2016 Begins with Lots of Snow & Lots of Love!

I began this post while waiting for recital programs to finish printing, and figured why not work on getting caught up with these blog posts! :)  Then of course, things got hectic again so here I am over two weeks after the recital still trying to get this posted...  The recent "benefit recital" was all-consuming and I look forward to posting about it once I'm up to date.  But for now, it's time to back track to the beginning of the year with lots of pictures from January and February (and even a few from December!)

Starting with a sweet New Year's Eve wedding celebration!  We were so excited to make it to Hannah (my cousin Bill's daughter) & Andrew's wedding down in Fredericksburg, VA and loved seeing family on my dad's side that we hadn't seen in years!  It was a super sweet wedding, complete with silly photo booth pics, and special dances.

With the beautiful, blushing bride and groom

Sweet daddy/daughter dance :)

Awesome date night!

 Silly pics of us:
http://megapump.com/client/fortunephotobooth/uploads/tabletphotobooth/strips/151231_050629.jpg

Silly pics of us with my folks:
http://megapump.com/client/fortunephotobooth/uploads/tabletphotobooth/strips/151231_065905.jpg

We finished up some holiday "to-do" items that first weekend of January by visiting the National Zoo's "Zoo Lights!"

Maelee loved all the animals, and the carousel, of course!

Lilee LOVED the dessert cat!

The second weekend of January,  Steve and I traveled down to Virginia Beach to attend an intensive two day training for the Foster to Adopt program we have applied for.  The girls were able to stay with Nana & Pop-Pop and, as always, loved their time with them.  Our weekend was incredibly informative, overwhelming, and encouraging all at once.  We are in the slow process of completing the larger application and the home study won't begin until that is completed.  It is an exciting journey that we are prayerfully on!!!

Enjoying the built in "date night" during our VA Beach trip!

Lilee enjoyed her day with Nana, taking in the story time at the book store down the block, 

and some indoor horsey play!

Yummy Saturday morning breakfast out :)

The crazy snowstorms toward the end of January interrupted our "life as usual," and we did lots of celebrations for Lilee's 2nd birthday, which will be featured in another post. 

Maelee was thrilled to get to read to "Star"
at the library Paws-to-Read program!

Finger painting fun with Chloe!

And then there was snow! A good week and a half of school was canceled and we did a lot of indoor play with our neighbors, and sledding in our neighborhood!  We were very grateful we live where we do!

The morning after the first big hit!

It was a little too wet and gusty for Lilee to enjoy much sledding...

but Maelee sure LOVED it!

my little "sand person" :)

Happiest to just sit and lay down in it!

I had fun!

Our neighborhood crew, on top of the massive snow mound in our parking lot that made for awesome sledding!

When you have two girls, you make a snowLADY!

More fun sledding a few minutes away once the roads cleared enough to get to it!

January was a weird month in some ways, but along with a lot of snow, we had lots of sweet and fun moments!  

Slideshow of more from Jan:

February was filled with a bit more snow, but lots of love! Highlights include a special lunch date with one of my best pals, Cindy, and her two kiddos, TJ & Alli;  a fun Super Bowl party at our place with Nana & Pop-Pop AND Mandy & precious Holland (!!!); a short but sweet trip to DE over Valentine's weekend; big times at Maelee's school; and lots of other fun times, including an adventure with a red snapper!

So happy to see one of my most favorite people and her awesome kiddos!




What super bowl party would be complete without a puppet show? :)

Sweet girls!


Lilee sporting one of our favorite gifts from Uncle Dan- a sweatshirt he got for Maelee from Japan- and covering it in stickers while waiting for Maelee's Paws-to-Read to finish.

We loved seeing Too-daddy and Too-Mom the 2nd weekend of February, and the girls LOVED their sweet stuffed animal gifts when we first got in...

Then they were thrilled to play "mommies" with their new baby dolls from Nana & Pop-Pop!

Fun times with more of our favorite people!

Maelee insisted we take a selfie when we got home from our trip :)

Valentine's Day!

More snow fun!

Maelee's first school dance- a sock hop!

My beautiful girl- inside & out!

My other little beauty- wheee!

Fun times at pal Chloe's birthday party!

 100th day of school!

 Such happy faces!
Enjoying breakfast with Pop-Pop while Nana was away for her chorus group's retreat!

Totally enthralled by the red snapper on the dinner menu!
Until Steve started throwing away the parts we weren't eating, then poor Maelee got upset that we weren't keeping it... sigh.


Slideshow from Feb:

This year is already flying by too fast and I'm still in catch up mode... The girls are growing up too fast, and I can't keep up! Lilee has started talking up a storm, and with her high pitched, sweet little voice, it is absolutely adorable! And Maelee is reading up a storm! She is doing great in school and we are seeing her little heart grow in maturity and kindness, so we are grateful for that!!!

Now here's hoping I can get caught up with these posts before spring ends! :)