Alexandria turned 8 years old on May 6th. We had a slumber party with 3 of her closest friends. We had a few issues to say but it all worked out in the end. All the girls slept in their sleeping bags on the floor in the Alex's room.
In the morning the girls did each others nails. Alex has a spa kit that she got for Christmas so they used that. They soaked their feet and then painted their nails. It was really sweet.
If you know Alex then you know that she loves animal print; cheetah & zebra. So we did zebra print. We found zebra plates at Target with a pink trim. Very cute. So everything was zebra; plates, napkins, cupcakes holders, cups and crepe paper for decorating.
Alex & Jamiee...being silly with rainbow cupcakes with whip cream.
Enjoying dinner and dessert.
The girls playing in Alex's room with music, magazines and of course, make-up. If you look really close you can see the make up on Alex's face. They all had so much on that I think it was gone by the next morning.
A group picture with the birthday girl on top......
Alex loves the store Justice so she got a justice beach bag and all her presents are wrapped inside with zebra wrapping paper.
Riding bikes to school on her birthday with her new birthday outfit she wanted.
Alex loves cheesecake so I made cheesecake for her birthday. Her actual birthday and then birthday party were on different days. yes, some pictures are out of order.
The girls also did a few crafts......
It has been a busy week for us...crazy snow & a new bunny.
We Keep her in the kitchen and let her run around when we are home. My hopes are to litter box train her. We will see if it works. If you are familiar with bunnies they poop a lot and all over. Just little pebble looking poops that just keep coming.
She loves to walk all over you if you lay down plus Brady loves it.
Or sit in your lap.
In the same week we got about a foot of snow with a 18 hour power outage. It was a cold night and day but we were thankful that it was only 18 hours and not any longer.
Since it is too cold to go out riding our bike on the weekends, Joe loves to get it out when it snows to take a quick trip around the neighborhood. I don;t think the neighbors are too happy about it.
We made a snowman. We used Cheetos balls for eyes, a carrot for a nose and a stick for a mouth.
Brady loves to chill in the snow
Oh and did anyone notice that I finally figured out how to rotate my pictures. It was very easy, I only wished I had figured it out sooner.
New Years at some friends house...the kids loved doing sparklers and yes they stayed up until 1:00 am that night. It helped that Brady had a nap earlier that day.
All the kids enjoying some snacks...
Over Christmas break we went to the ice event down at the National Harbor. We had a blast. We were all amazed by the ice sculptures and color in each, Yes, they even had a ice slide.
This is Brady coming down. That was probably the best part.
This is all ICE behind the kids. Can you believe it?
Family pic with the Grinch. 
Again...cute kids, more ICE and nasty jackets.
Cute, Cute & Cute.
The Harbor. It was a pretty day out.
Down on the harbor was a weird statue...a giant. The kids are on his head and then his legs and arms are poking out somewhere else in the sand. 
We also went down to the White House to see the Christmas tree. Not the best looking tree. I think I expected more. Every Christmas, people talk about the White House with its lights and big tree in front. I couldn't wait to see it but I was not impressed. I feel horrible saying that but it's the truth.
A closer look. The trains in front of the tree were cool. Brady and Alex just wanted to watch them all night.
Christmas day....Stockings. Brady already had the helmet and costume but he got the arc light for iron man in his stocking so he had to put everything on for the picture. I love how you can see his eyes in the eye part of the helmet.
We also went ice skating. The kids do a pretty good job.
Back to Christmas...Brady got a superman and wolverine action hero plus a robot iron man.
Brady really wanted a K'NEX (did i spell that right)roller coaster. That was the one thing he asked for. It took Brady and Joe 2 days to put it together. It had 565 pieces. I almost got the one that had 1032 pieces but opted for this one. Thank goodness. But it is pretty cool. 
Alex and her stocking, She loves Taylor Swift, nail polish and head bands.
On Christmas we stayed home and hung out in our PJ's. It was great. My own attempt at a family Christmas day picture.
Alexandria wanted a Madame Alexander doll with some doll clothes. She still loves dolls. I really like that because she is getting older and no longer likes the princess things but still like dolls. I hope it will last a long time.
Still loves dolls but also like cheetah print...a jacket and blow dryer
Christmas Eve...cookies and root beer for Santa
I thought the turkey turned out nicely so I had to share.
Christmas outfits
Sitting on Santa's lap....
Brady on Santa's lap
In early December, we made Christmas cookies, a gingerbread house....
and a gingerbread man
The show has real animals in it. One of which is a camel.
We took a fairy ride from our hotel to the show. It was really beautiful & cold.
On the fairy...the kids in their antlers and Santa hat
Just cute...Brady was so done with pictures...I think that is his worst favorite part about the holidays because my camera is always out.
In the evenings we spent a lot of time playing pool. The kids have never played and really loved it. They added that to their Christmas list last minute.
The water front in Jacksonville.
Jacksonville Beach 
Again, so beautiful
Sorry I could not get enough of the beach. It made me miss Monterey.
Family picture
Uncle Aaron and the kids.
