The First Few Days

 We live right next to the Grunewald,  in Dahlem (has the red A).  It is literally a 1 minute walk and we are in a huge forest. It is pretty amazing.

Since we were all really, really, jet lagged we decided to eat out. This little gem is right next to our house.  The food was AMAZING, but really expensive.  It is nice because the outdoor seating area was in the back of the restaurant and went straight into the grunewald forest.  There were a bunch of families eating there and so while the adults ate and visited the kids played soccer/ran around in the forest.  It made for a really relaxing dinner. 

 Chris speaks German really well but  it was an upscale restaurant and even he couldn't decipher the menu.  So I just picked something and hoped for the best . . . I was completely shocked when they brought out my meal and it was an ENTIRE LARGE PIZZA.  It was a little embarrassing, I felt like a total pig.  But even more embarassing was that we were all starving and managed to polish it all off, plus 2 large servings of Schnitzle (breaded and fried pork), a loaf of french bread, and a large bowl of spaghetti.

 View of the restaurant from the forest

 H-May running around while we waited for our food.

Sad

Okay so I have to say that it is a little funny that on my last post I posted pictures and talked about the National Christmas Tree because . . .

Here is what it looked like in December

Here is what it looks like now

We had some wicked wind come through our area and it snapped the poor tree in half.

So after 33 years as our Nations Christmas tree. It is time for us to say goodbye.

It's replacement will be arriving sometime this spring.

The 3 T's

Each Christmas we try to visit what in our family have come to be known as the 3 T's (thanks for the idea Raelynn) Which are the Temple, Trains, Tree's.

Temple

We made it to the temple first. Each year the Washington DC temple puts on it's own mini light display. Now I have to say that it is Nothing like the lights on temple square it is basically just a parking lot with lit trees in it, and a small nativity, but it is a HUGE tourist attraction!! Tour bus after tour bus dumped hundreds and hundreds of people off to see it's lights, and listen to it's free concerts. When we arrived at 6:30 the 7:00 and 8:00 concerts were both full and the line wound around every inch of the visitors center, and out the door. It was PACKED! You could barely move. After a 1/2 hour wait we were able to see the huge, and amazing collections of nativities from around the world that they had there. It was chaotic, but despite the chaos it made me happy to see the missionaries so busy, and to feel the spirit that can come from being around the temple.

Tree's

The National Christmas tree is a massive pine tree that permanently lives in front of the white house for the sole purpose of being decorated each year as the national christmas tree. It has a bunch of trains that drive around the bottom of it, and it is surrounded by 50 christmas tree's decorated by each state. The tree's are beautiful but our favorite part is santas house that they have next to the trees. Each year they have an adorable cottage that is filled with sleeping elves, Mrs Clause and most importantly Santa. The kids LOVE to come here and best of all you leave with a free picture of your kids!

Train's

On Christmas Eve we finally made it to see the trains at the Botanical Gardens. This is my favorite Christmas tradition. Each year they turn the botanical Gardens into this amazing christmas wonderland. They have about 30 buildings from around the world that they make out of organic materials (leaves, mushrooms, and other plants) They are incredibly detailed, and look very real. The buildings are surrounded by waterfalls, christmas trees, poinsettias, miniature elf villages, and trains that drive in all different directions on tracks that drive through waterfalls, and on tracks that are suspended above your head. It is amazing!

Elf on Shelf

This year we decided to start a new family tradition and so I bought the ELf on the Shelf, left it on the doorstep and told the kids that Santa had sent it to them. They LOVED it! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Elf on the Shelf it s a very clever book, that comes with a very clever little elf. You start by reading the book, it talks all about the elf and how it a special elf from Santa that has been sent to live in your home and watch you until Christmas. Each night after you have fallen asleep the elf flies back to the north pole to tell Santa all that he has seen and heard throughout the day, and each morning it returns to a different spot in the house. If you touch it, it will lose some of it's magic, and won't be able to return to the north pole to tell santa how good you have been. Under Santa's strict orders it can not talk to you, but it can hear you and tell santa whatever you would like for him to hear. On Christmas morning he flies back to the north pole in Santa's sleigh not to return again until next Christmas. After reading the book you give it a name. My kids chose the name Dingle.

Chris, Hallie, Brooklyn and Dingle.

I knew the kids would like having an elf around but I had no idea that they would buy into it as much as they did.

