Welcome Meme and Grandpa

This weekend we finally felt it was ok to pick up some new fish. So, Saturday before the UCF game, we headed down to Waterford lakes to pick them up. We picked up a new picastumus to help clean up the tank and two little sharks. Unfortunately one of the sharks died :( Thankfully we do use a separate tank before moving them into our main tank in case of this very thing. You never know what germs the store fish bring home. We have had one pretty much wipe out our entire tank before we started using the transition tank. So, the two remaining fish had to spend a little extra time in the transition tank before they got to move up in the world (literally, the main tank is above the transition tank). They got to make the big step up today and seem much happier now. Here is a pic of Savannah helping get the transition tank ready:

We were back to full swing this week. Savannah started back to speech with a new teacher, Mrs. Rowe. She seems very nice and definitely knowledgeable. Savannah has two other girls in her class that she has made fast friends with. She had a lot of fun at pre-school this week. Her biggest nemesis, Healthy Herb, paid a visit to UCP. Savannah really does not like him. She has had a great dislike towards him since she was in the 2s program. I was hoping this year, being another year older, she would go and watch his presentation, but yet again, she wouldn't. Thankfully her teachers are compassionate and let her go back to the room and help Ms. Rhonda with little things that needed to be completed. The biggest event this week was that Meme and Grandpa came to visit. When they got here on Monday night, Savannah kept asking if they had brought their DVDS to play with. We could not figure out what she was talking about. Finally, once she described them, we knew what she meant. Here they are:

If you're not familiar with this old favorite, it is a Fischer Price record player. We thought it was pretty funny and it made us realize how much technology has changed through out the years!

On Tuesday Meme came along for the ride to drop off and pick up Savannah. What a special treat that was! Then, lucky Meme got to spend most of the rest of the day entertaining Savannah. She didn't want anything to do with the rest of us. Lots of book reading, drawing and playing in the playroom. Even a trip out back! On Wednesday we visited Daddy at work for lunch. Unfortunately, he had to work through lunch so we had to go somewhere he could get free WIFI. Of course, Savannah was happy because she has wanted to go to Panera for a while now. It was nice to see Daddy, even if he had to work :( That night Meme pulled out her french horn. Savannah has been saying for two years that she would like to play the french horn. Meme let her try it out and Savannah was actually able to make notes! I was pretty impressed :)

Thursday was another day at preschool. This was also the "Healthy Herb" day. After school, Savannah decided she would like to play with her easel. Meme and Grandpa picked up some dry erase markers and Savannah enjoyed having some drawing time with Meme.

Savannah sure enjoyed her time with her grandparent's from Virginia! We look forward to seeing them again at Thanksgiving!

Yeah!

Go Knights! Ok, so they didn't win, but the final score was 31-24 in overtime! It was a great ending to the game. Many people left early so they missed the show. I have to give UCF credit for fighting it out. The refs were definitely flag happy, mostly in USF's favor. We lost a touchdown because of a flag and then lost the game over a questionable (at least to those of us at the game, I think it was more apparent on TV) placement of the ball on the last play. UCF has come so far in football. It was great to watch them tonight. I am glad we decided to get season tickets this year!

On to FSU: 69 - 0! I know it was against a not too difficult team but, hey, last year there is no way that would have happened! I am hoping this means we are back on the upswing :)

Welcome football season!

Busy, busy, busy...again

Boy have we had a busy couple of days! I started my weekend with a Friday night girls night out celebrating a friends 30th birthday. All the chocolate fondue you would want! Yummy :) Saturday started with Brian mowing the lawn. Savannah and I did some picking up around the house (ok, she played quietly in her playroom while I picked up the rest of the house. Sounds like she isn't doing much but it was actually a HUGE help). After a quick trip to Costco, which helped me remember why I don't ever go there on a Saturday, we headed home to get ready for:

This year we decided to get season tickets to the UCF football games. Our church buys a block of tickets together so we were sitting around a bunch of people we know. Savannah had a wonderful time! It took her about a quarter to take it all in and then she started having a grand time :) She enjoyed watching everything going on around her. During half time she was dancing all over the place imitating the visiting teams cheerleaders. She partied hard until about 3/4 of the way through the third quarter. Then she went down hill fast :) I should mention that the game started at 6:00. She slept through most of the last quarter. Poor Brian carried her back to my brothers house where we had parked. But, all in all we had a great time!

Sunday we had some friends over for lunch after lunch. Savannah enjoyed playing with her friend out in the backyard in her swimming pool and water slide. We enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs from Cavalaries (a local butcher) and had a good time watching the girls play.

On Monday we has another grill out with our small group from last year. The kids all had a wonderful time playing together! There was a bouncy house, sand box and little tykes stuff to play with in the backyard. They also enjoyed all the toys in the house. I tried two new recipes and they both went over well. One was a mixed bean dish that I got out of a Taste of Home. It was really good! The other was a banana cake I have been wanting to try for a while but I needed an event to take it to so that I would not have an entire cake sitting at home :) It was really nice to have a chance to catch up with our friends after going our separate ways over the summer. I look forward to more fellowship time with them.

Savannah had a very clingy day today. She is having a hard time with the adjustment of me not being at the preschool this year. I find it funny because she never saw me when I did teach there but I guess it is just the idea of me not being there that is upsetting her. She actually started crying when I dropped her off! I had to carry her through the door to get her to go in. When I picked her up she kept telling me that she didn't want me to leave her there and go away without her. I would have thought she would let it go. It didn't help that I had bunco tonight, too. So, as I was leaving I could her sobs of "mommy stay home" in the background.

