Fourth of July Celebration~Kennedy Park

I have gotten several emails from folks who are visiting this week asking about fireworks. They are held on Saturday at Kennedy Park in Edgewater, they start around 9pm. It is a full day of activities for the family, starting at 7:00am with a 5K run that starts at City Hall. They will dedicate the park at 9:00am and then entertainment, vendors and kids activities start at 4:00pm. Complete details can be found on here on the City of Edgewater website.

Happy Easter

Have a safe and Happy Easter!

St Patrick's Day Party on Flagler

The Merchants of Flagler will sponsor the 2nd annual St. Patrick's Day Party on Flagler this Tuesday, March 17th. The Om Bar will have free Corned Beef and Cabbage all day long, and there will be music, music, music at 10 different Flagler Ave Venues. A treasure hunt and traditional Irish food and drink will be featured. Should be fun for all so come on down to Flagler!

Happy Valentine's Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

If you are off Monday you can make Martin Luther King Jr. Day special. Make it a Day of Service. Here is a local opportunity to help the community and make yourself feel good.

The Pleasant Grove Church, which is located across from the Babe James Center is holding a breakfast and beach cleanup on Monday, January 19th. Breakfast will be served from 7:30am-8:30am. The March is at 8:45 and the beach cleanup is at 11:00 am at the Flagler Ave Beach Ramp. These are separate events you can attend one or both. So come on out and help clean up the beach, it should be a civilized temperature by 11:00am. You can get full information here.

Here is a list of our local Holiday closings:

• All city or town halls and government offices except in Holly Hill, Pierson, Ponce Inlet, Port Orange and South Daytona
• All public schools and offices
• Classes will be closed at all area colleges and universities.
• Clerk of the court and all courthouses
• Post offices and Banks - no mail delivery
• Waste Management is business as usual for garbage, trash, waste and recycling for all areas of New Smyrna Beach
• Edgewater garbage will not be picked up Monday. Monday's pickup is rescheduled for Tuesday. Tuesday's regular pickup is Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are normal pickup days. No change in recycling.
• No change in the Votran bus schedule
  

Happy New Year

The big night is upon us! New Year's Eve, the start of a 2009, although we don't get a "do-over" we do get to put last year away somewhere and start fresh. I was trying to think of something profound to say today but no surprise here I cannot think of anything.

So whatever you do tonight, enjoy it and be safe!

If you have a bored child have them click on the sky above the city to the left, fireworks complete with sound, it has been amusing my daughter for hours...well, minutes anyway!

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas

For the past several weeks we have been attending & greatly enjoying Edgewater Alliance Church, during one of our first visits we had the pleasure of hearing this wonderful singer perform "Let There Be Light". His name is Voltaire Andrews and he is incredible. Tonight at the Christmas Eve Service he performed again. So thru the magical power of Google, when I got home this evening I found him and some of his music. Have a listen and Merry Christmas!




Voltaire Music On YouTube

Voltaire Music Website

Christmas Stuff For Kids

Here are a few fun things to occupy the happy children on Christmas Eve!

Track Santa Here

Is your Child Naughty or Nice?

Match the Dogs

Christmas Stuff For Little Kids

The Claus Chronicles - Great blog by Santa!

Merry Christmas!

White Christmas

We won't have one here, but many of our friends in the north are. This is one of my favorites!

Christmas Eve Services

Here is a list of the Christmas Eve services we have gathered if your church is not on here and you wish to be added please email me or leave a comment:

First Presbyterian Church~509 Magnolia St, NSB-7pm

Crossroads Christian Church~248 N. Samsula Dr, NSB-6pm

Trinity Lutheran~485 Turnbull Bay Rd, NSB-4pm & 7PM

Edgewater Alliance~310 N Ridgewood, Edgewater, FL-5pm & 7pm

Edgewater United Methodist~211 N. Ridgewood, Edgewater, FL-5pm & 7pm & 11pm

Coronado United Methodist Church~Peninsula Dr, NSB-11pm

I know there are many more great Christmas services in our area, these are the ones I have been asked to post or ones I am personally familiar with. If you are new to the area I am sure one of these will work for you. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

I Am Scrooge

This will be my one and only "Bah Humbug" post of the season. I have read these posts about doing more with less. I totally agree, my problem is doing more or less with nothing. It has been a tough year in recruiting and working at home in general. I am thankful I do not have to spend money on gas and clothes and after school care but it is nice to have a job with a consistent salary. My children have had to worry about too many adult things this year, 9 & 11 year olds should not be worrying about how Mom is going to pay the electric bill, but they do. Now it is Christmas time and I am sitting here trying to figure out how to get them something that they want. My son has talked about an iPod Touch since September, not happening, my daughter is more worried about if I can take her shopping to get something for Grandma, Grandpa and her Uncles. She has not asked for one single thing, I did hear her tell her brother she would like a game for her Wii. This is the very first year we have not done Christmas Cards, goodies, teacher presents all that stuff. I think there are alot of people in the same boat we are and I know this year especially we have plenty to be thankful for. I just had to take a break from all the Holiday Cheer to feel sorry for myself and my kids for a minute. I am done now.

