Ready to GO

The kids were waiting to go drive their cozy coupes around the driveway and I got them to pose for some quick pictures.  Their facial expressions are hilarious.  The quality is really bad because I had to edit and overexpose because of the backlight, but they were to cute to delete.

Butterfly Garden

We went to a Butterfly Garden with Noni, Aunt Marinda and Mimi.  The kids did lots of learning and lots of running.  The man who worked there gave the kids a tour and took out various kinds of caterpillars that the kids could touch.  Here's what Hogan thought of that idea...

He's a smart kid :)

They actually did all end up touching some of the caterpillars, although my kiddos did steer clear of the really gross looking ones. Lauralee was pretty proud of herself when she was brave enough to touch one...

They had a case full of chrysalises and two of the butterflies had already emerged so the man put them in envelopes and the girls got to release them in the garden.  Lauralee's sat on her finger for a pretty long time before flying away... she loved it!

H was disappointed that he didn't get to hold one so we tried and tried to get one to sit on his finger.  This is about as close as we came... (You can see it fly into his head in the last picture)

We were the only people there so the kids were able to run about 250 laps around the garden while we watched.  When we asked them what their favorite part of the trip was they all agreed, with out hesitation, running :)

One thing is for sure though, these three cuties had a great time!

What?!? Time with Adam?

Adam is doing a clerkship in Orlando this month so we got to spend a weekend with him!  We miss him SO much and our weekend could not have been better (maybe longer:-).  We went on our first family vacation, although it was only 2 days it was amazingly wonderful.  We packed up and headed down to Indian Rocks Beach, taking a pit stop at the condo for naps...

and boat watching...

Then it was FINALLY time to hit the beach!

And this kid was EXCITED!

I could watch this all day, everyday...

Lauralee loved the water right away but Hogan kept his distance for awhile making sure she didn't melt upon contact.  I love this beautiful little girl...

And this brave little warrior (destroying the gulf with his semi-automatic weapon:-)

We played in the sand...

Carried REALLY heavy buckets of water...

H even watered the sand...

I (as will become increasingly apparent) took tons of pictures... and I love every single one of the memories they represent, so here they are...

We built an awesome "castle" with a moat (yes, we are very talented)...

...and the kids diligently filled the moat with water, even if it had to be done one shovelful at a time (which usually ended up being a shovelful of wet sand by the time it reached its destination).

Oh, the beach...the wonderful beach.

Just in case you can't tell, these kids LOVE their daddy... and I'm pretty crazy about him too.

1 Month of Florida

So we have been in Florida for over a month now and have barely any pictures to show for it thanks to this little one...

I have felt pretty sick all day, every day... but we are so happy and excited about the new addition to our family!


In spite of the nausea and lack of picture taking we have been having a great time.  The kids are having a blast and enjoying the time spent with family and good friends.  


I do have a few pictures to show for our time so far.  We spent a fun morning at the park with Noni, Aunt Marinda, and Mimi...

Have listened to lots of stories...

We picked strawberries with Nana and Grandpa... (These kids knew what they were doing and we ended up with almost 17 pounds, kind of crazy but it made for some yummy homemade jam)

I am really going to try to be better about taking pictures from here on out.  We want to thank everyone who has made the past month so wonderful and we are so happy to spend time with all of you!  I especially want to thank Noni for all the cooking, cleaning, playing, entertaining, and putting up with us that she has done... Thank you Mom, we love you!