Working off the extra Thanksgiving calories.

The puppies had a treat on Thanksgiving because they got to eat turkey! Most of you know that Joe and I don't feed our dogs table scraps or people food-- but it was our first Thanksgiving that we've been in Tampa (technically Brandon, we were over at Joe's mother's house). They were deserving of a treat! :)

Ana B was dubbed the personal trainer of the dogs. This is them on a break from their intense workout.


Will ate most of all. So we put him on the swing set. Burn those calories. Swing those legs.

Will is a size large.


Medium Maddie ate too-- but not nearly as much!

Small Kate ate so much that she couldn't even crack a smile.


Extra-small Violet over-indulged at the feast that her belly barely allowed the swing to snap shut.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Post Thanksgiving dinner, the babies decided that it was time to "play."


Please note how subdued they seem. You know you've been to a great Thanksgiving dinner when everyone, including the babies, are ready to take a nap.

Taking Turns with Baby V

Give me all of your money Baby V! Oh wait, she doesn't have any pockets for the change to fall out. She lucked out this time...


Getting ready for bath-time fun!

Posing with Daddy. We figured that we needed to get these pictures of her while we can. She's going to resist "diaper only" pictures in a matter of time.

Magic Kingdom

We were about to take off on Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride. I was a little scared because Baby V had never been in a fast moving ride before.

The first time we plunged down, she squealed with delight. This is an action shot of her as the carpet ride dropped down. Check out her hair in the wind.


After riding Pirates of the Carribean, Uncle Den posed for a picture with Violet in a sombrero.


Baby V's first picture in front of Cinderella's castle.


Uncle Den, Violet, and I in front of the castle... however, you can't see the castle.


Uncle Golf, Aunt Jen, and little Bryce were also along for the ride. Poor Dad had to work. Again.

Baby V hits the Thai Temple.

A traditional Thai Buddhist game, Violet tries her hand (with assistance from Uncle Den) at predicting her future.


Violet offers the monks robes in lieu of the Buddhist occasion.


This is a picture of Violet's first trip to the Thai Temple. My my, we've come a long way.

UltraViolet's sidekick

After a long day of UltraViolet missions, she arrives at Yay's with her sidekick, Cabbage Patch Kid Horse.


UltraViolet is demonstrating the do's and don'ts of horse care. Do love your horse.


Don't muss his mane.

Violet Loves Beer?

Shannon threw her husband, Michael, a surprise birthday party. While we waited for Michael's arrival, Baby V decided to help herself to some beer.

Even though I swiped the beer from Baby V's clutches, we did manage a photo-op with Uncle Den before the beer was put back into the cooler.

She stands now.

Monkey Girl (aka Baby V) can now stand... She still needs to hold onto stuff to help her balance... But she's officially a standing machine! It's crazy how fast she's progressing... The next phase is walking.

STOP GROWING UP SO FAST BABY V!

Hopefully she has Joe's musical abilities.

Daddy (on one of his rare days off) showing Baby V how to rock on the piano.

Our First Halloween

Skooter was a giraffe, Benson was a cow, and we all know that Baby V was a little duck. I hope that everyone had a Happy Halloween. Can't wait until Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Carving

Because this was a work thing, we carved our pumpkins with a sea/ocean theme. I helped very little in that I poked the holes for the coral reef. Everyone else did the cutting and carving.

Civic Duties

Violet's enthusiasm gleams after her first polling experience. We voted early (the Friday before the official voting day) and waited in line for an hour and 40 mins.

Preparing for the Winter

Yay thinks that she looks like a boxer ready to go into the ring. I think she looks ready to jump onto the back of a Skooter (ha ha, get it?!).

Trick or Treating in the Marketplace.

Baby V is rockin her Halloween costume.


Polyester outfit + duck feet + duck hat + FL heat = no problem for Baby V


The duck met a lady bug and decided to strike a pose for the camera. (You can see that the duck was starting to get drowsy. She eventually fell asleep in her duck costume and I had to pull off her duck hat to let her head air out.)

Chalk Outline Baby

Profile outline.


Close-up outline.


Silly outline.

Serious outline.

Florida Girl stops by Orlando before moving to London.

Florida Girl, aka Jen, and her husband Chris (we all went to high school together and then college) stopped by Orlando before their big move to London. I can't believe that they're leaving us stateside but there are many journeys to be conquered abroad... I'll just have to live vicariously through her blog. We're going to miss you guys! Come back and visit often, k?

Violet was striking her "DJ Violet" pose for the Kodak moment.

Aunt Jason, Uncle Phil, and Uncle Mark were also in Orlando (playing hooky from work might I add) to go to Halloween Horror Nights. Jen and Chris went too. I was too big of a wuss to go... So we had breakfast the next morning instead. Sadly Joe missed our high school reunion (Jason and Phillip were in our graduating class at Plant too!) because he was responsible and went to work.

We borrowed our neighbor's swing.

When we moved into the neighborhood, one of the first things that caught my eye was our neighbor's Winnie the Pooh Swing.

It was a nice fall day last Thursday so I decided to dust off their swing (I asked my neighbors for permission of course) and put Violet in for a spin... erm, swing.


She LOVED swinging very high. This girl is crazy!


Violet collected her thoughts after being on the swing for 10 minutes and thanked Winnie for his time.

Violet & Finn

"Finn, do you think that eating too much lobster makes my toes smell bad?"


"Seriously Finn, smell my feet."


"Uh-okay Violet, but I'm kind of scared. I overheard your mom saying that you have stinky toes."

"Didn't she nickname you Stinky Toes Russo?"