Grandma & Grandpa visit

This past weekend Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. We went to the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center, which is out in Virginia. We all loved the museum, but Grandpa loved it the best as he was able to see a ton of WWII airplanes. We also got to see the Discovery Space Shuttle, which was recently brought to the center. And we went to an observation tower and watched airplanes take off and land at Dulles Airport. 

 

We also went out to eat a few times and went bowling. Thanks for the great visit Grandma and Grandpa!

Merry Christmas

We had a great trip to Albany for Christmas! It was great to spend so much time with family. We had two snow storms while we were there and the girls got lots of time to play in the snow. They especially liked sledding at Daddy's favorite spot from childhood. While we were visiting we got to welcome our new niece/cousin, Briella Grace! Congratulations to Aunt Becky, Uncle Jeff, Liam, and Kieran on your new family member. We also got a chance to visit our good friends, the Sherwins.

 

Go Giants!

 Christmas Eve - ready for church and a party at Aunt Bridget's house

Christmas morning: Katie needs a check up

 A cousin's game of Hungry Hippos with Uncle David

 we love pie!

 Just 2 weeks before Christmas Abby asked me, "What is snow?" She was quite pleased with the answer!

 sledding!

 

Briella Grace with Uncle Matt on her birthday!

 Visiting the Sherwins: Dads & the two-year olds :)

 The "big" kids

 A new book from Uncle Pete

Abby posing in her new Cinderella dress with "Snow White."

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.