Sydney's 6th Birthday (and yes, it was two months ago)

Sydney celebrated her birthday with family and friends. Since her favorite place in the world right now is Build-A-Bear, we took her and a few friends there.

Justin has been one of Sydney's best friend since moving here. They are in the same Kindergarten class and both go to daycare together.

Everyone singing to the birthday girl.

Even the boys took the task of building their new animal very seriously.

Mom and Sydney inspecting the new bunny.

Justin, Sydney, Kelly, Savannah

Dresden, Collin and Logan

Cruise Pics

Some pictures from the cruise:

One late night, the kids weren't tired so we took them to the ship's bathrobe party. Collin was selected to be our team capitain (red team) so we spent the next two hours dancing and singing and doing the congo line all over the ship. People on our team danced with Collin, gave him high-fives, hoisted him on their shoulders, pretty much made him feel like a celebrity. Our team ended up winning the competition and Collin got a trophy. He was so proud! The blue team capitain also got a trophy which she decided to give Sydney. For the rest of the cruise, people we didn't know would come up to the kids and say "Hi Collin and Sydney".

In Cozumel. We rented a car and drove around the island. We found some awesome and secluded beaches and spent the afternoon playing in the sand and ocean.

Isla Roatan, Honduras: We went to Gumbalimba park. The highlight for us was seeing the monkeys and birds. The kids loved seeing all of the iguanas too. We spent the afternoon at the beach.

After the cruise and before our flight home, we took the kids to Tampa Aquarium.

Christmas Pics

1930's Wife

63 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

Wow, this can't be! I didn't even lie about "cooking in my pajamas", "wearing stocking feet around the house" or "serving too much from tin cans and delicatessen stores". Maybe my being "sympathetic --liking children and unfortunates" and having a "good sense of humor - jolly and gay" made up for me "frequently exceeding my allowance or family budget" and "eating onions and garlic before going to bed".

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve cousin gift-exchange at Nana and Papa's house. Wow, what a gathering! The family keeps getting bigger and bigger and, since even Mike and Nikki's clan was here, the family has grown to 20! Next year: 21!

Build-A-Bear

Sydney has been begging for a Build-A-Bear lately. Grandma Jo was kind enough to give her one for Christmas and we were able to go build it with her while in Vegas. Collin had such a great time helping Sydney that he decided he would wish for one for Christmas, too. (Good thing Santa was able to pull that one off last minute.)

Las Vegas

Our annual trip to Las Vegas for Christmas. We always spend a couple of days in Vegas with Jay's parents, Bob and Joan, and his brother, Jeremy. We also got to meet Katie, Jeremy's girlfriend. We had a great time seeing everybody!

School Carnival

The kid's school carnival included face painting, a cake walk and, of course, a visit from a special visitor.