Christmas 2011

Well, it’s hard to believe Christmas day is almost over.  The girls are asleep (thankfully), and Mark and I are exhausted, but I thought I’d upload our pictures while all things are calm and quiet tonight.  We had a great Christmas Eve that started with cinnamon rolls in the morning and ended with an annual family gathering at my parents’ house of immediate and extended family. Christmas morning started early, and despite the fact that they should have been exhausted, the girls went strong all day.  To see pictures and read captions about our Christmas, click to View Slide Show below.

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Gingerbread Fun

Today the girls got to go to a friend’s house for some gingerbread house making fun.  My creative friend, Sarah, made homemade individual houses for Nina, Lyla, and four other kids.  The kids had their own icing bags and candy for decorating their houses however they wanted.  They also each had a gingerbread man, a Christmas tree, and a door to decorate with their house.  I was so impressed with how cute the houses were that she made.  They also got to go on a clue/scavenger hunt to find the six wooden gingerbread men that were hiding in the house, and they each got to take one home.  When it was time to go home, they even got gingerbread goodie bags.  Talk about a great party!  The girls really had a great time, and we really appreciated all the work that went into making the party so much fun.  

 

Playing Hooky

Today was the last day of school before the winter break, but we decided to skip it and just have some fun instead.  Nina’s class had a plan to watch the movie, Polar Express, in school today, so I gave her the choice of going to school or staying home and doing something fun, and she opted to play hooky.  I was planning to take them downtown to see the National Christmas Tree and the other displays out on the Elipse, but a few minutes into our trip, it started raining.  We didn’t have umbrellas or rain coats, so instead of going all the way into D.C. just to get wet, we exited off to head to the Reston Town Center. 

The rain slowed to just a drizzle during most of the time we were there.  The girls had been excited to see the National Christmas Tree, but the one at RTC was really big and nicely decorated, so they were happy there was a good tree there.  They played around at the fountains by the tree, then we walked over to the ice rink and watched the people skating.  It was a great people watching scene, and both girls really liked watching everyone skate. 

To warm up and get out of the drizzle, we got some hot chocolate then headed back out to enjoy some more of the town center.  I was glad Nina wanted to stay home today, and since we have lots of things going on between now and Christmas, it was fun to just spend some time relaxing and hanging out with my girls!

Winter Party

Today Nina’s class had their winter party.  Their last day before the break is tomorrow, so they had a fun day today with games, crafts, and treats.  Being in Kindergarten must be rough!

 

They did snowman bowling (cute), made a snowman craft, played games, made glitter play dough, and had some fun treats.  Lyla, again, got to participate with the class on the crafts, games, and treats.  I continue to be impressed with how welcoming Nina’s teachers are to parents and younger siblings.  It was a fun little party!

  

Is my daughter trying to tell me something about my memory?

Kids’ Cookie Exchange

Yesterday afternoon the girls and I hosted a kids’ cookie exchange for the kids that live on our half of the street.  I had done a ton of baking to make sure we had enough cookies and plenty of variety for all the kids, so by the time the party was over, I was thrilled to not have to think of another batch of cookies to make, but the kids all had a really good time. 

Nina was so excited to host a party.  She is such a little social hostess, and she gets more and more energy from people as the evening goes on.  Lyla, on the other hand, is the complete opposite.  Obviously, she looks thrilled for the party in the picture, but aside from that, she can only hang with a crowd for so long then she’s exhausted.  During the middle of the party, she went up to her room and fell asleep on her bed.  She told me that she went up there just to rest on in her room for a minute and ended up falling asleep.  The kids seemed to have a good time, and there were requests to make it an annual event, so I think we’ll just have to do that.  I can gear up for making a bazillion cookies once a year!

                         

Weekend Recap

While Mark and the girls headed off to the Leesburg Christmas Parade…

…I met up with P, Kristin, and Mary for a girls’ day/night in DC.  We had such a great time hanging out, talking, laughing etc.  We shopped around in Georgetown, had a great dinner at Papa Razzi, shopped around some more after dinner, and stayed in the fabulous Renaissance Washington thanks for Mary’s Marriott employee hook-up. It was an awesome time with wonderful friends!

After getting home today from our girls’ day/night, we took the girls to our neighborhood Holiday Open House where the girls got to see Rudolph and Santa, hear music from O Susannah, and make some Christmas crafts.  They had a great time, and it was a good end to a fun weekend.

 

   

Date Night

Tonight was my turn to take Nina on a date night.  Her school was having a Holiday Shop which is a place for the kids to go and shop for inexpensive gifts for their family members.  They have high schoolers escort the kids around with their envelope of money and who they’re buying for, then they help them pay for the gifts, and then they take them to a table to have the gifts wrapped.  It’s really a cute idea.  Since Nina was shopping for Lyla, I did the shop around with her, and she found a couple cute things to give her sister for Christmas. My favorite thing she picked was a necklace that said “World’s #1 Sister” – perhaps it would be more realistic if they put on the back “depending on the day…”  After shopping, we went out to dinner together – fun night!

Dance Class Finale

This evening was the performance finale for Nina’s dance class.  A few months ago, we enrolled her in a little hip hop class that met at our neighborhood community center.  She really enjoyed taking the class, and tonight we got to see the routine that they had been working on.  It was really cute.  This is Nina with her dance teacher, Miss Jasmine.  After the show, we went over to the new Sweet Frog in our neighborhood for some yummy treats.  It was a good way to spend a cold and rainy evening!

Family Pictures

When we were in Asheville in early October, one of Shenley’s friends took some family pictures for all of us.  Bo was supposed to be with us on the trip, and we thought it would be great to have someone take a nice picture of all of us to give our parents for Christmas.  Since his plans to go to NC fell through, we didn’t have a complete group for the photo but went ahead with the pictures anyway.  Here are some of our family.