Christmas 2012 Photo Book

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Every year we take the best of the year's pictures of Isabelle and create a Shutterfly photo book. Some years were a little longer than others (maximum of 100 pages). This year's book was a little shorter. We've been really BAD about taking pictures since we moved to Florida. I feel a New Year's Resolution brewing!

Typically we begin and end the book with fabulous Puerto Rico pictures but this year we got a 40% discount if we ordered by today. We go to PR NEXT week so this year's book has no PR pics. We might print a whole book just for PR this year :)))

Enjoy!

50 Shades of Gray

Dear Baby Girl,

President Barack Obama was re-elected yesterday and will serve as President of the United States for another four years to a very divided country. The country was split in half for Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. It has been a long, hard fight and unfortunately today, there are a lot of people who are upset with America’s choice. Some people are getting very ugly with their words and using harsh language towards those who voted to re-elect the President.

The wonderful thing for us is that we live in a country where we can safely go to the polls on Election Day and voice our opinion by voting for the person we think is better prepared to lead our country for the next four years. The sad thing is, there is no such thing as a perfect candidate. And there never will be. Unfortunately, we sometimes have to vote for who we think is the lesser evil, and not necessarily who we think is the better candidate.

Voting for any one candidate does not mean that you have to believe everything that person stands for. You do not have to agree with every policy, every stance, and every point of view. You also do not have to agree with every viewpoint of any one political party. Please don’t vote the way I vote just because I’m your Mom. I don’t want you to vote how Daddy votes, just because you love him.

No candidate will ever have all the right answers for you. Your future candidate choices may win or lose, but it’s important that both sides respect one another and work together across the aisle for real change to happen. If more people could understand that, the more tolerant this country could become.

So find yourself, find your issues, speak your mind, and expect to meet criticism for your views. The thing is, issues are not black or white…they just aren’t. There are many shades of gray and it’s up to you to determine which issues put a fire in your belly, and which shade of gray sits well in your heart.

God Bless you, baby girl. And God Bless America. ‘Cuz we need it…

Fast and Furious

November 4th already, where does the time go? We whizzed through October so fast, I never even got a chance to post updates. After we got home from Maryland, Mom-Mom SuSu and Pop-Pop Bill headed out of town to visit Maryland themselves. They were up there for 3 weeks so we didn’t see them almost all of October!

We did get to go to the beach one Saturday (Mommy says it’s “just because we can”). It was warm and sunny with a cool breeze, it was perfection. We hit North Beach in Clearwater which has a lot less tourists and easier parking. There are 2 great restaurants up there – Palm Pavilion and Frenchy’s – which are both great beachfront casual places that have great food.

Mommy did an exercise boot camp this month, it was only for 3 weeks to get her motivated. We had to wake up really early for school so she could get there in time.

The third weekend of the month we got to go to Oktoberfest at Tampa Bay Downs which is the horse racetrack right down the street from our house. It was so fun, Mommy bought me a special bracelet that let me ride the rides all day long as many times as I wanted. Daddy had to work until 2 so Mommy and I did the rides while we waited for Daddy. Then we listened to some music and ate some festival food. It was a fun “Fall” day (even though it was 85 degrees).

Then last week Mom-Mom came home and I got to have a sleepover there! Mommy and Daddy had their 12th anniversary weekend in St. Pete Beach at the Guy Harvey Outpost while Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and me played, played, played! I love having sleepovers there. I’m such a lucky girl to have a Mom-Mom who lives so close.

 This week was Halloween and we had so much fun. I got to go to a Halloween trick-or-treat event at the Westchase Park Village (I was Snow White). Then I got to wear a costume to my Ballet Class on Monday (I was Supergirl). Then I got to dress up for my Halloween Party at school (I was a cowgirl) and lastly, for Halloween night, we walked around with neighbors from our street and I got a TON OF CANDY! I can’t eat anything chewy though (Dentist’s orders) so I gave all the chewy stuff to Daddy to take to work and I kept the chocolate and crunchy stuff.

I was going to be Belle for Halloween night but then I saw my neighbor, Paige, outside and she was dressed up in a big girl costume so I decided at the last minute to be a rockstar princess instead. Mommy helped me get stuff out of my dress-up bin and we put my hair into funny ponytails. Being a princess is for babies, I’m almost five now, so I’m a big girl. Watch out world, here I come…