Fogle Christmas

Christmas was a little unusual this year since mom and dad celebrated in Illinois with the Australians. We usually spend Christmas day with the Fogles, but this year we stayed home all day. It was nice to be able to hang out in PJ's and play with toys all day but still felt awkward to not be celebrating with my family. When mom and dad returned from Illinois, we all got together at their place on New Years eve for our belated Christmas.

Mom always sets a beautiful table for the holidays. Every little detail makes you feel special and the kids always find something fun at their plate. These were the little things I felt were missing from our Christmas day. Love you mom!

Brooke is ready to open PRESENTS!

The girls dig into their gifts

We also celebrated Grandmas birthday

Grandma and her great-grandkids

Christmas Day 2009

Here's a shot of our Christmas tree on Christmas morning, before the kids got a hold of it! Looks so peaceful..

The girls patiently wait for permission to charge the tree! This reminds me of my childhood so much. We had a long hallway and mom and dad would make us line up ans wait for the signal before we darted in for our presents.

Somebody has been here..

Ali digs into her stocking

The girls show off their gifts. Ali asked for Swim to Me Puppy and Brooke wanted a remote control car.

Ali fell asleep on the couch while watching a Christmas movie. Is there anything sweeter than my baby sleeping in her tutu on Christmas day?

That night we went up to the front pasture and set off some fireworks.

Sarah wins the "Coolest Cocoa" prize with her whipped cream and marshmallows.. yum!

Christmas Eve 2009

We spend Christmas Eve with the DeMoor side of the family which means lots of food, lots of presents and lots of fun. Here's the whole gang, ready to chow..

The kids sing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus.

Carson tries out his new slide!

Ali's new tutu from the Moloneys (she had to excuse herself so she could out it on right away!)

Brooke and her new Princess Bible. She's been asking for this for a long time. She likes it because it's pink and sparkly. Mom likes it because it's written in simpler language for kids which will make our bible lessons for homeschool much easier.

Ali gets her very own pink blanket from Grandma. She's outgrown her purple baby blanket.

Brooke shows off her new sparkly red sneakers from Grandma


What a fun Christmas Eve we had. We have so much to be thankful for and I was so proud of my girls and how sweet and appreciative they were to all their family for their gifts.

Me and my girls

Counting my Christmas blessings

Christmas Baking

Another highlight of my Christmas this year was a sweet hour spent with Ali in my kitchen. She's really been interested in helping mommy cook lately which makes my least favorite task (cooking) more enjoyable. We made candycane cookies, truffles and birthday cupcakes for Jesus. I just can't get enough of her and that hour spent alone with her was very precious.

Such a sweet girl..

Brooke and Sarah helped ice the cupcakes too.

Gingerbread House Party 2009

Last year's gingerbread house party was such a fun success, I knew I wanted to do it again this year! My only problem.. no mommy to help me make the houses. :( Mom was headed out of town for Christmas so I was going to have to rely on my own cooking skills (not really a safe bet). But thankfully, construction went well and the icing was holding. One of the really fun parts about throwing this party is shopping for the candy. I feel like a kid just throwing all kinds of junk in the cart and Brooke and Ali were having fun picking out decorations for their houses. We had a great turnout and so much fun. Once the kids were done decorating their houses, we gave buggy rides and horse rides. It was a beautiful day and such a highlight for the Christmas season. The holidays can be so stressful and over-booked and this event has become such a fun part of Christmas and a way to bless my friends and their kids.

CFHLA Holiday Gala

Wildlife Solutions has recently joined the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association as a means to drum up some business from hotels in the area. The CFHLA has a big holiday event every year for the members with a huge silent auction, dinner, and dancing. Any oportunity to get out of the house and get dressed up is exciting to me, so I was pretty thrilled about going. And the girls loved that daddy was taking mommy to "the ball". We ended up having some extra seats at our table so we invited the Clines to come along with us. The gala was held at the Grand Cypress and they had a great deal on rooms for attendees so we got a sitter (aka. Steph) and made a night of it.

Roller Skating

Steve's been wanting to take the girls roller skating for a while. After trying to talk me into skating with them, I think he realized my severe aversion to skating was not going to change. So like the good dad that he is, he took them all by himself one morning while I got my hair cut. He said it was pretty challenging managing them both by himself since neither of them had ever skated. But Brooke caught on fast and rolling along by herself pretty quickly. I went with them the second time and watched form the sidelines. Ali still isn't too confident in her skating, but she's got plenty of time to learn.

Cookie Baking Party

The long-standing Fogle tradition of a cookie baking party continues! Mom has been throwing cookie baking parties for over thirty years. It's so cool that this tradition that I looked forward to every year is now something my girls look forward to. This year's party was pretty low-key since it happened right before mom and dad were heading out of town for Christmas. The girls had a fun sugared-up time with no shortage of icing and sprinkles.

Visiting Santa

Ali's Preschool Christmas Program

Ali performed in her very first school program. She was adorable.. of course! Her class sang two songs. One was "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and she's been performing it ever since. If you get the oportunity to request it in person, she'd be happy to give you an exclusive performance!

Winter in the Keys

With Uncle Dave, Aimee and Mark visiting from Australia, we had yet another excuse to travel to the Keys! In the five years that Jeff has been living down there, we have never visited in the winter.. big mistake! It was so gorgeous! We swam in December, enjoyed the breeze and could actually be outside and NOT be covered in sweat and humidity. Mom found a great deal at Hawks Cay Resort (where Jeff works at the Dolphin Connection) so it was a real treat to stay there. Here are some highlights from our trip.

Brooke found her fins on this trip and learned to swim! I was so excited for her and she couldn't get enough of the pool once she discovered her independence in the water.

Brooke and Leann playing on the docks

Stopping for ice cream in Key West. Chocolate covered key lime ice cream bars are my FAVORITE!!!!

Sunset at Mallory Square in Key West

This is a picture of Jeff leading a dolphin encounter for Aimee, Mark, Dave, Mom and Dad.

And it wouldn't be a trip to the keys for our family without a stop at Robbie's marina to feed the tarpon.

We'll be back in the Keys again in March for a WEDDING!!!!

Homegroup Christmas Party

Our homegroup has been meeting for about ten years now. We started out as six couples and one child and now have the same six couples, but with 15 kids and one baby on the way. So you can imagine the chaos when we all get together. We have a Christmas party every year where the kids do a gift exchange, we put the kids to bed and then the adults do a gift exchange. Here' s picture of the kids having a little dance party. This was so cute to see them all bopping around together.
Here they are all seated and ready for their Christmas book exchange

After we got the kids all in bed (yes, all 15 in one house), we adults got to have our fun gift exchange. The gifts range from gifts you would like to receive to gag gifts you wouldn't want to have to take home. For the past 7 years or so there's been a sausage making the rounds and we just happen to be the lucky ones to pick that gift this year. It's pretty scary looking but it's become such a Christmas tradition that no one wants to retire it (except for maybe Becky). The Weeks are the only family that haven't had to take it home.