Fernandez Family of Five: March 2012

Pioneer Day...

On Friday, March 2, Riley's 2nd grade had Pioneer Day. This is a big day where they dress up like a Pioneer, put on a play, recite a poem and sing "Cumberland Gap" for the parents and then they play Pioneer games and make Pioneer crafts the rest of the morning.

Our cute Pioneer...

Riley in her play...

Daddy giving Riley a fist pump for a job well done.

Riley made a Pioneer toy with some string and a button.

Snow Day 2012...

On Monday, February 20th we had our first and only snow of the winter. The girls were already out of school for President's Day so they did not miss a scheduled school day. Unfortunately, Tony had to go to work so he was not able to enjoy it with us. We got almost an inch of snow and it was great for making snowballs and snowmen. The temperature warmed up quickly so it did not last long. Since we knew it would melt quickly, the girls headed out at 8:30 am. A high school neighbor, Meghan, and her little brother, Mark, locked themselves out of their house so they came up to play with the girls. They played for a long time and then I had them come in for hot chocolate and to warm up. Then, they headed down to Meghan's house to play some more and was able to get into the house so they had lunch over there. They ended up playing the rest of the day at Meghan's and I finally had to call them home at 3:30. I got an amazing amount of house work done that day and decided it needs to snow more often. :)

We woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow.

Snowball fight...

I thought this bench looked neat with the snow on it.

Reece making a snow angel.

Reece just chillin' in the snow...

Riley's snow angel...

Later in the day, Regan made a miniature snowman out of the remaining snow on the side of our house. This was the only area of the yard that still had snow due to the shade.

Riley about to peg me with a snowball.

Reece making a snowball to throw at me.

Chick-fil-A Seminar 2012...

During the week of February 12 - 15 we enjoyed another great Chick-fil-A Seminar in Orlando, Florida (without kids)! Chick-fil-A Seminar is always a highlight for Tony and I each year because it is a time for us to get away together, to grow, to develop, to plan, to be refreshed and to be pampered. Chick-fil-A pays for everything and always treats us like royalty. This year they went above and beyond to make it a special week. We enjoyed great performers such as Martina McBride (a surprise concert we did not know about), Two Cellos (check them out on YouTube), Committed (an amazing acapello group that won on the show, "Sing Off"), and several other artists that were really good. We listened to great speakers such as Marcus Buckingham and Dr. Charles Carter and of course from Truett Cathy (founder of CFA), Dan Cathy (COO of CFA), Tim Tassopoulos (VP), and CFA marketing team all on the theme, "Building High Performance Leadership Teams." We also enjoyed a free afternoon at "Universal Studios" riding thrilling roller coasters. I learned that I can't handle roller coasters as easy as I used to, it was much more scary this time. It was a good time though and because I was brave enough to ride the rides, Tony agreed to dance with me at the Chick-fil-A Valentine's Dance. On Valentine's Night Chick-fil-A planned a very romantic dinner under the stars and then had dancing. There were 3 different dinner themes (Island Cuisine, Italian, and Surf n' Turf) and we just worked our way around to all of them, you could say we had a progressive dinner. We had all kinds of yummy foods like Shrimp, Lobster, Calzones, Steak, Jerk Chicken, Pork, Pasta and even tried some foods we had never had before such as Sushi. Then, we finished our meal off with a lot of yummy desserts. We were stuffed and then we headed to the dance floor. We watched people make fools of themselves most of the night and had a lot of great laughs. I was able to get Tony to dance a few dances with me and it was very romantic to slow dance under the stars and lights. It was a great Valentine's Date and we did not even have to pay for it. :) Another highlight of Seminar was Tony and I got to be on stage with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. We did not have to play an instrument, thank goodness. :) It was part of the final session of seminar and we were learning about leading your business from different perspectives. For example, the operator should not always lead from the front counter or kitchen but they should also sit in the dining room and observe/lead their employees from a customers perspective. So, the Orchestra Conductor led us in an hour long talk about leading from different seats and building a high performance leadership team. So, Tony and I were part of the 100 Chick-fil-A people that were chosen to sit amongst the Orchestra players and we were to evaluate different aspects of them working together, what we observed from our specific seats, determining who was leading in each instrument section, how they responded when their head leader (the conductor) was not present, etc. It was a really cool experience and we sat in the very front row, right under the conductor. I will never look at an Orchestra the same way again. During the week we also enjoyed running together, reading by the pool, being with friends and family (Joe and Abby), and eating great food. It was an amazing week and we are very thankful to my parents for keeping the kids so I could go with Tony. Next year seminar is a 5 day Cruise to the Bahamas!!!! This will be the first ever Chick-fil-A Seminar on a cruise ship and we are so excited!!!

Our plane was pretty small, thank goodness for a short flight.

Our beautiful hotel room...

One of the views from our room...

Here is the other view from our hotel window. This is also where the Valentine Dinner/Dance was held.

Our gorgeous hotel, the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort.

The front drive of the hotel.

The back entrance to the hotel.

This was a weird decoration made out of balloons.

Another weird balloon decoration that someone was in and moved around. Several of these hit the dance floor on Valentine's night.

This was a very special moment at seminar where all of Truett and Janette's kids got up on stage and surprised their parents with the news that Chick-fil-A Inc. is no longer in debt. As of Friday, Feb. 10th, Chick-fil-A is DEBT FREE!!! Not many large corporations can say that!!! The news received a loud, standing ovation. We are very honored to be part of this wonderful, Christian company!

Truett S. Cathy (founder of CFA) and his wife, Janette.

Here is one of the crazy roller coasters we rode at Universal Studios.

Here is a view out our hotel window of them setting up for the Valentine's Dinner/Dance.

Another view of them setting up for our special dinner/dance.

The dance floor.

Tony and I are in the front row underneath the conductor.

Daddy/Daughter Dance 2012...

On Saturday, February 11, Tony, Grandpa and the girls enjoyed going to the Daddy/Daughter Valentine dance at a local church. This is a special event that Tony and the girls attend each February and for the last 2 years it has worked out that my dad could go too because the dance was right before our Chick-fil-A seminar in which my parents would be keeping our girls. The girls wore Grandpa and Daddy out dancing the night away.

Reece getting ready for her big night with Daddy and Grandpa. I was rolling her hair and she got hold of a nail file and started filing her nails. Not sure how she even knew how to do this since I never file my nails.

The girls doing the Macarena.

Daddy/Daughter Date Night at Chick-fil-A...

On Monday, February 6, Tony's store had a Daddy/Daughter date night. Since Tony had to work the event, I took the girls up to the store so they could participate. Riley's Y Princess tribe met there for dinner and one of Regan's friends was there too. We had a fun night with friends and the girls enjoyed their time with daddy.

This is a picture of a picture, taken at Tony's store.

The girls and their friend, Emme, with the CFA cow.

Regan and Daddy having some time together.

This picture is blurry but I love the expressions on Riley's and Tony's faces.

Duke Games with Y Princesses...

On Sunday, January 22, Daddy and Riley went to a Duke women's basketball game with their Y Princess tribe. After the game they got to meet some of the players, got autographed t-shirts, played on the Duke practice court and got to pose on Duke's center court. On Monday, Feb. 2, our whole family was able to attend a Duke women's basketball game with Regan's Y Princess tribe. We did not get a tour this night but the girls got to pose with the Duke Blue Devil. After meeting Duke's mascot, Reece asked me, "Mommy is that what the real devil looks like?" Without missing a beat, Regan replied, "Reece, I don't think you want to find out!"