Ice!

We had our first Christmas outing last weekend when Gigi was in town. We went to the National Harbor in DC to see a big display of ice sculptures. We bundled up and ventured into the 9 degree tent to see hundreds of intricate ice sculptures, including a nativity scene and several ice slides. Will only went down the slide once, but Aubrey loved it and did it over and over again. We spent the rest of the day in the area checking out all the Christmas events at the Gaylord hotel -- a miniature train display, dancing fountains and a snow fall in the atrium of the hotel. The kids loved it all and we had a great visit with Gigi. She also helped us get out our Christmas tree and decorate it before she left. This week, we're getting ready for a visit from my family. We can't wait!

30

I have entered a new decade and now am part of the 30s club... So far thirty feels about the same as 29, which is pretty good. I had a fun weekend celebrating with family and friends. The morning of my birthday, my good friend, Emiley, brought me a cake to our MOPS group along with lots of "30" paraphernalia, including a pin that says, "30 OLD! OLD! OLD! OLD! all over it. Aubrey asked me in the car if I was having a "black and white over the hills party." I have no idea where she got that one? That afternoon, Gigi flew in from Houston so we went out to a nice dinner at Clyde's and then came home for birthday cake. On Sunday evening, eight of my neighbors took me out. We had fun watching New Moon with all the sixteen year olds in town and then they treated me to a delicious dinner & dessert. They also chipped in and gave me a gift card to go shopping, it was a great night! I have one more girls' night out with a couple of my friends from church on Wednesday, may as well stretch out the birthday as long as possible, right? I have definitely consumed large amounts of refined sugar in the last four days from all the birthday festivities... Thanks so much for all the cards, calls and birthday wishes, I'm blessed to have such a great family and friends.

Welcome to Miami

We just got home last night from five nights at the beach... Robert had a Dell trip in Miami and since we'd never been, we decided to accompany him. It was the end of his quarter for work, so it was a good time for us to hang out together and have some family time. The first two days, Robert had meetings during the day and I just took the kids to the pool and to a big Seaquarium. The rest of the trip, we spent most of our time on the beach -- taking walks, finding shells, building lots of big sand castles and dodging a few jellyfish. The kids loved it and weren't ready to come home.