14 December 2012

Best photo of the season so far. Hands down.

Sure-- I'll just throw her on Santa's lap- no problem :)

08 December 2012

Harrison's first ice skating- at Reston town center

Such a fun day! New family tradition for sure.
Carter didn't care about skating she just wanted to practice new found walking skills 
seriously worst expression ever. What is up with my face? 
After a couple of times around harrison was ready to (slowly) go it alone without daddy's hand. I though he would have more trouble with this then he did, frankly.  
I insisted on a family picture. Harrison did NOT want to do it and we basically forced him (hence the cowering in the back). Totally worth it because this one is goin on the christmas card :) 
Sometimes carter thinks it's funny to throw herself down like this. She's right.  
watching the zamboni was almost as a good as skating 
slightly improved expression 
Seriously. How cute are little tiny ice skates??
After skating we had some lunch at a chinese/thai place. I got yummy yellow curry which carter happily gobbled up. She loves to eat anything. As long as it is on mommy or daddy's plate (if it's not the aforementioned bread, cheese, frozen blueberries only rule applies).  

Purged

This morning I broke down and cleaned the last of Harrison's 3t clothes (they fit but the pants are definitely too short and shirts are a but small) and Carter's 9 month clothes (ha!! like she can wear those) out of their dressers. Some thoughts on this endeavor:

1) Heidi thank you thank you for all of the hand me downs from your sister that have been the majority of Harrison's clothes for the last 2 years. Huge blessing.
2) I wanted to get rid of Carter's 12 month stuff too but that would leave her with one outfit, Harrison's old Jammies, and 3 pairs of Harrison old pants. How does this girl grow so fast??? In the future I will make it my goal in life to throw baby showers for women (like me) having a second different gendered kid who insist they don't need a shower (you do!!! Trust me!!!)
3) advice to new parents: buy dark colored clothing-- the light stuff gets ruined SO much easier.
4) as much as you think you don't want to buy too many baby clothes because they grow out of them too fast, the desire for a cute child and to not be doing laundry constantly will probably win out. I'm learning to accept this.

All for now :)

02 December 2012

New thanksgivmas eve- Ohio edition!!!

This weekend we celebrated year three of the best holiday ever situated between thanksgiving and Christmas. DC folks trekked it out to shalise and frank's house in Ohio. Year 3 and I think the first time all six of us (plus Taci :)) we're there with our spouses and 9.5 children. We trickled in Friday night, Saturday we took the kids to Home Depot for a little crafty activity and then to a nearby skate park so they could climb big ropes and run up and down hills. Later we went to downtown westerville,oh to meet santa and do other fun christmasy activities like decorate cookies, write letters to Santa, and watch a plastic chicken Lay eggs (of course!). Saturday night after filling our kids up with sugar ( yummy gelato at the cutest shop ever) and letting them watch Brave we had the traditional fancy pants dinner sans kids. I contributed the plates since I recently scored a beautiful 24 place setting set of holiday dishes (for free from someone in my ward who was moving :))..after that we had a white elephant gift exchange. I vowed to not forget any gifts this year but forgot that Cory required a gift as well--- luckily both of our kids started screaming during the exchange so we saved some embarrassment -- phew!!! This morning we exchanged stocking suffers and I was as impressed as always at the creative skills of some of my favorite friends ever. Everytime we all get together I laugh more then I've laughed all year. For real. Thanks ladies for being amazing and inspiring me to be a better wife/mother/cook/maker of things/dresser/decorator/vixen/gardener/recycler etc. etc. I can't believe it was EIGHT years ago when we lived together on Crothers lane. I love us still!!! (and if you are wondering about the strange order of the pictures for some reason this happens when I blog from my phone)
climbing up the big ropes. Harrison made it all the way to the top.  
waiting for santa 
Taci, alissa, me, april, erin, shalise, and marci. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
running around a big christmas tree 
This cute Santa gave us a personal visit with lots of pictures. Harrison FREAKED out at first but came around 
playing with window stickers together 
drew tells the kiddos a story about the origins of Thanksgivmas and stockings 
SANTA!!!!!
Look!!! I see Santa!!!
This was on the way home. Note Carter is wearing Harrison's shirt and a diaper since she peed through her clothes...
Harrison and Alesa checking out some sticks 
Hey guys-let's buy some amish made chairs
Carter and Van are bonding