We fly south for the holidays... and get to meet Jack!

Saturday we arrived in Florida and Uncle Karl and Aunt Amy drove to Orlando where the girls got to meet Jack for the first time.  What a cutie!  He was nothing but smiles, smiles, smiles and the girls were eager to show them Curious George, have him pull their finger, and try to get Jack to laugh. 

Mommy forgot how heavy babies can be - her arms got tired quickly - but couldn't resist holding onto this bundle of joy.  

We got to see Dia, too of course!  She was wearing a beautiful dress that she had picked out and quickly warmed up to her cousins, especially when they showed her the magic of the leappad below...  

Skipping ahead to Monday, we had a great photo shoot and the girls wore their prettiest smiles for the camera. 

Whoa, look at Mom's "saucy" glamour shot here.  Ellie is maybe not too impressed. 

We then got some great shots of the three girls playing happily on the playset.  Dia takes flight!

The girls got along so well, it was adorable to watch them playing together...

However, Ellie got sad when big sis Evie "the queen" dubbed her "big princess" instead of "little princess," who was Dia of course.  Apparently our pumpkin still wants to be the littlest princess around. 

But, nothing like flying through the air with the help of Daddy to put a smile back on her face! 

To end the day, the girls modeled their swimwear before hitting the hot tub. Gotta love Florida for Christmas! 

Our little snowman makes her debut! (and other holiday fun)

On the Friday before Christmas, Ba, Opa, and Mommy got to see our little Ellie participate in her preschool's holiday sing. She sang her "I'm a Little Snowman" song like a star!

I'm not sure what kind of face this is - Ellie's nervous snowman smile? 

After the show we celebrated with Ba and a cookie, of course!

Daddy showed up for the most important part (he was at Evie's pajama and pancake party earlier that morning). 

We had a delightful time at the Burns Family's annual gingerbread decorating extravaganza.  The girls got to decorate both a house and train this year and had a blast!  Notice the marshmallow tracks and their names on each side of the roof? It's all about attention to detail.  Alas, the creations did not last very long as our little candy addicts could not resist! 

Finally, earlier that week Evie was so lucky to attend a Nutcracker Tea at the Ritz Carlton with friends Lia and Mia. The girls got to enjoy hot cocoa and delicious cookies and treats - and everyone learned how much Evie loves sprinkles - before ballerinas performed scenes from the Nutcracker for everyone on stage!  

They even got to meet some of the ballerinas as well. The girls were so excited - what an amazing experience!  We'll have to make it an annual tradition and take Ellie next year!

An early Christmas celebration with the McDonalds

We have been blessed to spend so much time with Bebe and Popi over the last month - they were able to see our house all decorated for the holidays a week after Thanksgiving.  We had a lovely gift exchange -  Ellie helped Popi open up his Christmas gifts - some nice new reading material!

Meanwhile, Evie was delighted to get a set of Magnatiles from her grandparents!  She got right to work in building a couple of fun structures - from towers to balls to playgrounds for her Loving Family dolls. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Ellie got right to work at healing all her dolls with her new Doc McStuffins mobile cart.  Her favorite part is running around the first floor and hearing the siren to let her stuffed animals know that help is on the way! 

Then, next weekend we headed up to New Jersey for a nice day with the cousins and aunts and uncles as well.  Ellie and Dolly are getting along great everytime they visit - Ellie loves rubbing her tummy.  

Bebe displays Evie's gift, a candy tray (?) from her pottery class.

Meanwhile Ellie gave Popi and Bebe a beautiful purple-painted ceramic dog.  Dolly was a huge fan!

When all the cousins had arrived, then the madness really started!  Alas, it is hard to corral all the kids in one picture as always. 

Everyone gets in the act with their festive hats!

The kids tape a message to Uncle Patrick thanking him for their Disney gift cards! 

Aw, what a delightful holiday celebration! 

Ay, it's the time for the annual Scottie dog sightings!

One of the family's favorite annual holiday traditions is enjoying the Scottish Walk parade.  We parked at our favorite spot on St. Asaph right where the parade begins (which ends up being very advantageous if you are like some certain girls who are candy crazy). 

Look at this little munchkin, modeling off her pea coat and boots, and of course, her designer smile!

Jumping for joy at more candy being thrown her way.  

Evie's favorite accessory, her matching red lollipop, of course. 

Daddy and his precious daughters are all smiles as the cute doggies with sweaters march on by.  

The girls celebrate another successful year of candy, candy, candy! 

Then, later that night we attended a holiday concert at Strathmore in Maryland. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra put on a lovely show which included a holiday sing-a-long and excerpts from the Nutcracker, with accompanying dancers from Step Afrika dancing to the beat.  

Evie is a old pro at attending performing art events these days, but this show had some added interaction of marching to the beat of the Nutcracker Suite and waving their fingers to represent snowflakes falling from the sky. 

Trim the Tree

Daddy picked up a huge tree on Saturday, so Sunday it was time to decorate the tree with our lovely collection of ornaments - it is really nice to see all the kid's handmade ornaments make a reappearance each year. 

Ellie targets the low branches and soon became the official "unpacker" of ornaments. 

Mom and Evie sing the "12 Days of Christmas" as they hang up a ball representing each day's gift - Evie loves belting out "Five Golden Rings" the most. 

Ellie cracks herself up. 

Dad has mastered the art of perfect ornament placement.

Evie admires all the handmade clay ornaments she has made with Ba over the years. 

Tree decorating is exhausting! Ellie takes off her shoes to do some "relaxin". Unfortunately, about an hour after we finished the tree tipped over, crashing to the ground. "No Christmas is coming!" Ellie wailed. Luckily, Dad was able to secure the tree and all was well in the world again.

Ah, the Nutcracker's got my finger! 

A new addition to the tree this year was a train set, with smoke that actually comes out of the engine as it travels round and round. After getting a lecture from the hobby store guy on not being one of those dads who don't let their kids touch the train, Marc taught the girls how to be the conductors.  Ellie in particular likes to run the train backwards very, very fast. 

Turkey Day in New Jersey

The family had a delightful Thanksgiving holiday with Bebe, Popi, Dolly, Ba, Opa, Uncle Dave, Aunt Casey, Juliana and Stan in New Jersey this year! 

One of Evie's favorite things to do is help Bebe and Daddy set up the Christmas Village. This year, she really got into making up stories for all the people in the village. 

Popi, Opa, and Ba discuss the geography of Ireland, while Dolly makes a move for the shrimp on the table. 

On the way home, the family made a pitstop at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and enjoyed the sharks and dolphins, and the gift shop, of course. Ahhh!  Look at the fish's giant jaws!  

Evie takes in the beauty of the jellyfish. 

Ellie goes for a closer look.

The jellyfish exhibit was one of our favorites. 

We braved the stormy day on Wednesday to watch "Penguins of Madagascar" in a deluxe theater with reclining, leather seats.  Evie's face perhaps accurately reflects her reaction during the movie, whereas Ellie was in heaven. She likes to recite her favorite line from the movie "I make my own options." and then go "Aghhhhhhhhh!" to re-enact the penguins falling out of the plane.