december in orlando.

i can't believe that christmas is almost here. this will be the first year we have stayed in orlando for the holidays, and i think i am finally accepting the fact that it just isn't going to be bundle up with blankets and drink hot cocoa weather around here. we are actually experiencing a 'cold front' right now, which has caused the highs to dip into the mid 60's, but i'm not exactly counting on a white christmas. anyway, i thought i would give a quick update of what we have been doing in the month of december.

the grapefruit on our tree are now ripe and delicious! we are trying to keep a count this year of how many we actually eat, and so far we are up to 28 with an additional 10 picked and in the fridge. we have yet to try any new grapefruit recipes, but hopefully some will turn out well this year. anyone who wants some...feel free to come for a visit!

last week my mom, aka 'mams', came to visit for an entire week! we had such a great time while she was here. almost every day was spent shopping for christmas, wrapping gifts, or decorating our house. we were even finally able to find a real mini christmas tree for mary claire's room, which had alluded me for the previous couple of weeks. also while she was here, we welcomed a new addition to the extended kennedy family....luke andrew cave was born on december 10! (congratulations matt and amanda, i can't wait to meet him!!!) needless to say, mom left here to fly to north carolina to see the new baby a couple of days later. as always when mom leaves from a visit, mary claire continues to ask where mams is every morning.

the following sunday, we spent the day at the park! it is really hard to believe that christmas is so close when you are spending an afternoon in shorts and sandals playing on swings and the like.

mary claire is getting really excited about christmas, which makes me even more excited! every morning when she wakes up, the first thing she does is look at the christmas trees and say "oh man"...this is because the lights are not on. then she promptly tells me to "plug it in". she is constantly reminding me that santa claus is coming to town. she has even learned a christmas song, which i plan on recording and posting in the next few days because it is just too cute!

this afternoon was spent making a rather large quantity of gingerbread men. mary claire absolutely loves helping us cook, so she had a blast. we plan on boxing up a few for several of our neighbors, bringing some to the child center at our ymca, and of course, eating quite a few ourselves. that is it for now...i hope everyone is enjoying getting ready for christmas as much as we are at our house!

thanksgiving.

we had such a wonderful thanksgiving week, so i thought i would share. the saturday before thanksgiving, we flew into chattanooga where my parents picked us up and brought us to their house in athens. emily anne drove up from auburn the same day. that evening we went to the "downtown old fashioned christmas" celebration in athens. mary claire had so much fun! we saw santa and his reindeer, watched dancers perform, walked through a petting zoo, and enjoyed funnel cakes, which are my personal favorite! once we got home, we got to watch ole miss defeat lsu (l s who?)....hotty toddy!!!

the following day, we drove to gatlinburg where we spent the remainder of the week in a 7 bedroom cabin in the mountains complete with pool table, arcade games, air hockey, hot tubs, etc. we were so blessed to be able to spend the week with a rather large amount of my mother's side of the family. (Uncle Jim, Aunt Camille, Mary and Robert Marshall; Mom, Dad, Keith, and Emily Anne Kennedy; Michelle, Scotty, Hal, James, and Loudon Scott; Patrick and Jason Kennedy-Wahn; Uncle Robert Marshall; Uncle John Marshall; Uncle Terry, Aunt Pri, Alex, T.J., Todd, Kelly, Katie, and Caroline Danner; and a family friend of the Danners, Mason.) the drive to the cabin was very beverly hillbillies-esque . imagine five people, one car, five suit cases, and a weeks worth of food and supplies for 30 people from sam's. the week included lots of hiking, shopping, horse back riding, aquarium visiting, game playing (i always won of course), and just spending quality time together as a family.

on thanksgiving day, we made the traditional turkeys out of oreos, icing, peanut butter, whoppers, red hots, and candy corn. mary claire participated less in making turkeys and way more in eating the pieces. oddly enough, red hots were her favorite!

that evening we had a delicious meal consisting of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, mac-n-cheese, cranberry jelly, rolls, and a plethora of pies for dessert. the kids gathered leaves, twigs, and berries for decorating the tables, and the danner girls made place cards and assigned the seats. the following evening we ate leftovers, which ended in dan and i being dubbed "potato pancake king and queen", due to his excellent potato pancake making skills. he even made a green bean casserole pancake which scotty and keith all thoroughly enjoyed...haha. of course, this resulted in our names being changed to "green bean casserole pancake king and queen". i'm pretty aunt pri was the one who came up with such clever names.

we were very sad to part ways with everyone at the end of the week, but hopefully we will all get together again soon. the only thing that could make it better would be if Uncle Mike Marshall and his family, Aunt Sarah Marshall, and Amanda and her family would be able to join us as well! next, we have christmas with dan's family to look forward to!

big news!

