Baker's Gromit

One of Matthew's favorite things to watch is a British claymation show called Wallace and Gromit. One of the episodes of this show (and there are only 4 that stream on Netflix so we have seen them all countless times) features Wallace as a baker, and of course his dog Gromit saving the day. When I ask Matthew which episode of "Gromit" he wants to watch, he usually asks for this episode, which he calls "Baker's Gromit". With Christmas approaching, I thought it would be fun to have Matthew help me bake a few sweets. We started by just making a loaf of pumpkin bread, and he loved it so much that we ended up making a second loaf of pumpkin bread, cookies, and cupcakes! He did great adding the ingredients and stirring, but his favorite part by far was cracking the eggs. He now asks me to bake every other day, so I'm going to have to stock up on my supplies! I'm not sure if the love of baking stems from his love of watching "Baker's Gromit" or not, but he is definitely a big fan of both.

Why I Love Florida!

We are really loving our life here in Florida. We love the warm weather, being around family, the new friends we've made, and did I mention the warm weather? We have had lots of fun adventures in the past few months.

In November we went to see UF play Vandy - one of the few games they won. We got to see Kendra, Carmen, and Jordan while we were there. And we were kid-free!

We also went to Biloxi to visit Brian's parents. While we were there we went the a children's museum. Matthew's favorite parts were the train and train table (shocker!)

Caroline has been very busy learning how to sit up and crawl, and working on her first two teeth. She is very very active, and prefers to be on the ground moving around at all times. Here she is in a tutu, and on her 7 month birthday!

We've also enjoyed some family time. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, so we've had picnics at the park in our neighborhood and taken Matthew to various playgrounds.

A glimpse into my daily life - taking the kids grocery shopping! This outing started out really well, until Matthew thought it was funny to lean on Caroline and squish her. It ended with me carrying her through the store and thinking my arm was going to fall off.

Another neat thing about moving back to Bradenton has been reconnecting with old friends. I've been spending a lot of time with one of my friends from growing up, and she's introduced to me to her friends as well. Now we hang out weekly!

One of the girls had a Christmas party for the kids. Matthew loved decorating cookies/eating all the candy, and really enjoyed the gift he got at the gift exchange. Caroline slept through most of the party, but looked cute in her outfit!

I've also run a few races recently. Mom and I ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, and the Jingle Bell Run last Friday night.

The last photos in this super long post are from last night. We went on a hayride to look at lights in Catherine's neighborhood. Matthew loved hanging out in the hay, and was thrilled with all the lights we saw. Caroline fell asleep in my arms about halfway through. She was a little shocked by the flash in the photos too :o)