Online Albums

I just wanted to remind you that over to the right are links to online albums - I just added Christmas 08!

Love,
Cheryl

A Wonderful Christmas!

Well, despite the crazy economy, it turned out to be a very nice Christmas! This is the first Christmas in about 7 years that we had both Justin and Heather together!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve - it was all about the kids! Charlee is just at the age where she totally was excited about Santa Clause!! It was so cute - we had her looking up in the sky for Santa and Rudolph!! She was so excited to come in the house and find that Santa had snuck into Mimi and Pap's house!

She just kept saying "This is the Best Christmas Ever!" lol Nothing like being with little ones on Christmas to make you believe the magic again!

And of course, this was Bailey's first Christmas!! Doesn't she look like a little CandyCane Elf?

It was such a nice Christmas Eve! By the end of the night - Bailey was pooped and comfortable in Pap's arms!!

Like Father - Like Son!

Christmas morning we woke up and had Heather and Alan over for Breakfast and then headed over their house for a wonderful Christmas Dinner and enjoyed a few movies and played Guitar Hero. At the end of the day - even Heather was pooped - lol!

That's what it is all about - being with the ones you love. So, it was the most Wonderful Christmas as we were together with the ones we love!!!

Definitely the Holiday Season!

Geez Louise - where does the time go?!! Hard to believe Christmas is just 10 days away - and I haven't even STARTED shopping!! At least Christmas cards are done and I have started to bake cookies, but soooo much to do!! What an awesome Christmas it is going to be with Heather and Alan here and the our new little addition, Bailey!!

We got to spend last weekend with Justin, Krista, Charlee and Bailey as we headed up to Disney for Charlee's Birthday! It was Dave's birthday too that weekend - DisneyWorld gave them special Birthday Pins!

All didn't go as planned, but it ended up being a day just full of wonderful memories!! We took Charlee to the night parade at Disney and for Cinderella's Castle fireworks!!

(Dave's back was KILLING him by the end of the night! lol - the joy of being "Pap")

The fireworks were so BEAUTIFUL!! Of course all set to Jiminy Cricket talking and Tinkerbell flying through the air (which Charlee later told me "it's a girl dressed up like Tingerbell, Mimi, and she was zipping on a rope!" She is so smart -nothing fools her!).

If you have never experienced this, take a few minutes (about 10 minutes) to watch the video I took with my camera! It was amazing - and to see Charlee's face and watch her lips move saying "WOW" was worth the world!! Here's the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0z3R5TZqrA

Of course, Bailey was excited too!! She is smiling a lot lately and starting to make those adoreable cooing sounds as she tries to talk!!

So, now the Holiday preparation begins! I'll be doing some baking tonight - I have so much baking to do - but it's what I love to do for the holidays!! We have a Christmas party tomorrow and I want to take a tray of cookies - hmmm - maybe some baklava, some snowflake cookies, butterballs and chocolate crinkles!! I'd do some lady locks, but a little too time consuming right now - Heather will have to help me with those!

Heather and Alan are adapting so well to Florida life!! Heather started her job at the bank and it is so her!! She is definitely well suited as a banker! Alan has some extremely promising job leads and I'll bet he'll be working by Wednesday. He has been pounding the pavement and it is starting to pay off. They have made some great friends and I'm so glad! They decorated their house real nice for the holidays. We went to the beach yesterday and they took a few pictures:

And Heather and I took one too:

Be sure to check out the Online Photo Albums link to your right on this page - I have updated/added November and December albums!

So - have I bored you enough??!! Gotta get moving and get some stuff done! I'll update more later this week!

Love,

CherylAnn

Giving Thanks!

Well, I'm a bit behind, I know. I have been very busy working, trying to get my rhythm back just transcribing instead of working in management in my industry, PLUS my laptop died on me, so I don't spend as much time blogging as I used to.