Today was the first day of WOW (women of the word) at my church. It was nice to meet the new members that are in my group. We are studying Daniel by Beth Moore. I am really looking forward to this study!

And So it Continues...

I forgot to mention that when we got home from our weekend trip we had a nice gift in our mailbox from the state of South Carolina. They gave us a ticket for running the toll plaza. Yes, the toll plaza where we were hit by a truck because the ever so intelligent toll plaza workers changed the go light to red while we were in the lane. Anyway, they had given us a receipt to hand to the toll plaza worker so that we would not have to pay the toll (after all, $2 is sufficient compensation for the inconvenience we went through because of their carelessness). After all that, they then tell us we in fact ran the toll booth without paying and sent us a ticket. Isn't that nice! Well, after he calmed down, Brian decided to call and be nice and explain the situation. Thankfully, they took care of it for us so we don't have to pay it. However, Brian was sure to get the guys name because I am not confidant this is done :)

Here Comes the Sun...

Saturday morning brought a bright yellow ball in the sky that we had not witnessed in quite a few days. Yes, the sun came to visit for a while and we were thrilled. We were not going to Disney so we were definitely planning on spending the morning at the pool. Brian and I had already discussed various possibilities in case of rain but we were thrilled to be able to follow through with the original plan. Here are some pics of Savannah enjoying the pool:

Savannah made friends with some children from New York. She enjoyed having someone to swim with other than mommy and daddy! There were many different animals throughout the grounds. There were evening signs leading you to believe there were alligators about. Thankfully, we did not meet them face to face :)

After the pool we headed over to the playground next door. She enjoyed having some play time on ground instead of water. We also headed over to play basketball and Savannah was able to get close to the swans. I do not have the pics of the basketball or swans because I took them in the incorrect mode. Brian has to change them over for me.
After the park we rested for a while and then headed to Downtown Disney. We had a good time traveling through the stores. We got lots of ideas for presents for Savannah and have already planned a date night to head down there and get started on shopping. Savannah got some pixie dust in her hair and I got some pics of her with Lego sculptures and princesses but that would be the same issue with the camera. So, maybe at a later date I can share these :)

Sunday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel for their character breakfast. Savannah got to meet Goofy, Minnie Mouse and Pluto. She ate up a storm and had a grand time with the characters.
All in all we had a wonderful weekend. It was nice to get away and even better to get home and see our house had not floated away :)

Welcome to Sunny Florida

Well, we are going on 2 1/2 days of rain. But, we did actually get some rain free time this morning. However, it started up again in the afternoon. Savannah and I ventured out for some getting out of the house time. I was amazed at how much water there was all around us. I first saw it as we approached the golf course. Most of the surrounding areas were underwater. Then we turned the corner and the dog park was completely under water. The pavilions were filled up about half way. I couldn't believe how much water there was! The next major place was a the Duda grass farm. They now have two huge lakes. It is amazing! I was nice to get out of the house, though. I am thankful for the little bit of relief we received this morning but am definitely ready for some sun.

We headed down to the Disney area this weekend for some fun in the sun (hehe). We planned this trip about two months ago not realizing it would be raining a lot of the time. I am hoping that it will be a little less wet tomorrow so that we can at least let Savannah get into the pool. It sure would be nice if they had an indoor pool. Don't see many of those in Florida. As I watched the tourists walking all over the Downtown Disney area I couldn't help but wonder how I would feel if I came here for a wonderful week in the sun and had to ride out what has got to be the longest Tropical Storm in history. I imagine I would be a little fearful, especially if I had never been through this type of storm. I will have to say that the people I saw pretty much were grinning and bearing it. They were making the most out of what they were given. However, I know how hard it was to be stuck inside all day for many days with all of our items. I cannot imagine being stuck in a hotel!

Savannah's Real First Day of School

Savannah had her first day of PreK today. She was very excited. She picked out her outfit and had an added benefit of having a friend go with her to school. Here is a picture of her all ready to go:

I know, great expression. Unfortunately, it is the only one I have :( However, I would like for you to take note of what is in her right hand. Yes, that would be an umbrella. Now, I remind you that the reason Savannah's first day is today instead of Tuesday was because of Seminole County canceling school due to Tropical Storm Fay. Well, we had no school Tuesday and Wednesday and pretty much ok weather. Really not even much rain and no wind. Well, last night it started to get really windy and rainy. It pretty much has been raining since. At one point today they said that it had rained 13 inches today in Oviedo. It has been a few hours of constant rain since then. I have no idea how much rain we have gotten. And the weather is just getting worse. I think that Fay has just turned around and is coming back. I can't keep up with the reports because they change so much. They really do not seem to know what the storm is doing. Well, needless to say, there is no school again tomorrow. I have never been in a storm that stuck around like this! Enough already. One good thing is that Midnight has finally realized she either goes in the rain or she gets really uncomfortable :)

It seems like Savannah enjoyed her day. The three things she told me was that she made some art, played and that Mrs. Linda sat by her at lunch. She told her Aunt Carol Lynn that she also sat by Emma and Madison at lunch. So, all in all, that is a lot more than she has told me before, so she must have enjoyed it. Also, on another note, she was not nearly as tired coming home today as she was last year. I think the change from Zyrtec to Allegra has really made a big difference.

I hope everyone out this is dryer than we are. Enjoy walking outside without getting soaked for me :)