The Year of the Goat gets started in a blizzard...

We braved another six-inch snow storm on Saturday to celebrate the Chinese New Year with Ba and Opa.  The girls proudly showed off their ao dai as they cried "Happy New Year!" as we came through the door. 

Earlier that week Evie and Mommy had learned on the Internet that Ellie was born on a lucky day - the 27th - of her zodiac sign, so will have a prosperous and harmonious life. Lucky girl! 

Ellie models her new winter coat as the girls get excited to open their lucky envelopes! 

The two girls ham it up for the camera. 

Strike a pose. 

These are the girl's princess poses of course. 

When it's winter time, we head indoors...

The temperatures have been freezing this past month so the family has done everything possible to stay indoors. We've been enjoying ourselves at the family days at the National Portrait Gallery, where Ellie fashioned some fantastic earrings for mom at a bird-themed event.  

We hosted a winter wonderland playdate where the kids created a bevy of paper snowflakes before digging into some chocolate fondue, with the messy hands and faces as evidence of the delicious Belgian chocolate provided by Yamina.

Ella, Evie and Leena show off their chocolate smiles.

The girls had some fun posing for some winter pictures.

It was back to the Portrait Gallery again for a Chinese New Year celebration to kick off the Year of the Sheep. The girls are very focused on their lanterns.  Evie even got to try painting on a silk paper. 

Meanwhile Ellie bundled up in Mom's down jacket. 

Ba created some beautiful art for Evie and Ellie for Valentine's Day.

Our first "real" snow day of the year was yesterday! The girls got pulled around the yard in the sled by Dad before conquering a "mountain" which made an excellent slide. There was also a lot of tasting of snow going on...

Evie stayed out longer than Ellie - it was admittedly freezing outside!  

New Year Party Time!

It's New Year's Eve, and the family got fancied up for a trip to the Kennedy Center to check out a salsa band from Williamsburg (Brooklyn, not Virginia). When, Ellie is wiped after all the twirling she's been doing with big sis. Evie is celebrating the night with a few additional ears behind Mom and Ellie.  Or maybe that is Evie doing her Nixon impersonation...

Evie and Ellie loved dancing all night long and many other kids wanted to join them (but any invitations to dance resulted in hiding behind mom and dad's legs).  After the show, we headed home for a nice dinner and then promptly all feel asleep while watching a movie (except for Ellie, who stayed up the longest).  That's how we celebrate New Year's in the Foelsche-McDonald neighborhood! 

 A couple of days later it was off to the National Botanical Garden to check out the annual train exhibit.  Evie poses with Opa next to a pretty pink poinsettia. 

Ba and Evie show off their winning smiles!

The theme of the trains this year was lighthouses throughout North America. Thomas speeds by a Coney Island lighthouse in Ohio, not New York. 

There's Cape Hatteras - one of these days we'll make it down there in the Outer Banks! 

Always love pirate ships!

 Always a challenge to get the girls to have coordinated smiling poses for the camera as you can see.

Tickling Ellie always puts a smile on her face! 

Evie (and partially Ellie) are in the train made out of various types of wood and natural materials. 

Mom and Ellie are the conductors now! 

Christmas celebrations come to a close...

We had a nice morning of putt putt before we loaded up the minivan, packed up and hit the airport. The flight was uneventful but the girls really got excited when they arrived home - and saw the gifts Santa had left by the fireplace.  "I was on the 'nice' list!" Evie cried out.  Ellie meanwhile jumped up and down when she saw her big gift - a new big wheel!

It is always fun to capture the girls expressions when they are opening gifts.  Above, Ellie hugs her new Princess songs CD.  They get so excited!

They even get excited when the other person opens up a cool gift - in this case - the girls both got sticker dolly dressing books!

Evie waits in anticipation to see what little sis is getting. 

And Ellie is over the moon to get a new reusable sticker pad! 

Evie digs into her big gift from Santa - the Lego Friends yacht!  In the end, we had to buy a new table to keep her whole Lego Friends village in one place. 

Ellie unwraps the present from her sister - a new tower for her Rapunzel figurines!  Evie had made the beautiful piece in her pottery class after school. She also made Daddy a cool pencil holder in his favorite color, green. 

The next morning they saw the final gift from Santa, a new mirror and barre so the girls can practice their dance moves!  Ellie put in her princess CD and went right to work!

Then on Sunday we headed over to Ba's and Opa's for the final Christmas celebration.  The girls look dapper in their new holiday jackets, complete with muffs for Evie and faux fur for Ellie's collar. 

Then, one last time for good measure, the girls held their candles and marched to the Christmas tree to the tune of Stille Nacht. 

The Foelsche girls smile for Daddy's and Opa's cameras.

Then it was off to the gifts!

Evie tries out her new knit hat - adorable!

Speaking of new hats, Opa too got a jaunty number himself! 

Last but not least, the girls open their stockings! What a delightful way to end the holidays! 

Christmas Eve and Morning...

After some time in the resort pool and at least 30 times down the water slide, the family headed over to Uncle Karl's and Aunt Amy's for the Christmas festivities. The three girls really enjoyed decorating their gingerbread house but quite a bit of the candies ended up in their mouths and not on the house. 

Evie takes some time to snuggle with cousin Jack-Jack. 

Then the girls decorated this beautifully painted tree by Gerry with the ornaments they had created on Monday.  

We continued our tradition of having the kids carry candles while we sing "Silent Night" in German.  However, thanks to Karl's video and the lyrics, we were able to sing all three verses of the song (instead of just humming through the first verse and then it getting turned off like the ol' days in Yorktown).  

The family puts on our biggest smiles!

Evie is ready to start the unwrapping, after indulging in some fantastic cookies. We left all the presents for Christmas morning, though. 

Ellie does a little dance in her "princess dress". We had a delicious Eve dinner with our prime roast cooked perfectly, baked potatoes, salads - everyone was quite full and content.  Unfortunately, it started to rain so we couldn't see the neighborhood luminaries.  But the girls still went to bed with sugar plums dancing in their heads...

... and woke up to delightful stocking gifts. It is always fun to capture the kid's reactions - Evie seems very excited to be receiving her gummy vitamins. 

And she is even more delighted to receive an iTunes card from Santy Claus so she can download some new apps to the iPad. 

Dia and Ellie check out the awesome new roadster car Dia and Jack got from Santa - it matches the remote-control car that Uncle Karl has. 

Ellie is excited on her sister's behalf when she receives one of her favorite Richard Scarry books - can't get enough of that pickle car! 

She was also thrilled to open a gift for Curious George - a monkey toy - just like she had asked Santa to bring him! 

The girls helped Aunt Amy open Jack's gifts as well.  What a fun first Christmas for Jack-Jack (and everyone else)!