Orlando Magic and the Hard Rock Hotel!

We are back from Orlando and we had a blast! Kaylea had a "sleepover party" at Mimi and Gada's house, and we had a "sleepover party" at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino! Not sure how Kaylea's went (we pick her up after work today) but ours was super fun!

We got to the hotel and dropped off our luggage and then headed to the game. I have to say the Hard Rock hotel is sooo nice and its actually not as expensive as you would think. The room was awesome... And I'm just mad I didn't think to take a picture of it for the blog! But it was a nice with a big comfy down bed! :-) They give you a CD when you go there and you have a CD Player in the room. It was decked out very modern and the tub in the bathroom was so big that Eric could lay down in it with his legs and knees flat.... (but it went to waste cause there was not time to take a bath in it). When we got back to our room that night they had the bed set out all fancy like a cruise ship with two choclate guitars on our pillows! How cool is that!

So off to the game we went - Floor Seats! It was so awesome... Just flash your floor seats ticket and you get treated like royalty! The view was great and I must say now that I have seen the players up close I have a crush on a few of them! Dwight Howard and Carlos Arroyo are my two favorites. I call Arroyo - Arroz con Pollo - has a better ring to it! I got plenty of game pictures but they moved so fast I didn't know how to work my new camera well enough to keep some of them from blurring. But plenty of good pics and "Magic Dancer" pics as well. And - WE WON! Seems like every game we've been to in the past we haven't won, but we had floor seats to a winning game! It was great!

After the game we headed back to Tampa to the Hard Rock Hotel and ended up eating at their upscale version of Denny's... Not so good. I had wanted to eat at "Council of Oaks" but it is entirely too expensive and it was a bit late for that. Maybe another day. We did hit the casino for a short time, and I actually had won about $200 - which Eric said, walk away.... Lets go. And I didn't listen (which I guess is why casinos make their money) but I left at $75... I started to get the point. But it was just so surreal being there. One of our favorite TV shows is Las Vegas, and while I know we weren't there, it felt like our own little version of it. I was looking all around for Danny from Security and Eric was looking for Sam Marques the Casino host LOL. If you watch the show you will know who we are talking about.

Needless to say we had a great time, and we definitely want to stay at that hotel sometime again. Now we are both back in reality and at work today. Bah humbug!

To view all of our pictures from the trip click below!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kayleasmom/OrlandoMagicGame

Kaylea's Deep Thought of the Day

Lately Kaylea has been talking a lot about how she was once in my belly. This morning Eric called me from his cell phone to share with me what Kaylea had just asked him.

"Daddy, do you think I just jumped out of mommy's belly and started playing with toys?"

The Magical Reindeer Food Worked!

Sorry I have slacked on the blog writing! I've been working overtime at work and we have all been under the weather here in our house. Kaylea and Eric seem to be doing much better and I am on the road to recovery now that I have a Z-Pack in my system. Anyways, through it all we still managed to have a great Christmas! God has really blessed us this year and we actually will have enough money with bonuses and gifts to get our central heating & air redone! (A much long needed expense.) I can't wait because in the summer time our electric bills were $475/month for our little 890 sq. foot home! Ugh I know!

Well on Christmas Eve we took Kaylea outside and sprinkled some magical reindeer food all over our yard and driveway to help guide the reindeer to our house. (Looked more like oatmeal to me.) Then we set out cookies and milk for Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus and it was off to sleep. We all slept in believe it or not...guess that's the being sick part. Normally Kaylea wakes up at 7am on the dot but on Christmas it was 8am and we had to go wake her up! We told her she had to wake up cause Santa came and she said, "I can't believe the magical reindeer food worked!"



Santa had set up a play tent for her with a tunnel that was going down the hallway, so first thing she said was, "A TENT!!!" So she crawled through the tunnel and through the tent and then saw her big girl bed. So she ran over to her big girl bed and said, "A bed, a bed! Its just what I always wanted!" Haha! She is so sincere with everything she says its adorable! Then it becomes a blur of opening one present after another one. Unfortunately I didn't take that many pictures (I think 3?) because I was holding the video camera and Eric was doing the fun part of helping her unwrap. Mommy always gets stuck with the technical stuff like hooking up the VCR and holding the video camera! I think I need to learn how to play dumb...

