With the Kids

Next on my recap of 2015 we will focus on all things "kids".  This will be quite random.

Nicole purchased her own beta fish with money she has earned.  Her name is "Lilla"

 Nicole sells Lilla Rose hair jewelry and does a fantastic job at vendors and farmer's markets.

 Hannah decided to make home made cupcakes one day.  With no help from me, she made the yummiest and cutest little lemon coconut cupcakes.

 The recipe just called for coconut on top.  She thought it would be better with shaved chocolate too.  Master Chef Junior...watch out!

 We had a really cool event at our CC group called "Excellence in Education".  We invited locals Veterans, School Board members, business people, and family, and share our vision of CC and homeschooling with them.  Then we offered them lunch.  It was a wonderful event.

 One Veteran was overwhelmed with the cards he received from the children.

 We also had study moments with friends at the library.  I love the sweet kids that Nicole goes through CC with.

 Seriously...these 9 year olds are really working hard at English Grammar.  It's precious.

 We got the participate in a cool serving event at ECHO, a local organization and mission that teaches missionaries how to grow crops in whatever area of the world they live in.  They were in town for a conference, and so a large group of homeschool children got to serve them lunch.

 Nate and Hannah were table runners.  They helped to carry drinks and dessert.

 Kristina joined Nicole in serving the missionaries and cleaning up their lunch.

 Not to cool to help.

 This was a super fun day!

 I had a small get together with some mom friends, and so Nicole and Hannah prepped for having little ones over.  Hannah set this table up with some fun art projects.

 Nicole put together a snow man craft for the older kids.  Unfortunately, no older children came :?

 Nathan turned 6 in November (I can't think about this for to long...it makes me cry).  All he wanted to do was have Ty and Bryson join him at Zoomers.  So, that's what we did!

 He loved driving the go-karts

 Sweet, sweet friends!

 This photo was about 2 minutes before the screams of fear and tears of terror.  Hannah had no idea what a good go-kart driver I was.  She was terrified (but perfectly safe).  Apparently, my road rage comes out on the track.  I was pretty aggressive. Really, I was just trying to stay ahead of Jeremy.

 This sweet, sweet sister put together a stunning menu for Nate's birthday dinner. She serve not just our family, but our friends as well.  It was a long dinner, but so sweet, and really good too!

 Nathan with his buddies, Ty and Bryson.

 My battery died one day, so the kids got a lesson in mechanics.  As much as I could teach them anyway.

 More lovely Lilla Rose sales.

 Nicole was given this adorable apron by my sweet friend Teri.

 The girls were in the CHEACC talent show.  What an inspiring night!  I really enjoyed seeing all of the wonderful gifts God has given to the children in our community.

 I volunteered Jeremy's truck to lead the CC group in the Christmas parade...so it had to be washed.  The kids had never seen a car wash like this before.

 Such a great group of CC friends!

 It's been fun leading her group in AHG this year.

 I think Jeremy was out of town, and we needed out of the house, so we took a Christmas stroll down third street and took funny photos.

 Of course, the best place to be in the middle of the week is the beach.

 I am not sure what happened here.  How is she growing up so quickly?  Where did all the camo go?

 I love this sweet girl.

 This dude LOVES to play checkers...and he beat me!

 Yeah, up on the roof with daddy...

Running Our Way Through the End of the Year

The kids LOVE to go through our blog books.  Because there is a great sale going on right now for printing my blog, I'm going to try to zip through the rest of this year in the next few posts  It may not be pretty....or even make much sense...but here we go!

This is the one on running.

We pretty much ran our way through November and December.  It started with Jeremy's second half marathon at Honeymoon Island.  We were excited about the race filled with friends from Tampa.  It pretty much turned into the worse race possible...with friends to grin and bare it with.

 The morning started off tame enough, an early stretch with daddy.

 The kids and I decided to try to get about a mile in front of the start line.  This vantage point would give us the opportunity to see Jeremy three times before he finished.

 This was close to mile 6.  Do you see that water bottle in his hand.  It's a good thing he had it!  The racing staff ran out of water and many runners had nothing.  Lesson #1...always bring your own hydration.

 It was a record high day, I believe mid 90s in November.  Crazy hot weather for a run with almost no shade, on primarily asphalt.  It was brutal.

 Thankfully, everyone finished and was safe.

 The whole crew- including the cheerleaders.

 We spent that evening at Maderia Beach, enjoying a hot and humid evening while eating outside at Bubba Gumps.  It looks pretty though, right?

 I don't have pictures of the next race.  After the disappointment of Honeymoon Island, Jeremy decided to sign up for another half in our town in two weeks.  It was actually a great course, except it monsooned the whole time.  I ran the 5K.

Soon after was Thanksgiving, and so we decided to give a local Turkey Trot a try.

 Jeremy did the one mile run with Nathan and Hannah.  Hanny did great and finished in great time for her.

 Nate enjoyed the view from daddy's shoulders ;)

Nicole and I ran 4 miles together.  After a brief walk around the 2.5 mile mark, we took off again.  We had a nice pace going.

However, when she saw the finish line, she took off like a rocket and left me in the dust.  I had no idea it was coming!

 Nicole is really enjoying being on the cross country and track team.  She loved learning how to start from the blocks like the big kids.

 December rolled around with a Christmas glo trot.

 Jeremy ran this one alone and came in FIRST place in his age category!  Way to get it done!

 The next day, I particpated in my first triathlon.  It was a sprint  distance.  This particular race included a 440 yrd swim, 10 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.  I was really nervous about the swim.  But, I felt really cool in my tri suit with my tri tat.

 Before the race. It was cold outside...our first cold front of the season.  The water felt warm, which was nice.  The bike ride was cold.  I didn't warm up until I was almost done with the run.

 I finished in 1:30....which was amazing!  So, so happy with my time!

 Me and my bike.  I rented it....but then I bought it.  That thing took 20 minutes off my time!

We had a fun end to our year.