Happy Day Emily!

I don't know why I insist on making cakes for my children every year - like it's a big treat or something? They look (and probably taste) better from the store but alas I do. Here is this years creation...it's supposed to be the diamond castle. It was good enough for the 4 yr. old set, thank goodness they were wowed by the sprinkles!

We took the girls and the neighbor girls to the bowling alley for a game and some pizza. Emily and Harriet (also 4) gave up on the game after about 5 frames and did each others hair and make-up. The older sisters were happy to bowl for them.

I wish we had done a better job of capturing the look when she opened this gift - big hit Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks.

Christmas!

Highlights

We had a wonderful Christmas and have much to be thankful for. Happy Birthday today to our Nephew (Cousin) Nicholas!

We wish you a merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Jingle Bells!

Emily had her Christmas pageant at school yesterday and as expected any time you fill a room with 2-4 yr. olds it was predictibly cute! Daddy took off work to attend which made it extra special and she spent much of the time waving to us. She is done with school now until the 6th but Olivia has to go right up to the 24th! Only 6 more days till the big day and of course only 8 until Emily turns 4...can you believe it?

Party #2

Ok, 3 parties in 3 days...we are officially done! It was a fun weekend and I think the kids had a good time last night (hard to tell with teens, they grunt a lot!) They mostly hung out in the basement...Olivia loved playing wii with the high school boys (hmmm). Emily made fast friends with the pretty girls who were happy to play ponies and tea party with her!.

Fun but tiring so Emily and I are planning a rockin day in our jamies on the couch. We will find out on Wednesday if the house has been sold and if/when we will have to move.

Party #1

Wow, the party was so fun and we had a great time! About 30 people showed and it was a great mix of old, new, Navy, neighbors and kids. I didn't get any shots of the girls all dressed up because as soon as their friends showed they all disappeared to the basement and didn't re-surface until the party was over. You can see a shot of Emily below (after she had changed herself mid-way through the party for some reason) nearly passed out on the stairs! We said good-bye to our last guest at 11:30 and when I turned around there she was, face down - all partied out. .

Our friends were very generous in congratulating David on his promotion and lets just say the scotch should last us a while.

On to preps for party #2.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Ta Da!

Maybe it's the calm before the storm but considering my schedule for the next few days (company for dinner Friday, taking Olivia to a birthday party and back Friday night, hosting a party Saturday night, going to church, teaching Sunday School, taking Olivia to a Girl Scout party, and hosting another party Sunday night) everything is going according to plan. (Ha...I just cursed the gods didn't I? No one to blame but me)

The tree is up and the house is decorated (if only my poinsettias will last 2 more days) They start to die the moment I bring them home! Emily and I ran all our last minute errands today - here was how we started.

Me: Time to get dressed Emily.

Em: (yelling from the top of the stairs) I already got dressed!

Me: Ok, come down and let's get going then.

Em: Promise you won't make me change?

Me: Hmmm, no promises. Let me see.

Em: (still yelling from out of sight) It's warm and it's all pink so it matches!

Me: Great, let's see...

She got me on a technicality...it is warm and it is all pink :)

1st Snow!

We had our first snow last night...it started right at 4:00 as we walked out the door to get our tree. It didn't last too long but it made for a very festive tree picking and hay ride with Santa. In my usual form we had to stop at 2 places and eventually ended up going back to the first place to the first tree I saw. My hub is most patient at this time of year! The payoff is a beautiful tree - or it will be later today once it's decorated.

Also in her usual form, Emily had to dress herself for the big outing. She cracks us up!

Congrats Captain!

The photos are awful but the day was good! David officially pinned on 06 yesterday in a nice ceremony at his work. The girls loved spending the morning at Dad's work (especially the doughnuts bought for them) and were really proud of him!

We are having a "wetting down" (A Naval tradition of throwing a party in honor of your promotion) on December 13th to celebrate with many of our friends in the area. Time to get the tree up and start cooking...again! Bring on the pay raise :)

I'm Baaaaaack!

