Late Summer 2011

Can't believe the last 5 months have passed so fast and apparently I have forgotten to update the blog. Alot of things have happened in those five months. Lets see... Where to start .. Here a bit from late summer.

In August we went to Seaworld for the first time for Craigs birthday. Cody absolutely loved it. We road on the kiddie rides and there was a big splash park and lots of games, but Cody's favorite was the Elmo and Shamu shows. He was in awe... just kept staring and pointing especially Shamu... He kept calling them "Willie" this because one of hos favorite movies is Free Willie. We had a great time amd agreed Seaworld was better suited for his age than Disney. Early next year we will be tackling Disney.....

Cody and I also went home to Mass in August for 10 days. We had such a nice time time. Because we were home for so long we were able to spend a good amount of time with all our friends and family. Cody was so good and cute with all the kids and his older cousins just ate him up, even grampa Elliot came up to see us. It was so nice to him with his cousins and all our friends kids. Really made me miss home....

We also had our pictures done with the girls and all the kids. We did this a couple of years ago when Cody was 6 months and since then of course the kids have grown so much as well as we had an addition of Baby Lucas to the mix. They came out beautiful. We were all very pleased with the outcome.

July 2011

Wow time fly's. Can't believe its already August and more than half of the year has already passed us by. We were pretty busy in July. We had a bunch of fun cookouts but the most fun was Family from Ohio was in town most of the month.

Craigs brother Travis and his family came in for about 10 days at the beginining of July, then the kids stayed for the remainder of the month. My in-laws take the kids for about 3 weeks every summer, its great for them to be able to spend the time with them and us as well. We made a point to see them at least a couple of times every week and Cody was just thrilled to have someone to play with all the time, both Avery and Curtiss are great with him.


We went to the beach a few times, the pool, lots of trips to the ice cream shop and a cool trip the alligator preserve out in Wellington. The kids were so excited to see a 10 foot alligator named Bob. We were very sad to see them go, but we have a trip planned for late September to ohio, so more fun times to come. Next on the agenda is Sea World for Craigs birthday. Pictures to follow soon.

Fun with Family & Friends ~ June 2011

Cody had a few fun playdates in the month of June. In the past few months we have become quite close with neighbors from our development. They have a 5 yr old daughter Cody absolutely loves and are expecting a son in August. We decided to go to Lion Country Safari a few weeks ago since we have 1/2 price tickets. We only stayed a few hours since it was so warm but the kids had tons of fun.... They fed the Giraffe's, played in the water area, rode some kiddie rides and of course lunch and ice cream. Despite the heat we all have a good time and Cody was fast asleep before we even got out of the park

We also had a great couple of visits with The Pikes and Kellen. Cody and Kellen are becoming fast BFF's. They swim and play and watch shows together. It's nice that they are now close in play age. They are only 10 months apart, but up until just recently, they didn't really play so well together. Now is a totally different story. It's really nice for us parents....

Grandpa Time........

My Dad usually tries to come down for Cody's birthday every year, but this year he had just had Knee/Back surgery and wasn't able to attend. Lucky us he came for my birthday!. We had a really nice weekend hanging by their hotel pool with Cody, going to see the rescued turtles (no pictures :() and dinner down town @ City place. Cody was very excited to hang out with Grandpa Elliot, while Dad and Chris were super excited to see how big and active Cody has become. It was a super fun weekend for all

Cody's 2nd Birthday Weekend

We were super excited again this year for Cody's birthday because my fantastic friends came for a visit and planned it around Cody's Birthday and the 2nd annual Bark & Bowl. The Bark & Bowl is a fund raiser for Canine Cancer research. Our friends the Pikes lost both there Golden Retrievers to cancer 2 years ago (within 3 months of each other) and has made this cause their life's passion and we help out as much as possible.

~Our first day with the girls was spent at the beach, then the pool and finally The Bark & Bowl. Cody was so excited to have "His Girls" here with him. All weekend he was saying... girls, girls, friends, friends. It was adorable to watch. My Mom helped us out with the kids so we could enjoy the night out with the adults.

Super Water Slide

~The next day was his party. I had rented a blow up water slide for the kids. They just loved it. Up and down the went for at least an hour at a time and someone had to stay at the top to help Cody up (he was a bit little for the last 2 steps) So Mama to the rescue... A great day it was and a good time had by all of us

~Party Pictures~

~The girls last day here was spent lounging by the pool and visiting. I am truely blessed to have the most amazing friends in our lives. No matter where our lives lead us we always make time to be there for one another and I have no fear that Cody will be as close with them as I am....

Mothers Day 20011

This year for Mothers Day we were invited to join Ambers family for Brunch at their Country Club. Mom met us at our house where we surprised her with the Rythmn clock she has been wanting since she moved here. She was beyond excited... Then off to Brunch we went. The Fountains CC puts on a beautiful Mother Day Brunch. The food was fabulous and the company was even better

On the way home we stopped @ Lowe's and purchased all the flowers for the front of our house. Mom and I spent the remaining part of the afternoon planting out front. I was a really nice relaxing day spent with my Mom...

Cody's Blessing / Easter 2011

Easter this year was quite different than last year. I think Cody understood (maybe) that the Easter bunny was coming and if he was a good boy he would have treats in the morning. Easter morning started with our traditional breakfast of Easter bread (thanks Mimi) eggs and prosuitte, following by of course candy. Cody was very excited to see his easter basket waiting for him..






