She's a big girl now

Lilly has officially transformed into a "big girl". She's sleeping in her full size bed now and on her very first night in it we took away her paci. Yay! We're done with the pacifiers.

Lilly has only taken 1 nap in the last 6 days though. She used to take a good 2 hour nap every day when she was in her crib, but now that she can get out of bed, she comes trotting out every now and then to show me that she's still awake. Sophia never got out of her bed, but for the most part she's a rule follower.

Lilly also attempts to pull this "I'm still awake" game at night too, but I think she gives up because she's simply exhausted. We need to get a nightlight for her room because the past 2 nights she's asked to go to sleep with the light on. I think it allows her to play too, but at least she isn't crying. That's always a nice relief.

We're back and we missed 14.5 inches of snow!

After a great week away from home, we certainly are glad to be back in Virginia Beach. It was so great to see our families and friends. We really did have a wonderful time.

Neighbors told us that we missed 14.5 inches of snow while we were gone. That's just fine by me. We saw our fair share in Pennsylvania.

In Pennsylvania:

• Speaking of snow
The girls took advantage of the snow and went sled-riding a few different times. Sophia and Nana went out on their own one day while I was trying to encourage Lilly to actually sleep in the toddler bed and not climb in and out of it for her entire hour of nap time. Will tried "snowboarding" down the hill on the sled (not shown here).

I don't think it snowed while we were there more than an inch, but freezing rain was falling when we left on Thursday.


• Family Photo
Since our family is as complete as it's going to be for a while we thought we would take a family photo. Meg completes the puzzle and rounds us out to 8 people and 2 dogs. Daniel is holding his dog, Piper, and Sadie didn't feel like posing. The dog sitting on the couch with Sophia is her Christmas present from Santa. She just knew he was going to bring her the "Fur Real Friends Doggie that has a purple and pink collar and a leash and it is white and you can take it for a walk". She was thrilled when she opened it up on Christmas morning. It was amazing to watch her face light up.


• Annual Cousin Photo
Here's a picture of Sophia and her oldest second cousin, Cole. He'll be 7 at the end of January. He was taller than Sophia in August when we visited, but now she's taller than he is. I knew she had a growth spurt!

Every year we get together with my cousins and their kids and we take a photo of all the kids. This year we really had to boogie through it because the kids were getting pretty antsy. One would be smiling and ready to go and the others would be off in la la land.

Here's the best one that I got. Cole is 2 weeks away from being 7. Sophia is 4 and 1/2, Rylee is 4 (turns 5 in September), Morgan is 3 and 1/2, Lilly is 2 and 1/2, and Kale is 1.


Notice that Lilly and Kale are holding hands. That was completely unplanned.

I predict we'll be adding to this picture soon. (Could be my cousin or even my brother).


• Other Fun Things
My Aunt Carole and I took the girls to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum one afternoon. We all had a great time. Sophia carefully inspected every last inch of the place. Lilly mostly asked to be held, but did warm up and by the time we got to the Water Room she was as comfortable as could be. Both of the girls quickly put on the provided rain jackets. We skipped the free Crocs sandals because the girls had their boots on and I honestly didn't think their feet would get wet. I was wrong. They got wet in spite of the rain jackets. I mean really wet: pant legs, socks, and sleeves.

We didn't have a camera with us the entire day, but I managed to get a few gritty ones with my phone.

Overall we got some cute photos.

We got to Grancy and Big Daddy's house on Thursday afternoon. It was their 39th anniversary and they decided to postpone celebrating to spend the evening with all of us. All of us included: Rob & Christina, Claire, Craig & Jonas, Will, me, Sophia & Lilly. Not included: Mike, Misty, Terra, Madeline & Jack. A great big family indeed!

It was Will's first time meeting "baby Jonas". That's what the girls call him. We all think he's an adorably handsome little guy. He's got a very laid back personality and it seems like he's happy all the time. Lucky parents!

Sophia was kind of obsessed with baby Jonas. At first she wanted to comfort him when he cried and by the end of our stay she was ready to hold him..and she did.

Grancy, Christina and I took the girls to see Tangled. It was a really cute Disney movie and I could literally hear Sophia's heart fall with disappointment when Rapunzel lost her long hair. Lilly stayed awake and quietly watched the whole movie. They ate popcorn and drank fruit punch. What else could they possibly have asked for?

A little quiet time, I guess.

After the movie we were supposed to drop Lilly off back at home with Will and then go to the nail salon for manicures and pedicures. Sophia decided that she didn't want to go so she also stayed home with Will, but she played quietly by herself the entire time, I think.

On New Year's Eve we went over to Rob and Christina's townhouse to celebrate the new year with some of their friends. Will and I had a blast even though we were the "old couple". At some point in life I guess we all experience it. We were fitting right in so our experience will be a pleasant one to remember. We played Taboo. It was a riot and a lot of fun. Then the guys played Rock Bank for a while and then the ball dropped! We were out that night until 3:30am. For a couple of old-timers...I guess that's not too bad.

Here are some of my favorite shots from time spent in Northern VA. Here are the rest of the pictures.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Here's some of our Christmas morning photos.

Christmas Eve

Sophia has to be at church at 4:00 for practice for the 5:00 service. She's singing with the cherub choir tonight and she's really excited. Last Sunday they sang at the 8:30 service and wore their robes. That was great fun for her.

Here we are getting ready to leave.

Cookies for Santa

This morning we made and decorate cookies for Santa. Boy did the recipe make a lot of cookies. It's a good thing we're going to a Christmas Eve party tonight and can take most of them with us because I don't think Santa or Mrs. Claus could eat them all. These are only half of them and the kids got sick of decorating them after only doing about 5 cookies each.

