It's been awhile!

I don't know where the time has gone! So much has happened in the past year. Last August we decided to try out the foreign exchange program. We hosted a sweet girl from Brazil, Adriana, who became a big part of our family. She was only 16, and celebrated her 17th birthday with us in January. In October we took her to Gatlinburg, TN for a week vacation in the smokey mountains. We hiked, enjoyed Dollywood and enjoyed a show. We also had Curt's mom, Birdie stay with us on a couple of occasions the last being right before Christmas till February of this year. At Christmas we had a nice time, I even bought a new ornament with Adriana as part of our new family! We went on a cruise in January with all the kids and Birdie. It was a lot of fun, but too cold to swim in the ocean in January, even in the Bahamas! I have many pictures posted on my facebook link if you would like to see them. Emily turned 18 this year and graduated from high school in June. My mother and John came for Memorial weekend and celebrated Olivia's birthday and were here for Emily's graduation. Also, my cousins Mario & Deedra and their family came from Kansas to spend the holiday weekend with us! It was a nice visit! We did not go camping at all this year but spent 4th of July holiday in Orlando. We went the Wednesday before so I could be with Hilarie as she went through labor to have her second child, another daughter, Payton Erin Adams. I was there as she entered the world on June 30, 2011. I also have an album with pictures of this event and more pictures of her as time has passed. It was a blessed day! Curt and the little girls spent the day at Universal while I was at the hospital. We spent the rest of the weekend going to Disney and Universal and hanging out at the resort.

School once again started in August, Olivia in 2nd and Hannah in 4th. Olivia is in Mrs. DiGregorio's class, Hannah is in Mrs. Meek's and Ms. Vogel's class. Sophia has moved in with us at this time and is going to Otis Mason as well. She is in Kindergarten! Her teacher is Mrs. Bazler.

We spent the Labor day weekend in Orlando and the Wydham Bonnet Creek resort that Mrs. Maggione gave us a gift. We went to Disney and Universal and enjoyed the resort. We took Sophis with us and then she spent the weekend with her parents. We got to see Payton again!

The week of Labor Day, Hilarie and Payton, moved back to our house. She is going to stay with us for a while so she can go back to school. She is hoping to get her own apartment in February or March. She is going to cosmetology school now. She started on November 1st and will continue for a one year program. This semester she is learning how to do nails and makeup I think.

Curt and I took a week vacation at the end of September, right before his birthday, to Gatlinburg, TN again. We stayed in a timeshare right off the main road, Gatlinburg Town Square. It was nice. We hiked in the mountains, went to the Hatfield and McCoy show, which was hilarious. We also watched the Comedy Barn show. Curt really enjoyed that one too. It was great to reconnect with each other after a busy summer.

Halloween has come and went. Hannah and Emily dressed as nerds, Olivia was a mexican....lol! She actually wore my old fiesta dress from way back when, complete with sombrero! Sophia dressed as Belle, from Beauty & the Beast, and Payton was a FSU cheerleader. Again, more pictures are posted on my facebook page.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching! I am going to have dinner with my family here at the house. All the kids will be here with us! My parents will also be joining us. I'm not sure yet what Christmas will bring but I'm sure it will be great!

Till my next update! See you soon!

Happy New Year

It's been quite some time since I lasted posted. The year has brought many changes to our family. We decided to take on a foreign exchange student. A friend called me in August and asked if we would be interested and I said no at first, but I talked to Curt and he said I should talk to Emily about it. Emily was very interested to say the least! We started the paperwork and received a student within a couple of weeks! I let Emily pick the girl...we had a choice of 3. She decided on Adriana, 16, from Brazil. We had to rearrange the bedrooms to accomodate her, but Emily was on board with that. We moved her queen bed to the girls room, and put the girls twin beds in her room. So then we decided to paint the room too! We painted it teal and white. We then bought black comforters and teal pillow cases. It looked really nice.

Cold in Florida

Just wondering when the weather is going to warm up. I was at the gym this morning and a friend told me that it would reach 70 by Monday. That would be nice! I'm tired of the cold weather! I know I shouldn't complain...it's much colder up north! LOL! But that's why I moved to Florida, right?

We have to go do some work at a customer's house this afternoon. He wants all the white rock removed and mulch put in. Hopefully we get it done quickly.

Sitting here watching the Sex and the City movie. Emily recorded it. Haven't seen it in some time. The dog is wigging out in the living room. I hope it's a good weekend.

Sorry for the boring post! LOL! :-) Till next time!

It's been a while!

Hi! It's been a really long time since I've posted an update, so here goes! We have moved yet again...lol! This time for good I hope! We are finally buying a home in Florida! YEAH! We bought a house in Wildwood Pines, still in St. Augustine! We are much closer to the grocery store, my gym, and the kids are in the same school district...what a plus! Emily is a junior now, where did time go? She is driving all by herself! At the end of May, first of June, we will be buying her a car. She wants cute, we want economical...we'll meet somewhere in the middle. Hannah is a busy 2nd grader now. She loves to read, but no so much with math...lol! We are working on that. Olivia started kindergarten this year! My babies are now all in school. She is doing very well.

