Hunter's New Stocking

Grammy finished Hunter's stocking this year! Now the boys have matching cross-stitched stockings. Aren't they great!!! They are beautiful! And...more importantly for the boys, they are big (they can fit lots of goodies!).
Thanks Grammy! We love them!!

Christmas Morning 2009

Santa's been here!!! He ate the cookies....and look at the presents!!!!

What did I get??

Oooh, fun!

Mario for Wii!!!! This is what I wanted!!

The doll house I wanted!

We had an AWESOME Christmas this year! Both boys got some great gifts!! We had a very relaxing day filled with good food and lots of Mario playing!

The boys are already counting down the days until next Christmas!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Putting cookies and milk out for Santa (and of course carrots for the reindeer).

Putting the "Santa Key" outside for Santa (we don't have a real fireplace or chimney, so he uses this special key to get into our house).

Jerry was going to be leaving with Santa, so we wanted to get one last picture!

We can't wait for Christmas morning!!

Our stockings are hung by the Chimney with care!

Reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas right before we jump into bed!!

This is going to be a great Christmas!!!

Home SWEET Home

Gingerbread home, that is!! We had a blast making our first ever gingerbread house this year. It came pre-assembled, so that part was easy. I made the frosting a little too runny so our candies kept running off the house, but the end result still came out really cute. The boys couldn't resist the beaters from the frosting, and I could barely keep Hunter from eating all of the candy. They were bummed that I told them we wouldn't be eating the house...who wants to eat old, stale gingerbread and rock hard candy? Apparently my kids do!

Let it snow!

The boys were THRILLED (especially Alex) to wake up to over a foot of snow this morning! Of course they had to get right out there and play, so we bundled up the best we could (you know we don't own any actual snow clothes...if I bought th

em I know it would never snow!).
Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

Hunter had his first sled ride down our GREAT sledding hill, and Alex was a pro since he got to try it out last year! We really should invest in some sleds!! Luckily we have some great neighbors who let us borrow theirs!
The roads are horrible, but luckily we have no where to go, so we are just keeping warm in the house with some snow-play thrown in for good measure!
Maybe we'll even have snow for Christmas this year!!

Snow in Virginia!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

But the fire is so delightful!

All I Want For Christmas...

The boys were psyched to see Santa this year to tell him their Christmas lists.

Alex: "Bakugan and Star Wars people"
Hunter: "Three presents" (nothing really in particular, but the number is always the same....3)

We'll see if Santa comes through... I have a feeling he will!

Richmond Marathon

Frank ran the Richmond Marathon this year and did a great job - especially for someone who isn't a very practiced runner. 3 hours and 34 minutes!

Can you imagine running 26.2 miles??


Mile 7 - Still so happy!!

About mile 20 - Not so happy anymore!

Halloween 2009

Mario and Scream-face! We searched high and low for the matching Luigi costume for Alex, but apparently it was extremely popular this year and I couldn't even find it in-stock online! So Alex went scary this year, and I can't say I was too pleased!! I don't want him to want the scary costume every year from now on!!!

They had a great time this Halloween! We started the evening off with a neighborhood parade and pot-luck dinner. Followed by some very profitable trick-or-treating! The boys ended up with a ton of loot (thanks mostly to Alex for hitting every house in the neighborhood again this year!). Hunter loved handing out candy to the kids after he had done his round of the neighborhood.

Halloween is always such a fun time!

1st Grade Performance

On Tuesday night, the 1st graders at Echo Lake Elementary School performed at the PTA meeting. More than half of the class was out with H1N1, but the kids who were there did a fantastic job. Alex sang his little heart out and knew all of the motions. It was such a sweet performance!! I think there is one in the Spring too! I can't wait!

Hmm...

I heard a loud thump last night around 11pm and shortly after discovered this...

Look who's a big boy!

Hunter did a GREAT job his first night in his new big boy bed. He didn't get out of bed at all - right to sleep. He didn't even get out in the morning when he woke up. He waited patiently for Mommy!
What a big boy!!

Apple Picking

Carter Mountain was packed on the day we decided to pick apples, thanks to the Apple Festival, but we had fun none-the-less! We picked about 15 pounds of apples, although next year we will pick more than that because Frank ate most of them in about a week and a half!!

The boys had a lot of fun, although it took Hunter a little while to get the hang of it. The hot apple-cider doughnuts were the best!

Happy Birthday, 7 year old!!

I can't believe that my first-born is 7!!! Where has the time gone??

Note the charred match...I couldn't find any candles! Alex was shouting at us by the end of singing "Happy Birthday" to "Hurry, the match is going to burn the cupcake!"

Too funny!!!