Christmas 2009

This week has presented with lots of challenges, but none the less, we are grateful to be enjoying the season. We can't help but feel the Spirit of Christ, even through all of these challenges :) Hopefully you can laugh with us as we describe the most interesting last three days.

-On the 23rd, Skyler lost his FAVORITE dog blanket in the mall. That night there was lots of crying as we tried to get him to sleep. I searched the house, car, mall and my mother's home for hours until I finally called it quits around 1am.

- On the 24th, Skyler greeted us at his bedroom door .... This was a HUGE surprise as he has never climed out of his crib before!!! Time for a toddler bed we decided .... we tried to put it off for as long as possible, even though our pediatrician has been recommending it for the last year. Apparently his dog blanket was the calming influence (like the good angel on his shoulder), keeping him in line while we weren't there to tell him no!

- After lots of fervent prayer and requests for a Christmas miracle, we started our Christmas Eve morning searching for Skyler's dog blanket for hours ... NO LUCK. We then bought other blankets to try and replace doggie, but no luck. Bren jokes that Skyler appears to be getting along fine, but his mommy is torn up. (a note - can you get PTSD from your son loosing his favorite blanket?) It is so sad to see him ask for and reach for something that you cannot give to him!!!!!

- We then put together the bed rail for the new BIG BOY BED .... what a joke those things are ... the first one we got was so difficult to put together we had to take it back and the second one did not fit. Of course that was the night that all the stores closed at 7pm!!!! That night we put Skyler to bed in an empty room, in his converted crib, without a bed rail. Well that was a mistake! It took at least half an hour for him to fall asleep ... at the door! The little guy kept rolling out of the bed onto the blankets and pillows on the floor. We finally set up the pack n play to keep him somewhat contained, praying that he could not climb out of that too! Fortunately, he stayed in that and fell back asleep after another half an hour! We have now decided to postpone the transition until after the stores re-open on the 26th.

- Christmas Eve also included the building of many toys! No one told us that Santa does not bring the toys already built!!!! A late night for mom and dad :) Here are the finished results :







- Christmas morning - the weather was warm, rainy and extremely HUMID! We woke up, finished the toy building, and went to get Skyler. We did a recreation of the nativity. This was a wonderful activity and too funny to watch Skyler put the shepherd to sleep in the manger!





Then we opened Christmas presents. Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher brought Skyler this amazing train table that started off like this when Skyler saw it -



And ended up like this by the end of the night :



My favorite line was when Brendan told Skyler that when he yanked and pulled on the pieces that it was like an earthquake for the people living in the little town! Skyler did not seem to be moved by that speach and really set the earthquake in motion.

We then went to Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's home for dinner. What a great influence Aunt and Uncles are ... Lots of candy and even a mud pit party :





Then it was dinner time ... This is how we do dinner at the Fletcher house ... We start off with a good showing of all the food groups (or at least most) -



And then end up with something like a Corn Dog if we are lucky -



Night time for Skyler on the way home from all the fun and relaxing time for Mom and Dad while we wait for his birthday to hit in a few hours !!! What were we thinking with a December baby?

Now we are waiting for the Fletcher family to join us for some more Christmas and Birthday fun all the way from Arizona !!!!

So glad to have friends and family like you .... Enjoy the holidays :)

Gaylord Palms - ICE

We took Skyler to the Gaylord Palms ICE exhibit in Orlando this year. It was AWESOME! For anyone that does not know, it is an exhibit that the Gaylord Palms hotel puts on every year. It is all Ice and very cold! The exhibit is huge (two million pounds of hand carved ice) and kept at 9 degrees. The exhibit starts in November and goes into January. A little cold … but still very neat. We had Skyler bundled in his footed pajamas, sweats, turtleneck, ski bib, ski jacket, snow boots, and the down jacket they provide! Of course, I forgot the mittens at home, but the jacket was sooo big it seemed to work out just fine! Brendan, Patty, Skyler and I took a midnight drive to Orlando so we could be there early for all the fun. Rich and Kat met us in Orlando … but of course we were late! So they waited inside the freezing exhibit so we could make our way through the line. Skyler loved the ice slides and made sure we took him down it several times (I don’t think he was affected by the cold, definitely not as much as we were). I liked the nativity ice sculpture that was on display at the end … there is a picture below. I lost my memory cards (3 of them) with all those pictures and videos I have been meaning to post … but a nice person turned them in before I had even realized they were lost. After playing in the ICE for a few minutes, we enjoyed hot chocolate and listened to Christmas Carols in the lobby of the HUGE hotel! Brendan took off for the Gators game and the rest of us enjoyed lunch in the seafood themed section of the hotel.  What a great day!!! I only snagged a few pictures b/c of course … my battery died while we were in the exhibit.

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Dog Park Day

We love having relaxing days at the Fletcher house. Skyler and Brendan show us how it is done in these picks …

After a relaxing morning at home, we like to go to the dog park and let Jack run! This morning, Patty came with us! We had so much fun chasing Jack around the dog beach and playing in the sand. It was very cold, especially with the breeze from the water. This is one of our favorite little parks to go to, because it has a playground at it too!

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Visit with Aunt Kim and Jason

Aunt Kim and Jason came in town for a quick visit. We hadn’t seen Jason as big and active as he was. He is such a beautiful baby! We decided that a visit to the Lowry Park Zoo would be great fun. The boys had a blast! Skyler enjoyed the water area, but Jason did not. Jason loved the animals, but Skyler did not. Between the two of them, we had a pretty even mix of activities.  We can’t wait to see them again … hopefully a trip to North Carolina will be in the cards soon :) There are lots of great pictures in this album so make sure to check them all out!

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Visit with Uncle James

Uncle James came in town, so we decided  to show him the fun world of MOSI and the Aquarium. We saw some neat fish at the Aquarium (there are lots of pictures in the album so you will have to open it). Skyler loved Uncle James soooo much and warmed up to him rather fast. After Uncle James had to go home, Skyler was still looking for him in his room to play with him! We will have to travel to Tennessee soon for another visit.

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David’s Swearing In

David was sworn in to Florida Bar August 2009. Skyler and Brendan decided to dress alike for the special occasion. Michelle, Patty, Kat, Granmommy, Granddaddy, Skyler, Brendan and me attended the event. Congratulations David!

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Tarpon Springs and Greek Goddesses

We took Rich and Skyler on their first trip to the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks. The three Mitchell girls, AKA Greek Goddesses, showed them all the hot spots to get treats and sponges. We also enjoyed a nice meal at Mykonos, our fav restaurant down there. There was some fabulous fudge and lots of yummy Greek desserts. We were even kind enough to bring some back for Granmommy, Granddaddy and Uncle D! Thanks To Rich for the trip suggestion.

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Utah Vacation 2009

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We went to Utah this year for our Ski Vacation. Our friends Sara and Jared were so kind to put us up in their home. We had lots of fun! We got to go to the Salt Lake Temple, go skiing, go to the aquarium, and even enjoy Jared’s B-Day party. Sara and Jared had lots of fun playing with Skyler, a good preparation for their little bundle of joy that was on the way.  Skyler was just over a year and was in desperate need of his first hair cut. We called in the reserves, Aunt Tiffany, who met us at the airport before we departed to give him a quick cut!

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