Paige's first day of preschool

On Monday, January 14th, Paige had her first day of Preschool. We've signed her up for two days per week (Mondays and Wednesdays).

We were VERY unsure of how it was going to go. You just never know with Paige. Thankfully she had a good night's sleep and was in a good mood in the morning. I dropped her off and took a quick picture before we went in. I didn't stay long and tried not to make it a huge deal and she went right in without any fuss.

When Andrea picked her up she talked to Paige's teacher, who said that Paige had a great day and didn't cry one time. She'd been a good girl all day, had eaten a good lunch, took her nap, and played well with everyone.

That night before bed I talked with her about school and took a short video of our conversation.

Christmas celebration with Grandpa and Grandma Vernon

On Sunday, January 13th, we went over to Grandpa and Grandma's house for a Christmas gift exchange. They'd spent Christmas and New Years in St. Louis and Chicago, so we waited until they got back to get together.

There was a big pile of presents! The kids were very excited.

They got us lots of games and both kids also got castle toys. Paige's is a Disney Princess castle and Connor's has knights with armor and cannons and catapults. They've both enjoyed them very much and have actually played together very well with their castles.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! We love you!

Disney - Magic Kingdom

On Saturday, January 12, we went to the Magic Kingdom for the day just for fun. We went to Connor's flag football game in the morning and then we drove straight to Orlando afterwards. We ate lunch at Uno's (yummy!) and then went to the park. It was a little bit crowded since we went on race day (marathon, half marathon, etc), but it wasn't too bad. We waited in a few lines that were pretty long, but we still got to do lots of fun things and really enjoyed our day.

Paige really wanted to see Ariel after we rode the little mermaid ride. Connor likes her too.

Both kids really love the Merry-go-round. It's a nice ride since there's never a line.

Probably our favorite part of the day was the Interactive story with Princess Belle. The kids all played a part and Connor was the horsey. They acted out the story of how Princess Belle met, and fell in love with, the Beast. It was very cute and Connor and Paige were starstruck by the princess.

Belle thanked Connor for his amazing horsey acting afterwards.

Paige didn't participate in the play, but was very thrilled to take her picture with Belle.

After we were done at the park, we went back to Uno's for dinner (yummy again!) and then drove home. It was a long, exhausting, and awesome day in Florida. It was crazy to be standing in lines in our shorts and T-shirts, a bit hot, and then read on Facebook that there was a snowstorm in Missouri.

Bella's first birthday party

On Friday, January 11th, we went to the neighborhood clubhouse for Bella's first birthday party. Her mommy Clara put together a very cute and very big party. It was fun to visit with the neighbors and celebrate with their family.

Story time with the kids

Typically we will get the kids to bed separately. Lately, I'll play Minecraft with Connor for a bit and then I'll spend some time with Paige telling stories in her bed while Andrea and Connor work on homework or reading books. Every once in a while if they're in the mood for it, I'll do stories with both of them together. We like to play "Peter Pan Storytime", where we pretend Paige is a Mermaid, I'm Peter Pan and Connor is Captain Hook.

After Christmas, we started doing the "Cash Register" story. Connor and Paige pretend they're working in a store and I'll pretend to be different customers. I'll come in to the store and they will have to interact with the "customer" to help them find things and eventually check out. I like to act out all kinds of different people. Andrea happened to walk in the other night while I was pretending to be an old lady with a cane. She almost died laughing at us and just had to snap a picture.

Date night - Ghost tour in Old St. Augustine

Andrea and I went to Old St. Augustine on Friday for a date night. We ate at A1A Ale Works and enjoyed a beautiful view while we dined. Afterwards, we walked around for a little bit, but Andrea's leg was bothering her from a pinched nerve that she had somehow strained during her workout class. We were just trying to decide how to get back to the car when a lady rode by on a bike pulling an empty trailer. I flagged her down and she gave us a ride back to the parking garage where our car was.

We had been considering doing a horse carriage ride and right outside the parking garage there were a bunch of them lined up and waiting for customers. We talked pricing with a couple of them and one guy was getting ready to depart shortly with a couple on a ghost tour. He charged us twenty bucks each to tag along and we decided to give it a try. It was neat to do a different kind of tour of the area although it wasn't ideal. The canopy on the carriage would have been nice if it was raining, but on our night it just got in the way of the view. The tour focused on some murders and ghost sightings and was interesting if a bit silly. The tour guide was quite the character, however his story telling ability was a bit odd. He would skip around in the stories and wouldn't necessarily tell them when you were at the appropriate places that corresponded. It made it more confusing than it should have been.

In the end, it was a fun night and we were glad we went. We got a couple cute pictures afterwards and I wanted to post the one of us with the horse because you can see my feet. When we left the house, we were trying to get dressed, get the kids and babysitter situated, and decide where to eat. In all the commotion I forgot I was wearing my house slippers and didn't change in to my shoes. I probably looked silly walking around St. Augustine, but at least my feet were warm!

Goodbye to the Gobles and Happy New Year!

The Gobles left last week and we will surely miss them. We had an awesome visit with them and although we didn't do any one big exciting adventure, we had all kinds of fun with them. We definitely took advantage of the nice weather, we ate outside where and when we could, went on bike rides and went to the park. 

Ryan, Shawn and Connor all had some fun adventures too. We played 3-player split screen Minecraft quite a bit on the Xbox and all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.  Lots of exploring was done, battling with monsters, and building as well.

Baby Graydon was a very good boy with a great smile and very sweet disposition. He had a little bit of a cough throughout the visit, which caused everyone a little anxiety, but he went to the doctor and thankfully it's nothing serious. 

Paige and Daddy both got a little sick at the end of the Goble visit. It seems to be inevitable this time of year and although we've been as careful as ever with hand-washing and not sharing food it didn't matter. We're feeling better now, but it was a little bit of a bummer to not feel well when we had visitors.

As of the time I'm writing this, the Gobles are back in Missouri safely enjoying the snow and frigid weather. We are looking forwards to seeing them again, hopefully in the not-too-distant future!

We love you guys! Love you Baby Graydon!