Tap & Ballet & Tumbling - Oh My!

Since the gymnastics class didn't work out so well in the Spring, we searched high and low for something for Sophia to participate in. We finally found a winner at Contempo School of Dance where she goes one hour a week for a "combo" class which includes tap, ballet, and tumbling. One of the high-lights of Mamma's week is taking her to class and peeking at that sweet little face through the window as she has what seems to be the time of her life!

Back to School

Lucas and Sophia are both attending St. James UM Preschool and Kindergarden. Sophia is the the 3 year old program and Lucas is in VPK (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarden) We love the school and they are both doing great. Here they are on their first day of school!

Finishing up the Summer in Venezuela

We finished off our summer with a two-week trip to visit Daddy's family in Venezuela. I have to admit that it was a very long trip for all of us (including Daddy) but as always, it made us appreciate what we have. The kids handled the trip much better than Mamma and Daddy and they seemed to have a great time hanging out with their cousins. Miguel is trying to teach the kids Spanish and they understand quite a bit but they almost always respond in English. Although the kids don't speak the same language, the developed some very tender friendships.

Fun in the FL Sun w/ Friends

What a fun summer we had! Mamma wasn't working so spent the whole summer hanging with the kids and their friends. We had weekly playdates at the pool, the beach, bowling, a firestation tour, ice cream shop tour, the Florida Aquarium, Tampa Bay Rays baseball, and much, much more. The best thing about FL is the great friends we've made here!!!

Just Keep Swimming

Everywhere you look in FL there's water - ponds everywhere (including our back yard), pools at almost every house we visit, the beach/ocean, so when summer came, it was time for the kids to learn to swim. They were hesitant at first but within less than 8 weeks, they were swimming like little fishes.

Sophia Gymnastics (April/May 2009)

Sophia had been so patient with her brother's activities (soccer and t-ball) and wanted to try something on her own. She started a gymnastics class at one of the local rec centers and while she loved it, Mom didn't care too much for the facility or the instructors so it didn't last long. She sure loved it and was the cutest little gymnast out there!

Sophia's 3rd Birthday at The Magic Kingdom

I know it's hard to believe since we only live an hour from Disney World, but our first visit to The Happpiest Place on Earth came after we had lived here for over 2 years. The look on Sophia's face was priceless when she first caught a glimps of Cinderella's Castle!

The highlight of the day was the visit to Ariel's Grotto. Her face doesn't show it in this pic but this was the only thing she really wanted to do all day - Ariel and ice cream...

2009 Spring T-Ball - Go Phillies!

Shortly after soccer ended last spring, then t-ball began. Lucas was on the Phillies team in the New Tampa Little League (NTLL). He loved playing and I think he got "the bug for baseball"!

Lucas (far right) with his best friends - (L to R) Ethan, Tyler, Connor

Lucas Soccer Pics

Lucas only has one soccer game left for this season and we got his soccer pics yesterday. They turned out much better than I thought they would because it was a little cold that day (as you can tell from his red cheeks). We have had a really fun time this season and I'm a little sorry to see it coming to an end. But he will be starting t-ball in a few weeks and we're looking forward to that!

This weekend Sophia will be turning 3 and "we're going to Disney World!"

Alligators and Snakes and Spiders, Oh My!

The kids got to experience something really cool this week. The local shopping center, The Shops at Wiregrass, has a Kids Club where they have interesting activities for the kids each Wednesday. This week, it was the reptile guy. He had a lot of really interesting creatures including a 10-foot boa constrictor, a small alligator, lizards, a huge tarantula, and lots of other creepy, crawly things. The best part was that it was a "hands-on" exhibit. For those of you who know Miguel will know that he wasn't thrilled about this particular activity but the kids and I thought it was lots of fun. I have to say, though, that it was hard for me to get over my own fears in order to let the kids participate. The surprising part for me was that Sophia was a much more willing participant than Lucas.

Sophia with an Australian Tree Frog

Petting the baby alligator

10-foot Red Tailed Boa

The children's dept. at Macy's will never be the same

Sophia, the spider whisperer...

Happy 2009!

Well, it seems that I am only capable of updating this blog about once a month or so. I think about it always but then the time gets away from me then I realize that another week and another month has past. That's pretty symbolic of a lot of things in our lives, I guess.

We had a rather uneventful Christmas as we just stayed close to home and did our family celebration right here. The kids had a great time and Santa was very good to them - probably too good. We did spend some time with Uncle Owen (my brother) and his family in Gainesville a couple of days after Christmas. A good time was had by all. The kids played is his big yard that had lots of leaves for them to throw and roll around in.

We brought in the new year at our neighbor's house with a handful of families from our neighborhood. We put the kids in the bedroom with a movie and some popcorn while the adults shared in New Year cheer. The kids are all friends and play together regularly so they had a great time. They both stayed up to bring in the new year with us but Sophia got really grumpy at about 11:45. I figured she'd made it that far, I certainly wasn't going to put her to bed then! No matter how tired she was the night before, it didn't stop her from getting up at her usual time of 6:30 a.m. You'd think that if you keep a kid up for 4 hours past her bedtime that she would sleep in a little in the morning. We had no such luck.

Lucas is loving soccer and is really great at it. And I'm not just saying that because I'm the Mom. Some of the parents from the competing team stopped me after the game last week and were falling all over themselves at how fast he is and how well he handles the ball for such a little boy. I promise that one of these days I'll get some video posted.

Miguel and I celebrated our 7-year wedding anniversary earlier this week. I'm still having a hard time believing it's been that long! We got a sitter for the day but ended up not really doing too much because we ran some errands and did some shopping then before we new it, our time was almost up. We had planned to go to a movie or something along those lines but because the time went so fast, we just went out for an early dinner and called it a day. I had quite a bad cold anyway so I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. I was happy to come home and sleep!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past month:

My precious little Oreo-faces.

Lucas - the littlest rock star

This is what happens when you let your almost-3-year-old dress herself


Mmmm - Christmas Cookies!



Sophia wasn't too fond of decorating the cookies but she sure loved eating them


Lucas took the cookie decorating VERY seriously

Lucas & Sophia with Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree

Lucas & Sophia at the Christmas Tree Farm