Pre-Christmas Activities

 Gingerbread house making with Grumma.

Cranberry Bread.  The kids loved putting the cranberries into the food processor. 

Cooking making with Aunt Kristi, Aunt Kate, and cousin Alice.   

Then finally Christmas Eve with just our family.  We left a snack for Santa and then read the Night Before Christmas before turning in.  Christmas pics to come soon....

Waiting for the Quinns to Arrive

Grammy, Gramps and Aunt Casey should be here soon for a New Year's visit!  We're so excited we had to find something to do to pass the time until they get here.  This is what the kids came up with...

Isabel's #2 Birthday

What a great birthday celebration we had for Isabel last night.  We had a pizza party, then opened gifts and of course, had cake.  The big hit of the night was the table and chairs and tea set from Aunt Sue Perine.  The tea party lasted the whole party, and has resumed this morning after coming downstairs!  Isabel had a great time and was an adorable birthday girl.  We had a great time with the Middlebury family, but really missed all the rest of the relatives!

The Birthday Girl! 

The beginning of the tea party (and the end of the interest in any of the other presents)! 

Cooper loved this just as much as Isabel did.  I don't think he played with a truck all night! 

Thanks Aunt Kate, Uncle Reeves, and Cousin Alice for the adorable clothes (not pictured is the cutest little tutu)!

My attempt at being creative.  Isabel at least knew it was a cat!

First Snowy Day

Today was the first snowy day that we got to go outside and play.  We have about 6-8 inches of fluffy snow and it's not too cold yet, so it's really great playing weather.  We took quite a little walk over to Gramma Net's house and sled down her little hill, then the kids decided they wanted to shovel off her porch for her.  Isabel is taking after her brother with her love for shoveling!

Linsey & Mark's Wedding

So, I'm WAY behind on my posts, as I've been sufficiently reminded by my sisters and sister in law.  I was going to start with our most recent pics, but figured I can't leave out Linsey and Mark's wedding that was the first Saturday in October.  It was a GREAT wedding and overall trip to Virginia.  And a huge thankyou to my mom who came down to watch the kids for us as we were busy with wedding events.  It was a HUGE help.  So, here are the pictures, in no specific order...

Family picture in the church 

The girls

Grumma being a big hit with the kids.  (For some reason, Jackson really liked to rub Isabel's ear, and she was surprisingly compliant).

 The kids had a great time dancing in the beginning of the reception before they got too tired.  I think Isabel loved dancing the most.  She was all over the dance floor.  I'll have to try to find a video of this!

This was not very in focus, which is too bad, because it's a great shot of the family.

This was taken the night of the rehearsal dinner.  They dress up pretty well!

More swimming!!

We've had such a great summer with warm weather and few bugs. We've gotten so much swimming in, it's been really fun. Last week was a really hot week, especially for the end of August/beginning of September, so we got one more good pool week in! Isabel made a big step during this time as she jumped off into the pool without holding on for the first time. Of course, she did this jumping to her Grampa, not her mom! She's got the belly flop down!

Linsey's Shower

A couple weekends ago, I took the kids to Virginia, via plane, without Josh. It was quite an undertaking especially as we were a few hours delayed in Burlington, then diverted to Charlottesville, to sit on the airplane for an hour, then finally to Leesburg! During the 8 hour trip, the kids were amazing very well behaved. Not to say they were perfect, but no major meltdowns. That's success in my book. We had a great weekend visiting with the family. The kids had a blast with their grandparents, aunts, uncle and cousins most of all. We got to swim a lot in Grammy and Gramps pool even though it was overcast and not very warm. The point of the trip was to go down for Linsey's bridal shower. Casey, and family friends, put on an amazing shower consisting of wine tastings and LOTS of yummy food. Linsey looks beautiful and can't wait until the wedding in October! By the way, the flight home was on time and a piece of cake (Cooper was so exhausted he slept most of the way)!

This was the white wine table. There was also a red wine and dessert table.

The Bride to Be and Mother of the Bride!

Cousin Jackson

Isabel's first time using floaties and floating without assistance. Since that weekend, she's gotten her own set and is getting quite independent with them!

Cooper and Ryan insisted on sharing the fire engine bed for nap time. Needless to say, no sleeping took place during this "nap time"!

Fun with recycling...

Thanks to Grumma and Grampa for their new washer and dryer boxes! We've had a lot of fun using them as forts. Coop even decorated his with his Bob the Builder coloring pictures.

Go Hokies!

Getting excited for the start of football season soon!

First Day of Preschool!!

It's hard to believe but today was my little boy's first day of preschool. I know, it's weird that he started on a Thursday in June, but that's the first day of the summer session. So, we've been prepping him for this for a while and he's been pretty excited, but I must admit I've been VERY anxious. But as I expected Cooper came through like a champ!! I can't quite say the same for me however. As we dropped Isabel off at Pat's house, my nostalgia started. It was really hard to think of Isabel and Cooper being separated for the whole day. Cooper's been at Pat's since he was 4 months old, so it really is like a second home for him. So I got a little teary eyed there, but as I got back into the car a smile came over my face as Cooper exclaimed..."Yipee, I'm so excited!" So off we head towards preschool. We get there, walk in, and within 10 seconds, Cooper's shoes are off, backpack's on the floor and he's up on the loft to play with the trains. The teacher even saw me and said "where's Cooper," as he was that fast. I went up and played with him for a few minutes and he said (as he's said a couple times in the last few days), "don't worry Mommy, I won't cry." Well, that just about broke my heart! What a little man! He followed with..."Bye Mommy. I love you Mommy. Bye Mommy." And that was that. After a kiss I walked out, got into my car, and the flood gates opened! It was definitely a combination of relief, happiness, and some sadness that my little boy is growing up too fast. The teacher said he had a really good day. He was very engaging with the kids and the activities, and much to his mother's delight, he didn't have any accidents! I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with Kindergarten. Josh may have to do that drop off.