just some morning videos.

This morning was heavenly. Nate took the boys to school and picked them up because I had morning and afternoon meetings. I was able to take some quick video of the boys this morning. The first one is of Ethan telling me what he wants from Santa.

I was trying to capture Lincoln saying, "GO" to Hunter. Instead, Hunter ate his bacon and he was pretty sad about it.

Living Bethlehem

Our new church, Aldersgate, does a living Bethlehem each year. King Herrod greated Ethan at the entrance and asked him to come and tell him when he found Baby Jesus. The poor fella agreed to do it. Luckily, he met a wise townsman that told him not to tell him.
We waited at the gate for a dreadful ten minutes before we learned that there were not enough prophets to take us on the tour. We were on our own. This witty gaurd let us through. As we entered the town, Ethan gave the Census taker his name and how many people he was bringing with him. In the town we met potters, farmers, and a pesky rug seller. A woman with goats and sheep let us all pet her animals.
After visiting with the towns people, we finally arrived at a manger with a bright star above. Angels were guarding the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes! He needed those swaddling clothes tonight because it was a frigid 32 degrees.
At the end of our visit, we made it into the church for cookies! I am not sure how we managed to find the homemade chocolate chip cookies that were still warm, but boy were we lucky!
On the way home, we asked Ethan if he had a good time. He answered yes and he would like to go back. When we asked what he would like to see again, he said, "the Oreo cookies next time." It was a magical night, but not for the reason you are probably thinking. In the car, Ethan said, "I am so tired. I want to sleep for a long time." Then, when we got home, he went to bed without one little fuss!

Reindeer Games

Today was tree decorating day! After church and lunch, we drug up the Christmas boxes and got to work. The first things that the boys found were Hunter's reindeer ears from 10 years ago. I still have them. Everyone took turns wearing them! In fact, as I write this blog, Ethan is sitting on the couch watching a movie with them on.

(when E put this shirt on today he said, "Look, it's America."
Ethan took his decorating serious this year. He wanted to put the star on. After the star and lights, he started on the ornaments. With the exception of the really high ones, he decorated the tree.
Lincoln on the other hand had more important things to do....such as golf with the ball ornaments. Thank goodness they were not glass. He was interested in the basketball ornaments and the ones with his pictures on them. He's such a man!
Ethan found the long, skinny, twirly ornaments. He called them carrots and put them all in a row. He's once again lining everything up!
It was really fun decorating the new house. I love where we put the tree. It's at the top of the landing when you come upstairs. The smell of the tree hits you as soon as you walk in the door. It's also the first thing you see when you come in. We don't have a mantel, so we had to hang the stockings over the armoire. Poor Hunter's stocking didn't fit, so we moved his over to the toyroom door. I don't think he really minded! We all hope you enjoyed putting your Christmas tree up as much as we did!

The weekends are not long enough!

So, I thought we were pretty darn acclimated to the area. I felt like we could get around well, until today! We went to the post office to send some packages off today. We used the GPS to get us to a post office that was close to the tree lot. The post office took just a few minutes and it was close to lunch time so we used the GPS and looked for a Mexican place to eat. I noticed that the GPS said that Baja Taco was just 3.2 miles away. So, off we went! FORTY-FIVE minutes later we found the place. At 12:10 we were finished eating and left to go the 3.2 miles back to the tree lot. At 1:26 (with a Starbucks stop in there) we were back to our original starting point. The GPS was spot on...the traffic and lights were just horrific. A really nice guy from the Boys and Girls club helped us get our tree. Ethan had his first Starbucks experience today. Of course, he waited about 30 minutes to drink the Hot Chocolate because he thought it was "too hot."
We put the boys down for nap very soon after we got home and put the tree up. Our plan is to decorate it after church tomorrow. Once naps were finished, we decided to go to Union Station and see their Norwegian tree and toy train.

The boys LOVED every minute of it. This station has a mall with tons of restaurants in it. We ate at Uno Pizza because we could sit by the ledge and watch the toy train while we ate. Ethan ate two pieces of pizza with his back to us staring at the train.
Dinner was so peaceful! If any of you have ever eaten with us you know how wonderful this was! We decided to drive into DC instead of taking the train. It was such big payoff for us (so maybe we were a little more acclimated than I thought). It took about 20 minutes versus a 50 minute train ride! I have a list of things I want to do this holiday season. We were able to mark two things off the list today. I just hope we have enough time to get it all in!

Chance of a Lifetime

Today at work, a teacher friend offered up tickets to go to the Lighting of the National Christmas tree. I jumped at the chance and even pushed another teacher out of the way to take them. (OK not really...but I did feel bad for taking them until she told me she is going to the Inagural Ball)
Nate even rearranged part of a briefing to go! We knew it was going to be a tight squeeze to get to the White House by 4:30. I met Nate at his work and we RAN to the metro. When we got to the metro, I grabbed my wallet for my smartcard and took off. The escalator at Rosslyn is super high. Half way up, Nate says, "Can you hold Link? I'll grab E and we can walk it up." I put my wallet in my pocket. I am sure you can guess where this is going. I loose it on the train. We realize this a second after the train takes off. We decide to go on anyway. We run to the White House and make it!
These are secret service agents on top of Santa Workshop! Hmmmm does that make them Secret Santas?? The ceremony starts at 5:00, but they want you in your seats at 4:30. I brought tons of snacks for the kids. We sit down and I start dishing snacks out. By 5:00 we are out of snacks and the boys are already getting restless. For a full 45 minutes they squirm and whine and cry and pout and wiggle and you name it. I felt so bad for the people in front of us and behind us. About 2 minutes before the President speaks, Lincoln loses it. I mean FULL on cry...LOUD! Nate grabs him and takes him to the back. About a minute after Nate leaves Ethan looks over at me and says, "Let's go Mom. We can see the tree from the Metro." We had not gone through all of this to not see the tree. While Nate was in the back with Lincoln (screaming), a lady looks at Nate and says, "ahh...he must be a Democrat." It was great!! As soon as Bush was finished speaking, they asked that we all stay at our seats until he was gone. Nate came right over and stood at the end of the aisle. A lady a couple seats behind me says, "Your husband is behind you." hint..hint...get the heck out of here! :)
So, besides the lost wallet, screaming kids, and Bush speaking, it was a chance of a lifetime!

Daddy, do my trick.

Usually I put funny videos of the kids on, but this one is all Nate! AND...for the record...I did not put Ethan's outfit together. He spilled milk on his pants at dinner.

This is the life...

sitting in your underwear, eating rice krispy treats, and watching the Polar Express. It can't get much better than this.
I worked a full two hours before daycare called with a sick child! Lincoln got sick at school. As a friend of mine said, "your kids are sick all the time!" It's VIRGINIA!!!
By the way, Lincoln said, "Papa" today when looking at pictures. Of course, it's a day too late!