Happy Birthday to Jack! He officially turned 2 today after a weekend of birthday activity. Jack loved hearing people sing happy birthday to him over the weekend and loved singing it to himself.
On Saturday, both sets of grandparents came over to celebrate Jack's birthday. Some of Jack's fun presents included little footballs from Aunt Kelly, a tool truck from cousin Casey, Aunt Tracy and Uncle Stan, a piano from Emilie, a cleaning cart from cousin Stephanie, a Matchbox car set from Grandma Gail and Granpda Tom, and Mr. Men books from Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Maurice - Jack is very appreciative for all of his birthday gifts and wishes! Both Jack and Lily have thoroughly been enjoying the new toys!
Over the weekend we also enjoyed our first mini snow storm - unfortunately it was just a little too wet to really go outside and enjoy but it was nice to look at. On Sunday, Lily had swim lessons, and Mom and Lily went ice skating, she is getting pretty good at both.
Enjoy the pics and video.
Checking out his new drill.
Checking out his piano with his new Thomas backpack. Jack's new cleaning cart is in the background.
Ready for dinner with some balloons.
A portrait of the two year old and five year old! How time flies.
Singing.
Cupcake time ...
...
Suffering through another Redskin's game and taking the edge off with a little milk.
Gobble, Gobble...we had a fun Thanksgiving with lots of family!
On Tuesday, cousin Emilie arrived into town from NYC, and cousin Stephanie joined her Wednesday evening for their annual Turkey trek to D.C. On Wednesday, we made a trip to Sears in an attempt to have pics taken of Lily, Jack and Casey - I would love to report that we got some adorable pictures, but unfortunately none of them turned out great, the kids were not that cooperative, and when one would look cute, the others had other things in mind. Thus, professional pics of the cousins has so far been a bust, we will just have to continue with taking free pics ourselves! While at the mall, Lily and Jack made their first pre-Thanksgiving visit to see Santa - Lily hopped right up onto Santa's lap while Jack gave Santa a high five and fist bump (who knew Santa was so hip?!) and clung to Mom's arm and was going nowhere near Santa's lap.
On Turkey Day, we all headed over to Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom's and were joined by Grandpa Maurice, Grandma Phyllis, and Great Yellow Grandma - and of course Aunt Kelly. The kids had lots of fun, and Lily had her fill of about 10 pieces of banana bread, she was not a huge fan of the Thanksgiving feast, but our thought is more for us! ;) On Friday, it was time to do away with fall decorations and we got out the Christmas tree, menorahs, and other decorations - we spent the day decorating the tree - and were later joined by Grandma Gail, Grandpa Tom, and Aunt Kelly for leftovers. Aunt Kelly flew back to Colorado later in the day, and Em and Steph headed back to NYC.
On Saturday, we made a family trip to the mall, and while normally malls are about shopping, the kids made out really well - they got to see the fish at the LLBean store, Lily got to sit on Santa's lap again (Jack and Santa high fived again), they rode the mall train, and then we ended the afternoon at an outdoor playground. Jack then took close to a 3 hour nap, while Lily worked on some art projects and played veterinarian.
On Sunday, we headed over to Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom's to decorate the Christmas tree and met up with Aunt Tracy, Uncle Stan, and Casey for leftovers - they were in Roanoke for Thanksgiving. It was a nice day, so they got in some play time in the driveway and took a walk in the wagon.
Lily is very exicted about all aspects of celebrating Christmas and Hanukah, she thinks she is pretty lucky that she gets to celebrate both, although we are getting lots of questions that at times we struggle to answer. In a discussion about Rudolph, she asked why Santa didn't just use a flashlight to guide his sleigh - pretty reasonable question we thought. In examining a cresh at Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom's, she asked why Jesus was nailed to the cross - that was a tough one - her Uncle Stan explained to her it because people thought he didn't tell the truth, way to put the fear of God in her!
