Happy Thanksgiving from Washington, DC

We just got home from visiting my Uncle Stephen and Aunt Ellen in Virginia.  We had such a wonderful time it was hard to leave this morning!  We love you guys!!  :)

 We all piled in our car to head down to DC and see a few sights.  The kids didn't mind (too much) sitting in the third row.  Aren't they cute?!  :)

 The botanical garden had a beautiful train exhibit that the kids loved!!  There were trains and fairies everywhere -- both kids were over the moon!  :)

 Everything in the train exhibit was made of plants (the train tracks, buildings, fairies, etc).  It was really impressive!

 Emily and Alex both took to Aunt Ellen and Uncle Stephen right away.  You would never guess it had been so long since we had seen them.  We won't let it go so long until the next time!  :)

 This is the fountain in front of the Native American Museum.  Emily threw a penny into it and made a wish.  Alex held onto it so he could "buy something later".  Hahaha!!  :)

 Alex walked in between Uncle Stephen and Aunt Ellen for quite a while and even convinced them to swing him in the air a few times.  He sure loves his Aunt & Uncle!  :)

 Alex in front of a Triceratop's skull.  He kept dragging us from one dinosaur to another, not able to wait to see the next one!  It was so much fun!  Then we went upstairs and Emily got to see the Hope Diamond.  She said it was "beauuuuutiful"!  :)

 We walked through a small sculpture park next to the Natural History Museum and the kids had fun guessing what the sculptures were and naming them.  I think they liked this one the best!  :)

 On Saturday the boys went test driving some expensive, fast cars while the girls went to a high tea.  It was lovely and Emily was in her element!  :)

 Uncle Jared taught the kids how to play Jenga.  They might need this game for Christmas as they caught on really fast and had a blast with him!  He taught them the Alphabet game in the car too -- thank you so much for entertaining them!  You're the best!  :)

 And we were lucky enough to see Aunt Katie too!  Alex even got to climb up Aunt Katie and do flips.  The were pretty tired by the end of the day!!

 But the day wasn't done until we celebrated Aunt Caroline's & Nelson's birthdays (both born on the same day).  Yummy birthday pie!!  :)

 Emily and Alex fell in love with Aunt Caroline.  They thought her room was the coolest room "EVER"!  She has a waterbed and christmas lights and it was "awesome", as they said.  They are already wanting to Skype Aunt Caroline to talk with her because they miss her so much!!  :)

 We had such a wonderful trip and are hoping to get back soon!  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  We are sure thankful for our family!  :)

Silly boy

I walked into Alexander's room yesterday morning and found a bottle of hand soap emptied out on his carpet.  This is the conversation we had after that:

Jenn:  "Alex, why is the soap spilled on your floor?"

Alex:  "I was doing a miracle, Mom."

Jenn:  "Do you mean an experiment?"

Alex:  "Yeah, that's it - an experiment."

What a nut!  :)

Halloween

Here are pictures from Halloween a few weeks ago.  Emily went as Laura Ingalls Wilder and Alexander was Batman.  It was a freezing, cold day with icy rain.  Emily had grand plans to go around a dozen blocks to get candy.  After half way around the first block, Alex stopped going up to the houses and stayed with Nelson and me.  He said it was too cold to walk anymore.  And once we finished that first block, Emily was wet and cold and didn't want to go anymore either.  Their pumpkin buckets were full of candy anyway, so it was time to stop.  They had a great time despite the rain and are already talking about what they're dressing up as next year!!  :)