The Salley Family

Costume parade

2011-10-28T15:32:00.003-04:00

Paige's preschool had a fall festival today. All the kids dressed up a paraded around the building.

Paige's VPK class.

Happy Birthday Paige

2011-10-28T15:28:00.002-04:00

Paige insisted on going bowling for her birthday this year. We all had so much fun! The kids bowled on one lane - Avery came in first place. The adults bowled on a separate lane - Adam won with me a close second (thanks to my three strikes in a row!!)

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-28T15:24:00.002-04:00

It's pumpkin carving time again! As usual, Paige was very interested in helping and Avery just wanted to see it when it was done. Thanks, Daddy, for doing most of the carving!

Eww! It's so gooey!

2011-10-28T15:22:00.001-04:00

My very brave Avery got her ears pierced! Such a trooper and she didn't even flinch!

Mini Vacation

2011-10-28T15:14:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago Adam had the opportunity to attend a Kawasaki event and stay for two nights at the Gaylord Palms Hotel. The girls and I took advantage of this and turned it into a minivacation. The girls could not contain their excitement of staying in a hotel. Now they will think all hotels are like the Gaylord. We had an awesome time!!

The Key West area of the hotel. Quite a pose, Avery. :)

We spent one day in Downtown Disney checking out all the shops and seeing a movie. Whale's Tail in 3D.

Sailboat inside the hotel.

Field Trip

2011-10-28T15:10:00.001-04:00

Miss Lewis's 1st grade class.

Avery and two of her friends, Giana and Ava

Avery's class went on a field trip last week to the pumpking patch. So fun!

Earth Day and Congrats to Danielle

2011-05-02T16:18:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday was graduation at Florida Southern College where I work. Our dear friend, Danielle graduated and I'm not quite sure what we'll do without her. She has become like family over that past several years and even volunteered to pick Avery up from school and help her with homework this spring. She loves my girls like they were her own sisters. We are so excited for what lies ahead for Danielle as she travels to Memphis to teach in urban schools. She has a heart for God and I can't wait to see what she will accomplish in life. We love you Dani!

Lowes was giving away free trees for Earth Day so we headed there to see what it was all about. They gave us these little tiny trees that we are supposed to plant in a pot for a year before transferring to regular ground. My track record with plants is not too stellar so I'll be shocked if they make it a year. I hope they do well.

Happy Easter!

2011-05-02T16:10:00.005-04:00

Update: I forgot to add a picture of the blueberry pie I made for Easter. Avery's class went on a field trip to pick blueberries on a farm and she insisted a make a pie with her loot. This was my first attempt at a blueberry pie and it was so delicious!!

Happy Easter everyone! (Ok, so Easter was last weekend....it only took me a whole week to upload and post my photos.) Since the girls and I were all home on Good Friday we decided it was the perfect time to color eggs. Unfortunately, Paige came down with a fever and the stomach bug so slept through it all. We may color eggs again later this week to make it up to her.

The girls' Easter baskets and clothes. We hid eggs around the house in the morning and went to Mr. Dirk and Ms. Cole's house for lunch after church. They also hid over 100 eggs for the girls to find. What a fun time!

Summer is here!

2011-04-21T11:49:00.003-04:00

We had our first swim of the year last weekend. We were in desperate need of some family time (life has been crazy lately!) so we headed to the pool for the day. Our weather quickly went from breezy and comfortable to humid and 90 degrees. It felt good to be in the pool again!

New family pics

2011-04-20T14:41:00.002-04:00

I must be nominated for "Mom of the Year" because for two years in a row we have had family pictures done! This year we chose to have them taken on Florida Southern's campus. Besides having sentimental meaning (where Adam and I met) and being the place of my employment, it proved to be full of beautiful places to snap pictures. Of course there are way too many to post on the blog but here is a small sampling. Enjoy!!

My baby turns 6

2011-04-20T14:31:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday to my beautiful girl, Avery! She turned 6 earlier this month and with each passing birthday I get a little emotional thinking about the day she was born. The excitement and anticipation you feel right before becoming a parent is a little surreal. And then it all of a sudden becomes very real. We love you so much Avery!!

A coworker of mine has a business making cake pops. The girls loved these and they were just the right amount of cake for our little family celebration on Avery's actual birthday.

Avery wanted to have her birthday party at a local Gymnastics place that she went to for spring break. This was also the first year that she was pretty specific about WHO she wanted to invite. The staff at Gym Etc did a great job! They started off with some warm up stretches and then went through an obsticle course.

During present opening time, Avery sat on this big block and each kid enjoyed standing next to her as she opened their present.

Whew! That was close!

2011-03-21T16:00:00.002-04:00

These pictures still amaze me. Adam got this grill as a Christmas gift a few years ago from his dad and Gramp. He was so excited to have a new grill, and such a cool one at that! Our previous grill was old and falling apart and had caught fire one day. I actually sold it for $5 at a yard sale even though the bottom had holes in it and it was really unusable.

We have had some delicious meals on this grill over the past couple of years. Some of our favorites being ribs, steaks, grilled pizza, bananas, veggies and so much more. Yesterday we were planning to grill some ribs again when this tragedy happened. Adam turned the grill on the heat it up and went inside to get the ribs ready. A few minutes later I went outside to do some weeding and saw a lot of smoke. So much that I couldn't see the cars in the drive way. The grill had caught fire!

Thankfully we had a fire extinguisher on hand to put the blaze out before the propane tank blew. It was so hot the grill melted! We used the whole fire extinguisher and still had to get the hose out to finish extinguishing the flames. As sad as it is to see the grill go, we are forever thankful that our house did not burn down and no one was injured.

Annual Trip to the Strawberry Festival

2011-03-21T15:56:00.002-04:00

Oh how we love the Strawberry Festival! The girls could not wait to make thier own strawberry shortcake.

Daddy was such a good sport on this one!

Zoo field trip

2011-03-21T15:50:00.002-04:00

Avery's kindergarten class took a field trip to the zoo last month and I was very glad to be able to go as well. We were pretty much free to roam as we pleased and spent the day waking around with her friend, Giana and Giana's mom. Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo is rated #1 family friendly zoo in the country. What a fun, fun day!

Nope it's not just you - Avery is getting so tall!!

Avery and Giana

Daddy's toys

2011-03-21T15:49:00.002-04:00

The girls love when Adam brings his work home with him.

