New Year, New Resolution

Since I have been so terrible at blogging the last oh three months I have decided that now would be a good time to write. Our year in review has been a good one. Not the best ever, but definitely not terrible. We moved to a new place and though we miss our family and our "hometown" we've grown as a family and Alex has grown as a student and as a professional. I got a job and made some new friends which I am SO grateful for, we are active and involved in our church and have met some amazing people through that medium as well. All in all we are so thankful for everything the year has brought us and for all the blessings we've received.

I have never been one for new years resolutions but I feel inspired this year to make a few. A couple years ago Valerie had this idea to make a resolution for each month ~ not necessarily something that HAD to change or be "resolved" but just things to work on. While I have come up with no where near 12 things I have thought of a couple.

First and foremost, I want to take my certification test and become certified in Florida to teach Kindergarten through Third Grade. I want to find a position in a school close to Celebration though it would be even better if I were lucky enough to land a job in Celebration!! I have gotten my study materials and the funding (thanks to Oma and Opa) and I will be registering soon for my exam. Wish me LUCK!!

Other goals I have made for this year are to cut down on the amount of soda we drink. I am sort of ashamed to say it but I definitely drink too much coke. It is something I have been thinking about a lot lately because Avery knows what it is now and though he doesn't generally ask for it I don't want him to start wanting it regularly.

I would like for us to get out more with people here from our church. I think we never get invited to things because we are always busy. Alex is a student and so he works at night and most weekends - generally when activities are being held... therefore when we are asked we generally have to say no... and people stop asking after a while. I also work during the day so it's hard for me to go to play group and all that. I thought moving to a new place would allow us to make more friends at church but it's been pretty much about the same as back home  :(

I would like to get into better shape. I know, cliche resolution, huh? It's not that I really want to loose weight because I've lost about 6 lbs in the year we've been here - how and where from I have no idea - but I'd just like to be more fit.

We have one other goal and that is to use our Disney Annual Passes at least once a month!! What are some of your resolutions?

Happy Birthday Avery!

We have had so much going on lately that I have to write about! So, can we talk about Disney?! We took Avery to Disney for the first time on his birthday and it was a lot of fun. Alex and I have not been since we got engaged there in March of '07. My family came down and Alex and I took the day off on Friday and we spent a good part of the day taking Avery around Magic Kingdom to see characters and ride on the kiddie rides. Can I just say that he LOVED it?! I guess that's probably typical for a child visiting the most magical place on earth, right? I think he liked the rides more than anything... every time it was time to get off he would either cry or try and make a break for it to get back on! He LOVES Mickey and all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters and he was so excited to see them until we got up close and they were life size - then he got a little freaked out and wanted to hide behind me. :)

Here are some pictures from our day!

Samie and I on the race cars

Avery "driving" his and Alex's race car

Food and Wine Festival at Epcot!

Alex and I, three years and several pounds later :)

With Mickey and Minnie!

Us with Frontier Donald.

What a Great Day!

I cannot believe that it is already the end of October. Avery's birthday is next week and he will be 2 years old!! Time literally flies by. I am shocked everyday by how much he has grown, how smart he is getting, and how much he is talking. Our families will be coming to visit soon for Avery's birthday and we are taking him to Disney for the very first time. We are all so excited - I just know he's going to love seeing all the characters and the rides. I will post all about it and pictures as soon as possible!

So, just a little update on what we've been doing recently. We got Avery's Halloween costume - he is going to be a giraffe and it is SOOOOO cute. I will post pictures after he officially wears it (we have tried it on him, but I feel like I can't post pics till after Halloween)!! We went to the Pumpkin Patch here in Celebration and got a small one for Avery. He carries it around every where; it's like his little best friend ha-ha.

Here are some pictures from recently

Avery and daddy

This is the one we picked!!

Surprisingly, this only took two tries!! I can't believe it actually turned out because Avery was too short and I am holding him LOL.

Avery and Pooh Bear :)

Disney on Ice

Earlier this month I got the amazing experience of taking Avery to see Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3 at the Amway Arena here in Orlando. Our neighbors are so amazing - they couldn't go and so they gave us three tickets to see the show for free. Unfortunately, Alex had to work that night and I was really hesitant to take Avery by myself because it was a 7:30 showing... so I called a few family members that live relatively close. Because of such short notice no one was available and I decided that we had gotten really lucky with these and I didn't want the tickets to go to waste. I thought I'd just take Avery to see the first half and then we could leave at the intermission.

For a drive that is usually about 30-45 minutes, the traffic was really light and it took hardly no time to get there. We got there about an hour before the show was supposed to start and Avery had a lot of fun just watching people. The show started and it was SO exciting!! Avery got to see his favorite Disney Characters: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald and yelled out their names as they skated into the rink. He also recognized Woody, Buzz and Rex. He did so good! He sat on my lap the whole time and was almost entranced by the show. We actually ended up staying for the whole show and luckily, we had REALLY good seats and were parked close to the door and the exit; we got home in good time and we had so much fun together. I am SO glad I didn't decide not to go and SO thankful our neighbors thought of us when they couldn't use their tickets. :)

These are some of the pictures. Unfortunately, our camera was left at my parents house when we were last back home so these are taken with my blackberry ~ considering that I think some of them actually turned out pretty good. Enjoy!!

