Snow Day!

Nothing like four inches of snow to call a snow day in Virginia!

Our January in Review

A simple way for me to remember these busy years as by documenting each month in photos.  Between looking back through photos & my planner, hopefully I can keep our lives somewhat documented among the busy days of our lives.  So here's to our first month of 2015...

We kicked off the new year right by taking a New Year's Day trip to Build A Bear.  It was time to pack that paci away.  Andrew put the pacifier into his new Ninja Turtle & has been paci-free ever since.  He did such a great job transitioning to no pacifier & I guess it was about time since he was just over four.  He only used it at night so thankfully it hasn't affected him one bit! 

We kicked off the start of the 2015 school year with a snow day on the second day of returning back to school.  We got A LOT of snow, which meant not just one snow day but two!  These kids weren't sure what to think of it & little did we know, but this was just the start of several snow days this month...

The boys started tae kwan do this month.  This is their Saturday morning activity where they go together with Chris!  When they returned home from their first lesson, Chris had some Abby time while the boys & I headed to Paddington the movie!

And yet, another snow day has happened.  Between snow days & delays, we didn't have a full week of school in January and have yet to have one yet!  Our last full week of school was in mid-December.  Snow days mean lots of time spent at home playing outside for as long as they can handle it (which doesn't last super long) & getting creative inside with games, activities, movies, & more.  The kids and I have spent lots of time together this month...

Another snow day activity:  making snow out of shaving cream!  Even Abby gets in on the fun of having her brothers home.

Aiden doesn't let the snow stop him from having school.  He has own play school every single day (including the days that he goes to school).  This kid is seriously like a mini teacher with his "classroom" & teaching.  He plays school almost everyday for up to 2-3 hours.  With his big imagination, it really is hilarious to watch him create such an imaginative activity for himself.

We had a pretty low-key month, until this boy happened to head to the ER.  He had the cover of his plastic sword in his month when his little sister bumped into him, causing the sword cover to push back through the back of his mouth & created a giant hole at the very back of his mouth.  After consulting with our family doctor, the kids & I headed to the ER.  Thanks to rush hour traffic, it took us over 45 minutes to get there but we made it & Chris managed to meet us there.  After spending almost 7 hours in the ER & several scans, we were cleared to head home & the hole healed.  Thankfully, the toy didn't hit any of his veins or arteries & there was no major damage caused.  But very scary...

 

You know what happens when you have lots of snow days & time spent at home with three little kids, a giant mess.  This is what our house looked like many days around dinner time...

All this time spent inside means lots of bonding time.  These three are growing up to be quite the trio...

We finished off our month with a visit from G & G Rogers.  We haven't had a visit with the both of them here for almost a year, so we were excited to welcome grandma and grandpa back into our house.  The kids loved having their grandparents here & so did Chris and I.  We didn't do anything too crazy as it is super cold here & sometimes it's just more fun to just "be" with G and G, but it was a great time!  

Other things to note (but no photos to document!): The boys successfully had their bi-annual dentist appointments & started swim lessons and are loving them.  Abby & I joined a playgroup on Friday mornings to get to know a few other moms in the area & give her a few more friends to play with.  I have been training for a half marathon & am enjoying finally running again without being pregnant or nursing.  I feel like it has been so long that I have had time to sneak away for runs for more than 45 minutes & am loving super early Saturday morning runs with a mom's running group!  And, Chris is also busy working out by starting off the year getting into the P90X routine. 

That's our January in review.  

Snow days, lots of time spent inside, & eagerly awaiting any sign of spring! 

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning.

It truly is magical to watch Christmas unfold in the eyes of your own children.  We had such a special Christmas this year with the kids & enjoyed being at home with one another (and very lucky to have MeMe Ruff with us as well!).  Believe it or not, the kids did not wake up SUPER early so we managed to get a Christmas gift to ourselves and sleep in until 7 am!  We quickly headed downstairs to open stocking & get coffee for mommy, daddy, & grandma.    And then it was present time...

Let's start with Andrew.  He is at the perfect age for the holidays.  He LOVES toys & it's really hard to restrain myself from buying everything that he wants on his wish list.  One of his favorite gifts this year include a new Buzz Lightyear (that Aiden picked out all by himself!) to replace the broken one that he has been playing with all year.  Other favorite gifts include some new costumes (thanks Target Halloween clearance) & pretend play items.  He is really into dress up & seriously has a costume on almost all day long! 

