Erik's Hurt Foot

Erik hurt his foot and Raquel decided to play nurse and wrap up his foot like a cast.  He enjoyed being babied and watching a movie.

s 

Hide & Seek

I heard Erik yelling for me but I couldn't find him. He was hiding out in the ottoman.  Silly Boy! When Marcus came home from school he wanted to join in the fun.

Rebounderz

The girls were invited to a birthday party at Rebounderz, a big indoor trampoline place.  The girls and I had lots of fun jumping and trying to do tricks into the foam pit. We will have to come back with the boys and have family fun.

Train Show

The whole family had fun at the train show that came to Hampton.  The boys were so excited to see all the trains and even get to play with a few.  Lots of fun things to look at and buy. A fun afternoon for the family!

Kissing Monster

Erik is our very affectionate kid. He loves to hug, kiss and blow raspberries on everyone.  He even kiss a guys arm on the plane when we were coming back from Arizona.  Here is a little video of our kissing monster.

Company

Our good friends the Brian/Folkarts came to visit us here in Yorktown.  The weather was a little rainy but we enjoyed walking on the beach, good food and good company. We also checked out the outside airplane musuem. It was really wet but the boys had lots of fun in the big puddles.

Christmas 2014

Christmas this year was spent both in Arizona and back home in Virginia.  The kids and I had fun spending time with my family. We ate our family Christmas dinner a few days early and opened presents and the kids put on a nativity play.  On Christmas day we flew back home to be with Mike and open more presents. Our friend Matt came and ate and played the rest of the day with us.

This year everyone got kindles as their main present which were a big hit.

Marcus was sad and told his teacher that Santa didn't come to his house this year. Which I guess was true because St. Nick came earlier in the month and we were traveling.

Natalya as a wiseman and Raquel as Mary

Checking out the lemon tree at Grandpa & Grandmas

Happy in Arizona

At the airport heading home

Butterfly Wonderland

The kids and I headed to Arizona to spend a few weeks with my family.  While we were there we got a special visit from Mike's family.  We spent a day playing with both grandparents at the Butterfly Wonderland exhibit in Phoenix. Aunt Ali and Aunt Natalie along with their kids came along for the fun. It was neat learning about and seeing lots of different butterflies from all over the world.  It was cool being in a room with hundreds of butterflies and having them landing on us. Unfortunately Erik got his enjoyment from stomping on a few that were on the ground.

Heading to Arizona

Ready for take off

Butterfly Wonderland

Natalya & cousin Lexi

Cousin Anna & Raquel

Marcus & Natalya

Newest Cousin Jason and Aunt Natalie

Grandpa Kennedy & Natalya
with a butterfly that stuck to grandpa the whole time he was there.

Erik & Natalya enjoying the nice humid weather in the butterfly garden

Natalya & her butterfly

Raquel & her butterfly

Erik enjoying a butterfly on his shirt

Having a snack with cousin Evan

2 Crazy 2 year olds

Kennedy Cousins

Gingerbread house

The boys and I helped Natalya make a gingerbread house at school.  She listened to her teacher and didn't eat a single piece of candy putting it all on her house.  She was creative with her candy and had lots of fun.

St. Nick

St. Nicholas visited our house on Dec. 6th. Our new German friends let him know to stop at our house. The kids were excited to wake up to find yummy German chocolate, candies, oranges and nuts in their shoes.

It didn't take long for the boys to devour their basket of treats, giving themselves a sweet breakfast.

I think its the start of a fun new Christmas tradition.

 

Carolyn's visit

My cousin Carolyn came for a quick after Thanksgiving visit. She took the train down from D.C and the kids and I picked her up at the station. They thought it was pretty neat to see the train come into the station and see so close.  Carolyn's wish was to walk along the beach so we took her to Ft. Monroe beach where she could see the water and explore the fort.  We ate yummy fish for lunch at a little place right on the water, so hopefully Carolyn got her fill of the sea.  The kids really enjoyed having her come visit, the girls even had to wear their boots just like Carolyn did.  We were sad to see her go back but hopefully she will visit again soon.  

Thanksgiving Feast

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast and Fall Festival

The kindergarten classes had a combined feast where they try food that they may have served at the first Thanksgiving.  The boys and I helped set up and plate food for Natalya then dashed over to Raquel's class to help set-up for her class fall festival.  Then we made it back to hear Natalya and the other kindergarten classes sing a few songs.  After their performance we went back to Raquel's class and helped make Oreo Turkeys until Erik threw-up on the classroom floor.  We made a quick exit and headed home. Besides having to be in two places at once it was nice being able to spend a little time with each of the girls and their celebrations.

Rock Climbing Party

Natalya had a rock climbing birthday party this year.  We rented the climbing wall at our local YMCA and the kids had lots of fun. She invited friends from swim team, school and our neighborhood.  I think it was the easiest party we have had in a long time.  The only trouble was with the tall cake that didn't want to stay up. I ended up having to run out and find something to make as a better base to hold the cake. It all worked out and Natalya had a great cake and a great time at her party.