Kylie's 1st family portrait

Recently, Kylie's artwork turned from scribbles to very carefully thought out circles and more concentrated scribbles. She would name for me what she drew and I would encouragingly (is that a word) say "oh is that what that is - I see - great job"! Then the other day she drew a picture of Bruisy our dog and darn it I can't find that piece of artwork anywhere. But it did look like a pretty good version of our dog for a 3yr old and she even drew ears on it. I actually thought Sean helped her with the shape of the head but he looked just as impressed as I did. Then her drawing progressed to people with arms sprouting from their heads. On Tuesday on a short drive to school with her Daddy, she asked for a pad and pen. Sean was so proud of her work and made sure that Kylie showed me as soon as I saw her later that day. At the tender age of 3yrs and 2 months she drew the 1st of what I'm sure will be many more to come family portraits. Notice how proportionate the scale is for Sean and I compared to herself and our dog. I am so impressed and of course had a little knot in my throat as we mark another milestone of Kylie growing up way too fast in my eyes. Do you suppose this is how Picasso started out? -- wink.

It's funny too how one of my favorite sitcoms this past Sunday had a scene in it about children's family portraits from the child's p.o.v and how embarrassing it can be at times for parents - yikes!!

Credits: Kensington QP-One memory at a time - GDS

Fairy princess

We had a lovely weekend at Sea*World this past Saturday. Kylie was styling in her fairy princess outfit which she loved. And yes it was one of my bargain finds at under $5. We usually pass a DJ area with fun activities for the kids and this time Kylie got to participate in the hula hoop portion. She tried and laughed and tried some more to get that hoop to wrap around her little waist. The closest she got to hooping it up was when the hoop wrapped around her little ankles for approx. a turn in a half. Her look of surprise indicated victory in her own little head. Her smile was contagious. We met with Kylie's cousins from Tampa at Sea*World and again on Sunday at Downtown Disney.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday fun

Today Kylie tried out in gymnastics for the 3yr old class. It would be the first time that she took a class without her mommy or daddy right at her side. She was so excited prior to getting there and once there she didn't stop smiling. She listened to the instructor intently and tried to keep up as best as she could the entire time looking over at us smiling and waving. We are so proud of her. I was beaming with pride and I couldn't take my eyes off of her at times I wiped away a tear or two. It was just tears of joy watching our little girl growing up so fast right before our eyes. She had so much fun and we hope to start her back up next month. After class, bet you can't guess where we ended up once again...this time sporting one of the bargain finds. Dress $10, hair bow made by me $3, shoes - hand me down from a friend Khatie. She loved her dress and walked around picking up her dress in her dainty way with one hand on each side lifting it as she walked by. All I can think of is that she must have gotten that idea from watching any number of princess stories. We also had the pleasure of catching up with the Zanegoods totally unplanned. Kylie was exhausted and fell asleep in her stroller which is a rare, rare thing. It was a lovely day.

Ghost*buster

Today while Sean was making dinner, Kylie grabbed on to his leg and said that she was afraid of ghosts. Since we want to ensure that we raise a fearless leader we encouraged Kylie to not be afraid because ghosts are not real. I realize though that some people may disagree. But for the sake of my story there is no such thing as ghosts:-) She insisted that there were ghosts all around at that very moment and she made the decision to confront them. Our little normally dainty girl caught a ghost. She then leaned over said imaginary ghosts and began to pummel "one" to the ground with her arms extending in and out, left and right her little fists clenched tight. I watched silently probably with my mouth open as she declared victory. I knew without a doubt that she must have learned this from a little boy or girl in class today. So let this be a warning to all ghosts, you are not safe in our house:-)

Sea*World Trick or Treating fun

I've been waiting with much excitement for this month because our favorite place to visit on the weekends started their trick or treating event. Every weekend Sea*World will be having a nice long section of the park dedicated with treat stations every few feet and photo ops with sea creatures and mermaids. Kylie's cousins spent the weekend with us and it was twice the fun watching the kids get so excited about the activities. I scored a huge sale on costumes which means Kylie will get to choose a different one each week if her little heart desires. Gotta love bargains! Kylie enjoys playing dress up on a regular day so imagine what fun it is for her to be able to actually go outside in them. The little luau outfit on the pics below where just put together Saturday morning. It wasn't one of the items I purchased recently. It came together as a last minute idea which drives my impatient hubby crazy because it didn't come together until right before we were heading out - lol! This is a special time of year including this month because it is hubby's birthday followed by Thanksgiving and then Christmas and it all includes spending time with family. Cheers!

Click image to enlarge

Visit from the Murphy's

This past weekend we were thrilled to have the O'Murphy's from Delray spend the weekend with us. We met thru our travel group as we were using the same agency and our girls are both from Wuwei. Although we do not have the opportunity to see each other often, we have kept touch and we have so much fun whenever we do get together. We went to Uni-versal on Friday, Sea-World on Saturday and even enjoyed a little pool time and water play on Sunday. The Zanegoods joined us for dinner on Friday. We all enjoyed getting together and the girls had a blast!