After opening a bunch of presents and playing with them all, we headed down to St. Pete to spend some time with Eric's family and shared more presents. Then we met my parents back at our house later that afternoon and had more present opening then! We also shared a chocolate birthday cake we got for Baby Jesus (a new tradition we are starting this year).

Our plan was to cook Stuffed Cornish Game Hen's, but being sick and miserable we settled on picking up Chinese food for our Christmas dinner lol. But we made the Cornish hens the next night and they were yummy! So how did you spend your Christmas dinner?

(P.S. - Here are the UK slippers Eric got me for Christmas!)

Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Search is On!

OK! They announced it early and I'm soooo not prepared! Every year I enter Kaylea in Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Search. (Winner gets on the front of Parenting Magazine and $125K towards their college education!) We have this year and next year and then she is too old! But I think they just must not look at all the pictures because Kaylea is so beautiful how could they pass her up! Arghh! Anyways we hardly have any pictures taken that are good enough to enter! I need to take some pictures tomorrow, but this is where I ask for your help. Every year I ask people to vote on which picture they like the best. Over the next few days I will post even more pictures. So far I have three. Keep in mind they have to be candid photos and cannot be taken by a professional photographer. Take a look at the two pics below and let me know what you think. Which is your favorite? I am taking more pics over the next few days and will need your opinion on them as well... so check back cause I will be posting them on here. So which should I send? PLEASE RESPOND!

Picture #1

Picture #2

How tall will Kaylea be?

I'm taking bets now on how tall you think Kaylea will be when she is 18 years old. My guess is 6'0". Look at the picture above (you can click on it to make it big) and see how tall she is standing next to the other kids in her class. Her class is the group of kids on the very first row. She is almost a full head taller than everyone in her class (and keep in mind she is one of the youngest in her class... many of them are already 3 years old. Crazy!

Pictures from Kaylea's Musical

Kaylea Quotes of the Week

RIDING IN THE CAR WITH MIMI
Mimi: I wish we could go shopping!
Kaylea: I wanna go 'hoppin' with you too! Oh I wanna go 'hoppin'!
Mimi: Well honey, we can't cause Mimi's knees hurt and my back hurts...
Kaylea: Oh God, peas help Mimi's legs to feel better! Amen.

AFTER HER CHRISTMAS MUSIC SHOW
"Daddy, 'member dat time when you came to my 'chool and Gan'ma and Mimi and Mommy and you were dere and you watched me sing! Den everybody clapped for me and everybody loved me!"

ALL ABOUT CHRISTMAS DAY
"Mommy, on Ch'ismas Day you supposed to get snow and Santa brings you candy!"

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!
"Ha Ha Ha Look at those Ch'ismas Lights on those trees dats so funny! Look at those lights on the bushes das so funny to me!"

SHOPPING WITH DADDY!
Kaylea and Daddy were having presents wrapped at the mall:
Kaylea: Who are we wrappin' these presents for my daddy?
Eric: We are wrapping them for my boss.
Kaylea: Who's dat? Mommy?

Partying Courtside with Orlando Magic!

WOOOO HOOOOO! That's right... Eric and I will be partying "COURTSIDE" with the Orlando Magic on December 29th! Orlando is playing the Charlotte Bobcats and we have Courtside tickets - thank God for our Christmas Bonus! ;-) I am so excited, and not even half as excited as I am sure Eric is! Here is a view from our seats! The cheerleaders dance right next to our aisle, and we might be close enough to catch a tossed ball or a sweaty NBA player! How exciting is that?! I will definitely post some pictures from the game! Check out our seats:

Santa's Shopping List

Well we talked to Santa yesterday and his secret helpers (mom and dad) got their bonus and have finished their Christmas Shopping, so we know what he is bringing Miss Kaylea Jade!

First and foremost of course is the "Dora Saves the Mermaids" DVD which was her only request on her Christmas list this year. But being that she was so conservative with her list, Santa felt he should get her some more things too.

