Birthday Present from Florida

WOW what a big surprise !!! Marnier and Gigi bought me a horse for my 1st birthday , I can hardly wait to ride him !

English saddle just like mommy's

I love my new horse
When I squeeze his ears they make noises

Alistair loves his bootsMe and my horse are best friends!

Celebrating 30 years !

Starting the weekend Friday night when my wonderful in laws took me out to eat for my birthday. I wearing the necklace that my mother sent me in this picture. The restaurant was in the same plaza we go to for the farmers market every Wed night and we wanted to try it out. We were not let down either the food was amazing and at the end of the meal they gave us each a shot of Sambuca with three coffee beans in it, representing Past Present and Future. We were to eat the Present and Future and leave the Past bean ! Did I mention the Sambuca was on fire as well....whoa !
Once we got home ......
I was changing the baby into his pj's when they set this all up for me. I was surprised by the beautiful cake from AJ's they picked up with my favorite flavors Raspberry and chocolate .
Wonderful family celebrating my birthday
Milk does a body good
Very excited about my new ipod! Since Grace ate my last one
Hey it wouldn't be my blog if I didn't have pictures of Alistair in it

My most favorite gift from my husband was the DVD he made of all our "changes in 2008 " I was in tears on some of the most special moments like our son's birth and our trip to Roaton.
Alistair and Grace crawling around my feet while I opened presents
Sunday,I wanted to find a way to get all my friends together for my birthday and since its football season I thought what a better way to do that by having everyone meet a my favorite sports bar "Buffalo Wings Wings" (BW3's) So Jeff and I started saving tables and eating wings at 9:30am till our movie started at 3:30pm..whoa long day , but alot of fun. Thanks to all my friends that made it ! The movie "Couples Retreat" was pretty funny too..See it with your spouse !
All the football was starting to make us ladies a little crazy so we tried acting like our husbands by putting on their sunglasses

Monday Night (my actual birthday)In my beautiful new dress from my mother. Jeff took me to an undisclosed location for my birthday dinner. I was pleasantly surprised at his research on this fabulous restaurant in Phoenix. It even inspired us to start our "Two to Review" blog coming soon . All I will say now is that it was Italian cuisine and that they specialize in their homemade pastas. It was amazingly wonderful to sit across the table from my husband and enjoy a dinner for the two of us.

What a fantastic birthday weekend, that I will remember for years to come. Thanks everyone who made this day so special for me.

Date with Kate!

So much fun when we get the little babes together for the day. They are always glad see to each other, wish we lived closer . Decided to take them to the park after a little shopping and have our sacks lunches under the trees. The park we choose was the McCormick Railroad Park and there's lots to do there for kids. There's a train that runs through and a carousel ! Even a Caboose that has very reasonable snacks . After playing under the trees and swinging on the swings we enjoyed some Vanilla Frozen yogurt . What a fantastic day it was !Alistair and Kate sitting in a tree.......

Momma forgot to pack the sunglasses ..sun's too bright
Kate being a big girl and standing up without help from momma
I love this picture, Alistair is being all grown up and reading the pamphlet we got at the park with his legs crossed
Didn't get to go on the train this time, but the babies waved as it passed us by

Had a great day at the McCormick Railroad Park as you can see! Love our fun dates with Kate

Nice Long Weekend!

What a great weekend we had! Lots of relaxing , a little decorating, some horseback riding and alot of FUNAlistair just chillin under the tree with his new windmill toy !
Jeff making the house all spooky and stuff
Putting up the giant spider web
The dogs were excited about decorating too...they love to help out
Ready for Alistair's first birthday party and Halloween
Beautiful horses
Missing our boots..oops! Moses the horse is saying "come back , you can still ride me"
Alistair making his introductions
Chuck is getting Zip the horse ready for our ride

It was really nice to be back on a horse again, its been years since I've ridden
Taking off for my ride of the afternoon
Alistair thought it was really cool to be sitting on Ms. Jody the horse...loved her mane

Started the weekend off with a little decorating and relaxing with our family (dogs included). Every year Jeff does such a great job decorating for the holidays. Sunday we were invited to our friends house to ride horses and have Cowboy Bar B-que ! We had so much fun . I haven't been on a horse in years and this was Jeff's third time riding and Alistair first ever ! He didn't ride just sat up on top of the horse I rode (Ms. Jody) Can't wait to ride again

First Haircut!

