Lakeland Christmas Parade

Family Martial Arts participated in the Lakeland Christmas Parade for the 2nd year in a row. We were part of the "team" of parents who helped put the float together and were then given the opportunity to ride. It was an exciting trip through Downtown Lakeland.

Our float won the JUDGES CHOICE award!! WooHoo!!! I think the biggest hit on the parade was Tommy using his Ipod to run our rather LOUD stereo system. "Crank Dat" by Souljah Boy was the hit of the parade. Every time we played it our entire float and all of the crowd started doing the dance. For those of you who know the song, seeing Colton doing "Superman" is just tooooo cute!!!!

First Day of School

Colton started Kindergarten this year. He was so ready and so excited. He had to wait a whole year because of his birthday being September 12th, he missed the cut off of 8/31 to go last year.

He goes to Sikes Elementary and his teacher is Mrs. McKenzie. I've been able to volunteer in his class a lot because of how flexible my job schedule is. It's been an adventure for sure!!

Black Belt....FINALLY!

After over 2 years of Tae Kwon Do, Colton finally got his Black Belt. It was soooooo exciting. He's the youngest one at our school. They had a huge graduation ceremony at George Jenkins High School on 11/3 and he received his certificate from the USCDKA officials on 11/17.

Much thanks to all our friends and Family at Family Martial Arts!!!

The Head Injury

Back in November we were woken up at 4am to the sound of a screaming child. Tommy ran in there and Colton kept saying his head hurt, but without his glasses Tommy could not see anything so he told him to come to me and I'd get him some Tylenol. Well he laid on my bed and I went to go get Tylenol, when I returned there was blood all over my pillow. I rolled him over and almost passed out. My child has a 3 inch hole in the back of his head and blood was all over. I starting screaming to Tommy. I won't lie, I was in total panic mode. We've been through broken bones and stitches so I thought I was a pro at going to the ER, but not when your child is laying there with a DEEP hole is his head and is completely oblivious to it. So we got our composure and headed to the Bartow Hospital ER (which by the way I was TOTALLY impressed with....no wait, nice doctor - in and out in a hurry and much closer for us South Lakeland people!!) Colton ended up with 5 staples and was a real trooper through the whole process. I was in the nurses station crying my eyes out for him. You protect your child from harm, then you hand them over to someone to stick needles in their head....it was more than I could bare. I am teary now just reliving it!! He was a war hero with the staples though. Everyone was fascinated by them. We came to the conclusion that he fell off his bed and hit his marble window sill in the middle of the night while dead asleep. Just a weird night all together and worthy of a Blog mention!!!!!!!

Ahhhhh Christmas...

........I'm personally glad it's over. Our tree and all decor were gone yesterday - thank goodness. When I'm done, I'm done and I was over the needless everywhere and all of my stuff out of place. It was fun while it lasted, but time to move on.

Here is a recap.....we went to our good friends the Horton's for Christmas Eve and got served the hugest most delicious steaks ever made. It was so nice to hang out and relax on Christmas Eve with no rushing around. Thanks Horton's!!!!!

Christmas Day we went to my mom's and had a great dinner and spent it with my step dad's family. It was really nice. Colton enjoys spending time with his 3 cousins - Lily, Patrick & Morgan.

Our new tradition this year......we do our "family" presents the morning of Christmas Eve and then Santa comes on Christmas morning. We thought it would spread the joy out a little longer and believe it or not it worked great. Colton played with all of his things from us all day Christmas Eve then he was ready to start over on Christmas Day with Santa's gifts. All he asked for this year was any and everything related to the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment for those of you not up on what little boys like!!). So, he got wrestlers and rings and more wrestlers and shirts and more wrestlers and a cool microphone that makes you sound like a ring announcer. He has announced himself to us for 2 days now, it's been interesting. We got the old faithful games and PJ's and some really cool Krinkle Blocks. He's rotten, but this year I was so proud. Not one time did he act spoiled!! He thanked everyone for all the gifts and was gracious. Whew......in this day and age when kids get whatever they want daily, Christmas is just another day to them. I am just as guilty as most with this issue. When I was a kid, it was HUGE!! I wasn't deprived, but I surely did not get a toy each and every time we went to a store like most kids (including mine....) do. So Merry Christmas and now we're heading to New Year's!!!

Christmas Motivation

Well, I've officially crossed over to the dark side and started a blog.....help me!! I actually got motivated by some good friends (Caprice, Tara & Barb - Muah!!) who are WAY busier than I am and manage to keep it updated and amusing, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Seems like this is a lot easier than sending emails and pictures each time something exciting happens and we all know that we're just FULL of excitement here in Price Land!!!!!! hahaha Those of you who know us well are still laughing at that comment.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride into our lives!!

PS - Lots of exciting things happened in 2007, so I'll update in reverse so you're not completely bored out of your minds because I have no idea what to expect in 2008!!!!!!!