dc tourist day

Our cousin, Shawn (13), came to visit this week for a few days and taught us a few things about rocking out on the new wii toy- rock band2. We rocked, we conquored, we snacked. it was a truly essential few days of just vegging out. thanks shawn!

So today i decided it was time to do something educational. So we took him on a morning tour of the National Mall. White House, National xmas tree, Washington Monument, Jefferson memorial, Capital Building and spent some time in the National Museum of Natural History. Shawn points out btw... what would the Museum of Unnatural history look like...?



Playing musical instruments in the Discovery Zone at the museum- obviously the best part of the museum for her. All hands-on and lots of cool new things to discover.



As we were getting ready to send Shawn home, Madeline went to say goodbye and asked "Shawn, you stay here ever and ever?..."
Uhm- how can he deny her?! And he is her godfather on top of it all... isnt it his solemn duty to stay? Well, i guess even the best of teenagers wants to spend a few days at home for their Winter break from school.

We loved having you here Shawn, despite the whole Denny's thing- we will never repeat.


Here is what madeline thought of her day- she started saying this at bedtime:

xmas pics

A few pics from Madeline's Christmas- some from home and some from our family visit to NY.

She had a wonderful holiday, the highlight of which was Santa's visit on Christmas Eve wherein he handed her the teacup she had asked him for. Later she told us all about it. Then on Christmas morning she gathered all of her gifts together (we had tagged them with her photo so she'd know which were hers) and then she distributed them to us. We had to help her realize they were all for her!
Her favorite seems to have been her toothbrush and toothpaste from her stocking- we brushed 3x yesterday afternoon.. but also her shopping cart and grocery basket set. She has been "going out to the store mommy" all day with her baby in tow.

Merry Christmas!


Her Christmas dress from Grandma rose and grandaddy bill.- she loved it.

Holiday Party

Don and I had a night out on the town for the Eplus Holiday Party. It was held at the Hyatt in Herndon, VA and was actually really really nice. They had a live band (full brass section and the lead singer was an american idol finalist a few seasons back), food was great and copious and the dancing and conversation with adults was the highlight for sure!

Here we are all gussied up doing the Holiday party pose- complete with the belly accent!

If you give a pig a pancake...

We took madeline to see her first play!
She loved it- Sat upright for every second of the show, clapping at all appropriate times and just engaged at the whole experience.
The college is right next to our development so there are some great tours that come through. This time the show was called "If you give a pig a pancake" by, of course, the author of "If you give a mouse a cookie" and performed by Theatreworks. They included many other stories which are family favorites: How i Became a Pirate, The Paper Bag Princess etc... What a great show!

Here is Madeline with her program and ticket and another with Dad poised in their seats "cheese".

Facial Expressions

Madeline has been learning about facial expressions and feelings recently ...
and here she is practicing:

Thanksgiving in NY

We had a wonderful, tasty, relaxing Thanksgiving at Club fidotta and had a chance to spend some QT with the Ryans and Maury too. We got some great xmas things from Aunt Margaret and of course, grandma Mary gave us more than a couple of penguins for the tree! thank you!!

We sat in a ton of traffic but all in all the drive to Ny for the holiday was worth it...
now we are wondering who is coming to our place for Christmas!!

Here are a few candids of the pre-turkey crew, and uncle Dennis carving the magnificent bird. Yum the tastiest thankgiving ever. thank you!

Its beginning to look alot...

