Elizabeth's 7th Birthday

On Wednesday we celebrated Elizabeth's 7th birthday. She was "conveniently" sick Wednesday morning when waking up and just had to miss school. Tuesday night, we had her open her gift early. She received a beautiful Princess dress, gold mary-jane crocs, and a special invitation to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique located inside Cinderella's Castle at WDW Magic Kingdom. (She has begging to go to the BBB since our first trip to Disney World three years ago when BBB was only located in Downtown Disney) She was very excited and could hardly sleep that night. She was even up before us Wednesday morning.



We got ready very quickly and were off to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived early enough to see the opening show, stopped to get Miss Elizabeth a birthday button, and then we were off to the rides. Our third ride was the Jungle Cruise.
Halfway through the ride, our skipper asked Elizabeth if she would steer the boat. Elizabeth hesitated at first, but then gladly took over. She successfully navigated us through the remainder of the ride. As we were getting off the boat, she was given her "Jungle Boat Skipper License."





Now, we were on our way to her appointment at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We were supposed to be there at 10:10. As we were walking by "small world", we just had the urge to go ride real quick. Elizabeth and Matt stood by the entrance to the ride while Banastre and I took the stroller to the parking area. Elizabeth was approached by a "Dream Team" member and asked if she would be the Small World Cruise Director of the Day. Of course she accepted the job.

Here she is waving to the boats as she sends them on their way.

Waving to more boats. She was given a special certificate thanking her for being the cruise director, then we were put on a boat by ourselves for our on cruise. It was a really special moment and Elizabeth is already proclaiming this the best day ever!

We arrived at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique just a few minutes after her appointed time. We waited about three minutes before she was taken to her chair.

The beginnings of the "Diva" hairstyle.
Hair style complete.

Her Fairy Godmother in Training applying her make up.

Our beautiful Birthday Princess on her royal throne.

What should a Princess do next? Ride Cinderella's horse on the Carousel.

Does this thing go any faster?

We rode a lot more rides and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Then we went to the front of the park to watch the parade and wait on Grandma and Grandpa to join us.

Elizabeth playing hopscotch while waiting on the parade.

Fairy Godmother pointing and waving to Elizabeth.

Cinderella pointing to Elizabeth. Below, the Blue Fairy is blowing Elizabeth a kiss. I missed pictures of a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins kissing Elizabeth's hand and Ariel mouthing "Happy Birthday Princess" to Elizabeth. She really received a lot of attention on her special day!

We all went to Mickey's Philharmagic after the parade and then it was time to head to Elizabeth's Birthday dinner at O'hana's. Elizabeth enjoyed all of the food and activities. Banastre enjoyed playing peekaboo with his napkin.

Here's Grandma, Grandpa, and Matt goofing off!

One last pic of our beautiful Princess on her birthday!!

It's very hard for me to believe that she is seven years old. I look forward to watching her grow and change even more in the coming years. She is turning out to be such a beautiful person inside and out and I couldn't be any more proud of her and all of her accomplishments. Happy Birthday Angelbaby!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was definitely an adventure this year. We were very happy to be living in a community this year instead of out in the middle of nowhere! We knew we had lots of safe and convenient places to trick-or-treat. Elizabeth absolutely had the best time ever. Banastre still isn't too sure of what all happened. When I tried to put his costume on, he screamed bloody murder and fought me as hard as he could. But, as Mommy, I won. We jumped in the car and drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house. There both kids received lots of goodies. Then we headed on our way to trick-or-treat. Banastre wanted to "wak" every where. He looked at everyone's "pumkims" and admired their "Yo Ho's" (any skeleton, pirate, or monster). But once we arrived at a house and rang the doorbell, he would wait for the people to answer and then run the other way yelling, "No, no, no". He was actually ok at a couple of houses and tried to give them candy from his bucket. He would only say trick or treat when we were walking between houses. He also acted very tired the entire night. (Mom and Dad's favorite part was the house that gave the kids candy and all the parents margaritas...we will definitely start there next year!!) We finished up around 8 and came home to give out candy to the other little princess and ghouls. It was a great time, but I hope Banastre will understand a little better next year. He refused to wear the gator head most of the night. But they were both still looking great!
Elizabeth the Vampiress
He actually started crying and jerked the head piece off right after this was taken.

