December

December was another busy month for us! 

Santa is coming so we needed to get our lists ready! Our girls get 4 gifts from Santa: 

Something they Want, Something they Need, Something to Wear and Something to Read

At first we worried that we were being Scrooges but we found that last year it gave the girls lots to think about. It also allowed them to choose a much larger "want" than they would normally be able to choose. We are hoping that this will help keep gifts in balance during the holidays. :)

(Winter Wishes Outfit - outfit for her new doll, Electric Toothbrush, Pretty Dresses and American Girl Doll Books)

Dance class was a little chilly one morning.

Maddy had a school project this month where they had to create a family totem pole. 

(top to bottom) 

Evelyn was the coyote because she is a trickster, Maddy was a monkey because she is able to change the environment in a room and make people happy, I was a bee because I am organized and Nick is the lion because he is strong. Love it and her drawings are amazing! She hand drew them from pictures she found online.

Yeah.

December has been cold but sunny. Found a beautiful rose in my garden still.

We have two large cedar trees in our front yard. We have been watching them since we moved in and they are finally done for. We are very sad to lose them but they are too close to the house to risk them falling. 

The top of one of the trees flipped upside down and landed in the ground. All the guys stood around trying to figure out what to do. It was really funny. There is a big hole in the ground now so we decided that is where the new tree will go.

(You can see that the trunk on the right was starting to rot on the inside so we knew we made the right choice. The logs were so dry that I could move big chunks. The poor tree had not been drinking water for quite some time)

The most candied gingerbread house around

Maddy has started basketball and is loving it. Games start in January but she has been excited to get back to clinics and practice. Here she is in her new fancy basketball shoes. :)

Evelyn's school has a Christmas Pageant every year. The kids sing songs and then we have a big pot luck. We ordered a special new dress just for today! Our purple girl.

Some of the pieces of wood left from the tree are really amazing looking. We have decided to see if we can turn one into a coffee table. I did not realize how heavy it was going to be!

It is over 6 feet across!

Maddy had a fun little Christmas piano recital. 

Here is the video of Maddy playing piano (you have to go to the blog to see video)

Last day of school before break!

Our elf brought us magic seeds again! Yum!

Thank you ZsaZsa for our cute matching pink cheetah PJs!

Thank you PopPop and Suze for the new fancy dress! 

She wore it to the Nutcracker!

Going to the Nutcracker has become a little tradition. Last year we planned it with a bunch of friends and had so much fun that we decided to do it again!

On the 18th, the girls and I headed to DC for 9 days! We got to the airport in time for breakfast before our long flight.

Nana met us at the airport and we headed back to her new place. It was perfect! Maddy and Nan got right to work making a delicious dinner for us.

The weather was amazing! It was sunny and around 50! We decided we had to get out in the sun. We found a great park just two blocks from Nana's house and spent over an hour just playing and remembering sunshine! 

While we were gone, Nana got the dough ready for sugar cookies. The girls got right to work making yummy, buttery cookies!

That afternoon, Katie and Alice picked us up and took us to Zoo Lights. It was a perfect night and so much fun! The cousins were so happy to be back together again!

The next day we loaded up in the car and drove out to Mt. Vernon to see George Washington's home. It was amazing! 

The next day Nana had a surprise for us. We drove out to Colonial Williamsburg to stay the night and see the town. What an amazing trip! We got really lucky with the weather again and had so much fun!

Day 1:

This is the Governor's Palace at the center of the town.

The girls got in a bit of trouble so off to the stocks they went!

No cars are allowed in the streets but they did have horses and carriages. The girls loved petting all the different horses.

That night we went to see the special Christmas tree they light each night. Here is Nana and her 3 girls in front of the amazing tree!

Snuggles in the hotel <3 p="">

Day 2:

The next day we went for a wander through the buildings to learn a little more about colonial life. Love this photo of the 4 of them! 

After visiting a few houses, Nana treated me and the girls to a horse and carriage ride! The girls were over the moon excited! Our horses were Diamond and Ruby (perfect names).

