Lila Lu and Tater Too.

Fall, Christmas & More

I continue to fail at keeping up with this blog. But I really want things to be documented, so I'll keep playing catch up. 

As usual, we had new pictures taken in November. This year, we were short on time, so it was just the kids.

The big event of November, other than Thanksgiving, was Cassie coming to live with us. She's a retired racing greyhound, and her actual name is Cashmere. Since she was raised to race, she never knew her name so we have shortened it to Cassie and it fits her much better. She's just a foster dog for now, but we sure love her. Marley is so happy to have a friend around again and is acting 5 years younger. Considering that she'll be 11 at the end of January, that's pretty impressive.

In December, Endy & Papa came to town and we went to see the gingerbread houses at the Ritz.

They stayed for Christmas and then took Tate & Lila back to their house in Hobe Sound for the week after Christmas. The kids had a great time and we enjoyed a quiet house for a few days before we started missing them.

Finally, in January, Brooke and the boys came to visit for a few days. We went to Legoland, rode bikes at the park, visited the manatees and had a great time.   We loved having them here and wish they could have stayed longer.

Ballet & Chalk Festival

Chris' parents were in town last weekend to watch Tate do Jiu Jitsu and Lila do ballet. After ballet on Saturday, we headed downtown for the Chalk Festival. It was the first time we've been, and it was so cool. Chris' aunt and uncle joined us and we had dinner on the water at Marina Jacks after. It was a great day.

Halloween

Lila had her Halloween parade on the Friday before school so I was able to go. It rained, though, so it had to be moved inside, which wasn't nearly as fun to watch. The kids didn't seem to mind, though. 

On Halloween night, Chris wasn't feeling well and decided to just head home from work to hand out candy. The kids and I headed over to the Risslers house to trick or treat with Taylor. Their neighborhood is much better for trick or treating than ours is. We had a great time and were home and the kids were in bed by 8:15. My kind of Halloween, especially on a school night.

Fruitville Groves

As usual, I'm playing catchup. A week or two before Halloween, we headed out to the pumpkin patch with the kids. Although, it's not really a pumpkin patch because the pumpkins don't grow there. Do pumpkins grow in Florida? Who knows. Anyways, we had a great time. The kids painted a pumpkin and put their faces in a lot of head in hole things. We fed the animals and bought some pumpkins to bring home.

Well hello!

I promise, I haven't been slacking on the blogging. Just not a lot going on lately. School, work, etc. Tate is still loving Jiu Jitsu and doing so well at it. Lila got moved up with the 5 & 6 year olds in ballet (despite not even being 4 1/2 yet. pretty sure that means she's a child prodigy) We're all ready for Halloween and cooler weather!

Found Lila really loving her bunnies last night after she'd been asleep for awhile. Love that she still snuggles them so much.

Tate turns 7, let's have a party!

Tate's best friend for his whole life has been (and still is) Colby. They were born only 3 days apart and have spent time together since birth. Finally, after 7 years, we had a joint birthday party for them. They each invited a few friends from their class and we had a grand aqua fiesta (aka, a pool party) at our house on Saturday.

The morning of his birthday, we let him open the presents from Mom, Dad & Lila.

Then, it was time for the real festivites.

 









It was a great day, according to both boys.  Finally, we headed down to the pier at Sharkey's for a family birthday dinner & beautiful sunset. 

Walking back down the pier toward the car, Lila saw the tables with water running for cleaning fish and said, "What is the water for, Daddy? Fulling up the the ocean?"

 

Tate

Today was the third day of 1st grade for Tate. As I was walking in to pick him up, his principal stopped me to tell me that in the cafeteria at lunch today, a girl in Tate's class was crying. She was just sad and having a rough day. Dr. Kingsley asked if her if there was a friend she would like to sit next to, and if that would make her feel better. She said yes, and Tate, hearing the conversation, rose his hand and said, "Sydney can sit next to me, Dr. Kingsley. I'm her friend." She was thrilled to sit next to Tate and Dr. Kingsley wanted me to know what a good friend he'd been. I couldn't be more proud. He is one of hte most caring, loving and thoughtful kids I know.

Lila turns 4 & Mom, Dad, Kellen & Cole visit

One more photo dump. In May, Lila turned 4. We had a Hello Kitty pool party with all of her friends. In June, Mom, Dad, Kellen & Cole came to visit. Despite some BAD sunburns (Cole & Kellen), we had a great time. Lots of swimming, trips to the beach, we went to the Rays game and just enjoyed hanging out.

 

Photo Dump Catch Up

I have to get back on track. I know I'm going to miss having these months to go back and look at, so I'm just going to do a big photo dump of the last few months to get caught up and back on track.

We went to Manasota Key for the 4th of July with friends. Keetah died. 10 days later Kaya died. It was a rough month for pets in the Kemper house. Marley is hanging in there, but definitely lonely. The kids went back to school, Tate in 1st grade, Lila in Pre-K. Tate started tennis & LOVES it. Lila started dance & LOVES it.

Wow, that feels good. Ok now, I promise to be better about posting things as they happen.

Oh geez, not my best comeback.

I'll spare you all the details of going FT at work and drowning in work, kids, house, etc. It lasted for 2 1/2 months before I found a new job and gave my notice. I'm back to PT, 4 days a week and LOVING it. Nothing better than being able to pick the kids up from school. (Well, there is one thing better - every Friday off with no kids!)

So, here are some pictures from the last few months. Despite barely being able to keep my head above water, we managed to have some fun family time on the weekends - the beach, bike rides at the park, birthday parties and lots of swimming. Spring in Florida is short, but awesome.