Out and about...of course!

For those of you that know me, I'm not a stay-at-home type of stay-at-home mom. The kids and I are having a lot of fun exploring Raleigh and playing with our friends. Here's a few things that we've been up to lately.

Visit to the Holly Springs Fire Station with some of our friends. The firemen were GREAT with the kids! They gave us a tour of the fire station, showed us the trucks and put on full gear for the kids (and taught them some fire safety too!).

Explore-A-Story at Bass Lake Park is one of our favorites! Once a month we go to the park, hear stories, do a craft and then an activity outside. This month was about squirrels. After the program, it was so nice outside we went for a walk and had a picnic. Before leaving, we went in to the "animal room" and the park ranger pulled out a snake for the kids to touch and "hold". Keira loved the snake and thought it was funny it gave her a "hug" on her wrist (above).

It does snow in North Carolina! The kids enjoyed the first (and probably last) snowfall of the year by sledding and playing with their friends outside.

Keira just started gymnastics and LOVES it! In her first class she practiced handstands (left) and backwards rolls (right).













The kids Ready-to-Learn preschool class took a field trip to PetSmart. They learned about different animals and how to take care of them. They got to pet a guinea pig and two different types of lizards.













My grandmother gave us some money for Christmas, and we used it to buy a membership to the Marbles Children's Museum in downtown Raleigh. We go at least once a month and the kids have a blast! Last week there was a new exhibit open, which was a lot of fun. Liam and his friend Tucker (left) at the lemonade stand and Keira (right) making pizzas in the pizza restaurant.

yes, I'm a total blog slacker!

Here's the last few months in a nutshell...

Thanksgiving: went to Topsail Beach, NC for the We AHR Family reunion. We spent the week with extended family in an 8-bedroom beach house (28 people!), and had a great time.

Christmas: We headed up to Northern Virginia to
spend a week with the McNierney family. The first few days we had almost two feet of snow, so the kids had a great time sledding and playing with their cousins. We went and saw the ICE Show outside of DC, and of course the ice slides were a huge hit (family photo to right)! We visited with numerous friends, and enjoyed catching up with them too. Christmas with 2 grandparents, 8 siblings, 10 grandkids and 5 dogs is always crazy, but fun!



Enjoying the snow! Family photo (left) and Tiffany helping the cousins, Chelsea, Keira, Liam and Nate build a snowman in the front yard (right).