This Winter

We had a few visitors and had fun showing them around town.

This is the cute college town that we live by. The yellow building in the back is a little hotel.

There is a grocery store, restaurants, shops, and library along the tracks. When the train comes through it's super loud (obviously), and while Gabbi loves to watch it we usually have to duck into a shop because it's a little scary.

This is the Hanover tavern. It's is still an operating restaurant/tavern but it dates back to the revolutionary war, and also operated during the civil war. It's packed full of history and is so much fun to check out.

Across the street is Hanover's courthouse and (old) jail. The kids looking sad and pretending to be locked up.

Brian's mom took the next two pictures.

It finally snowed here, but the first snow left a bit to be desired.

The next one was much better.

Gabbi wasn't happy about the snow in this one.

Speaking of unhappy faces, this is the face Gabbi makes when she's in trouble.

I believe she gets it from this guy.

Merry Christmas!

Someone lost her first tooth this Christmas Eve!

Although we are missing our family and friends, we had a very lovely, laid back Christmas this year. Wishing everyone a very happy holiday!

Santa Came to Town

Santa came to our neighborhood tonight on a firetruck! Apparently in VA this is a common practice, and it was really cute. The kids loved it, and it was a fun way to hang out with neighbors for a bit. The only problem was we forgot it was scheduled for tonight, so the kids were all tucked in and we had to drag them out in their jammies.

Poor Bella is so sick. She hasn't been to school since Friday the 2nd. She's got a yucky fever that won't go away. She's been gone so long that her class sent her a get well card:( We are praying for the fever to break soon. She didn't even last outside long enough to see Santa, she said she was tired and didn't care.

Tonight I discovered chocolate hand prints on the stairs, that led to this in the kitchen.

It didn't take me long to locate the perpetrator. She was so covered in chocolate that she had to go straight to the tub.

Santa has added her to the naughty list.

Happy Halloween!

From a princess bride, a minnie mouse who wouldn't wear her ears, and a pirate.

Arrrrrr.

Many houses left candy on the porch so they could trick or treat with their kids, Gabbi had trouble with just taking one. And then not eating it immediately.

We went to the pumpkin patch a couple weekends ago. It was $20 all you can carry, but you had to be able to take 5 steps with your loot. Brian made us proud.

Our littlest punkin:)

Closed!

We are official Virginians, not to be confused with virgins, because Virginia is for lovers:) As of yesterday we no longer own a home, yay! But, I cried, because I loved our house, our life in St. Charles, and I miss my friends and family. We are so not miserable here, just haven't made all the important connections yet. God was very gracious to us, as we received a contract and were able to put down a contract on a house here in time for the kids to start school in the correct district. And, I love love love the new house. It has everything we hoped it would, and we can't wait to get into it. The area that it is in is so charming, lots of gorgeous farms, nursery's, etc, but still has a target and Starbucks down the road. It reminds me a bit of the Defiance area, near the old house.

So, we've been bussing them back and forth, which is not so bad, except for my precious little Gabbi who is so, so, so fussy, in a very cute two-year-old kind of way. She has taken to yelling or saying Mommy (as in MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY, etc) the entire way back and forth to school, so I've decided to bring our trusty friend Elmo in video form for the ride. We've had a bit of drama with the type of loan we chose, but we've switched, lowered rates, and are back on track. Life's a bit crazy, and now it seems we might have the stomach flu, but we will survive. I'm glad Brian and I go way back, as it's not always easy to nurture the relationship, but there is so much trust and mutual love and we know it's just a season, and normalcy will return.

In the meantime, Gabbi turned 2!

Bella was in Aunt Brittany's wedding!

Everytime I turn my back this stinker is up to something (like creating murals on the walls). Hoping we get our deposit back.

Hmmm, what can I destroy next?

The kids started school! It's pitch black in our courtyard because school starts at the crack of dawn.

This is our soon to be new home! Credit for the photo goes to the listing agent.

Beach Time!

We made it to the beach today, and words cannot describe how fun it was to be able to drive to the ocean from our house. We went to Yorktown, which was just a little over an hour from our townhouse. It was the cutest little town and beach, and we all had a blast. It was Bella and Gabbi's first time to the ocean, but they adapted quickly.

I guess I could learn to like it here.