The Fam in FL

We spent Christmas in Florida!


Here's all the visiting grandkids (we desperately missed Brian, Chris, Matty, and Naomi!).


It consisted of my brudda Darren's family...


And my own family! My sistah Jenny's family lives nearby but wasn't over when we were taking the family shots. Whoopsiedoo.

Mom asked me to take a photo of each grandkid, I may as well share them here!

(She was napping when I did everyone else and I forgot to take it until right before we left for the airport when the lighting was pttttt)
(I also forgot to pack her hair bows for the trip so she was sadly without adornment the whole time!)


(My boys were in love with this kid. He slept over many times, much to Liam, Dash, and Grey's delight)


(I think he might have enjoyed himself)


(Oh the fun that was had with him!)


(A day younger than Grey and they had a very complicated relationship, as you might imagine)


(Sometimes she loved hanging with the big kids and adults, sometimes she loved hanging with the littler crowd. She's just all around awesome.)


(Bonus photo! I don't know where that pose came from but *high five* Grey!)


(speaking of my little imp...)


(trying to play it cool when he's really a goofball. Every since he was little, he and I would play this blow-each-other's-hair game. When we were reunited and he got a good shot at my ponytail, I was so pleased he hadn't forgotten)


(she made me an aunt! She's a blossoming artist and unsuspecting crack-up)


(this guy, dude, he was the best with Wren. Always ready to hold her, talk to her, smile with her. It was the sweetest)


(half the time we were there she was out working or going to parties! So grown up! She is the funniest, she just says it like it is. Full of happiness and laughter!)


(Another bonus photo!)


(full of sweetness)

Gift exchange 2015

Since we were to be in Florida on Christmas itself, we did our family gift exchange a few days before we left town. The boys were generally patient waiting for Sean to be done helping with a move. They put all the gifts in their separate piles and then just sort of stared.


But when we finally began opening, they were all smiles!


I was smart and got Dash and Liam each the same dot to dot books so no sharing or jealousy necessary.


This poor girl was just so pitifully sick. Grey, Dash, and Liam were on the upswing but Wren, Sean, and I were all at our peak of blegh-ness.


Mimi and Pompa gave Liam a Darth Vader dress up and Dash a Kylo Ren dress up. They've never been big on costumes. UNTIL NOW. They love them. And they generally keep the "light sabers only touch other light sabers" rule. And Grey's totally jealous. (Although he got a super cool quad tunnel system)


Other fun things: a teaching clock (in which Liam and Dash learned to tell analog time immediately), more trains and tracks, legos, and their own bean bags! When it came time to have the annual wrapping paper fight, they were all "whatever mom, we have toys." Waa waa. Maybe next year.

Science Fair

Liam and Dash participated in their school's science fair. Be still my heart. We tried to leave as much up to them as we could. After listing off topic ideas, Dash narrowed in on researching the squid while Liam wanted to explore how fish live in the water. We read some books and I asked them if they wanted to include certain facts as we came across them. I grouped facts together to make sense when presented. Then they wrote out the facts and drew their graphics and glued it all together. Then the family admired all the posters at the science fair.

So proud of his work.

Dash got to explain his poster to the principal and it was just so adorable.

Wren hung out, literally, while we visited the different posters and displays, like homemade batteries and tornado makers.

And here's Grey after the fortieth time I reminded him not to mess with someone's delicate display. Scientific finesse is a bit lost on a three-year-old. 

Final Hop

I shared this on other social media but not yet here- Sean has signed a contract with a pediatric clinic in Colorado Springs! There's a salary! And regular hours! And no working on the weekend! But it also means we move away (in the summer) from all the incredible people here and all the fun things we love to do in the Twin Cities area. Sigh.

Thus I present to you a few glimpses of our last Holiday Hop.