Art Walk on Flager

This weekend will be the last Art Walk of the year sponsored by The Gallery Group.


This Christmas themed event will feature area artists and vendors, food and entertainment. It will run from 10am-5pm. Jazz It Up Flagler will be held from 5pm-7pm and Bike Night from 5pm-9pm. That should cover just about everyone!

Coronado Elementary Christmas

The Coronado Christmas concert was tonight, it was standing room only. The chorus which my daughter participates in did several songs, the first and second grade also performed, the Kindergarten classes dressed up as angels and sang. They even had little wings and halos on...adorable. Anita Wright, who is the music teacher and also happens to be teacher of the year did a great job with the children. I was amazed. She made a comment at the end.....she asked all the parents to stop and take a moment and look and appreciate their children, they will never be this age again and basically said you better enjoy them while you can.

Fantastic job Coronado teachers and students!

Christmas Parade

We went to the Christmas Parade today on Flagler. It was fun and there was so much to see. Here you go:



Then we had the red hat ladies:


Our favorite trash guys:


Probably the most important:


But where else but here would you see this:


We also hit the boat parade this evening, it was really too dark to get many good pictures, but here is some so you can get the idea.

Both events were very nice and managed to get me cheery enough to put up the tree when we got home!

The annual Christmas Parade will begin at the Flagler Ave. parking lot at 4pm on Saturday the 6th and will travel west along Flagler Avenue and the North Causeway, south on Riverside Drive and will turn west on Canal Street and will end at Orange Street. As soon as the Flagler parade is over the Boat Parade will begin!

Boat Parade

The 21st Annual Holiday Boat Parade is this Saturday. The parade of brilliantly decorated boats begins at approximately 6:00 p.m. Boats will line up at Marker 53 in Edgewater at 5:45 and travel north to the North Causeway in New Smyrna Beach.

Light Up Flagler

The Merchants of Flagler Avenue will once again host Light Up Flagler this Friday, many of the Flagler Avenue merchants will be holding an open house at their place of business, serving refreshments, and many will be decorated for the season. There will be live entertainment on the avenue, including Coronado Methodist Chancel Choir Singers, Indian River Chorus, Read-Pattillo Chorus, Chisholm Chorus, Alaia & Company, NSB High School Jazz Ensemble, Marine Discovery Center Carolers and strollers from the Little Theatre of NSB. There will also be demonstrations by Yvette Harley Dancers, American Martial Arts, Terri's Twirling Tornadoes, the Black Belt Academy and Cheer Team and flameworkers at Galleria di Vetro.The Dream-A-Wish Foundation, with Santa and his sleigh, will be at the corner of Flagler and Cooper. Santa will be giving rides up and down the avenue for a donation.Flagler Avenue will be closed to vehicular traffic from Peninsula Avenue to Atlantic Avenue (just west of the Beacon Restaurant) from 5-8 p.m.

We went last year and it is a very nice event! If you don't get enough lights on Flagler go to Christmas Lights City and check out their lights.

Crossroads Christian Church Puppet Fun

Start the Christmas season with some great Christian fun for the kids at Crossroads Christian Church - "His Hands" Puppet Team Christmas Show - featuring all the kids favorite Veggie-Tale Christmas Songs, Professor Puppet and much more Christmas fun. Hot Chocolate and cookies will be served. The best part is it is free!!!

Do You Elf?

Elf On The Shelf that is...a few years ago I received Elf On The Shelf for my children. The premise is this elf arrives at your house on Thanksgiving to watch everyone and report back to Santa about good and bad behavior. The elf moves from place to place around the house while everyone is sleeping. The set comes with a book that tells the story and they can name their elf. Our elf is named Buddy, here he is hiding in the flowers

My kids decided last year that Mom was the one that was moving Buddy around from place to place, however I will not admit this and Buddy continues to prance about our house while we sleep. You can purchase the set here. It is great for small children, we have had many years of fun and even though mine are 9 and 11 I still have a great time torturing them by believing in our "Buddy".

Blinking Lights

Why do kids love blinking lights? My two are so excited about Christmas they want all the decorations up RIGHT NOW! So we made a "deal" we would decorate outside this weekend and inside next weekend.

So, we put up all sorts of lights on the house, in the bushes, in the trees...hundreds of lights. They have these little controls on them so you can make them blink, chase, fade in and out....you know...the used car lot look.....so I set them all to stay on all the time with no funny stuff.

So I have been wracking my tiny brain as to why every time I go outside they are all doing something different. One string is blinking, one is chasing, one is playing a freakin song.....I fix it and come back later and they are at it again. So, I say to myself, "self, someone is messing with me." So I ask those two innocent Christmas angels:

"Hey guys, why are the lights blinking?"

Boy child: "What lights, Mom?"
Girl child: "Maybe the power is flickering" (insert snicker)

So before we go any further with this, just read those replies again...so typical..the boy denying any knowledge whatsoever that there are even lights present, let alone that he would have an clue as to why they might be blinking. The girl coming up with what might normally be a plausible explanation if it were not so RIDICULOUS!!!!!

So in conclusion, I went out and turned out the lights, giving up the blinking battle for today....I just walked by the window...the lights are back on, and yes, they are blinking. I will never win.