What a great weekend!!

Thursday - Turkey Day!!
We had a great day with lots of relaxing and cooking and eating!! We had lots to be thankful for - not only did we have Victoria home, but my mom and dad were both with us for chow!! I so love the smell of turkey baking for hours!! :)


Danny "helping" Grampy with the turkey :)


Victoria snacking while we get the turkey ready!


A Victoria kissing sandwich!


The most amazing Ukrainian dessert made by Julia!! It was scrumtious!!


Victoria playing with Sasha! They got along so well, Sasha almost got her to sleep!

Friday was a kick back and relax kind of day! We swam, ate and headed out to Fort Myers Beach to have a drink and watch the sunset! We then headed out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen at the mall - great time!!


Good Morning my Grampy :) (Poor baby is teething again! I was up from 3:30 to 5)


This adorable blue sweater was hand made by a friend of my dad's who had heard about our journey. Beautiful!!


Danny riding the wave!


Our two chillens!! Having a ball at the beach!


Victoria eating a pretzel with a little bit of sand and shells :)

Saturday was boat day! We spent the day on the river - so much fun :)


Victoria helping Grampy steer!


Boating can be very tiring! The others had all gone for a little dinghy ride to check out the lock and talk to the lock master.


Grammy entertaining Danny while Grampy make a thimble for us on our boat lines :)


Family photo on our boat anchored by the Franklin lock in the Caloosahatchee River.


Victoria playing with Grampy's hat :)


I love this picture of my dad with the kids! They were watching Frosty! ssshhh, don't tell my dad that it is connected to christmas :)

It is very fitting that we spent Thanksgiving with my dad and step-mom as they were with us one year ago on our first visit trip to Guatemala and we had Thanksgiving dinner at the Radisson! I can not believe it has been a whole year that Victoria has been in our lives :)
Nana leaves tomorrow to move to Jacksonville and Victoria and I are going with her to help her get settled in. Dan and Danny will join us later this week and we will drive home next weekend. I hope the weather is really nice :)
Poor Danny was very sad tonight, Grampy and Grammy went home and Nana is leaving :( He was sound asleep at 7:30!

We have company!!

Danny is beside himself as his Grampy and Grammy are here!! Waiting for them to arrive was a long painful wait! The best part is that they are from Massachusetts so they couldn't wait to go swimming with him!! :)



Victoria hangs with Grampy!


Chillin in the spa (which was 86 degrees)


Swimming with Grammy!


Swimming with Grampy!

Remembering one year ago...

Hard to believe it has been one year today since we first set sight on this precious little girl that is our daughter!!

Very Busy Weekend!

Friday night - Fall Fest at Danny's school
Free admission put on by the PTO, lots of fun games and food. Adults and kids singing and dancing too! Nothing better than hot chili and hot dogs on a cold night!


Little missy all bundled up - it was COLD! This is her funny face that she makes all the time, usually accompanied by snorting :)


Gotta get the face painted!


Danny going down the slide!



Saturday - Aviation Day at Page Field, sponsored by Lee County Port Authority. Free admission and lots of planes, helicopters and experimental craft. We ate cheese burgers and danny and nana had corndogs! It warmed up to the 70's :)



checking out the planes!


Beautiful boy in the bounce house!


Jay Jay singing and dancing!


Absolutely fascinated by Jay Jay!

Sunday - Taste of Bonita! great event run by the rotary club, over 20 restaurants with food to sample! Free admission and lots of people. We ate chicken fingers, mini burgers and cold beer!


Band playing great music while we munched and drank!


Danny riding in the train, but not very happy about it once he realized it went around the whole park and we did not go with him :(


Victoria playing with her shoes - who needs them on their feet, they work really good at pushing the dirt around :)



Nana tries to do the crossword puzzle with many interruptions :)
Both kids were great all weekend, but by sunday afternoon Danny just melted down. Too much stimulation piled up on him and he was completely out of control. He finally calmed down at dinner time, after many time outs :(

My new haircut and chair!!

Peek a boo!
My bangs really are straight - when wet :)


Like my new chair?? I don't like to SIT on it :)


Ok - I am ready to get down now :)


Running my fingers through my new do at the same time I am playing Elmo on mommy's computer!! :)

Big Day!!

This picture is for my big sister! Victoria is wearing a hand me down from my niece (who is now 16!!) Victoria is showing her new talent - blowing kisses!!

Little missy had her first official haircut today!! At the salon!
I have not taken any photos yet, but will post as soon as I do.
She cried the whole time, but stayed still enough. She looks so cute and of course had everyone at the salon gaga over her :)
An update:
at her 13 month appt she weighed 22 pounds!! She is saying mama, dada, nana, bye, doggie, danny and oh oh.
She has learned to stick her finger in her nose and loves to do it when there is food on it! She has started blowing kisses and giving rasberries. She will rub her hand down your face when you say gentle.
Victoria loves to fake cough and really loves to fake sneeze. She really cracks herself and us up all the time! She is a real flirt :) she is such a happy baby!

Some Cool Weather :)

Victoria was able to wear this adorable turtle neck and poncho set that she got from Grammy!! The weather has been low 70's and sunny. We love this time of year, we have all the windows and doors open and we get a great cross breeze.
We spent Saturday at the Ft. Myers boat show, we love to look at the big boats and all the knicknacks. Of course the sausage, onion and pepper sandwich and cold beer is a big draw too!!

Victoria has her 8th tooth out! I don't know how much time we get before she starts getting more?? Are we free till her 2 yr molars?? (please...)
She slept through the night finally again, but of course Danny woke me up with his feet hurting at midnight, think it is growing pains :(
She is wanting to hold on and walk with anything she can.
My mom has officially sold her townhouse, the contingencies have been removed and she will close the end of the month. Victoria and I will head up to Jax to help her move and then Dan and Danny will join us for the weekend before we come home again. It will give us a chance to look at more areas around Jax. At least we will have someplace to stay for free when the time comes and our house sells.
We buried a St. Joseph statue in our yard and said a prayer to him to help us sell our house. Things has started to pick up around this area so we are hopeful for this winter!! (we have also lowered our asking price by ALOT)
Victoria is really coming out of her shell, she is not as afraid of other people (as long as mommy or daddy is nearby)and will crawl around at the playground, smile at other people and even let them hold her if we are near.
Everyone comments about her hair and her big brown eyes.
I had a waitress ask us the other night where she got her hair from and without even blinking or thinking I said Dan of course! she took a long look at Dan (and his receding hair line) smiled and just walked away :) :0 :) lol

getting closer!!

The easy way to feed a toddler!

Just give her an open bag of KIX cereal and let her play with it! She thought this was GREAT!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little sister Carla and my favorite Dad!!
Happy Birthday, one day late, to my beautiful step-daughter Tracy!!

Today it cooled down to the low 70's :) so we had our first fire and the kids were mesmerized!

Apples, Goof, oh my!

This feels so good on my gums!


Mommy, this apple is yummy!!


What a goofball! :)


"Walking" the chair across the room in my cute skort!

Tooth #7 has broken through - top to the right of the front teeth, and tooth #8 is very close - bottom to the left of the front teeth!!

Yah! Amazing Race starts tonight!! finally something good to watch! :)

Favorite Photo Friday

I just LOVE this picture!!
It was taken just the other day.
Dan and Victoria were watching some guys trim palm trees across the street.
So cute! :) :)