...like Christmas! We have been getting into the Christmas spirit, after our fun trip home to NY for Thanksgiving. We inherited a few adorable Christmas things and I wanted to put them all right up immediately. Madeline helped pick out our Christmas tree last night and here it is!

ergo link

Just entered a contest for a free embroidered ergo.
here's the scoop:

Win a Free Organic Embroidered Ergo Baby Carrier Hands Free System from Along for the Ride

SNOW

It began snowing this week-
flurries on monday and more today. So at school Madeline had her first contact with snow. She tried to catch it in her mittens and was over it once
she saw the toys to play with. runny nose, purple hands, frozen cold-weather tears on her cheeks- it was a blast :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=jrInaSQiwp8 (in case you can't see it here, the link will take you there)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D_CamkPL4M

brrr... but at least gas has dipped below 2 bucks this week- a miracle!

this week in rockville

Getting ready for church with our friends, the Wongs.
(we got there at 9:30 -right on time, and apparently the website was wrong so we missed half of the service... )lets keep looking for a new place!


and here's a link to a quick video: I'm having trouble embedding the link today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVmekxYqtzw

and celebrating thanksgiving at school with her teacher, Miss Ricci.

just playing

Cupcakes for madeline

Don sought out cupcakes that Madeline can eat and hit the jackpot!
We are always frustrated for her when we go to birthday parties and celebrations and there is nothing yummy for her to eat- so now she can have her heart's desire...
Sticky Fingers, in DC has vegan cakes, cupcakes, sticky buns- the works!





love the little tongue
here she is enjoying them this afternoon, on our family outing around Adam's Morgan.
(and yes- she did choose the carrot cake cupcake all by herself! thats my girl!)



mmmm

Belly pics int and ext

We realize that you have all been asking to see these and we have not been diligent in uploading them so here is a quick video showing the new pics we got 3 wks ago from the ultrasound. Of course I have gained 8 lbs since then and am measuring 3cm bigger (a huge leap in maternity counts) so he is probably like 4 ft 10 now for all we know ;)


Madeline giving big kisses to her baby brother.

practice politeness

We are focusing on Madeline's ability to speak to others politely this week. She has always been great at please and thank you but now we have added "may i have a turn" and "no thank you" (when someone wants to touch or share with her etc). She is learning to excuse herself from the table at meals and has been taking her plate and cup to the sink for a few weeks now. It is great to watch her progress. We are just encouraging her to use her words whenever she can instead of whining or grabbing. So even when she uses the less "polite" version we are thrilled.
Ie: "Daddy come here....run!"


Of course its not all work and courtesy here. we have found lots of time for fun stuff too!

Don wanted us to make sure we got a video of her adorable running with the little chicken wings. she has always run like this and we dont want you to miss it!


here she is practicing her words with daddy


and playing sleepover with Eliana and benjamin!

more halloween

we just got some more pics back from Halloween at Madeline's friday morning nursery school. Here they are!

With her whole class posing by a tree. The little guy in liederhosen is also her classmate but very independent!

With zachary, her favorite buddy in school

Playing ring around the rosy in costume with mommy and her teacher, Miss ricci.

Fall

Madeline and Tucker enjoyed a few dives into the leaf pile today.
"Volcano" they'd say and "erupt" the leaves. I cant tell if she was more excited about the leaf pile up or her big buddy Tucker showing her the ropes.
We still have some georgeous leaves on the trees but they are falling fast now.
And, while the past few days have been unusually warm t-shirt weather, we know what is here to stay is the cold days of autumn and the need to run the heater- yikes!



xoxo

Halloween 08

We had a blast celebrating with our neighbors - the whole city of rockville comes to see our block because the neighbors go crazy for halloween. no joke, busloads.
Madeline had a blast and was really taking it all in tonight. We dont know if she loved the candy giving at our door or the trick or treating on the block better.

Here are a few quick snapshots too! Yes- a recap on the dragonfly from last year, because she did not want any part of the Madeleine costume in the end..but she loved her wings this year now that she can "steer" them!




xoxo

The Best Season~

Autumn is the best. Long sleeves, crunchy leaves, natural color and family.
Carving pumpkins with Shawn and Ryan (and his friend)




Playing in the leaves with Olga


olga and uncle Mike



and the best is trying to get everyone to smile at once!


there we go;

Uncle Michael, Shawn, Uncle Dennis, Chris
Aunt Veronica, Ryan, Olga, Me