Happy Valentine's Day

I adore Kate's heart.  It is simple.  It is genuine.  It is full of love if we are wise enough to receive that gift she offers us daily. 

Kate and I were making valentine's for her class this week.  She made one extra card and added quite a few extra heart stickers on it.  I asked her who it was for and she plainly said:  Jesus. 

I asked her if she wanted to mail it, shamefully sarcastic in my mind.  She said, "No, thank you."  I have another idea.  And into the backyard she went with her Valentine balloon and Jesus's valentine taped to the string. 

My heart melted.  Sarcasm gone.  Pure love.  Unhindered faith. Oh, to be more like my sweet daughter.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  Matthew 19:14

Weekend Adventures

It feels like January came and went in a blink of an eye!  I can't really tell you what we did in January.  Not much.  I think we bundled up indoors and probably watched way more TV than the American Pediatric Association would approve of.  But it's a new month, and I am bound and determined to get these kids, and myself, out of the house as much as we can.  

Last weekend, I was away on my annual girls' scrapbooking weekend. (Yeah for me!) Josh was Mr. Mom for a few days (with the help of Papa Dan).  Our nearby farm, Fox Hollow, had just announced the birth of some baby goats, so Josh bundled the kids up for a morning trek to the farm.  Here are some shots of the kids playing with the kids...ha...ha...

We go to the farm often, and Kate loves the sheep and lambs.  Nathan has a fascination with the chickens.  Some days they let us in the hen house to find our own eggs.  But today Nathan got a real treat:  he bonded with a chicken so to speak, and he got to sit on a tractor too -- can't beat that!

 

We just love Fox Hollow Farm.  Thank you to Stephanie, Vince and Olivia for always making the kids feel so welcome and special!

Keeping with community support, our good friend, Chris, works for Laytonsville Fire Department.  He invited Nathan to come by to see some engines.  Nathan is obsessed with firetrucks right now.    Every other word is firetruck or ambulance or police car.  But he honestly is fanatical about firetrucks!  What a special treat this was for our Firefighter Nathan!

Thanks, Chris, for your time today!  And thank you to all the firefighters who serve our communities so well.  We are grateful!

Norman Rockwell Christmas

This is my new favorite Christmas picture!   Kate spent the night at my parents' house last week and helped them decorate their Christmas tree.  As our tree is not yet up, Kate was so excited to be a part of this activity.  My dad snapped this picture.  Love it!!

Who needs a Sleigh when you have a choo-choo train?

Another year.  Another Christmas.  Another ride on the Walkersville Santa Train.   The anticipation builds each year as the kids look forward to seeing Santa.  Nathan was so excited - he didn't know which was better - seeing Santa or riding on a train!!!

 

 

The man of the hour has arrived!  He sits down with each of the kids and talks at length with them.  I love how much attention they get from him.  And honestly, he is the real Santa!

 Nathan wants a firetruck- of course.  It is the year of the firetruck after all.   Kate wants an American Girl Doll, or a SnugglePuppet Blanket, or a camera, or a.... you get the idea.

 As we are leaving the train, Santa is waiting at the bottom of the platform waving good-bye to all the good boys and girls.  When Kate gives him a high-five, and yells over her shoulder,
"Bye Santa, I'll see you at the mall!"

Shrek the Halls...

We always joke that Josh can be a bit of an ogre come holiday season.  He even has a Shrek ornament on our Christmas tree!  The holidays: Too many people.  Too much fuss.  Too busy.   (Of course, it's all a bluff.  He's the biggest softy when it comes to the kid's excitement.)   But keeping with his cold facade, we just had to go to see SHREK on ICE.  

The Gaylord at National Harbor hosts an amazing ice sculpture show each year.  Last year it was the Grinch, and Shaun and Debbie said it was incredible.  This year, Shrek and Fiona took center stage - and we were there to see it.

It was 13 degrees inside where the sculptures were, so part of the admittance fee covered the use of thick, warm coats for everybody. Not only was it a chilling 13 degrees, but the pumped the air in so it felt like air conditioning blowing on you at 13 degrees!!   The thermal coats were a great idea, except as Josh pointed out, it was very hard to tell which kids were ours--they all looked the same as they all ran about the place.

 

 

Nathan could barely walk in his big thermal coat.  He stayed pretty warm thanks to Mommy's layering of clothing, hats, mittens, winter coat, and thermal coat.  His cheeks, however, were bright red when we finally left the frigid air!   

 Kate with her boys:  Brenden (left) and Collin (right)

I have to give props to Debbie, who has proudly taken on the role of Gallagher family activity co-coordinator.   Without her, I would never get around to buying tickets to anything.  It was a fun morning.  Thanks, Deb!!

October Madness

October was a very busy month for us.  It was a blur....but we did manage to capture a few memories!

A trip to the pumpkin patch was required.  The kids couldn't wait to find their own pumpkins.   We love the farm we go to in Frederick, Bloomfield Farm.  The day included a hay ride, tractors, animals, and loads of pumpkins and squash.

 We spent two weeks out in Washington State visiting Josh's family.  It had been four years since we had been able to venture west.  So this trip was so special.  Nathan and Kate loved the time with their cousins.  I just loved being with family.  I think we ended up with just shy of 300 pictures from this trip.    Here are some favorites:

Nathan and Alex horsing around  

Kate loved the time with her girl cousins (as she is usually surrounded by boy cousins out East.  She wasn't feeling well in this photo (hence the odd expression on her face) but Bri and Hannah were such a big part of her experience that I wanted to share this photo.  We miss them all so much!

And of course, we spent a lot of time with Papa Dan and Grandma Ann.  My kids ask daily if we can go on an airplane to see Papa Dan and Grandma - as if it were as easy as that.  We loved the time we had with the family.

 On our last day, we ventured out to Snowqualamie Falls.  It was a crisp fall day, and the views were amazing.

 

A special addition to our trip was a visit with good friends Paul and Peggy Wilkinson.  They happened to be in Oregon at the same time we were in Washington.  So considering they usually live in L.A. and we live 5000 miles east of them, we couldn't pass up a chance to drive 2.5 hours to spend a precious 24 hours with friends that really are more like family!   It was great to catch up, but it was even more precious to watch the kids jump right back into each others worlds.