Christmas 2009

This Christmas Tony's sister Becca and her family came to visit. It was so great to spend a week with them and for the kids to get to play with the cousins. We had a gingerbread house contest with the boys versus girls. We had a good time, even when the roof of the girls house caved in!

We had a lot of fun with the cousins here. We went to the beach and played in the sand, we went to Wakulla Springs and saw a few alligators, we visited a museum, and we even played soccer and freeze tag at a park.

On New Year's Eve we got a couple of babysitters so the adults could go out together. Since Tony and Jeff went to Brazil on their missions we went to a Brazillian steakhouse called Rodizio's. We had a wonderful time and the food was stupendous. We got home just before 9 and still had to have a New Year's Eve "party" with the kids. So we drank Sprite, ate M&M's and played 2 games of "Guess Who". Then we had a toast and sent the kids to bed. I think it lasted 15 mintues total.

William posing in his Superman cape on Christmas Day.

Hallie wearing her princess jewelry Christmas morning.

Gracie wearing the tutu from Grandma Ricks Christmas morning.

Gracie's 4th birthday

In December Gracie turned 4. She had been asking me all year how old she is as if waiting for the day when I would say she was 4 instead of 3. Then when the day came it wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be.

But on her birthday we went to Disney World. She had her choice of all 4 parks but she chose Magic Kingdom on her birthday were she bought a pirate sword, a bracelet, a necklace, and Mickey Mouse ears for her, William, and Hallie.

That night we got cupcakes and ice cream to eat in our hotel. We sang "Happy Birthday" and she blew out her candles. Now how many 4 year olds get to go to Disney World on their birthday?!

The next day we planned on going to Animal Kingdom but it was supposed to rain. If we didn't have Clara I wouldn't have cared, but since we didn't want Clara to get soaked, Tony took William and Hallie to Animal Kingdom in the morning while I stayed at the hotel with Gracie and Clara. We took a walk around the hotel and played by the pool. That afternoon I left Clara with Tony and took the other 3 to Animal Kingdom for a few hours. We had a blast!