Beach Privalege

Flamingos in the yard. This can only truly be gotten away with at the beach!

Thanks Cheryl! They look perfectly beachy!!!

Gingerbread House

Disney World

Details

Christmas Sunday

I completed Juliet's Christmas dress, per her specifications, just in time to wear it to church on Christmas Sunday. Cougar and Brock had to get by this year with off the rack coordinates. Perhaps next year, I can go all out. Juliet loved the dress and once she discovered the full length mirror in the women's bathroom, I wasn't sure I'd ever get that little twirler out of there!

Brock was in no mood to be photographed Sunday. I got in trouble for dropping his underaged self at the church nursery, but you would have dropped him too...

Jolly Old Saint Nick

All Things Orange

Orange Supervisor


Orange Cinnamon sticky buscuits before baking


Freezing Pints of Fresh squeezed Orange juice flat for stacking


Orange Chocolate Cupcakes baked in orange rinds


Orange Creamsicles - fresh orange juice with cream and sugar


Orange Marmalade - everyone's Christmas Gifts

First bite

Thanksgiving

This was my absolutely first Thanksgiving away from my parents. I help up pretty well. Only called my mom about 5 times while cooking that morning. The turkey turned out well, and we managed to keep reusing it all week until every bite was eaten. Kessa came up and joined us and it was wonderful to have her and Weston here with us.

Low Tide

The Cannon kids enjoy the low tide. Cougar's school is next to the beach, so we stopped by on the way home and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Cupcake Kinda Day

This was all Juliet's idea. Cupcakes with all the fixins.

Holy Oranges!

It's orange season in FL and I just love our orange tree.

The kids think it's perfect for baseball, uggg... But I've manage to save most of them from an untimely demise!

I can't wait to make some marmalade!

Drift Wood Rope Swing

Unfortunately I have not been able to supply my children with a super cool swing set with clubhouse etc....

But I did find this fantastic piece of driftwood on the beach and brought it home and hung it in a tree in the back yard.

There is just something about a rope swing.

Sand in my toes, and in my nose

Sand in my car
Sand at my door

Sand in my clothes
Sand on my floor

Sand on my hands
and on my feet

Sand on my bed
and in my sheets

Sand in diapers
and cracks and hair

Sand, Sand everywhere

Living

I must say, I love living by the beach. It is so stinking fun.
The house has been a lot. It is so small, but after getting a storage unit, it's a lot better. The house has no grass, glass and fire ants in the yard, but I am working hard to correct all of those problems.
I have painted every room in the house now and plan next to paint the front door periwinkle.
I am sick. I have a sinus infection or something. Yuck.
My friend Kessa came to visit today with her baby. It was so nice to get to visit with a friend from home. It was fun to show her around. I am glad they are in Florida too. Would be nice if they were in town, but 2.5 hours away isn't too bad.

Serenity NOW!

Things are starting to fall into place. The moving boxes are out for the trash, after failing to be picked up off of Craig's List. However, chaos is still in full swing.
I am trying to turn a cement block beach hut into a warm and fuzzy beach home. Been watering the weeds, painting and sorting contents of boxes.
Once it is ALL done, I think the place will be lovely. Small. But lovely.

A Blip

It was raining the day we left Knoxville ... (sounds like the start of a movie)... For a year and a half we anticipated our lives there. In three months, our lives there began and ended. That wasn't anticipated.

And here we go on our trek to our new lives in Florida. I reflect on the folks I met that were so kind and had such potential for life long relationships - if only we'd had a little more time to get to know one another...

Maybe we will stay friends with some of those we got to know, but most will probably fit in the category of ships passing in the night. But for a rare few, that's what typically happens anyway, no matter how long you live somewhere.

For whatever reasons our Heavenly Father's plan for us included a pit stop in Knoxville; time will tell why, I am sure. While I am sad to leave, I have no doubt that we are supposed to be in Florida now.

Like a blip on the radar of Knoxville, we popped up for a second and now we are gone, with little trace we were ever there.

Fabric Flower Pin

Saw these for sale at the farmers market. It looked so cute, but thought I could make it myself. A strip of scalloped fabric, sewn and gathered. Small circle of felt. Safety pin, button = pretty flower

Portabellopixie - Claire Pattern

I tried this Boutique Pattern by Sandi Henderson. I crashed and burned on the shirring. I tried to follow the tutorial step by step and at the end when it was all supposed to come together... it didn't. I tried 4 different things to try to correct this problem.

I pulled it all out and started over. I gave up on shirring and just used elastic. It's not quite as cute, but better than nothing. I really like the final look of the dress and so does Juliet.

Getting Primal at the Zoo

We just officially put our house on the market this week and our house was shown for the first time yesterday. I was really wishing I had gone to Hogwarts instead Bishop Kelley for school so I could wave my magic wand or just have an house elf clean it up for me. Thanks BK but praying the house clean just wasn't cutting it!

God helps those who help themselves, so we got down and dirty and cleaned it up! We actually had to put the kids in the car to complete the finishing touches. Then off on an adventure we went while we had to be out of the house:

Gearing up to Go


1st Stop: Krispy Kreme



2nd Stop: Mountains




3rd Stop Zoo

Totally exhausted by the time we got home. No offers on the house yet : (