Temple Lights

We are lucky to live within a 15 minunte drive to the Washington DC temple and during Christmas they have performances in the Visitors Center and a live nativity out front. Mark thought he would practice riding his camel. The beautiful temple with my not so beautiful photo abilities.

The live nativity scene which is really a lot more inspiring than a plastic one.

My cute kids enjoying the lights and activities.

Anna's Bath

Anna is now in the big bath and after a few attempts at putting her in with the boys, now goes solo. Between their kicking, splashing and lounging, it was just a matter of time before something bad happened. This is a photo of how quickly things can change. She was enjoying herself and playing with the water and I was focused on getting it all on film until I shot this picture and realized her finger was stuck! So much for a joyful time!

The Spirit of Christmas

Every year I tell myself that I am going to reduce the Christmas madness and focus more on the true spirit of Christmas and teach my children what is truly important, and every year I find myself totally disregarding my previous years commitment to do so. I will say that I am making more of an effort to do little things that make a difference, like not getting infuriated with the holiday traffic, longer lines in the stores, cranky customers, etc. I am trying to let it roll off my back. It takes a lot of effort, but it definitely helps. In my case, having two December birthdays does not reduce the load, but I am finally realizing that it is more about attitude than ambiance. If I am stressed, my kids are whiny and demanding, but if I just let go of some things and have a good time, things are happier in general. These are perhaps not the most profound ideas. In fact, they are probably some of the most rehearsed, but they are true. I am putting this out while I had a long list of errands to run in the ever decreasing time before Mark's birthday party and holiday shipping and I am stuck waiting for a vague 4 hour time frame for the oven repair man. The holidays are not a time to have your oven break and apparently, repairmen could care a less that it is important to get it fixed quickly. I have already been waiting for two weeks and have no true hopes of it getting repaired today. Also, right around Thanksgiving we had our camera die (at the end ot the Gettysburg trip), our printer break, and our oven crash. That is our three, I hope. What was that I was saying about letting things roll off my back?

Half Marathon

I have to be honest and say that I hate posting a picture of myself like this, especially when all of my friends look so cute, but it was an accomplishment, so here it is. Most of you know that Jackie has inspired me to train for a marathon in March. This was our true starting point for training and thanks to Callie found this half marathon where we ran from Alexandria, VA to about a mile outside of Mt. Vernon. It was a very cold day, but the blues and grays on the Potomac were beautiful and I can honestly say I enjoyed it, but I also had great company! For those who don't know, a half marathon is 13.1 miles.

Gettysburg

I put these pictures in reverse order and am too lazy to switch it out. On the long Thanksgiving weekend, we went to Gettysburg and did an auto tour (you buy a CD and follow along in your car). It was fascinating and educational. It truly puts things in a different light when one can be in the location where something took place and one can envision it so much more clearly. This picture was at the end of the day and at the place of the final battle on the third day. We had a lot of pictures, but I will not bore you with them all. The light on top of Anna's head makes her look like an angel (which she is, of course).

This is one of the many statues at the scene of the final battle, but it was also one of my favorite pictures that Alex took.

Here is Christopher inspecting a cannon.

The boys enjoyed running around. As we were listening to the information on the CD, Christopher was taking notes in his notebook. At one of our pitstops, Christopher commented that even though Alex and I might think that he was bored, he wanted to reassure us that he was listening and learning and finding it all very interesting. We were glad for the reassurance.

Thanksgiving

WE were lucky enough to have some good friends over for Thanksgiving. Jackie is a great friend and since she and her family were sticking around for the holidays, we thought it would be nice to celebrate together. Mark and Elise are in Joyschool together and they get along wonderfully. It is fun to watch them play together. Elijah is just a cutie pie and always on the go. I have a picture of Alex donning an apron while carving the turkey, but unfortunately it was blurry. He was very sexy though! We had a great time. Thank you Auna family for sharing with us! Here I am, tired after cooking ALL day, and Mark who is a cuddler and will jump on any opportunity to get cozy under a blanket.

Mark's Fort

Our boys are usually pretty tired and whiny by the weekend, so on Sundays we try to have them lay down for a "rest period" even if it isn't a nap. Well, if you look closely at the picture below, you will notice that Mark was busy building himself a fort by tucking blankets into the top bunk. It was difficult to be upset with him for not resting when he was being so quietly industrious!

Cold Weather

Christopher finished his run of T-Ball and then got his trophy. It was a good thing it was the last day because the weather is turning cold and it was drizzly and getting dark! I think he really only took the class to get the trophy anyhow, but it was fun while it lasted. Here is Anna all bundled up as the weather is getting more winter-like rather than fall. She loves to swing and also loves fresh air!

