Botanical Gardens

 Anna & Abby have been wanting to go visit Daddy at his office for quite some time now. Then I heard that the Botanical Gardens (right near Daddy's office) had a special Christmas exhibit. The girls & I decided to check out the exhibit this morning before meeting up with Daddy. The exhibit ended up being amazing. There was a huge Christmas tree, a model train exhibit, and tons of displays made out of plant material. The girls said they liked the Christmas tree best, but they also loved the other parts. The special displays made out of plant material consisted of famous buildings in washington as well as fairies, animals, and little houses set up around the model trains.

When we first arrived at the botanical gardens Anna ran in and immediately saw the US Capitol Building made out of plant material. She said, "Oh, I wish we had brought the camera!" This was so cute to me because it is the first time she expressed interest in taking a picture of a thing so that she would have it to look at later. It seems like such an adult thought. As it turned out I was able to get some good pictures on my phone. 

posing in front of the Washington Monument

White House

Lincoln Memorial

After the botanical gardens we met Daddy at Tortilla Coast for lunch then headed over to check out his office. Overall a great day!

Gingerbread houses

On Friday we decorated gingerbread houses. The girls loved doing artwork with candy. Here they are posing with their finished products:

And here's our tree. We had just enough tracks to get the train set to go around it:

French braids

On Sunday Anna, Abby, & I all wore French braids in our hair. 95% of the French braids I've ever done are on my own hair. It was so fun to make French braids in their hair! I hope this is just the beginning of years of getting to style their hair. 

Preschool Christmas Concert

Today was Anna & Abby's preschool Christmas concert. The girls were excited to put on their Christmas dresses this morning. They both did a great job in the concert. Anna was an enthusiastic performer, as expected. In the past I rarely saw any 2 year olds singing, but Abby was well as many of her classmates were singing loudly and jingling their bells. After the concert they were both very proud of themselves.

Making Christmas Cookies

Yesterday we baked and iced Christmas cookies. We used Great Grandma Onie's recipe. Anna & Abby both helped to roll the dough, cut the cookies, and of course ice them. Everyone had fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great trip to upstate NY to celebrate Thanksgiving. First, we went to Aunt Diane's house in Binghamton: 

And then on to Albany...where we did more than play Muppet chess, but I guess Muppet chess is conducive to taking good pictures:

You may have noticed that the table has completely turn from 2 years ago when Abby was our little ham and Anna hid from the camera. Abby did, however, cooperate with the camera once in the last month:

On the day she turn 2 1/2!

(hard to tell, but that is a 1/2 cake)

Whip your hair

First watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YuLwJPhvYA

Then watch this:

Halloween continued

Here are two more great pictures from Nana's camera:

 

One of my friends had the wicked queen costume to go with Snow White and we managed to put together a last minute "prince" costume for Daddy.

 

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year. Abby was a cat and Anna was Snow White. A week before Halloween we attended our town Halloween parade to gear up for the season. The girls liked watching all the floats and people dressed in costumes. On Saturday we all went to a playgroup Halloween party where the girls got to do crafts, have treats, and hear their favorite local musician, Miss Anne, perform Halloween songs. On Halloween day Nana came to visit to join the festivities. The girls enjoyed all the Halloween festivities, but their favorite by far was trick-or-treating. We were surprised how many houses they visited - sometimes running from one house to the next. They were quite satisfied with their loot at the end of the night! Happy Halloween!

 headed to the playgroup Halloween party

separating pumpkin seeds from the mush

Anna & Abby searched with Daddy for the spookiest pumpkin design they could find. Once we finished our skeleton/bat design, Matt lit the pumpkin, and the girls ran around the house either truly scared or pretending to be scared of it!

Nana's here!

 ready for trick-or-treating!

taking inventory at the end of the night :)

Apple picking

On Sunday we went apple picking at an orchard we had never been to before. It was great because there were a lot of great apples low enough for the girls to pick themselves. There was also broccoli picking! And the girls got to check out a spooky barn and a hay maze.

Cox Farms 2012

A week ago we had our annual fall trip to Cox Farms. Anna & Abby seemed to enjoy it more than ever. Anna especially enjoyed the slides, Abby loved the animals, and they both loved the apple cider!

 

hello, cow!

Abby was a little nervous about the slides until Matt told her they would "ba" down the slides :)

 3 1/2 feet tall!

almost 3 feet tall!

Go Bluebirds!

This fall Anna is playing on her first soccer team. She is really enjoying the season, especially her coach - her daddy! Anna is on the bluebird team and both Anna & Matt enjoy going to soccer practice every Saturday. Also, Abby has enjoyed joining Matt & Anna for some backyard practices :)

 

First day of preschool

 

On Monday Abby went to her first day of school. She is a turtle! Anna had her first day of 4 year old preschool - as a frog. They both finished their first day with big smiles and said they loved it!

family fun & muddy fun :)

We have had a very exciting week! On Wednesday Nana arrived. On Friday Aunt Becky, Uncle Jeff, Liam, & Kieran came to town, and on Saturday Matt, Uncle Jeff, Jeff's brother, Dan, and our friend, Mike all ran Tough Mudder - an 11 mile run in the mud with obstacles. We had a great visit with Nana, Aunt Becky, Uncle Jeff, Liam, & Kieran, and we are all very proud of the tough mudders!

 

picnic lunch!

a trip to Red Mango with Nana :)

Where's Bear bear?

Abby has recently taken to hiding Bear bear so he will be "safe." The problem is that she can't remember where she put him. AND she's getting better and better at finding tricky spots!

Spelunking!

On Sunday we all went spelunking at the same cave that Matt & Anna explored last summer. We all loved it!

Learning to speak...Zulu!

dacing with the waves

Slip n slide!

From back in July:

Dancing with some friends!

I recently downloaded our videos onto the computer from the summer. Here's a great one from Sesame Place. I'll share some more over the next few days.

a visit from Corinne!

The night before we left for North Carolina we had a visit from Corinne! Although it was short, it was very sweet. Hopefully it won't be too long until we see you again :)

lazy summer days

Last week we visited Grandma and Grandpa in North Carolina. Uncle Pete, Uncle Dan, and Aunt Bridget also joined us. We all had a great time enjoying the beach and pool, going out to eat, playing lots of games, just relaxing, and catching up with each other.

 

 ferry ride to the aquarium

 building sand castles...and a "sheep nest"

 

 

learning to play solitare from Uncle Dan 

 

  

 Abby's favorite book of the week: the One Step Ahead catalog