December 2013, part 1

Sorry for the long delay in posting but December was totally crazy.  We bought a new house!  We moved in mid-December.  It's only a mile from our old house.  We still go to the same grocery store and McDonalds.  But the house is totally different.  It has a yard!  And a sunroom!  And a dining room!  But we'll talk more about it in another post so stay tuned.

In between packing and doing all the things needed to buy a house (inspections, gathering documents for the lender, etc...), we still managed to do a few fun Christmas things.

Katie made 3 different gingerbread houses, went door-to-door around a neighborhood with her Girl Scout friends and sang Christmas Carols, and she played the part of an angel in her church play.

Peter participated in the Mitten Tree at his preschool and visited a motorcycle-riding Santa.

Together we visited Santa at Pentagon City Mall, went to Old Town Alexandria's Scottish Walk (Christmas Parade) and met up with our friends Randy and Nikki afterwards, played in the snow, rode the Santa Train in Manassas with Aunt Sue and Theo, and went to the lighting of the Del Ray Christmas Tree and sang Christmas Carols.

After we moved and had a lovely Christmas in our new home.  Then we left all our boxes behind and went to Georgia for a lovely week, which I'll post about soon.


Santa!


Katie reminds Peter what was on his wish list for Santa.




Trying to cuddle with her brother at the Scottish Walk




With Cooper and Sophie


Singing Christmas Carols at the Del Ray Christmas Tree lighting


Gumpy Santa


Ready to conquer the world, in his monkey hat and rubber boots.


Ready, aim, fire!


Peter puts the star on our little tree (we waited to buy a full-size tree after we moved).


Whee!




Singing carols with her Girl Scouts


Peter approaches the tree to hang his mittens on it


Peter looks at Manassas from the Santa Train


Santa!


Peter, Katie, and Theo in front of the double-decker train.


Our angel


Katie makes another quality gingerbread house


Small, medium, and large


Peter meets a motorcycle-riding Santa


Katie finds the warmest place in the new house


We got a full-size tree about 5 days before Christmas.


Dinner and snuggling by the fire


The kids enjoy lunch on our new deck on a surprisingly warm December day.


Watch out Peter!


Naptime for Rusty and Peter


Playing hockey in the Verizon Center with Nancy, Katie, and Peter cheering me on


The excitement of Christmas morning








Peter cooks lunch on his new grill


Opening presents at Theo's farm


Ice skating with McKenna on our frozen bird bath


The end of a long but fun Christmas Day




Click here for more pictures.