Early Christmas with Grammy and Uncle Trent

Grammy (Matt's mom) and Uncle Trent (Matt's brother) were able to come and visit us last week. The kids were thirlled to find out that they were going to get to open presents with them and on Christmas morning!

Ladies and Gentlemen....Hannah Montana!!

The cutest kids in the world! :)

Random Pictures

Braylon swinging at the park in our complex. It insults him to use the baby swing, so he just sits still in the regular size one!

My little model...

The Gulf Breeze Christmas parade and yes, most people were wearing shorts!

We all thought this was awesome!! :)

Christmas Time at the Beach

In my head I had envisioned a day at the beach with bright blue skies, beautiful sand, waves crashing all around, cute little Santa hats... the recipe for a GREAT Christmas card. Well... what I got was gray skies, grass and rocks, and Santa hats that were too small for Matt and I.
We still had a blast taking all these pictures....

Updates on the kids...

Madison is one week away from her first report card, the school year is flying by so quickly! She loves school and adores her teacher, Miss Jones. I am blown away with the school, she is already learning how to write in cursive...she's only in 1st grade! In fact, anything that she writes MUST be written in cursive. I think that I didn't learn it until 3rd grade. She is on the waiting list for piano lessons. We are starting her with piano but eventually she wants to play the violin. Violin lessons are only offered for 4th grade and up...but we aren't even going to talk 4th grade for a long time! :)
Braylon is getting so tall, everyone who meets him can't believe he is only 2...I don't know if that's a good sign or not? :) When you ask him what his name is, he proudly proclaims "Bacon". For some reason he can't say Braylon, it just comes out Bacon! It's really cute. He loves to throw the ball, push his dump truck up and down our hallway and ride his bike on the sidewalk. He is so active and has no use whatsoever for the TV. We are working on breaking him of the bottle...not going so well yet but we (daddy and mommy) will win this war! LOL

That's all for now...going to go enjoy a cup of coffee and the rest of my Sunday afternoon!
Love you all!

Papa Sweet Pea and Grammy

Dwight and Marcia (aka: Papa Sweet Pea and Grammy) came down this past week for a visit. We had a great time with them. They got to see Madison's new school by taking and picking her up everyday. We took them to the beach, to the Naval Museum, and various restaurants around the city. Here are some pictures of our time with them:

"I've found my twin!"

Last Thursday when I picked Madison up, she skipped all the way to the car...was excited about something. Once we got in the car she looked at me and said "Mom, I've found my twin!" Then without skipping a beat, cocked her head sideways as if she were thinking and continued to say, "Well, except she has green eyes, blonde hair and she's taller than me!" :) --Other than that they must have been identical!!

The first week...

Well, we have officially completed the first week of school. Madison loves it so much! I get to take her and walk her to her class every morning and then I use my lunch hour to go and pick her up. It's special time that she and I have together. Normally on the way home from school we turn on Zach's CD and sing as loud as we can "If I could give you the world..." Very fun!! :)
I'm sure that as the year progresses there will be many stories to tell!

First day of 1st Grade!!

Well, the day that Madison claimed (this morning) she "had been waiting all her life for" has arrived. We woke up at 6:15 and Madison took a shower all by herself "because that's what first graders do, ya know." (Or so I was informed.) We ate breakfast, got dressed in her new school clothes and shoes and we headed off to school! Everything went very smooth and Madison was excited to get there. Once we arrived there were many parents doing the same thing I was- taking pictures, kissing and doting over their children. All of the children were doing the same thing- wishing we would stop! :)
Once we got Madison into her class, put her book bag away and found her seat- which is in the very front of the class, she was ready for Braylon and I to leave. She kept whispering under her breath, "Okay mom, bye...bye mom!" I guess I would rather have it that way than have to peel her off my leg.
We had a wonderful start to a great school year!

Above: Of course Braylon had to jump in there!

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School Open House

Today was Madison's open house at her new school. We toured the (huge) facility and saw Madison's classroom, the library, the cafeteria, the gym, and the music suite. Below are some pictures of our visit. She is so excited to start school. Thursday we go for orientation and to actually meet Miss Jones, her teacher.

Above: Madison's classroom

Above: Mommy and Madison is her classroom

One of the four major music rooms in the music suite. (Very impressive!)

Only Madison can say that she had a palm tree in the middle of her school that was two stories high!

Above: The cafeteria

Above: Daddy and Madison in the library

Looking around the library

This is the atrium. (looking from the front to the back)

The atrium (looking from the back to the front)