Here is Santa's Shopping:

- Backyardigans Playdoh Pirate Ship
- A Baby Girl Shrek with a pink crib & bottle & crawls
- A Little Mermaid Shirt and Shorts set
- Another Little Mermaid Shirt

- 2 pairs of jeans (that she deperately needed!)
- A little baby mermaid doll (by Bratz dolls)
- A little elephant that sings nursery songs and its belly spins
- An animal train set (really cute little tikes thing I found at a yard sale for $10!)
- A Toddler Bed! (This is something she needed and was going to get whether it was Christmas or not - just so happens its Christmas!)

For her stocking:

- A little mermaid lolipop holder that spins
- some candy crabby patties (from Sponge Bob)
- Socks! Cause you gotta have them!

Santa's Helpers still have some stocking stuffers to pick up but for the most part they are done! Whew!

But funny story about the Toddler Bed. The bed we got is really a nice natural wooden bed that was 69.99 (for the frame) and it uses a regular standard crib mattress (which we have). Well its amazing to me how much people pay for things - like toddler beds - that kids grow out of quick anyways. For instance, a girl I worked with paid over $600 for her son's Toddler Bed (not a crib that turns into a toddler bed, but an actual toddler bed - like Kaylea will get for Christmas). wow. $600?! To me thats crazy (please take no offense if you paid this much). Well while we were in line at ToysRus we we talking about the Toddler bed with the two ladies ringing us up. And I said, "A girl I work with paid around $600 for her son's toddler bed - can you believe that! Isn't that insane?!" (Note to self: Think before you speak). One of the ladies ringing us up said: "I paid $800!" I was like, "oh ... wow, well, I didn't mean insane, just I guess I don't understand paying that much, I don't know that kind of money." Trying to make up for my goof. Then Eric replied as he always does in his wonderful manner, "Goood Laaawwwwdd thats alot of money! No offense but I think the girl she works with is crazy and you is some kind of crazy too!" (with a voice like George Jefferson) lol All in good fun joking... she got a good laugh out of it and we did too! :-)

PS - we are getting her a Little Mermaid Comforter set not the trucks and trains in the picture. But that is the bed.

Kaylea Martin - Future Actress, Future Star!

Kaylea much like her momma loves the spotlight! When we picked her up from school today, her teacher told us about her music class today. They had needed someone to play the part of Baby Jesus (they usually do little plays with music on Thursdays and they dress up in costumes etc.) But normally, Kaylea's class just watches and the older kids play the parts. Well they couldn't get any kids to go on stage and play the part of Baby Jesus. So Ms. Rachel said, "Kaylea would you like to play Baby Jesus?" and you didn't have to ask her twice! Kaylea hurried up the stairs and put on the costume and said, "Of course I do!"

So this kid definitely doesn't have stage fright! I didn't at that age either... not till I got older. Gosh I remember that awful time I had stage fright at Chevy Chase Baptist when I was like 14 years old and sang "My Father's Eyes" and I started crying and couldn't finish the song! Anyone else remember that? Dad had to come get me and drag me off the stage! Horrifying!

Well anyways, Kaylea loves the spotlight and her music teacher said she did a fabulous job playing the part of Baby Jesus and was proud of her for stepping in when nobody else would go on stage. :-)

And Kaylea is WAY prettier than those Olsen Twins!

An update on my brother...

I have heard from my brother and he is SAFE so far and doing well. And crazier than ever did I mention? Yeah he asked the some of the military to pose for a picture with him. Are you nuts! And the guys in the picture with all the machine guns and bullets ... yeah them... they don't look a day over 17 years old! Please keep praying for him. He actually gets back Saturday.

Please say a prayer for my brother

I am asking that if you have a second, please say a prayer for my brother Corey. He is on a plane as we speak (left at 7:30am) to go to Colombia (South America). Once he gets there he has to take another plane to a remote location and then drive an hour across Colombia to a mining area all for his job. They are sending 2 other Americans with him, but, the area they are going to is very dangerous. My brother will stand out among the crowd being a 6'6" white guy! Good thing is he speaks spanish. On top of it today is his birthday.

