DC on Christmas Day

Christmas afternoon we thought we'd go for a walk around some of the monuments since it was so nice out that day, so we went into DC. We walked around the Jefferson Memorial...it's the only one we had never made it to. Greg is the bald guy in his pajamas in one of the pics.

Build A Bear

For Christmas the girls got gift certificates from Build A Bear. I knew they would love them, but they LOVE them! Syd got a black bear and named her Happy, and Andy got a dog...she didn't name her yet. I'm sure that now that know what that place is, we'll be stopping many more times.

Merry Christmas

Christmas was great! On Christmas Eve we made a formal dinner and invited some friends over, then we went to see a movie on Christmas Day. Syd and Andy both loved opening presents, and we appreciate all that everyone sent us...thank you so much. Santa brought Syd a bike and Andy a little push along airplane thing, and brought both of them a table and chairs to keep in the basement so they can color down there. Anyways, we had a great time and so did the girls. We hope your holidays went well :)

BAE Systems Christmas Party

Tonight was Greg's work Christmas Party. It was at the National Air and Space Museum. It was AMAZING!!! We got to see a million airplanes, the SR-71 Blackbird. This plane traveled from LA to DC in 1 hour and 4 minutes. CRAZY! We also saw a Space Shuttle, and the Enola Gay. We saw German Nazi airplanes and tons of other stuff. Whoever visits us has to go and see it for sure. The party was so much fun, there was a live band and dancing, and the food was incredible. There was beef wellington, beef tenderloin, salmon, crab cakes, chicken, pasta, and every dessert imaginable. Greg liked the peppermint infused creme brulee, and I liked the truffles. There was also the coolest sushi bar I've ever seen. They had 2 long bars with conveyor belts going around filled with tons of sushi. This was Greg's first experience with sushi and he's hooked! I did forget to tell him how hot wasabi is and his first bite had tons on it, but he learned. OOPS! And for those of you who know how picky Greg is with food, he tried absolutely everything, seafood included, and loved it all. I'm so proud :) We can't wait for the party next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was great. We drove to Laurel, MD and ate with our friends, Dave, Chantel and Kaitlyn Keller. The missionaries also joined us. We ate gallons of food, and just before pie, the power went out for about an hour. So these pictures were actually taken in the dark. We stayed up until midnight talking and came home the next morning. It was good to see our friends again.

Reading to the Girls

Syd and Andy both love books. After I read them several, they moved on to Greg to do more reading.

Visitors!!!

In Over the last couple of weeks we had our first visitors. Jessie Procopie was the first. We had a blast. We took her to our favorite cupcake place and went out for dinner. The night before that, we stayed up late talking about everything we could think of.

Shawni and Faith were next, very soon followed by Mom and Macy. Our first night we ate way too many S'mores in our basement, then, everyday after that, Shawni froze to death. We got a personal tour of the Capital Building, which was awesome. Jared joined us the next day, and we got to go out on a hot double date....thanks, mom!

We loved having everyone, thanks for coming!!

Little Penguin

Andy's waddle goes perfect with this penguin costume.

Fairy Princess

For those of you who know Sydney personally, a fairy princess is the last thing in the world you'd expect her to be....maybe this is why she chose it. She has always been unpredictable, so maybe this shouldn't suprise me.

Syd picked this pumpkin about a week ago. Ever since it has been a mad love affair. She tells me regularly how perfect it is, and tells the pumkin regularly how much she loves it. She also tells it good morning and good night on a daily basis.

The Secret Park

This is at Clemyjontri Park....aka the Secret Park. The girls went to the doctor on Friday and both got shots, so we told them that we'd take them to their favorite park. Sydney is obsessed. There are so many things to do there that she can't decide where she's going next. She spends about 10 seconds on each toy, then runs screaming with excitement to the next. Andy loves it too because there are toys geared for her age as well. When we left, Sydney cried telling the park goodbye and I love you.

Burke Lake Park

This is a picture of the lake that's in the park by our house. You can go out in paddle boats, go fishing, camping, hiking, and a million other things. It's HUGE! There is a train that goes through the woods (Sydney's favorite thing to do), and a carousel, a frisbee golf course, a miniature golf course, and I'm sure more. Anyways, we just wanted to show a picture of it. It's beautiful here!

Red Robin

This week has been pretty uneventful. We took the girls to Red Robin for corndogs. They LOVE them. Syd loves that she gets balloons there. And everyone knows how Andy feels about any kind of food. No news is usually good news. We're finally starting to get the hang of things around here.

Apple Picking

This is always a favorite activity of ours. It's also the first time that Andy has been apple picking with us. They both took miniature bites of every apple they picked along the way. We ate apple fritters and drank fresh cider. We'll definately go again this year. For those of you who haven't been apple picking, apples don't look shiny while they're on the tree. They look waxy. So, if you decide to eat while still in the orchard, you just rub the apple on your jeans and it shines it right up. Syd is now a pro at rubbing apples on her jeans and thinks that it is necessary before eating every apple.

Hayride!

This was so fun...the girls loved it! There we little storybook characters along the way...Syd's favorite was Dobby from Harry Potter, and Andy ate hay the entire time.

Raspberry Picking

Sydney loves raspberry picking, and Andy loves eating them. Greg has already eaten some tonight on his ice cream. We had never picked them before, and can't believe how sweet they are. Sydney got very good at finding them towards the end...maybe because of her height.

Larriland Farms

Today we went raspberry and apple picking at Larriland Farms. Although Andy somehow ended up with a large scratch on her face (we actually have no idea how this even happened) we can't wait to go again. The weather was perfect, the farm was huge, and the leaves are just starting to turn.

Our trip to the University of Maryland.

Here's little Syd during our trip the Univesity of Maryland the other day. We had a really good time playing in the grass and hanging out in front of the Biology/Psychology building. She loves her dad.

Our little Bug!

Here is our little Sydney attempting to brush her teeth and smile for the camera at the same time. She is so crazy.