What we did in December, Part I

We did SO MANY fun things in December!  It's time for a photo-dump to tell you about our activities and travels.  I couldn't fit it all in one post, so stay tuned--I'll have more vacation pictures to share soon!

We went to Indianapolis in December.  Ed and his brother watched Wisconsin win the Big Ten championship football game and we went to the Children's Museum with Natalie and Boston and Eric (Mr. Miles and Chase stayed home so the young Master could get his nap.)  The kids LOVED it, as usual.

Jolly Days was going on.  The kids slid down a huge slide on potato sacks, "ice skated" in socks and played in the snow castle.

In the Science center, the kids learned about nutrition, water, caves, ponds, weather, gravity, and played in a construction site--Eric helped them peddle around in a little bull dozer and here's Ed and Matilda up in the crane tower.

The big kids all rode the carousel.   Evelyn rode a jumping deer, Boston rode a still giraffe and Matilda made poor Eric sit on a bench with her.  The most boring seat on the merry-go-round.  They enjoyed it.  After the ride, they played a bit more, had lunch, got fro-yo from a robot and visited dinosaurs.  They were WORN OUT that night!

Next up, Ed had to go to North Carolina to participate in an immersion program for his MBA at UNC.  He drove down and a few days later the girls and I flew out to join him.  The baby HATED being forced to sit on my lap during the flight, but the big girls were SO good.  I was really proud of them, but would prefer to never again fly with a "lap child." 

We took the kids on a walk through the arboretum. 

Then, a drink at the iconic bubbler.

We learned that Civil War monument soldiers in the South face North.

We posed by the old well and the baby desperately wanted to get out and go stumbling through the wet grass and leaves.

After checking out the campus we drove out to the Outer Banks to our rental house on the beach in Southern Shores.  We stayed for two weeks, enjoying time on the beach, celebrating Christmas, checking out some sites, and even joined the aquarium because the kids' loved it!

Matilda and Evelyn being attacked by "Sandy Claws"

Visiting the sharks in the largest shark collection in NC.

Evelyn's favorite part of the aquarium--the fake alligator.

Adelaide liked him too.  Actually, the aquarium was a perfect place to take Adelaide--just small enough and never crowded so she could toddle around like she owned the place!

Babies love to be outside.

See?  Love it.

Those black spots out in the ocean are our dolphins.  They visited several times and would leap all over fishing.  There were TONS of them!

Matilda was NOT scared of the sharks.

Still having fun at the aquarium.

We also visited the settlement at Roanoke.

They enjoyed trekking through the woods finding all the Indian stuff and then the settlement as a surprise at the end of the trail.

They met Henry.  The friendliest Scottish mercenary you could ever hope to meet!

Matilda played dress up.

Evelyn played dress up (the sword really suited her viking nature)

Daddy played dress up.

In the museum at the Roanoke Festival Park the kids loved exploring all the hands-on exhibits.  Matilda spent a good portion of her time playing pirate.

Adelaide was the first to crawl up into the dug-out canoe.  The big girls remembered seeing the canoe being made in the woods by burning the log and chipping away the burnt wood with shells.

Adelaide played dress up.  A Civil War Soldier.  And a very cute one.

And they played tag outside.  They were good and tired that night, too!

Santa came.

He left a thank you note and ate the cookies!

And he brought presents.

He really CAME!!!

The kids tore through the gifts with wild abandon.  Matilda and Evelyn really seemed to enjoy handing out the gifts for the first time.

After Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit.  Matilda started playing "Hair doctor" and set up a salon for Grandma.

Evelyn really helped her relax, too.  

Did I mention that we got a REAL tree and we all worked together to make the decorations?  It was days and days of fun getting it ready!

There was a hot tub on the 3rd story deck over-looking the beach

Evelyn did NOT like to hot-tub, but she did love flying her kite off the deck!

And we all watched the moon come up over the waves.  It was beautiful!

Stay tuned for more pictures from NC and VA!

Christmas Card 2012

Love My Family Christmas Card

Customize your Christmas cards this season at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here.  It was the first holiday since Grandpa Mike and Grandma Marilyn got married and we were SO happy to have her here!  (I would have loved to include some more pictures but Blogger thinks the files are too big!)

The Christy's brought birthday gifts for Evelyn and Adelaide--a Strawberry Shortcake cash register for Evelyn and soft, adorable, animal bowling set for Adelaide--big hits!

Grandpa and the kids played "Don't Break the Ice."  They also took Matilda on a walk to the Fabyan mansion and gardens, which she really enjoyed!  The day before Thanksgiving the girls and I had a pizza supper with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Marilyn and the girls got plenty of play time over the three days that they were here.

Knowing the kids wouldn't really appreciate the Thanksgiving spread, I gave them what they like most--Mac n Cheese and a movie.  They were quite satisfied.  Adelaide fell asleep about 5 minutes after they started--with a full belly!

The grownups had a more traditional spread--baked sweet potatoes with apple, onion, thyme and sage, sour cream mashed potatoes, bread pudding dressing with sausage, sage, apples, dried cranberries and apricots, cider glazed roast turkey, and a white wine and fried sage gravy with pumpkin gingerbread trifles for dessert.

 In our new dining room!  Eeeee!!