I tried to call him before he left but I didn't know he was leaving at 7:30. Please be in prayer for him today and throughout the week. He will be in Colombia until Friday I think.

On a side note: It makes me sad.... my brother and I haven't been as close since we have grown up and we have lost touch. But, I love him and miss him, and still remember all of our fun memories growing up. You can't always go back to the way things were but at least you can remember the good times... I hope he knows his sister loves him.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Well last night was our tree decorating ceremony live from Florida! :-) I had left my camera at work, so before we started decorating I had to drive back by work to pick up my camera just so I could have pictures for you on my blog of course!

First we start with the lights. Now I love the look of white lights its is simple, beautiful and classic, and we had white lights for alot of my Christmases as a kid I remember, but there is just something magical about colored lights that makes me wish I was a kid again. So, therefore once I was on my own and had begun my new life with Eric, I decided we would have colored lights every year (at least until we both got old and Kaylea was out of the house). It just puts the magic back into Christmas. I love it!

So Kaylea and I were the helpers, holding the Christmas lights for Eric every time he had to go around the back of the tree. One string didn't work, but its ok we had enough. Then it was time for ornaments. Every year that Eric and I have been together we have a tradition that we surprise one another with a new ornament. This way we can build up our ornament collection, and its fun! Normally I get Eric one dealing with Basketball, Orlando Magic, Tigger, or Sponge Bob lol. Not sure what I will pick out this year.

Eric on the other hand is very creative. When it comes to giving gifts, Eric is the best. Believe it or not husbands like him do exist (well at least he does.) He literally listens to me throughout the year to things I point out that I like or want to have. By Christmas I have forgotten all about these things, and Eric manages to remember them. So every Christmas he surprises me, I never can guess! But he is great with everything - for example the ornaments. When I was pregnant with Kaylea he got me an ornament that had a couple on it - the wife was pregnant. And it even looked like us! It was one that was made of a sort of clay that you could write on and so he wrote an arrow on it pointing down on the belly and wrote "Kaylea". Its just little creative ideas that are cool. Of course I was pregnant and emotional that year so when he gave it to me I burst into tears. (are you gagging yet?)

Anyways, back to the tree! So we had a blast decorating it last night, but it still looked bare to me. Now Eric is one for simplicity. He doesn't like tinsel or garland or icicles or popcorn. I do...I say the more the merrier. So this year he has agreed to let me pick out garland for the tree! I can't wait! And he even did things a little crazy this year! See, normally Eric is very specific on where the ornaments go (and he will move them when I am not looking). He wants the big Christmas Balls on the bottom and the little Christmas Balls on the top. (Crazy I know) But this year he actually put some big on top and some little on the bottom with Kaylea helping to decorate. Totally out of the ordinary for him lol (I'm sure he will be rearranging them in the middle of the night!)

Anyways hope you enjoy some of our Christmas pictures! oh and one more thing! Kaylea brought home some magical Reindeer food that she made at school with oats and magic sprinkles. The directions say to spread it on the lawn and it will bring the reindeer and Santa to your house!

The Picking of our Christmas Tree!

So last night we finally got to pick out our Christmas tree. It was great because we have a cold spell this week so it was 50 degrees outside and it just felt like Christmas! I never really grew up with too many "traditions" as a kid. Living a nomadic lifestyle as a missionary kid doesn't lend itself to tradition, so when I was younger and dreamed about being married one day - I always wanted to create family traditions of my own. Well, I definitely married the right person for that! Eric loves holidays (Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, you name it!) He loves to celebrate them and he is very particular about how. For example: Christmas at our house...

The first step in our Christmas Celebration is picking out our tree. Every year since we were married we have gone together to pick out a Christmas tree (except one and I will tell you about that another day). Eric is a firm believer in the need for a real, live tree. And not a Frasier Fir either.... the traditional, sappy, poke you with needles Douglas Fir "Traditional" Christmas Tree. (I only had a few real trees growing up so this has all been new to me). Now that I've had real trees, I can't see going back to the fake. The smell of the tree fills your house with Christmas warmth... ahhhhhh! And in Florida with 70 degree weather you need the smell of evergreen!