On the first day Hallie talked to the elf for at least an hour

On day 3 Hallie told us that she saw elf's eye move

On day 4 Hallie told me that she thought she saw the elf watching her in PE at school, and once in the lunchroom.

Every morning I awoke to 2 crazy kids frantically searching the house for the elf and then telling me all that they thought that he did that night

On day 20 Brooklyn sat down in the rocking chair next to the elf and her hand accidentally brushed the elfs cheek. The kids cried and cried because they thought that the elf would not make it home to santa that night. Luckily he had just enough magic left.

The elf on the shelf may seem like a creepy little vintage doll that is ALWAYS watching you! The kids LOVED it and I definitely think that he will return again next year!

First Snow, Just In Time For Christmas

I know that I have not been very consistent at posting for the past few months. But I have to say that life NEVER seems to slow down. I thought that once I got the kids started back in school things would slow down a bit, but trust me they haven't. It has been nothing but Colds, Flus, PTA, Homework, Chris gone to NC, Super Saturday, Callings, Gymnastics, Joy School, Strep, Play Groups, Laundry, Doctors Appointments and the list goes on and on and on and on. I have been so stressed out I pretty much collapsed last week and spent a good 3 or 4 days without leaving my bed. So it is time to prioritize, reduce the to do list, and if needed replace good things with better things. I feel like through the hustle and bustle of life I have lost track of family members and friends. So it is time to start blogging again.

We had our first snow of the season!! Which is pretty exciting around here. Being in the UT state of mind I thought that although it was snowing I could head out and run some errands, after all it was only an inch or so of snow. Boy am I dumb! Apparently the reason the city shuts down when it snows is because I swear the entire city of Arlington only has 2 snowplows. After slipping and sliding around in my Jeep, while dodging other people who's terrified eyes lead me to believe this may just be the first time they have ever driven in the snow. I called my friend Lindi and we hunkered down and watched the kids through the window while they ran around in the snow.

UGggh! Why do kids eat snow! So gross!

The kids had a blast, and even better they fell asleep pretty quickly last night!

Hallie's First Choir Concert

It was Wheel Night at Hallie's Elementary School an event that happens 4 times a year so that the kids can showcase what they have been working on thus far.

I have to say that the schools in Arlington are INCREDIBLE!! I love love love love Hallie's Elementary school. It is an art school and so not only does she have art, architecture, music, and dance classes, where applicable her school integrates the arts into all of her subjects.

For example Hallie learned how to count by tens by learning a song, she is in a class play that teaches the kids about the 4 seasons, and when she gets into 4th grade it gets even more high tech by teaching the kids about sound waves by writing having them compose a song that correlates the picture that they are given that uses long and short sound waves, which they are able to see on the synthesizer. Her school also has a claymation studio which last year won the Nickelodeon Shorty Award, a school garden, and violin lessons.

Hallie had her first Choir Concert this week, and let me tell you it was adorable. They sang 3 songs, Peel Banana (which is what the kids are doing in the picture below), The Wheels On The Bus with orginal verses such as the Daddy's on the bus say: Keep That Baby Quiet (ha ha), and The People on the Bus Say: Give that Baby some candy (ha. ha, again) It was adorable and Hallie sang at the top of her lungs!

After the concert we broke our goal of not visiting McDonalds until the new year

(we lasted one week!) and celebrated with some ice cream.

Camping Trip

A few weeks ago we headed out with our friends the Haws on our first real family camping trip. It WAS SO FUN!! Don't get me wrong I miss have a snuggly baby around but as our kids get older things like camping trips only get more fun.

It was Columbus day weekend and so in an effort to ditch the crowds in the Shenanadoahs we drove 3 hours to West Virginia. The roads to the campsite wound around little hills (mountains for all you east coasters) which was breathtaking for its beauty and its ability to make my stomach turn inside out!

We had no idea what to expect ,but when we got there we found this quiet amazing campsite. The whole campsite is surrounded by a beautiful river. It was warm enough that the kids were able to wade around in it, and shallow enough that i didn't really need to pay attention. In the summer the water levels are a little higher and you can float around the river over and over and over again and hop off at your campsite when you are done. Sounds heavenly!

I bought some watercolors so that the girls could paint rocks, but they ended up painting the trees, firewood, and water tap. Needless to say by the end of the trip we had a lovely campsite.