It's still snowing!

Here are some pictures from our romp in the snow on our balcony. It is 9 p.m. and still snowing- looks like we have gotten about 7 inches so far. Abby had fun playing in it and Adrianna didn't know what to think. She really liked her snowsuit- she kept clapping her hands and looked so snuggly. We had some yummy hot chocolate with holiday marshmallows when we came inside.

Fun in the sun?

As the snow flurries start to fall, Adrianna is thinking about lounging in the sun!

She has also started standing up in the middle of the floor so we think those first steps will happen soon!

Settled in

We are finally pretty settled here in Newport. We still have a couple of boxes left to unpack, but for the most part we are done. We even have our tree up and decorated! The place we are in is nice and the girls have a separate playroom which they really love. The only thing we have to get used to is baseboard heat, which we have never had before. I start Department Head school on January 5th, so we have a little time to sightsee before then. We are going to try to go to NYC to see the Christmas tree and also visit Santaland at Macy's. They also have a huge toys-r-us that we have to see! We also hear Boston has a great children's museum that is only about an hour from here. We are going to also try to get some snow tubing in and this weekend should really help because a big storm is headed our way.

As a way of welcoming us to New England we are supposed to get 6-12 inches of snow today and then some more on Sunday!! We have been keeping our eye out for hills because we have our sled ready- you know Abby loves to go sledding!! Stay tuned for some great snow pictures!

Change of plans

We had a little bit of a schedule change. The moving company could deliver our stuff on either Dec 12th or Dec 19th and we didn't really want to live in a hotel for another week so Quintin and the girls left early this morning and drove up to Newport. They made it around 4 this afternoon and I was so thankful because the weather is bad right now. I should get to leave tomorrow around noon, once my class lets out. It looks like the storm should move out of the area around 4 or 5 tomorrow, so I should only have to deal with the traffic especially through NYC! At least I am driving Quintin's truck so I won't have to fill up thanks to the 44 gallon tank!! Our next post will be from Newport, Rhode Island!!

Weekend Getaway

This past weekend we headed down to Williamsburg, VA to stay at Great Wolf Lodge. We booked the trip a while ago once we knew I would be here for this school because we knew we would need a little break from this small town. Auntie Tosha met us there and we had so much fun. Technology is great because now they have wristbands that also work as your room key, which is a great thing because you don't have to worry about holding on to your key while you are there. It is pretty cold out now so it was great to get to walk around in our swimsuits and flip-flops. It was also the first weekend that they were celebrating "Snowland" where Santa and Rudolph made an appearance. Abby couldn't wait to tell Santa what she wants for Christmas, but Adrianna didn't want to get too close, so I had to sit with her. They also have bedtime stories by the fireplace- that is why the girls were in their pajamas. Abigail got a wand the last time we were there and we were surprised it still worked. This time we added a game to it, so she was able to run all around the lodge finding special clues. The wand allows the kids to interact with things like paintings, treasure chests, lanterns, and even bear-skins hanging on the walls and when they point their wands at them they light up and talk adding clues to help them on their adventure. Abby had a great time with that!

We had our gorilla tripod and remote for our camera so we were able to take a lot of family pictures. The picture of Abby in the large wooden bear chair makes us feel old because she looks like such a big kid! The weekend went by so fast and it is back to small town life for us- at least only for the rest of the week.

Bundled up for bowling

This afternoon I got out of class a little early so we decided to walk down to the bowling alley on base and have a little fun. It is pretty cool out so we were glad that Adrianna could still fit in her bundle me because it keeps her nice and cozy.

We made it to Dahlgren, VA

We arrived this morning and are getting settled into the BOQ. It is pretty nice because we at least have a suite with a separate bedroom so it should be easier for the girls to settle down and get their rest. Hotel rooms always seem to create that slumber party atmosphere and it is sometimes hard to get them to go to sleep. We explored a little and there isn't much to do, but they do have a bowling alley, which is more than we had when we lived in Ingleside, so I am sure we can make it for two weeks. I finally have time to upload some pictures, so here a couple of our house all packed up and a cute one of the girls in their new coordinating pajamas courtesy of Ya-ya!

Now where did I put that shoe?

Quintin was getting Adrianna dressed and had everything on except one of her shoes. They both were there when I laid out her clothes so we all started looking -- under the bed, under and in between the sheets and blankets on the bed. That shoe was nowhere to be found....until he picked her up and we saw this!

