Ball Pit

Saturday, Lee, Olivia and I headed to our friend Rob and Alecia's house for a dinner party.  We hadn't seen them since Olivia was born, so it was a great opportunity for them to meet her and for her to meet their girls.  The highlight of the evening was the ball pit they had in their living room!  Olivia was scared at first, but then we couldn't get her out of it!

The kids had their own table and it was Olivia's first "picnic table" meal.  She was a great sport and enjoyed chicken nuggets and applesauce with the rest of the kids.  She loved it!  She's just getting so big!

After dinner and more play time, it was dessert time!  Olivia doesn't normally eat anything sweet besides fruit and animal crackers, but it was a night out, so a cupcake was to be had!

I think she liked it!  Daddy helped her a bit too!

It was great to catch up with friends and watch Olivia play with the older girls.  Can't wait to do it again soon!

Beer

If you remember, I got Lee a brewing starter kit for Christmas.  He began the brew process the week between Christmas and New Years and this past weekend, it was time to bottle!  This is quite a process!  Between saving bottles, removing the labels from the bottles, sanitizing the bottles, sanitizing all the equipment, and on and on and on.........

I snapped a few pictures of the bottling process.

I helped fill the bottles and then cap them.  We ended up with about two cases of an Imperial Brown Ale that we should be able to try in about a month!  Can't wait!

"Camping"

Maureen and Andy bought a vacation home.  Well, as I would like to call it, a camper!  They've been talking about it for a long time and they finally went through with it.  They invited the family out to Bull Run Regional Park for a tour of the "home" and some camping favorites.  I took a few pics of the place.

Pretty sweet huh?

Olivia played with Blake and Adam and appeared to have a great time!

We had a great time and can't wait to visit again!

New Years Eve

This year we had actual plans to go out for New Years Eve!  Lee was scheduled to shoot a running race in Fairfax at 6:00, so we dropped Olivia off with Grandma and Grandpa for the night and we headed to Fairfax for the race.  I snapped a few pictures of Brian and Lee getting things ready for the race.

The DJ was awesome!  Very motivating for the runners! 

I'd say the spotlights are working just fine 

Brian setting up the bubble machine!

After the race, Brian, Christine, Lee and I all went to a local place for dinner.  It wasn't crowded and we were able to enjoy an ok meal and good company before we headed to Arlington to ring in the new year with our friends Dharma and Andy.

We got to the George's house around 9:30 and met Andy's new Christmas present....his dual tap kegerator! We enjoyed some nice fresh beer while sitting outside around their fire pit.  It was a lovely evening because it wasn't too cold and the sky was very clear.  So, sitting outside was wonderful! Yes, we smelled like camp fire after we left, but it was worth it!  We listened to a mix of old classic music on somebody's phone using Pandora, we sang along, and we came inside to watch the ball drop.  I did manage to snap a few pictures outside, but they were all pretty smokey!

Lee sporting some smokey eyes 

Dharma sporting a Happy Birthday hat for their friend who was celebrating her birthday as well as the New Year! 

Andy toasting

Cheers everyone!  Here's to a wonderful 2012!!

Kitchen!

The kitchen Olivia got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa found a new home in our kitchen.  We bought an area rug and set it up so she could have a really nice play area in the kitchen.

Pay no attention to the fact her kitchen and table are set up right by our "bar" area.  She loves her new play area and has already spent countless hours making us pizza and all sorts of other goodies!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Christmas with Anne and Jim

The Wednesday after Christmas, mom's brother and sister, my godparents, Anne and Jim came up to visit and exchange Christmas gifts with all of us.  We had a great prime rib dinner and enjoyed opening gifts.  Olivia made out with a TON of new clothes from Anne and Jim and I walked away with some wonderful jewelry and some fabulous VT napkins and coasters!  Andrew did pretty well too, scoring some Bulldogs gear to help his school spirit out a bit....you know, because his step mother was voted Most Spirited senior year!  Just sayin!  But I digress.......I took a few pics with my fancy new camera!

Mom wearing the new sweater and scarf I got her!

Anne....apparently surprised I'm taking a pic!

Self portrait with Jim 

We had a great time and Olivia enjoyed hanging out with her Great Aunt Anne and Great Uncle Jim!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning we were awake before Olivia!  I know she has no clue what's really going on yet, so it's not like she was chompin' at the bit to get started!  It was probably 8:00 before we headed downstairs!

We didn't have a lot of gifts for Olivia to open because we gave her the table and chairs a few weeks ago.  But,  she did have a few packages to rip open.  She wasn't really sure what to do, so we had to help her along.....

Olivia got a 90 piece play food set from her Aunt and Uncle!  She didn't know she would be getting a kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa later in the day!  She had a blast just playing with all the little fruits and veggies!

After playing around and having a nice big breakfast, we headed over to my parent's house for more festivities!

As soon as we walked in, Olivia found her first gift!  A baby doll from Grandma and Grandpa!

She loves her new doll so much!  She feeds her, gives her a pacifier and carries her around.  She loves putting her "night night".  The doll even has her own stroller that transforms into a rocking horse!  Fun!  Grandma crocheted a beautiful blanket for the baby as well!

There was just so much going on and Olivia was so overwhelmed.  But, there were more gifts to be had!  Onward.....

THE KITCHEN!!

Adam wants in on the action too!

After a while, the kids were pretty spent and needed to head upstairs for a nap.  They both napped for a bit, but definitely not as long as they could have! The rest of the afternoon was spent just enjoying family presents!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!