A Day to Remember

It seems I am writing on a Monthly basis now....? I actually have a bunch to write about which I will do tomorrow but I just wanted to say that I am SO thankful for our men and women who are in the service of our country. What a selfless thing to do. I wish I had half as much courage as so many who are in our armed forces.

I also wanted to take a minute to reflect and think about all the people who have lost their lives not only at the World. Trade. Center but all those who have died for our country since then. I'm thinking about our good friends Jared and Katy and the Reeves family who lost a son and a brother during his service.

I remember I was in the car with my dad on the way back from a Doctor's appointment; he was taking me to school. I was irritated because, as usual, he was listening to talk radio - something about planes - and I just wanted to listen to music. It was my Sophomore year and when I returned to school I was sent to French class. Every room had their TV's turned to the news coverage of planes flying simultaneously into the two World Trade Center towers. We all just sat there our eyes glued to the television and I realized that this must have been what my dad was listening to in the car.

Every year I think about that day and all the things that we sometimes take for granted. All the people that died that day in 2001 and all those who have died fighting for our country.... they can't be mad at their dads for not letting them listen to music, they can't enjoy little moments with their spouse or child, they can't read a good book or have a much needed cry. I think that one of the greatest things we can learn from what happened on this day 9 years ago is that you never ever know what the next day brings or when it will be your last day and so... carpe diem people!!!

Oh and congrats to previously named friends on the new digs. What's next..... a baby?! ;)

The Flipside!

So... after my last downer post I thought I should make this next one about something happy. In most recent news I accepted a job... well two jobs actually. So I interviewed at these two places one really close to where we live and another about 30 minutes away. I interviewed at the first place on a Monday and then the second place a week later on Tuesday... well the Tuesday place was so quick to get back to me that I had to call the Monday place and find out what was happening with the position I interviewed for. Needless to say, they didn't want me :( Something about me not having a CDA (which is just an Associates... and I have a Bachelors...?? Weird, but whatever).

So, I'm thinkin I'm goin with the Tuesday place and they call to tell me when I need to be here and how little I'll be making and what class I'll be working in and that I have to basically buy a new wardrobe because their uniforms consist of Navy Blue pants and White shoes and their special Red polos - which I have none of, plus the 30min drive and toll money if I want to get there sans traffic. BUT I am just happy to have found something, so I swallow my pride and accept.

And here I am the Wednesday before the Saturday that I am supposed to report for my new employee orientation/training at the Tuesday place and I get a call from the Monday place. WHAT?!?! They now want to know if I am still looking because now they want me. :) (still don't have a CDA, but whatever). Well..... considering that this place is just five awesome minutes from home, and is going to pay better and I already have half my uniform in my closet... I just felt like it was a no-brainer. Plus Alex told me to take it LOL.

Even though I was considerably hurt that they gave me the cold shoulder at first AND that I had to call the Tuesday place and tell them I wouldn't be coming (which was very hard, I felt terrible!). I will now be starting at the Monday place on a Monday (the 23rd)!! Avery will get to have some social time with other kiddos and he'll also still to get to stay home part time with daddy!! And, the extra money we'll be making will help out TONS.

SO thankful that everything worked out for the best. And now.... I will be working on getting my certification. I am one PreK-3rd test away from being Florida Certified to teach. Yay!

Debbie Downer

This post is pretty much just going to be complaints... I know that our blog shouldn't really be an outlet for that sort of thing, but I just need to get some things off my chest so bare with me and thanks for listening slash reading.

• I've felt like this for kind of a long time but... for some reason I think that people don't like me. I mean, do I give off a bad vibe or something? Do I seem snobby to others? I don't know, maybe it's my imagination but It just seems like people avoid me or that they know something bad about me that I don't know and they stay as far away as possible. And, this plague follows me. :(


• I have a new found dislike for the State of Florida. Just, a lot of experiences I have had here left me with a bad taste in my mouth ranging from grocery shopping to the state departments (DMV) to the job market and all the stupid requirements and hoops you have to jump through. I feel like that is just another reason why unemployment is so high. Sheesh. And on top of all that....


• TOURISTS - need I say more? ok, not all of them, but the vast majority act like they own the place. You go to the store and they expect you to drop everything and move outa their way, not to mention driving up the wrong way in the parking lot and walking in the middle of the road. They drive terribly. They are EVERYWHERE!!!! Ok, but I do understand that without them this place would probably be in even worse shape...ugh.


• The weather - BAAH - I mean, I know it is just as hot in GA and that rain is good.... but seriously everyday? And somedays it rains ALL DAY long. Ok, and then it's still SOO HOT even after it rains - like the rain doesn't even cool it off a little. Unreal.
  

THE END.

ok so now that I'm done with my rant.... PICTURES!!