Good Morning

What a perfect morning. The last few weeks have been really difficult for me. Yesterday I started to "feel" like myself again. We had my favorite breakfast, sausage, homemade pancakes and lots of maple syrup! Yum. Then set out for our morning walk to Naomi's school. The Lord has finally blessed us and it was cool out. 71 degrees is cool to me these days. It was close to 90 yesterday:) So as Rachel, Gabriel and I are walking back home we make a pit stop for sneakers and a hoodie for Rachel. We head down to the Manatee River at the end of our street. We meet a few dog walkers and just enjoy the cool breeze. Rachel and I loooove to just sit at the water and watch. She sees something sticking out of the water.

Hmmm.

Was that a fish?

NOOOOO it was MUCH bigger.

We must have come across a family of Manatee. 4 to be exact. It was so much fun. They breathe air and so they must come up every little while to breathe. I bet we stayed for 45 minutes just watching and laughing and of course praying:) We ask for them to come closer and we thanked the Lord for sending such and amazing creature.

I only had my phone and the camera is poor quality and they are really fast!

Side note: Today is Popa Boats birthday. "Happy Birthday, Popa!" We called him and he came over on the way to a Dr.'s appt. He has only seen one Manatee at a time and they are very few and far between. We really feel like we were blessed by the Creator today.

First Day of School

My sweet Naomi started pre-k today. 9-12 at the little church down the street from our house. It was a day of mixed emotions. Naomi woke up crying that she did not want to go !! After some oatmeal and hugging we were back on for school.

The whole gang(minus marcus) walked to school. It took 5 minutes.




Naomi's teachers, Miss Jeannie and Miss Emily are great.
After just a few minutes Naomi was off playing.


Naomi, Miss Jeannie and that is Paige in the background!




Rachel and I didn't really know what to do with ourselves. We studied our school work, played with bubba, played monopoly. I did a load of laudry and then it was time to retrieve my Naomi. She had a great time complete with a new best friend, Paige!!

"Mommy, they even have dress up." Naomi is posing in the dress up area of her new class.


This is the super cool playground. The school rooms surround this playground.

Rachel on a cool whirly thing.



Sister.

We had a little lunch and then had to go to the Health Dept. for a physical. It was a busy day! Naomi had to get a finger prick. IT REALLY HURT! Poor thing, We had to get frosty's since she was such a good girl. What a wonderful family I have!!!!!

Hope everyone else has a good back to school experience. I didn't even shed tears. Hmmm, maybe tomorrow:)

I love oatmeal

Gabriel LOOOOVES oatmeal. He is asking for more with his words and his hands:) He has adapted to using his claps for more.

He is just so cute I had to do two videos!

He will be 1 on the 25th. Where did the months go?

The not so new HOUSE TOUR!

Marcus and I agree that this is our favorite house. Lots of space. Hope you enjoy. I am purposefully drawing your attention to the things in the background otherwise you would be sidetracked with our cute faces:)

My eating/schooling table. Notice my white board in the upper left corner.

Flowers are just for you added enjoyment.

There is also a map and timeline on the back wall.

Our living room. The girls are having a nice little tea party.
There are lots of windows.

Naomi feeds Gabriel a bottle for the first time.

Still in the living room.

Marcus and the girls have "real" snorkel masks.
Here G is having a turn.

Now daddys turn.

Notice we are in my bedroom.

Here is my bathroom.

Butterflies added for my enjoyment.

Gabriel in my bathtub with the girls toys.

He sits in here while I get ready some mornings

The girls room. Rachel enjoying some snuggle time with Gabriel and her DS.


The girls new quilts. They are reversible and pink.




Rachel's top bunk.

Decorations by Rach.



Naomi on her head.
Enough said.



Gabriel now claps his hands, sticks out his tongue, and waves:)
Here is his room.



This is our computer room which is attached to the kitchen.
The door leads to the linai. The tree in the window is full of mangos.


Linai--Texas translation, screened in porch usually in the back of your house.
We use ours for crafts and kitchen play.


My favorite room in the house:) Beautiful, roomy, lovely kitchen.
Since I spend so much time here it is nice to enjoy it!!!
We even have shelves that don't have anything on them.
Did I mention I love this room.

Back to the right is the laundry room.
Directly behind "the boys" is the door to the garage!

Gabriel in the garage in his cute overalls.

Our dinghy, and the back half of our 2 car garage.
The girls enjoy singing and playing the piano. Also a "workshop" for Marcus!


Just down the street a few blocks is the Manatee River. Marcus rigged a dolly ( roller skates + 2x6 ) to drag the dinghy. This is the families first attempt. G and I watched from the car!

Soccer

Rachel finished her first season of soccer. We really enjoyed it as a family. I have never played or really watched soccer. So this is all new to me ( and Rachel). Marcus has spent most of his younger life eating and breathing soccer. It is fun to see that Rachel has some of her Daddys talent. It takes a little time to just figure out the game--basketball use hands soccer --don't use hands. We enjoyed 8 weeks of Tue. night practice and Sat. morning games. Popa usually showed up to the games. There was a playground for Naomi to play on when she was bored. Also a concession stand to get 50 cent snow cones. Obviously at 10 in the morning it is necessary for the Bonhams to have a snow cone(sugar rush) to celebrate EACH game. Marcus as always loves grape. The girls would changed their preference often( probably because they new if they picked grape they had to pay a daddy tax). Isn't parenting GREAT!!!!

March

What a month. Thought I would hit some of the highlights of the last month.

Tea party for our webkinz.

Rachel started upward soccer! Go Seminoles. She has really improved over the last few weeks. We (Marcus and I ) are trying to stay calm during the games. My favorite quote : Marcus shouts , " ATTACK!". All the other parents smiled and snickered. I guess that is an acceptable explicative in soccer. I will have to trust him on this one. Basketball was my thing.


Grandma Judy and Poopa Came to visit. We visited the big D !

Mickeys House

We also visited the beach.

Amy's favorite new place to eat greasy hamburgers! 5 Guys and Fries

G's first Cheerios!!

That's my girl

The whole Gang

And of course we MOVED again. How blessed we are to have such wonderful family!!!!

Gabriel has teeth!

Seven and counting.

Disney

When you wish upon a star

Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires

Will come to you

We had a big time at Disney World. It was a little hot and a little crowded but the girls didn't seem to mind. I am sure we all have our "favorites". Here are mine :

The trip over on the ferry was very exciting. One of our first glimpses of Cinderella's Castle.

You just have to take a pic with the Mickey flowers!

Our first ride The Teacups

We also rode Peter pan, Dumbo and a roller coaster. Not Space Mountain, that will have to wait for another time.


Naomi actually did a little dance in front of Minnies house. She was so excited. It was really cute and pink.







My FAVORITE, FAVORITE, FAVORITE was getting to go with Naomi to meet the princesssssss? Aurora, Cinderella and Belle


She was a little let down that there were only 3. "Where were the rest?"
We waited in line for an hour. (The best hour just Naomi and I and a hundred or so of our closest strangers ***airconditioned**)
Rachel decided she would rather ride a roller coaster with Grandma.

And then of course the Parade and Fireworks . Dad, I agree, the best fireworks I have ever seen. Naomi was up on Poopah shoulders for the parade. She would get sooooo excited and sceam out whoever was coming. "HERE COMES MINNIE!!" "Oh, CINDERELLA" "THE GENIE!". Too cute. Also Tink lighting the fireworks was a big hit.

THANK YOU Pooah and Grandma for making all our dreams come true:)