New Year's Eve.

I can hardly believe it's the last day of 2007 ...
Where did the past year disappear to?

There are so many fond memories of 2007. We had the opportunity to experience many new things and travel quite a bit. We are all healthy and happy ... and really aren't those two of the most important things in life?

We wish you a very happy 2008 ...

I've added some new PPs to my EBAY STORE today!

Wintergreen Resort.

We decided to get away for a few days ...

So we went to the Wintergreen Resort.
Oh my stars ... it was FANTASTIC!!

It's only about an an hour and a half drive from our house, so it was a very easy drive. It's located on the Blueridge Mountain Range. I can not tell you how much fun we had!! We rented a condo and played in the snow for quite awhile on Saturday. This time of year, they had no natural snow fall ... it was all man made ... but honestly ... who could tell the difference? I had a ton of other pictures I was trying to load, but Blogger would only allow me to load 10.


This is a sign of all of the fun activities available at Wintergreen Resort


Mike, Griffin and Bett getting ready to snow tube on "The Slide" area of the resort. We did this over and over (yes even I did it too!) ... it was SO much fun!


And a picture of them at the bottom of the hill


A picture of "The Slide" and over to the right of the picture you can see some of the snowskiers


Griffin having a BLAST snow tubing


This is a picture of the entrance to "The Slide" ...


A picture of a skiing trail


Isn't this gorgeous? I took this from one of the lookouts at the top of the mountain


And another skiing trail


And this is a picture of the local firefighters that paid a visit to our condo. We had a fireplace in our room and smoke was coming into our room even though we did not have a fire going. Bett called the office and expressed a concern and they dispatched the fire department. We had no idea the fire department was coming. Mike had closed the damper on the fireplace which remedied the problem, so we thought no more of it ... until we heard the fire engines coming and then the fire fighters knocking at our doors. They used this little machine thing to make sure there was no fire in the fireplace, which of course there wasn't. Griffin was in Heaven!! He loved meeting "real life" fire fighters.

Sneak Peak!

Sharing a sneak peak of what we've been up to ...
more to come!

A New Favorite Thing.

Today I decided I just HAD to share my new favorite thing!!


I received this wonderful new soap this year as a Christmas gift and I love, love, triple LOVE it!!

I normally do not like lotions at all ... I do not like the way they make your hands feel greasy and gooey. But this soap has lotion built in! And it's a great thing because where we live it's very cold and my hands get very dry.

It's from Bath & Body Works ... it's an anti-bacterial moisturizing hand soap with green tea extract and shea butter. It's has a rich lather to soften and sooth dry hands and it kills germs ... I copied all of that from the package ... LOL!

And the scent ... oh my goodness ... it's called Kitchen Lemon. It's not a scent I normally would have bought for myself because I am very much a vanilla or lavendar kind of girl ... but I am LOVING this!! If you are looking for a new kitchen soap ... I can highly recommend this new favorite thing of mine!!

Okay ... so now I will share ...

Things I've added to my EBAY STORE today!



The first item on the list is brand new ... the other four are things I've listed before, and took time to make them again!!

We are off for an adventure today ... will share when we get back!

Florida.

I realized yesterday I never shared pictures from our trip to Florida in November. It's always so nice to go home and visit our family and friends.

I thought I would share some of the fun things we did. When I was loading these pictures I thought I had pictures of my brother Jerome and my sister-in-law Bonnie (especially of Bonnie and me at Buddy Freddy's) but I could not find them. I just wanted to say seeing them and spending time with them was a highlight too ... I just do not have pictures to share.


Have you ever been to Peeble's BBQ in Auburndale? Oh my gosh ... if you haven't ... you do not know what you are missing! They have the BEST BBQ in America!!


This is my mother-in-law Bett with the owner in front of one of the BBQ pits. They grew up together and have been friends for a very long time.


This is a picture of my MIL Bett and Mike's best friend Fred in his convertible Mustang. Fred and his wife Judy live on Lake Toho in Kissimmee. Can you imagine seeing this beautiful sunset every night??


Our very sweet friends Fred and Judy


Bett, Griffin and I met Robin, Andi, and Sherry at Olive Garden for lunch. Andi gave Griffin this very cute Halloween Bear that howls ... he loves it and is still playing with it to this day. When you say "friends" ... these ladies are friends for life. I've known them all so long and I value their friendship so very much! I just have to share ... Robin was actually a bridesmaid when Mike and I got married!!


Hey Andi ... did I surprise you with some "sugar"??? LOL!!


