Fundraiser for Orphans - Giving

Check out a wonderful give away and fund raiser for orphans which has begun.
Here's some of the information:
The more people who know about it, the more money will be raised for these very special children… and that’s a very good thing! If you’d like to help us in this effort and to keep in the spirit of “giving” this holiday season, read on – there just might be something special in it for you, too!

For a chance to win the item featured that day, all you need to do is leave a comment on that post and then click a button to donate $5 to the organization that we each represent: Lisa for Half The Sky, Diana for Pearl River Outreach and Stefanie for An Orphan’s Wish. Your donation will go directly to the charity featured, and we will be notified of all donations made. For every $5 donation you make, you will be entered to win the item posted.

Daily Dose of AA - Fall Neighborhood Walk

We took a stroll the day before Thanksgiving while waiting for Nana and Grandpa Morgan to arrive. It was a beautiful day and we gathered a few leaves and pine-cones.

Hope everyone had a special Thanksgiving Day yesterday; we are celebrating today with family and friends.

Homestead Trip - Part #3 - Race Photos

We had fun at the last race of the NASCAR season. Here are a few of our pictures to remember the day!
Before the race began, we found former Mainers, Pam and Hubby (now live near St. Louis). My Mom read about their planned trip to the race and so we met at the track!

AA with her "no picture taking now!" sign language!

Rain delay:
Sleepy head rested for about ten minutes:

Carl Edwards was in first place most of the race, except where it counted, the last lap!
Some of these pictures are out of order - Darrel Waltrip was introduced (he's a NASCAR Hall of Famer).... Booggitty, Booggitty, let's go racing!
Carl Edwards getting the points leader flag for this race:
Let's go racing!
Lots more pictures from before the race:
It was very warm out (about 85 degrees) so took off AA's Carl Edwards t-shirt for awhile:

Infield pre-race stage:
Driver introductions:
Speed Channel Trackside show:
Once arriving at the Homestead race track, we saw the huge Ford car dealer displays - so many things to do and some free giveaways:

New headphones to block out the engine noise, so glad we bought them for AA as it was LOUD!!

Had a blast! Now to plan a trip to a different track in 2012!

Trip to Homestead (Part 2) Day #1 - Eggrolls and Chopsticks

Day #1 continued - We love meeting up with long time blog friends and were so happy to have everything work out for a visit with the Cope family at their favorite Italian restaurant, Nunzio's in Miami.
We so enjoyed seeing Lily, Rosie and Alyzabeth get to know each other, talking, laughing and near the end of the visit, playing rambunctiously together. What a beautiful family. We need to plan regular Florida blog friend get togethers.

Meeting up with long time blogger (Eggrolls and Chopsticks) was a treat, especially when Lily was such a good friend to Alyzabeth, engaging her in conversations and then lots of laughs:

Daddy Cope with youngest daughter, Rosie (five months younger than AA):

The girls at the dinner table:

Lily was in a math competition this same afternoon and won first place!
Outside as we were leaving the restaurant, I had to photograph these precious girls again. To say Alyzabeth was completely spell-bound and adored Lily would be a major understatement! Watching the three of them chasing and playing with each other outside the restaurant was to witness pure joy... Kids and parents alike :)

So many smiles and hopefully more in the future.

Race Weekend - Day #1

First - guess who won the NASCAR Sprint championship? We are so sad, it was such a bummer to come so close to a win and the season championship for Carl Edwards; which was not to be, so sad for the Carl Edward fans. Congratulations to Tony Stewart and his fans and sponsors, he proved to be the best driver winning five of the ten Chase races.

We did have an exciting race weekend even though our driver lost (second place is still being a loser - boo!), this was our first race in over four years! On Friday afternoon, we drove to Okeechobee first and stayed at Nana Joy and Grandpa's home (a B&B experience!). We always have a good visit, a good night sleep and a huge breakfast anytime we visit.
A photo right before we left for Homestead on Saturday morning:

Arriving at the race track - the towers/center of the race track as we approached it from the parking lot (free general parking - yahoo!):

At the Carl Edwards' souvenir trailer - we were looking for a child's ball cap, all sold out!

We did not buy tickets for the Nationwide race so strolled around, shopped and enjoyed the noise of the cars qualifying in the background. It was very windy, but sunny and warm - I think about 82 degrees as the (our) excitement built before the big race Sunday.

Ramblings from November 2011

We are at the last NASCAR race today and as such I have put together a general post to catch up on some family news from November and included some pictures from the past few weeks.

We went to see and listen to our son-in-law's father play in his band, it was beach-side and a bit cool that evening. Grand Dylan wanted to hug her Grandpa while he was playing, she's so adorable!

AA debating about waking up; she would just as soon sit on our bed and cuddle on cool mornings, sipping her warmed chocolate soy milk (along with her trusty sidekick Elmo...)

We attended a birthday party for one of AA's school mates, which was for all three brothers in the family! AA saw her first pinata and even though it was broken open before she had a swing at it, she was wildly impressed and scored two handfuls of candy!! :)

The party was at a neighborhood playground so lots of running around and checking out the new toy backhoe. The family had lots of food, a large bouncy house and a hot dog stand - steamed cooked hotdogs with all the toppings!

The birthday boys (3) and parents:

We spent an afternoon at Nicole & Jordan's baking bread. Jordan, the future Daddy-to-be, was so good with the three girls. He baked cookies for them and was part of the singing and dancing entertainment!

Granddaughter Dylan looking a little guilty as she plays with the phone:

The finished bread:

We had one unpleasant event this month - one of our toilet tanks cracked, spilling water (clean, well water) all over the bathroom and the hallway which has wooden floors. Thankfully, it happened about an hour before we were up that morning so with a quick shut off of the source, and lots of towels, wet vacuuming by Hubby and lots of fans and blowers, all was dried. We survived! Just thinking of replacing all the flooring was making us sick, but after consulting with the pros, all is good. Whew!

Hope you are having a wonderful week preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday! We are so thankful for our family and friends!

Who Will it Be? Stewart or Edwards?

Time for some smack talk!! We can't wait to see our favorite drive, Carl Edwards, win the championship! Or will it be Stewart?


(Update: Now that the race is over, I will post the results here - Tony Stewart won the race and the championship. It was the only time in NASCAR history that the points were tied and the tie breaker was number of races won, which Tony won five of the ten Chase races. Congrats to all the Tony fans! Now we have to wait until February 2012 to start over...... I know Carl will be in it to go for the Championship again)

Local - Biscotti's - Favorite Photo Friday - Best Shot!

We stopped by our favorite local restaurant, Biscotti's (well, one of them, there are so many local favorites!) to celebrate Hubby's birthday. No family party this year, so as a treat, he selected this restaurant which is famous for their desserts. Two slices of their decadent cakes and we were more than satisfied! We took home half and enjoyed it the next day!
Of course the adults enjoyed a glass of wine with it!

Cheers to our family!

Here's my favorite and best shot of little daughter:

Another beautiful day!
Enjoy making the rounds to many great blogs!

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli