Pictures from Daddy's Trip

A few pictures from Daddy's trip.  Last month (I think), he was in Paris...see picture in front of Notre Dame.  The other pictures are from the trip he's on now.  Where he looks warm he's in Bilbao Spain, the snow is in Frankfurt where he was delayed nearly 2 days!  He loves the old and new architecture in Spain! 

Update

We've been having fun!  The snowstorm never really came, but the girls had a day off from school!

Daddy went to Poland to meet with the Ministry of Defense for a few days, then back for 2 nights and then flew out again on Saturday.  This time he's in Bilbao, Frankfurt and Brussels.  Right now, he's stranded in Frankfurt because of the massive amounts of snow!  This trip he's away 10 nights!

We were happy Daddy took Friday off too goof off.  We played outside, had a fire, enjoyed smores and then a picnic movie (*Tangled*).  They were thrilled to have their Daddy home.  We even let them sleep together in Sylvia's new bed (good prep for Aspen next week!).  Saturday we went to brunch and then said good-bye to Daddy.  They napped together Saturday too.  Afterward, Mommy watched 4 kids at once (neighbhor broke her foot!) for about 2 hours.  A friend came to visit around dinner, so it was good to have some adult time.

Sunday, the girls woke at 8:40am (*RECORD*) due to the time change.  We had breakfast and played outside all morning.   In the afternoon, we went to a community theatre production of Pinocchio. They loved it.

Let's hope Daddy is safe on his journeys.  Mommy has a busy week planned, including lots of play dates, an Easter egg hunt, and two babysitters for a half marathon in the AM and friends birthday party PM.

9 days until Aspen!  Girls are so excited!

Roller Skating

Thanks for our roller skates and cool pads, Grammommy and Gramps! 

Sylvia Can Make her Own Ponytails!

Check it out.  She did this all by herself.  She was soooo proud!

Evelyn Can Whistle!

You can't really hear it in the video because she didn't really want to do it, but she definitely can whistle.

Cute & Silly Pictures

The pictures taken with me in them were taken by either Evelyn or Sylvia.  It was spirit day at school.  Evelyn refused to wear her school t-shirt.  She wanted the polo dress!

Fun Weekend

Another fun weekend!  Friday we had a fun playdate with Wyatt and Finn from our old 'hood.  We still get together all the time!  Saturday, we had the Smith's over for afternoon turned evening snacking, dinner, drinking and movie.  Their kids are 4 and 2.  Super fun to catch up with them.  Sunday, we went to Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum and saw an IMAX on the Hubble Telescope and then spent some time checking out the space shuttle Discovery and all the other cool suits and satellites!  Monday was President's day and the girls had fun at the Children's Museum and playing in the back yard/riding bikes after nap!  Good times!

Trip to DC Children's Museum

They've been 3 times!

We Love Daddy

Valentine's Day

 Valentine's day was a blast making cards for friends and chocolate dipped pretzels.  The girls had a party at school the day before V-Day, and with their gal pals on the 14th.   If they are good, they are rewarded with one treat after naps each day.

Happy 92nd Birthday Granny

On February 10, 1921, something very special happened!  My Granny, Helen Dinkins, was born. She's an amazing woman, role model and truly the most kind and loving person I have ever encountered.  I have so many fond memories of my time with her!  We have already planned our visit in August and the girls are so thrilled to see their Great Granny.

Granny, we all love you, very, very much.  Thank you for being such a special part of my life.

Super Duper Fun - Snow Tubing and Water Park

We took a bit of an impromptu trip to Massanutten, which is a resort about 2.5 hours south-west from DC.  We had a blast at the water park (little Miss Sylvia is fearless on these huge slides!) and snow tubing.  The tubing requirements were kids had to be 36" tall, so they beat it by 3 whole inches (if that).  After a few trips down with their tube tied to one of ours, they went solo over and over and over. We got going seriously fast and they LOVED IT!  It was loads of fun!  I was super impressed how brave they were.

We decided to save the skiing for Aspen.  We figure its best to put them on skis where the snow is real and the instructors are the best!

I took one picture on the iPad, but it's not worth the hassle of uploading!

Cute

This picture was snapped by a photographer at our friends baby's christening.  They were very interested in what was going on!  

New Classes

The girls are now in gymnastics and swimming on Tuesdays and Thursdays when they aren't in school.  In March they will begin t-ball through the Fort Hunt Little League.  The girls are awesome ball wackers and all their friends are on the team.  It's even taught by one of their friend's dad!

Early Reading Skills

Evelyn and Sylvia are really catching onto reading skills. They are very good at decoding and they are learning their sight words -- the, and, a, as, play, can, etc.  So proud of them.

Repunzel Repunzel let down your hair

Super cute.  All princess, all the time.

Busy Week!

Daddy was in Paris and London this week, so it was lot of fun just having girl time!  We had lots of playdates (with Kaitlyn, Brendan and Max) during the week and Mommy had a girls night out to celebrate a friend's birthday.  Daddy returned late Friday with pretty little Eiffel Tower necklackes and Union Jack patches for the girls, and yummy pastries from a requested patisserie for Mommy!  On Saturday, we went to the National Portrait Gallery and out to lunch at Rosa Mexicano (the girls are digging HOT stuff and we love their margaritas!).  Sunday was lots of fun...Fletcher's birthday party at Noon (pirate theme...arh...) and a community theatre production of "The Little Mermaid."  The show was 2.5 hours long and they LOVED IT. We are going to put them in drama camp this summer because it's all drama (acting and pretending) all the time!  I should have taken some pics b/c the girls looked awfully cute!  oh well.

Snow!

Well, it was only a dusting of snow, but it made for some fun times!  

December is DONE!

Thankfully, all the December posts are finally complete.

Christmas Break Fun

Pictures from an awesome christening (our friend baby Mason) and reception where they decorated their own gingerbread house, made an ornament, and sat at a kids table all by themselves (the adults were in a completely different room), and took pictures with Santa and Mrs Claus; the event was on the rooftop terrace at the W hotel.  AMAZING.

Baking, decorating and eating gingerbread cookies for Santa.

Trip to the train exhibit on Christmas Eve at the US Botanical Gardens.

Christmas Eve dinner with Grammommy's yummy lasagna.

Not photographed events included an amazing New Year's Eve celebration with our neighbhor's and 3 other families, trip to the new Children's museum, drive by the National Christmas tree (it was COLD!), and I"m sure a dozen other things I'm missing.