My Running Partner

Megan had heard about the Reindeer Run - which is a 5K at Seaworld to benefit the Florida Hospital for Children Bone Marrow Transplant Unit.  So I invited her to come along with me, since I had plans to run it.  But first, she had to do a practice run with me to see if she could handle it. So off to Crane's Roost we went to knock out a quick 3 miles. 

We ended up doing some Jeff Galloway style intervals with about a 2:1 run:walk.  That is, until we got distracted by the giant tree and other holiday decorations.

She's such a funny, sweet, sassy girl.  It was a good run and I'm amazingly proud of how well she kept up. 

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I came home from work one December morning to find that Keith has been wearing my sleep mask.  So, naturally, I sicked the ferocious attack-dog on him.  Clearly, we have to do more training on what attack actually means.

Remember Megan getting her chores done by squeegeeing the windows?  Don't they look fabulous?  We waited until she was in bed before we re-cleaned the windows. 

Keith outside working on a system to get the Christmas lights to stay up.  

Keith got new lights for the front of the house when he picked up the lights for the roof. 

The trees in front of our house obscure the view just a little bit, but I think he did an excellent job.  I loved the glow of the lights and wish we could keep them up all year long.  We are considering building a pergola and adding LED lights to it sometime this summer. 

Daniel (and Keith) love Mo Willems books.  I couldn't resist ordering this one for Daniel when I ordered my textbooks for the fall.  I held onto it and wrapped it up for Christmas.  Daniel loved it!!

Tough girl Megan playing catch with her brother. 

Joshua thinks he might try out for football this fall.  

How cute is he with no front teeth?

It's not December around here if we don't have some sort of Lego Advent Calendar by the front door.  This keeps everyone occupied (distracted) while we are corralling our herd to get out the door. 

Each day a different box gets opened to reveal one more piece of the play set.  So fun!

Megan loves to look at the size of her foot from her first Christmas.  I am so appreciative of the caring person who made this from the Child Development Center in Kodiak, Alaska.  That small afternoon craft has given us such a sweet moment in time.

Our tree.  To us, it's perfect, and has so many great memories.  Every year, we consider getting a new one because it's such a pain to store an artificial tree for 11 months out of the year.  And every year, we get all sentimental and say we'll hang onto it for another year. 

Guess who doesn't like when the temperature is below 70 degrees?  Girl's gotta have style when she's cold. 

These two crack me up.  See how close Joshua has to get to Megan because she's not that far of a thrower. I appreciate how gentle he is with her. 

Keith's parents gave us this ornament back when we bought out first house in Alaska.  A few months ago I ran across something really cool that I'm working on to commemorate our Florida house. 

Thanksgiving 2012

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Keith's parents' house a few blocks over.  It was a little confusing at first because I had set the kids out nice clothes to wear since we were going to be visiting with Keith's sister, Ami and her family.  Then about an hour before we were due to leave, Keith's dad calls and asks something about basketballs and going to the park.  Now the kids weren't dressed in church clothes, but they also weren't dressed in park clothes, so we shuffled around and got everyone changed into a good mix where they could still be in play clothes, but not look like little ruffians.  Sometimes I think folks who aren't living "in the thick of it" so to speak, have no idea the amount of prep that goes into getting 3 kids out the door.  I'm all about going to the park, or any other outdoor activity, but I think the breakdown in communication frustrated me because I had spent my evening before making sure everyone had clean and ironed clothes to wear instead of studying for school like I needed to be.  

After some wardrobe changes for the kids, and setting out clothes for me to wear later that night for work, we were out the door and on our way!

Daniel helping to get the food on the table. 

Actually, I think he was checking every thing out as he was putting it on the table. 

Sweet Megan waiting on everyone else to join her at the table.  She's no fool, she knows that when Grandma says lunch is ready to get moving because there is probably something delicious on the table. 

Joshua and Nicholas playing chess together. 

The whole group, minus Grandpa.

It was a great dinner and really fun company.  It was nice to visit with Ami and her family.  Ashley did not join us, as she is now expecting and decided to stay in Atlanta.

A Little of This and That from November

 Every once in a while the stars align and Keith and I can go out on a "date" during the day.  But wait, you say, isn't he a SAHD?  Yes, but there's a lot of work that must be done and we can't just party all day every day.  However, when a new James Bond movie comes out, one must make exceptions. 

Not only did we go see Starfall - which was an excellent movie.  But we ate at Five Guys.  I had never been there before and it's a rare occasion that I'll eat a hamburger, but it was really good.  

Music is a daily thing at our house.  

Daddy and Daniel with a little dueling guitars in the kitchen. 

 Have I mentioned lately just how spoiled our dog is?  

Me: Daniel, does your outfit match?

Daniel: yes, the frog is on a green leaf, and the trees on my shorts have green leaves.

Me:  good enough for me.

Joshua's biography project.  He learned how the Wright Brothers learned about wind from flying kites. 

A chilly morning meant a trip to get hot chocolate and bagels. 

My sweet boy and his new bathrobe. 

We've been creating our own salad buffet for dinner some night with a mix of different salad toppings.  The kids have gotten into it, and it's a lot of fun. 

Megan, getting her chores done. 

The inside view of my window washer. 

He's one cool dude. 

Veteran's Day Program 2012

Every year, the school puts on a spectacular Veteran's Day program.  

The stilt-walker is pretty funny dancing and grooving to the music. 

In the picture above, Joshua is wearing a grey Patriots shirt and a navy blue hat. 

Francis the Eagle making an annual visit. 

Daniel's class singing about America. 

Even the high school kids from across the way get in on the program.  The band and cheerleaders and dance team performed.