We had such a great Thanksgiving. Heather and Alan came to our house and Justin and Krista hosted her family at their house - it was their first time cooking Thanksgiving and they said it all went so well! We are so proud of them! Our dinner was sooo good! This was the first Thanksgiving we have had with Heather and Alan in about 7 years! It was great! We were all so full, we could hardly eat dessert! We were going to play Wii and we were so stuffed we ended up just watchin a movie afterwards! lol Gettin old!

And of course - even Prissi enjoyed her Thanksgiving Dinner!

Justin and Krista stopped over the day after and we got to enjoy some time with them. Bailey is growing so quickly!! She's smiling now and I just love any opportunity to hold her and talk to her.

Good Lord - she looks like Justin when he was a baby!


And Charlee is sooo smart and it is just amazing how she has grown. We love having her come over and spend the night!! She was showing us how she makes a heart with her fingers and saying "I Love You, Mimi and Pap!" She is such a good big sister too! She always wants to hold Bailey and give her lovin and she talks to her! They are going to be close!

Charlee spent the night with us on Saturday and we got to go to the Venice Christmas Parade! It was a loooonnnng parade - you can see below that Charlee and Aunt Heather made the best of it being silly! She collected lots of candy and beads that was thrown at the parade!

Here's one of the floats in the parade -I love the movie "The Polar Express!"

It's hard to believe Christmas is right around the corner! So much to do, so little time -isn't that the way it always is? It's going to be a very nice Christmas, though, with Heather and Alan here - the whole family together!! I succeeded in getting my decorations up and my tree up and decorated it today - Heather and Justin both gettin on me cause they both got their's up first - hahaha!!

Love,

CherylAnn

I'll try to update more as we go through this holiday time!

WE HAVE A GATOR!!

After almost 3 years here in Venice and looking for a gator in one of our 4 ponds in our complex, we now have not 1, but 2 baby gators in the pond right in front of our lanai - I have only seen 1, but Dave says there are 2.

Now - for the big question - WHERE'S THE MOMMA? LOL

Thought you'd all enjoy that!

Love,

Cheryl

Just Another Update!

Nothing much going on here - a little chill in the air here in FL - but our chill here is better than the chill to the bone back home in PA! hahaha!

Everyone is doing good! Heather and Alan adjusting to their new home - Heather just got a job at a local bank - she'll make a good banker! Her and I went to a craft show this past weekend - it was fun! We went to a place called the Shell Factory and I took this picture of Heather - it was fun! We laughed our butts off over a deformed starfish and ended up buying 2 of them to make ornaments out of! It was a funn day!

Can't go to a craftshow without having a corndog!! Heather had a deep fried Snickers - God, was that good!

Justin, Krista, Charlee and little Bailey are doing good! Bailey had a doctor's appointment yesterday and she is developing normally! She's so beautiful! She is so alert and follows Justin and Krista with her eyes and is starting to smile - no, it's not a poop smile, actually a smile! lol And Charlee is such a good Big Sister - afterall, she's going to be 4 in a couple weeks!

Here's a few pictures from Halloween:

Bailey is all ready for her first Halloween!

ZombieDaddy and SpiderCharlee!

(Yes, even I dressed up!)

Well - Dave has a new favorite position on his chair - check it out:

I am starting a new job today - not where I want to be or what I want to be doing, but it's a job.

Life is a Blessing!

Love,

Cheryl

Look What I Found in the Pumpkin Patch!

Justin & Krista took the girls to a local pumpkin patch - they had a blast and we got this precious picture of Charlee & Bailey!! You gotta love it!

This Saturday we had a cookout at Heather & Alan's! It was a good time, family all together, BBQ, (Libby, Dave, Justin & Alan cookin up some chicken and ribs! - does it really take 5 men to BBQ?!! hahaha)Football (well, Bailey dressed for her Team - Go Steelers!)
and Guitar Hero! Rock It, Heather!

It was a Great Day!

