Tis the Season...

For sickness. This is why you haven't heard from us for a little while. For the past couple of weeks we have had one thing after another at our house. Runny noses, coughs, ear infections... you know the drill. But, poor little Eli has had the worst of it. An ear infection. I had to take him to the ER because we weren't able to get into the Pediatricians office... 3 hours later Amoxicillan. Then the very next night... 3 hours in the ER followed by a new antibiotic... because he came down with this lovely rash. Tomorrow I take him into the Pediatrician so hopefully he is all better... but I am doubtful.

Tis the Season also for Snow. Last night we got a few inches and Nathan has had a snow day both yesterday and today for it. This morning while Eli was napping I took the kids outside to play in the snow. It is a wet heavy snow and my side still hurts from shoveling the front walk way. Needless to say, snow angels weren't very productive... but snow balls, those suckers were great!

She can run...

And she can hide...

And then, she just gives up...

After getting a good play in, outside... we played inside. We made robot costumes. If only they were real robots and this was the Jetsons household, it would've made the rest of the day so much easier!

But, the best thing about today was our make shift snow slide. It was great!

Full of Excitement....

Here's a better picture of Eli's tooth... it's that little white bump on the left just above the carrot covered face and bottom lip. And any day now that little white bump is going to have a neighbor popping on up.

And here's our little man last night, just after bath. His hair is all a mess (which I love) and he is sportin' his new jammies that grandma made. Our excitement here is that he can finally sit without falling over! We still throw some pillows down on the floor around him, just in case he decides to go for a head dive...

One thing with a baby is that there are just so many things to be excited about! Since the New Year Eli has began cruising around the house in his walker. And he LOVES it! He maneuvers that little thing very well... doorways, rugs, and hard wood flooring... it's so great!

Now it's Gracie's turn. This past week on Tuesday, we got a little bit of snow. I believe an inch fell total over night, but we still had a 2 hour delay for school in the morning. But, Tuesday afternoon Gracie watched and waited for some snow flakes to fall so that she could go catch them....

... with her tongue.

And Nathan...

This week Nathan has really progressed with his swimming. And we are so excited!!

And a Happy New Year!

We headed up to New York for the New Years on Wednesday. There was lots of jumping from house to house to celebrate Christmas with all of our family. But, all in all the 4 days were at times a bit of a blur but, definitely wonderful!

Here's a short recap: We watched tons of great movies; Four Christmases, Date Night, Inception, Legend of the Guardians, Karate Kid.

We ate lots of great food! But, our families favorite that I think is going to become a tradition each time we are together: Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip... I like it best with celery, my brother well, he'll smear that stuff on anything... it's just that good!

And so now here are some pictures.... starting with the beautiful J's.... Jen and Jenna.

And the boys... playing video games, of course! When we got there you could find each one of the kids (with the exception of Jenna and Eli) upstairs all sitting in a row on a bed with a video game in hand.

And here's the two smallest.... just wait til next year. Hopefully they'll be best friends just as their siblings all are. And basically the whole time we were there they sat around...

and sat around some more....

and worked on some teeth... Jenna actually got one while there and worked on her other top tooth also...

and the tree... it has sparkles on it, and Jenna was very intrigued.

And then we opened our gifts...

Gracie just loves her "Fancy Pancy" book.

After the kids all went to bed, the adults all had a White Elephant gift exchange.

Here is Chelsea opening her box of VHS tapes. The box actually went home with Jennifer, while Bryant ended up with Andrew's helicopter and I came home with a box of old CD's.

And while we were at Bryant's families house the kids got some fun gifts too. Here is Gracie with her cousins having a tea party.

We discovered once we got back to Virginia that Jenna wasn't the only one teething. Eli got his first tooth on the drive back home! This picture isn't the best, but it was very difficult to get a picture of the tooth without Eli sticking his tongue out to eat.

Merry Christmas...

Our visit with Santa was brought by the Fort Belvoir Fire Department on the Wednesday night before Christmas. Santa was kind enough to visit all the children on Fort Belvoir and hand out candy canes to them.

Thursday we made Gingerbread "girls and mans".

We opened our stockings on Christmas Eve.

And then once the kids were tucked in tightly to bed... Santa came. When taped with our video camera using night vision, he actually was pretty convincing... to our children.

Then Christmas morning came...

Home for Christmas...

Bryant got home Wednesday night and just in time to cuddle with his boys and then get ready for Christmas.

She's Got Skills....

The skills...

Whewww, all that work and then it was time to perform. However, our little Ballerina wasn't feeling very well... she had a runny nose and was sleepy. So she didn't give it her all, and was distracted very easily. ... the same with her tap dance. I took videos of those dances too, but the file was too large to upload. Boo :( She really did do very well, seeing how she did not feel well. Can't wait for the big performance in the spring!

Weighting In...

Eli is finally getting over his miserable weekend. That little boy had his 6 month shots on Friday morning and sure enough, just as always, they were followed by a low fever and just plain misery. He is now feeling much better, with the exception of a snotty nose, and currently is snoozing away for an evening nap. Here's his stats:

• Weight: 16 pounds 5 ounces, 53rd percentile
• Height: 27.4 inches, 91st percentile
• Head circumference: 17.4 inches, 75th percentile