So, we walk through the aisles of trees and Eric pulls each one out one by one while Kaylea and I critique: "That's too big, thats too small, too short, too fat, too skinny, too brown, too bunched, too bare, and so on and so on. Till we find the right one... and we always do. Its got to have a perfect triangular shape with a good point at the top for our angel.

Once we pick out our tree we have the fun joy of lugging it into the house. While I hold the tree straight and upright, Eric tightens the screws in our tree stand. This process takes about half an hour, meanwhile the branches and needles are falling all over the floor! Finally we fill the tree stand with warm water and then vacuum up the needles. And as a family we all sit on the couch and look at the tree in admiration.

Once the tree is up we of course don't decorate it for two days so the branches can settle (this is a must per Eric). So, this Thursday we will be decorating the tree as a family. Kaylea is already counting down! As we go through the Christmas season I will blog you through all of our family traditions so you can experience them with us!

That's Not Santa!

So, like her mother, Kaylea is a very smart little girl.... dare I say even "genius" - again like her mother. :-) Eric took Kaylea to the mall today for "Kaylea and Daddy Day" (mommy is working). Their goal was to go see Santa and hopefully this time make it as far as going up to him and telling him what she wanted for Christmas. But even at 2 and half years old Kaylea has a good sense of discernment. She said, "Daddy, that's just an old man in a costume. Thats not Santa!" To which Eric caught off guard just kept saying, "No its Santa, what are you talking about?!" So Eric tried to get her to go up and see him, but she refused. So Eric, thinking he could convince her said, "Well, I guess Santa won't be able to bring you anything for Christmas." Kaylea blew it off and said, "Yeah, guess not!" Ha Ha Ha! She called his bluff there - there was no way you were gonna get her to go sit on some old man in a costume's lap. LOL

Funny thing is - later in the day Santa also appeared at Wal-mart for a free photo-opp. This time Eric tried bribery. If you go see Santa I will buy you this cool coloring book! Needless to say she is a woman after my own heart. We pick up our pictures tomorrow!

The Christmas Parade!

Its been a long weekend (when I say weekend I mean yesterday - my one day off lol) Yesterday was December 1st and also the Christmas Parade downtown! Eric always went to the Christmas parade as a kid and has wanted to take Kaylea. For me - I don't remember going to many parades as a kid....I think I might have gone to one in Danville when we came back to the US from Venezuela when I was in 6th grade.... but I faintly remember it (guess that is what happens when you get old - I turn the big 30 next year!) Anyways, it was neat to be able to go and enjoy the parade - gosh how I wish I was a kid again - I think parades seemed much more exciting as a kid - the floats looked bigger or something.

Kaylea had a blast though. We went with Eric's family and Kaylea had a good time with her Grandma. Her favorite parts were when the cheerleaders from different schools marched through the crowd. She says she wants to be a cheerleader when she grows up. Well that and a doctor and we will be all set. (Although with her expected height Eric wants her to be a WNBA basketball player.) They say if you double a child's height at 2 or 3 years old (can't remember which) that is how tall she will be give or take a few inches. Well at 2 years old she was 37 inches tall and now she is 39 inches tall. So either way She is going to be near 6 feet tall! (I say model not basketball player!) .... so about the parade lol we also saw Batman, Superman, Superwoman, Spiderman, Star Wars, Rudolph, the Grinch, and of Course Santa!

After the parade in the park they have a big Santa fest where they have Santa's toy shop and Santa's bake shop - places where kids can make Christmas tree candy and cookies and ornaments for their tree and cute reindeer headbands. Its arts and crafts and fun games all for free in the park - put on by the city. There was even fake snow! Its really cool and Kaylea had a blast - but we were worn out by the end! Kaylea did get to meet Miss Florida who also appeared in the parade and she signed a picture for Kaylea. Kaylea couldn't take her eyes off Miss Florida's dress..... funny neither could Eric! haha!

After the long day we headed back home. Only in Florida can you go to a Christmas Parade in December wearing shorts and a t-shirt and get sunburned! Gotta love it! :-) Tonight we are going to pick out a Christmas tree - our Family tradition (no fake ones here - just the smell of real evergreen!) 24 more days to go till Christmas!