Shaken not Stirred....

As in the past, we've had friends gather at our home to partake in Halloween festivities. It's fun to have the kids together in costumes and walk the neighborhood. This year, although he hadn't seen one 007 movie, Gabriel wanted to be James Bond, which in my opinion is a big step up from the Mario characters from the past two years. Giselle was Pinky Pie from My Little Pony even though her pony costume wasn't exactly Pinky Pie - it didn't matter. She loved it!
Since then, we've now watched all 6 of the Sean Connery James Bond movies. Amazing how 45 years can go by and those movies still hold up. They were fun to watch!

Random Observation by Gabriel

"Mommy, there is iPhone, iPad .... this 'i' company sure is doing well [for itself]." Why yes, this is Apple and they are a billion dollar company.

School is back in session for 2012-13

Gabriel's class doubles in size this year with the addition of his sister beginning pre-school! She loves to get her books out and sit at the table with him while he's doing his work and says "Mommy, I do my work, too." She colors and cuts and is learning to write her letters and numbers.

We're excited for Third Grade with Gabriel this year. We're going to dig in deeper with History (Ancient Civilizations), setting a foundation with Grammar learning prepositions, verbs, irregular verbs, etc. It's going to be a good year!

Gabriel turns 8!

Time is flying by so fast! My son is turning into a young man. He turns 8 today. We had a pool party with his friends and had a great time. He just loves his friends...and life!

I'm the big 4-ohhhhhh

Was so happy to share this big mile-marker with close friends doing something we've never done before - ziplining!  My two high school best friends, Kelly and Tricia flew in especially for the occasion and got to meet my friends Erin, Tagie and Janine. We stayed at Lake Lanier Island Resort for two nights and had a blast!

Giselle flaps her wings

Often Giselle will flap her arms when she skips and runs. It wasn't for a few months that she told us she is a bird. So at least now we know why. It's really cute and sometimes she'll refer to her arms as her wings.

Missing My Aunt Linda

My Aunt Linda passed away a few months ago, but she will never be far from our hearts.

Gabriel and Giselle at 7 and 3

I went to take Giselle to get her photo taken at the exact same age that I did Gabriel's at a professional session with Picture People in Perimeter Mall. I went ahead and got one of the both of them. My two loves....

Fun in the sun

 Gabriel has almost learned how to swim - he can doggy paddle across the pool more easily in the deep end than the shallow end - go figure.

Gabriel's 2nd year is done!

Second grade for Gabriel was a stepping stone into reading chapter books (Diary of a Wimpy Kid was his favorite), doing 2 and 3-digit multiplication and division and delving into deeper history and science lessons like Roman and Egyptian Empires. Here he is with most of his school workbooks that he knocked out this year. He still likes doing Khan Academy online.

Gabriel's Swing

We always joke about Gabriel one day buying us a summer home when he wins his first big pro golf tournament. One day Jimmy was saying his game is going downhill because he never gets to practice and play anymore due to spending his time helping Gabriel with his game. Gabriel retorted, "Daddy, do you want to be good or do you want a summer home?" Of course, Jim said, "both!"

We're looking forward to him playing in some tournaments for the first time come this summer. Our goal is for him to make new friendships with similar interest and continued motivation to play this incredible game. Here he is playing at Heritage for the first time. He hit some incredible shots - and some not so great ones too.

New job - new hair

After six wonderful years at a small marketing agency with 12 people or less, I've moved into a typical large European owned digital marketing agency with over 2,000 around the world. It's been a huge adjustment and one I'm still navigating - but I'm learning a lot in the meantime. I figured I've been growing my hair out for a while now - and now that I've gotten a new job - it's time for a new haircut. It was an easy decision to donate it to Locks of Love. Here is what that process looked like:

 We wanted Gabriel to stay cool during the summer months so time to cut off his locks too. Giselle said "Ok, my turn" when he was done so I allowed the stylist to trim her hair for her first haircut.

19 Years!

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life - Jimmy - it's been an interesting and wonderful 19 years. I love you!!

Zellie Bellie turns Three!

We are so blessed and excited to have this beautiful little girl of ours - Giselle Helena Pett - turn three years old! She seems to be excited about the idea too and keeps holding up three fingers saying she's three. We got to celebrate it with family and friends in Tampa and then again with friends for a painting party.

Shawna Blow your Horn

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