One last look at Florida...

The day before we left Florida, we decided we were going to go to Blue Springs, where the manatees and stuff are. But when we got there, the park was so full, they were turning people away (which my parents say they've never seen happen before)! It was such a nice day, I guess everyone wanted to be there. Well, we decided we would just head east and go to the closest beach and let the girls play for awhile. I didn't have any swimsuits for them, so I just let them run around in their undies. They loved it!

This was actually from the day we went to Downtown Disney. We hopped on the ferry and went around to a few of the resorts, which was so fun! This was outside of the Boardwalk resort (they have a real boardwalk with shops outside that we walked around).

This was the gingerbread house on display inside the Boardwalk resort. Everything is made from gingerbread and it's life size. Nobody can say Disney goes halfway on anything!

Downtown Disney

After Christmas, we headed over to Downtown Disney for a day of fun. Since we didn't go to any parks, we figured this was the second best thing, and we always love going there. First thing we did was head over to the T-Rex restaurant (owned by the same company as the Rainforest Cafe, so gives you an idea of how awesome it is!), where my mom wanted to let Kylee pick out a dinosaur for her birthday at the Build-A-Dino area (basically the same thing as Build-A-Bear). Kylee had tons of fun picking out her pink dinosaur and its outfit and putting it together. She named it Kyleesaurausrex, which made us laugh. :) If you're concerned about Makayla, don't worry, she got to pick out a small dinosaur for herself also. And OF COURSE the girls had to wear their princess dresses from Christmas the whole day. It's practically a law when you're on Disney property!

Kylee helping stuff her dinosaur

Kylee and Kyleesaurusrex

Trying on princess crowns at the toy store

Meeting Santa-Goofy!

Still in the pirate spirit!

My little princesses

Christmas

Here's a few images from Christmas Day. The girls ended up getting way more presents than we were expecting from everybody, so we ended up having to go buy another suitcase to haul them home in! Ok, ok, I really just wanted a new suitcase. :D

I really surprised Brian by getting him MarioKart for the Wii!

Makayla showing off her new princess dress. She now lives in it.

Both of the girls with their princess dresses.

The girls "buying" their presents from each other with their new cash register.

Makayla playing on her new bouncy ball in her stylish glasses.

Sailing the High Seas

A few days before Christmas when we were in Florida, we went out to Tampa to go to the beach, and to take the kids on a pirate ship ride. The ship basically caters to kids; they have a squirt gun fight, a treasure hunt, pirate stories, face painting, dancing, they do the limbo, etc. The kids totally LOVED it, even though Makayla felt safer just staying closer to mom and dad most of the time. The beach was a little cold, especially since we got there late in the day, but the girls insisted on putting on their swimsuits anyway. I think they froze!

Getting ready to get on the pirate ship

This picture makes me laugh - Makayla just enjoying looking out the porthole with the wind in her face.

As Kylee would say, "Aarrgghh, lady!" Kylee and Nana with their faces painted as pirates. Is this my dad or Jacques Cousteau??

Makayla on the beach. Brian shelling in the water with the sunset in the background.

Poor freezing Kylee

Christmas at Home

Before we left for Florida to spend Christmas with Becky's parents, we had our own little Christmas here at home, where the kids got to open presents from mom and dad, and various family members who had sent their presents to us in Ohio before we left (knowing we wouldn't have very much room to take stuff back from Florida). The girls got several games, a sit 'n spin, Kylee got a new car seat, Makayla got a new bike. Ok, I can't remember what else. :)

Kylee dressed up as a present for the program they did at church before Christmas.

Halloween

Now that it's the new year, I figure it would be a good time to update my blog. Ok, ok, I've heard your cries of anger (ahem, Matt), but hey, I've had a good excuse - I've been stinkin' TIRED (and tired of stinkin')! :) But seriously, now that I'm past the first trimester, I got some fire back in my tank and I'm ready to get down to business here. This might take a while. Let's start with Halloween. It was a lot of fun to be in a house this Halloween, so we didn't have to drive to a neighborhood somewhere to take the kids trick-or-treating. I stayed home and passed out candy, while Brian took the kiddos out. I have to say, I had some pretty scary girls this year - no princesses for them! (their choice, not mine)

One of our pumpkins. Pretty funny, huh?

Cutest little dragon I ever saw in my life!

My little witch and dragon.