Kindergarten Penguin Fun

A few weeks ago Gabe's kindergarten teacher taught about penguins. I thought it would be fun to bring in a couple different treats so on that Monday I brought these Chocolate Covered Marshmallow penguins.I made enough for both of her classes and for both of the other kindergarten teachers class. 90 in all. It was lots of fun!Then on that Tuesday I came in and made a penguin with the kids out of an egg plant. They had fun helping me add the wings, feet, eyes and belly. This is our finale creation. Next up is the Valentine's Day Party!

Fort Downs/Fuller

We are blessed! Our son Gabriel has got one of the best things going for him ever, he has the love of a family that we met by "chance". Who but God would know what a simple babysitting job would turn into. This family loves my son un-like no other. The time and energy that they give to him is amazing and we are forever blessed because of it.

Last weekend was Kati (the youngest daughters) last weekend home before she had to go back to college. She decided that on Saturday she and Gabe should make a snow fort and before you knew it Kelly & Chelsey were also out to join in on the fun. Kati & "Gabe" spent hours outside making the perfect fort. These pictures are in reverse order and for some reason I can't get them to move around so it is what it is. Gabe with his best friend Kelly. She spoils him rotten and loves him to death and of course he LOVES it, who wouldn't!
This is there finished fort. With sticks and all because Gabe told Kati that "If we go into battle we have to have sticks"!

You are looking at the most loved 5 year old you have ever seen!

Putting the finishing touches on their fort.

Of course playing outside in the snow would not be complete with out a snow angle. Here is my angle making his angle.

Gabe & Kati watching for enemies.....Dun, dun, dun....

This would be Gabe with the best Kati ever. When I put this picture on Facebook she posted "I would do just about anything for this kid". and truly she would. She is a great "big sister".

This is my cutie showing off the inside of his fort.

Doesn't get any better than this. I'm pretty sure that he has the cutest button nose ever. But I'm his mom and have to admit that I'm pretty partial.

Do you have someone in your life that loves you like crazy??? I sure hope so because it's the best thing ever.

Florida Vacation

John's parents gave us there Time Share to use this year as a Christmas gift. So on December 16 at 10:30pm we started our long drive to Florida with 3 Adults and 5 Kids. What a terrific trip we had. The best part of the trip for me was that my Mom got to come with us. This is pretty much how our trip went.

Day One December 17th, Shenira and Gabe couldn't wait to take a bath in the big tub. With swim suits on they both hopped in and had a great time.After the bath each kid had one Christmas gift to open from John & I (their gift from us were tickets for the older kids to go to Island of Adventure with John and for Gabe it was a ticket to go to Sea World with Nana and Mommy).

After gifts were opened it was off to the pool. It was to cold if you ask me but Daddy said that it was okay so Mommy let him go in and swim with them and I took pictures while I was all bundled up!
Day Two: It rained all day today so we rented movies and decided to play Minute to Win It Games. This was so much fun. Dustin was able to get two of three golf balls to balance on top of each other and was the only one to do it out of all eight of us!
Day Three we headed to Michael's house in Port St. Lucie. It was so nice to hang out. Aunt Jean had a nice lunch ready for us when we got there. We had lunch sat around and talk for awhile and the kids had fun tossing the football around in the back yard.
On our way back to Orlando we stopped at Cocoa Beach to get some shells from the beach to take home. It was SO cold and we were NOT dressed to be out on the beach at all! But we got the shells we were looking for and got back into the car to warm up. We had to stop and buy Gabe a sweat shirt before we could even go down to the beach.

Daddy found a hermit crab on the beach that everyone had to check out. It was so cold that the poor thing was dead.

Day Four: Nana, Gabe and Mommy's first day at Sea World!!! Oh my word did we have so much fun. This was probably the best part of the trip for me. It was so nice to have my Mom all to myself and Gabe. Our first stop was to the Blue Horizon show it is the BEST and still my favorite show at Sea World.

After the Blue Horizon show we went over to feed the Dolphins. This was SO cool and so much better than the last time I had done this. We had a great spot and Dolphins were every where. Gabe loved petting them.

The under ground viewing for the dolphins.

Next it was time for the Clyde and Seamore show. This is one show that you don't ever want to show up late for but sure is fun if you show up early!

Mommy & Gabe checking out the SHARKS!!!!

