A Preschool Valentine's Day Party

Nora's class Valentine's party was this morning.  And today also happened to be pajama day!  Atley and I came to help out and it was a great time! The kids handed out their Valentines, played games, made a craft and had a topping full ice cream sundaes!

Passing out Valentines

Making her fingerprint heart!

Finished product :)

Atley got some time in the bounce house!

Nora's turn 

Ice cream sundae time

Some of the girls in Nora's class

Cheesy Nora at the Photo Booth :)

Class picture!

After everyone finished their snack, all the kids sat in a circle singing song with Mrs. Barney.  They sing such fun songs!  Atley thought she was part of the class and joined right in :)!

Singing some songs

Now some dancing

Here's a video.  Atley was cracking me up!

Abby's Baby Shower

Last weekend, my cousin, Libby and I hosted a baby shower for my sister, Abby.  Abby is due on March 20 with a sweet baby girl! And I can't wait!!  We had her shower at The Badollet House in Salem and Jody outdid herself with the flowers and the food!  It was a beautiful shower and I think everyone had a great time (and ate too many sweets- or I did, at least!).  Enjoy some pictures from the  afternoon!

Nora was in heaven ;)!  Look at all those sweets!

Abby was pretty excited too ;)!

Love this sweet girl.

Showered with gifts!

With Abby and Libby

Love these 2 beautiful ladies!!

We asked everyone to bring a book for the baby instead of a card.  We filled this crate with books for baby Margo!

Golf Class

Ethan has been going to golf class for the last 4 weeks (he has 1 more week).  He's really enjoying it and he's a natural at the sport.  The instructors are impressed with his skills- which don't come from me!!

Waiting his turn for the simulator

This is how Atley entertains herself :).  Playing with the golf tees!

About to drop in the hole

Putting practice

Nora and Atley- playing in the simulator 

16 Month Atley

Atley was 16 months old on Saturday (January 30).  I had every intention to post about her at 15 months...but never got to it.
She is such a joy!  I love watching Ethan and Nora play with her.  I love watching her learn new things.  I love hearing her say new words.  And I love how she makes our family complete!

 A few things about Atley at 16 months:

• She has 7 teeth (4 on bottom, 3 on top).  She's got at least 2 more that are so close to popping through.
• She's generally a great sleeper 8pm-7:30(ish)am - We've had a few inconsistent nights lately ;).
• She's a good eater.  Some favorite foods are mac & cheese, pb sandwiches, cooked carrots, cheese of any kind, grapes, bananas and most other fruit, pizza and crackers.
• She's walking everywhere and beginning to run.
• She's talking a lot and has quite the vocabulary.  Some of her favorite words:  Daddy, Mama, Nora, cracker, doggy, cookie, cheese, hi, bye bye, shoes, ball (baba).  She's also pretty much a parrot and will try to mimic most of what you say. 
• She waves to everyone (when she's in the right mood)
• She blows kisses, with sound and all!

Petting the bunny :)

Smiling sweet girl!

She has the best facial expressions!  I tried to capture some during lunch today.

Such a big girl!

Atley Jane, we love you so much!  You make us so happy and bring so much joy to our family!

Snow Fun

We got about 4 inches of snow last week.  Enough to play in, but not enough to miss school and shut things down.  The kids have been waiting all winter for enough snow to play in, so they were ready to play after school last Wednesday!

Shoveling the sidewalk

Ethan sledding down the hill

Nora's turn...head first

Such a fun neighborhood we have!

Ethan, making some snowballs

Nora girl :)

2015 in Photos

I made a slideshow of pictures from this past year.  It turned out a tad longer than I anticipated ;).  So, when you have 7 or 8 minutes, check it out!

Christmas/New Years in Salem

After lunch on Christmas day we headed south to have Christmas with my family.  We had a great visit and fit a lot in.  Enjoy some pictures from our week in Salem!

Nora and Ethan- patiently waiting for present time with Grandma Terri and Pop

Ethan, excited about his new toothbrush 

Grandma Terri, Abby, Atley and Alex

Happy day!

Atley- playing at Grandma Terri's

Playing Bandu with the Puricellis

Dominos...a Blair family Christmas tradition.

Atley- hanging out in the dog bed with a gun ;)!

Gingerbread house mess fun!

The boys (and Katie) house

Hooray!

We decided to try something new this year.  My mom thought it would be fun for just the adults to go out too a nice dinner, and she was right!  It was so much fun!!  My Uncle Bruce and Aunt Jeanne (dad's brother) come from Virginia Beach every year to celebrate Christmas, so this was our Christmas celebration.  It was such a fun time of adult food and conversation.  Thanks Mom and Dad!!

The 10 of us!

Jared and I all dressed up!

Jared and his very red steak (he likes it that was!)

The next night, the Puricelli's hosted a New Year's Eve party for the kids (at 8 pm).  They had a blast and were all in bed and fast asleep before the real New Year came!

Happy New Year!!

Since Micah (my cousin) has moved back to town and started working at Squibb Tank Company- he encouraged us to come take a tour.  So we did!

Ethan and Nora in front of an almost finished tank

Checking out the Army truck.  My Uncle Mike seems to enjoy collecting old military vehicles, and this is one!