Miss me? I know, I know...it's been a long time right? Well my only excuse is that for the week before Thanksgiving I shopped and cleaned in preparation and the week of Thanksgiving I shopped and cooked in preparation and then on Thanksgiving I cooked and cleaned the aftermath and was left with no energy to blog! That and with 7 kids in the house I was lucky to get 5 minutes of computer time to check the news! We were so lucky to have my whole family join us this year (13 in all) and we had a great time! The kids have so much fun together and I think we even had enough food for the teens and tweens !

Below are some pictures of the week with the gang, including a few from our trip to the Museum of American History and our walk around the White House. Hope your Thanksgiving Day was as full of good food and fun as ours was...now on to that Christmas business!

Thanksgiving in DC

Fun with Emily

It's Friday again...you know what that means...Mommy and Emily Day. We have decided to spend the day at home today! Emily seems to be loving that, she has stayed very busy some would say "creating," I might say "destroying" but it all depends on your perspective I guess (and who gets to clean it all up).

Cutting, taping, gluing, cutting, gluing, taping (get the picture?)

helping me "decorate" for Thanksgiving

Sorting the rainbow goldfish by color (there is a little of me in her I guess)

And of course entertaining me with a new song!

As for the rest of the week it was rather uneventful, nothing post-worthy :) I will try to be wildly exciting next week to make up for it but don't hold your breath!

Nature Walk

It's been a week since I posted? A whole week? Where does the time go? I guess after all that Halloween fun, 2 sick kids on Sunday, 2 days off of school, 2 playdates with friends we don't see often, a trip to the movies and the voting mayhem on Tuesday - I just checked out for a few!

We are getting back into the grind. Olivia's last soccer game is tomorrow and David returns tomorrow night. He is sure to be fully aclimated to the +13 hour time difference by now so who knows what condition he will be in for the first few days. He always handles that stuff better than I do - I'm a baby when I don't get my 10 hours of beauty rest! The girls are very excited to see him (and the inevitable loot he bought.)

It was unusually warm today so Em took the opportunity to wear her favorite skirt and flip flops ("it's too cold" didn't work today) and we took a little nature walk to collect leaves and play on the playground.

Happy Halloween

I thought it would be fun to compile a group of Halloween photos from the past and came up with a really fun slide show below. It is hard to believe looking at them in succession that there were so many years before Emily! Seems like she has been a part of our family since the beginning. It is amazing to see the changes in all the kids over the years and to see photos of our cousins with no Emily or Caitlin - if only we had known :)

Pumpkins are carved, costumes ready (sneak preview below), candy out. We are trick-or-treating with our neighbors and then heading to their house for cider and pizza afterward so I will post photos tomorrow.

Happy Halloween to all the kiddos and happy birthday to David who missed the day entirely...flying out on the 30th in the am and landing in Japan on the 31st pm!

Halloween Through the Ages!

Happy Birthday David!

Not really part of the party preps but I thought you might enjoy the scene from one of Emily's "quiet times"...with scissors.

I just know Emily and I bought orange frosting and candles for the cake but we couldn't find them anywhere. This started out to be a "fall" decoration with leaves and pumpkins but we quickly lost focus.

Hmmmmm

Happy Day! It tasted good anyway.

Thanks Aunt Kathy

Aunt Kathy sent a birthday card to David that was quickly hijacked by the girls! We have been doing this ALL weekend :) Just remember when you go to buy kids those hundred dollar toys for Christmas this year...one silly talking piece of paper can entertain for hours! I think I will send her son Jacob a drum set:) BOO!

Halloween is the new Christmas?!

Can I possibly be as busy this week as my calendar is saying? Since when did the week prior to Halloween rival Christmas? Between getting costumes together, class parties, Halloween parades, buying candy, decorating the house, carving pumpkins and oh yeah, Davids birthday, this week hasn't even begun and I am exhausted! Helps that the kids are totally hyped on sugar already too.

Luckily we have had a nice relaxing weekend complete with a trip up the road to Emily's favorite stream to collect leaves for pressing and a soccer game in the pouring rain. We are celebrating Dada's birthday tonight since he is heading out of town before Halloween and I think the rest of the week is going to get too hectic to do it justice.