Washington, D.C.

We took a long weekend up to DC to celebrate Cameron being done with his board exam and as our winter track out trip.  We really got lucky with the weather and were able to accomplish a lot in our 3 days in the city!

On Saturday morning we had a tour of the White House.  It was really fun to see the inside (even though the security took longer than the tour!)

We left the White House and grabbed lunch at Shake Shack, then continued our walk up to the Capitol.  The girls were dying from the walk!  It's further than it looks!  We went on the official tour which the girls found really interesting.  The only disappointment was that the rotunda is undergoing a restoration, so everything on the outside AND inside was covered in scaffolding.  

We walked through the underground tunnel into the Library of Congress.  It's really beautiful inside!

On Sunday we went to breakfast at Elle's new favorite restaurant, Cosi which served bagel and egg sandwiches.  She went on and on and ON about this place!  Then we headed to the Air and Space Museum.  There was plenty of cool stuff, but I was most impressed with the original plane from the Wright Brother's flight.

We headed across the mall to the Museum of Natural History next.  The girls enjoyed the geology section with lava rocks and the gemstone section the most!  We saw a couple of dinosaurs and the hall of mammals too.  

After both museums, we went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Elle didn't understand all the fuss, but Scarlett was really into it.  After that, we decided that ANOTHER visit to Shake Shack was in order (yep, it's THAT good!)

On Monday we got out early and grabbed tickets to the Washington Monument, then went on a tour of Engraving and Printing where they make money.  We all really enjoyed that tour.  It's so cool to see giant stacks of uncut sheets of $20's just stacked up!

We left there, grabbed breakfast, then started our trek to the Lincoln Memorial.

Next up was the Washington Monument.  We had  a perfect day for great views from the top!

The White House from our vantage point!

We spent the afternoon in the Museum of American History.  There were several hands on exhibits that the girls loved in the "invention" section.  We had to cut the rest of our tour short since it looked like the rain was ready to roll in.  They had a lot of trains and old cars that were really cool!  

We had dinner at Old Ebbit's Grill which is the oldest restaurant in DC.  

Tuesday we woke up to rain, but decided to brave it and head to the Air and Space Museum in VA before we headed home.  That's where they keep the REALLY cool stuff.

The girls enjoyed their lesson on how to fly a plane.

There were so many cool planes in this giant hangar.  The SR-71 Blackbird caught their eye!

Cameron and Elle realized their dream and saw the space shuttle Discovery.  It was really quite impressive!  

We even got to see some snow on our drive home! 

Catch up!

It feels like my kids have hardly gone to school at all since October!  We've had plenty of fun, but that leaves very little computer time!  Also, technology went and changed on me again.  I figure out how to put up pictures on here and then all the sudden my method is gone and I'm off to figure out the latest and greatest.

Here's a recap of the last couple months!

Christmas was fun and we stretched out the fun for a few weeks.  Most of our family was able to come up and visit over the course of the month, so it was fun to see everyone!  

The girls exchanged presents on Christmas eve.  This year we took them to Target on the night of the 23rd to pick out gifts because last year 48 hours was entirely too long for them to keep a secret!  Elle got princess Legos and Scarlett got Tsum Tsums and a Fur Real kitty.

Santa came and brought the highly requested "Big spots Unicorn" and a Darth Vader bear for Scarlett.  

Santa also brought new scooters.  Luckily we had a warm Christmas so the girls got out to ride right after present opening.

We got the girls desks for their rooms and a new stash of art supplies.

We had a low key New Year's eve after our friends got sick and we stayed home.  We started watching Harry Potter, which led to an intense couple of weeks getting through the entire series.  It's Scarlett's newest obsession!

After Christmas and New Year's fun was over, it was time for Girl Scout cookies!  Whew...what a whirlwind weekend of selling cookies!  A neighbor referred to it as the Girl Scout cookie Hunger Games.  There's 12 or more scouts here and some are REALLY into it!

The next weekend we got a snow day which kicked off track out a day early.

The snow and ice hung around for a couple days, then my ice team broke us out of the driveway and we were off and away on our playdate marathon.

Luckily the beautiful weather returned the next weekend and we spent several days outside.

After winter returned, we hit all the indoor playspaces in the area as well as a trip to the dentist, pottery painting, a few trips to the Chickfila playplace and our friends houses.  Just a few more days until school resumes and I can catch my breath!

December happenings

Chippy is back!  He made his appearance as soon as the Christmas tree was decorated.  He baked us some cookies as a welcome back treat.  He's been flying around, playing with our toys and reporting to Santa.

These two can be so cute sometimes and the next minute they are screaming at eachother.  The joys of siblings!  Here was one of their nice moments as Scarlett is so nicely helping her eat Pixie Sticks.  

Scarlett is 8!

Hard to believe my big girl is 8!  We celebrated with family in Callaway.  On her actual birthday, I took Panera to school to eat lunch with her and then joined her class for cookies.  

When she got home from school, we opened presents.  She got her own Kindle paperwhite.  She was super thrilled that now she can read in the dark!

Her birthday dinner of choice this year was hamburgers, steak fries and salad with chocolate cake for dessert.

On Saturday we invited our friends Christian and Sophia over to make gingerbread houses.  The kids had a blast making a mess, err..beautiful masterpiece!

Thanksgiving in Atlanta

The girls and I spent the week of Thanksgiving hopping across the state of Georgia!  

We started at Nomie's house

Then we jumped to see Gigi and Donk's new house in Acworth.  

Elle made a new best friend in Kittykrandal.

We explored the playground, the beach, the lake and downtown (where we had an awesome New Orleans meal!)

Next we drove to Conyers and met up with Grammie where we took a ride down to her lake house.  Despite the chilly evening, the girls were dying to go on a boat ride!

We returned to Conyers the next day to see lots of family and friends.  

I was thankful to squeeze in a quick visit with Sarah and Courtney (we forgot to take pictures of us!)

The girls made their contribution to Thanksgiving dinner with chocolate pretzels.

Elle made ANOTHER new friend!  Unfortunately for Coco the cat, she's a bit too old and slow to escape!

We had a wonderful gathering of family and some great food at Colin and Morgan's new house in Atlanta.

Even Abbie got to join in on the fun!

After dinner, we drove down to Callaway Gardens.  We had beautiful weather, so we took a hike around the lake and through the woods to the chapel.  Then we visited the butterflies.  We then headed into the little old town section for lunch and a little shopping.  

That evening we met up with lots of family to celebrate Scarlett's 8th birthday.  We had dinner at the country store, a birthday tailgate, then saw the lights on the Jolly Trolley and enjoyed the Christmas village.