Henry's birthday! - JoJo.

Henry turner 7 on December 2nd.  We can't believe he's so big already!

Henry had his friend Khoi and Henry over for his birthday.  They went out to eat at CiCi's pizza and went to go see the movie "Rise of the Guardians" in 3D.

On Henry's actual birthday, he and papa got up early and headed out to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. 

Then they hopped on the train and headed downtown.  

They stopped first at the White House.

It was pretty quiet down there on a Sunday morning. 

Henry picked up a map and worked his way across the mall to the Air and Space Museum.  

We drove down later (after we slept in) and met up with Henry and papa.

Mama and Junie went to the Museum of the American Indian to see the painted horse exhibit.  The rest of us went over to the Botanical Garden to see the Christmas train exhibit.

I was skeptical, but it turned out to be pretty cool.

There goes another train!

Afterward, we headed outside to eat the lunch mama packed us. It's been a really warm fall and we wanted to take advantage of another nice day.  

June had her leg warmers on again and Henry spent the meal fielding birthday phone calls.

I don't really like sandwiches, but I love peanut butter roll-ups on a tortilla. 

Henry, try this!  It's so good!

What a great day to be out in the city.

Mama wanted to walk to the Christmas Market.  I didn't want to walk, so I hung out on Papa's shoulders.

Papa and Henry headed back to pick up our car while we waited for them.

And we spent some time actually having fun together and not squabbling over things.

June called this the boat game.

It is so nice to spend time together with no tattling or whining.

And it was made even better because mama stopped in at the Post Office Tower for some Indian food at the Food court.  Best day ever!

June's artwork- Georgie.

When i got down for my nap in the afternoon, I have to play quietly until Henry gets home from school.  Usually, I spend my time sitting at the table doing on my "homework."  Here I am arranging tiny foam shapes to look like what I told mama was the Ronald Reagan building downtown.  I didn't know the name of it, but I did tell mama it was the one with the dome next to the Post Office Tower.

This is me (obviously).  As you can see, I am 4.  On the right side, you can see I listed all the ages I've been starting at 0.  I'll be 5 next. 

Here's me again.  I like drawing a pony tail that goes over my shoulder.

Kiyoma, June, Claire, Lydia.  These are all my best friends at school.  

Kiyoma and I again.  We're holding hands in this picture because we're friends again.  This changes daily based on whether Kiyoma lets me help her clean up the writing table or if I refuse to play the game Kiyoma wants to play.

I am totally going to be the best artist in the family.  

Christmas with Miss Leah- Henry.

Mister Josh was in Africa for a month for his job, so we hung out with Miss Leah and Olivia a lot.  On this night, they came over to make some Christmas ornaments out of salt dough and cinnamon dough.

This kids all helped out by standing very close to the grown-ups.

Next up, we headed to Town Square for the tree lighting.  We stocked up on glo necklaces and suckers that  businesses were handing out.  

While we waited, we watched everyone at the skating rink.

Hooray!  What a beautiful tree!  June was not happy to sit on the stone for the picture.

Does an open mouth count as a smile?

Get us down from here!!

After the tree lighting, we headed out to a place called Tippy Tacos.  We did manage to calm down a little and hopefully didn't ruin supper for everything.  Then we got to go to the toy store!  Unfortunately we did all go so crazy that we probably did ruin it for a lot of people.  We had to take home two fussy girls who stayed up way too late that night.

Thanksgiving recovery- Henry.

That was a lot we fit into 4 days.  

I was so tired I even took a nap.  (With my new LEGO Technic helicopter.  Thanks Grams and PawPaw.)

JoJo spent her time being extra cuddly.

And rubbing the gross corner of her blankie on her nose.

That's one tired girl.

What a sweet girl.

Even if she did wake up very late and came out to snuggle down on the couch with mama and papa.

Even though Georgie was tired from her trip, it didn't stop her from dressing up in her "pretty dress" when she was awake.

And from constantly hounding us with questions.  "Can IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII?"  "Show you sumpin'!"

June remained unplussed.  No matter how tired she gets, don't count on her ever taking an afternoon nap.  June has discovered the wonder of wearing leg warmers over her capri leggings.  What a good look for her!

Black Friday- JoJo.

We didn't go out shopping on Black Friday.  But Aunt Jenni and Uncle Jim did get up early to go snag some 3 pound summer sausage deals at the Menards.  

After all that morning excitement, she needed a nap.

Mama says I can only have my nukie an menkie in bed.  So I went to bed.

Until June came in and we started jumping!  Don't tell grandma!

It was cold out, but that didn't stop Grandpa from getting out the tractor to take us for ride on the tractor.

Even mama jumped in with us!  Look at the striped hat Aunt Jenni made me.  It's got a bell on top and I call it my "Jingle Hat."

Aunt Jenni had the right idea when she stayed inside and sipped on a bourbon ball milkshake.