Valentine's Day and President's Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day with PALS.  No good shots of both girls together, but here is one of Sam.

We did a craft with glitter.  Sam was gathering it, so I thought she could throw it up for a picture.  It is still in her hair!

Zoey did a silly head tilt.

We got to join Sally, Scott, Izzy and Charlie at the beach for president's day weekend.  It was a tad chilly, but the big kids loved the water.

The kids played so well.

We also hit the fair on our way home.

 We love the Olympics.  Sam drew this right after Nick watched a parody of Putin discussing that there were only 4 olympic rings and anyone who said differently was an enemy of the state.

Sam's birthday

I am behind again, so I will start the catch up process.

Here is Sam's birthday, after her party.

She got ready quickly and played a bit before school with the magna tiles from my cousin Linda.

A quick picture of the girls.

And just Sam.

I took cupcakes to her school.  They had peace rings on them, which the kids liked, but the hot pink icing from Sam's taste awful.  It was a disappointment.  Even Sam asked me to scrape off the icing.

She was thrilled with the attention.

 She opened presents.  A favorite was the American Girl Doll of the year, Isabelle, from Grammy and Poppi.  We also gave her ear piercing and some earrings.

 Birthday dinner was at Red Elephant.

Sam is also playing flag football and she had a combine to rank kids to be sure teams are pretty equal.  Her friend is also on her team and Nick is the assistant coach.

Zoey's best friend Nick is a big brother and the girls got to hold baby Rowan.

Zoey and I finally made Parksdale, but she had already gotten a cupcake, so we stuck with a milkshake not their famous shortcake.

My Cowgirls!

Sam originally wanted her party at the local pottery place, but they did not do parties, you had to pay a reduced studio fee and then at least $20 for a piece per person.  Since she wanted to invite the whole class, I said she would have to pick somewhere else.  So she picked R&R Ranch in Lithia, where we had been for a party before and gone back for a trail ride.  She was also willing to choose a charity to support in lieu of gifts. This year she chose kidpack (http://www.kidspack.org/), which I also organized as our chairty for the mom's club, which has allowed us to donate food, money and hands on time sorting food.

But on to the party itself.  The place had bunnies and chicks the kids loved.

And there was horse back riding!

Zoey was pretty much the only one willing to ride the miniature horse, so she got to loop about 10 times.

 It was windy.  Nick finally managed to light candles, but Sam blew them out before it was even set down.

We had snacks, including "oats".  Given that a classmate's 2 year old sibling sampled some and returned them, I did not want to put them back in the bag.  So the farm let us feed the goats and pigs.  That was a blast!

We had a great time celebrating an amazing girl!

Happy New Year!

Wow, it is 24 days into the new year and I am finally downloading pictures and updating the blog.  Sam's approaching birthday made me realize how behind I am.  Cannot believe she is less than a week from 6 years old!

The day after Nick's parents left, we went on a beach trip with our good friends the Woods.  I went to High School with Sally and college with Scott.  Scott and I are responsible for introducing each other to our spouses.  So when they come to FL, we jump at the chance to see them.  It was a wonderful trip and the kids played really well, especially Samantha and Isabelle.  The food was fabulous too!  A big thank you to them and Sally's parents for hosting us.

We were one of a select few people who got to spend New Years Eve on a beach.  Lucky us!  The water was a tad cold for me, but the kids had fun.

Sam the mermaid.

There was also a heated pool.

The hot tub was more my temperature.

And had the bonus of a rainbow view!

We ended our trip with a visit to the turtle center.

Not sure what Sam's deal was, but no smile from her :)

Sam also went to another skating party.  There have also been lots of playdates, including oens that introduced her to German and Russian.  We have a diverse mom's club.  We also did a charity drive and event with Kidpack, which provides food for kids to take on the weekends if they depend on school lunches and would have to do without.  It was a great experience other than Zoey getting bumped and falling on the hard floor.

And we squeezed in a trip to legoland.  Zoey was tall enough for the small rides.  Sam was mad she had to sit alone.

They let Sam drive the big kid cars since she was so close to 6.

And Zoey was close enough to 3 that they let her drive the little cars, but she did a horrible job, running into the curb all the time.  Even though she can drive our gator.