i guess it's about time we made the announcement: WE'RE PREGNANT AGAIN!!! we could not be more excited about the upcoming addition to our family. the due date is currently set for may 16, which makes us 14 weeks along. i'm hoping we will be able to find out the sex at the next appointment in december, we'll keep you posted. we'll also try to post some sonogram pictures soon.

in other news, my mom came to visit for a few days last week and a few days this week. she was headed to north carolina for the weekend to attend a baby shower for amanda and it worked out to be a better deal for her to use us as a pit stop on the way there and the way home (unfortunately i did not get to go to the shower with her). we girls did quite a bit of shopping while she was here, which is always fun. we found a new children's boutique that i love and while there we found an adorable christmas outfit for baby luke's first christmas (amanda's baby that is due in just a few short weeks!!!). every morning since 'mams' left mary claire asks about her first thing. luckily we will be seeing her along we most of the rest of my family for a whole week starting saturday.

on friday night, dan and i went to see the get up kids with carissa and brian at the house of blues. once again, the hankins were kind enough to watch mary claire for the evening. she always seems to have a good time with them! on saturday, we watched football all day and had friends over to grill out for dinner.

now for some mary claire updates. she can now count to "two-teen", which is the number after twelve. she also knows most colors and some shapes. she can somewhat sing a few songs, including: 'the itsy bitsy spider', 'rockaby baby', and 'patty cake' (if you count that as a song). she surprises us everyday with things that she knows. here's a little video proof:

boo.

one holiday down....two more to go. as usual, halloween this year was a great time. friday, we carved the pumpkins we got from the pumpkin patch. mary claire just played with the 'guts' and while she napped dan and i each carved one (mine was the best if you ask me!).

all week long, in preparation for trick-or-treating, mary claire practiced knocking on doors and saying 'trick-or-treat'. she was very excited about her ladybug costume, which i let her try on several times before the big day! halloween night, she put on her costume and dan and i put on our bank robber costumes and we started our rounds of the neighborhood. we opted to pull mary claire around in her wagon, provided by 'anana' or amanda, and let her get out at the end of each driveway. unfortunately, not many people in our neighborhood participate in trick-or-treating, but mary claire got more than enough candy (not to mention the large amount we have left over since we didn't stay home to give it out). now every time mary claire wants a piece of her candy she asks me for 'trick-or-treat'.

our neighbors across the street take halloween to a whole new level. they spend the entire month of october in preparation. we have to take mary claire by their house before it gets dark because they are dedicated to scaring the you know what out of all trick-or-treaters. the screams they evoke can be heard all around the neighborhood. this year's theme was what i would call a creepy carnival complete with clowns, a fortune teller booth, and a giant jack-in-the-box with one of the said clowns inside. they even put a disclaimer at the end of their driveway before you enter.

that night mary claire stayed at the hankin's house, our good friend leah's parents, while we went to a halloween party and then downtown with leah and a few other friends. halloween in downtown orlando is like a whole other world. it is fantastic for people watching! we saw everything from giant tetris pieces to the entire cast of sesame street (sadly we did not have the camera). it was great for dan and i to have a night out sans mary claire, which is a very rare occurrence around here. overall, halloween was great and now we have thanksgiving to look forward to!

the great pumpkin search...

this weekend we did quite a bit of relaxing, which was very nice. on saturday night we had friends over for dinner. we made an appetizer of hummus and pita bread for the first time, and it actually turned out really well. dan cooked kebobs on the grill that we paired with wild rice. for dessert we had fruit with fruit dip and some yummy cookies provided by leah. on sunday afternoon we went on the great pumpkin search. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a 'pick-your-own' farm, but we still had a great time! mary claire was determined to pick up the pumpkins, most of which were about as big as she is. luckily, dan was finally able to help her find one small enough. we are finally almost ready for halloween. we have purchased plenty of candy, we have picked out costumes, and now we have our pumpkins. the only thing left on the to do list is carve the pumpkins!

finally...

thanks to a new power adapter, provided by my father-in-law, my computer is finally up and running. in other words, i will be back to making posts on a regular basis. quite a bit has happened since my last update, but i will do my best to keep it concise.

mary claire is quite the chatter box. her vocabulary grows more and more each day. she now has eleven teeth, which means she can finally chew just about anything with no problem. she has developed a love for climbing on everything from chairs to kitchen cabinets, which makes me extremely nervous. at the latest pediatrician appointment she weighed 21 lbs and was 32 inches tall. her doctor was very pleased with the progress she has made. she has pretty much caught up with other children her age!

in august, we visited huntsville for a weekend to spend time with dan's side of the family. dan and i also had the opportunity to see several of our friends, which is always great! on friday night, we stayed the night in birmingham while mary claire stayed with her grandparents. that was the first time i had ever left mary claire over night with anyone other than dan....i was a nervous wreck of course! needless to say, they took excellent care of her and i worried myself to death for no reason! dan's dad, doc to mary claire, took us out on his new boat one afternoon where he and dan did some skiing. dan's mom, nana to mary claire, mc and i opted to just watch. overall, we had a wonderful visit!

