how happy I am that it only takes us 2 hr 45 min to get there...whoo hoo! It is wonderful. We got there around noon, ate some lunch and then the boys headed to the pool. The water was actually a little cool,  but they had a blast anyway. It was fun to be back at our home resort, this time Bry wasn't afraid to go down the slide at the pool. The adults enjoyed a nice beverage and then the boys and Daddy played a little ping pong.
   Around 4 pm it was time to head back and get dressed for the Mickey Not So Scary party!! We walked to the park and entered around 530pm or so. The park was beautifully decorated. We got a bite to eat and did some walking around before the party actually started at 7pm. I have to say it was such a great time!! We all really enjoyed it. There were costumes everywhere and lots and lots of candy! Wow....we left there with tons of it! We even got to ride a few rides too and it really wasn't crowded at all. Yes, there were alot of people but not compared to Disney crowded!! The fireworks were spectacular!!! Wow.!!! We headed back about 1130pm. What a great night! I would definitely recommend it to anyone!! Disney did a great job!
   The next day we were up and back at Magic Kingdom. The weather was perfect! So were the crowds, again a light crowd. Now as the afternoon approached it did start to get more crowded, but still not like peak times! We rode everything we pretty much wanted and walked and had a great time. The boys were ready to head back to the resort around 4pm. I do have to say the new Disney armbands worked out great. You wear the wristband and it lets you in your room, has your park tickets on it, you can pre-select fast passes for the parks, and you can make charges to your room on it. It worked great for us. Oh and you can have the pictures that Disney takes added to your armband too. It was really convenient too. They also will be reusable for when we return so that's great too!  We rested a little at the resort then headed out and grabbed some dinner.
   Sunday morning we all kinda slept in late, I guess the tiredness was catching up to us. We also celebrated Bry's birthday with presents and a special donut with candles breakfast. I think we got to Epcot around 11am. We had to get all our stuff packed up and into the car before we headed to the park so it took a little longer than I wanted, but oh well. We really enjoyed Epcot, very light crowds. Now the most popular two rides had long wait times, but lucky for us I had already gotten fast passes for those rides added to our arm bands...sweet! The day went by too fast! We didn't have a chance to do everything we had wanted. He haven't been to Epcot in several years with the boys so they enjoyed it. We will definitely add it to our list for our next visit so we can enjoy the rest of the park that we missed on this visit.
    Back to the grind Monday morning with everyone tired and not wanting to get up! It was a busy week, the boys had TKD testing for their next belt Monday evening. We missed the original testing on the Friday we went out of town. Then Daddy took the boys to soccer practice Tuesday night while Mom and I went to the SYTYCD live tour. The show was great! It was fun to see the people we saw on TV and to watch them do the favorite routines. Our seats were pretty high up but it was still a great show! I love watching them dance!! Here are a few attempts at some pics from far away..ha ha..

    Of course last night was trick or treating. We really didn't need to go since we have so much candy already from Disney but it was all about the fun of it. The boys had a great time and two of their friends from the neighborhood walked with us. The weather was pretty warm and humid though, I think it was around 80! This time Dev wore his skeleton costume. There were tons of kids in our neighborhood...wow!  Luckily we were home around 730pm. You can tell it's alot of younger kids in our neighborhood because everyone was headed home around the same time as us, especially since it was school night.

I put on my witch stuff to wear to work. It was funny, because the boys did not like my mole at all!! ha ha

I was able to cook up a special spooky Halloween breakfast for them. They loved the monster donut, ghost toast, work sausage and the bugs and kisses cup of treats. It was fun to surprise them.

    So...tonight the boys get to go to a Halloween party at their TKD school. Probably more candy...oh my....I'm going to have to convince them to pick a certain number of things and we are going to have to find a place to give the rest to. I mean really...I'll have to take a picture...It is soooooo much!! But I know the boys will have a good time with their friends at the party with games, bounce house and costume contest. So we get a short parents night out. Although, we'll probably just order some take out and relax and catch up on our Biggest Loser....ha ha...the married with kids life!! I guess we are getting older!! eekkk!!
   Speaking of older.....wow...only about 38 more days till my birthday trip with the girls to NYC...I am so excited and can't wait. I need to get shopping though for some winter clothes! I really don't have any winter clothes. I got rid of many of them when we moved and of course here is so warm I hardly will need any. So of course, where else but Florida will you find winter hats and scarves right next to the bathing suits!!

  We don't have a big weekend of plans this weekend. Just soccer and probably some much needed house cleaning and organizing. Happy weekend to everyone! Toodles...
BTW...if you watch the Good Wife...oh my!!!