Busy, Busy, Busy

Hi all!  We are still here and staying busy as ever!  The weather here has been mild and gorgeous and we have been busy trying to check things off from our Virginia bucket list (for inquiring minds there is an actual list and it is getting smaller and smaller:).  A month or so ago we went to Charlotesville to see Monticello, which was Thomas Jefferson's home, and to walk through the University of Virginia.  The girls were less than impressed with Thomas Jefferson's home.  Picture a two and a four year old being lead through an old home room by room with a tour guide and trying to keep them quiet despite their severe boredom AND no food is allowed so I couldn't even stick a sucker in their mouth to help.  It was not much fun, although it was surrounded by gorgeous scenery and mountains which Jay and I love.

Posing with Thomas Jefferson

Monticello

View from Monticello

Awesome gardens at Monticello


Grandma came to visit us for Thanksgiving while Grandpa was at deer camp and we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner.  Jay performed his normal task of taking care of the girls the next day so that we could do some shopping.  Had lots of fun and even braved a bit of shopping Thursday night at Target!  Yes the car just happened to find it's way to the parking lot and I got an awesome doorbuster that we had been wanting.  No hints yet - I think Santa might bring it Christmas morning:)  While my mom was here we also went to the Gaylord National (which is a fancy hotel) production of ICE.  It is a fantastic ice sculpture show that is made with over 2 million pounds of ice and 40 artisans from around the world are brought in to carve it.  The theme this year was Shrek the Halls.  It is kept extremely cold inside the makeshift building to preserve the sculptures so they make you wear their weird blue coats on top of yours.  At first it seems weird and a bit gross, but it is so cold inside that you are secretly happy that you have an extra coat!  They had to be really long too because there were ice slides and they want the coat to cover your legs on the slide.  Anna's coat was gigantic on her.  It touched the ground and the arms were way too long but she didn't complain at all and both girls LOVED the ice slides.  I could hear them scream with excitement the whole way down and at the bottom Anna couldn't move because her coat was just too hard to move in.  She just layed at the bottom and kept saying "more, more!"

Silly blue coats!

Shrek and donkey.  Aren't they amazing!!

 

 

Fiona and her babies

Daddy and Anna on the slide.  All smiles:)

Grammy and Anna - looking a bit cold here

The biggest news is that our sweet baby Anna is no longer in a crib!  Sniff sniff:(  I had been wanting to put her in a toddler bed for a while and finally got around to it while Grandma was here since I had an extra hand to watch the girls while I switched the railings (Yes - in our house I do all the handy fix it things.  My husband refuses or I would wait until eternity for it to actually get done.)  We really hyped up her "big girl" bed and she totally loves it!  I was scared she would be a terror and keep trying to get out, but she only tried one time and has been awesome in it ever since.  What a big girl!

She loves her big girl bed

Emma loves to play in it too!

This past weekend we took a day trip to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.  It is a historic civil war battlefield grounds town with a lot of preserved buildings, cute restaurants and shops, and the Appalachian trail runs right through it.  We did a bit of hiking and saw some gorgeous scenery where the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers meet.  We also went to Thomas Jefferson's rock - it is a rock with gorgeous views and Jefferson's favorite place.  He said that the view from the rock was "worth the journey across the Atlantic itself."  We also had lunch and ice cream (of course the girls favorite part of the day) and saw a bit of Civil War reenactments with a gun squad.  Anna will tell you she saw "boom boom."  The stuffed animal in the picture is Matthew Mouse who is Emma's classroom animal.  Each child gets him for a weekend and then journal's all of the fun things that they did with him.  He had to have his picture taken in Harper's Ferry!

View from our hike

We went on the Appalachian Trail

Jefferson's Rock

Daddy with the girls

View from Jefferson's Rock

Emma and Santa - see explanation below

While on a walk through the very small town, Santa himself passed us as he was driving his car.  He stopped and rolled down the window and asked Emma what she wanted for Christmas.  He saw that I had my camera and asked if he could get out to take a picture with Emma and she was thrilled.  After the picture he got back in his car and drove away.  Oh my goodness did my four year old have a million questions.  First of all why was Santa driving a car???  Where were his reindeer???  Why wasn't he at the mall where he should be???  The list went on and on.  I made up the best answers that I could and she seems ok with those answers for now.  She is very inquisitive though and I know she will be every year with Santa and all the stories that surround him.  I have to say I LOVE having children this time of year with the magic of Christmas and Santa.  It is so sweet and pure and magical!

That's all for now.  We have been busy decorating the house, fixing lights that have already gone out, enjoying the burst of warm weather, shopping, and soon I will start some holiday baking.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!