Christmas Morning

Humoring me with a picture in front of the tree before presents!

Santa presents...Morgan got a baby, Baileigh an Ipod Shuffle, Brooke a Barbie camera, and Mckenna got Just Dance 2.

Morgan loved her stroller from Nana and her baby from Santa...
Brad and the girls started designing this necklace for me back in October. I had told him years ago that once we were done having children I wanted to do something with their birthstones that wasn't traditional and was subtle. He had this made with the 4 girls birthstones on the bottom, my birthstone is in the middle and Brad's is son the top...his is the only one that isn't a circle (its an oval) since he is the only boy in our family.

The girls all got pillow pets from Grandma Hall. As I type they are each tucked into bed asleep on their pillow pets.

We ended our night by driving to look at lights from this great website we found that listed some wonderful light displays in Fairfax County. We loaded up in our pjs and had a lot of fun...now let the snow begin!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve Day Skating

We spent Christmas Eve day skating with some friends at Pentagon Row. Baileigh and Mckenna have both taken lessons so they are old pros...
Brooke freaked out last year and refused to try skating...this year it was a big victory to get her in skates and on the ice...

Pentagon Row is a cool setting...

Daddy skating with the girls...

Morgan hung out with me and enjoyed some Starbucks and hot chocolate...

Mckenna showing off...

Once Brooke got the hang of it she couldn't be stopped...thanks to her bucket!

Look Alikes

Lots of people make comments about which sister Morgan looks like...when you compare her with pictures of Mckenna at a younger age there is no doubt they have a strong resemblance. Mckenna is almost 3 in this photo...about a year older...but you can tell that Morgan is going to look a lot like her big sister, well, one of them at least.Its the eyes and nose...Mckenna's mouth is unique to all our girls...very big! I could mean a lot of things by that, but literally...we say she has a Julia Roberts smile that goes ear to ear. Maybe she'll grow into it someday.

Christmas Play

The girls came up with an activity to distract from their assignment of cleaning the basement. How was I able to argue with this play?

Despite the fact that Brooke was given the role of "Wise Woman" she felt the need to have a beard...this black marker still has not completely come off her face.

Snow Day

We had our first snow day of the season. While Morgan was napping her sisters went outside to play. When she woke up it was almost time for them to come inside...plus she had a cold so I just decided to not take her out to join them in the snow. She wasn't really pleased with me and disappeared to return with hat and gloves and shoes and then proceeded to stand in front of the window and say "Outside, PEEASE".
She figured that maybe really cute would help...
"Cheese" "PEEEAASE Outside!"

My Old Men

This is one of the other men in my life...Jonah. He has been in the picture for 11 years. But he is struggling and we don't know how many more days we'll get to enjoy this sweet dog.
Brothers...we got Ranger in November of 1998. We got Jonah in December of 1999. They were instant friends. They are such different personalities, but compliment each other well.

An afternoon walk with Jonah...
Someday when Jonah is gone there will be a big void in our house and in our hearts...

Morgan with "No-Nah" (aka "Jonah)...she loves him so much and chases him all around the house.

Thanksgiving Texas Style

First flight with four...

Thanksgiving day...playing in the backyard with cousins while we wait on dinner...
Playing in the park in town...Daddy and his girls.

The guys went hunting one day so the girls went out and had a fun day...train ride, park, Smash Burger and Tangled.

We went to the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine and met our great friends, the Maddox family who currently live in OK and drove down to meet us.

We went to 'ICE' at the Gaylord...this years theme was Charlie Brown. Not sure if Morgan liked the ice slide or not...

Skating like Charlie and his gang...

You know your in TX when you see shotgun shell Christmas lights...

The lobby of the Gaylord...

One afternoon we went to the Stockyards in Fort Worth to watch the daily cattle drive...only in TX.

Waiting on the Longhorns with Grandma and Grandpa

Our little cowgirl...

Boots. Boots. Boots!

Morgan's first trip to TX...we have this exact same picture with Baileigh back in 2002.
Trying to blend in to the local culture...but they were born in NJ, VA and WA.
Visiting with the cowboys...

Preschool Feast

Brooke...this year in Pre-K at age 4 at her preschool Thanksgiving feast having a great time.
Brooke...in her first year of preschool at age 2...not enjoying herself too much.

His 2nd Marathon!

Yesterday Brad ran his 2nd marathon! This race was in downtown Philadelphia and had a pretty backdrop in the art museum!
Brad was running with our friend, Ryan King...here are my girls with the two King girls waiting on their daddies to run past.

So excited to see Daddy and show him the sign she made!
Brad texted me once or twice on the run so I knew that about mile 20 he was starting to struggle. Baileigh had the idea of finishing the run with him to help encourage him to the finish line.
As he past us with half a mile left Baileigh jumped on the course and helped keep her Daddy motivated!
Crossing the finish line hand in hand...the big smile on Brad's face is from the comments made on the PA by the race announcers about his young running partner.
So proud of our Daddy!
Ryan and Brad...both finished with great times and should be proud of all their hard training and their race day results!