The afternoon was spent with entire family even the twins as well as our friends the Pikes. We had a delicious dinner and treats followed by an Easter Egg hunt out back for kids. Cody & Kellen has a blast running around finding the eggs, then eating all there candy and playing with there new toys. I had a blast just watching him looking for the eggs, then with a huge smile saying.... Mama look, another egg. It was another great day of memories and love.

We have been searching for a Church to join with the goal of first belonging to a church to raise our kids in as well as to Baptise Cody. We have gone to a few but none have really caught our interest so with Cody's 2nd birthday approaching it was time to think outside the box. I have a friend who had a service in there back yard and it is called a Blessing. Of course or first thought was to have Mr Cyr, who is a minister honor us with belssing our child.

It was a small affair with just a few friends and family. Our goal was simple, we just wanted Cody to be blessing by God and to have the people close to us join us for this celebration. It was truely a beautiful day.

Strawberry Dreams

Every month/season it seems like we are finding fun, inexpensive things to do with Cody. This spring it has been Strawberry picking. We have a local farm called Bedners that has seasonal fruits/veggies/flower picking. Right now it's tomato's / Strawberries. We've gone twice now and both times us as well as Cody has had a blast.

They have a fun little set up. On the weekends the have little booths with vendors, think homemade ice cream, lemonade, a barbacue shack, homemade crafts and such. You purchase the size bucket you want then off to the field to wait for your ride... A tractor with a bed and seats runs every 10 minutes or so to take you out to the fields. I would guess they have 100 acres or so with the different picking options. You can stay out as long as you want then catch a tractor back. It's a really fun afternoon out.

As for Cody he is still reaching all his milestones and amazing us everyday. He can now count to 10 on his own and can kinda say his A B C's along with the song from his Leapfrog computer. Of course I still think he is gifted and much smarter than those his age :)

Swimmy time ~ 22 Months

It has offically turned into Springtime here in South Florida. It is absolutly beautiful, high 70's during the day and mid 60's at night. I wish it would saty this way forever, but the hot sticky mess is right around the corner....


Cody and I took our first trip to the pool a few weeks ago. i had forgotten how much he loved it. He would have stayed in all day long but when his lips started to turn blue (the heater is not working) I knew it was time to get out and on home we went.



We had a speical treat a couple weeks ago. Dave, Paula and the boys were in town for a long weekend and we were able to meet them down in The Maimi area. The hotel they were staying had a beautiful pool area with a kiddie area, lazy river and a water slide for the big kids. Again Cody loved it. He would take turns having one of us, Dave or one of the boys bring him into the pool and splash around.

Later that night we stayed for dinner and have a great time. Cody was the life of the night, dancing around with the bigger kids, and getting everybody to do what he wanted, while us grown ups had a chance to catch up. It was a very nice night spent with my family. What a treat!

South Florida Fair 2011

The South Florida Fair was a couple of weeks ago and what a fun time we had. We went with friends of ours that have a little boy 10 months older than Cody and what fun they had. Last year Cody was only 8 months old was only able to go on a couple of rides sitting in our laps. This year he was able to go on more of the big boy rides, play games and running around with Kellen. By the end of the night we were all tuckered out, Cody from running from attraction to attraction, us from running after him....

Lately Cody has been going through an eating phase. Before he would eat just about anything I gave him. Now we are lucky to get 1 good meal into him per day. The only things he really will eat are mac n cheese, hot dogs, bologne, string cheese, baby pasta w/ sauce and special K cereal and most fruit. NO chicken fingers, french fries, pizza, bread, PB&J, grilled cheese, the staples of most toddlers diets. Weird hgh? I hear this is all normal and shall soon pass. As long as he is gaining weight, which he is, its all is good!

~21 Months~

I know it's been a while since I last wrote. I've been a bit busy with learning a new billing system @ work, a crazy active toddler and all the demands of life in general.

Cody is... well a crazy crazy little man. He is everywhere. He is a talking walking, running, little person. His motto is go go go. He is into anything and everything. All the blogs and books I read say this is very normal for an 21 month/almost toddler, but man, the kid is driving me crazy:) Boys will be boys

Don't get me wrong, he is a very sweet, snuggly, good natured little boy, whom i love more than life, but a bit wild. Luckily we have found the trick to calm him down and sit still for a bit. Show/movies. He loves his shows (Dora, Diego, Elmo, Backyardigans etc...) The minute we put the TV on, down he goes, either on the rug or his chair. I know too much TV is not good, but a couple of shows a day won't hurt anybody....

Christmas 2010 / Happy New Year

Christmas has come and gone and I am left with a bit of sadness that it's all over and a bit of happiness of things to come in the upcoming year. We spent Christmas Eve and day with my Mom and Craig whole family. Started the day off opening presents at our house, went to Mom's and opened there then spent the rest of the day at Tim and Michelle's. Cody was excited to open each and every present then tossed it aside for the next.

It was a truely magical season watching Cody with his expressions and sheer joy with every new experience he encountered. The next year will indeed be filled with a lot of ups and downs with a toddler soon to be a terrible 2 toddler in our lives and I can't wait to experience them all......