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday and filling up on turkey and dressing. The movers loaded up all of our things yesterday. Our apartment looked so different empty. It brought back memories of when we walked through for the first time. I can't believe that we have been in Annapolis for almost two and a half years already. When we arrived we were a family of three and have now grown to four!! We have so much to be thankful for and look forward to the new adventures ahead!

Taking a break

The girls and I took a little break at Chuck E. Cheese's while Q kept the packers company.

Packing up!!

The packers just arrived and are busy packing up all of our stuff. I am so thankful that we don't have to do it ourselves- that would be overwhelming because you never know how much stuff you have until it's time to pack it all up and move. We always try to take advantage of the time to go through our things and donate old items so they don't keep following us around. I'll post some pictures of all the boxes later once they are done!

Push for help...

This morning I took Abigail to school because Adrianna had just fallen asleep and we didn't want to wake her up and take her out in the cold- (it was 27 this morning). She is doing well- she has been resting a lot and taking her medicine, so I am sure she will be over her pneumonia in no time!

When I got back to work I saw that the elevator in my building was working again, so I decided to take it up to my office, which is on the 3rd floor but really the 4th because we have a ground level. When I reached my floor the doors didn't open! I could tell that the motor was trying, but it wouldn't work. I pushed the "open door" button, as if that was going to make it work, but of course it didn't. I then pushed the "G" to go back down, because being stuck on the ground floor is much safer than the 4th- I'm no dummy!! The door still wouldn't open so I had a few choices:
1. I could yell and scream for help, but didn't think it was appropriate to panic when Midshipman might hear me!
2. I could push the alarm button, but I was worried it would sound an alarm throughout the whole building and that wasn't really necessary.
3. I decided my best option was probably this one- the little button that read, "Push for Help".

So I did exactly that and the dispatch lady answered and said she would send someone right away. A few minutes later some firefighters were banging on the door asking if I had any medical conditions or if I was claustrophobic. Luckily I could answer no to both of those and they started work to get me out. About 25-30 minutes after it all started I was finally free!! Of course by that point it was class passage time so the hallway was filled with curious Midshipman watching me escape to safety!!

Needless to say I will be taking the stairs for the remainder of my last week at work!

Does this qualify as torture?

We made a doctor's appointment for Adrianna this morning because she has had a cough for about 2 1/2 weeks now. We took her in a little after it started because it sounded pretty bad, but her doctor just said to watch it and bring her back if she had a fever or it lasted more than 2 weeks, which it has. Quintin said when her doctor heard her cough he wanted to do a chest x-ray to check it out. He didn't call me until after the x-ray because he didn't want me to worry. He took this picture of the technician setting her up in the x-ray machine and seeing her in that makes me so sad! It looks like some sort of medieval torture device, doesn't it? I guess it is the only way to keep them still enough to get a good picture of their chest, but it still makes parents feel helpless.

Her pediatrician said she has a mild case of pneumonia and put her on antibiotics for 10 days. We were a little shocked because other than her cough she has been her normal self- still getting into everything! We have to take her back next week to make sure she is getting better, especially because Thanksgiving is next week and we are also moving so we don't want her to have to see a new doctor who doesn't know her. We will keep you posted.

Quote of the day

Last night Quintin and I were in the kitchen making dinner and were talking about side dishes we were making when Abigail came in and said, "I can't believe you guys are going to make me eat dirty rice!"

Fall Fun!

This afternoon we took advantage of the nice weather and took some pictures in all of the great leaves that have fallen. Our neighborhood landscapers have been great this year and just when the leaves start to gather they are out picking them all up, so we knew we had to jump at the opportunity. We tried to get some shots with leaves in the air, but that didn't turn out so well. Once we got upstairs we all washed our hands and I realized that I didn't have my wedding ring on- I must have lost it in the leaves!! We rushed back outside and after about 15 minutes of searching I found it and was so thankful. It must have fallen off when I was throwing the leaves up because my rings tend to become a little loose when it is cool outside. We really liked the way the pictures came out and wanted to share. The only thing we couldn't get was a family shot with Adrianna looking at the camera.

Making history

Rosa sat, so Martin could walk…
Martin walked, so Obama could run…
Obama ran, so our children can FLY!

Happy Halloween

Auntie Yvette came up from Houston this weekend and we had so much fun! The girls made the cutest pirates. I was really surprised that Adrianna left her hat on because she usually pulls out all of her bows. Abby had a parade at her school and then a small party. There were a lot of really great costumes. We had a great time trick-or-treating and then this morning we went to Chuck E. Cheese's before taking Auntie Y to the airport. We can't wait for her to come visit again soon!