A Very Mickey Christmas

From the Animal Kingdom Resort Hotel

And while the cats were away, the mice...braved the holiday shopping crowds and then spent the weekend wrapping lots and lots of Christmas presents!

Sledding in the Sunshine State

Who needs snow?!?!?!

just the four of us

Gavin's loves Mom

Thankful

Logan is thankful for 4 things:

1. Mom because she makes dinner.

2. Dad because he takes care of me.

3. My brother because he plays with me.

4. My little brother because he's nice.

Turkey Trottin'

Today we are thankful for good food (not turkey, we are having ribs!), precious time with loved ones, and our health. We are reminded how delicate and precious our lives are and are thankful for every moment we have together.

This year, three generations of family runners participated in the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot. He ran hard and didn't give up. He couldn't..."Allison's never quit".

I made a PR on my 5K which will serve as a baseline for training this upcoming year. I love running but don't have the time to train for the long distance runs, so I plan on working to improve my shorter races. For this race, I started at the front with the young little track runners with 1% body fat and a woman who had just returned from a 120 mile race! This was my friend (and running partner) Ali's idea, not mine. Even though she works as a personal trainer/aerobics instructor, I was supposed to be the one pulling her along at a sub-9 minute mile pace. She ended up kicking my butt on a hill using her killer quads and I could never quite catch her after that. She beat me by 10 seconds or so, but I still had a great race.

Jay underestimated his skillz and started too far in the back, so he spent most of the race dodging children on bikes and women pushing jogging strollers. Dad insisted we would all finish long before him, but passed Jay early on and ended up crossing the finish line right behind him. Everyone had fun and a new tradition was born.

It's all in the family.

He's beating me!

"Hey, ladies. Check me out. I just finished a one mile!"

Chillin' post-race with the ladies once again.

Keegan was there too!

Logan getting ready for a board room meeting.

One more thing we are thankful for...Jay's assigned parking spot near the start line and a key to his work allowing private access to some clean, flushable toilets before the race! The boys are thankful for the receptionist's candy jar, I think.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

first sleepover (kinda)

Logan has only had one other sleepover (with Connor). But that one didn't really count because Connor's mom stayed over too, thereby allowing the mommies some much-needed time to eat, drink, and be merry without having to drive! So, this was Logan's first actual sleepover.

Jonathan's family came over for dinner at our house (Chicken Parmesan) and Jonathan got to stay over. They stayed up late, played Wii, watched movies, and ate junk food.

It's great to be a kid!

movie stars

The Dragon's Den was chosen by the FSU film school to be the set location for one of their recent films(The Broken Crane). My little movie stars lapped up the attention, as you can imagine!

Terrific TWO's!

Keegan's 2nd birthday party. Elmo, Elmo, more Elmo, and a little bit of water fun!

His new pool.

He stayed it in the majority of the time and didn't want to get out. He was probably the smart one -- our air conditioning decided to go out on us mid-party and on one of the hottest days of the year!

I love Mickey!

The Allison's Explore EPCOT

Waiting in line for Soarin' (Mommy's favorite ride)

I love you!

"Nemo's Daddy", says Keegan. I'm not sure why he always thinks this is the Daddy and not Nemo himself.

A real Nemo is in there!

Tasty boys!

Where should we go next?

They found the swords, of course.

A Disney necessity. He couldn't believe it was all his!

Brothers forever

the first pepper

Jay was so proud of his new garden and our first hot pepper of the season. He made me take this picture.

But....when we cut into it, we were suprised to find it was just a baby green pepper!

Isn't she lovely?

I was just going through some photos and found this picture. I love this lady!

It's all in how you look at it

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of my grandmother's recent passing. She was diagnosed with cancer in August 2010, and died at the hospice house on November 2nd, 2010. People have said that in some ways it's a good thing that it happened so quickly, but it seemed like an eternity to those of us watching unable to help. No one should have to suffer in that way.

However, I am once again amazed by the wisdom, knowledge, and perspective of a child.

Jay and Logan were at karate when I got the phone call from my mom. I was in the middle of bathtime with Keegan and Gavin. Overwhelmed by relief and sadness, tears flowed freely down my cheeks.

GAVIN: Mommy! Why are you crying? (He has only seen me cry one other time -- the night I found out that my great-grandmother had died)

ME: Because Nana just called to tell me that Great-Nana went to heaven.

GAVIN: (his face lighting up) That's SO AWESOME!!!! She must be SO excited to see her mom and friends again!!!!!!!!!

GAVIN: (after a moment of thought) So....you're crying because your so happy, right? Like when you get proud of me and cry?

Out of the mouth of babes!

He spent the rest of the evening giving me unprovoked hugs and kisses and saying things like, "We can do whatever you want, Mom. We can either play Lego city or build a pyramid with Legos. Whatever YOU want to do because I'm trying to cheer you up".

What a blessing this special boy is to our family!

my little ninja's

Logan earned a "Rising Star" patch for his dedication and hard work!

And an Academic Achievement patch for straight A's!

Jay broke the board with a front kick on his first try.

Logan nails it!

We got new tips!

Knuckleheads!