Atlanta Visit

A few months ago, Al found out that his company would be holding a Managers Meeting in Atlanta- and spouses were invited, all costs covered!! I was SO excited!! The Grandparents graciously came down and watched the kiddos- so Al and I headed off for 4 full days of fun (for me) and meetings (for him)!

Thur night there was a large cocktail hour and an intro meeting. It was all totally impressive! Friday morning, I headed off on the Marta to meet a family that I have been tutoring for the last 3 years but had never met face-to-face. After meeting at the hotel, we rode Marta to The Varsity, an fantastic place to eat (but totally horrible for you). Then we headed to World of Coke- yum!

Here we are waiting to start our Coke tour.

Cool display of all the various products that Coke makes- impressive!

Hilarious old sign- 16oz is to serve 3??

The best part of the tour- the Tasting Room! This was by far the nastiest product- and it was a shame since it was from Italy...

This is Coke's new thing- a touch screen so you can customize your soda- I had a Vanilla and Orange Coke that tasted just like an orangecicle- yumm

I was able to do some traditional sight-seeing, too- The Fox Theater!!

Classic Atlanta!

On Saturday I met a childhood friend at the Varsity, again, yummo! From there, we checked out a HUGE Thrift Store- but I didn't get any pictures of that....

The view of Atl from Centennial Park

On Sunday, a handful of Managers went with the Owner to tour the aquarium. It was a neat experience- but extra special since the company Al works for- they did all the carpet installation in it!

Some of the managers checking out the touch-tank

This octopus was all over the place!

Doug Romanoff (owner of company) pointing to the tile to honor their work on the Aquarium. Doug was amazing, humble and totally down to earth- what a great man!

Walking under a shark who has other fish "riding" under him!

More managers- Rick (Doug's brother), Donnie, Al, Hutch, and Sherman- all great men!

It was an amazing time- what a great company Al works for- and I had a great time visiting old friends and making new ones. We are so blessed to be a part of this amazing company!!

Random Cuteness

Here are some random cute pictures...

All dressed up in cuteness from their Grandparents- Alden outfit from PopPop Old and MarMar Young, Addie in an outfit from MarMar and PopPop...

Addie and her first ever book report!! She did a GREAT job on the book Madeline- and I even got to see her present it- yay!!

Playing and looking' cute! He LOVES car carriers...

Growing Up

Addie is growing up quickly, way too quickly!! Here are a few examples of how big she is getting....

1. Her size 3T pants are all too short- she needs size 5 shirts and 4 pants!! She has never needed clothes so close to her actual age before!!

2. In her class at school, they started spelling words- and she aced her first "test"- she can proudly spell "at", "the" and "or" both verbally and in writing!!

3. She spells words ALL the time- my all-time favorite was as we were driving down the road and she asks us what h-o-o-t-e-r-s spelled..... We told her and that it is a restaurant.... She is even starting to put words together and is beginning to read!!

4. Math is one of her favorite topics- she was given an addition and subtraction dry erase book for Christmas. The other morning, and all on her own, she came to me to show me that she had done 5 addition problems and 5 subtractions problems, all correctly!!

5. Every morning, she comes downstairs fully dressed- her room is immaculate (which makes her neat-freak Mom super proud!!), & her bed neatly made!! She still needs a bit of help fixing her hair, but that is it!!

6. She brushes her hair and teeth all by herself without me having to tell or help her at all.

7. She memorizes her Bible verses for Sunday School on the drive home from church- and will repeat them all week long!! She also loves singing the praise and worship songs from the CD we listen to in the car going to and from school- and she just lights up when we sing them in church!!

It just amazes me- she is growing up so quickly.... She continues to be a blessing- we could not be any prouder of her and all her various accomplishments!

New Years Eve!!

In the past, we have gone to Myrtle Beach, but since both our families had been traveling during the holidays, we decided to stay home and have a low-key New Years Eve. It turns out it was a good thing as Addie, who had been fine all day, woke-up from her nap out of sorts and by the time the W's arrived, was running a fever. She spent the "party" in our room, watching TV. By bedtime, her fever was super high, so on the Pediatrician's recommendation, Al took her to an Urgent Care doctor. She came home an hour later with medication with the diagnosis of double ear infections and severe congestion. All this to say, we are very thankful that we were home this NYE!

Hannah and Alden enjoying the HUGE spread of yummy appetizers!!

The cutest Baby New Year ever!!

The W's happy to ring in 2011!!

A rare picture of us- Happy to see another year!!

Over The River...

My Mom got remarried this fall to a guy named Jim who lives in Nashville, TN. Since it's only a 10 hour drive, we decided to go and visit for a bit over Christmas Break.

We started our trip early- leaving the house at 6am- but before we officially hit the road, we got the most important thing- Dunkin Donuts!!

