Meet Alice!

Megan had her first real school project to work on this week. She had to write a narrative story and then decorate a pumpkin to depict the main character. This is pumpkin Alice. (Excuse the creative mess in the background!)

Her story was about a girl named Alice who wanted to go to Busch Gardens with her best friend Nina, but her Mom and Dad said they did not have enough money to go. (Sounds pretty familiar lately around here) So she goes around the neighborhood doing jobs to earn the money to go. So we have Alice in flip flops with her Busch Gardens hat, her homemade post card from Busch Gardens, and her money that she earned to go. Megan traced Emily's hands to create the hands for Alice. So this truly was a family project.

A Saturday with Dad and the Blue Angles

Dave took the girls last Saturday to the Annual Air Show at the local Navy Base. This is them with an F15 that they also got to see in the air. Mom had lots of jobs and errands that day, so it was truly a Daddy/Daughter Day!

The Blue Angles actually started here at NAS JAX. So they love to come each year and do a show for the hometown crowd.

This is a cool picture of the airshow. The weather was not very good that day. Very low clouds, so they had to do their low show.

Here is a cool picture of the Blue Angles flying with the downtown skyline in the background. They switch every other year between doing the show at the base, and doing it at the beach. To me there is nothing better than watching the Blue Angels over the ocean in late October. It is a fun family tradation.

We also love going outside and watching them fly over, from the front yard during the airshow weekends and practice days. Very cool- yet very loud!

A Big Day For Megan!

Megan and Her Friend Ashley

On Saturday October 12th Megan learned how to ride a two wheeled bike. She has been riding a scooter for a long time now, so she had the balance down. We just needed to take the training wheels off and a little push from Dad. Dave spent the afternoon running behind her around the circle where we live just incase she fell down. That is what Dad's do! =)

This is some video of Megan riding her bike. (And yes she is riding without a helmet....the bad parents that we are.) As you can see she needs a little bigger bike. This is a small hand me down bike from some family friends. She is hoping Santa can bring her a bigger "girl" bike for Christmas.

Megan's Baptism

Megan's Baptism was on at 3:00 pm on Sunday, September 7th. It was such a great day. We had both sets of grandparents who had traveled to come and share this day with us. It meant a lot to Megan and all of us. Both Grandma's gave talks, and both Grandpa's gave the prayers.
Megan was baptized by her dad. We had a lot of friends and ward members in attendance.
Emily was already thinking about her own Baptism. She kept asking when she would be turning 8 and it would be her turn to get baptized.

I was a little surprised how emotional of it day it was for me. I was a river of tears from the moment they announced the baptism in sacrament meeting in the morning until the baptism was over that afternoon. I was so proud of Megan. I guess as much as I don't want to admit it, my little girl is growing up.

Megan's 8th Birthday Pool Party

We had Megan's Birthday Party at a local pool which we are members of. After Tropical Storm Fay, and the looming of Hurricane Ike we were a little worried about the weather. But, we could not have asked for a more beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky.

Megan and Her Best Friend Allison

For party favors, I ordered some squirt guns for each kid to play with during the party and then take home. They had a lot of fun with them as you can see. We have a group of kids ganing up on Grandpa Jolley who was playing just as hard as the kids that day!

We reserved one of the two pavillions at the pool. The parents who came to the party hung out in the shade with cold drinks and chips. And it was very warm and humid that day.

What is a party without presents..... and lots of them! We had about 16 kids at the party.

We topped it all off with Hannah Montana cupcakes. What more could you ask for for an Eighth Birthday! It was a fantastic day!

Fay Fay Go Away, Don't Come Again Another Day!

Greetings from Soggy Florida. One of the perks of living here is Hurricane Season! (If that is what you want to call it)

We are waiting for Tropical Storm Fay to make her way to anyplace else but here! I must admit it did force us to get prepared. And while we have fared well (only lost power once for about an hour- currently 80,000 people are without power) we will have all the supplies we need for the next one.

The kids started school on Monday and they closed school on Wednesday and it has remained closed until next Monday. We have been stuck in the house since Tuesday and are looking forward to maybe venturing out when Dave gets home from work. Yes, you heard me right, WORK! He had to go in everyday, even during the height of the storm! Now granted he does work for the electric company, but they were not even working on storm related projects. It is a good thing he does not have to cross any bridges to get to and from as a lot of them have been closed due to the high winds.

It has been 3 solid days of rain (working on 13 plus inches) and winds (25-50 miles sustained winds and gusts up to 60 miles per hour) and two tornadoes in the past 3 hours a little to close to us for comfort.

And why do we still live here......some days that is a good question! But I can sum it up in one word.....DISNEY! :-)

The Dynamic Duo

First Day of School Pictures

I am sorry to make you endure all of these pictures of my kids. But they looked so cute today.

We kind of had a "mommy melt-down" moment as I was taking these pictures, the battery in my camera died. (Hence the crazy date stamp) We were trying to get to school, and I was not even ready yet. I had to be to a PTA function right after I dropped the kids off. Dave was not home, as he now rides the bus to work and was already gone. (Our newest endeavor to help save the budget) So he could not run to the store for me. PANIC.....but wait. I called my next door neighbor to borrow her camera! But I only ended up borrowing the batteries from her camera. The day and mom's sanity were saved.