Washington D.C.-Spring Break 2014

Abbie and her daddy reading the paper on the Metro

Abbie's 1st time riding the Metro!

Abbie near Ford's Theater

We ate lunch at Cosi while in D.C.  We were starving!

We saw Mr. Peabody and Sherman at the movies earlier that week!

Abbie and her daddy with the Swedish chef at National Museum of American History.

Abbie and Sophie at the White House.

Abbie as a unicorn.

Now, it's Sophie's turn to be a unicorn. 

Here we are at the Lincoln Memorial.

Sophie and Abbie with Mimi and Papa Tom before we left Virginia.

The girls with Aunt Leia.

Our family

I forgot to mention in my last post that when we first arrived in Virginia, Matt's Uncle Gary and Aunt Jo were visiting Matt's family too.  They stayed until Monday and then, they headed home.  We were glad that we could visit with them for a little bit because we had not seen them in a while.  One day, we went with Mimi to see the movie Mr. Peabody and Sherman. They really liked it!  We also went to visit Papa Tom at work so that he could show the girls off to his co-workers.  It was funny because Abbie really hit it off with one of the ladies who works in his building.   Her nickname is Sunshine and she let Abbie practice answering the phone and everything (she had another co-worker call).

Papa Tom was off on Thursday and Friday and it finally started to warm up at the end of the week.  We decided to drive in towards D.C. on Thursday and then catch the Metro.  It was still somewhat chilly in the morning and a very windy day, but we were able to see some things in D.C.  We took a tour of Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was shot, and saw the Peterson house.  Then, we ate lunch at Cosi.  We had definitely missed our normal lunch hour so some of us were starving.  It was very good.  Then, Matt's parents walked over to the National Museum of American History.  Matt and I walked with the girls to the White House.  They loved seeing it!  Then, Matt hired a man on a pedicart to bike us over to the museum.  This was great because the walking was a little too much for the girls that day for sure!  Sophie loved seeing all of the First Ladies Dresses and a few other things.  Abbie got tired and bored pretty quickly but she liked seeing a display of puppets that they had.

Matt's parents rested and had a snack there and then headed back on the Metro to wait for us.  Tom, Matt's dad, has a form of ALS disease (Lou Gehrig's) so he gets tired easily from walking and he is having more trouble with his balance.

Matt and I walked with the girls from there to see the Lincoln Memorial.  The Washington Monument is closed for renovations due to an earthquake in 2011.  We saw the WWII memorial as we passed.  It was   very windy as I mentioned before and kind of chilly.  I did not think we were ever going to make it there and back because it was a lot of walking for Abbie.  Matt carried her on his shoulders part of the way back.  The girls enjoyed visiting D.C. even though they were worn out!  Sophie has always loved President Lincoln so I'm glad she could see some things that interested her.  We told the girls that we'll have to bring them back and see more of the sights of D.C.!  We met up with Mimi and Papa Tom back at the Metro station at our car.  We had a very late dinner and then drove back to Richmond.

Snow Tubing over Spring Break

Abbie and Sophie are ready to go snow tubing!

Here's our crew before we went snow tubing. (our family and Aunt Leia)

Sophie loved snow tubing independently!

Here's Abbie-what a big helper!

Peace man!

We drove up to Virginia to spend time with Matt's parents and sister, Leia, over Spring Break.  They live in Richmond, VA and it was very cold for the 1st part of the week.  They even got some snow.  We have really been wanting to take the girls snow tubing lately but haven't had the chance (me in particular).  One day, we drove over to Massanutten, VA (about 2 hours away) where there is a ski resort with all sorts of activities.  It was a beautiful drive because we saw a lot of snow along the way!  We ate lunch on our way over and snow tubed in the afternoon.  They have a special lift that you stand on with your inner tube that is like a mechanical sidewalk from the airport.  It takes you back up to the top each time after you come down the slope.  We had a great time but as the sun came out more and more, the tubes started going a little slower and getting stuck before we got to the bottom of the hill.  We had dressed with lots of layers so our coats and some of the outer layers came off while we were there.  We had a lot of fun snow tubing!!  Each person rides in his or her own tube but you can connect them if you prefer (up to 4 tubes).  Abbie preferred being connected to other people most of the time.

