Wrapping it up in pictures

                                      January 2012

One cold January night after their baths. This photo just cracks me up

February 2012

Rosie turned 5

Anniversary of Rosies Gotcha day. Trying on the clothes she was wearing when we received her from the orphanage.

March 2012

Visiting England

April 2012

Lily reaches a new level in swimming

She improved so much and placed in a competition for the first time.

May 2012

a trip to Naples

June 2012

Lily turned 10 and swam with the dolphins for her birthday present.

Rosie Graduated pre- K

                                                         July 2012

Beating the heat at the beach

August 2012

Nasty case of poison ivy from a trip to North Carolina in the Mountains.

back to school. kindergarten and 5th grade

September 2012

Autumn Moon festival with FCC family

October 2012

Pumpkin Patch

November 2012

Mad Uncle Andy and Crazy Auntie Sally

December 2012

New York City

My 2nd little fish started competing in swim meets. She placed in all 3 of her races.

It has been another amazing year and my girls have survived it which considering I have been at the helm is always surprising.. So here's to more crazy, happy, fun stuff in 2013.

Annual Jr. Orange Bowl Parade.

There are so few things down here that make it feel like the holidays. The weather certainly doesn't and there are so few traditions but without fail every year the Junior Orange Bowl Committee has a parade and every single year without fail we go to it. Sometimes it is magnificent and sometimes it is lacklustre at best but we don't care because we always have fun.

We started going when Lily was 3 or 4 and we haven't missed one since. We normally go with our friends Richard and Shara but this year they couldn't go and it was the first time in 12 yrs that they have missed it. Lucky for us Hollis and the girls were down for the day and they wanted to join us.

A big bunch of crazy happy waiting for the parade.

ATT had a booth set up and were giving away freebies, I took 4 of the girls over to it because they wanted some stuff. On the way back some nosey man wanted to know how come they got so much and I told him because there were so many of them but he pointed out that Rosie had 2 bags and that wasn't fair so I then said she was carrying one for her sister who was sitting down waiting for the parade to start. He looked a little shocked that there was one more so I flippantly said, hey you've never heard of the Von Trapps? He left me alone after that and we took our seats as the parade was about to start.

I think I may have mentioned before that parades in Miami are different than parades anywhereelseintheworld, they have their own unique flair, yeah, that's it, flair. Hollis and I were laughing our bottoms off at some of the oddball stuff that made it into this one. But since we went for the kids I took photos of things that the girlies would want to remember.

Ron Magil from Zoo Miami, if there is a parade anywhere in Miami, Ron and a snake are in it....ALWAYS

I am not sure.

A marching band and this one the girls actually looked happy to be here.

The float from Miami Childrens Hosp. What can I say that hospital holds a special place in my heart.

Oh my that's blurred, the Shriners

More Shriners

This horse was gorgeous but was right on top of me before I saw it.

The actual Jr Orange Bowl float

Arghhh, Pirates

Little Cutie

Gang of bikers, not sure if they were meant to be in it or if they crashed the parade.

The winning float. There never are many floats.

Flag twirlers. These girls were so good.

We had a great time. There weren't as many marching bands as usual which was a shame but it was a good parade. For the first time ever they were throwing things off of the floats and the kids thought it was brilliant. I was appalled at some of the people who would run towards the floats get the goodies then charge back to their seats and then get more. Whats up with you folk? It's cheap crap that you really don't need, stop being greedy. Five days ago it was Christmas and you got beautiful things that you actually wanted not plastic doo-dads with advertising all over it. sheesh. The girls laughed and had fun and thought they were part of the biggest parade in town...that's what counts, well that and spending time with good friends.

Lions and Tigers and Alfie, oh my

Our friends recently got a new dog and Alfie is no ordinary dog. First off he is enormous. Second he is just the sweetest most gentle giant around and third, I like him. With all my history this is shocking. The girls have wanted to meet him from day one but life just hasn't allowed it to happen. Today we made it happen, spontaneously and they were thrilled.

Alfie is huge but he is a scaredy cat. The slightest noise and he cowers and runs to his mama. If someone he doesn't know comes to his house he will shy away until his big sister lets him know all is well. Once you go for the second time he can't wait for you to get in the door. Alfie has a bag of tricks the size of Santa and can't wait to show them off, once he knows you that is. I have seen them all and when I go in he grabs my arm in his teeth and everso gently pulls me to where he wants me to go. Then he smiles at me with this toothy grin that just makes me laugh cos it is so darned cheesy.

Meet Alfie and his big sister Snickers.

Gorgeous dogs and fabulous friends.

When the girls walked in Alfie didn't know what to make of them. He was so happy to see me but so unsure of the girls. Rosie was also a bit unsure as he stands nearly as tall as her. In the end everything was fine and once he finally calmed down he sprawled out on the floor with Rosie on top of him. They were amazed by him.

Snicky isn't really very fond of little people and she doesn't hide it so Rosie knows to stay clear. Snick will generally check out who is coming in, see that it is small people and just walk away. Today though she stayed and the girls gave her a wide birth and she loved it. Slowly she allowed them to give her attention. They never got to close, they stayed arms length and Snick decided to bathe in the affection. After about 20 minutes she got up and walked away. It was really nice to see her finally calming down. She is such a sweet and protective dog she deserves some loving too.

