Valentine's Day in Tennessee

Valentine's Day and President's Day have come and gone, so I thought I would post some pictures of all the festivities.  We spent the long weekend in Tennessee with Grammy and Grandmama and had a wonderful weekend seeing family.  Then Monday we were back in Alexandria for Susannah to march in the oldest President's Day Parade in the country.  Her girl scout troop marched through Old Town Alexandria and had a great time.  Meanwhile, Sarah Avery went on her first official play-date with her friend Caroline.  They went to an indoor water-park and had so much fun.  Here are all the pictures:

Random morning before school......I feel like I often forget to stop and soak in how adorable they are at these ages.  This morning I paused and snapped a pic.  The ear warmers and rain boot combo were too much to resist.  

The Saturday before Valentine's Day the girls worked on the little cards and treats they wanted to give their classmates.  

Sarah Avery had a dog theme and gave everybody little toy dogs.

Susannah's were from one of her favorite books "Wonder" and she gave everybody an eraser with a quote from the book.  

They also spent time working on valentines for the family. 

Including this awesome friendship necklace for Honey and Benny.

In other news, Susannah brought home a recorder.  We are all so very grateful to Alexandria City Schools for this gift.  Susannah always dresses up as a member of the Red Coat Marching Band before she practices.  

Sarah Avery had a big celebration for the 100th day of school.  She brought in 100 purple jelly beans for her class. 

Since the girls and I were in Tennessee on Valentine's Day, we celebrated with Peter a day early.  The girls had these gifts waiting for them at breakfast before school. 

They loved it, of course.

And they gave Peter and me our gift, which was another heart necklace like Honey and Benny's.  ;)

After a few delays in Washington, the girls and I made it to Knoxville and headed over to Grandmama and Jim's for some spaghetti.   Grandmama and Sarah were matching.  

Then back at Grammy's, the girls were so excited to let Grammy do storytime.  

Peter was so thoughtful and sent flowers addressed to all of us.  

We did the annual Disney Store shopping trip with Grammy at the mall.  

And Susannah finally got to try a macaron after always hearing about them on Kid's Baking Championship.  She loved it of course.  ;) 

After the lunch at the mall, we bundled up and headed to the park to soak up some sunshine.  

And then spent the rest of the evening with Grandmama, making biscuits.  

The masterpieces.  ;)

We were so excited to see our cousins, Baby Will and his big brother AJ.

AJ loved playing with the girls and in this picture, was upset because he didn't want to leave. ;)

Sweet baby Will was so fun to hold.  

The girls are so lucky to have a Grammy and Grandmama that adore them. 

Four generations!

Back in Alexandria, Sarah Avery had an awesome time with her friend Caroline.  

I was so proud of her for wanting to go without me.  

She loved every minute.  

That afternoon Susannah marched with her Brownie Troop in the President's Day parade.  

We had so much fun watching.

The little mini cars put on quite a show. 

Here comes Susannah!

Can't believe how grown up these girls are.  They've been together as a troop since Kindergarten. 

Peter liked the bag-pipe band.  

And then it was back to real life after the long weekend.  Sarah Avery is really starting to read and we are so proud of her.  Susannah is such a supportive big sis and is always excited to see which new readers SA brings home.  

Susannah's math project was to create her own store and then her class invited another third grade class to come and shop.  Susannah's store sold everything you would need for an outdoor bbq.  She had s'more fixings and firewood and charcoal and lighter fluid.  She and Sarah have been playing with her creation all weekend.  

That concludes the glimpse into our February.  We hope all is well with all of you.  Grandmama and Grammy and all the other Tennessee family, thank you for hosting us.  We loved seeing all of you!!

First weeks of 2020

Well, January is behind us and we are already looking forward to spring here in Alexandria.  We have been busy these first several weeks of 2020.  Here are the highlights:

Our good friend Jonathon was in town for his client Yola's concert.  Peter and I were so excited to spend the evening with him and see the concert.  We even got to meet her after the show!

Sarah Avery continues to love kindergarten and was really excited when it was her turn to be start student for the week. 

Peter let the girls borrow his uniform hats for hat day at school.

Peter and I are in a supper club that meets one Friday a month.  We always forget to take pictures but last month, we remembered.  It was such a fun night full of delicious Mexican food and margaritas.   

This little one came down with the flu last week.  She was a trooper though and Tamiflu really shortened it for her.  She only missed three days of school which we considered a win.  And if I'm honest, I didn't hate the unexpected break from my Russian classes.  

She was so happy to be back!

Peter and I had a little stay-cation last weekend in DC.  We used our Hilton points to stay at the Conrad and enjoyed a concert, some delicious meals, including this brunch, and did some touristy things that we have been meaning to do for the past four years.  It was delightful and just what we needed.  

We finally made it to the National Portrait Gallery.  I've been wanting to go since we moved to DC. 

I loved seeing Obama's portrait but was also pleasantly surprised by all of the other exhibits.  We had a great time checking everything out after our brunch.  

This was the view from our corner room.  We didn't want to leave, but we missed the girls and needed to get home because......

Susannah needed to deliver her girl scout cookie order.  

We were proud of her for taking everything on herself.  She made every sale and delivered every box herself.  All 62 of them. 

Peter and I love this picture because it so describes the dynamic between the girls.  Susannah dutifully pulling the wagon while Sarah Avery rides along issuing commands.  ;)

We've been having lots of rain so we have been wearing our boots.......I thought they looked so cute this particular morning, I had to take a picture.  

And that is it for the Mallory clan in January.  We are looking forward to seeing our Tennessee family over President's Day.  We love and miss you all!