Book Character Day

a piggy and a wizard!

Abbie as Mercy the pig and Sophie as Hermione from Harry Potter

Last Friday was book character day.  The girls had a parade at school.  Sophie knew that she wanted to be Hermione from Harry Potter.  I worked hard on doing lots of braids all over her head the night before so that she would have curly hair and it worked!!  She also wore my graduation gown from when I earned my master's degree.  It required lots of safety pins but her daddy made it work.  We couldn't decide who Abbie should be for book character day.  We debated between 2 or 3 characters.  She loves the Mercy Watson books by Kate DiCamillo about a pig named Mercy.  One of our neighbors had the pig accessories (including a little curly tail).  Put those pig accessories with a pink outfit and Wa laa-you've got your pig!!  =)  Abbie has always liked pigs.  I think they had a good day and then, they were able to come home and play outside.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Before I blog about the Daddy Daughter Dance, I just wanted to say that recently we welcomed a new nephew/cousin into the family.  Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt welcomed their second little boy, Monroe Daniel, on Thursday February 20. He was 8 lbs 10 ounces and 22 inches long.  Aunt Paula was able to meet Monroe the next morning (she did not want to go in midst of tornado warnings for the birth).  Uncle Matt, Aunt Paula, Sophie and Abbie were all able to go on Saturday, February 22, 2014 to meet Monroe.  He is a precious baby and I will post pictures soon.

Abbie's putting on some powder and getting her "do" fixed.

The girls are showing off their roses from Daddy!

They are ready for a special night out!

We have had an exciting weekend.  The girls got their daddy to be their date on Friday for the Daddy Daughter Dance at school.  We tried to make their hair curly, etc (with a little success) and they got all fixed up.  Matt was going to have dinner with just the girls at Jason's Deli and then attend the dance but Abbie really wanted her mama to come too so we ate dinner there as a family.  Both of the girls looked very pretty!  After dinner, they went to the dance where they took pictures in a photo booth, made a craft, had snacks and of course, enjoyed some line dancing, etc with their friends.  They had a a fabulous time and were worn out when they returned home.  Yesterday, Abbie scored two goals in soccer!  Sophie also played a game but their team lost.  We had lunch with Nana at Chick-Fil-A between the games.  After the games, Sophie was going to sell Girl Scout cookies with her troop but they sold out!  Last night, we celebrated Paula's birthday a little early with Nana and Paw-paw at Carrabba's.  It was wonderful and there was no wait!

Gatlinburg Getaway

Jonathan, Abbie, Sophie and Hadleigh on Saturday morning in their P.J.s (except Sophie).

Look what came overnight-SNOW!!

Abbie and Jonathan went out with their dads and walked around in the snow. Abbie really enjoyed posing.

Hadleigh and Sophie stayed cozy inside with their mamas.

Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the kids (minus Hadleigh) had fun in the hot tub with their dads.  Matt and Eric made snow angels and then jumped in the hot tub.

Look at the view from our cabin!

Jonathan and Sophie at the aquarium.

Sophie with the tallest man who ever lived at the Guinness Book of World Records Museum.

In the background, you can see a monster and Harry Potter, one of Sophie's favorite book series.

us and the Brown's on the deck of our cabin.

Look at Sophie's hair with electricity in it!

Sophie and Abbie with their wild hair do's.

We posted these pictures a couple of days ago but I am just not getting around to writing about them.  Last weekend, we were invited by our friends, Eric and Jennifer Brown, to rent a cabin up in Gatlinburg with them.  We had never done anything like that and we had a great time!  The girls had Valentine's Day parties on that Friday, February 14.  As soon as the parties were ending, we finished loading up and headed to Gatlinburg.  It was a rainy night and somewhat warm as we travelled but we made it fine.  The next morning, we woke up to a blanket of snow.  Our cabin was up in the mountains where it was quite steep so we stayed in on Saturday and let the snow melt off.  Abbie and Jonathan enjoyed playing in the snow a little bit.  We also played a few games while we were snowed in.  The kids enjoyed trying to play pool at our cabin.

