Trains, Planes and Automobiles

The girls and their friends (Charlotte and Mackenzie) drove to the metro, and then took the train to the airport. They had a blast going up and down the escalators, watching the planes, riding the metro, and enjoying lots of hugging in between.

Neighborhood Holiday Party

I was suckered into becoming the neighborhood social chair, so my first call of duty was to host the annual holiday dinner, which was held on Friday, December 2nd. Close to 100 people came, including Santa (which the girls were terrified of). We had hams, turkeys, huge cake and lots of side dishes. We even made crafts -- reindeer food was a huge hit and we put it out nightly for the reindeer on our porch. I think everyone had a good time. Here are a few bad pictures.

River Farm

The girls love their new friends (Charlotte and Mackenzie). Angela met their Mommy at the park and connected her with their nanny, Lindsey. So they all get together for park outings and craft play dates. Last week they went to Mount Vernon and a nearby playground where Sylvia pushed them all on the merry-go-round. Charlotte and Mackenzie are identical twins! I've been running with their Mom at 5am! What fun! Gotta love all that PINK!

Big Girl Bed Update

Well, at naps, Friday didn't go so well and neither did Saturday. Friday, the Sylvia thought it would be fun to tell Evelyn to open the door to her room so they could hang out. She kept going in there. Bad listener!

On Saturday, Sylvia did much of the same, but they finally slept.

Sunday, after Sylvia made her way into the bathroom and discovered the band aids. Applied 2 on her hand, brushed her hair for about 30 minutes, went to the potty about 4 times, she finally fell asleep!

Bedtime is much easier. They don't go in each other's room and pretty much stay in their beds. Sylvia went into the bathroom and discovered these flossing toothpick things and dumped them all over. I asked what she was doing with them "I have to dump them, I have to now clean them up." Silly girl. It takes a lot not to laugh at her curiosity. And, I'm consistently amazed how she can OPEN ANYTHING! No child lock will set her back. We've moved all the dangerous stuff out of her bathroom because once I found her with a bottle of Tylenol (childproof lid) OPENED. She just dumped it out. Thank goodness she knows Mommy gives her medicine and she can't take it herself.

More Holiday Spirit

We all helped Anglea decorate her tree. It's very pretty with white lights and all hot pink ornaments. I offered for her to put it downstairs, but she had a good point that she would enjoy it most in her room. So, I made some hot chocolate (which the girls didn't like) and headed upstairs to decorate her tree. The girls did a great job! So fun! Then, we went downstairs to hang her stocking with ours by the fireplace (and the 1950s Santa, which was my Grandma Benson's, btw...David wants to throw it away...shame on him)!

On a side note, the day before Angela and Mommy ran the hot chocolate 15k (9.3 miles). While the race was logistically a nightmare, both Angela and Mommy achieved personal records, at 9:03 pace (1hr 24min) and 10:06 pace (1hr 34 min) respectively. We were both thrilled! Mommy didn't register for the race, but her friend offered her the bib after she was injured. Both of us are training for a half marathon on St. Patrick's day, and Angela may go onto run a marathon in the fall.