This was exactly the Thanksgiving I've been dreaming of--FIVE kids!  They were all so good and really enjoyed each-other's company.  They even cooperated for group photos.  I hope we can do this picture every year as they grow--and maybe even with more kids in it!

Well... mostly cooperated, of course my girls get a little silly :)

Halloween

A week before Halloween, Matilda insisted that she would need to be a fairy princess for trick or treating.  I knew it would be too cold for the traditional leotard, tutu, wings ensemble.  So, I hit the fabric store to make winter fairy princess costumes for both her and Evelyn.  I also bought a sewing machine.  I got home and Matilda and Evelyn hated the burgundy fabric and both wanted the hot pink. Thank goodness I bought enough hot pink for 2 costumes!  I unpacked my sewing machine and got to work. But... the machine was a lemon and didn't work at all!  So, I diligently got to work hand-sewing 2 hot pink velour faux fur trimmed fairy princess coats and 2 tutus.  I, honestly, was pretty pleased with how they turned out!

The kids seemed excited, too.  Until Halloween.  Day of, Matilda decided her fairy costume was not "spooky" enough and elected to be a witch.  The same witch she was last year that we got for a few bucks at the consignment shop.  She said she'd be a fairy for trick or treating though.  No dice.  She went 100% witch.  Thankfully, Evelyn loved the fairy costume and Matilda was an adorable little witch!

We went to Matilda's preschool for a costume parade and party.  There was pumpkin decorating, a scavenger hunt and a story about monsters that the kids had made.  It was super cute!

It was really chilly, but Trick or Treating in Geneva starts at 3:00, so, while the sun was still out, the big kids and Ed went out trick or treating in our new neighborhood.  They quickly filled their bags with loot--more than 1 full sized candy bar! And there was even a party with hot chocolate, hot dogs and a bounce house.  Ed reports that making them leave the party was exceedingly difficult and Matilda was so distraught she needed to be carried home because she just couldn't go any further (although she was sure she could bounce all night!)  We only had 2 or 3 trick or treaters stop by, but it was definitely a successful Halloween!

Evelyn's 3rd Birthday

Sorry some of the birthday pictures are so fuzzy; someone slimed the camera lens and I didn't notice until we were already done.  :(

But, Evelyn had a wonderful birthday!  Grandma and Grandpa surprised her by coming along to get her from school and walk her home.  Once we got home, we celebrated with balloons and cake--a chocolate cake with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy My Little Ponies on it.  It was exactly what she asked for and the embodiment of 3 year old tastes.

After cake was present time. She was quite spoiled this year--getting presents twice! Matilda chose to give her an Actress Barbie which she loves as much as the Veterinarian Barbie Kim and Eric sent for her.
We got her a hopper ball to bounce around on, some new movies, starter roller skates, Don't Break the Ice and a Nabi tablet computer to practice her letters with.  She loves playing Super Why pre-reading games on it and is already quite proficient at using it.  Another favorite gift was the beautiful pink nightgown from Grandma and Grandpa.

She is so tall and strong--99th percentile in height and 98th in weight at 40 inches and 40 pounds!  She's athletic and competent, loves to make art projects, see her friends at school, play letter games on her computer, play barbies with Matilda, sing in the choir, eat candy and go on walks.

She is potty trained now and has an active imagination.  She can be full of demands, but is mostly very cooperative and is great at cleaning up her toys and entertaining her baby sister.
She is such a beautiful and loving child.  She's clever and is great at building things and doing puzzles and is very curious about the way things work.
She loves sports, princesses, ruffles, glitter, counting and dancing.  Her favorite shows right now are Umi Zoomi (a math show), Super Why (a reading show), Caillou (a PBS show about a 4 year old discovering the world around him), Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (a re-imagined Mr. Rodgers) and Peppa Pig (a cute show about a pig preschooler and her adventures with her friends.)  She also loves Barbie movies.

She needs to learn to spend the night in her own bed--she keeps waking up and climbing into our bed.  Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese.  Well, probably chocolate, but that's not a meal.  She has also discovered ketchup.  She will seriously eat it with a spoon.  She loves making new friends and is so happy when people come to visit her.  She is so friendly and a very happy three year old!

Adelaide Vivienne is One!

Adelaide turned 1 on Sunday!  We celebrated with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Eric, Mommy, Daddy, Matilda and Evelyn.  We filled the dining room with pink balloons and butterfly bunting that I cut for her.  We got a big bouquet of pink carnations, a pink ruffly cake and lots of pink presents.  It was so girly!

I made a butter cake, and dyed the layers shades of pink for an ombre effect.  I decorated with a pink swiss buttercream frosting in ruffles.  It was a tiny cake--barely 6 inches across (but 4 layers) it was perfect for our girly little baby.  But, while we were out, Laddie managed to get up high enough to lick the ruffles off half of the cake!! I was able to turn it around for pictures, but you can imagine how angry I was!  Now, with time, it's become funny.

Adelaide didn't seem to know what to think when we all burst into her room signing "happy birthday" when she woke up, but she did love the decorations!  She ate some cake (not a fan of frosting though) But, mostly, she wanted to play with the plate.

And, she loved opening her presents!  It was a very special birthday.  Beautiful weather, she's nearly walking, she has 8 teeth and says "mama" all day long.  She eats like a champ, sleeps through the night, claps, plays peek-a-boo and adores playing with her sisters.  She is such a happy baby and, she's growing and learning things so quickly.