Kids Tree Trimming Party!

So Christmas is right around the corner so I had to find something fun to do for The Kid. I decided to throw a tree trimming party. We've invited about 4 of his friends to come over afterschool on Friday to help us decorate our Christmas tree. I asked that each kid bring an ornament and I'm still debating whether or not we can actually even try making some ornaments as well. We'll be "trimming the tree", enjoying hot chocolate with marshmallows, homemade snickerdoodle cookies (with red and green sugar of course), rice krispy treats and some fruit and veggie trays. I also bought a cd of kid christmas songs and a couple movies for them to choose from like Home Alone, A Christmas Story and The Goonies. And to show our appreciation for helping us put together our tree, we're handing out homemade s'mores kits to take home...which are just graham crackers, a holiday marshmallow and a mini hershey bar for them to put together, microwave for 15 seconds and enjoy. This should be fun! I'll let you know how it works out.

The Unthinkable...and The Joys Of Online Shopping

Once again I have done the unthinkable....lost the computer cord to my camera (insert sad face here). But no worries! A friend offered to lend me hers until I find mine so pics will be coming soon. In the meantime I thought I'd just catch you up on the latest happenings during the pre-holiday rush. For starters I must tell you that this has been the least stressful holiday shopping I've done in years! The Kid only asked for a handful of things (a new skateboard, tech decks, and wrestling figures) which made it all the more easy. I took the lazy route and ordered everything from amazon...thus avoiding the chaos of the malls and toy store. All the boxes have arrived...including a couple items of clothing and other random things he didn't ask for but will absolutely enjoy. Ahhhh....the joys of online shopping.

The Best Birthday Ever...

This year I think I may have just planned and pulled off the absolute BEST birthday ever for my son. He turned 10 yrs old on November 19th and so I planned an awesome birthday vacation for him. We went to Orlando to the Nickelodeon Resort which I swear was like Vegas for kids, and we also went over to Discovery Cove to swim with the dolphins and go snorkeling. I hired a limo driver to take us everywhere we needed to go in Orlando and the weather was just perfect! (82 degrees everyday)...I can't even put into words how happy and surprised he was and how much fun we BOTH had! There was constant poolside entertainment everynight along with a "snow show" that included live Christmas singing and dancing, Santa, Nickelodeon characters like Dora and Spongebob, an ice slide and.....SNOW! They made it snow everynight by the pool while the kids swam, or sat on the side sipping hot chocolate, eating s'mores, popcorn and rice krispy treats! We did so much that i'd have to write 10 separate blogs to tell you all that we did but the bottom line is we had a blast and are most definitely going back! The kid's favorite part of the entire trip was swimming with the dolphin and snorkeling with the tropical fish. It was also his first time flying and he had a window seat...lol. If you have little ones then you have to go online to Nickhotel.com right this instant and book a vacation. I've posted the pics from my phone but not the camera yet...will do soon!

The Best Birthday EVER! Nickelodeon Resort and Discovery Cove (Orlando)

The Kid loved his wet suit that he got to wear at discovery Cove!

Our Dolphin...Leslie

This was the look on his face when I told him we were there to swim with the dolphins

Buried in the pretty white sand

About to swim through one of the caves

Snorkeling

He loved snorkeling with the fish...

The Best Birthday!

The big bucket of SLIME! The kids would stand under the bucket everyday
at 4:45 and yell, "SLIME! SLIME! SLIME! and then the bucket would dump
green slime all over them

The daily poolside party and game shows were hilarious

taking a break from the pool to shoot some hoops

On stage for his second time as a contestant on one of the poolside game shows

The Kid's Birthday!

Dora and Sandy Cheeks having a dance party while we have breakfast

Spongbob

It looks like he's not having fun but he just didn't want me to take his picture...lol

The "kiddie" pool...mostly empty because all the action was at the "lagoon" pool

Birthday Vacation Pics!

