Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Gone Fishin' (Dec 14th)

Today, McKinley & her Daddy went fishing with some of their best buds...Mr Kevin & Ashton. They live next door. They're Auburn fans...but we love them anyway. I think it was a good day for practicing their casting! McKinley came back and told me she threw a big one. Awesome! Maybe one day she'll return saying she "caught" a big one. Then she can tell fish tales with her Daddy. The one thing McKinley has consistently requested Santa bring is a Barbie fishing pole. Aside from my giving birth, it was one of the few times I think I've seen Jay MacBride shed a tear. I thought he might get in the car and drive to Bass Pro on the spot. In any case, he and Santa have been having a time searching the world wide web for the perfect 5' Jr. Barbie fishing pole. I have a feeling one of Santa's elves is working on a custom made edition as we speak. Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas & Go Gators!

You're a Mean One...Mr Grinch (Dec 2nd)

We went to the Downtown Lakeland "Walkabout". There were lights, carolers, and it was COLD!!! McKinley and her best buddy next door, Ashton, got their faces painted...

Thanksgiving circa 2008

Over the river and thru the woods to Grammie's house we go...

We headed up Thanksgiving morning. It was another great visit to God's Country...this one smothered in good food, family, and football. McKinley helped in the kitchen. There was some leaf hunting in the backyard. This was also the First Thanksgiving for Mr & Mrs Johnson. (Aunt Ashley - Jay's sister - was married this past July to Uncle Ryan). The other cute dog in our family, Emmitt, was also in attendance. It was a short trip for me, as I had to work the next day. I headed back to Lakeland that night. Jay stayed on with the girls to watch more football and eat leftovers on Friday. It was a beautiful holiday! Hope there are many more like it!

Meet LaLa...

LaLa is Aunt Lauren's dachsund. She's ummm...roughly 6 months old...I think! She is super cute...so is Aunt Lauren! They're quite the pair. LaLa is a family favorite and she's very tolerant of the girls constantly talking to her, chasing her, McKinley bossing her, Caelyn loving her aka laying on her...etc :) As I read that back to myself, I guess Aunt Lauren and LaLa are almost one in the same!
This was a post Halloween visit where the girls also insisted on a live demonstration of their

costumes!

UF vs Citadel (November 22, 2008)

Sorry...it's been a while. But as you'll see, we've been busy. The weekend before Thanksgiving had us making a practice trip up to God's country. There were a few extra tickets and a willing auntie for the children, so we grabbed our friends Nicki & Bob and headed up for a kidless overnight to watch the Gators win...again! It never gets old! We had an awesome sushi dinner on Friday night at DragonFly. It was an hour plus wait, but so very worth it. We tailgated that morning with Jay's usual suspects. We got to see our friends Jeff & Sam and their daughter Emily...whom I hadn't seen in forever. We had a nice quick trip, left the game a little early, and headed back to see our girls. They had so much fun without us, I think they wished we stayed longer.

Side Note: In the last picture, the 2 people on the left are our friends Stuart & Allie. Although they were not at the time, they are now engaged. Congratulations Stuart & Allie!! They'll be married in October 2009. We're very happy for them!

Thing 1 & Thing 2

I'd like to introduce Thing 1 & Thing 2

They'd been tossed in the bath to wash off the goo

When these Things appeared, we asked "Who are you?"

"Your monkeys" they shrieked, "your monkeys, that's who!"

I looked at the Daddy and said "Well, who knew?"

"We'll keep them" he said, "that's just what we'll do!"

Weekend to Remember - Chattanooga, TN (Nov 14th thru 16th)

Well, it was Tennessee for me twice in 10 days. I'm feeling a bit spoiled! Jay and I headed to Chattanooga on Friday for a FamilyLife marriage conference. We had been to one the year before we were married. I think it's safe to say we should have been to one in the meantime! :) But, with a newfound desire to ditch the rearview mirror, I must report - we had a great time. The format had changed for the better, the speakers had impact, and the message was clear. In addition to great material and tools to help us be better spouses to one another, we had a chance to take in a bit of the city. In a year and a half of living in TN, we had never visited Chattanooga - we only drove thru it on our way home to Florida or home to Murfreesboro. Saturday night was date night. So, we hurried back to our hotel room and joyfully witnessed the last half of the "Stomp the Mess Out of Spurrier and the Gamecocks" show starring Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin, and the rest of the Gators. Awesome! Go Gators! Beat Alabama! Miami-Bound! Anyway...back to the whole improving the marriage thing! :) We spruced ourselves up and headed to a nice dinner at Bluewater. The duck spring rolls were delicious! I wouldn't recommend the seared tuna (really...who orders tuna that far from the water???). However, Jay's filet was mouthwatering. Thank goodness we'd had a session on sharing :) Then we headed next door to shoot some pool. We hadn't done that in ages and had a pretty good time, although I'm not much of a challenge in that department. Sunday was a nice finish to the weekend. We had a couple wrap-up sessions in the morning, and headed out. It was a great weekend. We plan on going again this spring and inviting some special friends & family. We feel refreshed about a lot of things and I definitely felt God's presence. Making it work is an uphill battle. I've always known it, but only a few weeks ago - I wasn't battling anymore. For the first time, I'd lost hope. I'm grateful to my husband. He didn't quit. He didn't give up. It was his turn to carry the weight and he did. Now it's back to the grind to test some new approaches...all prayers appreciated and still requested! Blessings to all...

Nashvegas...UF vs. Vanderbilt (Nov 7th thru 9th)

My sister and I went on a "girls' trip" to watch the Gators pummel the Vanderbilt Commodores. It was great to be back in Tennessee...it made me miss my old Murfreesboro neighbors like crazy! The fall colors were still so apparent. The trees were gorgeous. It's hard to decide what I like more - Florida beaches and sunsets or a Tennessee fall and those rolling hills. Of course, downtown Nashville was a BLAST! We had a lot of fun. Although I did feel my age, because staying up that late 2 nights in a row required 4 days of recuperation back home. Friday night was fairly tame, but still a late night. Then on Saturday, we started out for brunch/lunch at a neat little place called Past Perfect on 3rd Avenue. They had funky & unique decor, yummy eats, and a bloody mary bar that left little to be desired! They were quite generous with the vodka and that was my first mistake. It was a long day of fun and celebration. I was quite impressed with the Gator presence. I think half of Vanderbilt Stadium was orange & blue. And of course, I quite enjoyed some solo time with my sister, Lauren. I don't think we've had that since I became a mom. It was long overdue and we've decided to make it an annual tradition.

Well, I was going to start a blog over the summer. I set us up, but never got anything going. I had to laugh because the profile says I did that back in July. I'd forgotten when I did it, and certainly forgot to blog since then :) I've been inspired by several friends who are doing this. So, I'm going to give it a go. I figured why not start with fall photos, right? It was a great Halloween this year. We hit 2 pumpkin patches. They paled in comparison to the awesome farm we visited in Tennessee a couple years ago. But we had a moment of cooler weather and it transported us for about 30 minutes or so! The girls are big enough that they are really enjoying Halloween now. It tops my list of best holidays, too. McKinley (4 1/2) was Snow White and Caelyn (3) was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Fortunately, they're also young enough that we didn't have any requests for anything terribly frightening or frighteningly risque. That day will arrive soon enough. With that said, Caelyn's devilish shot was actually her trying on Mommy's costume. I was a "Devil in a Blue Dress" for our neighborhood "Big People" costume party. All in all, we had a great couple weeks leading up to Halloween and are gearing up for the holidays. Best wishes to all!