Can you tell that he's a third child??  Given spaghetti at a restaurant and playing with a fork!  

We always decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving.  The kids have been asking (more like begging) to "put up Christmas" so we set to work this morning.  First step was the tree.  We have an artificial tree (since we used to travel to Chicago before kids), but when John plugged it in, only about 1/3 worked.  Uh oh.  So we decided to venture out for Black Friday and buy a new tree.  Costco ended up being much less crazy than we were anticipating and we came home with a brand new 9' tree.  I don't think we realized just how tall a 9' tree is because this new tree is HUGE.  Even with our vaulted ceilings in the family room, the star almost touches the ceiling.  John is happy because the tree has LED lights.  JGray is happy because there is plenty of room for all the ornaments.  Delia is happy because the tree will flash from colored to white lights in a psychedelic, disco ball kind of way.  And Henry is happy that we put a few (non-breakable) ornaments on the lower branches that he can touch.

I played with the camera this evening and managed to get a few decent pictures of the lit tree (dark with no flash!)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our little turkeys had a wonderful day.  We spent the afternoon at MaMa and Pop's house and enjoyed some yummy food. JGray ate TWO pieces of pie and Henry discovered gravy.  Delia loves playing with all of my old toys and says that my old bedroom is hers :)

I didn't get any pictures at dinner, but I did snap a few shots of the kids before we left.

Fun family adventure to the VMFA for the Hollywood Costumes exhibit.  Amazing!  So lucky to have this great museum in Richmond.  Even Henry minded his manners :)

Well hello hand foot and mouth disease, so (not) happy you're here....

But at least I was able to snap photographic evidence that the first tooth does in fact exist!!

We FINALLY got around to getting our "new" family pictures (taken back in April) printed and hung on the wall!  I love the shots and seeing them makes me happy.  And a little annoyed that it took us so log to do it!  Better late than never, I suppose.

JGray's Tiger Cub pack toured the local fire station this morning and had lots of fun!

Today we surprised Mrs. V with cake and balloons!  Lots of the kids were dressed in pink and purple (Mrs. V's favorites) and she seemed shocked :)  Go JGray for keeping the secret!  She made Delia an honorary "Beach Bunny," which is what she calls her class and even included her in the class picture.  Happy Birthday to the best 1st grade teacher!!!

JGray's teacher is amazing!  We are so lucky to be in her class!  Since her birthday is this weekend, I thought it would be fun to do something special to surprise her--and since I'm the room mom, I can justify it ;). The kids are going to wear her favorite colors (pink and purple) and then another mom and I are surprising her with cake and balloons. I thought it would be fun to make a rainbow cake so that was my project during morning nap time.  Let's hope it tastes okay!!

Delia started swim lessons today.  I didn't get any pictures because I was afraid of jinxing it, but she did really really well!  We've done lessons at the Y in the past and I decided to bite the bullet and sign her up for the more expensive, more "get it done" lessons at a place called AquaTots.  They are known for being pretty strict with the kids in terms of going under water and learning to be safe.  Since she'll be 5 in a few months, it's time to learn to swim.  She looked scared only once during the lessons, and I saw many more smiles than scared faces/tears.  She said she can't wait to go back next week!  And I promise to bring my camera and snap a few shots :)

Henry loves our walk to the gym, even in the cold!  He looked so cute in his big puffy jacket and hat that I just had to snap this shot.

Report cards came home yesterday!  And a certain boy had an exceptional one.

Bears win!!!

This is my new toy.  It's a FitBit and it tracks all sorts of stats like number of steps taken, calories burned, stairs climbed, etc.  John has one too and the goal is for us to get more active.  10,000 steps each day is a lot more than you'd think!  I have some work to do :)

Daddy's home!  And he brought presents from India!  A sari for Delia and a cricket bat for JGray.

Delia said she wanted to run so she dressed up and did some laps around the backyard.

First Tooth!

FINALLY!!!!  Henry has a tooth!!!  His bottom left tooth finally broke through and it looks like the one next to it is soon to follow.  Hooray!!

Sorry no photos but it was hard to get him to open his mouth and try to a picture at the same time.  Soon!

Look who got his very first pair of shoes!!

The last soccer games of the season were today.  Both big kids had a blast and really improved in their soccer skills.  The kids have already asked when soccer starts again :)

First Steps!

Henry took his first steps today, just before Daddy left for India!  I don't have any photos or video of this huge milestone, but hopefully very soon :)

Delia started ballet today!  She's taking a class after school on Thursdays and she's so excited!  The highlight was most definitely the leotard and tights.  She insisted that she have "ballet hair" for school this morning (just like how I do her hair for gymnastics but with a bow in the back).

We're still transitioning Henry to milk and some days are better than others.  Today I broke out the Vitamix and decided to make a smoothie with milk and yogurt.  Henry devoured it!  Two cups full!  Next time I'll make it with whole milk and whole milk yogurt :)

We took a post-nap family walk/bike ride to the not-yet opened park today.  We're impatiently waiting for the park's completion.  It means walking/riding to the park and enjoying the walking trails and the new play equipment.  

Date night!!!