Some more Floridian Winter for ya...

Have I mentioned how much we love the beach and how I didn't really think I'd miss it this much once we moved further inland? We LOVE the beach! I mean, how could you not when there are super cute old people just laying around, soakin it up and giving in? How cute is he? (No we're not related - he was just some random old dude.)

Cate, if you blow this pic up and look closely, you can see some really nice twist dreads forming quite nicely! Of course I had just done them the day before! Silly me! (I will post better pics of his hair once I get my new beeswax on Thursday - this stuff is CRAZY awesome and works like nothing else!)

Anyone wanna guess how long it took me to get all that sand outta his velcro hair? That was NOT fun!

Cai was practicing being at one with the sand. He stayed in this position for an extraordinary amount of time.

Then decided he would rinse off, but you know how that goes.

Too much sun and fun...

Cai lurvs to throw sand, but Papa reprimanded him for it after he repeatedly hit Phoenix in the back of the head. Phoenix feigned insult and well.....

This pathetic little picture of defeat is what transpired.

Cai's Best Friend

His name was Jiminy. He was just waking up from his winter sleep and was sunning himself on the sidewalk. In true Cai Cai fashion, he walked right up to him, said "Hello, friend," put his hand down, and Jiminy crawled right on. He and Cai hung out for about a half hour before Jiminy crawled up to Cai's shoulder, flicked his wings and flew away. Cai was devastated. He had lost his best friend. Ice cream was in order.

Teach a boy to fish....

and one day, maybe he'll catch something instead of his mom having to draw imaginary fish hanging from his imaginary line!! See what happens when I get bored? Bored, you say? With 4 BOYS? Yes, bored.....it was VERY cold today and I made my son pose outside, BAREFOOT, for this pic in 45 degrees.....Yeah - I'm a good mom!

Tampa Zoo

Today was our first trip to the Tampa Zoo and Moise and phoenix's first time to any zoo - EVER. It was a GREAT time and Moise especially was overjoyed to be so close to the animals and able to touch them! I've been to MetroZoo and the Palm Beach Zoo and the Tampa Zoo is by far the BEST ZOO EVER! The weather was perfect, everyone had fun and we can't wait to go back! I'll be uploading more pic sinto a slideshow tomorrow, so check back for that.

Unicef Photo of 2008

The beauty in the juxtaposition of this photo is truly breath taking and so close to my heart as the adoptive mom of two kids from Haiti. This photo won first place as the Unicef photo of 2008 taken by 21-year-old Belgian photographer Alice Smeets, the youngest person ever to win the competition. The place: Cite Soliel, Haiti.If this image encourages you to get involved and help in relief efforts or even goes so far as to make you think about adoption, please visit For HIS Glory's website. They are a non-profit organization that has an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and also helps fund and provide relief efforts for the surrounding area. If you have any questions about adoption, they currently have available children and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Christmas in the Square

Our church held Christmas Eve service in the historic downtown square of Ocala. It is beautiful and every year it gets decorated with millions of lights and the horse-drawn carriages come out to play! It would have made for a picture-perfect Christmas Eve had it not been 82 degrees! In any event, the boys were excited to get to hold candles and sing, but were super disappointed that the whole thing was only 30 minutes. Bummer, indeed. Then we went to KFC for some holiday grub, only to wait 25 minutes in line before being told that when we placed out order they had already run out of food and it would be an additional 30 minutes before any magically appeared! Bah-humbug! (I had other choice words, but we'll stick with Bah-Humbug!) Then we went to Steak and Shake which had already closed for the evening and were forced to seek food in other, less desirable locations. But, I digress. The kids are in bed, sound asleep, and the presents are being placed under the tree presently! I have to go help Mr. Claus now .... maybe there'll be milk and cookies in it for me!

Merry Christmas!

Macro Flowers

Lovin my new Nikon D40 and the beauty of the small things....Please to enjoy the flora and fauna of my mom's backyard.

Pics of Boys

Took pics of Moise and Phoenix this morning just cause it was cold and they were cute. I love the last one cause it looks like such a "superhero" shot! Please to enjoy:

My new hobby

I L-O-V-E my camera. It's a Nikon D40 and I am determined to move away from the Auto setting and jump into the world of ALL MANUAL! So, here are a few pics of the new trick I learned - showing speed in motion. Also, I couldn't resist a "many faces of Cai" collage! Enjoy!