Gasparilla

This is the first year in 10 that I haven’t attended the famed Gasparilla parade on Tampa Bay. In years past, it would be a day that I would start drinking “pirate juice” (aka vodka with a splash of whatever I could find), by 10am, only to stumble home with many beads and very slurred speech by midnight.

For those that don’t know, the name of Tampa's traditional Gasparilla parade comes from legendary pirate Jose Gaspar, "last of the Buccaneers," who terrorized the coastal waters of West Florida during the late 18th and early 19th century. I can’t think of a better reason to celebrate with friends, can you?

But this is the first year that I did not feel compelled to get out there and mingle with the hundreds of Pirates from Ye Mystic Krewe and thousands of other folks needing an excuse to drink all day. Instead, I stayed home with the girls and we had Sara, Bella and Laney over for crafts and other fun. It was so wonderful and I’m sure tomorrow when I feel good with no hangover I will have a great Sunday too.

The girls are just starting to carry on long conversations and I keep grabbing for my video camera to capture it. Today I was listening in as they were passing something back and forth to each other and the conversation went like this, “here you go”, “thanks”, “you’re welcome”, “let me have that back”, “ok”, “thanks”, “you’re welcome”, “I want that”, “ok, here”, “thanks”. Such manners! As a first time parent, listening to my kids interact and discuss things amongst themselves is just amazing to me, so enjoyable and much better than Gasparilla ever could be. Shiver me timbers!

Coonskin cap wearing twins

Today I got up, stretched, took the air into my lungs, had a bowl of puffed rice cereal with blueberries,………OMG kidding! I actually started this Blog to document stories about the kids and moments that I don’t want to forget throughout the year and for which I am grateful.

Some "moments" that quickly come to mind include: the time the girls decided to change each others poopie diapers with no adult assistance, or the time I found them in the kitchen with garbage everywhere and pots/pans lying about at 4:30am. When I walked into the room they gave me the most inviting smiles I’ve ever seen. Or just recently, when I was scolding Lillian for not going upstairs with her dad to take a bath with Emi and she said, "um, um, um, Mom, um, um, I Love You, Mom." Good stuff!

I thought this would be a great way to keep my friends and family updated on the happenings of our lives and at the end of each year I plan to turn my Blog into a book for Emily and Lillian. I hope it turns out to be enjoyable for everyone, I welcome any feedback/comments along the way.

My New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year!
I have 3 New Years Resolutions for 2010 as listed below:

1. Exercise Routine (as in routinely, regularly, you get the idea).

2. Blog to Book: Start a blog for my family/friends and make it into a book for each of my girls every year.

3. Get a breakfast nook country farm table and update my kitchen.

I'm well on my way! I have exercised twice this week so far, taking 40 min walks around lunch time. I attempted 5 fartleks (I just love using that word) on Tues and I was not able to exercise on Wed as a result of barely being able to walk. I walked again today, sans fartleks (hee hee, I said it again), so it's practically a habit for me now!

I also purchased a Nikon SLR camera to take amazing pics to post on my Blog, which I just created today. So, as you can see, I'm well ahead of my self-imposed curve and off to a great start in 2010. Let's see where I am in 6 months!