The White House: December 2015

As normal this fall was busy as ever and it seems keeping up with the blog gets harder and harder. The fall months were filled with a very fun visit from Aunt Sue and Aunt Elly, trips to Virginia, Halloween parties, festivals, pumpkin patches and more! Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year, we normally travel for every holiday but due to a Y sponsored race the day after Thanksgiving we stayed in Easton. Derek's brother and finance came from DC and was nice to have a relaxing holiday at home and enjoyed cooking the traditional meal.

We all know Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year and it seems we start the season earlier and earlier each year. This year I convinced Derek to start our decorating as early as Nov. 14th and let me tell you decorating with a 1 and 3 year old is no easy task so glad we are getting our time worth! The best part about Easton is how festive it is around the holidays. Someone told me when we moved here Easton is like a hallmark movie at Christmas and that is so true. The community has so many cute festivals, events and little holiday things going on that we've tried to take full advantage of.

We were able to see Santa twice this year and the first time wasn't a hit. Gabe was terrified and screamed but the second time Ms. Clause was with Santa and she knew just how to calm Gabe. The kids got to spend about 5 minutes with Ms. Clause and Santa and it was such a magical moment. Madelyn has asked Santa for a pink princess bike this year. She has been very worried that Santa won't know we will be at Nana's house on Christmas morning so we made sure to write a letter to let him know.

As for updates on the kids:
Madelyn started ballet class this fall and it is by far her favorite thing she does. She is so happy when Monday rolls around and sees it is dance day on her calendar. She still loves school and at her fall conference they couldn't stop talking about how great she does in class. She is also still in swim lessons and is getting close to be able to swim on her own. She can write all her letters and tell the sounds of each letter so we've been working on sounding words out.

Gabriel, aka our crazy man, is talking up a storm. He is putting 3 words together to tell us things like "more pancake please" and is amazing us on the words he says. As of two weeks ago it seems he knows words for everything and shocks us everyday with a new word we didn't know he knew. He can count to three and name all his body parts. Our once boy who ate non-stop is starting to get picky. He doesn't hold back if he doesn't like something and shouts "yuck" to let all know he doesn't approve. As crazy as he is and always getting into things he shouldn't he is so hard to discipline because he knows how to work the charm in a heartbeat and make you smile. To say this boy has personality is an understatement.

Gabriel was baptized on September 20, 2015,
they were so kind to cooperate and take a good pic this day, lol!

Such a fun weekend with Aunt Sue and Aunt Elly!

The week was filled with shopping, pumpkin patches and great memories!

Madelyn's school field trip to the pumpkin patch

Halloween 2015 (a cowgirl and her trusty horse)

First haircut sitting in the chair by himself! He was so good, sat still but had tears! Didn't last long and was so happy to get his lollipop at the end!