I forgot I had a camera in my bag and once I remembered I didn't want to move anyone around so I took pictures from where I was sitting. They aren't great but you can see how snuggled everyone became.

Lily put Rosies hair clip in his hair

I'll just use you as a pillow

Just relaxing.

Time to say, Good Bye, Alfie style. Lily thought it was hilarious.

All I have heard sine we left Richard and Shara's house is, oh I wan t a dog, please can we have a dog?

I just don't understand

THe girls are having a love with their scooters. I have to say that I don't understand it. Growing up we had a tonne of ride on toys. I always got stuck with the scooter and I hated the bloody thing. Maybe it's because I had hills and Miami is flat so it's really simple to do it but whatever the reason I hated that old red thing!

Rosie had been awake for about a minute this morning and she said, can we go scootering today? Lily also asked the same question within the same amount of time of waking up. I have no problem taking them out on theirs I just don't get why they like it so much.

Happy little scooterer

Rosie insisted on a helmet but after a few minutes took it off

wheeeeee

The happy scooterer strikes again

I love this happy funny smily girl

zoom

10 times around really fast and I am tired Mum.

Thankfully the weather is pleasant now although it could be 20 degrees cooler.

Should have known it wouldn't work

I often see posts on blogs and Facebook about people staying in there pajamas all day, I have never done it. Well perhaps if I have been ill, but I can't think of a time, ever. I also know I would have to get up, shower, then put on clean P.J's cos that is just how I am.  Today I got up at some early hour and started immediately to dismember the Christmas tree and any thing else Christmas. Enough is enough with all the extraneous stuff. By the time the girlies woke up I was in full swing so I only stopped briefly to make them breakfast and went back to work. I worked in the kitchen while they ate and then once they were done I went back to the living room and the tree.

At some point they went upstairs and got dressed, I however stayed in my jammies. I came to my senses around twelve thirty when I realised I was hungry and stopped and made lunch for us. I then declared it a pajama day and carried on. I'm not sure what made me check the calender but at precisely 1.05pm I looked at it and there in bold letters it said, Little Mermaid, 2pm. Oh Sh*t.

I spat the words, get changed, and look pretty at the girls whilst at the same time ditching my P.J.'s and diving headfirst into a shower. I took the fastest shower I have ever taken, decided today would be a good day to see if I have fallen in love with my natural waves and turned my head upside down and dried my hair like that which is unheard of. I painstakingly blow my hair straight every single day, layer, by layer. I still hate my wavy hair, BTW. I then threw on some clothes, grabbed both the kids, the tickets and car keys and we were gone. We made it with 5 minutes to spare.

Miami Childrens Theatre really is a top notch organisation and every performance we have ever seen by them has been first rate, this was no exception. My friends daughter is always one of the leading roles but this time she opted to take a behind the scenes role to gain that experience but we were able to see her and meet the other characters/actors. Considering we have just seen the Rockettes I expected to be bored, very bored, but I was very wrong. It was fabulous.

Arielle and her human treasures

the mermaid sisters

Ursula, OMG she was played by a guy and he was incredible.

A very blurred shot of the girls with the cast. The guy in the red suit was Sebastian and he was absolutely fabulous. He is so talented.

Once we got home I realised I had just abandoned the house and it looked like a bomb went off. I'm just about finished now. I will never again as long as I live declare a day, pajama day. Those days and I do not mix.

That over the top full of fun day.

On Christmas eve the girls went to bed quite late so I thought, somewhat hopefully, that they might sleep until 7am. HAH!

Rosie woke up a first, spied her stocking and yelled, really loud, "Lily wake up it's Christmas". Lily didn't need any further coaxing.

Excitement abounds

And from that moment on the excitement level just kept creeping up and up. I love seeing their faces on Christmas morning. The first thing they always do is check that Santa ate his cookies, he did and he left them a note.

and he had!

From there they headed full steam ahead into the living room and waited for the, all clear, to start unwrapping. The pile was huge and it took them forever, of course it would have been faster had they not stopped for some outside time in what has now become a tradition. Charge outside in your pajamas on Christmas morning and ride whatever new toy Santa bought for you. I'm quite sure my neighbours just shake their heads in horror.

Okay, one photo but make it snappy we have things to do.

Their gifts to each other, they chose to start with those.

Although she came home from New York with us Rocky (named after the Rockettes)is a Christmas gift and is a favourite with Rosie.

WE lost Lily for about 10 minutes when she opened a book. 

Pajama Mama hits the road.

Ditto her sister.

I hid these bean bags in their bedrooms and it took them hours to find them. Here they are late in the day watching, Brave.

When the day was done and they were snuggled in their beds I asked them what their favourite gifts were and Rosie, so help me the kid is an oddball, said, the pistachios in my stocking. She then said Rocky, and her Razor and her bean bag.
Lily's faves this year were also the beanbag and her Razor.

Lucky break for them that Santa knew they wanted Razors cos I wasn't really sure but they haven't stopped scootering for 2 days. Umm, yes actually scootering is a verb! We even went out last night when it was dark to see what their light up wheels would look like.

We made the day a magical one and hope that yours was too.