12.20.11 (Tuesday pm) - T brought his sword to pick up F from school. The sword makes him very happy. 12.20.11 (Tuesday am) - P up all night again. Luckily, she slept through the morning, even with the sunlight streaming in.

12.19.11 (Monday) - Another unseasonably warm day, but winter is obviously closing in on us. The stomach flu kept P up all night. Monday seemed to stretch on forever. 12.17.11 (Saturday) - "Practice" Xmas with Dan's parents. The girls received new American Girl dolls as presents, so now they each have a historic doll and a "just like me" doll. F prefers the "just like me" doll, whereas P is the complete opposite, she loves to dress Nellie in fancy dresses and read about her life. 12.16.11 (Friday) - Picking F up from school, it's important to come prepared. You never know what will need fixing on the way.

12.15.11 (Thursday) - It rained throughout the day, but the showers stopped in the evening and the temps were in the 70s. So we walked around the neighborhood for awhile, glowsticks in hand. 12.14.11 (Wednesday) - An early release day at F's school, all three kids played "adventurer" in the backyard for hours after school. Regarding the former house, last Friday we hosted playgroup and the kids all dismantled our little tikes playhouse, their teamwork was pretty impressive. 12.13.11 (Tuesday pm) - F and T always come home from school both proud and excited about the art projects they made, whereas P often shows less excitement. "Elfee" is the exception, she's practically a family member. 12.13.11 (Tuesday am) - Every year the kids bring home some sort of homemade advent calendar from preschool. Often I lose track of them, but this year we've all been diligent about cotton-balling santa. There's something wonderful about watching his beard slowly fill.

12.11.11 (Sunday) - Wassail at Claude Moore Colonial Farms. The fruit trees are still too young to beat. Which is sad because T excels at tree beating. 12.10.11 (Saturday) - Santa Train in Walkersville for B's Birthday. Beautiful scenery and happy kids.

12.9.11 (Friday pm) - Ballerina P dancing around the house after I finished cleaning up from playgroup. We may be moving soon. I'm excited for more space, but I'm also going to miss our homey little house, especially the back room. Lots of memories here. 12.8.11 (Thursday pm) - Dance party on my bed. I didn't even notice T still had his shoes on until I edited the pics. 12.8.11 (Thursday am) - P made bunk beds out of couch cushions. Clever girl.

12.6.11 (Tuesday am) - Holding hands with the H family on the way to school. Not often do I meet someone who has kids the exact ages as mine (plus one). We're going to miss them when they move. Sad that DC is such a transient place. 12.5.11 (Monday pm) - Park with F's boyfriend after school. No jackets needed. Hard to believe Xmas is only 20 days away.

12.5.11 (Monday) - It's beginning to look a lot like . . . 12.4.11 (Sunday) - Christmas at Mt. Vernon. Poor camel.

12.3.11 (Saturday) - Our neighbor gave the kids an Elf on the Shelf (Elford) and they're all big believers. 12.2.11 (am again) (Friday) - P wanted me to take with her eyes closed. Funny how sometimes they dread the camera and sometimes they beg for the camera. I liked playing with the effect from the blinds. 12.2.11 (am) (Friday) - Frost.

12.1.11 (Thursday) - School starts at 9 am, I thought this meant that I had to have my child there by 9 am. Apparently I am wrong. Rather all the "cool" kids arrive by 8:40 so they can play outside for awhile. So as of today this is how we roll. And I'm lucky if I have time to change out of pajamas. 11.30.11 (Wednesday) - I didn't really feel like taking photos today. F's "boyfriend" came over after school, he was so nice and polite that future boyfriends now have quite a high standard to live up to.

11.29.11 (Tuesday) - Wish I would have taken more pictures, we had the girls' cousin staying with us for the last two days and they all seemed so happy together. 11.28.11 (Monday) - F loves to play this pushing game with her friends after school. Sort of odd but it makes them happy. T keeps beating the trees. 11.27.11 (Sunday) - Last of the season's photoshoots. Love this family.

11.26.11 (Saturday) - Delaware Agricultural Museum (Dover, DE). This place was amazing. So much to see.

11.25.11 (Friday) - Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge (Dover, DE) at dusk. Wow. I love mini-vacations. 11.24.11 (Thursday) - Thanksgiving at Jesse and Amie's house. So wonderful to watch the cousins all play together.