Columbia Restaurant

It's becoming a tradition to go to this restaurant when we have guests in town. The food is interesting-authentic Spanish and Cuban-and not something you are going to find in a chain all over the country. The really cool part is the flamenco dancing. So fun to watch!

My Mom and Grandma...and the delicious bread!

My Dad and Matt.

All of us.

After we ate, we took a stroll down the streets of Ybor City. It's fun to smell all of the different foods and watch cigars being rolled in the store windows.

Kennedy Space Center

Xander and Noah got to ditch school and go to Kennedy Space Center with their grandparents. So cool to see the shuttle on the launch pad!
Grandma Johnson.

Seriously, someone should have told me that my shirt was see-through.

Xander, Noah and Meili Grace.

Grandma Judy and Papa Jim-Jim.

Manatee Viewing Center

Trying out the Hurricane Simulator:
All of us on the viewing platform:

Sadly, this is one of the only manatees we saw this day. It's getting too warm for the manatees to hang out here:

Grandparents!

My parents and Grandma came to Florida for the first time for a visit. Grandma hadn't been in an airplane for 31 years so it was a really big deal for her. We had such a fun time with them!

There was lots of ping pong....

hanging around...

...and trampoline jumping.

Making Daddy 'Pretty'

One of Meili's favorite things to do is to make her daddy 'pretty.' Matt is such a good sport and will sit for a long period of time and let her wet down his hair and work her magic. Such a good daddy!

Xander's 'Bieber Hair'

Out of all three of my boys, Xander is the only one that cares about things like hair, clothes, etc. It's really funny to see the difference. He has recently informed me that he no longer wants 'nerd hair' and would like to grow his hair out 'like Justin Bieber.' Here he is a few weeks in to the process and feeling quite pleased...

New Floors and Paint!

I haven't been this excited about anything for a long time. Every house we have ever owned has had white carpet. That's always a pain to keep clean but lately with 5 kids and two dogs it was getting impossible. After months of the hardwood vs. laminate debate, we settled with some commercial grade high gloss laminate that looks like wood. In a high traffic home like ours, the wood would have been beautiful but we would have scratched it up in 6 months. I couldn't wait to see what this looked like installed!
...but first there was some painting to do. It only made sense to get the painting done when it didn't matter if some slopped onto the floor.

So glad I married a guy that isn't afraid to work!

The whole house was painted in four different shades of brown. We switched over to yellows and I LOVE it!

This accent wall was blue, which I have never been a fan of. I loved the red wall in my last house, but it was a bit dark. We compromised with this terra cotta color and it's growing on me.

Here's Meili overseeing the work being done...

Also painted the office in the terra cotta color...

And the floor is done! It is so easy to clean, and the kids are loving the echo...:) Will post more pics with the furniture in soon!

Music Night

I never seem to get a good enough seat to get a decent photo but here they are. Audrey plays the flute in the jr. high band and Taylor plays the violin in the hs orchestra. For some reason, their concerts seem to always be scheduled on the same night and there's usually a cub scout activity of some sort for another child going on the same night as well, so it's usually quite a chaotic occasion in my defense. They both did a great job and we are so proud of them!

Noah is a Bear!

Can't believe it actually worked!

I'm not even sure where Xander saw this infamous loose tooth extraction technique but he was bound and determined to make it work. The older kids have tried this before and got broken string, slipped off string and stuck teeth...
but never...

Success! Not sure who was more surprised, him or me! (That a little bit of blood and a WHOLE lot of water on his shirt, btw.) 1st tooth is out!

Once the initial shock wore off, Xander was pretty proud of himself.

...and the next morning, he was even happier!