January Highlights

I'm still behind and blogging mostly for my family. Here are some highlights from January.

Anna mastering being adorable. 

 Three girls in a crib.

 The girls love to color and put their favorites up on the wall in their room.

I decided to take Sarah to lunch one day while Leah was at preschool. 

I ended up eating her fries

 and most of her cheeseburger

So I guess I mostly went to lunch she nibbled.  

Anna smiles at everyone and everything. 

 Sophie looking regal after a groom.

 Before bed pajama pick with "China" nightgowns

Elsa hair.

New church outfit

 Preschool friends

Sarah's Birthday Party

Summer birthdays are the best!

Sarah wanted an Ariel swim party, and lucky for her, our party planner (Auntie Em) was coming for a visit and was able to help plan the party. 

We wanted to have a water blog, which is a tarp duck taped together and filled with water. 

I had David working on it all morning--picking up supplies, taping the edges with water proof duck tape. 

When we filled it up, there was a slant in the back yard and it didn't work. Bummer. 

So we put it at the end of the slip n slide which worked fine. We also had some other games like a water balloon launch, fishing pond, and frog jump. 

The water balloon launch was the favorite. 

We had goldfish, fruit snacks, chips, salsa, guacamole, watermelon, and turkey roll ups to eat. 

We invited the neighbors and some close friends. It was really fun!

She loved the presents of course. 

Auntie Em helped her decorate her Ariel cake. 

She is such a sweet girl!

After the birthday party ended, the neighbors didn't want to go home. They played in the back until I had to finally say the Stathis girls are coming inside. 

We really love where we live. 

It's so nice to have friends that live next door to us that play with the girls for hours and hours. It makes it nice for me and little Anna who likes to stay home and sleep all day.  

Even though we don't have a backyard, we have a park just a couple houses down, and it's nice to feel so connected to your neighbors just by stepping outside your front door. 

Anna's Baby Shower

 My friends Jenn and Denise threw a lovely baby shower for me and invited the YW to come and tie a quilt. 

We decided to throw the shower when the baby could join, because we didn't find out the gender before the birth. I'm so glad we did, because it was fun to introduce the YW and my friends to Anna in a casual setting. 

The lovely YW and one YW leader (can you spot her?)

More YW and YW leaders.

The family. It was so nice to be able to have my sister-in-law Melanie and her daughter Ramona there as well as my mother-in-law Barbara.

My visiting teachers. 

YW leaders and friends.

Anna got so many cute things. 

My mom flew in the night before really, really late. She couldn't wait to hold Anna.

My best friend Jenn spoiled me during this pregnancy and birth. I feel so lucky to have her in my life.

December Highlights

December is always a fun month. This year it felt especially festive and not rushed at all. 

We went to the Old Town Manassas Christmas parade. It was really long and cold and crowded so we didn't make it to the end to see the Santa float. 

We also decorated, made cookies, wrote Christmas cards, attended the Ward Christmas party, and had a gift exchange with friends. 

Frying Pan Park

My cousin Nicole came to visit in June, and we headed to Frying Pan  Park. 

Leah and Sarah's friend Tyce joined us, and they had a great time. 

Leah and Tyce got a scare when they shook a peacock's cage and the peacock yelled back. 

Pool Party

There's nothing better than a hot day, a friend, and a pool.


These girls had a blast.

Toys

Leah loves the toy her friends gave her for Christmas yesterday.

She can move herself backwards really good, and she is working on going forward. It also converts to a walking toy. Today she took a couple of steps before falling backwards. She is still a little nervous to walk around with it, but with a little more practice I'm sure she'll be a pro.

Aren't they so adorable? She looks like such a big girl in this picture. These two are really good friends. It's so cute to watch them interact with each other.