Photoshoot of Rachel and Sarah

On Sunday afternoon, Marti had a photoshoot with the girls. All photo credit goes to her.









I love you girlies with all my heart!!! You bring so much joy and you both make me laugh hard!! I love being with you.

Happy 16th Sarah!

Rachel and I went to Williamsburg recently to surprise Sarah for her 16th birthday. Rachel had been planning this for months.....coordinating with Marti for the big event. We went down on Saturday morning and got there in time to see Sarah perform for her theatre class recital. She was completely surprised when she saw us in the audience!

After lots of hugs and picture taking, we all went to Cheeburger Cheeburger for supper!
Little Amy loves her juicy lemon!
Sarah's grandmother and cousin Ashley were also there for all the fun!
Back at the house, there was yummy raspberry cake. We all sat around the table and watched Sarah open her wonderful presents.
Happy 16th Birthday Sarah!!!!! It has been a JOY to watch you grow up into a beautiful young woman. We all love you very much!!!

Winter Wonderland

Yesterday we had an "official snow day". The kiddos were out of school. We stayed inside watching it fall most of the day. It was beautiful.
I don't have pictures of everybody, because Rachel was inside doing school(I love self motivated homeschoolers!), Ben was at his internship, and Todd was at work. But those of us who could, had a great time enjoying our winter wonderland.

Snowy Day

This is my idea of how to spend a snowy day.

10:31 Banquet

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Originally uploaded by youthbanquet09

Busy!

We hit the floor running after the holidays. Ben auditioned for the spring play, Pilgrims Progress and was chosen to be in the cast. We were thrilled! Rachel also auditioned, but because of the large number of people auditioning, most underclassmen were cut. She was well prepared for that and had a great attitude about the whole thing. However, she is still able to participate by being on a development/support team. David started playing basketball this month. Also, this is the big month for Lego League. This is his second year participating. His team has been busy since September designing and building a robot for their competition at the end of the month to be held at the University of Maryland. Jonathon is starting a new semester in school. We are beginning our study of Ancient Greeks and Romans. Hannah is happily playing with her Polly Pockets.

Christmas 2008

This was our first Christmas here and what a fun time it was! Dave and Eloise came up to help us celebrate. One of the first things we did was go to DC for the day. It was a beautiful day......but extremely cold. The first thing we did was go to the Museum of American History. It was such a great museum! We were there for several hours. Then we went to the National Gallery of Art and saw the Pompeii exhibit. We ate an early supper and went over to the National Christmas Tree.

Eloise is freezing!!
Todd and I outside the Willard Hotel. It was beautiful. We also walked through the lobby....gorgeous.
The National Christmas Tree.
On Tuesday, we went ice skating. The kids loved it!


Christmas Eve was spent playing games and eating. Todd opened his new Risk game. For supper that night, we had shrimp and grits. We also Skyped Uncle Tim over in Japan and he watched "A Year Without a Santa Claus" and "The Nativity Story" with us.
Christmas morning picture!
Go Redskins!
Redskins pajamas!

Uncle Tim also opened presents with us on Christmas morning. Here he is wrapped up in his newest scarf, along with some Christmas garland.
Hannah found the pickle this year! Every year, Eloise hides the pickle ornament in the tree and the kids have to find it. The winner gets an extra gift. Hannah had help finding the pickle.