Disney World

While my family was here we decided to hit up the place that people live to go to their entire lives.  Growing up, my sister and I honestly never really had any desire to go to Disney World.  But now with kids of my own, I see the excitement it holds for young and old!  I think the most fun for me was seeing their faces when they spotted Merida from Brave or Buzz Lightyear.  Definitely worth a trip since we were already in Florida! 

Disclaimer: Brace yourself for picture overload! 

The one thing my mom wanted to do was go on the teacup ride with Brighton because she did that when she was little.

 Enjoying it's a small, small world

 Hiking through the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

 2 weeks before we came, they opened a whole new section called Fantasyland.  It had a whole Beauty and the Beast attraction and a Little Mermaid section.  The kids recognized Gaston right away.

 Me and my Sweets

 Enjoying the character parade.  All the characters came out on floats and did a dance.  Brighton was satisfied after she saw all the Princesses and Porter was happy once he saw Flynn Rider.  

 Belle's Castle

 The end of a long, exciting day!

 Once it was dusk, another parade began and the castle lit up with sparkle lights.  It was actually breathtaking!

 Kyle was getting his groove on to the music of the band.  He must have gotten his 2nd wind!

 And this is what Porter looks like once he's hit a wall.  Needless to say he was done.

And the grand finale… On the way out, we got to meet the one who started it all, Mickey Mouse!  It made the day worth it for the kids!  They said they could go home and be happy after that!

We even jumped in for a shot and ended the day right!  All in all, it was quite the trip!  Not sure if we'll ever make it out here again so we enjoyed it to the fullest while we could!  I'm glad we were able to have such a special and memorable day with the kids and family!

New Year's Eve

We had a really fun New Year's because my whole family came out to visit and go to the beaches and play at all the amusement parks.  New Year's was beach day and we had a blast!  The kids even went in the water with Kyle! Or maybe he forced them in?  Either way, it was cold and fun and great to be around family! 

We ended the day with fireworks in our parking lot and a crazy fun game of Thing in A Box with the adults and finished a pretty good New Year's Eve!  Goodbye 2012!  Hello 2013!

Merry Christmas!

Dear Family & Friends-

We are happy to send this year’s Christmas card from the beautiful sunshine state of Florida.  I know it’s a toss-up as to where we’ll be living from one Christmas to the next, so let me fill you in on our whereabouts and our happenings for 2012 to give you a little more insight.  Kyle was in his 3^rd quarter of Nurse Anesthesia School at Midwestern University in the beginning of the year and Glendale, Arizona seemed to fit our family well.  In Kyle’s program, the first year is didactic and the second year is clinical rotations all over the country, so although we loved AZ, in May he finished year 1 and we were off to new adventures.  We packed up our car and headed for McAllen, TX for the summer.  McAllen is 10 miles north of the Mexican border, so needless to say it was a hot summer.  Then, just 3 months after setting up in McAllen, our rotation was up and we headed north for Lubbock, TX.  Brighton started 1^st grade there, Porter turned 4 there, and Graham started crawling there.  It was a nice place to live and grow but we knew after 3 months222, we were on our way to round 3 of rotations.  Our most recent move has taken us even further southeast to Florida.  Kyle just started his 3^rd rotation in Tampa and our family is loving the palm trees and sunny beaches.  Graham’s 1^st Birthday was celebrated with a fistful of sand and an ocean water-filled diaper, and he was on cloud nine.  I decided to homeschool Brighton for this rotation so we could enjoy our 3 months here to the fullest.  That means our days are filled with field trips to collect seashells and doing reports on animals we saw at Busch Gardens (Did I mention we live 20 minutes away from the amusement park? It’s amazing!).  So far we’re doing well in our new home but as we’ve found in the past year, time will go by too quickly and we’ll be moving on to our next stop in February (Which is Flagstaff, AZ.  After Flagstaff, one more rotation and then Kyle will be a graduated CRNA!  Woo hoo!).

            Although it has been fun to see all sorts of different parts of the U.S., there are aspects of this nomadic lifestyle that are very trying, especially with 3 kids in tow!  Luckily, we have been blessed with great friends along the way who have helped and supported us through this endeavor.  For that we are forever grateful. 

            We feel immensely blessed during this Christmas season for all of our family and friends across the country.  We hope that the Christmas spirit finds you happy and healthy this holiday season!  And have a fantastic 2013!

                                                Love,

                                                                                                            Danie, Kyle, Brighton, Porter, & Graham    

Graham is one!

Like I previously stated, Graham turned one!  Unfortunately we had to celebrate a few weeks late because we moved on his birthday.  But we love him and wanted to make his day a little special.  I made a little monster cake because he has become our little monster but we love him!  And he loved the cake!  Here are a few things that Graham can do and loves at age one:

-Walk (He took his first steps the day after his birthday and he's been trying to catch up with Brighton and Porter ever since!)

-Say Dad and Mom

-He is our biggest snuggler and loves to give hugs and kisses

-He is obsessed with his blankie!  He walks around with it over his head and can't see where he's going.  He runs into walls and what not, but he thinks it's hilarious!

-He's daddy's right hand man.  I don't know what he'd do without daddy!

-He still has the best dimples and blue eyes around and we love him! 

Art Fair Friday

Before I continue updating what's been going on these past few months, I had to post these pictures that Brighton colored in back in November.  Since she first began speaking, she's been all about modesty.  If there's a bikini or a tank top, she's like the police and the law has been broken.  Luckily, we've taught her how to use discretion over the years (There have been too many instances where a stranger has been offended by Brighton's comments about their apparel!).  So when she showed me these pictures I just had to giggle because even Brighton could find a way to make a disney princess more modest! 

   

 No more shoulders showing for Aurora!

Brighton was upset that they would give Ariel cleavage!  And honestly, I'm proud of her ability to notice these things and change them for the better!  Thanks sweets for teaching us that being modest is hottest!

November 2012

To say I've been slacking on the blog would be an understatement.  This traveling around the country every 3 months just caught up to me so I put our family journal on hold (and became best friends with instagram!) which was a bad idea because going through all these photos makes me realize how much I need to document the happenings of our fam!    So I figured in order to catch up on everything, I would break it down by month and start with November.  With the help of instagram, here's what's been going on:

Graham turned one!

We moved from Lubbock, TX to Tampa, FL (Now Kyle gets to live with US instead of a call room!)

We got to visit our close friends the Cummings in OK on the way to Florida

We discovered beaches!

Brighton started homeschool with me

Busch Gardens became our favorite hot spot

We wrote letters to Santa

Graham started walking and climbing on everything!

Packing/Moving is exhausting!

Happy Bday Graham!

We love the Cummings…and Krispy Kreme!

My sweets is such a trooper for manning the backseat on our 30 hour drive!

Welcome to Florida!

They love finding the creatures on the beach!  This is Hermione and Ron the hermit crabs

More beach time

       

Busch Gardens is the best place on earth!

'Dear Santa, I want a Brave Barbie doll for Christmas.  Love, Brighton'

 'Dear Santa, I want a rescue gun.  Love, Porter'

These two finally get to sleep in a real be instead of camp mattresses(Our Florida apartment is furnished!  Woo Hoo!) And this little man is getting into everything!

Okay, now that I'm semi-updated I will catch up on December soon! Or maybe even post some of the photo shoots of my kids I've been doing lately!  We'll see how ambitious I am!  But I promise I'm turning a new leaf!  Blogging world, I'm back!