Christmas is Happening, People!

But here is a synopsis of other things that have happened right here, and I just haven't told you about it all yet.

Trick or Treating:

The girls got to do the rounds with their best friends.
There was a lot of giggling, running and candy eating involved.
Now they want to do this ALL THE TIME.


My favorite Halloween picture. That's my own parked car - do not be afraid, she was never in harm's way.

I told them to stay at the door with their treats bags extended until someone shut the door on them. Madee clearly took me seriously.

We went to the ZOO!
The Sanford zoo is tiny.
But there are a lot of keepers holding animals to pet along the way.

And lots of other random fun things to do.


Sophia's growly face.


Madee's "RAWR".

Listening to keepers talk about macaws.


The littlest feeding some yak looking things.


The cuteness we truck around town most of the time.

The races. Madee is clearly a rocket.


Girls do lunch!

And then there is ballet.
Madee loves ballet class.
And talking about ballet.
She works really hard at it.



The littles want to go to ballet class too.
But they have a good time raising a stink in the waiting area.


And we had our first horse ride.
They LOVED it.
Clearly.


And as always my little helpers are at the ready to help with any muffin making I might have going on.

Even if Eden's idea of helping is helping herself to spoonfuls of muffin mix.

We hope you guys have great holidays and we can't wait to share our holiday pictures with you!
Merry Christmas!
The Dervs

Punkins. Smashing.

Everybody has their favorite poses for pictures.
I like to call ours "album cover".
And everybody strikes a "Beastie Boy" pose.
Word.

I love their faces.
And Madee's band-aid.

Nice hat.

Here's a late look at the pumpkin patch pictures from before Halloween.
We found a nice patch of uglies in New Smyrna.


I am pretty sure they go for like $10 per wart.
So we browsed around for a while taking pictures.

Rearranged a few.
Wondered what they tasted like.


And then settled on some pie pumpkins that we actually ended up making soup out of last week.
They were amazing.

On accounts.

Last Days of Summer

Here are some pictures from one of our last summer beach days.
Not that it isn't 72 degrees today.
But the ocean water is definitely colder now, so we aren't so bathing suit-y when we play on the beach lately.

Beach fun fact: bikes are better on the beach. During low tide you can ride for miles, even if you are a little guy with a little bike.

And THAT makes for even more beach fun.
Madee loves to paint toenails. Here is the job she did on her sister. I should have taken an "after beach" picture because when the sand rubbed the paint off the skin it looked like it was done by a pro!


My angel. (mostly)
All growed up and jumping and surfing.

These two are the cutest two, and they are making their impression as beach locals.
I love them.


Dontcha just want to kiss her cheek?
I can't keep my lips off them!

.
My new favorite picture of the Littlest Van Derven.

Our lighthouse. which I will showcase in greater detail next week!


A random add on of a bike day. Yeah I totally roll with Little and the O in my trailer. Madee has a tagalong hooked up to Dad's bike. so we basically roll around oozing cute family vibes.


Have I told you about my new job(s)?
Not that I have time to right now, but I do have to go attend to that for a bit.
Have a great weekend, buy local, and love your babies til they claw their way out of your grasp.

Christmas is Coming

And I haven't even started doing anything with our advent calendar yet.
Bah.
Must get on that today.

Anyway, here are the kids doing some painting.
They are quite little artists and love nothing more than cutting, coloring, and general masterpiece making. In fact, at school they can pretty much paint whenever they want to.
Just one more reason I love Inspirations Learning Center.

I have a lot of catching up to do on life. I have been pretty busy throwing myself into a new job that I am excited to talk more about, but it's gonna have to be later, because it's Wednesday and the kids are home from school, and they really want to go do stuff.

So don't wait any longer! Go see my little artistes!

Guess Who?

I know, I know. you probably thought I might NEVER blog again!
Put away your tissue and tell all your friends that Family Sized Fun is back.

Where was I?
Well first of all, my old computer just decided one day to stop blogging. I don't know why, but it wouldn't and we were sad.

Then, I just started getting so busy. I guess I really started making myself busy. I have a bunch of new friends, the kids have school, my mom came to visit, then the holidays started, and before you know it, here we are in December.

I'd like to bring this story to a very important development involving Family Sized Fun's BIGGEST FAN!

My mother in law (HI JANET!) missed the blog the most! She must have, since she sent me a laptop she wasn't using so it could continue without excuses. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Janet! As I am sure everyone reading this also wants thank you, here are a few more!

THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!

And here I am wondering how I am ever to work this back into my schedule. Luckily, I have some pictures to share over the next little while that have just been waiting in the wings for your perusal.


Behold, my kids at the local marine rescue center, petting sting rays. Madee says they give her a high 5!

I mean, look at the face. like a friendly little ghost. Aside from the slicker-y skin and stinger-y tail, I want to kiss him!

And some last days of summer shots at the beach.

A little tai chi...

Big smiles

and somebody is getting the hang of some waves, people.


It's nice to be back. I am excited to share with you some of the developments going on in our world. We have missed you, and we are glad we are back!

I also want to mention that we lost a dear family member in the interim of our time away. It is still very heavy on my heart to be without our buddy, Zeus.

This dog changed everything for me. He went from child intolerant to a LOVER or kiddos, he was loyal and loving like no other dog I have had in my life. In his day, a frisbee was his bitch and come to think of it so was every other dog on the doggie playground. boy dogs wanted to BE him and lady dogs wanted to be WITH him.

He was an amazing guy, and my heart still has a Zeus sized hole that can't be filled. I miss you biddy, you were SUCH a good dog. Our family and our lives aren't the same without you, and they wouldn't have been as sweet without your being there while you were.

We love you. ALWAYS.