Ella Won District Reflections

I blanked out all the other names because WHO CARES? It's all about my kid, right?Sweet little bashful kid. She should be proud of herself.

(We obviously are.)



Pretty Blue eyes turn red in almost all light with our camera.

So, she wrote a great story about a mouse and she won out of all the elementary students in the school district.

They go K-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-12 here.

I love Christmas music...I swear!

OKAY, already! I am not a scrooge (Mom!)...I guess my anti- Christmas song list gave everyone the wrong idea. I LOVE Christmas songs and will prove it with a different list. Now, I am avoiding traditional hymn carols...because that wouldn't make it fair to the other songs. The "BEST" Christmas songs ever are:

1. Carol of The Bells (I personally prefer Kenny Rogers rendition, but any will do.)

2. Mele Kalikimaka

3. I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas

4. Christmas On The Farm (I am fully aware no one will have heard of this one...but you Beardall's know what I'm talking about!)

5. Christmas Children (This is from the musical Scrooge, but there is a version out there that they play on the radio. Soooo beautiful.)

6. On This Day by Reba McEntire

7. Where Are You Christmas? (I think everyone will agree on this one.)

8. White Christmas (Not very original, but what is Christmas without Bing Crosby?)

9. Baby It's Cold Outside

10. 12 Days of Christmas as done by the Muppets!

And, last but not least

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

Now, if we were including carols, I would have at the very top "We Three Kings" done by Sarah McLachlan and the Bare Naked Ladies. It's my very favorite. Please let me know of any disagreements or additions!

Christmas Chaos

Last Saturday we had the Avery Family Christmas party at our house. Andy has seven brothers, which makes for one big party. It was fun, though. Uncle Brian took all the cousins sledding, some kids performed musical numbers, and there was lots of food. Matt and Wes live out of state with their families, but they were there in spirit I'm sure. And, thankfully they don't sing carols the same way they sing "Happy Birthday."

Rob, Lauren, Candace, Grandpa Cardon, Angela, Zoe, Ella, James and Brandon in the back. Starting the cousin gift exchange.

Andy's dad needs a beard if he's going to play Santa!

Danny and the newest, cutest addition, Jackson.

Alex, James, Staci, and Zoe with her idol, Melissa.

Brian wearing the coolest pants ever.

Grandma Avery reading us a Christmas story.

'Tis the Season

Every year, the fire dept. Andy works for throws a killer party for the kids. There's a magician and a balloon man, and of course, Santa. Usually Santa comes in on the AirMed helicopter and Mrs. Claus is with him. For weeks Zoe has been telling us that she would only sit on Mrs. Claus' lap, and she didn't want to talk to Santa. Why is it that at that age, they LOVE him but are scared to death of him at the same time? Anyway, Mrs. Claus didn't make it! I was worried for about 2 seconds, because that's all it took for her to run up and give him a hug. Awesome.

Santa used a fire engine this year, they didn't care. I love this picture.

Santa gives great presents at this party too. Max wanted Zoe's wrapping paper more than anything else.

Just some Christmas prep time pictures. How long before that tree gets pulled down by a dog, cat, or one year old??

I swear we have this exact same picture of all three kids at this age. Just different pajamas and a different cat.

P.S. I forgot the worst song OF ALL: Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time. Augh, the pain it causes my ears!

In The Spirit of Christmas...

As Andy and I went to get a Christmas tree, we decided to nail down the top worst/most annoying Christmas songs...

1. "Mary Did You Know?" Of course she knew! The angel told her right to her face!
2. "Christmas Shoes" This could be a tie for first.
3. John Lennon's "So This is Christmas."
4. Bruce Springstein's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." We counted...he says it 27 times in a row!!! Not cool, Boss.
5. Beach Boys, "Little Saint Nick."
6. Elvis' "I'll Have a Blue Christmas." (But not Willy Nielsons' version.)
7. The Mormon "12 Days of Christmas".
8. Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
9. "Santa Baby" Andy hates this song.
10.... Well, what's left?

The longest vacation ever comes to an end

Yes, sadly, it was my birthday while we were gone. It was a great day, though. We headed over to Cocoa Beach (and of course forgot the camera.) Cocoa is the Atlantic Ocean, so it was completely different from the Gulf beach we were at before. But it was warm and it had these 10 foot waves that made it really fun. Ella finally got the guts to go in and had fun in the water, Zoe still stayed on the sand and Max tried diving head first into every wave.




Next we headed to SeaWorld. I've been to the one in California many times, and I do not remember being allowed to pet the dolphins! So Andy and I both got to pet them (and Ella cried because she couldn't reach). It gave me chills and was incredible!!!


Packed up to go home. Just a shot of the place we were staying. It was so nice.
Zoe as Ivan Drago, "I must break you!" I just thought it was funny.

So, after a long, maybe not relaxing, but at least fun vacation, I can say I have learned one thing... never forget to fill the gas tank before returning your rental car!

Almost done...

Cutest "Wildlife" I ever saw!

It was cold and wet at the Animal Kingdom, but this place had some fantastic shows! Although, I have to say, I didn't really see that many animals. Hu.

Zoe in front of "Everest Expedition." A much new and improved version of the Matterhorn. It was such a fun ride!

Max laughing at King Louie.

Us with Thumper. I felt like we didn't do anything the entire time we were here because we were meeting characters ALL day. But this was the place to do it, no lines! That way we didn't spend time waiting in Disneyworld.