Happy FIRST!

Sean and I recently celebrated our very first wedding anniversary! We kept it pretty simple, since we have a dinner reservation at Ohana (at Disney's Polynesian Resort) in a few weeks to celebrate!

So... instead of anything super fancy, we ate chicken at Zaxby's and came home to watch "Bourne Ultimatum." We also dug the wedding cake out of the freezer and shared a HUGE slice. It was a bit on the freezer-burn side, but otherwise quite tasty!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Little Beauty and Belle

Jaiden had a 5-year-old girl's dream breakfast at the Norway pavilion at EPCOT a few days before Christmas. Of course, Mom, Dad, Sean and I had a great time, too. But Jaiden was all smiles (and a little shy) as she met and talked with Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Mary Poppins and Mulan and got their pictures and autographs.

C is for Christmas Cookie

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 3rd annual Christmas Cookie Swap Party at our home this past Sunday! We had a fun group of old and new friends... and an incredible amount of delicious (and beautiful) cookies! YUM!
Congratulations to Brittany (a first-time swapper!) for her win for the "most festive Christmas cookie display" ... and to the Alcazars who won a prize for creating a very unique cookie display... a Christmas tree cookie farm!

Christmas is here.... well, almost!

It's official. Well, almost! The Christmas decorations are up, the tree is decorated, and we are ready for the holiday season!

Christmas at CPES

Jaiden's kindergarten class had their Christmas program last night in the cafeteria of their school. Parents and family members were everywhere... there was standing/sitting-on-the-floor room only! Aside from some soreness from the awkward seating, the program was fun -- and funny! Most of the kids didn't really sing as much as they yelled the words! Jaiden and her classmates did a great job! Of course, we couldn't hear her sing from where we were sitting/ standing.... so she could have very well been only mouthing the words to the songs!

Turkey Claus?

Jaiden had a "family holiday homework" project to work on last week -- we were given a paper drawing of turkey parts (head, legs, wings, etc.) and were instructed to "hide" the turkey so he/she wouldn't get eaten for Thanksgiving. Some suggestions to "hide" the turkey were to disguise him/her as another animal, as a cartoon character or even as an inanimate object like a soccer ball, tree, etc.
Jaiden wanted, at first, to create a fairy princess turkey.... but another girl in her class created that one! *whew! So then we got excited about the idea of a snowman turkey. But another kid showed up at school with his turkey disguised that way. So... we convinced Jaiden that it would be cool to go along with Sean's original idea of a turkey disguised as Santa Claus.
(I mean, who in his right mind would eat jolly ole' St. Nick for Thanksgiving, right?!?)

Well, we worked on it all evening.... sewing a Santa costume, cutting out Santa boots and belt and buckles, and even making our turkey a sack of Christmas presents. It turned out pretty darn cute!

Hopefully Jaiden's "Turkey Claus" will be safe this holiday season!

Halloween Tricks and Treats

We live in a neighborhood full of kids. In fact, on one of the streets, every house has kids. So, we expected more than a handful of trick-or-treaters to stop by for candy. Sadly.... our Halloween House spooked very few folks last night. In fact, besides us, probably only 12 other people saw it! The weird thing is, when Jaiden, Sean and I went trick-or-treating, we saw 100's of kids and parents wandering about the streets! I guess our unfinished little cul-de-sac was too dark and sinister to attract much Halloween activity!

At least WE had fun with it! Sean did all the decorations... and I mean all the decorations. I put up the cute little ghosties around the door, and he did all the rest. Jaiden thought it was pretty spooky, and since she was a beautiful princess, she was the only thing that didn't fit in with the ghoolish decor! Me, as a mummy, and Sean as a mummy... or whatever... fit the part, maybe too well!