Gabe, Mommy & Nana with the Manatee's

Amy I had to put this picture in here just for you! Right before this picture we had a group of young Chinese kids ask us if we would take there pictures and of course all of the boys were making the peace sign. So the very next picture I took of Gabe he had to do it too. Reminded me of Ty!

Mommy and Gabe on the Shamu roller coaster. I don't like roller coasters at all but this one was okay and Gabe loved it.

Last show of the night for us was Shamu. This was still cool, but not as cool now that the trainers don't swim with them.

Day Five: Back at Sea World for our second day. We went to several more shows today and stayed until the park closed. We watched the Winter Wonderland on Ice show tonight while we waiting for the fire works after such a long day Gabe fell asleep before the Ice show or the fire works started and sleep during both things. It was nice during the day but sure did cool off as soon as the sun went down.

Day Five: John also took the older kids to Island of Adventure. They were able to ride the new Harry Potter ride and many other things and all had a great time spending time with just their dad.

Day Six took us to Downtown Disney where we did our normal try on all of the funny hats that we could find. I think this is a great look for my husband!

Gabe was also able to see Santa in shorts again which I love. Not every Michigan kid can have his picture taken with Santa in Shorts!

Day Six also took us back to the Time Share to enjoy the sun and pool. It was a little chili because of the wind but very nice and sunny. A great time was had by all swimming.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.
Dustin, Gabe and Shenira.

Sissy and Daddy

Gabe and Mommy

Day Seven: Our last day in Florida we started off to go and play around of Miniature Golf until we got there and found out that it was going to cost $76.00 for us to play. We quickly decided that was crazy and that we were NOT going to play. So we went to Shell World go more seashells and headed back to the Time Share to eat lunch and pack up to start our long drive back home. This is Gabe being silly in the car about an two hours before we got home. I have to tell you that this was the best car ride I've ever been on. Not once did our kids fight you almost didn't even know that we had kids in the car with us. We are so very blessed.

Thank you to Mom and Dad Fuller for the use of the time share and to my mom for coming with us. It truly was a great trip!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We got home from Florida on Christmas Eve. Gabe was so happy that we made it home early enough for him to put the reindeer food out. This has become a new tradition in the past couple of years.

One the reindeer were taken care of it was time to take care of the "Big Guy" Santa himself. Because we had just gotten home from vacation we didn't have any cookies to leave for him so we left him chocolate this year. It's my understanding that he likes chocolate better than cookies anyway!

Gabe was was proud of himself he poured the milk all by himself this year. This is our finished product with the special drawing that Gabe left for him.

Gabe with his gifts from Kelly & Santa.

Mommy, Daddy & Gabe went to see Yogi Bear on Christmas afternoon. I wasn't feeling very well but decided to go ahead and go to the movie anyway. Little did I know that the following Monday I would find out that I had Pneumonia. I ended up missing another week of work. John took very good care of me while I was sick and Kelly helped out a lot with Gabe which was wonderful.Gabe and Daddy decided to try out Gabe's new nerf guns one of the night while I was sick. I couldn't help but get the camera and take picture of my two crazy boys. I'm not sure which one liked them more Daddy or Gabe!New Year's Eve Dustin got on a charter bus and headed to New Orleans for his trip with his high school band "The Big Red Machine" to play at the Sugar Bowl. After many many months of fundraisers it was time to go. I had to stop by and get a couple of pictures of him leaving. They had a great time on the trip and just got back today (1/7/11). New Year's Eve found us at the M-66 bowling ally with John's family again this year. This has become a tradition that we love. I didn't get to bowl this year but enjoyed watching everyone else and doing what I do best....take pictures. This was a crazy freaky picture that I took of John goofing off while he was bowling. Some how in the picture half of his ball is missing????On New Year's Day Gabe and I met up with Mom and Dad Copas, my brother and sister and their families at Splash Universe Waterpark. Gabe love the lazy river and Haley loved the little slide. I still wasn't feel real great so we didn't stay very long but it was long enough for Gabe to have fun. January 2 was the Kempton Christmas at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Carl's house. As usual we had great food and a great time with family. I love it when we get together with all of my aunts, uncles & cousins but missed the ones that weren't able to make it. All in all it was once again a very busy few days with lots of things going on. Glad it's over but can't wait until next year!

Happy New Year Everyone!