Happy New Year!

On New Year's Eve, we packed up the kids and headed over to the Korsvalls. The big kids enjoyed a little New Year's fun with hats and blowers....


and then topped off the night around 7:30 pm with an Apple Juice toast!

After the kids were asleep, we enjoyed an adult only dinner with the Korsvalls and Hills at Mon Ami Gabi at Reston Town Center. Sorry.... we have no pictures of the adults from dinner. At dinner, I did actually reach for the diaper bag to get our camera for a photo... but hence.... adult only dinner = no diaper bag. Sorry. And many thanks to Erin's parents for babysitting for us while we all enjoyed our dinners.

We wish everyone a happy and healthy 2010!

Rocking with Rocknoceros

The 3rd annual Rocknoceros concert at Jammin' Java was rescheduled to this past Sunday as a result of the blizzard. Here's a picture of Dan with his boys enjoying the show.

It took Nathan awhile to venture out onto the dance floor, but he did finally join Emilia for a a couple of songs.

This is a just a silly picture of me striking a pose with Andrew (i.e., Andrew's signature pose.)

The concert was fun and Rocknoceros was great as usual, but the best part was that we picked up two items at the hardware store on our way back to the car: (1) a sled and (2) a child size snow shovel. Although I would say the items were a bit pricey, we are now fully equipped for the next snow storm, which means it probably won't happen for at least another 5 years!

ICE!

The day after Christmas, the Vaughan clan piled into three mini-vans and headed to the newest holiday attraction in the DC area: ICE! at the Gaylord National at the National Harbor. The colors and details of the ice sculptures were really amazing and beautiful! They do warn you about the temperature and they provide parkas for everyone to wear. But even so, baby, it's cold inside!!!

Christmas Morning

Before heading over to my parent's house on Christmas Eve, Nathan helped us set out a tray of goodies for Santa and his reindeer.

But by the time 6:30 am rolled around on Christmas morning, Nathan seemed to have forgotten about Santa and was just playing with his new city trains in our bedroom. We finally reminded him that it was Christmas morning, and then we headed downstairs to see if Santa had come.

As requested, Santa had left a boat for Nathan, along with a new toothbrush (seriously, he asked for a toothbrush). Since Andrew could not ask for something, Andrew also got a boat and toothbrush. But Andrew's boat is really a ball pit! WHAT?!?!? Are we crazy?

Before heading over to the Vaughan's house, the boys opened a few gifts from us. Nathan's gift was a Leapster, which we hope will entertain and educate him some during our long car rides. To be honest, the more time Dan and I spend with Nathan, the less and less intelligent we realize we are. We can only answer a small fraction of the "why" questions that he constantly asks!

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas with the Vaughans

We spent Christmas day with the Vaughans at Gramma and Grandad's house. Nathan is always excited to spend time with his cousins, Carter & Isabelle. We spent the day eating, opening gifts and playing with the kids.Lucy even got to come and Isabelle wanted to play with her a lot!

One of the last gifts each of the kids opened was a very special handmade gift from Gramma. Aren't these sweaters adorable?

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we packed up the mini-van and headed over to my parent's house to celebrate. After an early dinner, we went to my parent's church for the 5 o'clock service. Thankfully, the boys did extremely well during the service.

After church, we headed back to Grammy and Pop Pop's house for cookies and presents. Although Dan and I liked the new lion towel, Andrew was not a big fan.

Nathan was very excited to receive 4 new "city" trains (replicas of the LIRR and NYC Subway) that can be used with his Thomas set. He is also excited to "borrow" Andrew's city train until he is old enough to play with it himself.

But the best gift this year is that Uncle Matt will be starting his new job on January 4th with Houlihan Lokey based out of Tysons Corner.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Together with the Hills and Korsvalls, we decided to throw a birthday party for Jesus. After dinner, Dan read the kids a story called "What is Christmas?"

Eric then read the actual story of Christmas from a Bible for Toddlers. Our hope was to make it somewhat interactive and have the children set up the nativity scene as the story was read. But instead, Andrew chewed on the cow and the rest of the kids pretty much fidgeted with their characters.
Nathan, Clara and Emilia then went on a hunt for stars that were hidden around the house.
And of course, we couldn't have a birthday party without birthday cake!

All in all, it was a fun evening, but maybe a little more chaotic than we had planned or imagined it would be. I suppose when you have 6 kids under the age of 4, we should have expected that more than we did. But most importantly, it was a fun way to remind the children (and ourselves) what this time of year is really all about.

