Ok, we're finally back to our "normal" routine.

We've been home since early Monday morning and it's taken us until this evening to fall back into our normal routine. We just spent 6 frigid, but lovely days in Northern Va. visiting Will's entire family.

Sophia was in Grancy Glory. Lilly was being a little Dora the Explorer. Then the Kansas cousins arrived and Sophia instantly turned a bit shy. Madeline asked Sophia to play right away and the two of them became quite good friends on that very first day.

By late afternoon they were outside sliding down the hill together on a cardboard box. I think Sophia was excited to have an "older girl" pay attention to her. She adores older girls and Madeline is the perfect age. I think Terra is a bit too old to enjoy hanging out with a three-year old.

Sophia was thrilled to see and play in the snow. She and Will spent some quality time sledding. Sadie joined in the fun too. Heck, I even went down the hill a few times with her.


As quickly as Madeline took to Sophia so did Terra to Lillian, but by the end of the week Lilly and Jack were playing magnets and trucks together. I even saw them give each other a hug. At times they were chasing each other around the house and other times they were imitating each other. It was completely entertaining.

One day we went to Chuck E. Cheese. It's always a big hit for my girls. Sophia used her tokens with Grancy. Will, Lilly and I played lots of ski ball to win enough tickets for Sophia to win a bag of cotton candy, four suckers and some stickers. Lucky girl!

One afternoon Sophia wanted to have a parade with everyone. She found some colored ribbons in the garage and doled out the colors to a few suckers. I know better than to have a parade with her because they literally last all day. This time she managed to keep it pretty quick on that frozen day. It was one of the colder days, but she still led them up and down the driveway a few times. I tried to get it on video:



Wednesday was an incredibly fun day. We went to the very tippy top of the Washington Monument. Each view was better than the next, but I think the side facing the Lincoln Memorial was my favorite. We managed to keep our entire group (5 kids and 5 adults) together the entire day. This is an especially amazing feat considering that we navigated through a massive sea of people at one of the Smithsonian cafeterias.

New Years Eve was spent at Rob and Christina's place playing Rock Band (or something like that). We took turns and had a fun night.

Oh yeah and the best part: we celebrated sans children. Can you say Happy New Year!? Thanks Grancy and Big Daddy!

While there were many, many fond memories from our Christmas visit with everyone, I think there are a few that really stand out.

Here are my favorite
Memorable Moments:

* Despite losing power on Friday night (at dinner time) we all managed to look good in our holiday family photo (seen above).

* Lilly finally started calling Sophia something. She's settled on SIA, but sometimes it sounds like SHIA. We'll see if it morfs into anything else.

* When asked how she could tell her cousins apart Sophia replied by pointing out that Terra is the one with polka-dots on her face. The polka-dots are really freckles. It's funny how a three-yr old thinks.

* It was the year of repeat gifts: knives, robes, ruby rings(smile).

* Like mother-like daughter: Mom slept through Avatar and Sophia slept through Princess and the Frog.

* Finding the penny in the Find It! game.

* Sophia's scooter and music show.

* Lilly and Jack playing like old pals.

* Delicious grasshoppers - every night. (Yes, I did gain at least 5 pounds from these alone).

* Will forgetting his lap top. He realized it when we were an hour away from home. We turned around and drove back to get it. We had to. Finally got home at 3 AM.

Can't wait until our next Christmas together...didn't we say it would be a destination Christmas? Anyone up for Disney?

Take a look at the rest of the pictures.