So our little man was being called a "girl" on many occasions and we finally held off no longer to get his beautiful locks cut. Mommy and Daddy were so sad to see the hair fall to the ground. Alistair was so great during his salon experience and actually loved sitting in the airplane chair while being cut. We took him to a place called Little Chops off of Bell Rd. and we were very happy with the results !"Hold back the paparazzi , its my First Haircut and I'm gonna enjoy this"
"Whats the big deal mom? Its just hair , no need to cry"
Our Hairdresser did a great job keeping Alistair all smiles during the shearing
Needed to chew on his comb for some support
Alistair was shaggy no longer !

Thank you Little Chops for making our experience great ! Love the certificate and the leftover hair we got to keep.

A Real Italian Boy!

Since Alistair has been so curious about our food , we decided to give him some spaghetti to try out. Boy were we in for a surprise when we saw how much he enjoyed it. His Grammy and Mariner would be proud to see his love for Italian foods.Happy Boy ready to enjoy his first Spaghetti dinner !
"you want some ?" Alistair has learned to share his food and his toys now
A nice attempt made by the little dude
Some of the noodles made it in and some didn't
Licking off all the sauce off my little fingers

I think overall Alistair's first Spaghetti experience was good and messy ! Lots of clean up time for this little boy. Big smiles when he was all finished !

Our Florida Trip at 10 months old!

Another Fabulous trip to Florida and seeing it through a 10 month olds eyes was amazing. Our trip was 10 days and we think we were able to get everything we needed to have Fun done while we were there! Can't wait till January
Just got off the plane and onto a Train !

Little Family Reunion in Dade City meeting all our new cousins

Piano Man at Aunt Shawn's house
Lunch at Kokopeli's with all the fine ladies
So much Green he didn't know what to do
Aunt Shawn and Uncle Sam !
Aunt Shawn's new horse Augustana
Trip to Dade City to Visit Family and Friends
Grammy and Alistair "Cash " Time
Some bedtime reading "Victoria's Secret" starting young
A very tired well traveled mommy with Alistair's pilot hat
Learned how to "give five" with GiGi
Love me some Pastina...Stars all over my face

Pretending to Fly in the swing is his Favorite at the park
He climbed the stairs (with help) and reached the top of the tower
Not sure what this was exactly but it bobbed up and down and he likes anything thats bounces
Sliding is one of Alistair's favorite things at the park
Pool time !
For my birthday I was surprised with cooking lessons at Cafe Largo
Chef teaching us how to chop up a chicken to make the stock for the soup
Chopping up the bagettes
Torching the French Onion Soup
My delicious Chocolate souffle
Us and Chef Dominque at the end of the night
Had to capture this happy face
Loves to stand in his new boots
These boots are made for walking
He had a cabinet of tubberware all to himself
Megan and Alistair had lots of fun together....he missed his puppies at home
The beach was a little scary for the big guy this trip , I think it was the rush of the waves
A little tired boy wasn't quite ready to jump in the ocean just yet
We just couldn't miss our storytime at the library , so we checked out Mariner's library pretty cool
So many babies at the Pinellas Library....we had a blast watching him play
All Dressed up and Ready to go on our Girls night, it was so nice to feel like a girl again with these ladies
What a lovely way to start the evening with a little "feet time"
Getting pedicures before Dinner at Tappas
Been Best Friends for 20 years !! Here's to another 30
All dressed up for the Cancer Benefit Ball , it was a 1920's theme, we shopped all day looking for a wig for Mariner
Goodbye Hugs from GiGi
A kiss goodbye from Mariner all dress up for the 1920's ball
Had to get creative with the "lack of" a high chair...he ended up on my lap to eat that night
Nothing like a Kitchen Sink Bath after a wonderful dinner to end the night
Loving Grammy's big bed to sleep in during naptime!
Alistair just completed his first ever "REAL" crawl , I got the video on my cell phone, but his expression was priceless because he was so proud of himself. Now I'm running around the house chasing him !
Our picnic on the floor at Grammy's house waiting for Aunt Ro to pick us up for the day
Here's our little man in boots at the Boot Ranch sign across the street from the old neighborhood I grew up at . It was very cool to show him this because as a kid I would pass this everyday.