Things that I don't want to forget...

In the business of life, the comings and goings of our day to day, it is so easy for me to forget the things that I didn't think I ever would.  

I hate the fact that I will not remember each moment I have with these kiddos. 

I don't want to forget the little things that bring me big joys each day...

like the girls' love for their babies and the way they sway back and forth and rock their hips while singing their babies to sleep....

Like Cole and Elise dancing around my room pretending to be husband and wife....

like Clara Beth keeping chapstick in her pocket ALL the time and when she doesn't have a pocket, using her underwear as a storage facility....

like Cole making forts, rocket ships, boats, air craft carriers, and army base camps out of our sofa cushions every single day......

like these three piling into the power wheels and driving around the house together laughing and laughing after making up from a fight....

like indoor trampolines in tutus and football jerseys....

like little girls wanting to be big girls and big helpers....

like them sleeping in baby positions and me forgetting that they are rapidly turning into little girls....

like big brothers wanting to carry little sisters into the store to be sure they don't get hit by a car....

there are so many things each day, so many phrases and laughs and moments that I cannot remember and cannot document....but I don't want to forget these sweet moments and pray I always take the time to pause and smile when they happen so I remember the joy that they bring me.  While I can't remember it all, I can remember the daily joy if I choose too!

Christmas Break

The year for Christmas this year we went to Virginia to be with my family.

And truly, just as exciting as celebrating Christmas was meeting my new nephew Isaac!

I traveled by myself with the kids since Brenner had to work and he met us up there for a week of our 2 week visit.

And of course, I am missing some pictures and didn't take others that I wanted to but here is a glimpse into our trip.

Occupying little ones on two delayed flights across 3,000 miles is not easy, but they did great.

Isaac!!!

The girls could NOT get enough of baby Isaac.  TOo bad they usually lost their fight to hold him to me...auntie priviledges rule.

Brenner got to fly the plane for the first time in a year and we even had a flying date over the Shenandoah Mountains. 

Little Bit hamming it up.

We went to the park almost every day and usually talked everyone in to going with us.  

One afternoon Brenner and I took the kids to the Natural History Museum downtown which was awesome.  The highlight was in the bug section where they were letting people hold live, LARGE bugs.  Elise was particularly fond of the giant cockroach.  I almost threw up watching her.  If you know me, you know my hatred for cockroaches go way back and my animal and bug loving girls adore them.  ???

Reading with Poppy.

A highlight for me is always seeing some friends, although never everyone I want!

This year, one of my besties Rene from Texas was in the DC area at the same time we were and it was SO FUN to see her and her family.  We met downtown to visit the National Christmas tree and Obama.

Some great friends from highschool (photo by Cole!)

Isaac loves me!

Poppy is in control on date night...or maybe Mickey Mouse is :)

Cole spent the night with Adam and Jenna!

The Man Hunting Trip with my cousin Tim.  They went hunting for the day in West Virginia and brought home over a dozen birds to deep fry....on the front lawn.  Bringing the classy to McLean.

The last minute awesome Christmas tree!

Wearing new Christmas jammies.

Group selfie with my sister and her family.  

It was a great trip, as always, and we are looking forward to going back this summer!

Ski Weekend

I have lots of things to catch up on the blog about.  

But I thought I would start with the most recent, our weekend trip to Lake Tahoe.

Last year one of the first weekends that we were in California we went to Tahoe to ski.  

We found a great place to stay and Brenner was able to ski.  

This year, we both skied, although not together since someone had to stay with the kids, but it was lots of fun anyways.  We stayed at the same place, played in the snow, went sledding, skied and cozied up to the fire reading books and playing with play doh.

Cole skied last year for the first time and it has been almost exactly a year but he started back up no problem.  

The kid is a pro!  He barely fell, dominated the bunny slope and we literally had to drag him off, he just kept going up lift and skiing down over and over.  He also told me after a bit that he did not need me to go with him while he skied, I could just stand at the bottom and take pictures of him doing so well.  

My humble child.

My solo ski adventure.  I have not skied in 7 years thanks to budget and kids so it was super fun to ski for a while and enjoy the view.

We took the girls sledding several times but they also liked to watch Cole.

We also caught them pickpocketing daddy's cell phone to play angry birds. 

This basically sums up how we feel after our trip.

I am so thankful for the adventures I get to have with this guy!