The Running of the Seahorses...

Last month Cole's school had their annual Running of the Seahorses event.  It's a run on the beach and it's their biggest fundraiser of the year.  I love it because it's a fun, family friendly event that doesn't require me to sell crap to people.  Mimi & Papa as well as Aunt Ali and Will came out to show their support.  The kids all did awesome and Kiley even took 2nd place in the pre-k age category.  She was so very excited when they called her name.

Christmas at Mimi & Papa's House...

Later Christmas day we went to Mimi & Papa's house to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. We started off with the quickest family pictures I've ever taken.  Seriously, like 3 minutes… and 2 of that was setting up the tripod.  Then it was gifts and presents and fun!

Love the picture of the 3 kids.

Miami...

The past week the kids and I have been visiting family down in Miami.  There has been lots of swimming (at the best swim school on the planet) and plenty of playing in the yard, shopping, and a few beach visits.

Here are the kids with their swimming ribbons on the last day of class.

Visiting Homestead Beach.  The swimming area was actually closed because there was a crocodile in the swimming area.  

Christmas Eve...

I just realized that I never posted a bunch of pictures from Christmas.  Christmas Eve we had Ali, Will, Mimi & Papa over for our annual gingerbread house building, dinner, and driving around to see Christmas lights.  The weather was beautiful so we were able to decorate houses out on the porch and it was a lovely Christmas Eve.

Hiking...

While we were camping over Thanksgiving weekend we all took a hike through the park. Unfortunately, the park maps were not well written and we got a little of course. Our hike ended up being a little longer than planned but everyone had fun and we even saw a few deer on the way.

Legoland (part2)...

One of the great things about Legoland is that the rides are all geared for little kids. The kids had so much fun getting to ride all over the park.

Coley, Coley Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow?

My mom was in town the week that we closed on the house and right before we moved. One afternoon we headed over with some seedlings and seeds so that Cole could plant his vegetable garden. We have snap peas, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, beets and cabbage. As you can see, Kiley has already perfected using the rain barrels we installed along the back gutters.

Family Pictures (part 2)...

Here are a few more family pictures from graduation. We tried to get a picture of Doug with the 3 kids but Kiley wanted nothing to do with him so that's why I'm in all those pictures.

Family Pictures...

Here are a few cute family pictures we took after graduation. I love the pictures of the kids with the graduation hat on their heads.

Doug's Graduation...

We traveled to Miami at the beginning of the month to see my little brother, aka Doug, aka Dunkle (short for Uncle Doug) graduate from FIU. Thankfully the FIU summer ceremony is only 2 hours long, which everyone reminded me is MUCH shorter than when I graduated from UF many years ago.

The Miami Children's Museum (part 2)...

One of the exhibits at the Miami Children's Museum was a veterinary office complete with a wall of cubbies for all the stuffed animals. Before I realized it Kiley had climbed in one of them and was trying to pull the stuffed doggie in with her. Seeing the shenanigans, Cole & Will followed suit and before we knew it all 3 kids were in the animal cubbies.

The Miami Children's Museum...

The kids and I spent a week in Miami leading up to Doug's college graduation. While we were there my mom & I took them to the Miami Children's Museum. It was a great and the kids loved it. I must say that it was a lovely museum, but I still think the Boston Children's Museum was the best kid's museum we've ever visited. I really love that our kids are becoming museum connoisseurs at such young ages.

The Moss Monster...

I have just 2 final pictures from our awesome camping trip. The first is Cole & Will with Papa and the Moss Monster. The second is a self portrait I took of Kiley and I. I bought a backpack to carry her in for our hikes. It was awesome. She loved it and it was much easier to keep track of her when we were out in the woods.

Playing in the Lake...

In addition to fishing, the kids also had fun playing in the lake. I honestly don't know how they got in the water because it was SO cold. Kiley fell in face first while she was running to see if we had caught more fish so I had to strip her down. She could have cared less about the cold water, she was in it the entire time.