Springtime at the Wetlands in Viera

The Wetlands - Viera, FL

Here in Florida, it is starting to look like spring!  We have planted some new plants around the house, I planted my strawberry pot and tomatoes, and my herbs are growing like mad!  I just love this time of year, though my husband would beg to differ, due to his seasonal allergies!  This past weekend the weather was so beautiful, I took the Little Man to a birthday party and they just so happened to live near the wetlands, where you can find MANY kinds of birds and alligators, all in their natural habitat!

This was the largest alligator we saw, around two feet long!  Ryan was more interested in blowing bubbles than he was in looking at the alligator!

This little guy was eyeing that fish that was bigger than he was, in the water -- a good dinner, for sure!

And this alligator was just about to cross the street, when we came upon it.  He crouched down in the grass, then walked a little more towards the road, then decided to go back into the water.

Ryan in front of the Alligator Safety rules sign!



A Lovely Plantation Wedding

Only in Florida can you have a beautiful outside wedding in the middle of January!  A few weeks ago, one our dearest friends' youngest son got married at a lovely plantation surrounded by ancient oak trees in Apopka, FL called Highland Manor.  Our oldest son was also invited and he and his girlfriend Sarah joined us there.  You see, Danny and Donnie have been good friends since they were 8 months old!  That is a long time. And the bride Rachael?  Danny was in Little Lambs preschool with her way back when they were 4 years old.  So sweet!  It is wonderful to see how God works sometimes!

The Kiss

Enjoying the plantation outside after the wedding

Rick, Myself, Sarah and Danny

Donnie and Danny

The gorgeous bride and groom with my son and his beautiful girlfriend

And who do you suppose caught the garter???

First Cross Stitched Ornament of the year

DMC Freebie Pattern

DMC floss used

Stitched on Natural Linen

This is the first ornment I have ever made.  I have always admired them but never sewed one together.  After veiwing so many beautiful handstitched ornaments on trees this season on various blogs, I felt I should give it a go.  I have cross stitched ornaments, but I used to put them in tiny small frames and then hang those on the tree.  After seeing Faye's coffee ornament for a friend, I knew it would be a perfect gift for one of my dear friends whose birthday was just a couple of weeks ago. She loves coffee SO much, and I had it in mind that she could hang this off of the doorknob on her pantry door in her kitchen. 

Here is the backing fabric.  I loved the swirls in the design and copied Faye's idea of using a swirl background to back it, and used a silver and copper colored bead at the base of the gingham ribbon.



Here it is hanging on MY closet door!  I did choose other colors for the cup itself, and used two different colors of floss to make the "froth".  Thank you Faye for sharing with us your design!  I just love how it turned out!

This is now my NEW stitching bag!  I get so many complements on it.  My friend Annette, who I made the coffee ornament for, made me this bag for Christmas and I just love it!  It has a padded pocket inside where I place my scissors and it is SO big, I can carry my stitching, graphs, books, even my iPad!  Next I am working on a "LOVE" ornament for another friend.  I do need to make some for me though!  Hopefully soon!

The ABC's of ME

This is a picture of our dog Ozzie (who is mentioned below).  The Rocket Scientist had knee surgery last week and decided to drive himself to work today.  He is doing well, but is on crutches for the week with a bandaged knee and a brace.  Yikes!  After Friday we will see if he has to keep using the crutches or not.

I have been seeing these ABC's of me out in blogland, so I decided to post them for myself here!

A - Age: 48
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Mopping
D - Dog's name: Ozzie (named for the White Sox General Manager)
E - Essential start of the day item: Extra Bold coffee from my Keurig
F - Favorite color: Pink
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'5"
I - Instruments you play: Alto Sax and Organ/piano
J - Job: Bookstore Sales Associate at our church bookstore
K - Kids: 3 Daniel, Alivia and Ryan
L - Living arrangements: Me, Husband, 3 kids, dog and fish all in the same house!
M - Music you love: Pop, Christian and Christmas Music!
N - Nicknames: Mom
O - Overnight hospital stay at hospital: Yes, when I had my kids
P - Pet Peeve: People driving slow
Q - Quote from a movie: "You should see what it looks like from out here!"
R - Right handed or left: right
S - Siblings: A half brother and a half sister
T - Time you wake up: usually around 5:30
U - Underwear: Yes
V - Vegetable you dislike: Parsnips
W - Workout Style: Just Dance 2 on Nintendo Wii
X - X-rays you've had: teeth, ankle, back, neck
Y - Yummy food you make: cupcakes and fudge
Z - Z best place to visit: Disney World!

Happy New Year, 2011!

Happy New Year!

What does this new year mean to you??  What will it bring??  It is exciting to THINK about the possibilities.  I'm sure there will be good times and ones we hope would never occur.  What about New Years Resolutions?  We hate to make them, but only because we hate to break them!  But you can't help but think about them.  I like the words of that wonderful woman of God, Corrie ten Boom, who said, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."

Here are a few things I would like to accomplish this year:

1.  Eat better.  Yep.  I believe for me, sugar and wheat are the culprits in my life that make me unfit when I consume it in excess.  I will try to reduce these two things in my daily food consumption.

2.  Be Fit.  Oh, how I do NOT like to exercise!  I don't want to be exhausted, panting and out of breath.  But to lose these extras pounds, I believe we have to Eat Less and Move More.  That is my husband's diet.  He has always said this, and he is accomplishing it pretty well these last few weeks.  I will have to join him on this one, along with my daughter, who also needs to exercise. 30 minutes 5 days a week.  We will see how that goes.

3.  New Flooring.  The carpet in my house is not in the best shape.  The tile and grout needs some major help.  Enough said. 

4.  Finish the office.  It looks pretty good, but needs organized (ugh) which I do not know how to do.  I am not a decorator or an organizer.  I wish I was, but something happens between my brain and my hands that just does not seem to work.  I will let Pottery Barn Catalogs do that for me.  ;-)

5.  Work with my Hands.  I love to make jewelry and cross stitch.  I would love to find time to do some cross stitching this year.

6.  Read.  I would like to read the Harry Potter Series.  We will see how far I get on that!

That is it!  I do look forward to some things this year.  My Oldest Son graduating COLLEGE (yippee!), my youngest son graduating Kindergarten, and the middle girl -- well, I'm sure she will love getting through 7th grade! I pray I will accomplish some of my goals here.  I will look back to this post over the year and see how I do.  Motivation is key!

"You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance."—Psalm 65:11

God is in control of your future. He is ready to bless you in this coming year.

Christmastime Memories

Alivia's Christmas Concert started out the month of Christmas cheer!

Ryan and Mrs. Smith at the Science Fair, put on by the Orlando Science Museum!

We had snow here in Brevard County - actually it was "bubble" snow, but the kids loved it!

Of course, meeting Santa is what it is ALL about in DECEMBER!!

Danny made it to Ryan's class Christmas Party -- and Ryan LOVED having him there!

Ryan making a GREAT looking Gingerbread house!

Ryan was a big help in the kitchen, helping me make Gingerbread Cookies for the holidays!

This is one of the bracelets I made for a dear friend of mine.  She LOVES Santas!!

Our oldest son LOVES switching the letters around to spell NOLE instead of NOEL!  grrrr...

Of course, Cookies for Santa are placed out on Christmas Eve!

And finally Christmas Morning, where "all is right with the world"!  Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Story