Ready for Christmas in the lobby

A beautiful morning in Orlando

Fantastic Fall

I know it's been quite some time since I've given an update on the fun Fall activities of me and The Kid, but....no worries. We've been finding some wonderful ways to enjoy this beautiful season. We've been to the pumpkin patch where they had everything from ponyrides to face painting and an almost impossible corn maze. There's been more football, school activities and alot of organizing and trying of hearty recipes. I know I haven't posted pictures as promised but I promise to do so soon (I'd lost the cord to the camera). We are STILL having a fantastic Fall and we can't wait to go on vacation next month for The Kid's birthday. We're taking a trip to Orlando to visit the Nickelodeon hotel and to swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove. The Kid is extremely excited and doesn't even have a clue about the dolphin swim....what a surprise it'll be. I'll post pics soon...thanks for reading!

The Best Fall Weekend!

Like I said before, Summer may now be officially over but the fun isn't! This past weekend was the first weekend of the new season and me and the kid welcomed it by going to Larriland Farm. We went on an educational hayride,  then through a haunted barn and a hay maze. After taking a break from the fun for refreshments (fresh apple fritters and fresh apple cider) we went over to the fields to pick apples, broccoli and raspberries. It was such a beautiful day out that we stayed at the farm for over 3 hours, then it was off to one of our favorite restaurants (Bahama Breeze) for a wonderful lunch of seafood chowder, lobster and shrimp quesadillas, fresh mango smoothies and shrimp pasta. It was a wonderful Saturday!
  Sunday of course was football day! We went to the Ravens game (and won!) early in the afternoon and the evening was spent getting prepared for another great school/work week. I'm looking forward to many more fun Fall festivities! I'll post pics later!

Afterschool Movie Party!

Afterschool Movie Party

Yes Summer may be coming to an end...but the party doesn't stop! On friday after school we hosted an "afterschool movie" for the kid and some of his friends. Of course four friends quickly turned into about 8 friends, but the shindig was a success! After having the kids check in at home and do any homework they had the kids in the neighborhood came over for snacks, swag bags and The Karate Kid. I'd gone to the dollar store earlier and stocked up on movie sized boxes of candy, crazy straws, some fun pencils and erasers and capri suns. I put the treats into decorated party bags and handed them out as the kids came in. I also made 2 big bowls of microwave popcorn (one extra butter, one kettle corn)and snack plates for them to enjoy while watching the movie. The snack plates had chips, dip, fresh fruit, crackers and cheese. The kids had a great time and when the movie was over...so was the party! (I'll post pics later)

Farewell To Summer...

I know that it's not officially Fall yet, but I'm already feeling the freshness of the new season in the air. Although this summer has been wonderful, I just can't wait to settle into the comfort of Fall. I'm anticipating all the Fall activities like the Fall Frolics, Harvest parties and of course Halloween and FOOTBALL! I'm also looking forward to cooler temperatures, pumpkin spice lattes and the changing of the leaves. Summer was great but it's now time to say farewell and welcome my new favorite season. Happy Fall everyone! (don't forget about my other blogs Keeping Up With Mo...and Company and The Pink Ink)--view them by clicking on my profile.

The Maryland Zoo

A few pics my son took on our trip to the Baltimore Zoo. I didn't get to get any pictures of him riding the camels or feeding the giraffes because the camera battery died but we still had a great time.

Playwise Indoor Play Center

Playwise is an indoor play center about a mile from us. We went there one day after the beach. We had to leave the beach a little early because it started to rain and so we decided to do something fun indoors. The kid had an awesome time dressing up as a fire fighter, playing basketball, playing inside the real fire truck and ambulance. There were so many things to do there and we both met some new friends.

Wrestle Mania!

Wrestling is the kids' addiction. He's been to several live shows and loves to watch it on tv. He started collecting these figures about 2 years ago. He insisted that i add these pics to the blog since wrestling was such a big part of his summer...lol. he also likes to dress up in wrestler costumes and wrestle with a lifesized superman we won for him at an amusement park. I probably should have added a pic of superman as well...he's had many surgeries to replace his stuffing due to being slammed and beaten so much....lol