National Monument Trip

Christopher had a few days off in the beginning of November, so we went downtown. Here are the kids, again with our neighbors, playing on the National Mall while a man was trying to suck up the leaves. That made it more exciting for the kids. This is at the Dept. of Treasury. We just missed the last tour of how they make money, but we got into the gift shop (those are always available) and Christopher showed us how much money he is worth. It is actually how much money there would be if they stacked $100 bills to your height. I think he might be worth a little more than that. Mark was getting tired and refused to stand up next to the sign.

Here is good ol' George inside the Washington Monument waiting for the elevator. Let me clarify, that's us waiting for the elevator, not him.

Here are the kids waiting to get into the monument.

This was grandma's last day with us and a parting shot!

Halloween

Grandma was in town for Halloween and got to enjoy all of the festivities. Hopefully it didn't wear her out too much! We went trick or treating in out building first and then the surrounding neighborhood and were lucky to be joined by our favorite neighbors, Laith and Layan.

Anna was the most adorable black cat ever (but I'm not biased)!

Christopher was a ghost and we had fun making this no-sew costume. (Yes, he really did help.)

Mark was sure he was going to be a pirate, but the sword made him feel very official!

Getting Ready for Halloween

This is a picture of Mark at Christopher's class party at school. Just when he thought no one was looking, he tried to sneak something out of the basket. Mark is sneaky for those who don't know, but doesn't always get caught in the act. A funny quote by Mark recently was when he was helping me cook dinner one night (he loves to help in the kitchen; a future chef perhaps?) and my eyes were watering from cutting onions. I said, "Ow, my eyes are burning." Mark promptly replied, "That's because you have onions in your eyes, mom!" Here is Christopher's first grade class on Halloween. He is in the front row on the left.

Our big pumpkin carving night. The boys are starting to be more and more specific with what they like and want. Mark's was a pirate pumpkin to go with his costume and Christopher's was a haunted house to go with his!

We have a group of moms that get together for Family Home Evening as all of our husbands are in school or work until late on Monday nights. It has been fun and this lesson was about Nephi and Laban and obtaining the brass plates. Christopher and Mark loved dressing up. Anna was obviously enjoying herself as well.

Funny Things

I have been meaning to write some of the funny things the kids say, but have forgotten to do it fast enough and have lost a lot of them. So here are two of them from tonight.

Mark: With a French Putamayo CD playing in the background. "Mom, look, I'm dancing in French!"

Christopher: Upon tasting the split pea soup that we are having for dinner: "This doesn't taste as bad as it looks!"

Gotta love 'em!

Back in Time

We went to Leesburg, VA for the day and they happened to be having a colonial street fair. I'm not sure that temporary tatoos on the forehead were very colonial, but the boys thought it was great. I got the opportunity to pull a sword out from a man's throat. It was so strange to be right next to him when he swallowed it.

Mark and Christopher got the chance learn the art of weaving. Christopher got the hang of it immediately. Mark tried, but his legs just weren't long enough to reach the pedals, so he got a little assistance.

Road Trip

Alex had a rare Saturday free, so we thought we would drive to the end of River Road. When it turned into a single lane dirt road, Alex decided to let the boys drive! Yikes! They absolutely loved it! Mark was all over the place enjoying his control of the steering wheel. Christopher was more cautious but was exhuberant with the power he had!

Lest you think us unfit parents, here is a view of how out in the middle of nowhere we were.

Then we floated across the Potomac on a ferry and back to civilization!

Apple Picking

We went to Homestead Farms for apple picking and the pumpkins. Anna thought she would try a few of the apples, while hanging out in the wheelbarrow. Alex was instructing the kids on the fine art of tasting the apples, while picking them to ensure quality.

Christopher hard at work. It is funny how kids actually seem to prefer to be put to work.

Mark acted like it was a contest for who could pick the most apples in the shortest amount of time, but he also wanted them to be round and ripe!

Pumpkins

There are a great variety of choices for farms around here. This is our second annual trip to the pumpkin patch and we always love it! The boys had to see a lot of pumpkins before their final decision! Alex set the kids to work to gather a bunch of pumpkins in one spot for this photo-op.

Mark is strong! He also was very relieved to get that thing off of his neck!

Anna, as usual, is along for the ride and happy to be doing whatever everyone else is.

Signs of Fall

The weather started cooling down earlier in the month and even though it has been a little back and forth, it looks as if it might be here to stay.

These were some of the first signs of Autumn!