On the Island with Mom

Mom, Steve, Eric, and the kids near the parking area overlooking the boats.

(Sorry in advance for the long post--there were so many great pictures I couldn't decide). The day after Thanksgiving, we drove southwest to Little Gasparilla Island where Eric's Mom and Steve live. It was about a 3 hour drive. The island is beautiful and very small. You can only reach it by boat. The kids loved the boat ride there and back. We spent two days and nights there. It was warm and sunny and we enjoyed the white sandy beaches and the ocean. The kids all loved chasing the waves and Jesikah and I especially loved finding shells. The beach was COVERED with shells. I've never seen so many shells! We found some very pretty ones. Jarem really enjoyed building sand castles with Eric. There are no cars on the island, only golf carts, so Grandma taught Alex how to drive a golf cart. Driving the golf cart was probably the highlight of his trip. Even when it ran out of battery, he didn't mind pushing. :)


Grandma driving the kids on the golf cart
Look who's driving now!
The girls and Jarem off the back.
Jarem and Eric building sand castles

The girls playing in the waves
Eric ready for some sun

Can you see all the shells Jesikah is sitting on? There were piles of shells everywhere.

Tessa and I walking on the beach.
All the kids and Eric building a wall to protect the precious shell.

Someone else built this huge alligator out of sand and Jarem wanted a picture by it.
Jesikah collecting shells
Playing in the water

The Seafood boil Mom and Steve served us the first night. It was good. There was corn on the cob, potatoes, shrimp, clams, and garlic with yummy sauces.

Sunset the first night. There were breathtaking sunsets there.

Sunset the second night

We had a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving break! The only bad part was the long drive home in traffic. Never drive through Atlanta on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. :)

Thanksgiving in Florida

We spent Thanksgiving in Florida with some of Eric's family this year. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma Guelde's house. Eric's mom, grandma, and some aunts and uncles were all there (all of whom we haven't seen in a long time). We enjoyed renewing acquaintances with everyone. Now that we live closer, we hope to see them all more often.

The 10 1/2 drive to his grandma's house wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, Eric didn't get off until 7pm the night before Thanksgiving, so we drove all night to get there. We left around 8pm and got there between 7-8am. Thank heavens Eric is used to pulling those long nights of call because I couldn't make it more than 1 hour, and he drove the rest. What a trooper!

After dinner, we spent some time in the warm Florida sun on the deck by the pool. The kids swam in the pool (a little cold even in Florida), and we enjoyed an afternoon of visiting.
Jesikah, Tessa, and Jarem with their second cousins Marley and Allison sitting around Grandma Guelde's table having dessert.
Even in Florida the water is a little cold the last week in November. Jarem's expression says it all! :)

Tessa by the pool.

Alex and his cousin, Allison. They are almost the same age, and like doing the same type of things. All the kids played in the pool and played some football and ultimate frisbee outside after dinner.

The girls and cousins caught Alex taking a nap after the activities for the afternoon were done and tucked Barbie in with him. :)



Grandma Guelde and Uncle Bob

Aunt Debbie and Gary
Aunt Lisa and Uncle Denis

Everyone working together the day after Thanksgiving to roll some hay into Aunt Lisa's trailer.
They did it! All the kids, Eric, Aunt Lisa, and Grandma Guelde next to the hay.

Jarem in the Pillowcase!

Yesterday morning, I woke up to find Jarem sleeping like this in my bed. Sometimes he likes to sleep with the pillow over his head, but this time he was sleeping with his whole head actually INSIDE the pillowcase! It was pretty funny!

Happy 13th Birthday Alex!

Alex's 13th birthday was November 11. It's hard to believe that he is officially a teenager now. We are very grateful for the good boy that he is and the adventure he adds to our family! I'm a little slow at getting these posted due to our move, but here it is!

Alex surrounded by gifts. He looks pretty happy!

Yes, he's a little odd, but they still love him (at least sometimes :))

Alex's dinner of choice: pancakes! I know what you are thinking...what's up with the table. It was only a couple of days after we moved in and we didn't have a table yet, so Jesikah suggested we use this one--and it worked ok. We all kneeled around the table.

Jesikah's gift: Axe shampoo and body spray with a trial size for emergencies :)

Alex trying out the Axe...Jesikah proud that she picked something he likes! :)

Hmmm...what could this be?

Wow--an air-soft gun!

Whose gift is it anyway?

You're kidding...15,000 pellets (I don't have to tell you who did the shopping)!

Look at all those air soft pellets!