in september, mary claire and i spent a week at ft. meyers beach with my friend carissa. as i have stated before, mary claire absolutely loves the beach, so we had a blast! we spent all day everyday going from the beach to the pool and back to the beach again. luckily, my obsession with sunscreen paid off and we stayed sunburn free. the trip happened to be the same week as my birthday so i got to celebrate it at the beach...a perfect birthday in my opinion (if only dan had been there too)!

also in september, mary claire and i spent a week in athens, tn/hartselle, al/huntsville, al. we flew into chattanooga where mom, aka 'mams', picked us up and brought us back to her house in athens. we stayed one night and then left for hartselle to do some work on mom and dad's old house to prepare it to sell. on our way to hartselle, we dropped mary claire off in huntsville to spend some time with her grandparents and leave mom and i free to paint without her getting into things. after a couple of days, we picked mary claire up and headed back to athens to spend some time with dad, aka pop-pop. the next day we flew back to orlando, where we have stayed put since. (we needed a break from all the traveling for a while.)

i guess that pretty much hits the high points....i'll be posting again soon.

mary claire the artist.

mary claire's latest obsession is coloring. one of the first things she does in the morning is walk over to the drawer that holds the art supplies, point, and say "color". i have found the best method for allowing her to color is to tape a piece of paper to the floor. that way it doesn't slide around and i don't have to worry with trying to get her to sit at the table. of course if she is coloring, mommy has to color too. she will point to her paper and tell me what she wants me to draw. most often requested are tree, flower, bug, pig, and quack quack (aka duck). the funniest part is when she "accidentally" colors on the floor or elsewhere. she will grab a hand towel from the kitchen, try to wipe it up, and tell herself "no-no". luckily we use washable crayons so it comes off easily. she is also starting to be able to identify some colors. her favorite one to label is black for some reason. i'm just pleased to see that she is already enjoying something 'artsy'.

beach and more.

hello all. i thought i would give a brief summary of our past week... as usual, mary claire and i spent many an afternoon at the ymca. they have a wonderful pool as well as a child development center that mary claire just loves. the best thing about it, in my opinion, is that it gives mc an opportunity to interact with children of all ages, which is great since the majority of her time is spent at home with me.

i have recently started letting mary claire assist me in the kitchen with little things like stirring or sprinkling in some spices. she really seems to be enjoying it. i think this christmas i want to buy her one of those miniature kitchens so we can cook side by side. i can even get her to put on oven mitts, just like mommy, when i am putting things in the oven (don't worry, i don't let her actually get anywhere near it).

we also started a compost pile and began working on a vegetable and herb garden. we are starting everything from seed, with the exception of basil, oregano, and rosemary. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor early next spring.

on sunday, we took a trip to cocoa beach, which is about an hour and fifteen minute drive. i am fairly certain that mary claire views the beach as an all you can eat buffet of sand, shells, and salt water. we do our best to keep her from swallowing the sand and shells, but it is virtually impossible to keep her from constantly licking the salt water off her little fingers. she absolutely loves the ocean! i actually wish she exhibited a little fear instead of running full speed to the water every chance she gets. nevertheless, we love living close enough to make day trips to the beach!

weekend fun.

this past saturday was somewhat eventful at the culpepper residence. we spent the first half of the day celebrating fender's 7th birthday! we arbitrarily set the date and are going to make it a tradition to have birthday parties for her. we took her for a picnic at lake eola park where she played among the ducks, geese, swans, and other dogs. she even took a brief dip in the water to our surprise, since she is usually opposed to any water activity. afterward, we took her to petco to pick out a new toy and a grab bag of treats.

the second half of the day was occupied with a trip to sea world. we now have season passes so we don't consider it a waste to go for just half a day. while there we went to the penguin encounter, the shark encounter (here mc learned the word shark and then called every fish, 'shark' the rest of the day), and the 'believe' shamu show. mary claire absolutely loves sea world! she is in awe of everything she sees. the only thing that upset her a little was getting splashed at the shamu show, which i take the blame for since i insisted on sitting in the 'soak zone'. as we were leaving, the wetness continued because it started pouring down rain and we were absolutely drenched by the time we reached the car. this, for some reason, did not bother mc one bit. as a result we did get to see a rainbow on the ride home! all in all it was a most excellent day!

here we are.

i decided to start a blog so that all those who are interested can keep up with our day to day. now that we live so far away from most of our friends and family it is difficult to keep everyone posted on our lives, so hopefully this will help. i'm not promising anything spectacular, but i'll do my best!