Build a Bear

Last week when I took the girls to the mall to see Santa we went to Build a Bear to look around for a while. Lilly actually pulled this car off the shelf and climbed in. It's made for the stuffed animals! Ha ha ha.

Lilly's holiday party

Sophia has been off from school all week, but Lilly had to go both days (Mon & Wed). On Wed she had her holiday party and parents were invited so Sophia and I went to it. It was cute. They sang a few songs then had a spread of food to share. I dressed the girls in red and white to celebrate the season. Look how cute they looked on their way out the door.

I forgot to take my camera to the party, but I did try to snap a few on my phone. They all seem to be blurry. Take a look.

Carriage Ride

A shopping center near our house called The Shops at Hilltop had free horse drawn carriage rides today so we went. It was a lot of fun. The horse, Fancy, pulled us around the parking lot for about 5 minutes in an old-time carriage. The girls loved it. Sophia asked where the windows were because it was completely open in the carriage except for a roof. She thought that was funny.

Sophia's school holiday program

Lilly has been sick all week with a terrible cold so she was out sick from school on Monday and Wednesday. Her holiday program was on Wednesday and we all had to miss it. I thought about just taking her in for the program, but wouldn't do that to the other kids. Doesn't she look miserable here?

Sophia's holiday show was also held on Wed. She sang and grooved along to the music a bit, but didn't seem to really be into it. Each class sang a few songs and then did a couple of group ones at the end.

Here are a few videos:

This is the one of her walking in:



Here's a video of a song:



Jingle Bells....and who knows why she was playing with her mouth. Gross.

2 hour delay

Since Sophia's school is on a two hour delay today, we decided to make Christmas cupcakes. Basically this means that she will be in school for an hour, but believe me, she's going! Actually I'm glad she had school today because we need to give our Christmas presents to her teachers.

She was up extra early at 6am so we've had lots of time to kill this morning. Sophia did all the sprinkles (and didn't make too much of a mess). Don't they look yummy?

What is going on?

In the past week it has snowed two times and it's been in the 30's all week. It's snowing right now, in fact. Sophia is outside in her rain boots and snow jacket. Lilly went out for about 2 minutes and then decided she was done. I have a feeling Sophia and Sadie will be outside for a while. Sophia loves the snow! I guess Lilly is like me...she doesn't like to be out in the cold. We're supposed to get between 1 and 3 inches. Yuck!

I finally found snow pants for both girls so when we head up to Northern VA and PA they'll be able to play outside. I even bought a round Dora sled for them to share. Perhaps I should have bought two?

Anyway, here's a quick video I just took:

Gingerbread House

It's a good thing I took these photos right away because 1/2 of the roof slid off right after I took the them.

Heading out for Sophia's church show

Here's a photo of the girls from Sunday. I thought they looked so adorable hugging each other.

Sophia's holiday show at church

Sophia was a sheep in the show. She had been practicing the songs along to the CD the music director provided for weeks. She knew almost every word. It was so funny to watch her in the show because she sang along to everything even though her part only required her to sing the refrain of each song.

Here are a few videos for you to watch. The last one is the best because she's singing directly into the microphone, but it's very shaky. Once she moved to the opposite side of the stage, I didn't have a good view of her anymore and gave Will the camera. He was holding Lilly and trying to tape so you can understand why it's a bit shaky...

Enter the stage.

Part 2



Another one

Riley's holiday party

On Tuesday afternoon we went over to Riley's (our neighbor) house for a holiday party. The girls decorated an ornament that looked like a Christmas present. Then they decorated sugar cookies. They had a blast. Take a look at the pictures.

Garden on Lights

We went to the Botanical Garden last weekend with some of the girls' friends (Haley, Carlie, Cameron, Trip and Addie) for their Polar Express program. It was cute. They had hot chocolate and cookies for everyone. We strung bells and beads on pieces of ribbon to create necklaces. Then the kids listened to the Polar Express story. After that we all headed outside to the tram for an drive through their Garden of Lights. It was magnificent.

It was so cold so in addition to wearing our warmest clothes we also bundled up with three blankets.

Sophia was literally shouting and screaming in delight at each exhibit. She was completely mesmerized at the beauty of the lights.

The flash was a little too bright for Lilly. (smile)

Pretty ballerinas

There's nothing wrong with dressing yourself...

Flu and version 2.0 and 3.0

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at Don and Cynthia's last week. Dinner was fantastic and the company was even better. Christina and I went to bed early because we wanted to get up at 4am and hit a few of the black Friday sales. We were successfully out the door at 4. We quickly realized that Starbucks doesn't open until 5:30am!

After our shopping spree we picked up Sophia and Grancy and went to the Vienna craft fair. Sophia choose her ornament of the year. It's a cat.

On Saturday evening I was overtaken with extreme fatigue and eventually got sick (let's call this Flu 1.0). I actually felt better by morning, but over night Lilly ended up getting sick too. She and I slept together that night and boy is she a snuggler!

On Sunday Will woke up and felt like he was run over by a truck. I thought he had what I had, but as it turns out, he had Flu version 2.0. He slept all day because if he was awake he felt like he was going to be sick. He never ended up getting sick though.

I ended up getting version 3.0 on Monday at the exact time that Will began to feel better. I'm calling it version 3.0 because I kept getting sick over and over again and couldn't keep any food down at all AND I felt like I was run over by a truck.

We're all nice and healthy again as of this afternoon! Believe me, now I'm on a frantic dash to sanitize the whole house.