Bett, Griffin and I went to Bartow Airbase Museum. They have this neat restaurant inside called Flightline that we ate at too! Isn't this Santa airplane cute??


Mike's Dad Ray and Step Mom Jeri, Griffin and I went to Lake Morton in Lakeland to feed the swans and ducks. Let's just say ... Griffin jumped right in!!


When I said we went to feed the swans and ducks ... what I really should have said is we went to feed the sea gulls ... yuck!! They are taking over there.

We really had a nice time ... I'm looking forward to our next visit home.

What A Day.

Wow ... we had such a good Christmas!

Griffin was so excited about coming down the stairs to discover the things Santa Claus had left for him. We had a really nice family dinner and just spent time around the house being together.


Griffin finds the bicycle that Santa left for him ...

He received soooo many sweet gifts from family and friends and of course from us and Santa ... but I thought I would share just these two for now.


He thought the rocking horse was really cool ... but he was a little afraid of it at first. By the end of evening, he was climbing and jumping on it like a pro!

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to take a quick moment to wish you all a very
Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve.

Yesterday was our baking day ... sorry I didn't download the pictures of the things we made yet.

Let's see ... we made ...
Three Hershey Bar Pies
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Balls
Tea Cake Cookies
Chocolate Chip & Pecan Butter Nut Cake

Oh my goodness ... it was so much fun baking with Bett. But, I do have to say ... she is the messiest baker! It's no secret ... I told her ... LOL. She's been doing it alot longer than I have, so really ... I shouldn't say anything.

Here are a couple of pictures of us Mommies with our boys at the mall the other day ...


Momma Missy and Griffin


Momma Bett and Mike

It's so hard to believe it's Christmas Eve. When I was a child Christmas Eve was always the longest day of the year for me. We've decided to have some of our favorite things for dinner tonight like smokey sausages in barbeque sauce, chicken wings, cheese, and whatever fancies us. Normally I make spaghetti on Christmas Eve .. but it's nice to mix it up a bit.

We will probably visit some friends sometime today to deliver some gifts. And then later tonight while "Santa" is getting things put together we will put a favorite
Christmas movie on (like Jingle all the Way).

Why don't you share some of your favorite Christmas and Christmas Eve traditions in the comments area??

The National Christmas Tree, Washington, DC

Last night we drove to Washington, DC to see The National Christmas Tree and The Pageant of Peace ...

I sometimes forget how close we live to DC. It really was ALOT of fun. I hope this is the beginning to an annual tradition.


Here you see The National Christmas Tree and to the left you can see the White House


This is the only picture we got of all of us together. It's kind of blurry here, but if you click on it, it may be more clear. It was pretty late and as you can see Griffin is covering his head with his blanket. He was pretty grumpy by this time ... but you know what? It was worth it!!


The National Christmas Tree is surrounded by a tree representing every state in the union


This is a picture of some of the state trees


This is a better view of The National Christmas Tree all by itself


Us standing in front of The National Christmas Tree


The National Christmas Tree with the Washington Monument to the right


And a final picture ... this is the Capitol Building all dressed up for the holidays with a beautiful illuminated in blue Christmas Tree

Visit With Santa.

We went to Short Pump Towne Center yesterday to get Griffin's annual picture with Santa Claus.


Santa and Griffin 2007 ...


I just loved this picture of Griffin and Santa looking at each other. It was cute as Santa was tickling Griffin to try to get him to smile.

And just for fun ... I thought I would share pictures of years past so you can see how he has grown ...


Griffin and Santa 2006 ~ 2nd Christmas


Griffin and Santa 2005 ~ 1st Christmas

We Are Decorated.

Hey Everybody ...
we are finally all decorated for Christmas!

I thought I would share some of our holiday decorating traditions with you ...


I had just began to decorate the mantle ... stockings were hung, garland was up. Mike and I were upstairs gathering more decorations and I heard a huge crash ...


We came down to this mess ... stockings were on the ground and most of our stocking hangers (which I've had for years) were broken. Griffin was playing with the stockings (and he'd been told not to touch them) ... but oh well ... accidents happen.


Bett arrived yesterday ... yeah!! I pretty much had the Christmas tree decorated, but when she arrived from the airport she helped me to finish up the decorating.


Our Christmas tree ...


A close up of our Christmas tree ...


... and another ...


This is a new ornament this year ... I love it with Griffin's picture in it


Every year we put these two white doves on our tree in memory of my Momma & Daddy

So there you have it ... our Christmas decorations ... hope you all have a great day