Aiden.  My little organizer, of course, was in charge of passing out presents & making sure that everyone took turns.  He was a little confused while the adults didn't get as many gifts as the kids.  My non-toy kid received lots of games, books, & activities to keep his busy mind engaged.  One of his favorite toys that he received came from Aunt Jill:  the Bee-Do Minion.  He has been asking for that silly minion for at least 6 months.  Way to go Aunt Jill for that winning gift!  

  

Little Abby.  We were a little nervous for Christmas morning because a few days earlier when Aunt Jill was here to visit & we opened gifts, she cried that everyone else's gifts weren't for her.  She really wanted Aiden's Bee-Do minion & Andrew's Batbot.  Thankfully, she seemed pretty content wandering around the Christmas room most of the morning & playing with her new random toys.  Of course, her favorite are her new dolls and stroller.  She is a little mommy at heart!

Here are a few more favorite pictures from Christmas morning.  Chris & I are very thankful for the gifts that we received from our families as well.  It truly is a magical time & we are so blessed to be able to share our love for Christmas with our three little ones.

More Christmas Memories Continued...

We may have spent some of the holiday season at the doctor & someone was trying to be "jolly" although he wasn't so well.  It was a rough month of illness!

 Baby Abby

 Our little shepherd at his holiday preschool program

 Christmas Jammies

 Christmas JOY:)

 Decorating the tree.  (Notice Superman Andrew in the background!)

 Santa Baby.

 My three sweethearts!

 Brothers.

 All ready for his Christmas program.

More Christmas Memories

I'm sharing some of my favorite pictures from the holiday season to remember some of the special & fun things that we did this year.  I feel like we may not have done this much this year with three wild little children, school schedules, & birthdays to celebrate this holiday season was BUSY!  But, I love some of the pictures that show the joy of the holiday season.

Town Lunch with Santa

Making Sugar cone Christmas Trees

He loves his baby sister!

Pancakes with Santa Breakfast at the Firehouse

A special dinner out in the Mosaic District.  Aiden got all dressed up for a rare dinner away from home!

Someone did not love Santa this morning!

A better picture with the wooden Santa!

One of my favorite pictures.  Hanging out with the reindeer at the Mosaic District.

Game night by the Christmas tree.

We love just hanging out by our tree.

The Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

I'm going way back in time to November when we did our Annual Christmas Tree Hunt.  This is one of our family's favorite days of the year ( or at least Chris and I love it!).  We headed out the weekend before Thanksgiving because we knew that we were going to be gone for the holiday & wanted to get our tree set up & ready to decorate the moment that we got back.  

This year, we headed out about 45 minutes west of here to Snickers Gap Tree Farm.  It is a far cry from the city life where there are rolling hills & lots of farmland.  I would say that we survived, but not quite thrived, out there.  The boys did well but Abby was not having it.  We headed to the doctor the next day to have a diagnosis of RSV:(  

Another adventure for our little family!  And more little Christmas updates to come.  I am trying hard this year to keep up to date with the blog as I know it is such a special document of our family's life & I will regret it if I don't keep it updated!

A Very Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation & it's hard to believe that it is coming to an end!  Chris was off for the full two weeks and it was absolutely amazing to have both of us home, no traveling, & just being together as a family.  Honestly, I don't have a lot of pictures from the past two weeks because I put my camera down, put my computer away from blogging & Christmas shopping, & we really just relaxed and spent time as a family.  I had a giant to-do list of things I wanted to do but honestly most of the things are still not done, but I can say that we truly enjoyed a "break".  We played games, read books, watched movies, managed to get out of the house a few time and just truly enjoyed a full two weeks of everyone home.  We enjoyed a great visit from both of my parents & a special visit from Aunt Jill and cousin Jack.  We spent time with friends & had a fun trip into DC for Zoolights & Old Town for lunch with friends visiting from Connecticut.  Even with the fun moments, trust me that we didn't have our share of arguing siblings, complete mess of a house, & yes, I may be slightly looking forward to that school bell ringing at 9 am tomorrow but this break was good, wonderful, & much needed.  The true gift of this Christmas season wasn't all the gifts & glitz, instead it was about just having this rare time to "just be" together!