A visit from Clifford

Clifford the big red dog has long been a favorite character in our house.  So, imagine Vivian's delight when she finally got to bring home the Clifford-bag from school.  The assignment was to do some activities with Clifford and then add photos and a story to Clifford's travel book.  Double bonus for me, because I got to help Vivian with her homework and got photos for another blog post at the same time.  So, here are Vivian and Clifford in action.  They had a fun weekend!

Playing with playmobil

Reading a story to Annelee and Clifford

Flying high!

Dinner

Planting veggies at church

Playing with Rowan

Cuddling with Annelee

Stylin', waiting for the dentist

Snow

Ironically, today is a warm (by comparison to the winter we've had), spring-like day and everyone's out and about (including the sun) and smiling, and here I am posting some snow pictures from last month that I just came across.  Always a little slow.

Annelee and Vivian have been very busy "shoveling" snow.  Mostly on the lawn, unfortunately, and not our driveway, where it was needed, but, maybe we'll teach them that next year. In any case, they've had fun!

We've been sledding, both in our backyard and on the hills by the pool and the school. I can't believe we didn't build a snowman this year, though.  But maybe we still get a chance (I hope not!)

Anyways, here are some pictures of the girls enjoying the white stuff.

Posing in the snow

More posing (and yes, the hat needs to be handed down to Annelee)

Hard at work

Hello Kitty!

Annelee's Picture Day 2014

Preschool tried something different for picture day this time around, and brought in a company that also brought in lots of dressy & dress up clothes for the kids.  Here's our little diva in her chosen outfit!

Lost!

For a few weeks, Vivian has had a couple of loose bottom teeth.  She kept wiggling and moving them, but they weren't budging.  Jokingly, Will tried to pull them out several times ... until one of them actually came out!  We've got our first lost tooth and have had the first visit from the tooth-fairy.  Tooth #2 seems to be determined to hang on a bit longer, so for now, we'll wait and watch.  It'll be gone sooner or later :)

Christmas 2013

After our pre-Christmas whirlwind weekend, our third Christmas at home started to follow a nice familiar pattern.   

Christmas Eve, we went to the early (5pm) service at church, and then stopped by a party two friends always throw on Christmas Eve.  Then home, and the opening of gifts from family.  The girls got their usual PJs and a book and then a necklace each and a radio clock. 

We sat the radio alarm for 7am and told the girls not to get out of bed before it went off, in case they scared off Santa.  Before we went to bed, we put out Santa's gifts (as usual), when we suddenly heard footsteps upstairs.  As it turned out, Vivian had chosen that moment to wake up and go potty.  Luckily, the next day, she confirmed she just heard us being loud downstairs, and was shocked how late we were up (it was about 11.30 :)

7am the next morning came and went, and no girls were trying to see if Santa had been here.  At some point, I snuck in their room to check, but the alarm apparently hadn't gotten off.  Vivian bolted upright and ran upstairs to discover that Santa had, indeed, come.  We woke Annelee up and all went downstairs.  The girls emptied out their stockings and tore the paper from the gifts and oohed and aahed over them even though they didn't always know what was in the packaging.  Apparently, it's still all about the wrapping and the thought of opening the gifts and we could've gotten away with pretty boxes ...

Although, when all was said and done, the Legos, puzzle, Vivian's first chapter book and Annelee's new tent were definitely hits.

We then spent the rest of the day lounging about and playing with the new toys.  For the first time, I made my Dad's sauces for the fondue and was quite happy with all of them.  Vivian loved the "feast you have to cook yourself" even though she didn't try any of the sauces.  Annelee was rather meh about the food.  Will and I enjoyed it, too.

All in all, a good Christmas.

Here's to a happy and healthy 2014!

The obligatory "Please pose in front of the tree and smile" photo

Vivian is excited about the book she got, but Annelee has already moved onto Vivian's next gift

Annelee unwrapping her gift

An umbrella!

Vivian checking out her do-it-yourself blanket kit with Daddy

Apparently, we got hit by a wrapping paper tornado

Post-gift-opening relaxation with a lollipop

Working on her lego-friends book

Merry Christmas!

I've been able to circumvent this particular tradition so far, but the other evening, we had a girls' night out and went to dinner.  At the mall (I wasn't thinking).  Of course, the girls immediately spotted Santa.  Luckily, there was no line to speak off, so we finally joined the ranks of the millions of families with the "kids on Santa's lap" photo.  :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Trip to National Harbor

We met Casey and Ernie for a little time away from  the holiday hustle and bustle at National Harbor.  We browsed the shops, had great food, hung out, and went to see the ice sculpture show before heading over to the Campbells and spending a night with them, and then heading back home to Pittsburgh.

It was a lovely start to the holiday season!

Santa was mighty big at National Harbor

The butterfly bench

Playing in the dry fountain

Casey's scarf made the best fashion accessory

Annelee gets a ride

The girls loved the ride on little train

Casey and Ernie and the girls

The girls LOVED getting a ride from Ernie

The scarf works on every little girl

Breakfast

The ice sculpture exhibit - not quite what we expected - almost all of the ice was colored

But the coats were nice and cozy and warm!

The girls and I went for a taxi cab ride