"Re, A Drop of Golden Sun"

The title of this blog reflects Carly's first, in our opinion, song!  She has been matching notes for a while but hasn't yet been able to sing much of anything.  She will sing a few notes here and there of her CD we always listen to in the car, and knows a few words from her bedtime songs, but we are counting, "Do, Re, Me" as her first learned song.  You may not count it...but we are pleased with the memorization of Solfeggio!  Have a listen!

The winter has been the warmest we've seen since living in Florida and one that has actually been one of the warmest the state has seen in a long time.  We are all complaining about it and this pregnant mama is no exception.  People always feel bad for women who have to spend their third trimester during the summer months and I'm like, "hey, what about those of us who have to spend ALL NINE MONTHS in the blazing heat?"  I have this little pity party every time the temp goes above 82 degrees. ;)  Although I felt VERY bad for the Northern part of the country who was experiencing a polar vortex, we actually had a day that got down into the 30s because of it, which made me SO happy.  I realize I live in the wrong state.  I miss the cold!  Not the negative degree cold, but the 20s and 30s cold.  Anyway...we got back up to 80 degrees yesterday and my pity party continued. ;)

The sun does bring loved ones to Florida, and we do love spending quality time with folks from the great state of Iowa.  In December we got to see our dear friends, Chris & Nikki.  We hit DHS, EPCOT & MK in the 2.5 days they were here.  We wanted to make sure they got a glimpse of all the Christmas decor around property!  We are fortunate to enjoy the company of one another so much.  I can still say I laugh harder when Chrikki is around than any other couple.  We took very few pictures, but here's what we got:

The weekend before Chrikki came, we had the pleasure of being treated to dinner by Brian's Aunt & Uncle.  Dick was celebrating his 60-something birthday so we met them at EPCOT for dinner at our favorite character dining spot, Garden Grill.  Carly is impossible to take to dinner these days, so unless there will be characters present or you are willing to shovel food down your throat at lightning fast speeds, don't bother.  But because we were so frequently graced by the presence of Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale, Carly sat through dinner quite nicely.  It helped that Crystal had brought Christmas presents for her and Luke...she wore her Minnie Mouse apron all through dinner & held onto Luke's "taggie tiger."  We rode a few attractions after dinner, which was lovely as well.

The sun also encourages us all to get outside and enjoy playing at the park even in the winter months.  We've made great friends since moving to this side of Central Florida, and have had fun meeting at playgrounds throughout the area.  This is one of Carly's newest friends, Madelynn, whose mommy just had another baby girl! Fun to have friends with kiddos the same age!

Our final visitors who very much enjoy visiting the golden sun (referring to both the weather & their blonde little granddaughter) came NYE to ring in 2014 with us.  Carly had so much fun with her G&G...going to the park, eating lots of Christmas cookies and opening up more presents!  She got a beautiful table & chairs and on it was able to "bake" some cupcakes in an apron "Gamma" got her & mommy.  I worked most of the time they were here, but I think Brian & Carly got to spend some much needed quality time with them.

Whew! I have been working on this draft for quite a while and am glad to have it completed!  As you can see, we had a delightful and action-packed December!  We are so thankful for family & friends who faithfully come visit us in the sunshine state!  We would go nuts without you all!