Lavertys in Texas: February 2011

I can't believe my baby is 3... he has really grown up these past couple months. It has really been fun to hear his vocabulary and sentences develop. It is also great that he will actually entertain himself now (only when he wants to of course.) Happy Birthday buddy!

Colton with his birthday cake, sister, and pals.

We took a video of him blowing out the candles - so this is a pic right after.

Arggg it's a pirate ship... Colton's reaction: "this is awesome!"
Thanks J and the 4 C's. He loves it.

No shortage of help here : )

Winter in Texas

Colton loves watching it snow...

"Super-Julia!"

My kids LOVE balloons; if they could only muster up the power to blow them up themselves...

Snow in Texas = ghetto snowgear!

Our snow-family; I didn't take this picture until a couple hours after they were built and they had started to melt... notice all the charcoal "eyes" on the ground.

Cousin's New Year's eve party...

Julia, Colton, Evelyn, and Brady partying like rockstars... glow necklaces, candy, and movies.

Oh, I forgot to mention mini-cookies... that ended up being used as ammunition in their version of the alamo that they re-enacted during this little shin-dig.

Chrismas in Texas

Nica Grandma and Omar came for Christmas. We had a great time and it was wonderful having

a great cook in the house during the Holidays!

Here they are making Bread; Julia loves this tradition.

Colton enjoying his mini-loaf.

Chrismas eve dinner (shrimp cocktail, baked brie, lasagne, salad, cheese/garlic bread.)

Christmas eve - after dinner the kiddos opened a couple presents (new pj's, pillows w/fun cases, and a book - things we could use at bedtime but not all clothes

as to save me from much whining.)

November - MN and Julia's birthday

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Minnesota. It was also a lot of fun to be able to enjoy Julia's birthday during our trip. Pizza, DQ cake, and lots of family made a great day for my

5 year old girl!

Brotherly love.

We were lucky to get lots of nice snow during our trip. I wouldn't call the temperatures "nice" but the snow was. Here are cousins enjoying some good old fashioned snowball fights...

Angels making snow-angels.

Sweet Colton eating his snowball.

Daddy and Julia wrestling in the snow.

Michael is a great sport playing with the kiddos in the snow - I wuss out much sooner.

Evelyn! I love this pic of my sweet niece.

Cocoa and a hot bath were necessary after those temps!

The girls having a sleepover. Sweet, sleeping babies.

Halloween

There is so much to do out here at Halloween - the kiddos love it and probably think Halloween is a month-long celebration. Here Julia is a pink fairy and Colton is a firemen and we are with friends at the city-sponsored "safety-town" trick-or-treating.

Colton at a playgroup Halloween activity.

Julia at the playgroup activity.

Siblings at the pumpkin patch - it was a very warm, autumn day.

October in Colorado

In October I was able to take a solo trip to Colorado to visit my BFF and her new arrival. Baby J. is as cute as can be and I had a great few days of R&R... lots of hgtv and sweat pants. Just what a new mom and pregnant mom of 2 ordered! Oh, I am pretty sure that we consumed quite a bit of ice cream too...

The new (and great) parents with baby J.

Buddies with the new baby. (please, remember I am 4 mts prego in this pic)

Continued: Florida / CPCU conferment ceremony

***read the next Florida posting first*** Blogger wouldn't load all my photos to that post.

My good friend Rachel lives in Orlando - it was great to catch up and she watched the kiddos during Michael's conferment ceremony.

Tired boy!

My cousin, Grant, lives accross town from where we were staying in Orlando, he drove over to the hotel and we had room service for dinner. It was so much better than braving the restaurants with 2 little kids past their bedtime...

The fam in our hotel room.

Julia on a carousel at Disney world.

Daddy and Kiddos between rides.

Cinderella and snow white.

Julia just a little excited to meet her favorite princess (Cinderella.)

That Disney train is a real "nail-biter" (at least Colton thought so.)

Florida / CPCU conferment ceremony

Julia giving Jesse (Toy Story) "high-five" at Disney.

The Last week of September we headed to Florida and spent a couple weeks on vacation. Michael was chosen to speak at his CPCU conferment ceremony in Orlando; he did a great job and was cool as a cucumber speaking in front of 3,000+ people (our personalities differ vastly in this area.) We spent about a week in Orlando (at a HUGE Marriott - I think it's actually the biggest in the world) swimming in the hotel pools, eating like glutens, attending CPCU seminars/receptions, and going to Disney. The rest of our time in Florida was spent visiting family and friends, celebrating Michael's birthday, and enjoying a beautiful day on St. George Island on the beach - (October 1st) clear and 81 degrees... heavenly.

Colton enjoying an afternoon Disney parade on Daddy's shoulders... it was HOT!

Julia and Cinderella at "Cinderella's Royal Table" - dinner at the Magic Kingdom.
With Snow white at Cinderella's Royal Table.

With Belle at Cinderella's Royal Table.

Daddy and Colton taking a break between many rides.

Mommy and Julia waiting in line at the winnie the pooh ride.

2 very tired babies... we got to the park at opening

and left after closing. It was a very long and wonderful day.

We spent an afternoon at the Tallahassee Junior Museum. It is an outdoor wildlife, natural habitat museum and it was a beautiful day to spend outside.