It has been a little busy around here so I am going to try to catch you up quickly.  I took tons of pictures but I'll only post a few.  One of my numerous resolutions is to do a better job keeping my blog updated! 

Christmas 2012
Greta gave Blossom a roll of toilet paper for her first Christmas as part of our family:

I told Daniel to smile and this is what I got:

Daniel loves to open presents now.  He helped everyone open their gifts.

Daniel got the "car-helicopter" that he had been asking for.  The actual name is the Ice Hogs Air Assault Helicopter.  The toy isn't exactly age appropriate so he'll have to play with it under the supervision of his daddy.  The unexpected part of this toy was that Laura loved the helicopter just as much, if not more, than Daniel.  I wish that you could have seen her face when it was flying around. 

I was under strict orders not to photograph Rana so you don't see her in the photo of my Dad...

Again, I asked Daniel to smile in this photo with Nana:

My beautiful mom.

OK....I'm skipping ahead.  Scott's mom & Andy came to visit us for several days and brought their 2 chocolate labs, Eclair and Rogan, with them.  Blossom had a blast.  Here are some pictures of the canines having fun:

 Happy New Year! 

Happy Birthday Christel

After visiting our family for 8 months, our beautiful Christel has gone back home to Marseille, France.  We didn't want her to go...we'd all like to adopt her and have her stay with us forever.  Christel is Rana's neice, her sister Yolla's daughter.  

Christel turned 23 on 12/12/12!  We couldn't let the day go by without a party!

Christel's cake.  It was a "Hello Kitty" cake.  (VERY TASTY!)

Daniel loves Christel.  He said she is his "favorite".

 

Laura loves Christel too.  I wish I had gotten a better picture of the two of them together. 

The kids were both sick that night and it was all we could do to keep Daniel from helping Christel blow out the candles.  He tried!  With Aunt Julie's germ phobia, I would not have been able to eat any of the really awesome cake.  

Rana didn't want her picture taken so that's the only one I have of her.  I didn't realize that I didn't get any of Kevin.  :-(  He was busy taking pictures with both my camera and his.  Did I tell you the cake was awesome? 

 Scott & me:

Mom & Dad:

A very happy boy:

Come back soon Christel.  We miss you and we love you!

Life With Blossom

Wow.  I knew I was behind on my blog but I didn't realize how behind!  I have quite a few things to catch you up on but that will have to wait (hopefully I'll do it this weekend!).  In the meantime, enjoy these pictures. 

This is what I came home to yesterday.  This is a typical day in our life with Blossom.  Don't worry, the shoe in the front of the picture is hers now.  She started chewing that one the week we adopted her. 

This morning....BUSTED!

Star Wars Hockey Night Cont.

I had not planned on continuing this post but the Checkers' posted a bunch of photos, from the game Saturday night, to their Facebook page.  I thought I'd share a few...

Blogger is shrinking the photos so if you want to see Yours Truly (and who wouldn't), click on the photo to make it bigger.  I've added a yellow arrow to help you out....Ha! 

Be sure and look to the right of me and you will see more proof that Scott did actually go to a hockey game!

OK...time for random photos from my phone.  Let's start with my perfect niece, Laura:

Laura's teachers say that she is doing great in school this year.  I also hear that she is loving horse therapy!  Here are a few of my brother's dog (the family dog), Sophie:

 

Sophie is doing well following her most recent surgery.  She survived 2 weeks of the "cone".  

Daniel is playing with Sophie:

And, finally, I bought some snacks for Blossom:

Star Wars Hockey Night

Saturday, Scott went to his first (and probably only) hockey game.  It just so happened to be Star Wars night at the Checkers game.  This isn't the most flattering picture of either one of us, but it is proof that he was there.  

 

The Checkers' did a wonderful job putting together Star Wars night. A great time was had by all.  Not only were many of the fans dressed up as their favorite characters, but Obi Wan "Chubby" danced a tribute alongside of the Checkmates.  There were plenty of video montages to watch or you could get your picture made with any number of characters from the movies.  Here's a short video of some of the players giving their Star Wars impressions... (It's not pretty.)

But, the best moment of the night for me was when Jerome Samson finally put the beat down on Martin St. Pierre after St. Pierre had been chirping at him the whole night.  This was only Jerome's 2nd fight in over 300 games if that tells you how irritated Samson was.  Yes, I am one of the fans ringing a cowbell.  :-)  

I don't know that Scott will be going to anymore hockey games anytime soon but we had a great night out.  The ACC championship was also in town at Panthers Stadium which unfortunately meant that the Blue Line was PACKED coming to and from the game.  I'm sure the Florida State/Georgia Tech fans were wondering why there were so many hockey fans on the train.  Especially the ones dressed as Star Wars characters!!!

Outdoor Fun

Blossom and I have been enjoying the 70 degree weather.  Saturday we spent some time at the greenway...