Spring is here!

2011-02-24T12:14:00.004-05:00

It's true. Spring is definitely here! We are loving the weather lately and try to enjoy as much as it as we can before it starts to get unbarably hot. We recently discovered a local park that was totally redone and it is now pretty nice. I always feel so blessed to have so many beautiful parks and playgrounds to take the girls to. I don't remember having so many growing up and that's likely because you could only use them for a few months out of the year and the snow and cold winters would take its toll on the playground equipment.

Anyway, it's fun to watch the girls enjoy the playgrounds and play like any 3 or 5 year old should. Do you remember flying on a swing? Or climbing anything you could find? Fun, fun, fun.

This park also happens to be right next to a train track. Twice while we were there you could hear a train coming and every child in the park would stop what they are doing and yell, "TRAIN!!" Then they would run over to the fence and watch it go by. As soon as the train was out of sight everyone went back to playing and continued to enjoy the day. Avery is the one in the white shirt.

Writing Valentines

2011-02-24T12:01:00.005-05:00

Paige is always wanting to know more. You really can't get anything done or go anyway without having Paige right on your heels asking a billion questions. She is so inquisitive. It's certainly one of the things that I love most about her but at times it can drive you crazy!! A few months ago the thing she was crazy about wanting to know was how to write her name. She has been able to spell it for quite some time but recently asked her teacher to show her how to write it. Within two weeks she was writing her name on EVERYTHING. You can imagine how excited she was when I told her she would need to write her name on her Valentines for school. I couldn't print them fast enough. And yes, I printed them online because her party was Fri Feb 11 instead of Mon Feb 14 (not sure why) and I totally forgot until about 7pm on Thurs Feb 10 and it was raining so I was not going to store. Turns out she picked Sponge Bob valentines and wrote her name on them all in no time flat. She did, however, ask if she should write her first and last name or just her first name. I told her first was just fine. :) Overachiever.

Aunt Maquel and Sofie visit

2011-02-03T10:43:00.004-05:00

We were excited to have Aunt Maquel and Sofie visit for a few days last month. It was fun to have a cousin around and the girls all played so nice together. Of course a trip to FL for them would not be complete without going to the butterfly park. We had beautiful weather for most of the week. The 5 degree temps they went back home to were probably a bit of a shock after 60 and 70 degree weather here. Love Florida!

Lots of Play Doh was molded, cut, formed and played with while Sofie was here.

Build A Bear

2011-02-03T10:35:00.002-05:00

Uncle Jonathan bought the girls gift cards to Build A Bear so we headed out the day after Christmas to make a couple new "friends." Avery picked a bear and Paige picked a kitty.

Putting the heart in the bear.

Paige stuffing hers.

Avery making a wish for her bear by rubbing the heart on her head.

"Cinderella's" birth certificate.

Paige's kitty, "Jasmine" was not feeling well when we got home. :)

Thanks Uncle Jonathan!!

WHAT?!? It's February already!

2011-02-03T10:21:00.004-05:00

Ok so I am slacking on the blog again. You would have thought that since I was home for almost two weeks at Christmas and New Year's that I would have found a few minutes to actually post something about Christmas. Not so. Instead I prefer to wait until February, Well, February is here so time to post something.

The first pic is the girls putting out reindeer food on the lawn on Christmas Eve. We have a tradition of putting PJ's on and driving around to look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve but reindeer food has become another tradition.

Opening gifts Christmas morning.

In case you didn't know, pillow pets were one of the hot items this year. My girls are crazy about them!

Meeting Santa

2010-12-13T16:05:00.003-05:00

Last night we went to Lights of Lakeland with Noni and Zampie and a couple of their friends, Ken and Beth. This is our second year going and I hope it continues to be a tradition for us. A local church puts it together and it's pretty amazing. More than I can describe in words. I should have taken more pictures. Anyway, one of the highlights is meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus. Avery and Paige first got to write a letter to Santa to ask what they want for Christmas. Now that I think about it, the letter isn't really necessary since they are on their way inside to actually meet Santa.

In case you were wondering, Avery asked for a Safari Barbie and a teddy bear and Paige asked for a Pillow Pet.

Santa and the Mrs. were very nice and they always take plenty of time to make the girls feel confortable. Paige was hesitant at first but finally warmed up to them.

They also do a whole journey through Bethlehem that is quite impressive. You really do feel like you are walking through Bethlehem, complete with live animals such as camels, goats and lamb. Definitely gets you in the Christmas spirit. :)

Singing in church

2010-12-13T15:45:00.006-05:00

All of the kids at our church getting ready to sing a few Christmas songs. Nothing better than watching little kids sing.

Check out Avery singing - way into it!

I did have video of them singing but I can't seem to get it to upload. I'll try again later

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

2010-12-13T15:37:00.002-05:00

Ah, Christmas time. It really is the most wonderful time of the year. Especially when you have little ones. I love all the traditions and excitement and fun things to do together as a family. As you can see from the above picture, we are even having some Christmas-like weather. Every year, Lakeland has a great Christmas parade and Adam was even able to join us. Here they are watching the floats go by.

Our semi-decorated Christmas tree. We finally broke down and bought a new one this year. I was tired of stringing lights so thankfully this one is pre-lit. The girls could not wait to decorate it so I let them put a few ornaments on it before going to bed. Then I finished putting ribbon on and fixing the ornaments. (Not sure why this pic is out of order. I uploaded it with the other tree pics but blogger seems to have a mind of it's own.)

Paige, Avery and Jake waiting very patiently for the parade to start. Most of you have heard of Jake at some point or another. In case you haven't, he is Avery's "boyfriend." I know, scary.

Paige adding her ornaments.

Halloween

2010-12-13T15:29:00.003-05:00

Halloween was a whole weekend of festivities this year. The night before, we went out in downtown Winter Haven with some friends for Goul's Night Out. Avery dressed as a black cat and Paige was a bunny ballerina. We had a great time!

Then on Halloween night we went trick or treating with some friends in their neighborhood. Our neighborhood still lacks houses so it wasn't much of an option for us. Avery wanted to wear her Thumbalina costume from last year and Paige wanted to wear Avery's dance costume from her recital last year. No need to buy new ones when we have so much to choose from already! This was their first time going door to door trick or treating. (Actually my first time too!) Super fun!

Enjoying a little bit of the loot once we got home. :)

Paige turns 3!!

2010-12-13T15:19:00.003-05:00

Paige insisted on having her birthday party this year at Chuck E Cheese. I will admit that I wasn't thrilled about the idea at first but it ended up being a great party and quite possibly one of my favorites so far! I can't believe my baby is three years old!! She needs to stop this growing up thing. I can really say that I no longer have a baby - just a beautiful little girl who amazes me more and more every day. LOVE HER!!

Daddy got to go in the ticket blaster with her. Paige didn't care for it too much. She kept brushing the tickets off while Adam was trying to grab them!

Watching the birthday song and dance with Chuck E and the party hosts. I have to admit I sang along - the song is the same one from when I worked at Chuck E Cheese over ten years ago!

Camping

2010-11-12T10:49:00.003-05:00

My family has had this green Girl Scout tent for as long as I can remember. We used to camp in it a lot until one fateful weekend of all of us kids stuck in a tent due to rain. After that, it only made appearances in our backyard each summer. Someone had a great idea to put the tent up and allow all of the kids to sleep in it for a couple nights. I was pretty skeptical that my girls would last all night but was pleasantly surprised to find that Avery didn't come into the house once. Paige chickened out the first night but made it through the second night in the tent. Thanks Nathan and Jonathan for supervising this camp out.

Of course it's not camping unless you make smores!

A trip to Buffalo

2010-11-12T10:26:00.005-05:00

My parents both grew up in Buffalo and a lot of our family still lives there. Whenever I get a chance to go home to Pittsuburgh I always try to make a trip to Buffalo to visit the rest of the family. My grandmother (my dad's mom) is now in a nursing home because she has Alzheimers. Her physical health is still very good but she is unable to live on her own. It was very important to me that Avery and Paige visit her and have some knowledge of who she is. We were so thankful to have a great visit with her this day.

My cousin Corey and the newest member of our extended family, Layla.

Almost all of the cousins' kids (minus Andrew, Alyssa & Alaina) playing at my Uncle Den and Aunt Lisa's house. It's crazy that we all have produced this many kids in what seems like such a short time. It was really fun to hang out with everyone and it feels like a whole new cycle in the life of our family.

My adorable newphew, Davon. Just wanted to throw that one in!

Beautiful day!

Still trying to get back on track....

2010-11-12T10:14:00.005-05:00

Bear with me as I continue to try to get caught up. I am only four months behind. :) While in Pittsburgh this summer we made a trip to Kennywood Park. So many memories there. It's a great family amusement park near my parents that we went to every year growing up. Each school district had one day off school in the spring as their "Kennywood Day." What a fun day we had!

Paige wasn't quite sure what to make of the lion water foundtain.

Pittsburgh

2010-10-26T10:53:00.005-04:00

At the end of July the girls and I took a road trip to visit my family in Pittsburgh. We had an amazing time seeing ALL of my family. The weather was perfect, the house was full of activity and the food was delicious!
Avery and Paige loved sleeping in Anastasia's bed.

Avery and Anastasia being rock stars like Hannah Montana.

Me and all of my siblings. It is very rare to have all of us together at the same time.

Every one of the grandkids/cousins. So nice to have them all play together. Grandma and Grandpa were in heaven!

YIKES!!

2010-10-26T10:51:00.002-04:00

Wow! I knew I was slacking on the blog but I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. I guess like most things, the longer you refrain from something the harder it is to get back into it. Looks like I have alot of catching up to do so get ready. :)

FOOD!!

2010-07-23T15:24:00.003-04:00

Of course vacation is all about food! We sure ate well. Here is the lobster I had for dinner the day we went to Camden. It was at a great place called Bayview Lobster and we sat on the patio right on the water. Nothing beats a fresh Maine lobster!
(Once again, not sure why these are uploading out of order.)
Anyway, everytime we go to Maine Adam has to have lunch at Big G's. It's a deli that has a billion sandwiches on the menu mostly named after famous people. There's the Bill Cosby, the Tina Tuna, and so on. Their sandwiches are HUGE. I can't even eat a half. They also have giant woopie pies. In fact, they are about the same size as Avery's head. We bought one and it fed five people.

Adam's lobster dinner at Bayview.

Adam is very excited here to be eating an entire sandwich from Big G's. He's in heaven.

Our Fabulous Date

2010-07-23T14:55:00.004-04:00

And our vacation continues...

Adam and I decided to sneak away for a day and leave the girsl with his sister so that we could have a date! Best idea ever! We got the GPS out and drove an hour or so to the coast of Maine. I had never done anything real touristy there and neither had Adam. It was the most beautiful day. Our original plan was to take a lobster boat out and catch some lobsters. Unfortunately we did not make a reservation which would have been fine except the Blues Festival was going on that weekend. This meant a lot more people were in town and the lobster boats charters were full. So instead we decided to eat lots of lobster! Our first stop was a restaurant called the Brass Compass. When we learned the owner at beat Bobby Flay in a Lobster Club challenge there was no question this was where we were going for lunch. It was delish! A double decker sandwich loaded with lobster and a little lettuce, bacon, and tomato with a side of homemade fries.
Sorry that my pictures are out of order. Here is just a great shot a friendly passer-by took of us by the water.

A picture of the menu at The Brass Compass and the story of the Bobby Flay Throw Down.

We found out about this place called the Breakwater. It is about a mile or so long and made of huge cement blocks. At the end is an old lighthouse.

Me at the very end of the Breakwater.

The town of Camden was super cute and perfect for window shopping. The sidewalks were painted with STOP WAIT WAVE and every passing car stopped for you to cross.

The self portrait.

Another shot of Camden.

A shot from the top of the hill overlooking the Breakwater.

Picturesque Maine

2010-07-21T15:57:00.005-04:00

So Maine really is a beautiful place - in the summer. Just a few scenery shots for you all. More on our day in Camden and the yummy food we ate to come soon......

A Day at the Lake

2010-07-21T15:42:00.005-04:00

So let me first say that I was expecting Maine to be a nice break from the Florida summer heat. A few days before we left I was told the highs were in the low 70's. I thought to myself "NICE!!" Alas, it was not meant to be. The day we arrived, a heat did too. It was mid to high 90's the whole week we were there!! How does it get that hot in Maine?!? Of course that is what we are used to in FL, however, almost no one has air conditioning in Maine. Why would they? It doesn't usually get that hot.

