2013 Howdy

Reflecting on 2012, it was quite a busy year for the Silers.

January - Had high hopes yet another year watching the Ravens in the playoffs. Alas, it wasn't meant to be and we were eliminated after a particularly horrible kick by Billy Cundiff.

February - We sold our house (while we were visiting Florida, ironically enough).

March - Pack, pack, pack! Finally met Megan M. Egan!


April - Said many tearful goodbyes and hopped the Auto Train on the 23rd.

May - Lived with Mom-Mom SuSu & PopPop Bill while house hunting and exploring our new town.

June - Continued house hunting, exploring, beaching.

July - Found the house! Moved in July 20th, the same day we had to say goodbye to Great Mom-Mom Isabelle.

August - Unpacking and turning the new house into our new home.

September - Had our first visitors when Jeff, Jaime, Utaw, and Kora cook came to Florida. Then we traveled home to Maryland for a long visit, saw lots of people but didn't get to see everyone. Isabelle started her first Ballet/Tap combo class and loves it! She is signed up for the Spring session already which starts next week.

October - Fun Fall Festivals around town. Jen took a boot camp. Izzi got to wear four different Halloween costumes because of all the festivities (cowgirl, superwoman, punk rocker, snow white).

November - Izzi turned FIVE! And we had our regularly scheduled Puerto Rico vacation. This year we got to go for a hike in El Yunque Rainforest and we also went zip lining! Izzi was too young this time but in a few years!

December - We bought a ridiculously HUGE tree (11 feet!!!) just because we could. We've always had such a small house with low ceilings so we had to stick with small trees all these years. This year we went BIG and BOLD and it was beautfiul. We had a very Merry and relaxed Christmas this year, despite the horrific news in Newtown, Connecticut. It made us hyper-aware of our abundant blessings.

We had a very blessed 2012 with many good fortunes and happy memories. One can only hope for the same in 2013 -- Health, happiness, and hope to all for a very happy new year.

Hearts, Flowers, and Butterfly Love

Yesterday when I was wrapping Christmas presents, in the same somber mood that many Americans are carrying around this week, I couldn’t help wondering how many years I would get to play Santa. My heart sank thinking of the day that some punk on the playground or school bus would provide the irrefutable evidence that shattered Isabelle’s Christmas miracle.

A few hours later, after she and I had blazed through six glue sticks, 150 foam stickers, and 26 brightly-hued poster boards creating our 26 Letters of Love to Newtown, I realized an even sadder day was on the horizon…the one when she finds out that the world is not all butterflies, hearts, and flowers.

I wish I could see the world through 5-year-old-colored glasses, even to just get through the holidays.

Snowfest

Last night we went to the Snowfest in Safety Harbor (the town where we wanted to originally buy a house when we moved here). It never snowed in Maryland last winter so this was going to be Izzi's first snow play in two years.

Too bad it was completely lame. The snow was very real, it looked and felt like we could have had an apocaplyptic weather event in Tampa with actual snowfall. But they didn't make nearly enough of it.

We got there shortly after 5pm and there were already bare spots on the sledding hill. (The event ran 4-9pm). The Florida-born kids were all whining that it was too cold and wet. Really? I know most of them have never seen or touched snow before but if you're going to whine about it, then get out of the way and let US play in it!

We went to the Snowfest with our friends Carl and Mason. Mason and Izzi only got one trip down the sledding hill because the line took almost an hour to wait in. They only had 3 sledding tracks and the attendants were eagerly trying to fill in the bare spots and replace the divot from the virgin sledders who were digging their feet into the ground the entire trip down the small hill.

I'm glad we took the kids over. They also go to go down a huge inflatable slide (30 minute wait) and one bouncey house (20 minute wait). After that, we were done and had to leave. There was 2 more hours of festival time left but we were spent trying to wait in line.

The night wasn't a total loss. We all took one car so when we got back to our house, we found out that Santa was running late. Our neighborhood was last so we got to hang in the driveway for a bit with the Wilson's and saw Santa and his entourage pass by our house. We got about 100 strands of Mardi Gras type beads. We donated one unwrapped toy. And we got to wave to Santa. Does that count for this season or do I still have to go wait in line at the Mall?

Whizzle Me This

Izzi went over to Mom-Mom SuSu's house on Sunday to hang out for a few hours after lunch. The Ravens weren't playing until 4:30, we had friends coming over around 3 for the game but we wanted to get a few things done around the house and we had just returned from our Puerto Rico trip so Mom-Mom needed to see her Izzi.

We finished unpacking the suitcases and got our Christmas decoration bins out so we could decorate throughout the week. I opened all the bins so I could find Whizzle, our Elf on the Shelf. Geega bought EonS for Izzi three years ago and Izzi named him Whizzle. Not sure where that came from but we liked it and it stuck.

Whizzle has brought so much fun during the month of December the past few years. So when I got him out this year, I placed him up on her curtain rod in her bedroom, and planned to wait for her to find him (not point him out).

Mom-Mom dropped Izzi off around 3:30 that afternoon and as soon as she walked into her room she started screammming in excitement. She could barely talk she was so excited.

Mommy! Mommy! WHIZZLE IS BACK!!!! He found us in FLORIDA! Now I just KNOW Christmas is gonna be here soon.

Ed & I have been very good this year moving him around. We take turns so even I'm excited when I find Whizzle hiding somewhere.

Christmas 2012 Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

You'll love award-winning Shutterfly photo books. Start your own today.

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…