Dinner date with Daddy!

60 degrees in late December!  We took the kids to the playground for the first time since H has started walking really well.  How fun!

Henry has been a bear the last few days so I hired some help.  Looks like he was equally challenging for them :)

Bye bye, bed rails!  We bought a cute princess canopy/malaria prevention net at IKEA on our way back from DC and Delia thought it only worked without the bed rails.

She's slept until after 7:30 since we took them off so maybe we're on to something.

It's Christmas Eve!  We had a low-key day before MaMa and Pop came over for dinner.  The kids were really excited about their new pajamas and even asked to get ready for bed early.

Henry was in a bit of a mood today which made for interesting pajama pictures.

What is this?  Siblings enjoying each other's company?  It's a Christmas miracle!

It it Fuzzle's last night with us so he brought gifts from the Pajama Elves!  And a note from Santa!

DC bound!  We took the big kids to DC for some big kid fun--museums and the ICE show at the Gaylord National hotel.  We even had a regular hotel room (2 queen beds with no separate room for the kids) which meant sharing beds, a new adventure for everyone!  Huge thanks to MaMa and Pop for keeping Henry warm at home :)

The ICE show at the Gaylord was well, COLD!  Freezing, to be exact.  They build these giant ice sculptures around a theme and you walk through.   This year's theme was "Twas the Night Before Christmas".  They give you parkas to wear (although I think we may have been happier in our own coats--note to self, wear two coats next time).  We bundled up in gloves and hats, but I think all of us would have been happier in 2 sets of gloves.  About half way through, I was convinced that I had frostbite on my fingers!  I was so glad that Henry wasn't with us because he would have been miserable.  They had an ice slide that we all enjoyed--the wait was a little long (and COLD!) but I got some good pictures of the fun.  After ICE we walked around the National Harbor area, ate dinner and saw the incredible Christmas tree.  Sharing beds (me and JGray, John and Delia) worked out well for me.  I guess Delia is a kicker in her sleep :)

And look who we ran into at the hotel!  JGray's sweet friend from school!

Go Rams!  Pop, John, JGray and I went to the VCU - Virginia Tech game tonight and it was so much fun!  The VCU team is incredible!

We invited the neighbors over for a little merry making tonight.  I found this cute tree decorating idea online (from Pinterest, of course!) and thought it would be fun for the kids.  It ended up not being nearly as messy as I expected.  Henry enjoyed toddling around while the big kids chowed down on sugar.  Festive fun for all!

It was a day of big performances in the Schmitt household!  Delia had a small recital for her after-school ballet class, and John Grayson had the big 1st grade winter performance at school.

Ballet Recital
Saying that Delia was excited was a giant understatement.  Over the moon, bursting with enthusiasm is more like it.  This is a sweet little enrichment class that she takes after school once a week.  I had no idea what to expect, but went into it knowing that I had to bring flowers.  The girls did moves they'd learned in class, and I have to say that I was pretty impressed.  The teacher was amazing--so positive and patient.  Delia was in heaven showing off for a room full of people.  I managed to capture some photos and video.

1st Grade Performance
At Twin Hickory, every grade has one performance during the year, and 1st grade has the winter performance.  The kids have been practicing for weeks and did a SUPER job!!

We finally made it to see Santa!  We went to the older mall in town and we still had to wait in line.  Note to self, go earlier next year.  The kids did pretty well waiting.  Daddy took Henry for rides on the escalator to pass the time.

Nothing against Santa, but Henry wasn't thrilled about sitting still.  He prefers to be on the move.  We still managed to get a pretty good shot of all three kids smiling. Santa has his eyes closed, but we'll forgive him since he must be tired.

We took the kids to dinner in the food court and while we were deciding, Henry started to get sick.  And what did I do?  Attempt to cover it up by catching said puke in his jacket and mine.  Yuck!  He seems fine, so it must have been a fluke. Blah :p. Luckily the big kids were troopers and packed up and headed out without complaining.  They seem to sense those "critical" moments when helping out is imperative :)

Christmas cards make me happy!  John thinks I'm a little crazy for hanging up all of our cards, but it helps bring some holiday joy into the house.  I love being surrounded by the faces of our friends and family!

It's crazy town here this week, and I've inflicted it on myself.  Over-scheduled is the key word.  All necessary stuff, but everything just seemed to happen this week--dentist, kids' activities, class parties, the big 1st grade performance, coordinating class gifts.  Oh, and I decided to make something for one of the teacher gifts.  Picture me tying things to a wreath and spray painting paint sticks for a snowman craft.

Here is a picture of the almost-complete teacher gift card wreath!  It needs another gift card (from us, and it still needs to be purchased--oops!) and a bow, but it looks pretty cute.

In what has become a Schmitt family holiday tradition, we took the kids to see the lights at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  It was unusually crowded, but maybe that's because we went on a Sunday night and it wasn't unbearably cold.  They do an amazing job covering the garden in thousands of twinkling lights.  Henry was in awe, until we let him out of the stroller and then he turned into a toddling terror!  He was insistent on doing it himself, which meant walking without our hands or assistance of any kind.  He did a pretty good job, but we ended up having to football carry him out of the garden.

I had trouble figuring out which setting to use on my camera (I really should write it down when I figure it out), so the shots aren't great, but you can tell that we made our annual appearance.

Oh, and I totally forgot that we carried on another Schmitt family tradition this weekend!  We baked Great Great Grandma Schmitt's Sugar Cookies!  John gets all the credit as he has spent years perfecting his technique and honing the recipe.  Delia appears to show the most interest in the baking part, but all three kids enjoyed eating them :)