Christmas Eve

We got our family Christmas Eve picture this year!!

Gingerbread houses

This has become such a fun tradition:

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We had fun getting in the Christmas Spirit this weekend!

Cousins met us at our favorite tree farm to find their perfect tree too!

Found it!!

The girls especially loved seeing the gingerbread houses on display downtown.

Hundreds and hundreds of them... so creative!

The Winter Garden at Phipps.

I had no idea it was going to be so decorated for Christmas- this is my new favorite place to visit in Pittsburgh in December!!

This cactus was HUGE!

This tree has lighted butterflies all over it and was in the water so there was a perfect reflection in front.

All 5 of us enjoyed this night at Phipps Conservatory- the pictures don't even come close to capturing how beautiful it was.

Florida!!!

We had a terrific trip to Florida- I took over 500 pictures but here are a few highlights:

They were so excited to fly on an airplane- Owen remembers a little but it really was a first for the girls.

On our way to Magic Kingdom

Classic USA family photo

The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House was a favorite on our first day in Magic Kingdom.

The magic carpet ride was one of the girl's favorites.

Tom Sawyer's Island was fun for all too.

Audrey loved all of the cute Mickey Mouse ice cream treats we tried throughout the week!

Dancin' the night away with Nana, Minnie, Mickey and Goofy at Mickey's Backyard BBQ.

The park was decorated for Christmas- Cinderella's castle was especially beautiful.

We went to Animal Kingdom on Day 2- great safari and fantastic shows there.

Our tour of the Everglades was fantastic- there is a 12 foot alligator in the water beside Owen... we saw well over 30 alligators of all sizes plus many native birds and plants during our 90 minute tour.

All of us got to hold this baby alligator named Fluffy at the end!

We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at Cocoa Beach- their first time seeing the ocean.  Elaina had fun building all kind of things in the sand while Owen went in the water with Erik and Audrey searched for shells.

A great night seeing the fireworks over Cinderella's castle from Hook's boat in the Seven Seas Lagoon!

Another of Elaina's favorite rides...

Her love of princesses was rekindled on our day in Fantasyland.

Owen especially enjoyed this mini golf course at our hotel.

Audrey was more interested in meeting Jake than the princesses.

Everyone enjoyed our day at Sea World!

The Osborne Family light show at Hollywood Studios was an unexpected surprise- we even had "snow!"

Owen loved his day at Epcot with Dad and Papa.

Rainforest Cafe was a favorite restaurant- Audrey was especially excited about this table! 

Enchanted Tales With Belle was amazing- Elaina and Audrey both participated in the show!

The Antarctic/penguin exhibit at Sea World was fantastic.

The girls enjoyed these paddle boats at our hotel.

It was so nice to have Nana and Papa with us for this week of adventure and fun!!

Happy Halloween!

The kids all designed their own pumpkins this year and even did a lot of the carving themselves thanks to kid-friendly carving tools you can get now!

Scary monster pose

The girls had fun making monster play dough creations on a rainy Halloween afternoon!

Sly ninja, adorable Little Red Riding Hood and sassy leopard

Vacation Surprise!

We told the kids about our trip to Florida!!  Their reactions were not quite what we expected.  The first thing Owen said while jumping up and down was, "I get to miss some school!"  Elaina said she doesn't want to go to the beach and started crying while she said, "I don't want to miss school.  I love school!"  Audrey said, "Are we seriously riding on an airplane?"  It's been a day to let it all sink in and talk about it and they are all very excited to go.  Here's a picture of the poster I made with the announcement: