Getting Ready for Christmas!

 I just wanted to share a few pictures of us getting ready for Christmas. We have had a lot of fun figuring out where to put all of our decorations in our new home. We were very relieved that Elvis, our elf on the shelf, found us here in Ashburn! We are so excited for Christmas!

The girls showing off our beautiful tree

We went to see "Frozen" and went to a tree lighting festival outside of the movie theater.

The girls showing off their little tree

Lots of Thanksgiving Festivities!

 The week before Thanksgiving, the girls' school celebrated American Education Week with some fun activities for each class. The second grade had a Poetry Café. They have been working on writing poetry for the past month and they each had to pick one of their poems and recite it. Avery recited a haiku poem about her friend Gracie. She did great!

Avery getting ready to recite her poem

Avery with her teacher, Mrs. Molthen who is introducing Avery

 Sierra's class performed some Thanksgiving songs and then did some crafts. She did great, too!

Sierra with her class

Sierra singing some songs

Avery & Sierra showing off our turkey

 The weekend before Thanksgiving, we made our usual trip to State College for Thanksgiving at Aunt Sara and Uncle Tom's. As usual, it was a great time filled with lots of good food, good times with family, craft projects, and Edna!

The girls are ready for some crafting!

One of the kids tables ready to eat!

Our family picture

The girls with Gramma & Grampa

All of us together

And the girls with Edna!

 Then, for Thanksgiving, we went to Gramma and Grampa's in West Middlesex. Before we left Virginia, we got a phone call from Grampa letting us know that they had 10 inches of snow! The girls were so excited!!

Sierra having some fun playing and eating some snow!

And sledding too!

Avery's turn on the sled

Taking a break to pose for a cute picture

 For Thanksgiving dinner, we went to Uncle Doug and Aunt Bev's for a yummy dinner and to play with our cousins, Braden and Ellie.

All of the kids together

A cute picture of Avery & Ellie

 On Friday, we went to Tommy and Patty's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and a great time! Meanwhile, the girls stayed with Gramma & Grampa's neighbors' teenage girls, McKenna and Cassidy. I think they had just as much fun as we did!

Cory & I dancing at the wedding

 In between all of that, we were able to make it to Kraynak's Winter Wonderland display. The girls love walking through and seeing all of the Christmas displays!

Halloween 2013

 We had another great Halloween this year! Gramma and Grampa came to visit so we had lots of fun with them. This year was the first year that we carved pumpkins. The girls had fun with it. And the look on Sierra's face while she was scooping out the guts was priceless! And the pumpkins turned out great!

Halloween night was perfect. It was such a nice night out, aside from a few rain sprinkles, but that didn't stop us! Avery dressed up as a witch and Sierra was a Lalaloopsy doll. We had so much fun and the girls got so much candy!!


While Gramma and Grampa were here, we went into D.C. to go to the Natural History Museum. I wasn't sure how the girls would do walking around a museum all day but they loved it! They didn't want to leave at the end of the day!

Gramma and the girls trying to figure out where we needed to go

Sierra & Avery posing in front of the Washington Monument

Inside the museum, checking out the big whale

We went to an Imax movie which was awesome. Here we are looking cool in our 3-D glasses 

Posing inside a whale's mouth

One last picture outside of the museum.

Let's Get Caught Up!

Now that we are somewhat settled with our move and me going back to work, I want to get you caught up with what we have been doing for the past two months so that we can get back on track!

 

The cruise ship Cory and I took to celebrate our 10th anniversary

Miami Beach at night

We were told we had to stop in at Sloppy Joe's Bar!

The Little White House in Key West

Cory showing off his zip-lining skills in Cozumel

And me with a little rock climbing

Snorkeling with a few hundred of our new friends

Relaxing at the beach in Cozumel. All I need is a bucket of Corona!

Here are pictures of the girls in their new rooms.

Sierra

And Avery

 Sierra went on a field trip with her class to Great Country Farms where we went on a hayride, picked pumpkins, played and learned about pumpkins, apples, & animals. I was able to chaperone so I got some cute pictures.

Sierra and her friend, Skylar, on the bus.

Sierra and some of her friends posing as animals

Sierra & Skylar on the mountain of tires

And bouncing on the big pillow!

 We went to a nearby nursery to get our pumpkins and have a little fun in the process.

Sierra coming down the slide

And Avery too

Posing in the middle of the pumpkin pile

Getting ready to enter the haunted maze

Posing with our new friend

Check out our acting skills with the fake bloody hand.

Silly Sierra

The girls were very concerned that we weren't going to get "Booed" in Virginia. So we were going to start the "Booing" but before we got a chance to....We got "Booed"!!! The girls were so excited! Here we are getting ready to "Boo" some of our friends.

Last month, we went to New Jersey for Alex and Stacy's birthday. It was so much fun!

Sierra, Avery & Stacy working on their Rainbow Looms

Avery & Kailey having a sack race

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Stacy

"Happy Birthday' to Alex!

Stacy & Avery playing another game with some licorice and a lifesaver.

 The girls have both signed up for Girl Scouts. Sierra is a Daisy and Avery moved up to Brownie this year. Avery had her first meeting where her new troop held a small ceremony to welcome her.

Avery getting her Brownie Pin...

and a big welcoming group hug from her friends!

 Instead of the kids wearing their Halloween Costumes to school, Belmont Station does "Kooky, Spooky Bingo" the weekend before Halloween. The kids get to wear their costumes, play some bingo and hang out with their friends. It was so much fun, even though we didn't win!

Getting ready to play some Bingo

Avery concentrating on her cards

Sierra stamping her card!