Snow Day in Haymarket

Since Grammy and Pop Pop did not have to work, the boys and I ventured over to their house on Monday after the blizzard. While Grammy enjoyed some time with Andrew, Pop Pop and I took Nathan out to do some more snowtubing.


Pop Pop even enjoyed one ride down the hill.
On one of the last runs down the hill, Nathan landed face first in the snow. Our little adventurer popped up smiling (as you can kind of tell in this photo), but the smile quickly changed as he realized how cold the snow was all over his face.
After the tubing, we got changed and went to the clubhouse to enjoy the model train set-up. It is amazing just how much Nathan LOVES trains. Andrew might be getting into it too.... or maybe he just wants to pick one up and put it in his mouth?!?!?

Happy Birthday Daddy!

On Sunday, we were supposed to celebrate Dan's birthday with his parents and his brother, Chad, by going out to dinner and then visiting the National Christmas Tree. However, the blizzard abruptly changed those plans. Instead, everyone came over to our house for dinner and Nathan enjoyed a few more runs down the hill in front of our house.

Last year, our plans to celebrate Dan's birthday were also abruptly changed... partially by my bedrest, but he also ended up spending the evening in the ER with Nathan and his MRSA infections. At least this year, he was able to enjoy the dinner and time with family. Maybe next year will be different.....

Blizzard of 2009

Last year, I was all prepared for the snow. Nathan had his first pair of snow pants and snow boots, but there was no snow. He then grew like a weed and of course neither of those items fit (nor did any of the gloves or mittens) when the first snow came in early December. Frustrated that the local stores were picked over or completely out of stock, I finally decided to place an online order for snow gear from Lands End. Thankfully, on Friday the 18th, the Lands End shipment arrived just in time for the 20 inches of snow that came the next day!


In between shovelling, we let Nathan ride his snowtube down some small hills in front of our house. He absolutely loved the thrill of the ride.Then on Sunday, the sun came out and we ventured out again to shovel. Nathan really wanted to help, but he couldn't lift the shovel. If only we had a child size shovel......

Finally, the work was done and Dan was exhausted (I helped as much as I could when Andrew was napping and Nathan wasn't stealing my shovel, which was more than not at all, but not a whole lot).

We then bundled everyone up and drove around the neighborhood to find a better sledding hill.

It was a fun weekend at home, even if it forced Dan and I to get some exercise.

Santa Baby

Just a cute picture of Andrew dressed in his Santa suit at the Christmas party at Nathan's preschool (sorry... no other good shots of the party). Andrew is such a joy, even on his worst days. We are very thankful and blessed by each one of his precious smiles.

Bull Run Festival of Lights

Last night, we celebrated Dan's birthday with dinner at Vintage 51 in South Riding with the boys and my parents. (Happy 36th!!) Then we all piled into the mini-van (we are really loving this car) and drove through the Festival of Lights at Bull Run Park. But the most anticipated part of the evening (for Nathan, that is) was the Winter Wonderland Carnival. It was very cold (in the 20's), so we bundled up and enjoyed some smores, rides and a quick burst of warmth in one of the tents.

Christmas Party at Lanka's House

Last Saturday night after the snow had eased a bit, we dressed up the boys and headed over to Andrew's daycare for the annual Christmas party.
It's hard to believe that this is the 4th year we've attended this party. Here's a picture of Nathan with one of his old daycare buddies, Paige.

Each year, Lanka also invites Santa to the party and he brings gifts for all the children, including the siblings.

Here's a picture of Andrew with Karen. Karen and Maria both took care of Nathan when he started going to Lanka's house in July 2006. As many of you know, we could not be happier with the love and nurturing that Lanka, Karen and Maria have provided to both of our boys. We feel very blessed to have found such an amazing daycare!

Breakfast with Santa

Last Saturday we decided to check out a local event sponsored by the Arcola Volunteer Fire Department at the Arcola United Methodist Church. As we pulled out of our driveway, the rain/sleet mix was beginning to turn into snow.

During our breakfast, the snowflakes began to stick to the ground, and.....

soon, the entire ground was covered! It proceeded to snow all day and Dan and I swear these were some of the largest snowflakes we had ever seen!

Luckily the breakfast was close to home, otherwise we might have had to ask Santa for a ride home in his sleigh.