So on our second day, we headed to the lake. I can't remember the name of it but that doesn't matter. What does matter is that it was beautiful!! There was a little beach area where the girls swam with Grammie and Mamaw while Adam, his dad, cousin and I rode Sea Doos. Riding at 60mph and taking in the scenery of tree lined shores with cabins all nestled in them was awesome. Adam and I took turns driving one until he flipped us over trying to see how sharp he could turn back and forth. The cold water was a bit of shock as I went under but I took comfort in knowing that I didn't have to worry about alligators.

Family

2010-07-21T15:30:00.007-04:00

There is nothing better than some quality family time. It was really great to see Adam's dad, step mom, gram, gramp, sister, bro-in-law, niece, aunt and counsin. The girls we were loved.

Maine vacation

2010-07-21T15:17:00.006-04:00

So it has definitely been a while since I posted anything but I have a great excuse this time. We've been on vacation!! Yep we flew to the great state of Maine the week of the fourth of July to visit Adam's family. It had been four years since we had all been there and I am so glad we made the trip. The girls were so excited to fly on an airplane. Paige even thought she would see pigs flying outside her window. Evidently there is a commercial that shows pigs flying outside an airplane window (I have not actually seen the commercial myself but others have told me about it). Happy to report that there were no flying pig sitings along our trip. Lots more pics to come.

Top photo

2010-06-23T16:27:00.006-04:00

So I was looking at the family photo on the top of the blog today and for the first time really noticed how this photo captures the personalities of the four of us. Adam the strong, serious one, me the happy, relaxed one, Avery the sweet, girlie one and Paige the silly, cheesy one. What can I say - I LOVE IT!!

Sea World

2010-06-21T11:27:00.004-04:00

We went to Sea World recently as an end of the year field trip with Avery's VPK class. Paige was lucky enough to tag along. What an awesome day we had! Taking the two girls on my own, I knew I had to go with lots of patience. I can't really say enough good things about this day. The girls had a blast and will remember it for a long time to come. They loved seeing all the animals and watching the dolphin and Shamu shows. Priceless!!

We came across a family of flamingos walking around the park!

Avery playing in the water area. It was a HOT day!

Avery and LJ (one of her many boyfriends!) waiting for an animal education show to start. We walked around with LJ, his mom and grandma most of the day. What a HUGE help they were to me!

Paige did this the whole time we were at the water area. What a silly girl!

VPK Graduation

2010-06-21T11:18:00.002-04:00

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted on here. Life sure has been busy. I also can't believe that my baby is going to Kindergarten in the fall!! Where does the time go?? This past year she was in a VPK (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten) program. She learned so much and is definitely ready for elementary school. The preschool she attended put together a great graduation program, complete with singing, dancing and a cap and gown for all the kids. Avery was so excited to graduate!

Noni and Zampie were there!

Blueberry picking

2010-05-18T09:43:00.002-04:00

I recently found out that my friend's parents have a blueberry farm. Since Adam grew up in Maine and has fond memories of picking blueberries as a child, we decided that we should carry on the tradition with our girls. So off we went on Sunday afternoon. Avery and Paige loved it. They were real troopers considering it was very hot in the afternoon sun. We came home with our 5 pounds of the most delicious blueberries. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them all!

Avery's first dance recital

2010-05-18T09:38:00.002-04:00

Avery has been taking ballet since September and had her first dance recital this past weekend. What an event it was! Avery's class is full of 4 and 5 year olds and they were as cute as can be. I volunteered to be one of the stage moms and help all the little ones stay entertained while we were waiting to dance. I actually spent most of the time taking them back and forth to the potty and helping the pull up tights! It was super fun anyways. Avery danced so well and I am very proud of her to going on stage with hundreds of people watching. Now we take a break from dance for the summer and she will most likely be taking two classes in the fall.

Avery and her best friend Kennedy. They are two peas in a pod!

Dancing around in the lobby afterwards..

Had to post....

2010-05-17T16:51:00.002-04:00

Ok so I know I post a lot of swimming pictures but we do live in Florida and spend a fair amount of time swimming. These two of Paige were just so good I had to post. The first is of Paige floating. She hasn't quite figured out to straighten her legs yet but she loves to float like this. The second is of her jumping into the pool. I just love how if you look closely you can see the joy on her face.

Our first really hot weekend

2010-05-04T14:22:00.002-04:00

We seemed to have skipped right over spring and headed straight into summer. This past weekend was hot and humid. Since we don't have a real pool or one all that close by we brought out the inflatable pool. The girls love it anyway and I can enjoy a nice book while watching them play in the water.

Waiting for the pool to fill up...

Disney trip

2010-05-04T14:16:00.003-04:00

The great thing about living where we do (well one of the great things) is that we can usually make a trip to Disney each year for very little cost. Disney offered FL residents a "Volunteer a Day, Get a Day" at Disney this year. Adam and I were each able to get free tickets which we LOVE! Disney World really is a magical place!

The princesses danced in a show in front of Cinderella's Castle. We got there just in time to watch the first show.
Last year we waited in line to meet the Princesses and this year we decided to meet the Fairies because the girls are all about Tinker Bell right now. The lines to meet these characters are too long to do both. The young ones (and grown ups) don't quite have that much patience. This is Rosetta. If you have seen any of the recent Tinker Bell movies you'll know who she is.

This girl was awesome! She was in character for Tinker Bell that I was even starting to believe she was the real Tinker Bell. Avery LOVED meeting her!

Silvermist - She makes dew drops. :)

Happy Birthday Avery!

2010-05-04T14:13:00.003-04:00

Avery was so excited to have her birthday party at Backyard Adventures this year. I was excited to only have to show up and not plan or clean or prepare food! The kids had a great time and Avery loved it!

Clearly this gift was fascinating!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-08T15:27:00.002-04:00

It is Easter time once again! I really do love celebrating all holidays with my girls and seeing them get excited about the little traditions we have started. This year my sister and her kids were at our house so we had a fun filled morning before heading to church. We hid little plastic eggs around the house the night before. You would have thought it was Christmas when the kids all woke up on Easter morning. They were up early (way earlier than we wanted) and were ready to check out all their goodies.

