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.

Happy Halloween!

My pictures are all out of order... Here is Aubrey at the end of the night, with LOTS of candy!

Will and neighbor Zac, a kangaroo

Aubrey & my neighbor, Leanne, another Snow White!

Yoda!

Our trick-or-treating buddies: Yoda, a couple characters from Yo Gabba Gabba, a pirate, a princess and a kangaroo.

Pre-trick or treating at our neighborhood parade.

Heading out to meet neighbors for trick or treating.

Aubrey posing with her pumpkin, she wanted one with "pointy" teeth.

Will was not excited about wearing a costume earlier in the day, but once he saw all the other kids dressed up, he was happy about it. He'd tell people "I'm Yoda, a Jedi master." The streets were swarming with kids and we had a great time with all our neighbors. I woke up early yesterday morning with a little stomach bug or something, so I was thankful that it was short lived and that every one else stayed well so we can have a fun day today!

Disney On Ice

We surprised Aubrey & Will by taking them to Disney on Ice last weekend. We just said we were going to run errands... They were both so excited to see the show -- Will's favorite part was the "dancing brooms" (from Fantasia, which he's never seen). Aubrey loved all the characters and the princesses, of course. It was a perfect fall day and a fun family outing.

Fall

Dress-up

Look at the cute pajamas that John & Betsy brought them from China!

You can tell that Will wasn't too thrilled with the inflatable Superman costume.

I think Aubrey like it a little better.

I'm sure we'll have lots more dress-up pics next week with all the Halloween festivites...

Rainy Day Bowling

Yay, Will!

Will slept in underwear last night and stayed dry! I thought he'd just be daytime potty trained and be sleeping in diapers for a couple months, like his sister did. But, he had been keeping his diaper dry at night all week and calling for us in the morning to take him to the potty. And, last night he asked to sleep in his underwear, so we let him. He woke up at 5:45 asking to go potty and then went back to sleep until 8. I'm so proud of my big boy!

Pumpkinville Field Trip

"Footies"

With temps in the 40s the last couple days, we're trying to stay warm. Aubrey and Will put on their new footie pjs and have not wanted to take them off. After Aubrey's field trip this morning, she put them back on and wore them the rest of the day! I told her that I can pretend she's still my baby when she's wearing these pjs. :)

Holding hands and watching a cartoon on the couch together.

TX Friends

My friend, Felicia, and her daughter came to visit us from Austin this past weekend. We love having visitors and had a great time eating, sight seeing and playing at home together. We did a driving tour of D.C. and stopped at the Smithsonian (Natural History) to let the kids explore the dinosaur bones, rocks & jewels, etc. Everyday since they left, Aubrey has said that she misses our company. We look forward to their next visit!

Seriously, Aubrey is almost a head taller than all her friends!

Checking out a quartz "diamond" at the museum.

Going up the stairs as a choo-choo train.

Fire Station Open House

After church a week ago, we stopped by a fall open house at the fire station. They had so many fun activities for kids: face painting, moon bounces, a fun bus with gymnastics equipment inside, hot dogs & cotton candy, a helicopter landing, rides on top on a firetruck and more!

No more diapers!

Will is potty trained! We tried back in August when he showed some interest, but I decided to stop since we'd be on a plane, in a rental car and at lots of people's houses for two weeks. He had also seemed to lose interest and I was making him go all the time. Anyway, we tried again last week and he got the hang of it right away. We stayed home a lot so he could get more practice and now we are going everywhere in underwear! He's hardly had any accidents and is starting to tell me more when he needs to go, rather than me just taking him ever 45 minutes or so. I can't tell you how happy I am to reach this milestone! Yay!

Apples!

Pennsylvania

Saturday, we decided to visit a new state! We drove 2 hours to Lancaster, PA to take a day trip an amusement park called Dutch Wonderland. Dutch Wonderland is geared towards younger children, so Aubrey & Will could go on almost every single ride. We had a great time and were worn out by 6, when the park closed. On our way home, we drove through a couple little Amish towns in Lancaster County. Will and especially Aubrey, loved seeing the people ride on the streets with their horses and buggies. You could see all the little boys with their suspenders and hats and all the girls in their long dresses and bonnets. The farms were beautiful and so peaceful. When I was describing the Amish lifestyle to Aubrey, I was telling her how they don't have cars or use electricity, so they don't have TVs or computers, etc... The first thing Aubrey said was, "Mommy, I'm going to pray for those people!" Then I explained to her that they choose to live a simpler life and were just fine with it. Anyway, we had a good first impression of Pennsylvania and plan to go back to other parts of the state this fall.

Roanoke

Once again, we accompanied Robert on a business trip right before Labor Day. We decided to go to Roanoke for round 2, since Robert only had one meeting. It wouldn't be much fun to sit in a hotel room all day with two busy little ones, but we could easily handle a couple hours. Robert headed out early and we just lounged in the room, watching cartoons and eating pancakes. Then we went for a walk on the covered bride to watch some trains go by below. When Robert got back, we checked out and headed to the Mill Mountain Zoo. We had beautiful weather that day and the views were great, and of course the kids liked seeing all the animals, especially the snow leopards and red pandas. They also played on a playground and took a ride on the zoo train. After the zoo, we started the drive home, but made one more stop at the Luray Caverns. Aubrey listened to the audio program the whole way through and really seemed interested in all the info. Will just kept pointing and saying, "The rocks are falling on my head!" Another fun little overnight trip!