Museum trip

The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian opened in 2004. We have been meaning to go, but it just hasn't happened...until today!!

We had a good time looking at all the exhibits and learning more about their culture. My favorite was all the bead work.

They were trying out some kid-friendly interactive stations. The girls got to listen to some American Indian music and beat out the rhythm on a drum. They thought that was the coolest part.

Merry Christmas

Evidence shows that Santa has been to our house...

The girls wanted to show off what they got.

When we were done opening presents, we looked outside and it was snowing. Not enough to really cover, and it warmed up so it was all gone before it even stopped. But I did get a picture of it. I am not sure if that qualifies as a 'White Christmas' or not. I will have to ask my brother-in-law, as he is the expert on that...

We invited a new friend from church, Janice, over for Christmas dinner with us. Wish we could have been with family, but it was still a great day.

Fashion Barbie

Rebekah got 2 Barbie dolls from preschool. She was so excited! That was all she wants for Christmas. One of them was a Fairy princess with wings that changed into a skirt. The other one was a fashion doll with pet poodle. The only problem I had was that the fashion doll's dress didn't actually cover her bum. So I made the dress longer with some leftover scraps from Halloween costumes. Rebekah LOVES it.

Bowling

The girls just love going bowling. It just makes them happy. So we do it.

Snowball fight

Emma set up two piles of snowballs, one for her and one for Rebekah. Then they just went at it. They had a blast.

Christmas surprise

Last night, the girls and Clay were wrapping presents for me (everything else is already wrapped). Rebekah came downstairs holding a present, and in her sing-songy voice said:

"I have a present for mommy.
And it's a secret.
I'm not going to tell you what it is....

...But it's a game!! "

I started laughing and told her not to tell me anymore because I want to be surprised.

Wreaths Across America

The girls and I went to participate in Wreaths Across America to remember those who have served our country. The Girl Scouts got to carry the wreaths into the cemetery. There were 7 wreaths (one for each branch of the military including POW/MIA) laid at the Balls Bluff Cemetery. One of the things that was mentions was that there are 94,000 servicemen whose last known location was on the field of battle. Such a moving experience. I hope we can help out next year.

DAR Open House

We went into DC to the Christmas Open House at the Daughters of the American Revolution headquarters. It was beautifully decorated. They had performers and tours going on.

The best part of the whole thing was Santa Claus. There was no line at all. Rebekah ran right up and gave him a big hug. He made great small talk with the girls: "Seems like only yesterday you were in 1st grade." "Didn't you ask me for your 2 front teeth last year? Looks like you got them." So, now the secret is out, for the BEST and MOST ACCESSIBLE Santa, go to the DAR open house.

Oh, and I won the drawing! I got a DAR mug.

Decorating the tree

Happy Birthday Rebekah

Today you are 4!


We invited Rebekah's best friend, Evan, and his family over. Uncle Jay and his friend A also joined up for the party. Rebekah requested a "rainbow mermaid" cake. So this is what I made. The top 5 layers of cake matched the fondant color --an egg-free white cake, colored to match. The bottom layer is a chocolate wacky cake.

Rebekah got a groovy girl doll from Gma M and puppets from Gdad & Kris.

our Fashionista

New glasses

When we were in CA we took the family to my cousin for eye check-ups. Turns out Emma's eyes are showing a lot of strain. She still has 20/20 vision, but if we don't fix the strain on her eyes, they can go bad quickly. It took us a little while to decide if we wanted to add Emma to our vision insurance or just pay cost for them. Her glasses finally arrived and she loves them!!

Happy Halloween!

This year's theme is Alice in Wonderland. Pictured are Alice, Queen of Hearts, Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee.
Here was another awesome costume at our church party last week: Logan/Wolverine.

Another family had the same idea as us. We did the original Disney version, they did the latest version. The were AWESOME!! Way to go Wedigs!

Pumpkin time

Clay and I don't like to carve pumpkins. We prefer the Mr-potato-head approach to pumpkins.

Here are the front and back of the ones Clay and I did.

Here are the ones the girls did.

And now for something freaky!

Farm Tour

It's that time of year again. Our favorite family tradition.We got the girls ready for a whole day exploring the farms.

First stop, the horses. Both Emma and Rebekah wanted to do some pony rides. We were the only ones there, so the gal took each of them on an extra long ride through the property. Such beautiful countryside.

Then we stopped at Ayrshire Farm. We tried to go last year, but it was raining the whole time. There are several restaurants in the area that serve food from this farm. It is all organic. This was another beautiful property.

I got a big kick out of listening to the turkeys. And for around $100 you can have one of these turkeys on your table for Thanksgiving.

Last stop, the Corn Maize. This year's maze was dedicated to scouting. The girls also wanted to go on a camel ride.