The Nutcracker

Jen and I took the girls to see the Orlando ballet perform the Nutcracker at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. It was a beautiful day. Here are our beautiful girls dancing...

A Very Mickey Christmas

The Christmas party at Disney with the Simards was spectacular again this year! 70 degree temperatures (but with Disney-created snow), great shows and rides (me and Rich are now officially the record holders with over 150,000 pts on the Lilo and Stich ride which we took entirely too seriously) and amazing fireworks as ever. We stayed over at the Shades of Green (where me and Mike had our first kiss over 11 years ago:)) and Madison hand-fed the coy carp in the morning. Christmas is nearly here...
At the front of the crowd for the parade having been 'told off' by an old woman wearing socks and crocs

The boys enjoying the free cookies and hot chocolates

Crazy Uncle Mike's had far too many....

Jen's Graduation

Jen graduated with her Master's degree this month from USF! She was one of only 4 people (out of over 370) in her graduating year to achieve a perfect score of 4.0. After the ceremony we all went for a meal to celebrate the occasion. We forced Jen to wear her hat through the meal since it made us all feel smarter...Congratulations Jen - we are so proud of you!

Blue Christmas

Maddy's hard work paid off when she performed with her hand bells group at the Sand Pine Elementary Christmas show this year. We were so proud of our baby. Great job Maddy!

Gail's Visit and Thanksgiving

It was such a treat to have Gail here for two whole weeks in November and to have her here for Thanksgiving for the first time! We had a great meal as usual at Jen's, and Gail made me her fantastic Pea and Mint Soup so that I didn't feel deprived for not having turkey for the first time! It was a great visit. We went fishing at the beach and did lots of craftsy stuff. We also managed to get most of our Christmas shopping done at the new mall right around the corner. Black Friday (post-Thanksgiving) shopping was a bit rubbish this year (don't they know there's a recession?) but it turned out that Coldplay tickets (for extended dates in Manchester in September) were released that morning at 4am so I didn't wake up for nothing. Jay-Z is supporting...England here we come..!