Florida vacation ~ Day 5

Another day at SeaWorld. Oh the happiness!

To be continued.....

Florida vacation ~ Day 4

If there ever were a family that loved SeaWorld, our family would be that family. Disneyland is
nice and all, but SeaWorld is truly the greatest! The rides are some of the best we have been on,
the animals are amazing, the shows are fabulous and spending time with cousins
just made it all the more fun. Day four was good to us. To say the least.

To be continued.....

Florida vacation ~ Day 3

Our third day was mostly just a rest day. We took it easy, spent time with our
little family, relaxed a lot, got Nate his proper naps and even did some swimming.
The weather was perfect. I'm telling you, Florida in December is pretty incredible.

 

 

 

 

To be continued.....

Florida vacation ~ Day 2

Any guesses on where we spent the second day of our vacation?

 

There is a lot of fun to be had at Disney World. Just for the record.

To be continued.....

Florida vacation ~ Day 1

It's snowing again where we live and I figured what better way to feel even more bitter about
winter being outside our door then to start posting about our wonderful vacation to Florida?
We returned home just over a month ago and the memories are still fresh and fabulous.
We were so thankful for the incredible time with family and especially grateful to
Adam and Kaylie for being kind enough to get married so that we could all
be a part of their wedding and the happy days surrounding it.

And we are especially, especially thankful for these two lovely people you see
before you. Jacob's parents were so generous to make this trip possible for all of their
children and grandchildren. Thank you so very, very much Nancy and Rex!

Okay, on to our first full day there. Which just happened to be Sunday.
These cute kids are all dressed up and ready to go to church.

That night, we had a special family night with a lesson the true meaning
of Christmas, as well as a gift exchange among all thirty-three of us.

If you cannot tell, our kids loved their thoughtful gifts. It was a happy, full day and
we slept particularly well that night. Which was good considering day two would
definitely be filled with a whole lot of fun and excitement.

To be continued.....

Friends

One of the greatest desires of my heart is that our kids have good friends. I don't mean a lot of friends, necessarily, but just good friends. Jacob and I talk often about the group of friends we had in school and how easy it was to make good choices because of the people they were (and still are, quite frankly). It was honestly one of the greatest blessings of our lives. And we have wanted that so very much for our kids.

And since we have moved to Massachusetts, and as our kids have gotten older, they have picked some truly outstanding friends. And this year especially, it has been incredible to watch the kids our children choose to associate with and boy howdy, it has made my mother's heart swell with gratitude. Our children have good friends. And I am thankful beyond words.

 

 

(As you might be able to tell, these girls didn't take too much convincing to pose
for photos. Not sure the boys will be as easy, but I need to coerce them,
just to have a family record of so much goodness. I am just so grateful.)

Annie's 5th Grade Concert

Me thinks winter has officially arrived

 

 

 

 

Music Mania!

Annie and Matt have been taking a fun music class after school each Monday since just after school began in the fall. And today was their final day for this session. The parents were invited to come toward the end of their class and see some examples of what the kids have learned in Music Mania! the past many weeks.

Can I just say I absolutely adore their music teacher? Because I do. A whole lot. And any chance our kids have to be exposed to music and instruments and creativity is a plus in my book. So the combination of the two was really quite fabulous. Music Mania! for sure.