I found these super cute kitty umbrellas online and thought my girls would love to use them in all the Florida rain showers/hurricanes we tend to get.
The kids all lined up with their baskets, ready to hunt for eggs.

Of course I would have matching dresses for my girls :)

Egg Hunt

2010-04-08T15:18:00.004-04:00

We had so much fun last year at an Easter egg hunt that my friend's church had that we decided to go again this year. We were running a little late but got there just in time to find the eggs.

I (usually) love that my girls dress themselves. By that I mean that they are very particular about what they wear and like to pick out their own outfits. What I like about it is that it shows their independance and helps them learn to make decisions. The hard part is that sometimes what they choose is not so appropriate for the day. Avery chose her own dress today because Easter is a special occasion and even though she would running around in the grass, she still wanted to wear a nice dress. Paige on the other hand decided to dress up with lots of jewelry. Most of which I made her take off in the car because the amount was a little bit of a safety hazard.

Finally!!

2010-03-31T09:32:00.006-04:00

It was about time we got some new family pictures taken! The last time we had them taken was Nov of 2007! Paige was only a month old. I think these are long overdue! Here are a sampling. Enjoy!

Strawberry Festival

2010-03-31T09:22:00.003-04:00

Wow it has been way too long since I posted anything. Life has been busy. A couple weeks ago we enjoyed our anual tradition of going to the Strawberry Festival. The girls love it and we always leave full of yummy strawberry shortcake. Here is Avery very proud of her creation after going through the make your own strawberry shortcake line.

Paige heard the cake part of strawberry shortcake and decided the cake was all she wanted. Silly girl!

Our favorite park and a beautiful day!

2010-03-03T10:32:00.003-05:00

Sunday was the most beautiful day you could ask for. It reminded me why I live in Florida. To take advantage of the warm sunshine we headed to our favorite park. What a great time we had!

Daddy taught Paige to climb the rock wall. She caught on very quickly but nearly gave me a heart attack each time she climbed up. I tried to refrain from reaching down and grabbing my baby the second Adam let go but I knew I had to let her do it for herself. She is so strong and did great on her own. And she loved it! She climbed up over and over and over again.

"I did it Mommy!"

The apple does not fall far.....

2010-03-03T10:31:00.000-05:00

Can you tell these two are related???

Gimper's visit

2010-03-03T10:27:00.003-05:00

Gimper was in Orlando last week and stayed a few extra days to visit with us. It was great to see him and the girls were very excited that he was going to sleep over at our house. Saturday was pretty cold and rainy so we did some painting at home. The girls painted pictures for Gimper to take back home to Mamaw, Grammie and Grampie. I hope they love them!

Gotta love finger paints!

Homework

2010-02-11T09:43:00.003-05:00

Avery has been getting more homework in VPK lately. Thankfully she loves to work on it. She amazes me at how quickly she catches on and once I explain the paper she finishes it all on her own. She has progressed leaps and bounds from the beginning of the school year.

Paige always wants to do what big sister is doing so we gave her some homework of her own. She totally blew me away when she told me how to spell her name! I couldn't believe she knew it. What a smarty pants!!

My babies are growing up way too fast!

Oh Valentine...

2010-02-11T09:41:00.002-05:00

Avery had her Valentine's Day party at school the other day. Daddy bought some great Barbie valentines and Avery had to pick just the right one to give to each of her friends. Now that she is learning to write, the teacher wanted them to write all the names of their friends and their own names on the valentines by themselves. Avery was very into it even though it took two hours! She loves to write. :)

Country Boil

2010-01-13T08:55:00.004-05:00

Adam got a turkey fryer for Christmas and was anxious to try it out. However, we did not fry a turkey. Since we weren't quite sure how the contraption worked we decided to go a little bit simplier the first time around. We made a country boil with sausage, shrimp, potatoes and corn on the cob. It was delicious!! Of course, Paige is Adam's little shadow so she wanted to be outside with him the whole time. It was FREEZING!! She didn't care. She was with her favorite person in the whole world - her daddy. :)

She is still a FL girl at heart - loves her flip flops!
The finished product.

Misc. Christmas

2010-01-13T08:53:00.002-05:00

The girls did an excellent job on their gingerbread house this year. LOVE this picture!

Who doesn't love a game of Hungry Hungry Hippo? Finally a game that both girls can play. (And Daddy, too!)

Christmas Day 2009

2010-01-13T08:45:00.003-05:00

Wow. I can not believe it has been so long since I posted anything. Life right now is crazy but that is no excuse. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We enjoyed some much needed time off from work, school, life, etc. It was so nice to have almost two weeks off with my girls. I love Christmas time and it seems a little strange to be writing about now that it's a few weeks late. Anyway, here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Every year I like to take a picture of the tree with the presents under it.
The Barbie Dream House was THE gift this year. Every girl needs one of these!

Paige was very excited to find MONEY in her new Hello Kitty purse.

Matching Tinker Bell jammies.

Lights of Lakeland

2009-12-14T14:43:00.004-05:00

Last night after a yummy dinner with Noni and Zampie, we headed to the Lights of Lakeland. A local church puts on quite the Christmas display with more than half a million lights and a complete town of Bethlehem. We had no idea it would be so amazing. We will definitely visiting this every year. They had all the Christmas characters, the Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty, even Buddy the Elf. They had a General Store where kids could pick out a present for someone and have it wrapped, lots of lights and amazing displays. Best of all it was free, even the milk and cookies.

Avery wrote a letter to Santa and put it in his mailbox in front of his house.
Then we went inside to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. Avery loved it but Paige was a little unsure. She wouldn't sit on his lap but as we were leaving she yelled, "I want a bike!" haha
Sitting in Santa's sleigh

The entrance to Bethlehem. As you walked through it explained the whole Christmas story to you. It really was like going back in time and walking through Bethlehem. Very well done. They even had live animals, goats, sheep, donkeys and two camels!

Avery pet Mary and Joseph's donkey.

Joy to the World.....

2009-12-14T14:38:00.002-05:00

The children's Christmas program at our church was the past Sunday. Avery had a speaking part and memorized her lines rather quickly. She spoke very clearly into the microphone and did a great job. Then they sang a few carols. Nothing makes you smile more than young children singing on stage. They are all so cute! Paige didn't really sing but enjoyed waving to us from the stage.

