Christmas Recap

Here are the Christmas Day highlights. 
Opening stockings:

                                                           Aunt Jamie had a stocking filled

                                                with cute dachsund stuff.

   

Jarrell always has razor blades in his stocking.

new oven mitts which would come in handy later in the day (details on my next post!)

My gift from Jarrell was a beautiful new diamond heart necklace. 
Unfortunately, we didn't take a close-up.

The boys opening their gift from Uncle Travis, Aunt Jill, and Kyle.

Jamie is laughing because we gave each other the same gift, our new favorite movie, Julie & Julia.

Jarrell's new leather coat from me. 

Christmas - the aftermath.  It looked like a tornado had hit our living room.  We had a lot of fun playing our new games and spending time with one another. 

Don't Eat the Colored Snow!

Nathan made snow pictures.  He decided to use food coloring to add ornaments to his Christmas tree.  Enjoy the pictures!  He made a video with his new camera (thank you Aunt Rachel and Uncle Kevin!)  Once I figure out how to download video we will post it! 

He added Aunt Jamie to this picture since she is coming to visit. 

Luke in the Snow

Here are some pictures of Luke from Saturday and Sunday.  He was on our balcony.

Our First Blizzard

This is what we woke up to this morning.  It hasn't stopped all day.  The local news reports are calling this the Blizzard of '09!  It is beautiful and I'm thankful we don't have to be out in it! 

The picture above is looking to the south of our townhome.

This is the view from our front door.  Nathan decided to go out onto the deck off of the kitchen.

The Boys' Gingerbread House

This is how the boys spent most of the afternoon.  They definitely have more patience than their mother!  I was smart this year and bought a pre-assembled gingerbread house.  That makes it much easier!  Enjoy the pics!

Figuring This Blog Thing Out

I have added pictures to my first post about our trip, so be sure to check those out!  Please be patient with me as I figure all of this out. =) I am not technologically savvy.  I figure things out as I go along, so it may take me awhile! New posts will be forthcoming!  

Journey to Maryland

Wednesday, November 4th was the beginning of our journey to our new home in Maryland. We left Texas around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The boys were set with books, Nintendo DS, Leapster 2, and portable DVD player. We were sad to leave everyone and everything familiar, but I think we were excited about the adventure before us. We spent our first night in Little Rock. The boys were very excited about swimming at the hotel. Unfortunately, we didn't arrive until 8:45 and the pool closed at 9. I promised the boys they could swim in the morning, without realizing the pool didn't open until 10. That was a much later start than I wanted to get, but a promise is a promise! We had a relaxing morning and ate lunch before we headed to Nashville for our second night.

Once again because of our late start we didn't arrive until dark. I think it was around 8:30, but it felt like midnight. We were so tired. I decided that we needed a day to just have fun and not be on the road. Friday we visited The Hermitage, General Andrew Jackson's home. It was so beautiful. The trees were yellow, orange, and red; perfect picture of autumn. We took a wagon ride around the grounds. We spent the morning there. That afternoon we went to the Adventure Science Center near downtown Nashville. It was a lot of fun exploring all the different exhibits. I think the boys' favorite was the one on normal bodily functions. Kind of gross, but really interesting! Right in the middle of the museum was a science playland that went all the way up to the ceiling. I think Luke counted nine floors. It was an amazing view of downtown Nashville! Of course we went swimming again that evening.

Saturday was our longest driving day. I think we started around 9 o'clock. We arrived around 7 that evening. We spent the night in Virginia. After dinner, we went swimming. After a good night's rest and a hearty breakfast we left friendly Virginia. We were anxious to get to our new home. We crossed the Shenandoah River into Maryland. It was so beautiful! We will definitely have to go back and spend more time there. After about 6 hours on the road Sunday, we finally arrived to our new home. We were so glad to be out of the car. Jarrell had decorated the door with a "Party Is Here" banner and the house with balloons. He had bought us a "Welcome Home" cake. I think he was glad to see us!

I was very grateful for our safe trip. The boys did great for such a long trip! They were amazing!