oh my!

one very proud little man showing off his masterpiecei have to watch this little one like a hawk these days as you can see... zane came to our rescue during his lunch break with paint samples and we applied over 10-coats of paint so mommy and daddy wouldn't have heart attacks!!

we made pineapple jello 'jigglers' with heart-shaped cookie cutters, and then they entertained themselves with the leftover jello! very fun to squish between your fingers i must admit...=-)

just another day in the life of being a nanny for aidan and evan=-)

a beautiful family

my life won't be the same when they move away in august...

come for the java, stay for the joint

just enjoying a lazy morning with my downstairs neighbor Elaina and her two-boys Robert and Wesley. we grabbed a late breakfast and some drinks at java joint, the coffee shop two-blocks from us.

silly little man

(as you can see i'm playing catch-up with my photos). imagine my amusement when i looked into my rearview mirror and saw this funny man staring back at me all smug and delighted.

it's all about the compromises!

“Compromise is when one person wants to rob a bank and the other person does not, and they compromise to rob a person outside of the bank.” -Christopher Myers

lol. just making fun of ourselves.

so we've weathered a little 'winter storm' but we've learned some things about each other and all's well that ends well=-)

let's play!

my beautiful sweet evie

such sweet friends to have...

aidan doing his best not to smile!

uh oh nana! i'm stuck!

my babies=-)

we're so sad that leala & cira are leaving us for melbourne. these are just a few delayed photos from our goodbye playdate at this indoors jungle gym. we wish leala all our luck on this part of her journey.

kid humor

today Evan informed me that when its raining that means the clouds are going potty, and when they are black clouds, that means they are angry that their mommy made them go to the potty! duh, didn't you know?!=-)

reality check

Lets play 'what if...' What if you loved cookies, really loved them, everything about them. the process of making them, sometimes even making memories with a good friend or two, and eating the dough by the spoonfuls risking the chance of getting salmonella, and inhaling the wonderful scent that spreads thru the whole house while they bake. and of course eating the finished product while they're fresh out of the oven and still warm and falling apart and leaving trails of melted chocolate chips on your lips...and then saving some for the freezer so you could anticipate the yumminess that is frozen chocolate chip cookies. now, what if your favorite person on this planet, the one you love the very most decided one day to reveal to you that cookies weren't really his thing, that he'd merely been putting up with them for years because it made other people happy, and in fact it made him annoyed and sick to his stomach to even smell them, let alone eat them... and all things relating to cookie baking would be gotten rid of if he could have his way. now, what if instead of cookies, that thing was christmas, and it was a true story, not just a silly made up joke? no strings of pretty blue lights, or snowman candles or garlands to wrap around railings or wreaths on your door that make your house smell like a christmas tree farm... and no jolly tunes to fill a room with christmas spirit. sure he said i could do it all, like every other year before, but with the new knowledge of how unhappy it makes him feel, how could i do that, and enjoy that, and feel the 'magic' of christmas with the one i love. both our reactions to all this have surprised us both i think. his newfound coldness and true dislike of this holiday dating back to as far back as he can remember, even citing a paper he wrote in 3rd grade about his negative feelings toward christmas. and my reaction has been the extreme opposite, realizing how much i truly love this time of year, and all the silliness that comes with it in the form of pretty lights and snowmen and certain songs you can only play during like 1-month out of the year. i'm really just feeling like someone punched me in the stomach. i cried for hours about it last night. i think it's feeling so rawly painful because i feel so powerless; i can't change my favorite person's feelings, i can only change my own...which means living without christmas. sometimes its cool to have such opposite personalities and have someone to give you a different perspective on things. but sometimes it just hurts.

craving winter

the other night i was just mindlessly walking out my front door to go downstairs and fulfil the innocent task of changing out our load of laundry from the washer to the dryer, not at all realizing a deep need in me was about to be rudely awakened...and then i was blasted with the most intoxicating wonderful smell i could ever dream of smelling... someone in our neighborhood was using a wood-burning stove and the smoke had filled the crisp night air. i almost died and went to heaven. the whole quintessential fantasy of winter obviously does not exist in florida and i never dreamed i would literally ache for it. now i feel like a crack fiend. except instead of dope, it's cozy log cabins in a secluded woods, sitting in hot-tubs while it snows, snuggling by a fireplace with a mug of hot spiced apple cider... i actually get grumpy when it's sunny with clear blue skies and temperatures in the 70's. i mean, doesn't the weather know it's november??? yes i know, i do feel guilty, people pay to visit places like florida to escape their winters... but i'm even considering letting go of my 'rule' of waiting to pull out the x-mas decorations and the x-mas music until after thanksgiving in hopes of easing the pain...and in my car i have a cd of hawaiian music that i listen to while i blast my a/c so i can pretend i'm on vacation when i drive by palm trees seen thru essential sunglasses because the sun is so bright. *sigh* it's admittingly pathetic that pretending to be on vacation makes the lack of winter easier to deal with than enjoying the reality of wearing t-shirts and visiting the beach in november. i'm going to regret this post someday i bet.