Waiting for treats at Grandma and Grandpa's.

This morning, Banastre woke up with a very pink eye. After the doc appt. it is confirmed that he has pink eye. That might explain his behavior yesterday. It does give me hope that next year will be much better!

Elizabeth Smarty Pants

Today, Elizabeth's school had an assembly for all children in second and third grades that made the A and A/B Honor Roll. Miss Tarleton made the all A honor roll. (We will be doing this again in a couple of weeks, she made all A's again for the second nine weeks too!!!)

She will also have a coupon for a free pizza for making the all A honor roll.

We had a Parent/Teacher Conference earlier this week. The teacher had nothing but praises for Elizabeth. We are having her tested here in Florida for the Gifted program. If she makes it in, she will be going to a different school next year. It's an all day Honors Program. They will basically do the whole third grade curriculum in the first half of the year and then move on to more difficult and challenging items.

To give you an idea at how well she is doing right now, here are a few of her test results from the beginning of the year. For her oral reading fluency test, you must have at least an 80 to receive an A. Elizabeth is currently at 147! That's almost double what is required for an A!!! On the SAT10 she has a cumulative score of 1265. Her reading comprehension is above the 79th percentile. Her Math Problem-Solving skills are above the 96th percentile. She is currently reading at or above a 4th grade level!! I'm sorry if it seems I am bragging a bit, but we are just SOOOOO proud of her!! She is really our little genius. She's only 6 years old and doing so well!!!

Jack-o-Lanterns

Today we carved our pumpkins for Halloween! Elizabeth was so excited!!! Banastre just kept saying pumpkin over and over!! So, here's how it went:

Daddy making the first cut!

Elizabeth and Banastre watching closely.

You want me to stick my hand where???? What the *&#@ are you thinking?

The finished products. Can you figure which pumpkin belongs to which child???

What a sweet smile!!!!!!!!!

Beautiful girl!

All lit up to scare everyone!

Minneola Fall Fest and Leesburg Halloween Festival

This weekend, Elizabeth performed two Halloween dances at two different fall festivals. "I Want Candy" and "Thriller" were both great and were applauded well each night. It was great to learn about both of these festivals. Hopefully next year, we can go earlier in the day and enjoy all that they have to offer. Here are some pics of my little ghoul!Ready for "I Want Candy"

Dancing....

My "Thriller" Zombie (Minneola)

In the pic below, Elizabeth is the one standing in the back.

My Zombie at Leesburg

Matt didn't even recognize her the first night she did this dance in the costume and make-up!

The Next Magic Dancer

Tonight, Elizabeth performed at the Amway Arena in Orlando as part of the pre-game show for the Orlando Magic vs Miami Heat. Last Saturday, she did a three hour dance clinic with three of the Magic Dancers and learned two dances. They only performed one of the two. It's amazing that the girls could learn this in only 3 hours!!! She did a wonderful job and we are so proud of her. She loves dancing and it shows.


I have to admit I am not a big NBA fan (give me NFL!!!), but I did recognize some of the more famous players and have a few pics. I will try to identify them correctly!! Also, check out the video of my hip hop girl!!!! Elizabeth is the one in the very center with "DANCER" across the bottom of her pants.

A pic of the three of us before Elizabeth and I left.

Patrick Ewing helping to warm up the magic players.Elizabeth wants to be one of these!!!Alonzo Mourning (Used to play for the Hornet's)

The long-haired hippy boy. (We actually really like his hair long even if he is called a girl sometimes!!)

Fireball Run

Matt has finally returned from the Fireball Run. He had a great time and even finished 3rd in the SUV class. We are very proud of him and very, very, very happy to have him home. Here are a few pictures from his adventures. I will have more when Matt's copilot gives us his cd.


On his journey they had many missions, saw great landmarks, had lots of fun, and helped out a great cause.

Lining up and ready to start the days adventures.

One of the many celebrities and politicians he met.

Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona such a fine site to see... (courtesy of the Eagles)The Hoover DamMatt with his third place trophy!!!