That afternoon, we went to the aquarium because the Brown's had never been to the one in Gatlinburg.  We also had Mellow Mushroom pizza for lunch.  Eric, Matt and the kids enjoyed using the hot tub on Saturday.  It was funny because we asked our kids if they would like to go to the aquarium because we had just visited it for the first time in May.  Abbie acted excited about going there with Jonathan.  Then, (after lots of traffic, difficulty parking, Abbie falling in the mud, etc) we got to the aquarium and Abbie goes, "oh, this place.  Oh, I hate fish!"  It was so funny because she acted like she wanted to go.  Saturday night, we had dinner at our cabin and tried to get the kids to bed earlier.  During the middle of the night, the girls woke us up because apparently Abbie had started slapping Sophie during her sleep.  It was awful!  It woke several of us up and we had to split the girls up, etc.  Our girls are not used to sharing a bed or even a room.  

Sunday morning, we had our own little church service and were going to try snow tubing but it was already sold out.  We had a delicious breakfast at our restaurant in Gatlinburg.  Then, we went to the Guinness Book of Records museum, shopped a little and then played putt putt golf.  It was Jonathan's first time to play putt putt.  That night, we were worn out.  Most of us, had some use of the hot tub and we just hung out.  

The next morning, we packed up and got ready to head home.  Our family decided to stop near Knoxville at the Science Museum.   Although the girls had seen the electricity demonstration before, we talked them into doing it.  =)   Monday was a nice day to travel overall until we reached Lebanon or so where it started raining.  We were able to have dinner with Nana and Paw-paw after we arrived back in town.  All in all, we had a great time with the Brown's in Gatlinburg.  I think the girls want to do it again often.

Build a Bear fun

The lady is stuffing Abbie's dog.

Abbie is brushing her dog, Olivia.

Here's Sophie brushing her "Thin Mint" from Girl Scouts bear.

Sophie loves her new bear, "Sweet Mint".

Here's Sophie and Abbie with their new stuffed animals.

For Abbie's birthday, she received a gift card for Build a Bear.  We had never taken the girls before so we thought that they would have fun doing it.  I also got a deal where you could buy a voucher for $30 for only $15 so I had that too.  Abbie picked out this dog and then they put a heart inside it, etc.  Your child gets to print out a birth certificate.  They were pretty busy when we got there because there was a birthday party going on.  When we realized that Abbie wasn't going to use all of our vouchers, Sophie decided that she would like a Girl Scout "Thin Mints bear.  Abbie picked out a really cute Girl Scout themed outfit for her dog and some sunglasses.  Every dog needs sunglasses, right?  Just kidding.  Anyway, they had a fun time.  We were also able to get out a couple of times and enjoy this beautiful and rare, warm weather.  What a lovely day-especially after the freezing cold weather that we've had!

100th Day of School

This past Tuesday, the kindergartners celebrated their 100th of school by dressing up as 100 year old people.  Don't you think that Abbie ages well?  She aged 94 years in just a week!!  You can't really tell from this picture but I put powder in Abbie's hair and put it in a bun.  She wore this hat which also served as Sophie's Mary Poppins hat when she was that age.  The cane that she is using was my great aunt Mary Tom's cane (she lived to be over 100 years old).

They did several special things at school for the 100th day but of course they were all educational! (insert eye roll here).  They had a little autograph book where they could collect autographs from other kindergartners at their school.  They were also supposed to try to write down 100 words in their classroom.  I think that Abbie had a fun day at school but someone at work told me I should have just sent her to school with an afghan around her because all of the little old people that we work with at the nursing home are always cold!!  =)