baby steps

it's been just over a year since we cancelled our cable television. there is a million excuses i could give as to why we got it to begin with. the biggest one was probably just to help cope with the lonliness of being in a new town, a new state and a new coast even, where the Friends are few and far between and the young Friends even fewer. however, we did feel moved to finally disconnect when it became obvious it was becoming too much of a crutch for us, and to easy to allow too many unnecessary things into our home. but we did keep the t.v. to be able to watch movies... movies felt 'safer' and more in our control but now we're finally getting rid of that too for many of the same reasons as we got rid of our cable. so now we are feeling very old fashioned without a computer (mostly because it hasn't made it onto our financially capable list yet...) or a t.v. but loving the newfound simplicity in our home. we went to target and purchased a couple games like monopoly: the world edition and mancala and a beautiful thomas kincaid puzzle. it was so refreshing to revisit our childhood and spend hours playing a boardgame. altho this monopoly is quite the updated version i have to admit with the electronic banking... you get to play with credit cards! and the world edition has replaced properties like oriental ave. and st. james place with places like shanghai and montreal. what fun to travel around the world in our very own living room=-) anyway i was thrilled to kick my hubby's butt our first game... he went bankrupt while i had 50 mil in the bank. lol. but MOST importantly i can't wait to spend endless cozy nights ahead just enjoying my husbands company interacting (being the key word) together, instead of mindlessly (and silently) watching movies on our couch together.

**for anyone who reads this and takes offense, please don't mistake this as being a judgement for anyone who chooses to have a t.v. in their home. i am just expressing something that has brought happiness and peace to us personally, but we realize what works for us doesn't necessarily work for another.

Zane's Surprise.

So those who know me know I don't typically take surprises well. I'm trying to work on that. Anyway it helps when my hubby does things like he did last thursday night. He came home with Outback Steakhouse take-out... and he got like everything on the menu: bread, caesar salad, bloomin' onions, my favorite chicken dish, and a steak with a baked potato and garlic mashed potatoes!!! And to top it all off he brought home a bottle of my favorite champagne and sparkling apple cider AND chocolate chip cookie dough ice-cream for dessert! Is it ANY wonder why i'm so madly in love with my husband?!

Hmm..

So I get this text message from Zane this morning: Don't make dinner tonight... Hmm. Wondering what he has up his sleeve but i'm feeling very sleepy today so i'm good with not cooking=-)

Loving Fall

The long awaited day when eggnog arrives in the local grocery stores has arrived!

Livin' the 'Salt Life'

Eek! The sun was just setting when we got there...And I thought wearing my hair down was a good idea why???

Mmm, my mouth is watering all over again...
Round #2 for Sally's butter pecan ice-cream! YAY!

Braddigan- such feel good music!

lots of locals!

being oh so serious...=-)

smiles!

thats an ice-cream spoon y'all!

haha, a funny guy at our table wanted in the picture too

so beautiful...

the best part of all this is it's only 20 blocks from our casa!!!

Early Sunday morning; watching the 'tadpoles' a.k.a kids surf competition

Saturday night, Zane bought us tickets for The 9th Annual Tommy Tant Memorial Surf Classic and Food Festival. Wowee, that's a mouthful, but anywho it was such a good time!! We bundled up in our winter coats and sweaters and leggings (well that was mostly me but ok) because it was a chilly fall evening, but an absolutely gorgeous one! We ate a sampling from 10 of the best local restuarants in our beach community and listened to this fabulous band called Braddigan and mingled with the locals!! Just to make your mouth water a little... check out everything we got to sample! We tried wasabi honey crusted mahi-mahi, shrimp & grits, manhattan fish chowder, black and blue chicken, fish tacos with homemade guacamole and fresh salsa, sausage & peppers, tomato basil mozzarella with balsamic dressing, New Orleans gumbo and rice with homemade spiced apple cider and strawberry banana smoothies!!!! YUUUMMMM!! I want seconds right about now...

The End of W.A.N.D and Halloween

The mohawk! Zane gave me 3 roses for Landon's 3rd birthday, and the cards are from Zane and my Mama!! And I even got a phone call from my father-in-law and text messages from Lace and Ash. I'm more grateful for all your sensitivity than you'll probably ever know! The most precious bat and witch ever and their Mama Anna!=-) Aidan rockin' the mohawk on Halloween! All smiles...

Aidan wearing the outfit I bought him in Washington

Vanessa, Tina, April, Nikki our teacher, Charlene, Irena, Candi, Gloria and Rise La Piazza ladiesSo my twice-weekly w.a.n.d. class thru daytona state college officially ended this past thursday and I can't speak highly enough of it! I feel so empowered, and blessed to have met all the women taking this journey also! Now we're talking about doing a book club together next??? Can't wait!