September Disney Trip and Halloween 2010

Viewers Beware!!!

In this post, you will find pictures from Halloween and our September Disney trip.

We went to Disney and camped at Fort Wilderness. We used our Disney Give-A-Day Get-A-Day volunteer voucher. We arrived Thursday and left Saturday morning instead of Sunday due to Mom getting sick. Overall, the girls had fun at Magic Kingdom Friday and the campfire sing a long that night. Rayghen enjoyed it the most. In the past, she has always been the baby being pushed around in the stroller. This trip was worth seeing the excitement in her eyes.

My plan was to not purchase any Halloween costumes this year and to make the girls wear their dress up clothes instead. I bought this Pirate costume for Rayghen after Halloween last year for $2.00. She loved it until she went to school and all of the other girls were in their Princess stuff. Needless to say, on Halloween night, she went as Belle (one of those dress up clothes which is a real costume). Mary was supposed to be a Princess as well but one day we went throught Party City to pick up something and she fell in love with a Dorothy costume. I tried to stick to my guns and say "no" but she tried it on and when you see the pictures, you'll see what I mean-too cute!! So my goal of being frugal didn't work so well-pirate boots $15, fishnet stockings for Rayghen $5, sword $5, Dorothy shoes $15, Dorothy costume $10,

pictures of them-PRICELESS! Hope you enjoy.

Mary's Pre-K Graduation June 2010

It's hard to believe that Mary is about to start Kindergarten. Bill's niece, Melissa, graduated from high school two days after Mary's PreK graduation. As soon as Melissa graduated, she moved to Florida, started looking for a job, and getting ready to go to college. Mary asked Bill one day before graduation, "Dad, after I graduate from preschool, do I have to get a job?" He said, "Yes you do honey."

Hammock Beach Resort Summer 2010

We were lucky enough to get another good deal on a short summer vacation again this year. This year, we stayed 4 days and 3 nights at the Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, FL. This was the ultimate vacation for kids on the beach. There was a family pool in which a circular 3-story slide emptied into, an adult pool, a toddler pool that sand went up to, and an indoor pool which was nice when the ran came or when we had too much sun. The resort was right on the beach. The last night, we went on the beach to look for shells. Bill found a live starfish on one of the rocks. The girls were so excited. Mary carried it around in a bucket looking for kids to show it off to. Last year, Mary was scared of the beach. This year, she loved it. She wasn't afraid at all. Rayghen was still scared. She was afraid of the waves. She even yelled at Mary for going in the water because she was scared the waves would take Mary away (I guess they do love each other after all). When Rayghen viewed the beach pictures, she told me she was afraid of the water because there were alligators in it (she pointed to the rocks in the water). Click on the picture of the girls to view our vacation pictures. Hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed our time there.

Easter 2010

This past Easter wasn't the best Easter we've had. We couldn't go to church on Easter Sunday because Mary had a virus and was throwing up the night before. You'll see some of the pictures where she's just laying down on the couch. She didn't even care about the stuff that the Easter bunny had left her. On Monday, we did get our girls together with their cousin, Riley, and they had a small egg hunt at Mom and Dad's. Needless to say, that wore Mary out. We're hoping for a better Easter next year.

Mary Rocks Out on her 5th Birthday

After changing her mind many times, Mary finally decided she wanted a Hannah Montana birthday party. We held it at our house and we rented an inflatable slide for the kids (I mean adults) to enjoy. Word of caution, if you're 5'8" like myself, when you slide down an inflatable slide, make sure you lift your head at the bottom or else you lips will wrap around your body. I'm not sure who enjoyed themselves the most on the slide, the adults or the kids. One of the highlights of the party was my cousin Darren showing up. He was stationed in Belgium and surprised us and a nice surprise it was. Thanks little Cousin for protecting our country and thank you to everyone who came out to Mary's birthday party and helped make it a special day for her. Click on the picture to view other party photos. On Mary's actual birthday, her friend, Bay, spent the night and we took them to the park in St. Augustine (which are the pictures at the beginning).

Rayghen Celebrates Her 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Rayghen's 3rd birthday with a Nemo themed birthday party in our church gymnasium. The party was supposed to be at our house but we had a lot of rain the night before. We even moved the Nemo inflatable bounce house inside our gymnasium. Mom and I made and decorated Rayghen's birthday cake. It was 3 round tiers with Finding Nemo figurines accenting all around. It was the best job I've ever done decorating. My Mom made the icing and covered the layers. I was in charge of all the fine details. No, I'm not for hire. That is the most time-consuming thing and it would surprise you to know that we spent all afternoon on it. My daughters are the only lucky ones who I spend that much time on decorating cakes for.
Click on my Nemo masterpiece for more pictures of Rayghen's party.

Christmas 2009

We started out the Christmas season with a trip to Disney World (of course). We stayed home the rest of the Christmas break. Santa Claus brought Mary and Rayghen a new bicycle for Christmas (click on the picture of them to see all of our pictures from Christmas). There's a lot of pictures from Christmas. The pictures are in descending order so you'll see the girls opening presents first, then you'll see them on stage at Middleburg High School for their Christmas play and the Disney Christmas pictures are at the end. Hope you enjoy.