A week from today, Jack will be 2 years old, time flys! He can sing in full his ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and can count to 10. He also repeats anything and everything his sister says and does, which at times she finds hilarious and other times she finds completely annoying! As an early birthday present courtesy of Aunt Donna and Uncle Stephen, Mom and Dad spent three hours putting together Jack's train table - both Jack and Lily were very excited and we suspect Jack will be spending lots of time in the basement with his "choo choo trains."
Enjoy the pics!
In matching white for photos that just did not work out.
Hanging out with Cousin Em. Somehow, Cousin Steph managed to avoid the camera.
Jack carried the dog all the way from the sun room to the kitchen and then sat down for a ride.
Hanging out with Santa.
Jack checking out his birthday present from Aunt Donna and Uncle Stephen. A little early but some assembly was required.
Heading into the holiday season and we have lots to report on. We had, of course, the regular weekly activities -work, school, nanny time, figure skating and swimming. In addition we had visits from Grandparents, Aunts, Uncle, Cousin and time with friends.
On Thursday, Lily had another skating lesson. Slow improvements are continuing and we just have to get Lily to the rink a bit more to keep improving. Due to busy schedules, Lily was accompanied by Grandma Gail who filled in perfectly.
On Friday, Lily and Jack visited the zoo with neighborhood friends Madeline and Claire. Many animals were viewed and the day was completed with our weekly Friday night feature - this week A Bugs Life.
Saturday started off with an early breakfast out and then a long, patient morning at the County parade. There were floats, bands, balloons and every local politician. There were lots of pencils and candy distributed and the kids had a blast. After a quiet afternoon, Lily was off the Madeline's birthday party and we had a visit from Grandpa Maurice and Grandma Phyllis.
Sunday started off with swim lessons and finished with visits from Grandma Gail, Grandpa Tom, Aunt Kelly, Aunt Tracy, Uncle Stan and little Casey.
That is all for now ... onto the pictures. Happy Thanksgiving.
It was a busy week around here but very few pictures to show for it. As we gear up for the holidays there was lots of ice skating and visits with friends.
On Wednesday, Veteran's Day, Marcy and Jack visited friends Erin and Holden. Jack had a good time with Holden and had a fun day alone with his Mom. Lily had a good day at school and was excited all week that her teacher Ms. Linda returned from vacation.
On Thursday, Lil had her second ice skating lesson and seems to be getting better. Friday was a busy day and was finished off with movie night - the very scary G rated - Tale of Despereux.
On Saturday, we started off the day running some errands, went ice skating in the middle (my first time in 18 years or so) and then finished up with a fun evening with Hayley and Cole over for dinner.
On Sunday, Marcy, Lily and Jack were off to Delaware for a visit with some of our law school friends. Lily and Jack had fun playing with Ian, Jonah, Oliver and Viggo.
That is all for now. See you next week.
Hanging with Holden.
Future figure skaters of America.
From left, Jonah, Oliver, Jack, Ian and Lily (Viggo not pictured).
Busy week of activities...Lily is keeping very busy at school with ballet on Mondays, Music on Tuesdays, yoga and spanish on Wednesdays. She is also enjoying a special half hour class each day for the 5 year olds at the school, which right now amounts to about 4 kids. The classes range from science experiments to cooking to educational games. On Thursday, she started (after school) ice skating lessons, her first time on ice skates, she did really well and had fun. Jack kept busy playing soccer at the community center, going to the library, and going to the park - according to Beatrice, Jack has a lot of friends wherever he goes. On Friday, Lily and Jack had their last day of gymnastics, culminating in a medal ceremony. Later in the day Lily practiced riding her Razor scooter and we took a bike ride/stroller ride to the park. On Saturday, Lily and Jack tried rolling skating as seen below. On Sunday, Lily had her second swimming lesson. Later in the day we headed to Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom's to celebrate Great "Yellow" Grandma's 89th birthday!
Enjoy the pics and videos - five this week.
Jack collecting his gymnastics medal.
Lily with hers.
Roller-skating.
Action.
Jack's turn.
Jack can find a way to have fun anywhere. Here, demonstrating that he is a boy.
