SO Proud!!!

Today I was so proud when Olivia came home from school and showed me that she passed of knowing the letter of the alphabet and their sounds. She has been working really hard on knowing them! What a great moment as a mom to see her face and see how excited she was! Way to go Olivia!

Christmas 2011

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. I deck the house out with decorations, have Christmas music playing all the time and enjoy sitting in front of the fire on the chilly evenings. This year was no exception. The girls were so excited for Santa to come, especially Olivia who just couldn't wait. She hated when we got presents in the mail and I would tell her she couldn't open them yet. Every morning she was always eager to open the new day of the advent calender. We decided this year to get a real tree, which was gorgeous. We also had a fake one on the front porch and we were going to set up another one in the basement for the kids to decorate, but I never got around to it. This year we also hosted our first Christmas party, we had our neighbors over, who we usually bbq with. We made the party a white elephant party and to not have to worry about kids we hired a babysitter to watch them in the basement. It was great, we plan on making it an annual party. Santa was very good to us this year, we all got more than we deserved. Damon got some new games for his x-box, a new watch, some clothes and movies. I got a new camera, which I'm SOOO excited about, my parents got me a kindle fire too which I LOVE! Olivia got a leap pad explorer, clothes, movies, a scooter, books, play make-up, a ball she can bounce on. For Sophie this was the year of the dolls for her, she not only got a Ariel and Rapunzel baby dolls but than just a regular baby doll. She also got new clothes and books. My parents got the girls a Rapunzel vanity with play make-up and a princess suitcase. We really did have a wonderful Christmas!

Meeting Santa and giving him their Christmas lists.

I love the pure happiness in their eyes!

Olivia at her school program!

All those kids are just kindergartners, you should have seen how packed the gym was!

In their Christmas Jammies

Opening the stockings first

Sophie showing off her new lipstick.

And her new stick on earrings

Gifts from Nanny and Grandad.

Showing of her new leap pad.

Opening up her Ariel doll.

The tree with the presents all ready to be opened.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  We had a great one and were all happy with what Santa put under the tree.

Halloween

Yes I know that it is almost Christmas and I'm just now blogging about Halloween, but I had to show some of the fun we did over Halloween. The Saturday before we went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point, it was our first time going there and it was so much fun! They had so many things for the girls to do. On Halloween we had a neighbor BBQ on our driveway we used one of our neighbors fire pits so we could all stay nice and warm. Then we combined all our candy and took turns who handed it out. We have the best neighbors and we like to get together often and have bbq's and parties. I however was lame and didn't take any pictures of it. Also on Halloween Olivia got to wear her costume to school and they do a Kindergarten parade and all the kids walk by in their costumes, there was one little boy who didn't have his on and it was so sad, poor kid. Olivia was Rapunzel this year, of course and Sophie was a cow, she had a sign saying "Eat More Chicken" like the Chick-Fil-A ads but would not keep it on. Okay that is a quick wrap up of our fun filled Halloween weekend! Sorry for the picture overload, there were just to many cute ones to choose from.

I love these girls SO much, they are so darn cute!

My cute family!

Love this photo!

My hand looks huge in this photo, weird camera angle.

Such a cheese ball!

Wouldn't be a ride if Olivia didn't get scared at some point!

Maze fun!

Jumping on these huge pillow bounce things!

So they had these forts all over and you could by them.  They had boats, airplanes, truck, helicopters, they were really neat!

My kids are obsessed with face painting and we have to do it every time!

Carving our pumpkins, Olivia only did it for about 5 minutes and then was done.  She hated the feel of the guts!

Posing with the pumpkins

The cutest cow I've ever seen!

Look at all the kids dressed up so cute!

Here's Rapunzel!

Virginia

Well when we finally made it to Virginia, we were so excited! It was great to see Betty and Oscar and meet my newest niece Iris. We spent a few days at Emma's and Steve before heading down to Williamsburg VA for our family vacation. By that time the rest of the gang had flown in. We spent a week in Williamsburg and did lots of hanging out and swimming. Since we went in July the heat and humidity were pretty bad. We had fun though all being together and watching the cousins play.  Olivia had a great week learning how to swim, I was SO proud of her watching her swim across the pool, takes after her mommy!  It was a great vacation and even though the drive was long to get there, I would do it again tomorrow.  I wish we lived closer to my sister Emma and her family, we love being with them!

Doing some yoga with Auntie Megs

No vacation is complete without a ride on Grandad's back!

Silly girls!

Look at her go!

Betty practicing swimming with her mommy!

Group shot, minus Steve, Oscar, Iris, me, and mom and dad

Olivia in her colonial hat

Oscar hanging out in the stroller.

Family picture outside D.C. Temple