House Guests

How do you prepare for a house full of guests for 7 days? Lots of planning!!! I LOVE to be a hostess and use my spiritual gift of hospitality. Now that we have a home in a neighborhood with a pool, amenities,15 minutes from the beach, and 45 minutes from Orlando attractions, I am having a blast preparing for our guests this weekend! I am so excited to set up the guest room for the first time and give the other bedrooms a special touch as well for our guests. Here are some pics of the preparation...

Time To Tackle the Yard

The yard was taking over and it was time to tame it down before our guests arrive. Keith is taking the new lawn mower and trimmers out for a spin!

Backyard Bunnies

We have at least one bunny that we know lives under the tree in our backyard by the porch. In the evening we sometimes see 2 bunnies feasting on our clover-filled grass!

Elizabeth's Ballet Studio Presentation

Elizabeth's ballet studio does not have a recital for pre-ballet students, so they have a studio presentation that can be attended by parents/grandparents. We enjoyed watching the girls perform their weekly routines!

Frog in the Potty

Lizzie yelled to me while I was making breakfast one morning... "mommy, there's a frog in my potty!"
Thank goodness Daddy was still home to chase it all over the guest bathroom before catching it in Lizzie's bug catching net and throwing it outside! We have no idea how it got into the house! Sometimes I feel like living in this house is like an episode of Animal Planet!

Let's go fly a kite!

Elizabeth bought her first kite with her very own money! She thinks that "paying" for something at the store means putting it on the conveyor belt. :) imagine her surprise when she actually had to give the cashier her treasured dollar!!!

VPK Awards Ceremony

We were invited to Elizabeth's VPK awards ceremony, not knowing which award she would receive. She in fact, received two! Star Reader and Top Achiever (top honors in all subjects).
We are so thankful for the talents God has given our amazing girl!!!

Before and After Kitchen Remodel

Keith worked extremely hard on our kitchen remodel and we finally have a kitchen we can enjoy! The lower cabinets were replaced, countertops removed and granite was installed, tile floor repaired, and all cabinets refinished! Here are the before and after pics of our mammoth project!

Lizzie's closet

                  

Four months after we moved in, we finally finished Lizzie's closet (except for the doors) 

We are super happy with the result!

Graduation 2012

Elizabeth graduated from VPK with a beautiful ceremony! Gma Shack and Greatma were here to celebrate with us!

Gma Shack and Greatmas Visit- Sattelite Beach

Gma Shack and Greatma wanted to visit the beach of course while they were here. We chose Sattelite Beach. We hadn't planned to be there long and didn't bring Lizzie's swimsuit ( and regretted that decision!) greatma did not want to get her feet wet, but we talked her into it! ;) while enjoying the view, we found a big crab in the sand. It was very exciting!

Grandma Smith Visit

Grandma Smith came to stay with us for a week in April. We went to the Florida Key Lime Pie Company in Cocoa Village, River Rocks for a delicious seafood dinner on the water, and spent lots of time relaxing in our neighborhood. Gma brought some moon dough that we all played with for an afternoon. We all enjoyed a very relaxing visit!

Thursday Projects

Every Thursday "Lizzie" has a project to do for school. The reason for the quotes is "Lizzie" can not complete these projects. They are far too difficult for her, so Mommy is the one who plans and completes 99% of these projects. So I can't help but wonder.... Do I get a diploma at graduation too??
This is a picture of her Thursday project this week... A Backyard Diorama

Colorado- Tia's Wedding!

We were invited to celebrate with Tia at her wedding to Jeff Smith in Colorado Springs!

We decided to fly standby on Jet Blue and it got a little crazy. I ended up arriving in Denver 24 hours before Keith and Lizzie!

I decided to take advantage of my alone time by having a glass of wine and sushi at Deep Blue at the Jet Blue terminal at JFK.

We were thrilled to stay with Andrew and Stephanie Stevens in Castle Rock! We had a wonderful time catching up with college friends and meeting their little ones Katelyn and Alex. They took us to Crave, their favorite burger joint with every kind of topping combination u could possibly imagine!
They both felt so badly about Keith and Lizzie being stuck at the airport that they bought Keith a chocolate bunny that looked more like a squirrel than a bunny!

And finally we got to celebrate with Tia on one of the happiest days in her life!

The weekend in Colorado and travel to and from was probably one of the most stressful weekends we have experienced, but we made so many great memories and made a really special friend feel very loved. :)