After exploring all the houses we did a little shopping. 

One of the most exciting things in all of Williamsburg was right next to our hotel - Bubba's Ice Cream. Bubba is Evelyn's most favorite thing in the whole world. He is a kiwi stuffed animal we got in New Zealand when she was about 18 months old. He is her whole world and she just could not wait to take him to Bubba's Ice Cream. On our way out of town we swung by and it was WONDERFUL! Evelyn was so happy. :)

The next day we headed to Baltimore to the aquarium there. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. If my girls could have they would have stayed there all day and all night. They could not get enough of it. The whole building is built around a central aquarium and you climb up and up above it and then make your way back down below it. Evelyn was mesmerized by all the fish and Maddy loved the sea turtle and leopard sting rays.

Santa was feeding the fish. Too cute! He took out his oxygen mask just for this picture! 

Here they are under the aquarium in the center of the building.  This was their favorite part. We probably sat here watching the fish for 20 minutes - which was about 5 hours too short if you ask them! 

Dueling piano players

Nick arrived that night just in time for Christmas Eve. 

Katie had the cutest pancakes planned for Christmas Eve breakfast. She and Maddy made these amazing creations for all of us! 

The weather was getting colder but we all needed a little fresh air. There is an amazing park close to Katie's house. We went and played for a couple hours. Here are all my monkeys in the climbing contraption. We played a little soccer and had so much fun!

That night we got to give our elf, Pantala, hugs goodbye. He came all the way to DC! 

See you next year!

The next morning was Christmas and it was beautiful and so much fun! 

We opened Santa gifts first and the girls got everything they wanted! 

They must have been REALLY good this year!

(love this photo)

On Christmas Eve, Nana and Maddy worked hard and made cinnamon rolls from scratch (the same ones from Thanksgiving). They were ready to bake for Christmas morning and were AMAZING!

Evelyn got a matching outfit to her dolly from mom and dad and boy was she a happy princess.

Originally we told Maddy she couldn't build her new LEGO Hospital (her "want") but after a little while we realized that was torture for the poor kid. She sat down and built is all that morning. She is an amazing LEGO builder! 

We had some healthy food too!

During the day on the 24th, Katie pulled out a puzzle for Evelyn. It was a 1000 piece fall scene (that means it was ALL orange!) and we realized it would not work for her at all. All the adults, though, took on the challenge. We worked on it EVERY moment we were home. I was honestly not sure it was going to get done. 

Amy and the boys arrived that afternoon for some silliness and fun!

More presents!!

Maddy's wear - a unicorn onsie with matching eye mask and slippers.

The next morning, the four of us went out for breakfast at a Belgian cafe. They had the most amazing chocolate milk and breakfast choices.

We all headed to the National Air and Space Museum. We had so much fun looking at all the old planes and space items? Not sure what to call them. :)

Space Shuttle and Nana with all her grandkids.

We went up to the top of the tower to watch planes land at Dulles airport

On our last day we had the morning to play. We hopped on the train and headed into the city to the National Building Museum. 

Evelyn and Alec worked hard to build a tunnel. They learned that in order to make an arch they had to work together and lean each side on the other. Great team work! 

After making the mini version they decided to make a huge one! 

We managed to finish the puzzle just in time!! Phew!

Before we left, we loaded up on photos. I am taking the picture and Amy is in charge of making them laugh. Based on the hysterics I can only imagine what she was doing! 

Silly faces!

Nana and all her babies

Melissa, Nana, Elmo, Katie and Amy.

We decided to take Elmo out. :)

We headed home that night and made it back to Portland tired but having had a wonderful trip. 

Thank you everyone for such a great adventure!!

Portland got snow/ice while we were gone. 

The girls were happy to be back with their things. Here is Elsa playing with Star Wars LEGOs. Kind of sums up our kids I think. 

On New Year's Eve, Nick was finally ready for a haircut (no - he had not been wearing his hair like that before the haircut - it was to simply show how much hair the man had!)

We went to our friends' house for New Years and had a great time all together. 

Happy New Year everyone!