The boy can draw

On our trip to Miami in November, we noticed that Will's little Magnadoodle kept him occupied on the entire two hour plane trip, there and back. That's when he really started to draw recognizable pictures. Since then, he brings his Magnadoodle in the car and to church every Sunday to draw away. Here's a "jellyfish" he drew on our trip, inspired by all the real ones we saw washed up on the beach.

This picture is of a frog, according to Will.

Yesterday, he drew this bear and I was very impressed at the detail for his age.

Today, he drew this one. I don't think I can draw a circle that well.

He draws lots of other stuff too, including "ghosts", "monsters", "aliens", "beasts", etc...

Christmas a little late...

I had issues uploading these pictures in order and intended to go back and fix them. At this point, I am just posting them all out of order...

Aubrey asked to make a birthday card for Jesus. I love how she uses all 98 of her crayon colors on just about all her pictures these days. The girl loves rainbows.

Singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus" on Christmas day. This was after dinner, notice how Aubrey is still in her pajamas!

Our little Christmas dinner for the four of us. We didn't go all out, but it was fun to use our Christmas dishes for the first time.

New stickers from her stocking. Aubrey loves to add stickers to her sticker book, or her face!


This is from our Christmas Eve dinner at a friend's house from church. We had a nice meal before heading to the candlelight service.

Stockings on Christmas morning -- Will has a Yoda peeking out and Aubrey has two ponies.
This big horse was Aubrey's favorite present! She named her "Queen Pony."

Will was excited about his spiral race track for all his new matchbox cars and trucks.

Back to Christmas Eve at our friend's house. The kids were checking out the train that went around their tree.

Opening up one gift on Christmas Eve right before bed.

Christmas tree on Christmas morning.

Birthday continued & Grandparent's visit

As you can see, Will was not in the mood to pose here, but we wanted to get him with the plate he painted for his grandparent's gift.

I think this a great picture of Aubrey with her Grandma Pam & Grandpa Isaac -- this was at her birthday lunch.

Me & Aubrey at lunch. This was the only time we got out of the house on her birthday due to the 2 feet of snow the day before!

The whole gang...

Rob & Isaac shoveling all the snow off the driveway, this was a big job! We had plenty of apple cider and hot chocolate on this day, as well as a fire burning in the fire place. It was the ideal snow day all around.

We had a little Christmas with Robert's family while they were in town -- Aubrey's hugging a stuffed animal from her stocking.

Will was very excited about the rubber ducks in his stocking -- Will is a huge fan of playtime in the bathtub lately.

Aubrey is proudly showing off the plate she painted at the ceramic studio. We were thankful to have all of our families come up to see us in November and December this year. It was our first time to spend Christmas in VA, so we were so glad we got to spend some time with everyone before the holidays. We had a nice, relaxing Christmas here and enjoyed being in our own house, but of course missed being home. Maybe by next Christmas we'll be back in Texas for good?

The Big 0-5

Aubrey completed her quest to become 5 years old yesterday... She wished that it would snow on her birthday and she got a little more than she bargained for with 20+ inches! Definitely the most snow we've ever seen! We created our own snow hill (more pictures to come) with the shovelled snow from the driveway which allowed Aubrey and her friends to go sledding in our front yard all morning. Thanks for the new sleds, Nana! For lunch, Aubrey chose to go out for pizza at Emilio's in our town center, then we came home for some presents and cupcakes. It was a fun day and I think Aubrey felt like the special birthday girl. Five seems like such a milestone, it is hard to believe how quickly we got here! Aubrey, we love you and can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!!

Random pics

Jewelry is A's latest favorite, she likes to pile on as many necklaces and bracelets as she can.

Aubrey wanted Will to try on this hat at the Gap last week. He didn't seem to mind since he was distracted by some Chick-fil-A lemonade.

Aubrey had the idea to watercolor the snow -- they both got really into it. We had a blast playing in the 4+ inches of snow. Also, it stuck around for several days so we had plenty of time to enjoy it.

Posing with another beloved character at the Leesburg Holiday Festival. We watched a fun parade, got some kettle popcorn and hot chocolate, balloon animals, etc. A fun day for sure!

Rob's parents are coming tomorrow for a visit and we will get to celebrate Aubrey's big 5th with them on Sunday. I can't believe my baby will be FIVE so soon!

First snow

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

My mom, brother, sister and grandmother flew up here on Wednesday for a visit. We were happy to have my grandmother here to celebrate her 85th birthday today! We also got to enjoy our first snow of the season today -- it snowed ALL day! We spent plenty of time sledding, making snow balls, and warming up with hot chocolate. These pictures are from our house today and a visit to George Washington's house at Mt. Vernon yesterday.

Happy Birthday, Grandma! We love you and are so thankful for you!

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!