Emily was in Winterguard again this fall, but decided not to continue with it this spring. She now has more time after school and can work more easily. She was working at Sonic...her first job, but has since moved on to the new theater here in town. She enjoys it...plus she gets free movie passes each week...bonus! She has been taking me with her lately...nice quality time for us! Tonight we watched Valentine's Day. It was hilarious!

Hannah is taking Karate now. She is a yellow belt, but will be testing at the beginning of March for her orange belt. It's a good thing for her to learn!

Olivia was doing Girl Scouts, daisies, but the troop seems to have fell apart, so we'll see what she will do soon. Who knows?

Curt is busy at the cemetery and working on our lawn service. I am doing some cleaning for others, and working with the lawn service. The lawn service is kind of slow right now though. I'm not complaining though...of course it does hurt the budget when things are slow.

Hopefully we will be closing on our house tomorrow, which is my oldest birthday! She will be 19 tomorrow! She is currently in Orlando, with Sophia and Spencer. We had Hilarie's birthday dinner on Saturday. She is busy working two jobs and will hopefully be back to school in the fall! She's doing good though!

I'm trying to get back in shape too! This year my goal is fit, fab and 40! December is my deadline! I will be reaching the big 40 this year! No more not liking myself! I am trying to get to the gym more often, doing 45 minutes of cardio and strength training. I have lost 10 lbs so far...only 20 more to go! I've been slacking lately so I need to get back and get motivated again! I really wish I had a buddy! I know I can always call my sister and she'll keep me going! Wish she was here though! I miss her!

I'm hoping to plan another cruise this year where we take the little ones! They really want to go on one! Welll it's getting really late and Curt would probably like for me to turn off the tv and this computer! He bought me this laptop for Valentine's day! I know he spoils me! I love it! I also got chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels and cookies too! He took me out for dinner at Outback where we had fillets, and lobster tails, and ended with cheesecake! It was the sweetheart special! It was delicious!

Well hopefully I'll be posting more soon! Night!

Our Cruise - Carnival Triumph 09

Our cruise went pretty good. It was a bit rocky on the way there, and very windy. On Sunday night we went to dinner and met some nice people whom we would spend a great deal of time with during the cruise, Julie and Rick Frasier, Boris Millan, and Kirsten Crandall. Of course we ordered several different things from the menu each night, including two desserts on numerous occassions!! LOL! We did try some new things we hadn't tried before as well as many yummy favorites, like steak and lobster!! Monday was a day at sea, and we tried all day to find a lawn chair to sit in. When I finally did find two on the side of the boat, I just got my book and it started to pour!! We went down to the casino and did a little gambling, me at the slots and Curt trying his hand at black jack. Neither of us one anything that day :-(! Tuesday we layed out on the deck with our friends, Rick and Julie, all day and soaked up the sun. We docked in San Juan 2 hours later than scheduled due to the weather, so we decided to go the dining room first. Apparently, so did everyone else! LOL! It was like a herd of cattle being summoned to the dining room, no joke! They tried at first to assign people to tables but it was a crazy thing called open seating on that night, who's idea that was, needs to rethink it! They said normally no one comes to the dining room since they port at San Juan at 5pm, people get off and go in instead, but since it was later everyone went to the dining room, literally. They were short staffed and it was really a mess. The food was good though. By the time we got off the boat it was close to 8pm and it was already dark :-(, most of the shops were closed, the fort was closed, etc. We walked around town looking for soveneirs for the kids. I found a cute purse for Hilarie there. San Juan really reminded me of St. Augustine, with it's old city charm. I would really love to go back there during the day so I can see the sites. I heard there was an awesome kiak that was illuminated by these organisms that was really worth it at night though. The next day we were in St. Thomas for the day. We did a tour of Megan's Bay, which was a beautiful beach.

26 days and counting!

I can't wait till I leave for my cruise!! Curt and I are going on a Carnival cruise on April 26th out of Miami on the Triumph. This will be my 2nd Carnival cruise and Curt's first. We had cruised together 3 times, this being my 5th cruise since we've been in Florida. I have posted some photos from our boat.

Here is our Itinerary:

Port of Call Arrive Depart

Sunday, April 26th Miami, Florida 4:00pm

Monday, April 27th Fun Day at Sea

Tuesday, April 28th San Juan, Puerto Rico 5:00pm 12:00am

Wednesday, April 29th St. Thomas, USVI 7:00am 6:00pm

Thursday, April 30th St. Maarten, NA 7:00am 5:00pm

Friday, May 1st Fun Day at Sea

Saturday, May 2nd Fun Day at Sea

Sunday, May 3rd Miami, Florida 8:00am

We are staying on the pool deck or Panarama deck. Should be convenient since we spend alot of time on that deck! I can't wait to lounge out on the deck and enjoy the beautiful scenery! I'll post lots of pictures when I return!

Our timeshare

We stayed at our timeshare this weekend in Orlando, called the Fountains. This is a view from our balcony. The kids had a great time playing in the kiddie area. We had to drag them out! The water was heated so it was pretty nice. We stayed in the new building so we just had to walk out and we were at the pool. Hannah really enjoyed the waterslide too, but Olivia had no desire to do that again! Last time we were here she tried it and hated it! LOL! Her favorite area is the sprayers as you can see here! All in all a good weekend!