Baby Showering My Cousin In Preparation for Baby J

Cousins, cupcakes and strawberry cream cake at Three Layers Coffee House

Congratulations to my cousin and her super hero husband! 

I wish you two the best as you prepare for the arrival of your baby. 

Some of the baby shower guests with Tanya and Baby J

Happy Birthday to my Nephew!

May happiness surround you all the days of your life. Make a wish!

Merry Christmas 2011!

Christmas morning...like 12 midnight for the cousins and gifts!

My sisters with Baby girl and MJ. 

The cousins in a sort of Modern Family pose. 

BeFrie Visits

Evanses Annual Holiday Open House
Joy, Geri Evans and I

Joy visiting all of her fans at the Orlando Citadel Corps

Our babies breaking bread (mostly rice) together. So sweet! 

Vacation on the Mountains

Baby Girl and I at Grandfather Mtn.

We enjoyed a fun family vaca up to the mountains of North Carolina. It was our second trip to Blowing Rock and our first to Highlands. Blowing Rock was amazing. Very relaxing and this time, we got to try some new places like the Village Cafe and Proper (actually that was in Boone). We visited Grandfather Mountain and Tweetsie Railroad. What we initially thought would be a few hours here and there, turned into full day trip. The baby girl did great.

Mr. Wonderful and Mr. Perfect playing golf in Cashiers, NC

Baby Girl with her YiaYia and Papou in Highlands, NC

Off to Highlands and I was pleasantly surprised by how incredibly gorgeous it is up there. The drive over was in the midst of a torrential downpour so I started thinking it wasn't worth it. I was so wrong. The town was quaint and full of plenty to do without too many things to do. Love that about vacation spots. We visited the waterfalls and sunset rock. We shopped a little bit and my new mother-in-law and I walked a lot. It was so relaxing.


Of course, all good things come to an end AND mine came to a screeching halt when I got so sick on the drive home. I was so sick I could barely keep my eyes open or enjoy reading or do anything that exterted more energy than sleeping. Being sick sucks and you never quite get it until you feel so yuck again.

Happy Easter! Cristos Anesti!

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Originally uploaded by ljohnson9

Enjoyed a beautiful Easter weekend in Jacksonville with family and friends. The baby girl attended her first Greek Easter service and did very well despite the midnight start time and not getting to bed until almost 4 a.m.

Once again, I lost the red egg contest. It's what I specialize in. The good news is that the baby girl appears to be more blessed than I so she did well going up against YiaYia Teala in the final round. I can't remember if it was a tie or if it was her win. Either way, the girl's blessed and she takes home the non-cracked egg on both sides.

Here's to those perfect moments that I'm so thankful for and for the One who makes it all possible for my family and I.

Baseball with the Fam

With less than 24 hours notice, my Mr. Wonderful and baby girl were on our way to Tropicana Field to experience our first Tampa Bay Rays baseball game. As a family, we've visited Turner Field with BeFrie and her fam a few years ago when they opened it up to the public but we hadn't ventured out to an actual game together. We ended up with some fantabulous seats...Not necessarily for watching the game but for hanging out with the opposing team and socializing with some really fun people. So, wait, I take that back. The seats were awesome for experiencing our first game together. And, considering Baby Girl does prefer to be free to run around vs. sitting in one place for a few hours, I'd say it was the best way for all parties involved to enjoy the entire game. We did it all. We cheered the home team on, ate popcorn, admired how nice the field was and wondered if the top of it opened up. Overall, we had a great time and definitely want to go back very soon. Go Rays!

More pics from RAYS game

Cousin Shell is all Married!

All grown up and married,

Mrs. Michelle Whitfield-Bye

Road Trip to Hollywood (Florida)!

The Hollywood portion of our trip was not originally planned. Of course, based on my prior post the reason we were down there was to hold that sweet little baby girl Estella for as long as her sleeping schedule would allow. Because Mr. Wonderful and I used to frequent the Hollywood area back in the dating days, we called our friends who lived, worked and recently sold their house there to say we were thinking of them. As it turns out, they were in Hollywood at the Hard Rock. Yup...The HARD ROCK. To make a short story short...We ended up visiting our friends poolside and got to see why we could never actually hotel at a Hard Rock with the kids while we walked through the lobby/casino of cigarette smoke. Got over it (sort of) once we saw the pool. The visit was short but extra sweet. Baby girl had her first Strawberry Daquiri (virgin, to clarify for you judgers). We swam and laughed all the way until she fell asleep in a pool chair. What a great way to kick off our 3 hour drive back home. The trip was a pleasant surprise to us. It felt like vacation which I have to admit, I haven't been able to really, really take in what seems like forever. So here's to Hollywood and surprise vacations!

Cousin Shelly's Getting Married...But not before we have a fun night out!

bride-to-be, shelly, and me

party shoe people!

cousin e and shelly

me and cousin e ... just like old times.

Suds + Sponges = Good Family Fun

Yes, those are pink gloves and yes, she is washing a car. It's one of our many chores that she enjoys doing with both of us. She doesn't get bored and she loves the bubbles and the water and yes, the pink gloves. So, this time around we scrubbed all three vehicles and she worked on them all. When we finished up, she proudly shared with me what a "good job" she did helping to get them all clean.

It makes my heart so happy to spend time together like this because no matter what we're doing when you are a family you enjoy helping each other in the fun times and even while we're doing something as non-exciting like washing cars.

If I haven't told you enough today...I love you Mr. Wonderful and baby girl. I love our family and the opportunity to grow with you every day wherever we are and whatever we're doing together.

the baby girl has revived my love for the neighborhood park

Seahorse rider...Ready for the race!

Celebrating the Day My Nephew Was Born

Cutest Nephew Back in the day.

Well, he was actually one-day old here.

Now, he's FIVE!!!!!!!

(Here we are on Christmas eve)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Merry Christmas to the Newlyweds!

Deck the Halls with Cindy....
The Boys to Men Christmas Choir

Three generations

Cousin Shelly and I with my Mommy Glowie

My baby brother and I

Cutest Nephew and I

My Auntie, Baby Girl's YiaYia

My Uncle Bob, Baby Girl's "NoeNoe"

Cousins!

Baby Girl and J. Go to EPCOT

Ready to conquer EPCOT together!

Living in our future world!

Of course, we've gotta go to Nemo!
Unfortunately, the ride got stuck and we got to
hear the turtles talk all surfer-dude for five minutes.

DUFFY - the Disney Bear, Baby Girl and I striking a pose.
Thanks to J., she seemed fine with going over to see him.

Super Shah and I at EPCOT. Love that girl!

SeaWorld on Black Friday

Baby girl loves SeaWorld...I think family time is far better than a day shopping at the mall for things that people don't really need. There's not a sale that could be more valuable than a day with the people I love. It's so true.

Love my nephew M!

All the J's at the Shark Restaurant...The name escapes me right now.

Shark Grill? (Can't believe I am forgetting.)

Trying to get a family pic before they head to football practice.

YiaYia, Papou and Baby Girl after Shamu Show

Catching up on Turkey Day...

Ummm...Yes, please.

Mr. Wonderful's 2010 Turkey - Citrus Parsley flavored,

made on the grill. Deeeee-lish!

C and M enjoying the lazy boy after Thanksgiving.

This is their first year at our home for this holiday.

C's first visit to our house. Glad they could be a part of this year's Thanks day!

Fab Father-in-law, Mr. Wonderful and my new mother-in-law

making it happen in the kitchen.