Happy Birthday Abby!!!

I LOVE this girl. Abby is officially five. She is such a smart girl that I have had to remind myself sometimes that she is not ten. Abby has blossomed this year in preschool. She has made great friends and loves her teacher. She has taught herself to read with the help of the games on PBS kids online. She loves to write letters and can sound out lots of word on her own. She loves her little brother and wants to be like her big sister.

She makes us all laugh at least once a day. She loves to snuggle and can't go to sleep at night unless she has given both Trevor and I multiple kisses and hugs. She is completely random and it can be hard to follow her train of thought which leads to lots of laughs.

For her birthday we went to Chuck E Cheese and had lots of fun playing games. Abby has gotten really good at Skee-ball and Air Hockey.

The girls who helped Abby celebrate.

We came home and opened presents. It is tough having a birthday so close to Christmas. There tends to be a little bit of present over load but I also think that it makes it easy for Abby to share her new things. She is the best sharer EVER.

The Polly Pockets were a hit. I just have to make sure I don't suck up any of the tiny pieces in the vacuum or let Kyle eat any.

Abby loves to cut and she decided that the only way to get into her presents was to cut them open. Once she saw what was inside she would throw down the scissors and rip the rest of the paper off.

She loved all her presents which included paint, play dough, Pixos, mixes for her Easy Bake, a Target gift card and a Fur Real dog. Between the play dough and paint she will be occupied for days. We love our Abby!

Washington D.C

We took a quick trip to D.C this week. We got a deal on Priceline that we could not pass up. The hotel had a pool so immediately after checking in we headed to the pool. I was a little nervous about how Kyle would do because the last time I tried to put him in a pool he SCREAMED like I was poking him with nails. What a difference a couple of months will make because he looked like he belonged in the pool. He did prefer the hot tub over the regular pool but I think that was because of the bench in the hot tub that he could walk along on his own.

A happy and goofy bunch!

After the pool we got cleaned up and went to see the lights at the temple. In our four Christmas's out here this was the first time we were able to see the lights and I am so glad that we did . The temple is so majestic at night and the lights just make is amazing.

It was COLD! Kyle was content to just sit under his blanket and not move and he actually kept his hat on for more than 2 seconds which was remarkable.

I love this bunch!

We were so cold after the temple that we decided to go find some hot chocolate. In a land of Dunkin Donuts I did not think that it would be hard but they were all closed. Abby and Kyle fell asleep while we were looking but Emma was persistent and a couple of blocks from our hotel we found a 7-Eleven that saved the night.

By the time we got the hot chocolate Trevor and I were too hot to have any but Emma enjoyed hers. The next day we headed back to the temple to do a session and then headed home. It was the perfect quick get away.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas! The kids were thrilled with their gifts and had a great day playing with them. The girls woke up at 7:40 which I thought was great. They were very patient while we waited for Kyle to wake up. At 8:00 we could not take it any more and we woke up the little guy and headed down stairs. The kids went straight to their gifts from Santa.

Abby got her Easy Bake Oven. She was sad at first because when she looked at her stuff from Santa she did not see the oven. Her reaction was priceless when she tore the paper open and saw the oven. The girl LOVES to bake. Santa must not have realized that Easy Bakes are suppose to be for kids 8 and over...it made for some interesting baking that afternoon.

Emma got High School Musical dolls from Santa along with a gift card to Build a Bear.

Kyle was really not in to the present opening at all. He had the most fun with the oranges in the stockings that he kept calling "balls". We did get him to rip open his gift from Santa...his first basketball hoop, which he figured out how to use right away.

Santa brought some new Wii games....

...that we have wasted WAY too much time on over Christmas vacation.

I don't know what Abby is opening here but I just loved her face. That is one of the things that I love about my kids. It really does not take much to make them happy. They find a way to have fun with everything.

This gift was a hit! I was not sure if she would like it or not but you can see from her face that she was thrilled.

This was Kyle's favorite gift. He loves books and has recently learned how to say book. If you ask him to go and get a book he will bring you one and sit motionless on your lap while you read.

Emma got an iPod from Grandma and Grandpa Griffitts. We immediately loaded it with her favorite Taylor Swift songs and she loves to walk around the house singing at the top of her lungs.

Kyle got this frog from Grandma and Grandpa Manderino and he was immediately attached. He likes to poke at the frogs eyes and he snuggles with it when he goes to sleep.

For dinner we continued one of our favorite traditions. When I was growing up we would have lobster and spaghetti for dinner. Trevor and I have tried lobster the last couple of years and this year we decided to pair it with steak. This made the girls happy because they don't like lobster and steak is their favorite food. Trevor did an amazing job and I especially liked it because all I did was make baked potatoes.

I just had to include this picture...proof that Kyle loves his books. We had a great Christmas and hope that you all did too.

Christmas Eve

We have enjoyed a really nice Christmas Eve. For once all the presents were already bought and wrapped and we just got to enjoy being together. We cleaned up, made Christmas cookies for Santa, and played games. We had a great dinner with our friends the Palmers. The food was good and the company was perfect. After dinner we read the nativity story with the kids acted out the parts. We sang Christmas hymns and it was lots of fun to watch the kids.

Emma was great! She is old enough that she listened to the scriptures being read and really tried to act out her part. This is her as a shepherd when the angel appears.

Here are Mary and Joseph. Abby was more interested in playing with the Christmas tree but she was also really good about trying to keep the pacifier in baby Jesus's mouth.

When we got home the girls sprinkled Reindeer food on the snow.

Our cute kids! I won't tell you how long it took to get this picture or how many we took just to get this one...thank goodness for digital cameras.

Kyle was not too interested in opening his Christmas jammies...hopefully he will be more into it tomorrow.

Abby had been waiting all day to open her gift and she loved her snowman jammies.

One of the things I love about this girl is that she is very easily pleased. She gets so excited, so easily! She liked her cupcake jammies.

Kyle was ready for bed and not very happy to be taking another picture, but they still all look cute in their new pjs. We hope everyone has a perfect Christmas.

Blizzard 2009

We got lots of snow this weekend. I have never seen it snow like this in since we have lived in Philadelphia. The good part was that it was the powdery stuff and the girls loved it. The bad part was...well don't get me started or I might never finish this post. This picture was take in the early afternoon and it did not stop snowing until close to midnight. We got close to 18 inches of snow when it was all over.

We decided to take Kyle out for his first experience in the snow. This is what he looked like before we went out. My cute little nerd!

This is what he looked like after being outside for all of 30 seconds. Lets just say he did not last long.

Abby enjoyed herself but I really think that she only plays outside so that she has an excuse to come inside and drink hot chocolate. She never lasts very long.

Emma on the other hand could be an Eskimo. She never wants to come inside even where her face is bright red and she can't feel her fingers.

That stuff you see under the snow is really Emma. She wanted to be buried in the snow...maybe it was warmer under there!?!

Two very happy kids. They almost make the snow bearable.

Trevor even convinced me to come outside. I did not last very long but it was fun to watch the girls play.

On Monday there was still so much snow that they cancelled school. They had plowed our parking lot and this was just one of the many snow mountains.

Abby enjoyed her giant icicle.

The girls spent lots of time on the hill sledding and the day ended with hot chocolate. It was a nice snow day and the best part was that both girls slept GREAT that night.