Christmas celebration

Christmas with family has been good. Life has been a bit crazy as the kids have a bit too much to play with and early signs of ADD are showing up. However, the generosity of family is wonderful and we all received things we loved. Most of all we have been given the gift of Jesus Christ--the greatest we could ever hope for and one that never wears out.

Exercise...never too early to start

Yesterday the kids joined some other kids from the church (as well as many from the community) in a Diaper Dash (50 yard run for Meredith) and a Tot Trot (100 yard run for Reed). They had fun...it is amazing that it was December 8th and in the 80's. Not quite the feeling of Christmas.

Clean & Dirty

Our kids do love to make a mess, but surprisingly they also enjoy cleaning up.

A taste of Thanksgiving

We traveled up to Cleveland (properly Bay Village) for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed time with family and watching the Packers beat the Lions. Our flight up ended up being really nice--Erin and Meredith, and Chad and Reed each had their own row and it really was helpful in allowing the kids to sleep (hopefully the trip back will be much the same). We got all our Christmas shopping done for our Cleveland family so we don't have to ship anything (a key thing to which I am very grateful to Erin for pushing us towards).

Makin' cookies

Reed had a good time making cookies this morning with Erin. He sure does love to help out any way he can around the house.

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I haven't felt well....

Here are a couple videos and pictures on Meredith hopefully on the mend. She has been running a high fever since Sunday and is fighting some kind of nasty virus. This is the first time she has really eaten anything halfway substantial in days.

Kid videos

Here are some videos to enjoy of the kids dancing and singing. They are a lot of fun--and they love the "dance party."

Hawthorne Trail Bike Ride

The weather was great today and we were able to take advantage of it since we just got some fork mount bike racks. We went down to the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail and rode for about 2 hours today. It was great, and at one point Meredith even fell asleep. We got back to the trailhead and had a picnic and kicked the soccer ball around before heading home.

Bob the Builder & Holly Hobbie

Wednesday night we went to over to some friends' from church house. We had chili and then went out "Trick-or-Treating" with the kids. The neighborhood was a great environment and the people loved seeing 6 little kids dressed up as princesses and princes--and then Bob the Builder and Holly Hobbie. Here are few pictures.

Meredith

Just a few pictures of Meredith--it's nice to see Packer's fans start young!

Fall Festival & other pictures

Yesterday our church had a Fall Festival. It was an amazingly busy day, but it was a lot of fun. Reed and Meredith played and jumped in the Bounce House as well as running with eggs and throwing footballs. The day before we went to a pumpkin patch and had a blast running around a hay stack maze (sorry no pictures of that right now).

Time with friends

Our kids had a great time on Friday night as some friends watched them while Erin and I got out for a date. We ended up having a nice dinner and went to the observatory on campus to look at some stars. We then played cards with the friends who watched the kids. They really have a good time with them and apparently there might be some marriages arranged by the way they look at each other.

Mer eating a lemon

Here is just some comic relief...for some reason our girl likes lemons.

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Vacation...no, a trip.

We just got back from a trip to Panama City Beach. The weather was great and the place we stayed was nice. Yet, with kids to take care of and a new place, it wasn't so much a vacation as it was simply a trip with the kids to a new place. Though we had fun and also learned that though the beach there is great (beautiful white sand)...when you live in Florida a 5-6 hour drive to the beach seems to be a bit much. I've included some pictures from our time.

I know...

Yes, it's true--I don't post very often. Well, I have a new computer and hopefully better access to pictures. Therefore, I hope to post a bit more often. Last week Erin took the kids to our church's Wednesday night prayer meeting. Well, she took Reed and Meredith came into music practice with me and danced while we all sang. Here is a picture of Reed with his Bible.

Mer walking across room July 2nd

In the past few days Meredith (while mom is away) has been learning how to walk. This is the longest one yet--thankfully mom will be home in a couple of days. Meredith went from simply standing up to acting like she knew what she wanted to do...a bit different than Reed and it's always fun to watch kids learn something new.

This is a new way to upload--just click on the link ("Mer walking across room July 2nd") and it will take you to blip.tv and click on the video...hopefully it all works for you.

Mer walking across room July 2nd

Fun at the park

On Monday, before the smoke from the wildfires hit, the family ventured to a local park that for us was previously undiscovered. It was a great park and not very crowded. Here are a few pictures of the time. It is always fun to get to enjoy the nice weather together as a family.