Happy Valentine's Day!

 The day before Valentine's Day, we got over a foot of snow! For us it was not a big deal, but here in Virginia it is unheard of, so the school was cancelled both Thursday and Valentine's Day. After being stuck in the house all day Thursday, we were ready to get out on Friday. So we drove down the street to a popular sledding hill at one of the schools here. The girls had a blast. There were tons of kids there. Some of the other kids had built up mounds of snow on the hill, which the girls loved "launching" off of. They even played on the playground blanketed with snow.

Avery & Sierra racing down the hill

And making their way back up the hill

Avery getting tricky, going backwards

Having some fun on the playground

 Back at home, we opened lots of great valentine's presents from all of our wonderful valentines. Thanks you to everyone, we love you!

Getting cuddly

Showing off our valentine cake

A Great Ski Trip

Last weekend, we went on our first ski trip of the year. We went to Liberty Ski Resort in Pennsylvania. It's a small resort but it's only about an hour away from us and it was perfect for us. The girls each had a lesson in the morning and they both did amazing!

Avery has gotten really good at turning and staying under control. Needless to say, I enjoy skiing with her so much more  now that I don't have to keep yelling at her to slow down!

Sierra has now graduated to going up the chair lift. She can easily do the beginner slopes. She does a great job of turning when she wants to. She really likes going fast so, oftentimes, she just goes flying straight down the mountain. At one point, when she was skiing with Cory, she got so far ahead of him that she wound up a Black Diamond slope! It was a bit treacherous for her but she made it down injury-free!

Avery all bundled up and ready for her lesson

Sierra's ready too

Sierra doing a great job with her turns

Avery with the Skiing Tiger at the top of the mountain

Avery coming down the mountain

Our Date with Daddy

 Cory and the girls attended a Father/ Daughter Dance held by the Girl Scouts. They got all dressed up and went to The Belmont Country Club for a night of dining, dancing, and partying! They had a great time!

Avery getting a beautiful corsage from her date

Sierra's turn

Adorable picture of the girls

Daddy and his girls looking beautiful!

A silly picture at the dance

Avery & Sierra out on the dance floor

Sierra's Girl Scout Ceremony

 Sierra had her official ceremony to become a Daisy. She had to recite the Girl Scout promise and she received her official daisy pin. She did great!

Sierra saying the girls Scout promise

Sierra and her Troop

And ending with the Circle of Friendship

A Trip to Build a Bear

 For Christmas, Aunt Lisa and Uncle Allen gave the girls each a gift card to Build a Bear Workshop. It was the perfect activity for us to do on a snow day with Gramma. Thank You Aunt Lisa and Uncle Allen!

Sierra giving her new bear, Love Heart, a bath

Avery putting in all of the info. She was so excited because, since it was so close to her birthday, she got some special birthday wishes for her elephant!

Avery giving her elephant, Pinkie Peanut, a bath.

Avery's 8th Birthday

 As usual, Avery's birthday was a whirlwind complete with a visit from Gramma and Grampa, dinner at our new "Mexicalli", a party with friends at The Art Station, a snow storm, and a whole week off from school because of it!

Sierra getting cozy with Gramma and Grampa

Gramma once again made an awesome birthday cake

Avery & Sierra with the cute puppy that Sierra got Avery for her birthday present

Waiting for the party to start at The Art Station

 The Art Station is an amazing art studio where you can do all sorts of different projects. Avery chose to make a candle and then do a painting of your own choice. She invited the girls from her Girl Scout Troop and her class. They all had a great time!

Avery & Sierra working hard on their candles

 

Stopping for a quick picture

After the candle making, each girl did a painting. They were all concentrating so hard, it was so quiet....shocking!

Sierra with her finished painting and a little paint on her face to show for it!

Happy Birthday Avery!!

A bonus birthday present for Avery... a little snow and a day off from school. Well, actually it turned out to be a week off from school. It's a little different here in Virginia!

Avery "snowboarding" on her sled

Avery opening up some great presents!

We even made it out to El Sol in the middle of a snowstorm!
Feliz Cumpleanos, Avery!!

Ice Skating

 For Christmas, the girls got ice skating lessons. Here are some pictures from their first lesson and one of the open skate practice sessions. They have been doing so great! In fact, at their second lesson Avery got moved up to level 2! And Sierra is so cute, she concentrates so hard and does exactly what her teacher tells her to do. They are having so much fun with it! And Cory and I have been having fun skating with them during their practice sessions!

Getting ready to go out on the ice for the first time

There's Avery skating around the stuffed animals

And Sierra making her way across the ice

Here's Avery during on of the practice sessions. I wasn't fast enough to get her face!

Sierra keeping Daddy company on his first time skating...he did great too!

I know this picture is very blurry but I had to add it. It's me and Avery at one of the open skating sessions and that guy behind us in the camo pants and black shirt is RG3. We were so excited and of course I didn't have my camera.

Happy New Year!

After a few fun days with everyone in Virginia, we all went up to New Jersey for New Year's Eve! We all stayed at Uncle Joey & Aunt Jenna's. We started out with a fun afternoon at the ice skating rink. It was the girls first time ice skating and, since, they got ice skating lessons for Christmas, it was perfect! They were a little nervous at first, but after a little  while they got brave and came away from the wall. They did awesome!

Avery & Stacy taking a short break.

Avery & Aunt Ami

Brady made it around the ice a few times

Alex looks like he is dancing on the ice

Sierra & Aunt Ami

Jack was a speed demon on the ice

Kailey taking a little break

After a lot of coaxing, Bobby & Ami got Luke out on the ice

Back at the house, all of the cousins together (Avery, Jack, Stacy, Kailey, Luke, Alex, Ryan, Sierra & Brady)...
Ready to party for New Year's!

Sierra handing out some noisemakers

Avery getting hers warmed up

Happy New Year!!!

New Years' Day at Aunt Kathy's in Princeton

Another cousins picture

And one more!