Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we were invited to spend the day with my cousin, Chris Umthun, and a few of her friends.  It is so nice having at least one relative here, and it was great to spend the holiday with other people.  Thanksgiving was held at her friends' house, Ralph and Sandy, and we have met them several times.  They have two little girls, Daniella and Avery, and Ava always has a blast with them.  This was the first time we have ever been to their house though, as every other time we have seen them it has been at Chris's house.  It was so much fun for the little ones, as they have a HUGE bonus room upstairs in their house, and the entire thing is just one big playroom.  Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving:

Sandy and my cousin, Chris

Sandy and Ralph (our hosts)

Ava getting ready to dig in.....

Daniella saying a prayer.

Eric and I

Eric, Chris, Sandy, Ralph, Kathy, and Ralph's mom

The kiddos:  Avery, Silas, Ava, and Daniella

The girls:  Avery, Ava, and Daniella

Silas sits still for about two seconds, so this was as good as it gets.

Us with Chris

My family

 

 

We had a great Thanksgiving this year, and lots of fun!  Hope everyone else did too!  Now on to Christmas!!!

Moving home!!

Wowzers!  It had been A LONG time since I have posted on my blog!  Time definitely gets away from me, as I am sure it does for everybody.  I am also sure that to anybody that actually reads this blog, the title of this post is not news for you.  But, since I have not written about it yet, I thought I would make it "blog official" and let everybody know that we are MOVING HOME!!  In exactly 30 days to be precise!  That might be some of the reason that I have been a little busy!  Eric was hired as a postdoc at the University of Iowa, and his contract there begins January 1, 2014.  So we are packing up, trying to sell the house, and the moving truck will be here bright and early the day after Christmas.

My parents and my sister are flying down on December 23rd to spend Christmas with us, and help us pack and load the truck.  Then we will all be making the LONG trip from Florida to Iowa.  Our timing is not quite the best, and although I am thrilled to be closer to friends and family, leaving 70 to 80 degree weather in December and heading back the icy cold tundra that is Iowa that time of year is not as exciting.  I am pretty sure my kiddos will be going into shock, and Silas might not know how to breathe through the cold air.  :-)

Here is a link to view our house listing:

http://www.mlsfinder.com/fl_mfrmls/kw_415/index.cfm?action=listing_detail&property_id=O5193734&searchkey=9245224c-f469-5850-3740-ab6b9e418e79

We have had a few showings, but no offer yet.  Fingers crossed we will get one before we leave!  Once we get to Iowa, the majority of our belongings will be going into a storage unit, and we are moving in with Eric's parents!  They have been so gracious to extend us the offer to live with them for awhile, which is a HUGE stress reliever for us!  They keep saying how excited they are and how much they are looking forward to having us there............we will see if they are still saying the same thing a few months from now!  :-)

In the meantime, we are going to try to make the most of our last month here in Florida.  Our Disney passes have expired (sniff, sniff) but we are still able to go to Sea World.  Sea World has an amazing deal for Florida residents that if you pay a full price admission one time, you can come for free the rest of the calendar year.  So we went to Sea World this summer, and have been able to go free ever since, until December 31st.  We went there for just a few hours last night (Ava does not have school all week long for her Thanksgiving Break) to see some of their Christmas celebration.  It was a lot of fun, and hopefully we can go back again and see more.  Here are some pictures from last night:

The Polar Express!

The tree at the "North Pole" after getting off the Polar Express ride.

 

SANTA CLAUS!!

 

Shamu's Christmas Miracle night show.

Silas loved watching them sing in front of the train.

Ava's Birthday Trip to Magic Kingdom

On Sunday, September 8th, Ava's "actual" 7th birthday, we took her and Silas to Magic Kingdom.  Disney had added a new addition to the Magic Kingdom theme park, called Fantasyland.  They built a replica of the castle in the movie "Beauty and the Beast" and there is a fancy restaurant inside.  We had made reservations six months ago to eat there on her birthday, and I think Eric and I were just as excited as Ava was to see the inside of the castle.

Birthday girl riding the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom

Her special pin she got to wear.  She counted, and 10 people said "Happy Birthday" to her.  :-)

The kids in front of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse standing and Cinderella's castle.

 

Waiting to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpet

 

Ava and I went on the Tea Cups

Here are some pictures of the new Beauty and the Beast castle in Fantasyland.

Waiting for our name to be called so we can go inside.

The Ballroom, where we were sat to eat.

Daddy and his big 7 year old!

Thank goodness for technology!  Eating a dinner roll and watching Curious George on Mommy's phone.  :-)  It kept him entertained while we were waiting for our food.

The Beast walked out of a door right behind us, and took us all a little by surprise!

The dessert selection......YUMMY!!

Ava picked out what she wanted!

Silas was excited about his too!

Yum, yum!!

They brought out a special treat since it was her birthday.

The Weatherfords with the Beast!!!  Silas was clinging to me pretty tight.  :-)

After we were finished eating and our picture taken with the Beast, we were able to "explore" other parts of the castle.  This was the "west wing" were the magically rose was kept.

You can't really see it in this picture, but it looked as though it was snowing outside.  Super pretty!

Standing in front of the mosaic that is at the end of the movie.  It was a really fun experience!!

Ava bought her first pair of Mickey ears with some of her birthday money.

A beautiful ending to Ava's birthday as we were on the ferryboat leaving the park.

Ava's 7th Birthday Party!!!

Ava invited four girls over to help celebrate her birthday on Saturday, September 7th, and then two of them spent the night.  It was a crazy busy day, but I am pretty sure she had a great time, and none of the girls wanted to leave.  I take that as a good sign.  It was an event-packed party that included swimming, trampoline jumping, a piñata, pizza, presents, cake and ice cream, makeovers, craft time, and a movie with popcorn.  I was definitely exhausted by the end of the night, and it was a struggle for me to stay awake longer than the three little first graders I had in my living room.  Finally, a little after 11:00 p.m., they gave in to sleep, which meant I could as well.  :-)  Here are all the pictures:

Some fun decorations.  Who doesn't love streamers??

The girls:  Ashlynn, Katye, Ava, Taylor Jo, and Sami

First thing on their list.....Barbies.  :-)

Next stop....the pool!

Katye caught a lizard (brown anole).  She was super excited!

Trampoline time!

Taking a break to enjoy some yummy pizza.  Silas thought he was sooo cool that he was able to sit and eat with all the big girls.  This just made his night!!

After pizza, Eric set up the piñata, which everybody had fun hitting!

Sami

Silas had to have a turn too, of course......

Ashlynn's turn....she was a slugger!!

Katye

Birthday girl!

Taylor Jo

Ashlynn

After everybody went a few times, Eric gave it a couple of hard whacks, and CANDY went flying everywhere.  Silas was stunned at first, and not quite sure what to do.  :-)

Time to open the presents!

A gigantic Yoda eraser from Taylor Jo.  :-)

The girls.....Katye, Taylor Jo, Ashlynn, Ava, and Sami

Silly faces!

Ava's Star Wars cake

Make a wish, birthday girl!

Yum, yum!  Cake and ice cream!

Makeover time!  It was so fun to watch the girls do this!  I love Taylor Jo's face.  :-)

Ashlynn

Sami

Katye putting on her make-up

Sami

Doing some crafts with her new stuff from Taylor Jo.

 

All set up and ready for the girls!  Everybody had a great time!!