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…

Gen Digital?

I'm not sure what our kid's generation will be labeled when they get out of school and start looking for jobs. It seems every 10 years or so produces a new label. This one will likely have something to do with the digitial reliance, social media, connectedness we all share.

We were saying goodbye to the last group of friends in Maryland yesterday. Five-year-old Clare was giving goodbye hugs to almost-five-year-old Izzi. Clare informed me that she got Izzi's picture in the mail. (I had totally forgotten that we had mailed one, so it was cute that she remembered to say something.) Here is how that conversation went:

Clare: I got Izzi’s picture she sent in the mail.

Jen: Oh, Good! Did you like it?

Clare: Yes! I loved it.

Jen: Well, you and Izzi will be reading and writing really soon so you can start mailing letters back and forth to each other. It's called penpals!

Clare: OR, you could just set up a video chat...

(Well, DUH, Miss Jen, why didn’t YOU think of that!)

No Sleep Til Baltimore

Warning: This is a long boring read just to document our trip back to Maryland. No real funny or interesting tidbits in here, so don’t commit to the long read if you are expecting entertainment :)


We had a whirlwind visit in Maryland last week. Isabelle and I arrived on Friday night (September 21st). We stayed with Aunt Kim, Uncle Chris and Cousins Ronan and Brooklyn for four nights. We hung at Geega’s house Saturday and Sunday during the day to see Uncle Sean, Aunt Jenny, and Cousin Megan, but spent the night with Aunt Kim.

I watched the Ravens game on Sunday night with Aunt Kim, the kids had to go to bed since it was a late game.

On Monday and Tuesday, Grandpa came to Aunt Kim's house to play with Izzi while I worked. On Monday night, we went to visit Miss Theresa and her daughter, Katie. Isabelle and Katie dressed up like rockstars and other strange creatures and ran around the house like banshees.

On Tuesday night we drove to Miss Kim’s (Morrison) house and stayed with her, Mister Zac, and her sons Will and Max. Izzi played with their dog, Jake, all day on Wednesday. He followed her everywhere she went. Miss Kim and I had to work all day.

After work, we went shopping in Hunt Valley since Mommy was trying to find a new Ravens jersey. Hers still says #86 for Todd Heap but he plays for another team now, and there is a new #86 on the Ravens roster. Mommy wasn’t having any luck so we said goodbye to Miss Kim and her boys and started to drive to Mommy’s friend, Miss Nicki's house. Miss Nicki has THREE girls, so they have tons of fun toys and Izzi had so much fun.

They only got to play for a little bit on Wednesday night because those girls had school the next day. But Iz stayed up late with Mommy and watched the Orioles play. On Thursday, Iz woke up with a really sore foot. She got a big splinter and it was hurting when she walked. So Mommy took her to the clinic and the Doctor tried to get it out but she didn’t have any luck. She gave us a referral to go to a Hospital but we decided to let it try to work itself out instead.

After the clinic we met Uncle Don and Grandpa for lunch in Fells Point at a place called Kooper’s Tavern. The sign has a big yellow dog on it but we didn’t see any dogs inside. I got ice cream afterwards which is my favorite special treat.

After lunch we had to race to the airport to pick up Daddy. It was SO GOOD to see him after six whole days without him! We hung out with Daddy in Federal Hill for about two hours and then Daddy went to meet some friends and Mommy and I drove back to Miss Nicki’s house to wait for Sienna, Naomi, and Paige. When they got home from school we played, played, played! The babysitter showed up at 5:30 and Izzi had the most fun with her (Miss Alyssa). Iz was sound asleep by the time Mommy and Daddy got home from the game. The Ravens won but it rained really hard that night so Mommy and Daddy only saw part of the game from the stadium. They had to race for cover and watch the last half on TV.

On Friday, we woke up and drove out to Geega’s house. Geega ended up having to work so we stopped by a special Ravens store to buy lots of purple Ravens gear. Then we went to lunch. Then we drove to the card store where Geega works with Baba at the Mall to say goodbye. Then we drove to Geega’s house to see Uncle Don. We did get to see Geega again for a little while. Then we drove downtown to see Uncle Eric and Aunt Mellisa. We went to a restaurant for Happy Hour, I mostly scribbled in my coloring book.We had a Pajama Dance Party and spent the night.

On Friday morning, Izzi ate two HUGE cinnamon buns that Uncle Eric cooked. Then we went to lunch with Grandpa one last time at Nick’s Seafood. Then Grandpa dropped us back at Uncle Eric’s. We walked up to Federal Hill to look out at the city. Then we walked down to the Inner Harbor and bought some new Orioles gear. We walked around there for a bit waiting for a text message from Uncle Don and walked over to meet him at Pickle’s Pub which is across the street from Camden Yards where the Orioles were playing that night. Uncle Don was going to the game with his friend, Mister Jamie, because it was “Brooks Robinson Night” at the Yard. Uncle Don was pretty excited. The Orioles won that night too.

The Orioles went on to clinch a playoff spot just a few days later (Sunday, September 30th) when the Angels lost a night game. We had won, Yankees had lost, and a few other special things happened to allow the Orioles a playoff spot. We don’t know which spot, where, or when yet but Mommy & Daddy seem pretty excited about it.

On Saturday afternoon, we said our last goodbyes to Uncle Don and drove to Edgewater to see our old friends and neighbors. We stayed with Aunt Jaime, Uncle Jeff, Kora and Utaw. We had so much fun. The Ridgeways, Healeys, and Brookmans also came over. We had a bonfire with s’mores and plain roasted marshmallows. On Sunday we went to the Healey’s house for steamed crabs and football, baseball, and Ryder Cup. We had to leave there around 6pm and go to the airport. We didn’t get home until about 1am and boy were we tired!

All that running around, with very little rest, and we still didn’t get to see everyone. Hoping we can get back to MD often so we can fit everyone in over several visits. It was great seeing everyone, the hospitality was amazing and we can’t wait to return the favor. We have had one family officially visit so far, can’t wait to host more.