thankful for family

Well, the fam has come and gone and we had a WONDERFUL time! It was so great to be with everyone, especially Braden!! He is an absolute delight and he's just SO FUNNY! I thought I should share some pictures of our Thanksgiving week. Our first stop of the day was Magic Kingdom:
Braden on the Monorail with Papa, Daddy, and Aunt Sis

Braden playing trains on Aunt Sis' face while waiting for the ferry boat

Braden and Papa got to sing with the Dapper Dans on Main Street! (Shameless plug: some of the Dapper Dans are going to be featured on Papa's Barbershop Chorus Christmas Show in Ashland, KY on December 15! Don't miss it!)

Braden on the train with Papa and JoJo (and some people we don't know in the background!)

Braden and Daddy driving the cars at the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway!

Braden with his first ever Mickey popsicle!

Braden in line for "It's a Small World" with Uncle Brian & Aunt Sis

Braden riding "It's a Small World" with Mommy & Daddy

Our second stop of the day was Animal Kingdom. We rushed right in to ride the Kilimanjaro Safari! We saw lots of cool animals! (I won't share all of the animal pictures, there are too many!)Braden and Mommy on the safari

Our last stop of the day was Epcot. We were all amazed and impressed that Braden was such a good boy for such a long day! Papa, JoJo, Uncle Brian, Aunt Sis, and Daddy all rode Test Track several times and loved it! Even JoJo! Mommy is pregnant so she couldn't ride, and Braden was too little, so they played in the car showroom and went shopping while the rest of us rode. At Braden's request, we had dinner in China. ;-)

Braden riding "The Seas with Nemo and Friends" with Uncle Brian & Aunt Sis. In the middle, Braden called out, "Hey Nemo! Is that you?" Aunt Sis loved it!

We were at the parks for nearly 14 hours that day! It was an all-around spectacular day! Hooray for Braden's first visit to Disney!!!!

Wednesday night we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Braden wasn't so sure about the gorillas, but he loved the fish and the elephants! Afterward, we scooted over to the Contemporary where we hopped on a boat for the Wishes Cruise!
Braden & Mickey at the Contemporary

Braden got to drive the boat!

Braden and Daddy on the cruise

Uncle Brian & Aunt Sis enjoying the cruise

Papa got to drive the boat too!

Mommy, Daddy, and Braden cruisin'

Fireworks!

The whole fam as we left the Contemporary!

Well, those special adventures were lots of fun, but Braden's very favorite part of visiting Aunt Sis and Uncle Brian's house was playing with the cats! (Notice there are no pictures of Sam, he's the "grouchy and soft" cat!)

Braden & Max

tomorrow, tomorrow

Well, the fam is coming in tomorrow night! I am SO excited! We're having Mom and Dad, Brad and Kari (my brother and SIL), and precious Braden (my nephew) over for Thanksgiving! Tuesday we're spending at Disney, Wednesday night we're eating at Rainforest Cafe and then taking the Wishes Fireworks Cruise, Thursday is turkey day, Friday is shopping, and Saturday...well, we might go to a corn maze or something. We're gonna have a great time!

In other news, tomorrow is my first day teaching elementary music at Lake Mary Montessori. I'm nervous, excited, and stressed. I'll keep you posted!

happy christmas to meeeeeeee!

Look what I got this week!!!! These are the two newest limited edition alphabet gift sets from Quickutz. They are SO cute - and the packaging is just as cute as the alphabets! I never dreamed I could get them both, but this is my early Christmas present from my fabulous and amazing husband. I can't wait to get the foam on them and start cutting!

for the birds

Friends, you will never believe what happened this week. A bunch of birds flew into my Kindermusik classroom and left feathers ALL OVER THE PLACE!! Now tell me, can you even believe that? At least the birds were pretty cute...and they DID help me clean up their feathers...


(Imagine That classes, ages 3-4)

fyi

My email is not working. :-( Something is wrong at Earthlink, which is where the site that hosts our email lives.

So - if you're trying to reach me, email me at kmwithkerri at gmail dot com. :-)

IKEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH. MY. GOSH!!!! Brian and I are sitting here on the den floor, putting together the new futon we bought today. (My family is coming for Thanksgiving and we need a place for everyone to sleep!) AND we're watching The Biggest Loser, which we recorded earlier tonight. I was fast-forwarding through the commercials and I glanced up and saw the most beautiful words:

IKEA ORLANDO - GRAND OPENING NOVEMBER 14

I'm SO BEYOND excited! Great, now I probably won't be able to sleep!!!! Oh well, it's WORTH IT!!!! I've been wanting to go to Ikea FOREVER - but the closest we've ever lived to one is like 3 hours away (when we lived in Albany, there was one in Paramus, NJ.) I can't even believe there's going to be one just down the road!!!!

OK, who wants to come visit, go to Disney, and shop at IKEA????!!!!

fall into reading update

I had to give up on another book - "The Infidelity Pact" by Carrie Karasyov. I tried to read it twice but just couldn't get into it. So I added another book to take the place of that one. :-)

However, I read a GREAT book - "Still Summer" by Jacquelyn Mitchard. It was EXCELLENT - a great story, suspenseful, well-written. Brian even got into it and we could never stop listening! I recommend it.


1. Main Corpse - Diane Mott Davidson
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J. K. Rowling
3. Sisterchicks Down Under - Robin Jones Gunn
4. While My Pretty One Sleeps - Mary Higgins Clark
5. The Note - Angela Hunt
6. Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult
7. Mercy - Jodi Picoult
8. Still Summer - Jacquelyn Mitchard
9. Iced - Carol Higgins Clark
10. The Christmas Thief - Mary Higgins Clark
11. Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon
12. Best Kept Secrets - Sandra Brown
13. Queen of Babble in the Big City - Meg Cabot
14. Daddy's Girl - Lisa Scottoline
15. The Quickie - James Patterson
16. Second Chance - Jane Green
17. Finding Noel - Richard Paul Evans
18. Miss Julia Strikes Back - Ann B. Ross
19. Peace Like a River - Leif Enger
20. The Grilling Season - Diane Mott Davidson
21. Prime Cut - Diane Mott Davidson
22. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons - Lorna Landvik
23. Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea - Mary Higgins Clark
24. Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult
25. Home to Holly Springs - Jan Karon


BLUE = currently reading
PURPLE = finished

8 random things

OK, just to let you know how behind I am on reading blogs, I just now saw that Tara tagged me back in JULY for the 8 random things meme! Ugh. I have been way too busy. Sorry Tara! At least I caught up today on your blog and am continually amazed at the funny and important things happening in your life, your amazing work and boss, the brilliance of your child, your no-nonsense writing style, and our shared makeup fetish. :-)

So - here are my 8 random things:

1. I count everything.

2. I prefer that things I count be in multiples of four. I will go to great lengths to MAKE things into multiples of four.

3. I can't stand it when people use bad grammar. I also hate it when people misspell really common words, like too, you're, and definitely.

4. I honestly believe that my cats are going to live forever. =^..^=

5. I am probably the most hot-natured person that you know. When everyone else is comfortable or even cold, I'm sweating - and I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt!

6. I have started working out with a personal trainer - he pushes me so hard that I can barely walk out of the gym!

7. I'm really enjoying my thirties! What was I so afraid of?

8. I know binary. I learned it when Brian and I were dating. He was impressed. (Have you noticed my obsession with numbers?)

Now I have to tag some people:

Brad
Leslie
Mandi
Stephanie
Jason
Christi

(If some of you have already done this, sorry! I can't remember.)