Ella and Sydney kicked off Fall by heading to Kindergarten. The year of COVID-19 carried on. We continued to hang out at home. Daniel went into the office some, but for the most part we were at home working. Our exposure to the outside world was sending the girls off to in-person school, and occasionally seeing family. Virginia Tech played some football, but there were hardly any fans. All around, it was such a weird time.
We needed a joint rest time in Momma's bed
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| 'Smores in fancy skirts |
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| Sydney made Ella a seat and taped her mouth shut !? |
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| ....they dress themselves :) |
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| E&S have started to wash their own dishes. One evening I heard lots of giggling and turned the corner to find this sweet sight |
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| Every night I go and check on the girls before I head to bed. They're usually in some sort of cute position, but tonight I had to laugh at Ella and how she hung up her mermaid Unicorn |
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| Spooky room for Halloween - we decorated their doll houses |
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| a five year old doing VR is really hilarious |
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| We had a girls-only night and went to Waffle House in our PJs. Ella told the server she wanted to work at Waffle House when she was bigger and that the food was the best she's ever had |
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| just two sweet girls hanging out in laundry baskets watching a scary movie |
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| We celebrated Blakely turning 3! |
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| They dressed SO cute in their school dresses, complete with cardigans and glasses for Ella |
Nerf gun fights in the culdesac :)
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| back porch football game night with our favorite neighbor |
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| sweet Syd snuggled up with Kim |
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| Ella and Sydney decided to have a hot chocolate stand! Daniel built a stand using his old Pipeworks... the same as when he was a kid |
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| they did SO GOOD! despite the rain, we had lots of family and friends come by and support. |
...and we hung out with Elsa at a school friend's birthday party
complete with a fancy tea party
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| we sorted their hot chocolate stand money into three envelopes - to save, to spend, to support a Christmas angel |
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| Ella had a hurt middle finger, and I'm a totally mature grown up :) |
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| Same, Syd. |
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| getting ready to head out and celebrate our 11th anniversary, peep that beautiful porch in progress |
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| Cheers to 11 years! |
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| Even though they didn't get to ride a yellow school bus this year, they are still in Kindergarten and we are here for ALL the themed outfits! |
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| finally spending some time with Evelyn and Amelia! |
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| just a little batty |
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| all the Halloween things! |
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| dressed up as kitties for school |
Pumpkin Carving time! We entered a friend's contest and did Olaf (and won!)
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| Another Kindergarten dress-up day... a witch and a fairy unicorn |
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| Anna and Elsa with their Olaf pumpkin |
And finally, after a month of excitement, Halloween came! Ella and Sydney decided on Maleficent and Aurora/Sleeping Beauty. Not surprisingly, Ella wanted to be Maleficent.
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| Outfits are all ready for the big night |
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| they are so perfect |
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| Once we got all ready and took some pictures, we pregamed with the Maleficent movies |
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| Grandma came by for a quick peek of their costumes |
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| Ella wanted to take a few pics, hilarious. |
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| sweet Halloween sisters getting loaded up with candy.... and a cool full moon that night, too. |
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| my favorite tradition - Christmas ornament of their Halloween costumes |
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| I was working before it was time for school, and these two wanted to hang out with me |
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| Follow your dreams beautiful girls |
...and for the election of 2020, Kamala Harris made history by becoming the first [black] female to be a VP.
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| just a quick eye check-up |
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| Fall weekends and a fancy charcuterie board. I also like to call this "eat when you want, I don't care" |
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| Jeff took them for a quick spin in his fancy new car! |
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| Ella practicing her numbers |
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| .....Sydney's turn |
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| getting ready for a Hokie Football game day |
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| loving Kim & Jeff's new hot tub |
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| when it gets dark at 5pm, you have to add lights to your bike! |
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| playing restaurant |
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| ....because all server's need sunglasses :) |
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| R2D2 and BB8 |
Celebrating Thanksgiving with our two little turkeys!
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| my absolute favorite smell for the holiday season! |
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| we went to Michael's to get supplies to decorate their playroom... we strung our own pom pom garland |
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| we let Daddy sleep one weekend morning and snuck out for some donuts |
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| it's time to pick out our Christmas tree! |
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| .... and of course we snagged the tree named "Sydney"! |
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| I can't get enough of these two sweet ladies |
Because of COVID, we tried our best to do our part to keep ourselves, our families, and our community safe. We decided it would be best not to go visit Santa, and instead, Mrs. Clause helped us with a special photoshop surprise.
...and we were able to find some more fun photoshop gifts for grandparents!
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| a friend of mine at work, Abu, was up for an award... so we dressed up and supported him! and he won! |
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| two elves in front of their own gingerbread playroom all ready to go to Nana and Papa's for the annual gingerbread house decorating day |
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| And Sydney had "Sydney-Lou-Hoo" hair |
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| ....and grown up elves joined in on the fun, too |
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| cousins! |
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| all the elves |
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| we grabbed to-go hot chocolate, grown-up-coffee, and our neighbors and went for a Christmas light walk |
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| we got a little bit of snow! |
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| They made me a birthday breakfast complete with water in a coffee mug, cereal, and a fancy chair |
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| ...snuck out to get Mexican for lunch with my cute guy |
and had hibachi for dinner!
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| dancing while we wait for our seat |
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| Grandma Georgia rented out a movie theater so we could all get together and watch The Grinch. It went a lot like this picture... :) |
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| Sydney and Blakely |
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| more Christmas lights |
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| Dear Santa, My Sister Did It |
Since we were 9 months into a pandemic, I decided to learn a new hobby - quilling! It's the art of rolled paper. It's really fun, and I was proud of what I learned and accomplished! My first thing was a quilled ballerina.
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| I made these little quilled cards for teacher gifts, aren't they cute!? |
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| my wrapping buddy |
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| Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa's |
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| 'Twas the Night Before Christmas |
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| Santa came! |
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| They loved their scavenger hunt to the trampoline the year before, so Santa had to do another one, leading them to a fish tank with fake fish in the bathroom |
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| Santa even brought a nugget! |
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| Christmas with the Sinks |
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| They think Mrs. Clause sent those capes |
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trying out our new roller skates
(as of January 2022, they still don't have the hang of it...) |
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| tangrams on our new Osmo game |
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| Ella was getting all dolled up to celebrate New Years! |
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| we had appetizers for dinner and did a countdown at 8pm with ginger ale! |
....and that's a wrap for 2020. The big question on everyone's mind - would 2021 bring it good vibes? No more COVID?
And you can see, I'm posting this in January of 2022, so I can say absolutely not. 2021 was still a rough year. Hell, I didn't even have it in me to update this blog I love so much. But, alas, we all did - and are still doing - the best we can.