So happy to have a pink donut!

10 hours is a loooong time and getting up at 6am caught up to both kids- they took great naps in the car!! I love his sunglasses on!!

She was out cold....

Once at Gramma Jenny's new house we headed to the neighborhood playground to work out some wiggles.

They have a great playground and what do they want to play with?? The mulch. Here Alden is building his "castle." Poor kid- he needs to go to the beach more!!

Addie showing off her castle- there is a small leaf in the center that she was quite proud of!

Walking back home.

PRESENTS!!

After baths, the kids pulled out some games and had everyone busy playing! Here Addie is instructing the Grandparents how to play Hello Kitty Letter Bingo. They caught on rather quickly....

And of course, the iPhones came out to provide some more entertainment....

Alden plopped into my lap and wanted a picture of us- so here ya go!

Then he took the camera and took a few other pics- here is one of my Mom.

The next day, we got a tour of Nashville- neither Al nor I had ever been there. This is Dolly Parton's home.

This HUGE horse farm/equestrian field is owned by founder of Dollar General.

In the center of town is a perfect replica of Parthenon- it was cold and raining or else we would have explored it more.

Outside of the Parthenon is this HUGE train. Alden saw it and about had a heart attack- so we stopped so he could explore it.

Yes, he got what he wanted- exploring the train- and in exploring it, he chipped his front tooth- that is why he is crying, poor kid. At least it's a baby tooth and he now looks really tough.

Downtown Nashville- notice the Batman Building??

The Opryland Hotel just reopened after totally revamping the entire hotel due to the flooding this summer. It was amazing!! Yes, it was so huge you needed this map to find your way around!!

Addie liked being on the 2nd level- so she could see below her.

Of course, there were some pretty sweet rocks- so they climbed them!! Addie wanted to wear her guitar shirt- since we were going to be in Country Music's capital. Totally unbeknownst to us, the Tennessee Titans would be playing in a Bowl game in Nashville, the following day. People all over were wearing orange- and we even saw some of the Tennessee football players as they were wandering around the hotel, taking in the sights, just like us.

Checking out 1 of the many fountains.

Watching a "show"- fountains set to music.

By the end of the day, they were toast!!

We had a great visit!!

Christmas in New York

Al had to work December 23rd but once he was home, we packed up the car and headed to New York! The kids did great sleeping in the car and then falling right back to sleep once we arrived at MarMar and PopPop's- and they even slept in the following morning!!

All dressed up and waiting for Nate to arrive!

Feeding the reindeer- a highlight and tradition every year!

Checking out the nativity- Addie was very concerned that Baby Jesus did not have a cozy bed or blanket...

Nate arrived- aren't they adorable!!

They love their Nonnie!!

In true Italian style- this is just the appetizers!! There were actually 2 more dishes that were put on the table after this picture, but I was too busy eating to take another picture!! And there were 3 more courses to follow!!

Happy cousins!! They were all SO good ALL day- the fact that Santa was about to come may have had a LOT to do with it....

GIFT TIME!! Before....

After- they had a blast ripping open the gifts!!

Buzz and Woody were huge hits with the boys- they played with these 2 toys the rest of the evening. It was really cute that they both asked for their names be put on the foot of their toy so it would know it belonged to him.

Addie got accessories for her new American Girl Doll- and she loved changing her clothes, putting things in her new diaper bag- what a great Mommy she will be someday!!

Daddy helped Alden play with his Gator Golf.

Christmas Morning- they actually slept in until 8am- I'm sure that is the only time that will ever happen.... They were SO excited to see that "Santa" had arrived!! They even reported that they heard Santa on the roof during the night, but because they wanted him to leave gifts, they went back to sleep. How cute is that??

Addie's Big Gift....

A custom wardrobe for Rosie-Kyla that PopPop made!! How cool!! Being my daughter, she promptly began hanging out the clothes and putting toys and accessories in the little bins!

Alden all Christmas asked for 1 gift- a Big Shoot Gun. As he opened gifts at home and on Christmas Eve, you could tell he was looking for that 1 gift. After he was done opening gifts, he would survey what he got and then decide he liked what he got and start playing- but you could tell he was totally looking for his Big Shoot Gun. On Christmas morning, the look on his face when he saw this package was worth a million bucks- he was SO happy!!

"Whoa! It's a BIIIIG Shoot Gun, Mommy!!!"

Time for stockings!!

Ready to check hers out!

It was a great day- low-key- and it actually had to end early. We were planning on leaving Sunday morning, but the forecast was for another huge snowstorm to hit the East Coast starting Saturday night- Richmond expected to get 5" and Long Island over 12". And it's a good thing, too- we didn't hit snow until 1 hr north of Richmond and came home to 2" of snow with more falling and Long Island got over a foot the next day!!