What's new in 2018?

The answer is.........not too much.    We have settled in to a nice routine and have really been enjoying the slower pace of the season.   Less scheduled activities means more family time at home with popcorn and books and movies.   I really treasure the lazy Saturdays because I know Spring will be here before we know it and I'm not ready to even begin to think of Susannah being a second grader.  The girls have started swim lessons which they are both enjoying, but other than that, we have been pretty boring.   Here are the pictures of our January.......

I always forget to take pictures whenever we spend time with friends, and this is a horrible one.   But there are 4 other families that we spend almost all of our time with and this is all of the kids (11 of them) eating lunch during one of our snow days.   The kids are friends, the adults are friends.    These people are one of the things I'm most thankful for during this season of our lives.  

In other news, we finally took the girls to my absolute favorite restaurant as a child.......Red Lobster!   And these faces pretty accurately describe how they felt about the cheddar biscuits.   

The past two Saturdays have been mild and sunny so we have headed down to Old Town to soak up the rays and feed the ducks.  

And since most sane ducks are somewhere farther south, when I say ducks, I really mean seagulls and pigeons.  

These Daniel Tiger loving girls are all about the free trolley in old town so we always ride when we are down there. 

Last weekend, we took advantage of the mild weather and grilled some burgers to eat outside.   We also had s'mores and Peter and the girls used Susannah's new telescope to star gaze for a while after sunset.  

Sarah Avery is growing and learning so much this year at preschool.   She is also very silly.  

Who would know that as a kindergartner Susannah  was scared of the climbing tower?   

Sarah Avery loves her swimming lessons.   

I think it is so hilarious that she has to wear a swim cap.   ;)

Fuzzy slippers?   Check.    Susannah's American Girl Doll instead of her own?   Check.   Backpack full of jewelry for her trip?   Check.   Pretend puppy in a cage?   Check.    She cracks me up on a daily basis.  

Susannah had crazy hair day at school.   I wasn't cool enough to think ahead and buy colored hair spray so we settled on some silly pigtails.   

She wanted a picture of the back too.   

Susannah's daily homework is reading for 20 minutes.   So sometimes I sit with her and read my own book or listen to her read hers.   We snuggle under a blanket and it is always a favorite part of my day.

Sarah Avery is really into the Llama, Llama books lately and these girls always love reading with their Daddy.

This past Saturday was just like the last.......nice clear sunny sky.   After a seafood lunch  (not at Red Lobster despite Susannah's pleas) we walked down to the river.  

This one loves feeding the birds.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and playing in the backyard and now it is Monday and we are headed to Susannah's swim lesson. 

We hope that all is well with all of you.   We love and miss you all!

Christmas 2017

Christmas has come and gone and now it is 2018.    The winter break flew by but we managed to make some really fun memories with friends here in Alexandria and then with family in Knoxville.   Here are all the pictures.....

We had a couple of families over on Christmas Eve for snacks and drinks before the candlelight service at church.   The girls helped me get all the food ready.    Cooking in your pjs with Christmas music playing is the best.   

Peter likes to be the taste tester. 

This year we made some jalapeno sausage balls in addition to our regular recipe and they were delicious!

And we fancified the pig in a blanket by shaping them into a Christmas wreath.  ;)

The girls helped me get all the kid table stuff ready.  

Including a little Christmas craft.

We took some pictures by the tree while we waited for our guests to arrive.

After church we set out some snacks for Santa and Susannah made him this Christmas picture.

And this letter.    

And before we knew it, Christmas morning had finally arrived!   And Santa had visited!

He brought a telescope and shopkins for Susannah and a new doll for SA.

These two were soooooo excited to wake up and see what Santa brought!

Sarah Avery with her new doll, Shannon.   

Susannah was so pumped about these little shopkin things.

Santa brought Honey and Meadow some treats.

And Santa left one extra surprise for Sarah Avery in the playroom.......a train table!!

Susannah made snowflakes for the dogs and put them in their stockings.   Sweetest.  Thing   Ever.

Then we opened some gifts from Mimi and Poppy.     Thanks guys!   The girls are so excited to start crafting!   We spent the rest of the day relaxing and packing for our trip to Knoxville.   We had an early dinner with some friends and then went to bed early to get ready for our drive. 

We were so excited to visit Grammy and Grandmama.   The girls said that this was the favorite part of their Christnas break.  

We did a second Christmas morning at Grammy's on the 27th and the girls were so pumped for round 2.

Grammy got them some really cool stuff.

For Mommy and Daddy too!

Here SA is trying out her new colored pencils.  

And Susannah is holding court with her new school teacher set.   

We spent lots of time at Grandmama and Jim's house too.   

Including this night when the girls helped Grandmama make biscuits.

They had been looking forward to this for months.   Peter and I missed this because we spent a night in Atlanta visiting Shoo Shoo in the hospital.    Thanks Grammy and Grandmama for taking such good care of them!   Visiting  Shoo Shoo and seeing how hard she is working to get better was really inspiring and encouraging.

On Saturday, Grandmama hosted the family Christmas and the girls were so excited to play with their  baby cousin Elijah.   

We missed seeing the other cousin AJ, but this little face kept us all delighted!

Grandmama and Jim got the girls a karaoke machine.   They put on quite a little show.   

Grandmama with her great-grand babies.   

We missed you AJ!

We took the karaoke machine back to Grammy's so she could give it a go too.   She and Susannah performed their rendition of Rocky Top.  

 We spent the last couple of days of the break unpacking and taking down decorations.   And watching football.   GO DAWGS.   BEST BOWL GAME EVER!    And yesterday we started back to our routine.   Which was a welcome change.   The girls were ready to get back to school.    And it was lovely. 

Until last night, when this happened.   

So today was an unexpected snow day for me and the girls.   Peter had to go to work, but the girls and I trekked over to a neighbor's house for lunch and sledding.     

And that was our Winter Break 2017.    Thanks to all of our family for sending such wonderful gifts.   And thanks to Grammy and Grandmama for making our visit such a special one!   We love and miss you all!   Here's to a happy and healthy 2018.