Jack's Christmas Pageant

Jack was the little drummer boy in his Christmas pageant this year at preschool. He was not too thrilled to stand up and sing in front of everyone but managed to make it through. He did enjoy playing the drum for everyone though!

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas with my mom this year. After a little last minute shopping on Christmas Eve, we let the kids open their gift from Nana which is always a hit. This year she got them a Wii. They were jumping up and down and SO excited. Caroline has wanted a Wii forever and of course reminds us that she is the only person her age who does not own one! Claire was so cute opening her gifts and Jack could hardly contain himself. We went to our church that evening for a candlelight service. It was so nice, we heard a sermon on the birth of Jesus, did communion, lit candles and sang. I looked over at Caroline and her friends and they were so behaved and singing their hearts out! On Christmas day, we opened presents and mom cooked. We played all day with the new ping pong table, legos, video games, cards and the new army set! The day after Christmas, mom and I enjoyed the sales at the Leesburg Outlets. We spend the day shopping our hearts out! Thank you Chris for playing with the kids all day and letting us enjoy our passion! Saturday, we treated mom to The Nutcracker at the Warner Theater in downtown DC. We took the metro which was an experience for her. For dinner we went to Gordon Biersh which was delicious as always! Tomorrow we are sad that she is leaving but are excited to spend time with the Sandlin fam!

Tour of DC

I took my mom on a tour of DC as one of her presents. It was just the two of us and we toured Arlington cemetery where we saw the changing of the guard(very impressive), Georgetown (which was her favorite), all the major monuments and of course the White House and Capitol. We ended the day with dinner at Union Station!

Ice skating and gingerbread houses!

We started off our weekend by having our gingerbread house party. The kids love to do this every year as well as making cookies for Santa. Claire seemed content to just watch all the activity. On Saturday, we went ice skating down at the National Mall with some of our friends(Steph/Kevin and Tom/Debbie) from church. We skating all morning and then went to the Capitol City Brewing Company for a great lunch(Claire slept in her stroller while we ate). DC is awesome at Christmas!

Claire "toddles"(our name for it) after Jack and Caroline, checking out everything they do and wanting to be a part of it. It's so cute and we have enjoyed her so much. This pic is Claire watching Caroline get ready for school one morning!

Christmas parties!

We went to a wonderful sit down dinner for the residents. There was a visit from Santa as well! Caroline was not with us, she went home with a friend after this morning's "Drop and Shop" at church. After this party we headed to our friends Steff and Kevin's for a Sunday School party with babysitters, games and tons of food. It was a great night and the kids were sound asleep when we got home that night!

Caroline's ballet performance

We all went to Caroline's ballet class tonight to watch her perform. She was really good and so serious! She started ballet this fall and has really enjoyed it. She took when she was three and four years old as well in Okinawa. She seems to be good at everything she does so far such as gymnastics, soccer and ice skating. We're so proud of her!

Anniversary

Chris and I celebrated our 9th anniversary about three weeks ago. We got a baby sitter for the day and took the metro to DC. We went to the holocaust museum which was a bit heavy for an anniversary but very moving. We were in there mesmerized for three hours. Afterwards, we walked around in the heart of DC for atleast an hour exploring the amazing city in awe. DC is really awesome with all of its history and culture, I feel lucky to have been able to live here for two years.`We waited for atleast a hour at a restaurant recommended called Matchbox. It was really good and well worth the wait. It was so nice to enjoy each other without the kids and have some time for the two of us. It's hard to believe 9 years have gone by with three kids and several moves! There is still so much to look forward to....

Thanksgiving in Kentucky

We drove 11 hours to celebrate Thanksgiving in Kentucky where my wonderful inlaws have moved. The trip is always better than you think and it was the first one we have taken as a family in a year and a half(thanks to the grueling residency program). We were so excited as crazy as it sounds to be driving with three kids for all that time. Thanksgiving was amazing, we were able to spend time with so many members of the family and our children just had a blast. Carriage rides, horses, vintage cars, golf carts, that is just to name a few of the things we did! Of course we ate ourselves silly, kids were on sugar highs and were up way too late! But it was all worth it for the memories they will have...

My first day of blogging!

I have been envious of my friends who blog because they are making records of their families lives they can always look back on. It is an awesome way to check in and see how your friends and families are doing as well. I'm going to attempt this feat!
To begin I plan to write all about my life with my children. There are so many things you forget that I want to hold on to forever. Right now I am a stay at home mom of three. We live in Potomac, MD and Chris has been VERY busy in a residency program. I have Caroline, Jack and Claire who are 8, 5 and 16 months(well she will be in two days!)
So I shall start.....