Basketball pics ad Maggie's new "do"

Here are some pics of Jody and Ramie at the Wizards game and a pic of my poor little angel with her new "do" (her brothers were supposed to be watching her when she decided to do her own hair!).

Charlie Laughing

Christmas Hike

It is Dec. 27 and we are hiking! After two North Dakota winters we are very thankful for this mild winter weather and for the opportunity to enjoy it!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

We started Christmas Day with midnight Mass, at least the big kids and Jody did, and after a few hours of sleep, continued with a Happy Birthday party for Jesus! Yesterday, I made sticky buns and Joseph baked the cake. Ramie had the great idea to make it a "sacred heart" cake and decorated it. It turned out incredible and it was all her idea! We opened gifts and had a very relaxing, fun Christmas after singing happy birthday to Jesus. Having Santa come on St. Nicholas day has turned out to be a wonderful new tradition. Everyone was so excited about giving "their" gifts to their siblings (most homemade) and no one was overwhelmed. We saved the big family gift from mom and dad (and G'ma K) until last and the Wii was met with screams and jumping up and down. They have wanted one for two years now and thought they would NEVER get one! We also got a singstar and Jody has had as much fun as anyone with it (see pic)! We hope all of you had as Merry a Christmas as we did.

A Bowl, Lumineries, and the Wizards

Fun weekend. Jody, Joseph, Em and Drew went to the first Phil-Bank Bowl in D.C. to watch Wake Forest beat Navy, then Jody took Ramie to see the Wizards play the next night (the Pentagon has has some great tickets for low prices!). Our neighborhood lit lumineries tonight while Jody and Ramie were at the game and we really enjoyed walking around our cul de sac looking at all the pretty lights.

Let me ooouuuttt!

It is hard to be so little that you can't open the door when you really, really want to go outside!

Cookies!

What would the holidays be without all those cookies!? Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about overindulging because after we ate our fill Sat. night, they were all mysteriously gone from the cooling rack on Sunday morning....Coco!!! (wish I could have gotten a pic of that!)

Christmas Concert

There is nothing like a Christmas concert to get the holidays off to a great start! We enjoyed a phenominal show in DAR Constitution Hall downtown on Saturday night. It was just the three biggest kids and me, and we had so much fun running to try to get to the metro and out of the cold after it was finished, as you can tell, I made them stop in front of the Washington monument for an after hours photo-op! I also had one of the White House Christmas tree but it didn't come out- you'll just have to trust me when I say it was beautiful!

Tiny Tots Concert

Joseph's High School put on a Tiny Tot concert this morning. The girls had so much fun listening to music played by the band and seeing all the characters. Dora, Bob the Builder, Spongebob, Cinderella, a REAL ballerina, and even Santa! Maggie was in heaven and wanted her picture taken with EVERYONE! It was so much fun watching their faces as each one came out. Better than any present!

Trimming the Tree

It's funny how things change. We used to decorate the tree just so. Now we decorate the tree "just so" so the baby can't pull off anything breakable!

We WILL cut down a tree today!!!

We needed a tree this weekend. We have decided to do "Santa" on St. Nicholas day and try and make Jesus' birthday a little more sacred and a little less about the presents, so we really needed a tree today, as St. Nick's day is next weekend. So...After driving around for a half an hour, we finally found the Christmas tree farm and it was CLOSED! To make a long story short...we found another one...and 3 hours, lunch, and two screaming kids later, we had our tree! Jody thought it was pretty funny that the farm we finally found was called "Joe's Christmas Tree farm". With gas and lunch, this tree cost about $125.00 :) but we did end up having a fun, crazy trip, as usual with us!

Haircuts all around...

It sure is nice having a hair stylist in the family. Aunt NikNik did an awesome job on EVERYONE's hair, and I do mean everyone! Even my mom and friend Sarah got a new do! She did a fantastic job and Charlie's first haircut was extra special.

Eat, eat, eat!

Thanksgiving food and fun were never better than this week!