A full set of fatigues that even fit!

Hat and All!

Demonstrating the "crouch"!

Alex's choice of cake was the DQ cookie dough blizzard cake. Eric is doing the honors of cutting the cake.

Our Home is Finished!

It's FINALLY Official!!

Yes, I know it's hard to believe after hearing me whine over these past three months, but no longer, because we officially closed on our house today. We've been in our house for about a week (since Nov 7), but today it became official.
As you can see, the back yard got seeded, and we hope it takes, eventually! :)
The basement entrance...aka...kid's secret escape door! :)

I'm sure most of you are sick of the house pictures (sorry), but I've had a few requests for the final pictures. It's taken us over a week to clear out most of the boxes so it's somewhat ready for pictures. We still plan to add blinds/curtains, pictures, and decor, but that will come eventually. In fact, I only took pictures of the rooms on the main floor for the slideshow. The bedrooms and basement aren't to a photo point yet. :) We still have boxes, but we've accomplished a lot. It's a lot of work even when someone else moves you (no complaints though). We have been sorting and de-junking as we unpack, so it takes a little longer. It's been busy, but we are very, very happy to be in our new house. We appreciate it so much more after being in the apartment for 3 months. The extra space is great! The invitation is open for any of you to come and stay with us. We'd love to have company...

A Very Fun Halloween!

We had a very fun Halloween! The girls started out the day by getting to dress up as a storybook character for school. That was fun for them since they haven't been allowed to dress up at school the past few years. Tessa went as the princess in "Rapunzel" and Jesikah went as the queen in "The Brownie and the Princess". I took Jarem to the library for their Halloween storytime and costume parade. Surprisingly enough, we saw two families we knew(we don't know many people yet). :) Jarem was able to play at the library for a few minutes with his friend, Wyatt, who was dressed up as the crocodile in Peter Pan. They looked cute together.

Then, later on, we went to our church Halloween trunk-or-treat party. Alex passed out the candy while the rest went trunk-or-treating. Alex enjoyed handing out the candy regardless of his initial grumbling. Then there was costume judging. The girls were really hoping to win (weren't we all at that age), but alas, princesses are just too common on Halloween, regardless of the fact that WE thought they stole the show. :) Jesikah said that there were no other "queens" there, but I'm afraid that no one really recognized the difference except us. Oh well!

Anyway, then we were off to trick-or-treating. We went to a neighborhood near the church where some of our friends live. We really enjoyed it. Jarem had a complete ball! This is the first time he has really participated a lot in trick-or-treating. He was SO cute and excited about all the candy!

I have to say, I LOVE trick-or-treating in the South. It was warmer than I've ever experienced on Halloween(perfect), and that alone made it a very enjoyable night. Not to mention, that it wasn't even raining(sorry my Washington friends, but we haven't had many rainless Halloweens in the last 5 years). :) Another fun thing was that everyone was sitting out on their porch in their rocking chairs or porch swings with their bowl of candy handing it out because it wasn't cold. It made the feel of trick-or-treating so warm and friendly. I enjoyed it more than I ever have.

Alex surrounded by princesses passing out candy! If you look closely, you can see a smile on his face. Who wouldn't be happy surrounded by so many pretty little girls.

The kids collecting candy at the trunk-or-treat party.
> While we were trick or treating, we came across this cute house with a Yoda dressed up as a power ranger on a John Deere tractor with a trailer. It came with a "help yourself" sign. That's exactly what the girls are doing.
Jarem kept opening his bag and saying, "Look at ALL my candy!" He made it fun for all of us. Alex helped Jarem trick-or-treat, and he managed to score a little loot himself--especially for "not" trick-or treating. :) We all had a great time.

Happy Halloween!

Beautiful Fall

Fall has finally officially arrived here. The weather has been great for almost 2 months, and just a few nights ago, we had our first freeze. The colors on the trees are so beautiful and vibrant. I love it! Yesterday I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of just some trees near our apartment. I'd like to get a little better shot from up high. It really is amazing!

What would it be like?

Every little boy has pictures like this hidden up somewhere. :) A couple of days ago I found Jarem trying on Jesikah's church shoes. They are so pretty--he just wondered what it would look like to wear them. He was a little embarrassed when I took the picture because he knows they are for girls. I had to get a picture though, it was too cute to resist. Then yesterday, I got him some new frog pajamas, and he asked me to take a picture, so I figured I'd add it to the Jarem post. With him being the only one at home now, we spend a lot of time together. It's fun!