Monday, November 28, 2011

Thanksgiving Break 2011

was....




  • presenting my favorite Mira Bay girls with personalized, special-ordered Team Mango t-shirts. Mango... it's not a drink, it's a lifestyle.

  • a community yard sale where I got rid of tons of baby gear. Mama's going shopping!
    celebrating a good friend's birthday with micro-brewed beers at Cold Storage Craft Brewery (awesome, low-key place with awesome brews!)

  • a wine tasting event at the clubhouse.

  • a beautiful sunny day by the pool.

  • a trip to the "doc in the box" for all three Haymans. Ear infection for the little man, walking pneumonia for me and upper respiratory infection for the hubby. yeah.... go BIG or go HOME!

  • time to finish reading all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy. Love, love, LOVE this series! I want more Katniss Everdeen!

  • finally time to catch up on some movies I've been wanting to see- The Change-Up: B rating, it was okay, LOL at times; Bad Teacher: C+ considering I fell asleep during the middle of it; Crazy, Stupid Love: A-... I really liked this one, loved the fight scene towards the end and love me some Ryan G. Yep, he's made the list.

  • serving a thanksgiving feast for 18 of our closest friends and their kids. Then having another 4 join us for dessert. The evening ended with only one broken wine glass (it's becoming a thanksgiving tradition at this point) and all the boys jumping in the pool!

  • Turkey Trot 5k: I still had too much chest congestion to run, but Uncle Tom stepped in and ran with James in the one mile fun run. Apparently there was some sort of melt down in the middle when James realized he wasn't going to win the race. Yep, we are still working on sportsmanship and not always "winning."

  • putting up Christmas lights (yes, I said Christmas, not holiday!) and decorating the Christmas tree.

  • having enough leftovers of desserts and wine for another gathering with friends and good food.

  • celebrating Tom's birthday and Michigan's big win with Veronica.

  • our yearly family photo shoot.

  • another sunny day by the pool, tan lines included.

  • too short.








Almost ready for Christmas....

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

A few months in review....

Hello out there in Bloggy-Land! I realize I've been MIA for the past couple of months. I would normally blame my lack of postings on the following:


  • Learning a new job and struggling to get ahead of the power-curve with paperwork. I accepted a position as a EET Peer (teacher) Evaluator. Check out my prof bio here for my street creds.

  • Maintaining a busy social weekend calendar with the best friends and the best neighbors around. No, really. These women are amazing and their hard-working husbands deserve a shout-out too!

  • Managing the household events/chores/duties while Will finishes up his online coursework with University of Phoenix. It literally consumes almost every single waking minute aside from when he's actually at work. So, let's just say I will be very happy once all of his coursework is COMPLETE!

Yeah, I could say all of that, but I'm going to use the "F" word instead. Yep, I blame my lack of blog posting on Facebook, because let's just face it, Facebook is faster to upload photos and you get that instant gratification of posting exactly what you are thinking/doing and get feedback almost immediately. Instant gratification at it's finest. Or worse.... whatever your stance may be.


Anyway, here are some pictures that capture a glimpse of what's been keeping us busy over the past few months. Hope you enjoy......


The first day of school photo. A classic. Except James insisted on doing a "crazy" pose for the first one. Ham!
I finally got a nice smiling, handsome shot of my little sunshine (and his goofy grin). Man, when did he get so big and grown up looking? Sniff. Sniff.




Of course, with the start of school (well, pre-kindergarten) comes homework. When we can get James to sit still and focus, he actually does focus! I just had a conference with his teacher today. She stated that he is very, very booksmart and is ready for kindergarten. But his social skills sometimes get in the way of his listening and focusing.

Hmmmm... wonder where he gets that from?



All work and no play? No way!

I signed James up for soccer and he loves it! Of course, it involves his two favorite activities.... running and kicking things! He's actually pretty good at it and i love watching him practice! He's the kid on the team who doesn't stand back and wait for the play to happen, he runs forward and makes it happen. I LOVE that!


I mentioned earlier that we live amongst some of the best neighbors and best friends around. I feel truly blessed to have every single one of them in my family's life. These are just some of the precious kids that James is friends with. Here they are pre-trick or treating candy-coma.





Here's one of my latest fav pics. Mommy and Buzz Lightyear.

I love you little man.... to infinity and beyond!