Disney World part 1

We took the kids on a awesome trip to Disney World for (early) Christmas this year!  It was such a fantastic trip! The kids were all such great ages to enjoy the Magic of Disney and it was so great to see that magic as a parent! There was definitely something for everyone. And, as it turns out, AJ and Tessa are quite the thrill seekers. They loved riding the roller coasters, Nathan not so much (Everest sacred him and he wouldn't ride anymore after that). Tessa loved getting her autograph book signed by all the princesses we saw and the boys were captivated by all things Star Wars. We did the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas one night and had the best time! We got to ride a lot of rides and got free hot chocolate, cookies and chocolates, it was worth every penny.
We got to Disney around 4, so we spent that first day at Animal Kingdom. The second day we went to Epcot

Festival of Lights

 We went to see the Festival of Lights at the Washington DC temple for Family Home Evening, it was cold but worth it! So many lights on so many trees! It was beautiful!

Day of service

Today was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints annual Day of Service, and the first day to kick off the Light the World campaign. Our family decided to make bags of snacks, hygiene items and jackets to hand out to the homeless. Our friends, the Jensen's decided to join us on our adventure. We headed to downtown Bethesda, we were able to hand out a few of our bags and the we walked to a food pantry and gave some of the items out there. While we were out, we took the opportunity to talk to the kids about how fortunate we are and how we need to help others that are less fortunate. It was such a great way to kick off the Light the World campaign. Hopefully we can help light the world around us this Christmas season.

Double digits!!!

I can't believe it!! Nathan has hit DOUBLE DIGITS!  10 years old!! This little boy is growing up so quickly, he isn't so little anymore! Wow! Nathan is such a great kid! He is smart, friendly, and sweet. Nathan invited some friends from school over to celebrate his milestone birthday with him. We are so lucky that so many of the kids friends live so close to us! John Fitzmaurice, Sebastian Fries, George Henry Hussey, Michael Collins, and Dario __, all came over for an EPIC Nerf battle! The boys had a great time running around shooting each other all night.

Thanksgiving-friendsgiving

Our Thanksgiving this year turned into a friendsgiving. We invited all of the other LDS USU families, we had a full house and a great feast! David decided that this year he was going to smoke the turkey! It was SO good! But it almost wasn't so; We had a grease fire that gave the turkey some color, but, David saved the day, and the turkey! So, we let him get a nap.

A new Tiger in the house!

We have a new Tiger in the house! AJ has decided he wanted to join cub scouts, just like Nathan did in first grade. AJ is a tiger in pack 460, a Kensington Parkwood pack. His tiger den has 12 little tigers in it, and 3 of them are in AJ's class at school. Anderson is so proud to be a scout! Tonight was his first pack meeting. Isn't he cute!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! This year we had Captain Phasma, the Dark Knight, and Vamperina. All 3 kids got to participate in the Halloween parade at KPES.

Last year, we had so many trick-or-treaters, this year we bought double the candy, and I sent David out with the boys to collect candy (Tessa went with our neighbors across the street). I put a lawn chair outside and sat waiting. I waited and waited, we hardly had any kids come by. I guess word got out, that a few streets over, some houses were handing out full size candy bars.. All the kids had a great Halloween. They saw lots of friends from school, and came home with lots of candy!
I would like to note that the boys originally decided that this year they would like to go together as the Marx brothers. Nate waas going to be Groucho, AJ wanted to be Harpo and David was going to go as Chicco. Unfortunately, it was too hard to find any little kid costumes for the Marx brothers. Who knows, maybe you will see it in a future post, but we couldn't make it work this year.