In case you have trouble finding her, Avery is in the middle with the necklace on. She wanted to wear it for her musical debut.
Avery and Paige posing for a picture with Avery's boyfriend, Jake.

Christmas Parade

2009-12-14T14:33:00.002-05:00

The Lakeland Christmas Parade is a huge event in downtown every year in the first week of December. I've avoided it in the past because the crowd is large and it's not really fun with a baby. Now that the girls are a little older I thought we'd give it a try. My friend works downtown and set chairs out for us at 7am so we could have a good view. This will definitely be a yearly occurance from now on. It was very well done and a great way to start off the Christmas season. The girls were in awe of the well decorated floats. This one was a human snow globe with Cinderella and Prince Charming.

The girls enjoying thier candy canes while watching the parade. Sticky fun.
They waved excitedly to every float and high school band that came by.

Oh Christmas Tree....

2009-12-03T09:22:00.002-05:00

We let the girls almost completely decorate the tree on their own this year. It's so fun to see their excitement grow year after year. I think they did a pretty good job!

Thanksgiving with the Harringtons

2009-12-03T09:13:00.002-05:00

This year for Thanksgiving we were invited to my friend, Nicole's house. It was the first year she cooked on her own and we were happy to join in on the fun. We intiated them into the grilled turkey club and showed them how to make the most delicious turkey ever. I don't think they will ever cook one in the oven again. Avery totally enjoyed the parade this year - she clapped and jumped evertime a new float came on the screen. Her excitement was fun to watch. We have so many things to be thankful for - including the meal of turkey, ham, sweet potato cassarole, apple pumpkin stuffing, pie, etc. Of course my picky eater Avery only ate cranberry sauce and rolls.

Adam and Paige ready for the good stuff - Paige loved it all!
Nicole, her husband Dirk and Dirk's mom

This and That

2009-11-16T12:14:00.002-05:00

So it did finally get cold enough for two days that I had to put a sweatshirt on Paige. They also had hats in the dollar bins at Target so I let the girls each pick out one. Now that it's going to be in the low 80's this week, I've had to hide them or else they will still want to wear them everyday.

Thank you to Aunt Maquel for getting this pink Patriots jersey for Paige's birthday. She loved wearing it.

Daddy and Paige ready to watch the Patriots beat the Colts. UPDATE: The Patriots lost. Sorry.

Just a cute picture left over from Halloween.

Beautiful wedding

2009-11-16T12:05:00.002-05:00

Our good friends, Pete and Marie recently got married. The girls, as always, were very excited to go to another wedding. They do love to dress up and dance. What a beautiful wedding it was!

Fall Festival

2009-10-30T16:41:00.003-04:00

The school that Avery and Paige go to hosted a Fall Festival this morning. Avery has been talking about it for weeks. It was actually one of the best I have seen. The started off with a parade around the parking lot for all the parents and then each class rotated through a variety of activities like a hay ride, games, candy hunt, pumpkin carving, and bounce house. I was able to sneak out of work for a little bit to join in on the some of the fun. Wish I could have stayed longer but after missing two days with a sick Paige earlier this week I wasn't able to.

Avery as Thumbalina and Paige as a lady bug (we couldn't find her antenae this morning)

Avery's class Paige and I enjoyed the hayride together.

These are the pumpkins Avery helped carve with her class.

Trunk or Treat

2009-10-30T16:36:00.003-04:00

Our church had their annual Trunk or Treat last Sunday. The theme was TV shows. We opted not to decorate a trunk and instead I was a candy runner (replenishing trunks that ran out of candy) and Adam was a judge, helping to determine Best Trunk, Best Adult Costume and Best Kid Costume. The girls got dressed up and had a great time collecting candy from all the decorated trunks.

This is what all the donated candy looked like in the back of my car - ready to be handed out.
The Flinsterns (their last name is Stern) won Best Trunk
Our friends, the Hannah family did a great job as Dora the Explorer.

Happy 2nd Birthday Paige!

2009-10-19T16:22:00.003-04:00

Paige turned 2 yesterday and in some ways it is hard to believe it has been two years since she was born but in other ways I feel like she should have turned two months ago. She speaks and acts so much older and maybe that has something to do with learning a lot from Avery. Either way, my baby is growing up and I really wish it wouldn't happen so fast. We didn't do a party this year. After our late night wedding on Saturday we were content to spend the afternoon at home as a family. My good friend Nicole (Miss Cole, as my girls call her) and her husband came for lunch and cake and ice cream. Here is tired Paige making a pouty face in her birthday princess shirt - not wanting Avery to help her open her gifts.

Wedding fun

2009-10-19T16:02:00.003-04:00

Adam was a groomsman in his friend's wedding this past Saturday night. We ended up taking Avery and Paige with us and they loved it! Avery is just so girlie that a wedding is the perfect place for her. She danced the entire night - from the moment we got to the reception until 12:30am! Paige had a great time too but she was more interested in the great food than dancing. They love to get dressed up and even insisted on wearing tiaras!

So sweet to dance with Daddy

Little Fish

2009-10-12T14:19:00.002-04:00

When will the heat end??? This is supposed to be the time of year when the temps finally start to cool down and you can spend the day outside without being sweaty and miserable. Not this year, my friends. We have had record highs the past week or so and they are going to continue for a few more days. They girls' school was closed this past Friday to teacher training so I decided it was a great excuse to take the day off work and enjoy a long weekend. Since it was too hot to play outside we spent the day swimming at the pool in Noni's neighborhood. The girls and I had a blast. Avery has been swimming on her own with her water wings for a while now but this was the first day that Paige was able to do it on her own. She even fingured out how to float on her back. She's a lot more adventurous than Avery and also loves to jump from the side of the pool, go underwater and swim her way back up. It was so nice to be able to enjoy the pool and not have to hold onto one of them the whole time.

Enjoying a lunch break.
Paige is showing off her floating skills.

Italian ice on a hot fall day

2009-09-29T09:04:00.002-04:00

My friend gave us coupons for FREE Rita's Italian ice so we took the girls this weekend. They both chose cotton candy flavored but I think that was only because it was blue. It's still pretty hot around here and the cold treat was just what we needed. I hear cooler (mid 80's) weather is on it's way so here's to fall!

Who's excited about dance?

