Christmas Eve 2016...

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve filled with lots of quality family time, great food, a little last minute shopping and last minute wrapping, cookie making and decorating and finally the anticipation of Santa's arrival! 

Ommy and Poppy joined us for a fun and festive Christmas Eve dinner. We made Sweedish Meatballs which are always a holiday hit. They gifted all of us with some great presents and Poppy was oh so jolly with his Santa hat on. The kiddos also got to open their Christmas Eve gifts - matching pajamas - too cute! 

Before bed Adam made sure to sprinkle the yard with magic reindeer food and then it was upstairs for a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "The Polar Express." 

Then it was time to await the magic of Christmas - and from the looks of it, our boys were set to have a fantastic Christmas - I guess they really had been good! :) 

Special Delivery for NICU...

We were able to deliver some breakfast goodies to the Fairfax NICU back at the beginning of December. Amy was having to work on her birthday so we figured we'd surprise her with some birthday treats and give the other nurses something fun to enjoy as well. Amy was thrilled, as were the other nurses, and I even got a special VIP tour of the new NICU - not easy, but still special. 

We figured we better show our Fair Oaks NICU family some love as well so we baked a ton of fun breads and cookies and delivered them on Christmas Eve. I got to see some of Harper's nurses and the receptionist who was always so welcoming and kind. Felt really nice to be able to bring some holiday cheer to the staff as they worked through Christmas taking care of those tiny humans (and their parents!) If I could I would have walked around to all the rooms and given all the moms and dads big hugs - I can't even begin to imagine what it would have been like to have Harper in the hospital for Christmas. 

I think we'll make this a yearly tradition - and most likely stop by a few other times throughout the year as well - those NICUs will always be important and special to us. 

Pre-Christmas Family Dinner...

We had a wonderful pre-Christmas celebration with Andy's family last weekend. We all met up at one of Poppy's favorite restaurants - a great Middle Eastern spot called Byblos. Ommy and Poppy planned everything out perfectly - pre-ordered great food and spirits - allowing for a relaxing meal and plenty of opportunities to catch up with all the family (we were just missing Drew - pretty good for a family of 19! Thanks for the fun time Ommy & Poppy!!

A Wonderful 11 Year Anniversary...

We had so much fun celebrating our anniversary this year. We had been invited to a Christmas Party at a neighbor's house so we decided to go out for an anniversary lunch instead. After dropping the kiddos off with Grandma & Grandpa (thank you!!) we headed to Matchbox. It was our first time there and we really loved it. The decor was great, the drinks were festive and the food was on point - we'll be going back for sure. 

The party was right across the street and was really fun. They did a white elephant exchange which turned out to be lots of fun - plenty of gift stealing and scheming as we were after a few Star Wars gifts for our Star Wars loving 7 year old. In the end we left with a few extra stocking stuffers for Adam - and with some new friends - perfect! 

Just when I thought our evening was coming to an end - Andy got a second wind, ordered an Uber and it was off to Reston Town Center to continue the anniversary celebration. At first sight of the ice skating rink Andy quickly proclaimed - "Yep! We're going to ice skate!" Fun! I hadn't done that since high school but after a few laps we both had our "skating legs" back. It was silly, fun, festive, and totally unexpected - kind of like how marriage can be. :) 

After skating we walked down to Barcelona for some vino and tapas - sort of a nod to our European honeymoon. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. Happy 11 years Bub - thanks for every fun moment and for all the fun that's yet to come! XO 

Adam's Belt Graduation...

Adam has really been enjoying Tai Kwon Do and it's been really fun watching him develop his skills the past couple of months. Last week they had their belt graduation which Adam was really looking forward to. They really make the kids work for it - they aren't just giving you a new belt every 12 weeks. Adam had to fill out a whole booklet of information - everything from logging his daily 30 minutes of reading, writing goals for himself, making notes about ways he's helped others, and how he helps around the house - it's serious business and we love it! Of course he also had to work hard practicing his form, his blocks, punches and kicks. All the preparation and dedication paid off as he did an awesome job during graduation - proving to his instructors that he earned his yellow belt. I couldn't have been prouder!

Now time to get after that orange belt!

Christmas Party with Reid & Ava (Adults were there too...)

It wouldn't be the holidays without a get together with Reid and Ava (their moms too!) This year we added in a few extra guests - Sarah & Chris (they are the ones who got married in St. John and we are forever grateful for that wonderful destination!) and Ellen (who was one of our roomies in St. John). It was a fun and festive evening filled with lots of chit chat, laughs, good food and spirits of course! :) 

The kids had so much fun playing - Harper took quite a liking to Ava - he wouldn't let her out of his sight! It was pretty cute. They all gifted each other fun new games to play - and I'm sure we'll be enjoying all of them when we take our annual ski trip to Wintergreen in two months. 

Love these friends! 

Air Force Band Christmas Concert...

Thanks to some very generous neighbors we were given the opportunity to go downtown to DAR Constitution Hall to attend the Air Force Band's Christmas Concert. We took Uncle Mark along and boy did we have a great time! The music was fantastic - lots of holiday staples were played. Adam really enjoyed it and was thrilled when they did "Carol of the Bells" - his favorite Christmas song at the moment. 

Just when we thought the concert was over all of a sudden Santa arrived and invited all the children to come on stage to sing. Adam happily joined in on the fun. It was so cute to see him up on stage singing along - and as they sang "White Christmas" it began to snow - how magical is that?! 

In addition to the Air Force Band they brought in a special guest to sing a few songs - Soloman Howard - a famous and extremely talented opera singer - who did a crazy good job singing "You're a Mean one Mr. Grinch." Bonus - Adam just happened to be singing on stage right in front of him and we got to snap a photo of the two of them - so fun!

We will for sure be looking to get tickets again next year.