Winter Fun

Is there anyone who really enjoys winter? I mean, honest to goodness, loves it? Maybe if I were into winter sports, I would be into winter, but I'm not. Plus I  hate being cold (Andrew insists that I throw around the word "hate" to lightly at times, but in this case I find it appropriate.) Luckily we live in an awesome area with lots of things to do indoors. It's what keeps me sane on those long, cold weekends.

Air and Space Museum

Baltimore Aquarium

And of course lots of fun with the mounds of snow we have been getting-

Sam's 10th Birthday

We have officially been parents for 10 years. 10 years!! I remember right before Sam was born thinking that we were pretty well prepared for what was to come. I mean, I read all of the recommended parenting books, and I did just graduate college after all. How hard could parenthood be? Ha! The moment they put Sam into my arms I knew I had no clue what I was doing. I remember thinking, "What in the heck did I get myself into?"

10 years later and I couldn't have been given a more wonderful first child to show me the ropes of motherhood. As a mom, I have made, and continue to make, lots of mistakes. Lot and lots of them. Fortunately Sam is an extremely forgiving child who lets us move on from my mistakes. It is one of the traits I love best about him.

It has been such a privilege being this child's mom. He is kind, fun, and enthusiastic about life. He is a great leader and example to our other kids. Most of all he finds a lot of joy in doing what is right.

Of course, that doesn't mean the kid is perfect. Fortunately for him, he has very forgiving parents who love him dearly. :)

Sam's bday party with some friends. 

Later celebrating with Grandma, Grandpa and Pete.

NYC with the boys

During Christmas break we discovered a whole new world of traveling with just our older kids. This discovery was made possible by depositing our girls at my parents house and then shooting on up to NYC for a long day trip. We took the ferry over from Jersey, walked across the Brooklyn bridge, ate some pizza, subwayed a lot, toured around Times Square and ended the day in Central Park at the MET. It was an awesome day, made all the more fun with two excited little boys in tow!

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 Agenda

• Christmas Eve ginger bread house making with Willis Cousins
• meet up with Walkers and view the lights at the Washington DC Temple
• back home for nativity play with kids
• Christmas morning wake up and open presents!
• RELAX all day! 
• Christmas dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Walker, Uncle Joe and Aunt Vanessa!

A warm DC day

I love this city. Love it, love it. love it. Every time we go I marvel at how much there is to do, and that most everything is FREE. We had the good fortune of having a beautiful day in the December, so we headed downtown to hit up a museum, and see the trains and Santa at the White House. This day was perfection!

I've been using the timer on my camera a lot to get family pictures (above), but the candid shots that timer captures are priceless (below). Run, Clara! Run!

The newly renovated American History Museum. We highly recommend!

Hands down the best Santa and elves I have ever seen. In fact, I'm convinced the elf below was real. 

The family that plays together...

With two boys and two girls, the kids mostly stick to their gender when playing. It's funny to watch the boys in their room building lego, and the girls in their room having a tea party or doing dress up.  But nothing makes me happier than seeing this gang all play together.

And when I recently asked who would set the table, Clara, I mean Belle, eagerly jumped up to complete the task. I thought she did a great job!

Afton's 5th

This girl really, really wanted a birthday party with friends. But here is a little fact about me and December birthdays: it is really, really hard to muster up the energy to throw a birthday party during the  holiday madness. So what did I do? I called in the family reinforcements, made up some cupcakes and a cake, and arranged to have everyone go see Frozen at the same time. Afton was in heaven, and for the millionth time, I thought how lucky we are to have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all living so close by. 

Afton in her birthday tutu and crown which was passed down by cousin Grace. 

Watching this little girl grow up is such a joy. The easiest way to sum up Afton is that she is enthusiastic about life. She is a happy, inquisitive little girl who loves passionately. We feel so blessed to have her in our family!