2009-09-11T10:00:00.000-04:00

Swing!

2009-09-08T16:48:00.002-04:00

Paige loves to hit the baseball. Anytime Adam goes outside she wants to follow and hit baseballs. She definitely gets that from the Salley side of the family. And she hits it everytime!

Beautiful rainbow I saw on Sunday. It always reminds me that God keeps His promises.

Disney on Ice

2009-09-08T16:36:00.004-04:00

This past Friday night we took the girls to see Disney on Ice at the Lakeland Center. I saw that it was coming a while ago but put off buying tickets until I knew what was going on around this time. I then completely forgot about it until the night before when my friend called to tell me that she heard about a discount code to get FREE tickets. At first I was skeptical about it but I tried it and it worked! They were even the more expensive seats. Well the girls LOVED it! They were so excited to see the Princesses mostly but enjoyed the entire show. I must admit, I sang along a few times too. What a great time we had!

Skate World

2009-08-26T11:19:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't really posted anything in a little while. Things have been so crazy this past week. I was working late training our orientation leaders and then worked all weekend helping to run the orientation events. Thankfully, today is the first day of classes for our students and I can get back to a regular schedule and regular life.

Last week we took our orientation leaders to Skate World for dinner and some skating fun. Avery had never been on roller skates before and was brave enough to try. She did so well! I was really proud of her and was a little nervious that she would not want to skate after falling down. To my surprise she laughed every time she fell! Everyday I am reminded how amazing she is and that she is growing up way too fast!

Danielle did a great job helping Avery. Thanks!

I'm not sure what skating move Avery is doing here but Maleah is certainly enjoying it!

My little princesses

2009-08-10T12:29:00.002-04:00

Oh how my girls love to play dress up!

Playing it safe

2009-08-07T14:00:00.001-04:00

Evidently, playing XBox is dangerous enough to have to wear a helmet. However, clothes are optional.

Visiting the "resort"

2009-08-07T13:54:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday we visited my good friends, Sarah and Alex and their beautiful little girl, Micah. Alex's parents live in a community with a pool and a water play area where water squirts out of the ground. There are a lot of other cool amenities there and so I've dubbed it "The Resort." We had a super fun day and enjoyed some quality time with great people.

Avery striking a pose.

baby Micah

They loved to stick their butts out and have the water splash on their backs.

We love Ju Ju!!

2009-08-07T13:50:00.002-04:00

You may be asking yourself "What is a Ju Ju?" Let me explain. My friend, Nicole, bought a Curious George doll for Paige for Chritmas. It has since become her favorite thing - what some might call a "lovey". However, Paige has always referred to him as Ju Ju and so now we all call him that. She now also has a smaller version of Ju Ju that is good for taking places since the original is sometimes to large to carry all over town.

Giving Ju Ju big hugs.
Mini Ju Ju also enjoys the rocking horse.

Rocking horse

2009-08-07T13:47:00.001-04:00

Just enjoying an afternoon and riding on the rocking horse that Mamaw's brother made for them.

Surf's up

2009-08-07T13:41:00.003-04:00

We went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants the other night (Hurricane's) and they now serve their kids meals in a frisbee. Avery had so much fun with this frisbee while Adam and I finished our meals. I think she kept everyone else in the restaurant entertained as well. They all stopped by our table to say hi on their way out the door!

New record

2009-07-23T11:51:00.002-04:00

So, I'm pretty serious about my grocery shopping. Once we had kids and decided it was crazy to spend a lot of money going out to eat, I figured I should do my best to buy groceries and plan meals. Every Sunday afternoon, I sit down with the ad from Publix and my coupons. I make a very detailed list and plan out our meals for the week. I always try to save as much as possible. In February I came home with $132.59 worth of groceries for the week (including diapers and wipes) but thanks to sales and coupons only spent $85.95. That's a savings of $46.64 (35%). I was so excited that I stuck the receipt to the frig to remind me to try to beat it.

Well, this past week I beat it. I came home with $157.18 worth of groceries for $97.30. That's a savings of $59.88! (38%) Now I can finally replace the receipt from February. I love when all the stars align and what I need is on sale AND Ihave a coupon!

Grilled pizza

2009-07-15T16:03:00.003-04:00

As most people know, Adam LOVES to grill. We try to use the grill at least once or twice a week and if Adam got home from work earlier than he usually does then we would grill even more often. We are always trying new things on the grill, including perfecting BBQ ribs - delish! Our latest experiement was pizza on the grill. We've seen Bobby Flay do it numerous times but we were never brave enough to try it. until this past weekend. What a success! It was definitely the best pizza we've ever made. YUM!

Noni's girls

2009-07-15T16:02:00.002-04:00

Noni loved having all of her girls together in one place!

Cousin Sofie

2009-07-15T15:58:00.003-04:00

Adam's sister, Maquel visited recently with her husband, Alan and daughter, Sofie. We haven't seen Sofie in over a year so it was great to see how much she's grown. Sofie and Paige are only two months apart and they had a great time playing together (when they weren't fighting over toys or people!). Here are some pics from the day they came to our house.

The next day we went to Noni's house (Adam's mom) and they were very focused on coloring.

The beach

2009-07-06T14:40:00.002-04:00

We planned on driving back from Jacksonville Thursday night but a strong thunderstorm (and Grandma) persuaded me to stay another night. Then since we were staying till the next day and everyone was headed to beach that day we couldn't resist getting a few hours of beach time in before driving back to Winter Haven. Avery spent most of her time collecting a bucket of seashells while Paige was back and forth between playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean. I can't wait to take them to the beach again!

Pump It Up

2009-07-06T14:35:00.003-04:00

To continue all the family fun, the girls and I drove up to Jacksonville with my parents and nephew to spend a few days with my sister and her kids. My brother, Jonathan also flew in from Chicago. He had requested that we go to Pump It Up (inflatable play place) while he was in town. It was only a few days before his birthday so we thought it would be fun to have a surprise party scheduled for him there. He had no idea and I'm sure he wasn't expecting to have his 24th birthday party be attended by six of his neices and nephews all under the age of 10!

Grandpa slid down this huge slide with Paige and went so fast he flew right off the end. Too funny!

Avery and Paige sitting with Uncle Jonathan on the birthday throne.

