Will was excited about the big game and ran to get his Bevo for a picture.

Hook 'em Horns!

Singing "Texas Fight"!

Aubrey had her Christmas program at preschool on January 11! Their last day of school before Christmas was cancelled due to the blizzard, so they had to postpone it until after the break. We still really enjoyed watching Aubrey sing with all the other cute kids. She's in the back row here.

Aubrey with a good friend after their performance.

They got to enjoy lots of yummy snacks and then had a fun book exchange. We are very thankful for the wonderful experience Aubrey has had at her preschool. Will can't wait until it is his turn in the fall when he's a big three year old!

"Wocket Wun"

We have all had so much fun sledding with all the snow we've gotten this year. Not only was it a new experience for the kids, but Robert & I have never really done much sledding growing up in Texas. After the big snow, we went back each day for about a week to sled some more. The kids couldn't get enough of "Wocket Wun" (Rocket Run) -- their name for the sledding hill, I think they got it from an episode of Max & Ruby? They climbed up that hill all day and went again and again. My legs were tired by the end, I'm sure their little legs had to be. We definitely broke in the new sleds that Nana sent for Christmas. We're looking forward to the next big snow!

Birthday Party

We finally had Aubrey's birthday party on January 2. I guess that is one of the inconveniences with having a Christmas baby. She hasn't seemed to mind celebrating her birthday either early or late so far, and in a way she gets to extend the celebrating over a few weeks. We were torn about what kind of party to have this year. Aubrey really wanted to invite her whole preschool class, some neighbors and a few friends from church. I wasn't too keen on having the chaos of 20 kids in our basement, since it is too cold to go outside. We ended up going with Pump It Up, so all kids could run around and play. It turned out really well and all the kids had a blast! I like how they have two smaller party rooms, so the kids aren't so spread out. They get to interact more that way, and also the parties are private there so there aren't any bigger kids trampling the littler ones. We all had fun bouncing and celebrating Aubrey's big 5th birthday!

*Can you tell Aubrey has a black eye in the pictures? She got hit with a light saber at a neighbor's birthday party the Wednesday before her party. :(

Ice Skating

Since we didn't travel this Christmas, we tried to go on a few outings that we don't do regularly. One afternoon, we went out for some ice skating. It was only Aubrey's second time and Will's first. Will LOVED walking around on the ground in his skates. He would march and almost jump around in them all over the place. He wasn't quite as enthralled with actually skating on the ice, but lasted for about thirty minutes. Aubrey, on the other hand, loved skating and did it for the full two hours. I was surprised how serious she was about it and how she kept going and going, even after a few spills. There's a picture here of a little girl who skated with and encouraged Aubrey almost the entire time. She was such a sweet little girl who had had some skating lessons. She kept giving Aubrey tips and telling her, "Wow, I'm really impressed" or "I'm so proud of you" or "You've really got the hang of it now!". I think we may try to go more often since Aubrey enjoyed it so much.

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!