Making Cookies For Santa

Today the boys made cookies to leave for Santa Clause tomorrow night. They had a blast!! Yes, they made a big mess, but they had fun and that is all that matters.

Will had fun decorating the cookies.
Landon was our little taste tester.

Shake it Landon!!

Landon loves to dance!! Mommy happen to get a short video of him dancing to Thomas the Train this morning while he was playing outside on the porch. He could see his reflection in the door, so he would shake his little bottom from side to side as hard as he could. At one point he was shaking so hard his pants fell down to his knees. Sorry we didn't get that on video.

Don't we all wish we have a little piece of his energy.

Family Day at Epcot

Saturday we spent the day at Epcot. This was the boys first visit and they had a great time. The first thing Will wanted to do was ride The Seas with Nemo and Friends. It was really a cute ride. After you get off the ride they have this HUGE aquarium that is so big scuba divers were inside it cleaning the tank. The boys had a lot of fun leaning right up against the tank and watching the fish, sharks and scuba divers. We didn't get to go up into the ball this visit because it was not working, but we did make it around the world showcase. The boys liked the entertainment they had at most of the countries. Landon of course liked the entertainment with the bongo drums the best. We even got to see a French Santa Clause in France.

The boys have now been to all four parks at Disney World and we have decided that Landon's favorite thing is riding the tram that takes you from your car to the park entrance. He gets sooooooooo..... excited every time we ride it. He thinks he is riding a train. Don't get us wrong, he does REALLY enjoy the characters and everything else inside the parks, but he just REALLY, REALLY likes that tram.

Visit with Tom and Ginny

Dottie has a great aunt and uncle (Tom and Ginny) that live in Lakeland, Florida. Today we went to there house to visit.

They have orange trees in there back yard, so the boys got to pick some. Mommy also got to go with Uncle Tom to a Farmer's Market to get some fresh fruits and vegetables really cheap. It is weird getting fresh fruits and vegetables this time of year, but everything right now is different from what we were use to in North Carolina, especially the weather.

The boys had a blast picking oranges, but the best part of all was spending some time with family. We miss that!!!

Landon enjoyed helping Uncle Tom put the oranges in the bucket.

Landon liked to pull an orange as hard as he could to get it off the tree. Eventually he would let go, fall on his bottom and laugh and laugh.
Here is Will holding a bucket of grapefruit. He was such a big helper.

Daddy and the boys had a great assembly line, which made the picking go really fast.

Getting Ready For Christmas

Over the weekend we decorated our house for Christmas. This year we put a big tree up in the family room and and then we had a little tree from the first year we were married, so we put it in the boys play room and they got to decorate it with ornaments they have made over the past few years and will continue to make this year. They had so much fun with it and it was really fun to watch. They did get to help mommy and daddy put ornaments on the big tree and then mommy added her special touch to make it pretty.

The boys are so excited this year about Christmas, which really makes it fun. Will is really into the whole Santa Claus and asks us questions everyday, like "How will Santa get into our house because we don't have a fireplace?" and Landon is trying to take it all in. They are both at such a cute age!!

We can't wait to come up to the mountains in a few weeks where the weather is cooler. It's really strange to be getting ready for Christmas in shorts, short sleeves and flip flops. Not to complain because the warmer weather is nice, but we have been so use to Christmas being cold.

Will did a great job decorating his tree.

Landon concentrating really hard to put an ornament on.

Landon is so excited.

Santa's Little helpers!!
Will is teaching Landon Jingle Bells. What a perfect song for Landon to learn with his guitar.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This was the first Thanksgiving that we haven't spent with our families back in North Carolina. We decided to do something very Florida like and go to an orange grove to pick oranges. It was actually a really pretty drive out in the country. We didn't think the leaves change colors on the trees here, but we actually saw some. It was definitely not as pretty as the mountains of North Carolina, but it was still pretty enough to really make it more fall like here in Florida. We also drove over mountains (Dottie called them), but Chad said they were just hills. The grove we went to was huge. They had sooooo... many different kinds of oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes that it was a little overwhelming. The boys had a big time picking the fruit off the trees and we all learned a lot about oranges. Landon only tried to bite into one, which was surprising for him.

This type of orange is soooooo... big as you can tell by the size of Will's hand. We got two of them to try and they tasted a lot like a grapefruit, but not as tart. All four of us ate on one and still didn't finish all of it.

Two tired and full boys at the end of a long day. Check out Landon's full belly!!

We had a great Thanksgiving, but we definitely missed our families. We look forward to seeing everyone in 4 weeks for Christmas.

Turkey Day at Will's School

Today, mommy and Landon went to a Thanksgiving Feast at Will's school. Mommy and Landon had a great time eating lunch with Will and his buddies. Landon, of course, kept everyone at the table quite entertained. Will was just thrilled that mommy and Landon were there.

Each child had made a place mat to eat on and a Pilgrim or Indian costume that they wore all day. It was so cute!!!!

These are Will's two favorite buddies. Jayden is on the right and Herbert is on the left. (Herbert lives two houses up from us.) After lunch the kindergarten classes had a Turkey Trot Parade. Each child was holding a paper bag turkey that they had to make as a family project. It was fun to see them showing off their creative turkeys.

MORE ABOUT THIS FAMILY PROJECT........

Will has to do a family project each month. This month he brought home a brown paper grocery bag with instructions that said "stuff the bag with newspaper, gather the top of the bag for the turkeys neck and head and then decorate it however you want to make it look like a turkey." Mommy and daddy could not picture what this turkey was suppose to look like, but with some creativity from the three of us and reading the what seems to be simple instructions over and over, we (mommy, daddy and Will) created a pretty cute turkey. Will's favorite part was cutting out and painting the feathers.

We're a little nervous as to what the family project will be in December as they seem to be getting harder each month.

Potty time with the guitar

Landon has been doing amazing with his potty training. Every now and again he will have an accident, but it's not real often. He wears big boy under pants all the time now, even at night. Yaaaaa... no more diapers!! He still likes to use his little potty seat, but whatever works.

Landon loves to play his guitar and he likes it so much that he has to take it to the potty with him. It's hilarious to watch. Like we said in a previous blog, Landon is going to be a rock star when he grows up.

Landon is entertaining his cars and Thomas the Train while he is going potty.

Mornings around our house

Most weekday mornings around our house are a little crazy. We (mommy and daddy) are not morning people, so we are usually rushing around trying to get Will ready for school (dressed, breakfast, and lunch packed) and Chad getting ready for work. Usually the boys are running around the house chasing each other and basically just being little boys.

Usually when the boys wake up before us they come in our room and wake us up, but not this morning. We found both of them sitting in this chair and Will was reading Landon a book. Landon loves to be read to and actually it is the only way he will sit still for more than 2 minutes, which is GREAT. After they saw us, the craziness began. It was sweet while it lasted!!

Space Shuttle

Tonight on the way home from Will's soccer practice we were listening to the radio and they started talking about the Space Shuttle that just took off from Cape Canaveral, which is only about 30 minutes from where we live. We looked into the sky to see if we might possibly see it and low and behold there it was shooting up into the sky over the full moon. After a couple minutes all you could see was a bright light in the sky, which at that point looked like an airplane. When we first saw it, we knew right off it was the space shuttle because it had fire shooting out the back. It was definitely a sight to see and something we will always remember. We were in awe the rest of the way home, saying "can you believe what we just saw". Sometimes we ask ourselves why we are living in Orlando, but when we get to go to the most "Magical" place in the world (Disney World) and then see a Space Shuttle in the sky as you are driving down the road, it's not so bad.