Universal and Islands of Adventure

2009-07-06T14:24:00.003-04:00

We all went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure this past week with my parents. The girls had so much fun (and so did Adam and I)! It was a hot day but we somehow all survived. Now that I look at the pictures I took, I am realizing they are all in either Suessland or in the Curious George Storybook area. We did actually ride grown up rides like the Incredible Hulk, The Simpsons Ride (awesome!), Jaws, and Jurassic Park. I guess when you have kids the most exciting part is whatever makes them the happiest.

Paige LOVES Curious George! All day long she talked about "meeting" him.

Family time

2009-07-06T14:16:00.002-04:00

Last week my parents and my nephew visited us from Pittsburgh. While they were here we drove up to my uncle's house since my cousin, Mary was aslo visiting (from VA) with her husband and two kids. Add in my sister Christina and her family of three kids and you have a whole housefull! We all had a great time swimming and watching the kids play.

drawing with chalk on the front porch
Paige, for some reason, loves to clean tile floors with diaper wipes!

going for a ride around the Villages in Uncle Dan's golf cart

all the kids by the pool

Bella Dancerella

2009-07-06T14:13:00.003-04:00

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit last week and brought a ballerina bar and some instructional DVDs for Avery. She kept asking for a ballerina bar for Christmas but I wasn't able to find one so she was SO excited to get this. She immediately wanted to put on her ballet clothes and learn the steps. There are two DVDs and she watched each one twice! I see a lot of Bella Dancerella watching in our future. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Like a fish...

2009-07-06T13:41:00.002-04:00

Avery took swim lessons last month at Florida Southern. She loved going and has made a lot of progress but the one thing she refuses to do is put her face in the water. Hopefully that will come soon!

Her friend, Julia from church was also in her class.

Love it!

2009-06-22T13:55:00.006-04:00

How cute is this? Avery (17 months) and Paige (20 minths). LOVE IT!!

Yum!

2009-06-22T13:43:00.000-04:00

Gotta love popsicles in the summer!

Staying cool

2009-06-22T13:38:00.003-04:00

We have had the hottest two weeks I can remember in Florida. The heat index has been above 100 degrees and it is insane! To get a break from the heat we decided to go swimming Sunday afternoon. Avery has been taking swim lessons the past couple of weeks and we needed to work on her swimming on the noodle on her own. As you can see in the pictures below Adam finally got her to be brave enough to let go. A HUGE step for her! While that was a great accomplishment, swimming was NOT a good way to cool off yesterday. The pool water was hotter then the air outside!! It might as well have been a hot tub. Thankfully the weather folks are saying that we will have a cool down in the next couple of days and the high will only be 92. Yeah!

Avery's first sleepover - no sleeping required

2009-06-22T13:25:00.003-04:00

Avery's best friend, (or BFF as she says it) Kennedy spent Friday night at our house for their first official sleepover. What a night we had! It started off with pizza of course and also included a movie - Aladin. Then it was off to bed - or so I thought! I now know why their pre-school teacher would not let them go to the bathroom together. They are little chatter boxes. Who would have thought they would have so much to talk about at four years old? It was about 11:30pm before they finally went to sleep. Either that or I fell asleep and just couldn't hear them talking anymore. Saturday morning they were up with the sun and played dress up most of the morning. I kept having flashbacks to when I was younger and all the fun sleepovers I had with my friends. I'm certain the girls had a great time together and I hope they will be friends for life. I see many more sleepless sleepovers in our future!

Paige was a little bit of a tag-a-long but the girls didn't seem to mind too much.
In pajamas, watching Aladin.
The following day they were learning dance moves from Avery's princess sing-a-long DVD, in high heels of course!

Cracker Barrel

2009-06-19T14:43:00.002-04:00

On their last day with us the grandparents treated us to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Unfortunately, Mamaw was sick and missed out but it was delicious! Of course we also had to spend some time rocking and playing checkers on the front porch.

Family Fun Center

2009-06-19T14:25:00.002-04:00

We happened to have quite a heat wave this past week while the grandparents were visiting from Maine. It was way to hot for me to handle so I can assume it was quite a shock to them coming from what I refer to as the frozen tundra. This meant that we had to find things to do that were indoors during their visit. We went to the library, the mall, the movies and Family Fun Center. The girsl had a great time climbing on the play equipmnt and playing in the balls.

Paige was a little cautious at first but once she got the hang of it she loved jumping on the bouncy mat.
Where's Avery?

Daddy and Paige having some climbing fun.

Happy Birthday Gram!

2009-06-19T14:22:00.002-04:00

Gimper, Mamaw, Grammie and Grampie flew down for a visit last week and they day they arrived also happened to be Gram's birthday. We surprised her with a cake and we all had a great time singing to her and celebrating her birthday.

Play ball

2009-06-19T14:13:00.002-04:00

Unlike Avery (and much to Adam's delight) Paige loves to play catch with Daddy. She is always picking up her ball and glove and asking Daddy to play with her. She has the throwing part down real good so now we are working on the catching. I see many softball games in our future!

Who's cute kids are those?

2009-05-29T09:37:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah, mine!

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-29T09:25:00.005-04:00

What a great weekend we had! First of all, I had an especially long weekend since I also took Thursday and Friday off work. I just had a million things to do around the house Thursday and then was headed to Jacksonville on Friday. My sister, Christina wanted to have a yard sale and asked me to help. I, of course, love yard sales and was happy to contribute. However, with all the rain we have had we were not sure if we could even still have the yard sale but I hauled all my stuff up to her house anyway just in case. We spent Friday night getting everything ready while the rain poured down. Saturday morning we thankfully woke up to somewhat blue skies. We sold a lot of stuff all morning until about 10:00am when it started to rain and we had to call it a day. Still a very successful sale and Avery and Paige had so much fun with their cousins. Sunday afternoon we were back at home and spent some quality time at the park (until it rained, of course).

We were invited to two Memorial Day picnics on Monday. The first one was at my friend, Jenn's house and we enjoyed some BBQ, swimming and street luge. Yes, that is Adam riding a homemade street luge down the street.

Next we were off to our friends Aaron and Amy's house for another BBQ. We had a great time there as well and enjoyed the company of some very good friends. And of course no Memorial Day picnic is complete without a balloon toss game!

It was a fantastic and busy weekend that we all could have used another day off from just to recover!