The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

A little preview of all of the fun we've been having! More to come when we get home! We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and will have a wonderful New Year!

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Our first major storms hit this past week, which meant a lot of snow days, and a lot of crazy ppl freaking out about the weather. The stores ran out of most everything the day before the first storm and I think the whole city pretty much shut down. The good news was that work was cancelled. Bad news being that Banana's pre-school got canceled one day. I tried really hard to convince her it wasn't my fault and that no one was going that day. Then we drove past her school to go shopping and there were cars in the parking lot...not pre-school cars, but she definitely didn't believe me when I tried telling her again there was no school. :Sigh: It was FREEZING, and just like our previous years here I forgot how cold it actually gets here in the winter months. Or maybe I purposely block it out because it's so painful to remember. :) The first "snow" day there wasn't a lot of snow, but plenty of ice and wind. Banana has been dying for the snow to arrive so she could play, and was pretty disappointed when we went out after the first storm and there wasn't very much snow.
(notice the beautifuil, clear sidewalks in the background? Running Man gets to plow a our whole square block and the paths around the church. But he said he didn't mind it this year because Banana loves the snow so much).
After a few tears we convinced her she could still do her snow angels, and she perked up even more when we started throwing snowballs at her dad!
This was Em's first real experience playing in the snow. We took her out last year, but she couldn't run around and play so she didn't get the full experience. She loved every minute. Her snowboots are hand me downs from Banana and are slightly large on her...she was fine walking, and sitting down. But to go from one to the other wasn't her favorite. She couldn't figure out how to swing her massive boots under her body and stand up. Hilarious. Kind of sad. But mostly hilarious.

I think this is the last chance I'll have to post before we take off for our Christmas adventures. I'll post some pics from the sunny Bahamas when I get a chance! Have a WONDERFUL Christmas!!

Think, Think, Think

Things have been crazy lately, and I haven't had much time to sit down and blog. I should have because the last few weeks are a muddly mess in my brain tonight...We've been working a ton, but have also found time to do some fun things as a family. I think I'll just let this blog be a picture post because that is so much easier than trying to remember anything right now :)


Here are some cute pics of the girls from Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time with all of our D-Port Family, and enjoyed all of the yummy food! Banana was excited to get to be with some of her best friends, and Em was just excited to get to eat all night! Every time I turned around she had something in her mouth!
Running Man surprised Banana and I with tickets to Princess's on Ice last weekend! It was such a fun girls night for Banana and I. She was decked out in all of her princess gear (complete with makeup and sparkles). On the way in we walked passed a family and one of their little girls started yelling at her mom that cinderella was there, while pointing frantically at Banana. I thought Banana was going to scream she was so excited someone thought she was Cinderella!! No trip to Disney on Ice is complete without one of their overcharged, but delicious snow cones.
I spent most of the night watching Banana's face every time a princess would come onto the ice. Melted my heart, and made me so excited to go to Disney World next week!

It's our tradition to get our Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving and we love going to a little tree farm here. Not quite the same as cutting one down in the snow covered moutains...but a whole lot easier with two kids! The girls loved it, and Banana found the perfect tree for our tiny house.



We started new tradition this year of watching Polar Express while decorating the tree. Banana and Em are in LOVE with this movie and have all of the songs memorized. And you can't watch Polar Express without drinking some hot chocolate! I didn't get a pic of them enjoying their treat because by the time I got the camera out their hot chocolate was gone!

Decorating our Gingerbread Sleigh. So much easier to construct with two toddlers. Banana enjoyed decorating the sleigh so much more than the house. There was a lot more for her to do, and we didn't have to be as careful in the construction.Em doing what she does best...eating her food while we try and decorate the sleigh. She got to put a few things on, but after around 5 sneak attacks on the candy she was banished to her chair. :)
And finally here's Em in her favorite hang out. I don't know why we buy her any toys because she loves to play with the most random household objects. This is a shot from when she first climbed in...

And here's her face when I had just saved her from tipping over and nearly bashing her head into the coffee table....She's clearly not impressed with my superhuman speed.Phew...I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season, and we can't wait to see some of you in a few weeks!!