She finally got better on straight.  But thank goodness the worker was really patient.  :)

I talked Sam into beetle bounce.  They looked freaked out, but they asked to ride it a second time and swore they had fun.

The line for the big kid cars was too long, so she got one more little kid ride in.  They cut you off if you are 6.

And Zoey got to drive the boat again.

We plan to hit 2 more special events and then decide to renew or not.

So now on to the final details for Sam's party and birthday.  And then to plan Zoey's.  Yikes, holiday/birthday season is crazy.

Happy 2014!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas has come and gone, but we are still enjoying our decorations and gifts.

December was full of fun.  There were lots of events.

We went to a pancake breakfast fundraiser at a local nursing home.  The girls ate a ton, but Zoey was not sure of Santa.

My moms club had their annual Christmas Ball, it was gingerbread themed.

Zoey started out unsure, but when Santa gave her a gift...

She warmed a little bit.  In fact, the next day on our way to a playdate she asked if Santa was going to be there and was upset when I said no.  But the next Saturday, she saw him at another event and was unsure again, but did go close enough to chat and get a candy cane, but she kept calling it a candy can.

We went to Lights of Lakeland at a local church.  It is an elaborate event and we have enjoyed it every year we have lived here.

The North YMCA had a snow fest and pancake breakfast.  Sam has a blast playing in the fake snow.

Zoey refused to get in it and clung to my leg.

We got a new tree on black friday thanks to Nick staying up and getting to home depot at 4:30 in the morning.  But it is so pretty and has built in led lights that can be multi colored or white.

Both girls ended up a bit sick.  Sam had a lingering cough from after getting over hand, foot and mouth disease.  I finally took her in and she was diagnosed with a sinus infection and wheezing.  She had to have breathing treatments, antibiotics, and steroids.  So she did not get to go shopping with Nana, but still got to pick a few gifts to give.  Nana did take Zoey shopping.  Of course, she told me what I was going to get from her  :)  Zoey just ended up with a bit of a cold/allergies and was a snot factory, but still seemed to feel okay, if just a little more tired than usual.

So on to the gifts!

We did Nana and Papa's gifts first.  A great haul!

Zoey was so funny.  After every gift, she would exclaim, "I love it! I love it! I love it!" Often she would even jump up and down.  This behavior reminds me of Sam at about this age, she would say it was just what she wanted, including one time when she followed with what is it.  Such sweet girls!

Sam's big gift from them was her new digital piano.  Nick had to stay up and went and bought our new tree and this piano on black friday.  It is a nice one and Sam sounds much better than on the cheap kids keyboard.

I got great gifts too, including this napkin holder from Zoey.  Such a surprise!

Nick got a nice folding table and of course cashews, his favorite.

Nick made a sign for my parents.  I saw this on pinterest and it was perfect timing to make it this year.  My girls slept in the same crib Chip and I did.  For Sam, my dad added extra bars to meet the standards.  For Zoey, we had to prevent it from being a drop side.  All of the modifications were making it a bit unstable, especially when we added the crib tent.  So we decided it was time to let it go.  So Nick used it to make the sign.  

Christmas eve we let the girls open gifts from our good friends the Pabons, the legos were a bit hit.

We scattered reindeer food we had made at an event.

Nick also did a nightly light show.

You can see a clip at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1wD9q_fwDQ&feature=youtu.be
It is a bit long, so you can skip ahead to 1:45 if you want faster action.

Christmas morning was such fun.  Sam was so excited.  Here she is with her stocking stuff.

After Sam opened her gift from Zoey, a small cat that meows.

Sam made this at school.

 So many gifts!  Mama went overboard.

Zoey was a riot.  She got a talking doc mcstuffins from Santa and then it was an insurmountable task to get her to open any more.  She opened a present here and there and finally got through them all, but it was about 3 pm when she finally did.  She loved her first gift, so I guess she knew it was not going to get any better.

Nick also made me a frame and made his dad a checkerboard set in ND colors.

The Kellings flew in on Christmas evening, so we have had a great few days eating and watching football and playing with them.

We also got Poppi a signed Tommy Rees photo.

Sam playing with a gift from Grammy.

Grammy has read countless books to the girls.

I hope everyone (who celebrates) had a wonderful Christmas and has an amazing new year.  I hope 2014 is full of great things!  Happy holidays from the Southern Kellings!