ICE at the National Harbor

It was cold, but not too bad. The ice sculptures were impressive, Liz loved the slide, Alaina was content to be bundled in her stroller the whole time, and it was expensive so honestly I'm not sure we'll do it again next year (though Lizzie already wants to go back).

The rest of our December activities:

We decorated for the holidays. New this year: wrapping paper on our bedroom doors, and a paper chain and hand-painted nutcracker, both done by Liz. It's funny to me now to think how particular I was about my tree decor in the beginning. I was actually anti-kid-made ornaments until my own cute kid started bringing them home. We saw the holiday lights at the DC temple. It was crazy crowded.Alaina wore Lizzie's old holiday dress. It was so fun to see her in it. Liz, on the other hand, didn't get an official holiday dress this year.

We made traditional sugar cookies. Hearts are "traditional" right? I attended the second annual ladies "Ugly Sweater Party" and white elephant gift exchange where I won second place thanks to my built-in collar.

Drew took Liz skiing a couple times. Notice the snazzy new ski coat that daddy just had to buy his little girl. New this year: Liz held on to Drew's poles and skied on the side of him (instead of in front, leaning back on his legs). She still likes to go fast and is not a big fan of snowplowing on her own.

We wore Alaina out holiday shopping (check out the stylish metallic shoes from great aunt Margaret). We watched Santa arrive in Old Town by Fire boat.

The girls and I braved the weather to see Andrew's two bell choir performances (but oops, no pictures of Drew).

We made and delivered holiday treats. Actually we only delivered about half of them and then we got lazy, opened all the packages, piled the remaining chocolates on a plate and took them with us to a holiday party.

Things I intended to do but never got around to: National tree, drive-thru light display, give gifts to Lizzie's teachers and friends.

Things we did, but did not photograph: Christmas gift to Toys for Tots in memory of Jake, Christmas cards, and for Lizzie, the dreaded thank you notes.

Announcing it to the girls . . .

. . . (and some other people I guess). We told the girls about my current pregnancy Christmas morning with baby dolls from their "future brother or sister." We told family weeks earlier in our Christmas card (though in the end Liz knew before most of my brothers because apparently they don't read cards).

Anyway, Liz didn't quite get it at first which was reminiscent of when we told our own parents about our pregnancy with Lizzie. We gave them "I love Grandma" bibs and Drew's mom suggested we give it to his pregnant sister, Carrie. My father didn't get it either but played along until it was obvious what we were talking about.

Dead Battery

Today started out pretty good. The girls and I hit a couple Smithsonian museums. Great displays, but it was crazy busy (on a school holiday, go figure). Things took an unpleasant turn when we tried to leave the city and our car wouldn't start. Turns out I had a dead battery and it was totally my fault because I had forgotten some basic car mechanics or as Drew said, I was "acting dumb." He was pretty willing to walk to the van (many blocks in the biting cold) for moral support, but when I told him the circumstances of the dead battery he became increasingly upset (Liz was watching a movie on a portable DVD player and I decided to turn on the car to save the battery but I only turned on the battery thereby making it worse).

Anyway, I joined AAA. They came (an hour later than they said they would). They jumped us and tomorrow I plan to buy my very own set of jumper cables.

The above shot is of the girls happily freed from the van and awaiting their dinner of fruity crepes. Yum. At least we ended the day well.

A week ago today . . . .

WE WERE SLEDDING!
It was the perfect day to go sledding too--great weather, tons of snow, and best of all school was cancelled. How fabulous for a kid to think as they sail down a hill, "I could have been in school right now." We went with our friends, the Pomeroys, at a high school near their home. Fortunately for us, Dan and Sharon have a sled so we didn't have to resort to cookie sheets again.
I wish I had a video of Dan's first ride down the hill on a child's inner tube. Thinking of it still makes me laugh--popped tube & a few spectacular wipe-outs. The following videos are cute too:


This Monday hasn't been nearly as exciting as last Monday. Drew is back at work, the girls and I ran errands in the morning (in our pajamas), and went out for a pancake brunch (also in our pajamas). We are home now cleaning, playing, and doing art.

It is 2 p.m. and we are still in our pajamas. I think at this point it's not worth changing.

Gingerbread Over the Years

2005 2006

2007

20082009

Christmas Day

Ahhh, the Big Day.

Santa left a book for each of the girls on their bed. It kept Liz busy for at least 20 minutes, but Alaina wasn't into hers so when she woke up, we all had to get up.Before Liz opened her presents I made her brush her hair and make her bed and wait for Drew to get the sweet rolls in the oven. Once we started unwrapping things I felt like we took our time. Only one person at a time opened gifts and we stopped to examine things. Still we were done eating and opening by 8 a.m. Darn kids waking up so early. My mother often had to wake us up. I can remember her grumbling about how she was "the only mother in the world who has to wake her children up Christmas morning!"Because we were done so early, I actually had time to take a nap before we went to our friend's place at 10:30 a.m. While I slept Drew and Liz played with their new toys (Drew=Lego Batman Wii game, Liz=My Little Pony).

Other favorite gifts:

Drew=Wii Zapper, Dominion Rootbeer, synthetic top

Jill=White House Christmas ornaments, camera (to replace the one I kind of ruined by trying to take some pictures on a windy sand dune)

Lizzie=everything (even the batteries--"my very own batteries!"), nearly every time she opened a gift she exclaimed "My dream came true!" We also heard, "Santa must be very rich!" and, when trying to remove lots of small toy pieces from an overly-taped package, "Those elves did a really good job!"

Alaina=baby treats, shopping cart

And of course Drew and I loved Lizzie's handmade gift. So cute.

We continued my parent's tradition of using wrapping paper with Santas on it for the Santa gifts. I was also very careful to make sure that I did not use the same labels on my gifts that I used on the Santa ones. Drew wasn't so careful. He even used some of the mommy-daddy paper to wrap a Santa gift and had Santa give me things that Liz helped him buy just three days before. Liz never even noticed.

We spent the bulk of our day with our friends, the Pomeroys. The dads took the big girls to see a princess movie while the moms made a non-traditional holiday lunch (barbecue ribs, coleslaw, potato salad, rolls, mac 'n cheese).

Liz and Taryn played very well together for a very long time. It was lovely.And we all played (and enjoyed) Beatles Rocks Band.