New Year...New Do

Jay's first haircut by Mommy.

Before:




After:

Yes, Virginia, there is a..er....snowstorm?

It's snowing...a lot...in Virginia! Huh??? Either way, we're loving it. Andrew was so excited to wake up to snow covering our yard. He looked out the window to check if it was morning time (This is something Mark and I have taught Andrew to do. If it's light out it is acceptable to be awake...if not, go back to bed until it is light out or what we call morning time.) He turned away from the window and said, "Yep, it's morning time." Then, he froze and quickly went back to the window, poked his head under the shade and said, "There's SNOW! ... It SNOWED! ... Yay, SNOW!"

Mark and I felt excited going to bed last night knowing Andrew would wake up to a winter wonderland and knowing how thrilled he would be. His reaction did not disappoint.

Mark was able to measure 16" accumulated as of 5pm.

Some photos of our beautiful wintry day:


















Roscoe watching Andrew playing outside for the second time. Check out his nice new sweater. A Christmas gift from Andrew. He couldn't wait to give it to Roscoe. It certainly helped keep Roscoe comfy-cozy all day.

S/he's Crafty....

It's been a week full of Christmas projects. What fun!

Andrew & Jay decorated the tree,




Andrew decorated a gingerbread house,











and Andrew painted some wooden cut-outs for ornaments:





(And if I may toot my own horn...I can report that during all of these projects, I was able to keep my mouth shut and push my OCD to the background for the most part and just let Andrew decorate as he saw fit. "Why would you mix red and blue paints together on a snowflake????" is what I asked in my head. I'm pretty proud of myself for not forcing my "artistic vision" over Andrew's. Someday I can teach him the true beauty of things being neat and orderly, color appropriate, and aesthetically pleasing. But right now, I'm going to enjoy the big smile on his face and seeing how proud he is of his art.)

Deja vu

Andrew is very excited about Christmastime. He's enjoying decorating the house, talking about Santa and Christmas Eve, watching Christmas specials and going for walks at night to look at Christmas lights. We also like to pretend we are Santa's elves and that we need to wrap the gifts for Santa's bag. So, we take some of his toys or books and wrap them in Christmas paper and stuff them in a big red sack. Well, Jay likes this too especially the crinkly sound of the wrapping paper when you crawl or walk on it. I took these photos of Jay yesterday...









...which reminded me of these photos that I took 2 years ago.

Crazy Shoe-Hand Man

This is a wonderful new game we have started playing. Jay invented it, Mommy named it, and Andrew loves to play it! It's called "Crazy Shoe-Hand Man". It plays well into Jay's obsession with shoes! Whether it's throwing shoes down the small flight of stairs to our rec room, carrying shoes to the people to whom they belong, saying the word "shoes" or wearing shoes on your hands and walking around the house, which is the basis of this game. Ironically, Jay does not like to wear shoes on his feet!





You'll notice these shots are a bit blurry. That is because "Crazy Shoe-Hand Man" is a fast-paced game. It's not because I don't know how to take good photos!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Yesterday was the birthday of a wonderful man whom we call Daddy.



Andrew helped me make a chocolate pudding pie (which was the brithday guy's request.)









We also had chicken parm for dinner. I'm not one for the obligatory baby eating spaghetti shot but, when you see a perfect handprint of tomato sauce in your son's hair well, it must be captured and shared.



Jay *loves* having his picture taken.


We love you, Daddy! You're the best Daddy we could have ever asked for. XOXO

Fun Fall Weekend

Saturday we spent a "day out in the country" picking apples in Winchester, VA. Very pretty drive to Winchester. Beautiful day to be outdoors. Sunday we spent picking up leaves. Andrew was a HUGE help. Mark and I couldn't help fantasize about the day when this will be Andrew & Jay's chore and not ours! Although, we did treat ourselves to a leaf blower this year to help lighten our load. And it's awesome.


















Mmmm...apple cider donut.


What a woman!