Movie Day

Grandma and Grandpa Call gave us some money to use for some fun family activities. We decided to use part of it on December 26th to go to the $5 movie at Leitersburg Cinemas near our home. We saw the movie "Ferdinand" and we all enjoyed it. I think it was the first movie theater movie that Maylie was able to sit all the way through so a definite win!

Christmas Day!

There was lots of excitement in the air on Christmas morning! Jason kept the kids occupied until 7 a.m. when they were finally able to run downstairs to see what Santa had brought!!

Maylie got a new grocery store...

Abby got a digital camera and case...

And the boys got Nerf guns and lots of ammo!!

We spent a fun morning taking turns opening up all of our presents.

There were lots of "oohs and aaah" so I think it was a successful gift giving and receiving day!

We spent the rest of the day eating a yummy breakfast, playing games, building LEGOs and enjoying our family time together!

Merry Christmas 2017!!

Christmas Eve

I loved having Christmas Eve on Sunday this year. We started off the day by attending an hour of church. The Ladners came with us which made it even more special. Abby sand in the ward choir and Landon and Nolan joined in during the Primary song. It was great way to begin the day and be reminded of the true meaning of the season.

Nolan and Landon were anxious to help out with dinner, knowing we were opening sibling presents afterwards!

While we were busy with dinner prep, this little girl was having some fun with Abby's makeup in the bathroom. She was not very happy when we discovered her!

After dinner, each of the kids opened up presents from each other. They had each used their own money this year which made it even more special. Then i was time to open up our new Christmas Eve pajamas.

I love this kids in matching PJs!!

We finished up the evening by reading from Luke 2, eating some treats and enjoying a fun family game. It was a wonderful way to spend the most magical night of the year!!

Temple Lights

On Christmas "Adam" (the day before Christmas Eve) we finally made it over to the Festival Lights at the Washington D.C. Temple with the Ladner family. It is always so amazing and this year was no different. We got to the Visitor's Center around 4 p.m. and did all the indoor things like browsing the different nativities from around the world and picking out our favorite ones.

The lights came on around 4:45 and we explored around outside for a while, admiring the beauty of those Christmas lights and marveling at all the work that must have taken to get those lights up in those trees!

I loved the lighted white trees leading all the way up to the temple doors!

The "boys"...

And the "girls"...

Such a beautiful pathway of lights as we roamed around the Visitor's Center.

The pink tree was Maylie's favorite!!

We finished off by visiting the nativity scene before leaving to have dinner together. We sure do love this yearly tradition and those beautiful lights!

Gingerbread House

Maylie has been so, so excited about Christmas this year. It is so fun to be able to see this holiday season through the eyes of a 3-year-old again!!

The kids had their first day of winter break on Friday, December 22nd so we used that day to decorate our gingerbread house. I was finally smart this year and bought one pre-assembled so all we had to do was add the frosting and the candy. This was so much easier and much more fun for all of us!

All the kids hard at work decorating and eating!!

We all loved our little house!!

Next year I need to get the one from Costco so we had a bit more house to decorate!!

Santa on a Firetruck!

Santa came through our neighborhood on Sunday, December 17th riding on a firetruck!! Maylie was so excited all night until she started hearing the sirens and then she almost refused to come outside. We had to drag her out and once she realized that Santa would stay on the truck and only his assistants would come to hand out candy canes, she was much more excited about the whole idea!

Merry Christmas Santa...thanks for riding by!!

Holiday Chorus Concert

Landon meets every Tuesday after school to practice with the 4th/5th grade chorus group and they held their first concert on Thursday, December 7th.

He already knew a lot of the songs thanks to Abby and her two years in chorus. He is a lot more nervous about being in front of crowds though so I am always glad to see him reach outside of his comfort zone a bit.

They sounded amazing as always. Mrs. Sullivan does an outstanding job with these kids!

Distinguished Honor Roll

Abby made the Distinguished Honor Roll at Western Heights Middle School for the first marking period which means she scored a 90 or higher in all of her classes. They had a little ceremony on Wednesday, December 6th to celebrate all the honor roll kids.

She sure is rocking this middle school thing!!

4th/5th Grade Musical

Landon participated in the 4th/5th grade musical production of "The Granny Awards" on Thursday, November 30th. He was so nervous because he really doesn't enjoy being on stage in front of a bunch of people which is quite the opposite from Abby who is a natural performer.

He did so well in his role as one of the helpers, Smiley!

Proud of him for going outside of his comfort zone and he even wore pants which if you know Landon is quite the miracle in itself!!

Black Friday at Six Flags

We spent Thanksgiving in Frederick with my sister and their two families. We did a lot of eating, talking, and playing from Wednesday to Saturday. Since both Tasha's and our families have season passes to Six Flags and we had some free tickets to get Lara's family in for free, we decided to spend Black Friday there. The decorations were so fun and the atmosphere was way better than any shopping mall!

All the kids minus Nolan who refused to get in the photo!

Maylie loving the Merry-go-round!

Abby was a good sport to go on a lot of the kiddie ride with Maylie!

Around 5 p.m. the Christmas lights started to come on which really turned the whole park into a winter wonderland!

I definitely liked these decorations over the ones at Halloween which were a little too gruesome for me. We had fun on lots of rides and even watched a couple of shows before calling it a night around 6 p.m. We spend the rest of the evening doing our cousins Christmas celebration which is always a lot of fun. I am so grateful that I live close enough to get together with two of my sisters and their families so regularly. Now if only we could convince my oldest sister Tami to move out here too!

6th Grade Chorus Concert

The 6th graders at Western Heights Middle School held their first concert of the year on Monday, November 20th. They sounded so wonderful and it was fun to see Abby continue to develop her musical abilities!!

Her and Sydney have become pretty good friends this year and I'm glad she still has several friends from Paramount that she gets to see at her new middle school!

Sugar Plum Dance 2017

On Saturday, November 18th, Jason took Abby and Maylie to the Sugar Plum Dance, the annual Father-Daughter dance that Meritus Hospital puts on each year. This was Abby's third year going and Maylie was awfully excited to be going for the first time!!

Abby and I searched high and low for a new dress for her the Saturday before and finally found one that she loved after 4 hours of shopping!!

Our sweet girls all ready for the big dance!!

Such a fun holiday tradition for these girls and their Daddy!