Love,
CherylAnn

A Bad Day Made Better

This has not been the best week. On Monday I was laid off from my job - 2nd time now in 5 months. I was devastated, to say the least. This economy sucks, but moreso I blame that the companies that send work offshore are making our economy worse. So today, after spending time looking for a job, sending resumes, etc., we get a visit from Justin, Krista, Charlee and Little Bailey! Justin and Krista left Bailey with us while they went to get Charlee her Halloween costume - for me, it was just what the doctor ordered - how can you not feel better after this:

Justin and Krista came home - with Spiderman!

Oh wait - that's not Spiderman.......It's Charlee!!

What a wonderful way to end the day!

Love,

Cheryl

A Good Day Off!

My work schedule is Tuesday through Saturday - 3-11 - and I'll tell you, by 11 o'clock on Saturday night, I am totally ready for my days off! Got to sleep in this morning - that felt good. Had a little scare with Prissi Friday night - she has a collapsing trachea - something many small breed dogs have, especially Yorkies, and Friday night it collapsed and it wasn't opening back up. Scared us half to death. We stayed up all night with her, soothing her, trying to keep her calm, and then by the Grace of God we made it through the night and got her to the Vet - he gave her a shot of pain medication to settle her down and started her on antibiotic and prednisone. She was fine after that, although we have to keep her calm and out of the heat.

Here's our little Prissi Girl - she is so spoiled!

So after Dave made delicious omelettes for breakfast, we got ready and headed to Justin & Krista's to visit with them and the baby for a bit. Krista's Nanny was there - it is always nice to see her - hoping to go visit her in Daytona sometime soon! Little Bailey was awake! YAY!! She has been asleep everytime I have gone over! She is so alert and her eyes are already focusing - so pretty and blue!

I got to feed her today - she is so precious! Dave held her for a bit and she was making faces and grunting and before ya knew it, it was diaper changin time!

Krista's Nanny came down to visit from Daytona. She was totally lovin on Bailey!

Charlee and Bailey are 2 blessed little angels - they have a wonderful Mommy and Daddy and so many of us who just love them to pieces!!

All in all it was a good Day! Heather and Alan stopped over for a bit and I got to spend a little time making some cards and organizing some things for the baby's scrapbook! I have 3 scrapbooks I'm workin on right now - our Cruise Scrapbook, Charlee's Scrapbook, and of course, Bailey's Scrapbook! I'm stayin busy!

All is well in Florida! We are Blessed!

Love,

Cheryl

Too Priceless!

Took Charlee over to see Mommy and Daddy and her new Baby Sister! She got to interact with Bailey and hold her - she was so good with her - giving her kisses and talking to her! Bailey had her eyes open at one point and Charlee was talking to her - it was priceless.

It was a nice afternoon getting to hold Bailey and visit with Justin & Krista. Charlee had fun going bug huntin with her Daddy. I took a picture of Justin with Charlee and Bailey - I've got to print it and frame it!!
Krista is doing well - getting stronger. She is such a good mother - she has quite the instinct!

Be sure to check out my online albums - see the link on the left of this page - I have uploaded all the pictures we have so far and will update that album as we get pictures.

Just had to share my day!

Love,
Cheryl

Bailey Comes Home!

Seems it was just yesterday we were waiting at the hospital for this Little Angel to be born - and today they brought her home! She is so precious! So quiet and so content - so loved! Krista is doing well after her C-section, very uncomfortable, I'm sure, but looking pretty as ever! They are all bonding so well.

I love this picture of Justin with Little Bailey:

We get to spend some time with Charlee here with us - she's having fun playing with Aunt Heather and Uncle Alan, and sitting on Pap's massage Chair!

She loves her little sister and says she misses her! We took her to see Mommy and Daddy and Baby Sister at home today and she came out of the bedroom and told me "She's out of Momma's tummy, Mimi!" and she gave her a little kiss bye bye when we left. She's calling her Edie - she says cause she has to eat! lol There are other times she tells us her name is Honey! Whatever she thinks, she's going to be a good Big Sister!

The ride home, she was snug as a bug and her bunnies kept her safe!

Now she is home and safe with her Mommy and Daddy!

We are so blessed.

Here are a few more pictures from yesterday - enjoy.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook