Thursday, December 29, 2016

misc

it's been too long. all a part of no stress December, which actually worked pretty well. we did about half of what I would have wanted to do but that's just fine with me. it's good enough!

I started this post a long time ago and to my delight found it already full of pictures which equals less work for me. hooray!

sleeping baby series.

no covers version.
under the bed mess version.
and diaper booty/lovey version.
rainbow ellie sparkles came back on December 1 and made the girls lots of mini pancakes and mini bacon. and oj in fun cups because we don't have any mini cups.
the girls submitted pictures to go on the cover of the yearbook. neither won, sadly, but both are still hoping for a spot in the yearbook somewhere.
baby bug cuteness.
one day she let me dress her and she looked so cute! she loves the pre-k saying of "a finger on your lip and a hand on your hip."
love this sassy goose.
this must have been the last day of jump bunch.
three jump bunch finishers!
maybe she was also the mystery student that day? I know that necklace is from the mystery student basket and we love wearing it like a crown!
cade and lex with the advent calendars we sent them home with.
whenever I come across a pic of the boy I steal it. brenna just joined fb, so cha-ching!
I went to beths annual Christmas party and didn't take any pics. this was the only picture I had, so there you have it. beth always does such a good job and there were at least 30 ladies there. it gets pretty crazy with over 30 soccer moms hootin' it up all night.
December business is culminating in a trip to take the baby boy out to Idaho for school. I can't believe we're at t-3 days until we leave. it will be so weird not to have any teenagers at home for a few years. and just what will I do without my built in babysitters making life easier for me. hahahahaha.

Friday, December 2, 2016

colonial williamsburg

on Monday morning we woke up early and headed to a timeshare owners breakfast with laura and david where the salesman actually thought we were laura and david's children. so lame vacationing with mom and dad. ;) after breakfast while the owners talked, matt and I enjoyed a lovely walk around the property. we had to take a pic in the Maryland section. representing the 301, yo!
after forever we finally made it to colonial Williamsburg. first thing we noticed was francis street, spelled wrong, but still. cute fingernail bitten frankie finger.
the gang!
love the details!
after sorting out tickets (turns out military can get 4 people in free, which I wish we had known before we bought non-refundable tickets here) we caught a shuttle to the governors mansion. digging frankie's new face.
mama and baby. I've decided not to let her turn 5 next month. she's fighting me on it, but i'm pretty persuasive.
he was smiling at me a split second before this shot.
a bug and a boy. I had a friend ask me if bubba was her favorite sibling because she's always talking about bubba this and bubba that, and not really her sisters. pretty funny.
mid jump! matt thinks this thing was to help people climb into carriages.
we put franks to work. and addie thinks the inventor of this stick broom was dumb.
it was a cold and grey November day.
the grounds were just lovely. everything was.
we checked out the cellar. frankie hated it.
and then inside the mansion. weapon loving bubba was in heaven!
we had a cute little tour guide that did a good job.
weapons everywhere!
the girls got to check out some of their toys. they were all fascinated with the curling iron, not that that's a toy, but still.
and there was some dancing in the ballroom.
then we checked out the maze.
with this cutie.
love the way d is looking at her daddy. so presh.
we asked if any movies had been filmed here and they said one of the American girl movies was and this was felicity's house. not that we've seen it, but we thought that was cool.
I loved all of the creative wreaths!
we enjoyed watching spoons being made and melted within a matter of minutes.
learning about money.
and playing colonial games.
the girls loved it.

they've wanted fans forever. Christmas, here we come.
we played games
and drank root beer.
and learned about more weapons.
we watched books being bound.
and got some treats from the bakery.
the sun finally came out!
I had no clue what to expect, but it was a really neat place.
I would love to go back and see all the places we didn't have time to see.
we saw the courthouse, gaol (jail for those like us, who were searching and searching for the jail, as we were right in front of it with the weird spelling), and brickmakers. at 5 when everything closed we met up with mccombs at a tavern for some good old fashioned colonial fare - chicken tenders and sandwiches. and the girls got serenaded.
crazy kids and their phones.
more crazy kids, but without phones.
and the craziest kids of all.
there they are! look at those smiles!
we met a lovely family from Australia and talked to them for a long time about their 6 week journey around the eastern united states. what a dream to tour around Australia for 6 weeks! we finally caught the shuttle back and it was time for a few souvies.
smashed pennies teamwork.
guns are fun. bubba had just turned around in time for my picture.
and the girls with their "gadgets." we also picked out our yearly Christmas ornaments here.
it was a special day with the family.