I am so proud of how much Samantha and Madison have grown over the past few years.  This birthday for me was a scary one, I couldn't believe that my oldest were entering into Young Women, starting to babysit and turning into teenagers, in more ways than one :)

The favorite part of a birthday in our house is planning the meal menu for the day.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Things are decided months in advance!  As we got closer to the date I noticed that their birthday was falling on the first Sunday of the month, fast Sunday.  We compromised and extended the birthday meals into two days.  Breakfast (French toast, eggs, bacon, juice) and lunch on Saturday and then their birthday dinner (homemade tamales, rice, black beans, chips) on Sunday.  Topped off the meal with a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

 

I was reading a blog a few months back that mentioned a temple trip for your child when they turn 12.  What an awesome idea!  Unfortunately the D.C. temple closed for cleaning the day after their birthday and opened back up the week we were going to be in Florida.  My hubby suggested driving up to NYC for the day.  I looked at him with a blank stare and my jaw dropped to the ground, I am the one usually suggesting trips to NYC.

 

We left bright and early on Friday, January 10th.  Dropped the younger two off at our friends home and braved the icy, snowy roads that had closed schools for the morning.  As we made it slowly through NJ I knew we would not make our 11 a.m. scheduled time, called the temple and they fortunately had a 2 p.m. slot.  Perfect, now we would have time to grab a NY pizza pie before heading to the temple.  Walked to our favorite pizza shop to find it closed :(  Thankfully found a yummy alternative around the corner and filled our bellies with yummy food.

 

 

The temple was awesome!  Rob was able to do confirmations and baptisms for both the girls.  A member of the temple presidency spoke to our little family for a few minutes .  It was a wonderful, peaceful experience that hopefully Madison and Samantha will always remember.  After we left Samantha said, "that was so neat, I want to go back again!"

 

We spent a few more hours walking the city, darting into stores to warm up and enjoying middle eastern food in the theater district before grabbing a slice of cheesecake for the road.

 

Happy Birthday to my favorite twins!

December in a flash

December was here and gone before I knew it...

a little recap of the fun that was going on in our lives

 

 Making a trip to the temple with Natalie.  She left the next day :(  Jo still cries for her, especially when she is in trouble.  "I want Natalie!"

 

J getting to play the part of Mary in our ward Christmas song

 

A visit with the man in the big red suit.  Everytime we asked her what she wanted for Christmas it was a different answer. 

 

Big sister putting in her request

 

Enjoying a few snow days  

 

 

A big girl getaway with these two goofs.  They had a two day swim meet in Virginia.  Rather then battle the beltway two days in a row I splurged and got a hotel room Friday night.  It was a great weekend; going out to eat, shopping in craft stores, watching back to back episodes on food network and seeing them beat all their past swim times.

 

Participating in the annual Morris, Christensen, Holman Christmas musical show.  I think this was our 4th year in a row, it's a great tradition and a great way to make all those music lessons worth the effort.

 

M&S participating in their first middle school band concert

 

Annual Gingerbread houses with the Hagedorn's

 

J's creation

 

M's masterpiece

 

S's design, the classic gingerbread outhouse

 

A's grand design

 

 Another visit to the temple visitor center with all the girls

 

Lunch stop at District Taco on Christmas Eve, a new tradition!

We love this place :)

 

 

Visiting the Botanical Garden at the Capital

 

 

Stop off at the National Tree

 

 

Our Christmas morning surprise, a family trip to Walt Disney World in January!

Harvest Fun

Our family tradition of pumpkin picking varies each year...

one year the garden produced enough

some years it's a trip to the grocery store,

this year we made a stop at the local nursery

 

 

 

 

 The girls are always on a quest to find the perfect pumpkin

 

 Let the purging begin, always saving the seeds for pumpkin seed treats

 

 

 

 

  

 M & S were so proud that they completed their pumpkin from start to finish, it was nice for Rob and I to only have to help with two pumpkins this time around

 

Minion and mommy

 

 Our family is addicted to Despicable Me, love both the movies and frequently find ourselves quoting silly things from the show. 

This Halloween we were racking our brains, trying to think of a family theme...

The girls were unanimous in a Despicable Me theme.  I had a simple minion idea, Rob has something else floating in his brain and took over the costume design.  The costumes were the hit for the day/night thanks to cement tube forms and lots of yellow spray paint.  I added final details the morning of.

 

 

Grew, Lucy, Minion, Minion Maid, Baby Minion, Vector and Emergency Minion