Birthday Bash

This year for Allie's birthday we let her have a party. This is the first year throwing one. It was so much fun! She had never asked to have one before, but apparently after attending a hundreds of other parties for her friends, year after year, it occurred to her that she might like to have one as well. She decided it should be an all girl party, which was a hard decision given that many of her best friends are boys. It was her call, and I think they had a great time. She has such sweet wonderful little friends. We started setting up the inside of the house, but then it was 80 degrees outside, and we just had to take advantage of a beautiful day so we relocated outside. We had a three legged race treasure hunt, pinata, balloon popping, every one made Wuggle Pets, and played several games with them. Cake, ice cream, presents, the works. It was a blast. Turning six is pretty amazing.

Allie turns SIX!?!

When you're five, turning six, how awesome is it to spend a few days at Disneyland with your Grandparents? Super awesome! Danny had to work, so I packed up the kiddos and made the drive out to California to meet up with my parents at Disneyland. OK first of all, it was super fun. I love Disneyland, anytime, all the time, but for future reference: NEVER go to Disneyland the week between Christmas and New Years. The lines for all the good rides was 90 minutes, and the crappy rides were like 40 minutes. After hours and hours of waiting in line, Lily and I sneaked in the exit of the Matterhorn. I didn't even feel bad about it. There was no way that I was going to spend close to two more hours waiting for a 2 minute ride. But really we had a great time. I was so glad that my parents came all the way out there to spend time with us at our favorite place. We missed Danny, but he would have been hating life being there with those crazy lines. I was so glad to be there with my adorable kiddos and celebrate Allie turning SIX!! The kids didn't even seem to mind or notice how crowded it was, they just enjoyed it.

Lily and Grandma Glo on the Toy Story ride

Dylan was his usual rowdy self so here is Grandma trying to entertain him for 2 seconds

Dylan loves Papa

My cute parents

Picnic on Main Street right after the busiest most crowded parade ever.

Yes, Hilary, it happened. We went on the Dumbo ride, without you. Again.

It's A Small World ALLLLLLL lit up for Christmas.

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming out to spend time with us! We had a great time, and hope you did too!

Christmas 2011

How awesome is Christmas? We love Christmas around here, and really get into it. The day after Thanksgiving, we set up the Christmas tree, start playing the Christmas carols, get the lights up, and start celebrating. There are always so many fun parties, events, and things to do, that there's no way I can include it all, but these are a few of my favorites. We had a great time with my sister in law Molly, and her six kids visiting. We made these killer gingerbread trains, and basically just had a blast for a week while they were here.

Allie had a dance recital, and I was so proud of her and her friends. They did SO well, and her teacher put on an amazing show. I had no idea it would end up being one of my favorite things of the season! Allie is in the back row on the right.

A fun Christmas Eve hike with a few friends, then back to our house for lunch.

Excited girls waiting for Santa

Santa came!

Dylan's favorite gift (other than his basketball hoop which is just awesome!) was this bear that Allie got for him. He loves it every chance he gets.

We had a great holiday. The day after Christmas everything gets packed away for the next 11 months. We like to get ready for the next big holiday at our house. ALLIE'S BIRTHDAY!

Elves to the Rescue

Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2011

I seem to be getting further and further behind in my blogging, and I always seem to be cramming stuff in at the last part of the year. So lets pretend Halloween was just last week. WOW wasn't Halloween so fun just barely?? I am still feeling sick from all the candy. Wow. Anyway Halloween was AWESOME as always. Parties, parties, parties, tons of excuses to eat candy and dress up. The kids dressed up like the characters from Princess and the Frog. Princess Tiana, Louis the alligator, and a Princess Froggy. Our neighborhood was once again off the hook. Tons of food, people, movies, music, etc. Good times. Allie had a costume parade at school which was so fun to go to and see all the kids all dressed up. I helped in her classroom for the party which was fun. I remember my mom was ALWAYS helping in my classrooms growing up, and I intend on being there as much as possible for my kids as well. Lily had a little preschool trick or treat party as well, and that was super cute. A few days earlier we went to the pumpkin patch and took some pics as well. It was almost totally dark when we got there and they didn't turn out as I had hoped but there's always next year. Halloween is just so fun I love it. Pointless but super fun.

Fall Break 2011

Fall break was so fun this year! We kept so busy, and it was SOOOO much fun having Allie home with us all day. We miss her when she's at school so we made the most of having her home. Danny's birthday was at the beginning of the week, so we invited some friends over for dinner and games. Danny is incapable of being serious, so he told his friend that it was a costume party, and since it was also Columbus Day, Danny told him to come dressed as his favorite ship. So, here's Ryan, always the good sport, who showed up as the Pinta.

18 kids on a trampoline is totally safe, right?

The kids playing Reverse Charades

Lily and her friend Oakley

Some of the guys playing Reverse Charades. If you haven't played it, you really should. It's a blast.

My little Mozart at the Children's Museum
Dylan and Emily playing with a wall size Lite Brite also at the Children's Museum.
A day at the zoo is always fun. Our group took up the whole train. I'd never been on the train but was glad we did it. It was of course quite hot, so it was a fun way to see a lot.

Then we went to Disneyland for four days. Totally randomly we ran into some of our really good friends from Gilbert there, who were just there for one day. That was super fun!

My two little princesses. I love how much they love Disneyland!

Lily loves the Toon Town roller coaster. I have the same picture of Allie who has not quite as thrilled of a look on her face. I think Lily will be our little daredevil.

We wished the kids had worn their Halloween costumes when we saw Shadow Man. The three of them were characters from Princess and the Frog.

Saw World of Color finally, and it was sooooo awesome. Def a must see.

It was such a fun week, I was sad to see it end. I wish we had Fall Break once a month.

Washington D.C.

In September Danny had to go out to Washington D.C. for a work conference, so we took advantage of that and took all the kids with us to have a little vacation and see some family and friends while we were there. It was a short visit, but so worth it. After we arrived, Danny had to take off immediately to go to his meetings so we went to my sisters house for a few days. The first night one of my favorite people in this whole world, Carrie, came to hang out with us. It was so great to see her and I'm so glad she came out to Herndon to see us. We love you Auntie Carrie!The kids had a great time playing together. Since we don't live near family we just live for times like this where we get to see them.

Two of my beautiful nieces, Aya and Yumi.

Dylan likes Auntie Hil's house.

We went to the National Zoo. It was POURING down rain the entire time but luckily there is a lot of inside stuff. This giant fish thing didn't come out so well because of the flash but more importantly are those cute smiles on those little three year old's faces.

Lily and her new friend.

We got to see PANDAS!! My favorite!

Playing at the park

Next we went to the Museum of Natural History, which is always fun. I love how goofy the girls like to be.

Allie was intrusted with my camera and took some great shots of Hilary and I. I love my sister!

Allie with a big White House in the background

The new MLK Memorial had just opened. Super cool.

After a few fun filled days, we went over and met up with Danny at his conference. He was staying near this harbor which had this sculpture of a giant coming out of the ground. Super neat.

Then we headed to Maryland for a two day visit with Danny's sister Mindy. It was sooo fun to see where she lives, her house, town, etc. Maryland is literally one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Although it was a short trip, we had a GREAT TIME. I can't wait to go back!