New Year.. New Family

Our new family on New Year's Eve

Dylan's birthday

There is no better way to celebrate a birthday than with a banana football player cake!  When deciding what sort of cake to make for Dylan's birthday I asked the kids... and Magnus said to make a banana football player cake!  I think it had something to do with the fact that Dylan was wearing a shirt with a banana on it at the time and they had just gotten done playing a round of football in the living room.  Nonetheless that cake was yummy and enjoyed by all!

Additionally, the night prior Dylan and Deborah had a birthday eve date night and enjoyed some great food a Chimas Brazilian Steakhouse
 

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve photo of the kids, all dressed up for Church.

Christmas Time



The older kids are actually BoTH looking at the camera!

We are ready for Christmas.  We visited with Santa (twice now), and decorated... not only our house (please note that as requested by Magnus even Harry the fish had a stocking this year, who as a pet, IS A MEMBER of our FAMILY according to Magnus), but we also helped decorate Arlington Cemetery when we participated in Wreaths Across America and placed wreaths on the tombstones. 

Stocking for Harry the fish

Stockings for our new family of 5





Arlington Cemetery Amphitheatre

Reading Arlington Tombstone

Every December since 1992, rain, snow or shine, volunteers have joined the Wreaths Across America organization and placed wreaths on veterans' graves.

In 2010, 6,000 volunteers put down about 24,000 wreaths, emptying 5 semi-tractor trailers.  2011 was a special year. It was the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the 20th anniversary of that first wreath laying at Arlington, and the 10th anniversary of 9/11. That year, the effort ballooned to as many as 10-15,000 volunteers who placed over 80,000 wreaths and unloaded 20 trucks. Last year it grew to 33 trucks, over 110,000 wreaths, and upwards of 15-20,000 volunteers. Thanks to a last minute surge, Wreaths Across America expects even more trucks and wreaths than last year - as many as 40 trucks and over 130,000 wreaths.  (Arlington conducts funerals 6 days a week and can block off only 1 day for this event. In other words, there is no rain/snow/make-up date - it must happen entirely on this single Saturday!)

Some more Christmas/Winter time fun...

This is not the beach, put your shoes on!

Snow angles

GO MIZZOU

We put on our Mizzou (University of Missouri-Columbia) gear for the SEC championship.  Unfortunately that didn’t bring the good luck we had hoped for, to the team.  Missouri was a 2.5-point favorite at kickoff, but in the end, Auburn won 59-42.

Botanical Garden Christmas Train Set

Model trains are a holiday favorite at the US Botanic Garden's.  They run on more than 244 meters of track.  This year the trains are in settings representing past world’s fairs, such as the Eiffel Tower from the 1889 Paris Fair and the Space Needle from the World’s Fair in Seattle, Washington in 1962.  All the setting are made from natural materials such as pine cones, wood from the willow tree, acorns, leaves and grapevines.  It is quite impressive... but I think seeing Thomas the Train was what really interested the kids!

We also enjoyed a special scavenger hunt activity. The kids picked up a passport from a kiosk in the conservatory, which listed different plant species from around the world that the kids had to seek out in the various galleries around the Garden. Once they found the plant, they stamped their passport book with that plants stamp.  It was a great activity that the kids loved!  

Magnus holding his plant passport, and studying the plants.



Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, Magnus' class at daycare made construction paper feather hats with each feather, 4 feathers in total, listing an item for which the child is thankful.  Magnus wrote... Family, Everyone, God & Animals that are nice (apparently Magnus is totally un-sympathetic to 'mean' animals... though I have been unable to determine which animals he considers 'mean.') At home the night before Thanksgiving the rest of the family made similar hats. :)

Our 'Thankful' Construction Paper Feather Hats

 

We kept it simple for the Thanksgiving meal this year and got just an 8-lb turkey.  But the night before Thanksgiving we decided to go over to a friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner.  Therefore the only Turkey we made on Thanksgiving was the turkey cookie craft that we attempted with the kids!

 Keeping with tradition, for each child's first Thanksgiving we pose them for a picture with the turkey.  Ella was almost the same size as this turkey. Which apparently she was ready to bite into the juicy turkey leg!!  

And let us not forget our Thanksgiving Lunch with the kids at their school (daycare) on 22 Nov.  Though it was served on paper plates with plastic silverware, it was great meal to share with the kids (though they were none too happy when they had to go back to school after Thanksgiving lunch, instead of coming home.)

Gma Newman/Magnus, photobomber Rose

Gma Newman/Maliah, photobomber Ella

Star-Spangled Banner

Maliah at the age of 2, singing the Star-Spangled Banner.

 

Maliah had gotten tired of Mom signing the regular nursery rhyme songs at bedtime (Mary Had a Little Lamb, Ba Ba Black Sheep, Hush Little Baby, etc) and wanted something more.  Mom went thru a lot of songs, even singing 'Return to Pooh Corner' which is a long song by Kenny Loggins, wasn't enough.  By the way Maliah had memorized that song too. One of the songs that Mom knew all the words to is the Star-Spangled Banner... so I sang that to Maliah at night for about 2 weeks.  Now she has it memorized!!  What a patriot!

Toughest Mudder

For the 3^rd year in a row, Dylan ran the ‘World’s Toughest Mudder (WTM),’ a 24-hr obstacle course race in mid-Nov in chilly New Jersey.  Like last year, he competed on a 4-man team  His team was first to finish the first lap, which earned them free entry into next year’s WTM (so Dylan may do the WTM one more time!). But after going 18-hrs, and running 55-miles, two teammates’ cramping became so severe that they had to stop.  Nonetheless, they placed 10^th out of over 100 teams that were competing.

 

WTM 2013 results; http://toughmudder.com/wtm2013-timing/#/results::1386186613120

WTM 2013 recap; http://toughmudder.com/wtm-2013/

1st lap, team at Berlin Wall obstacle

 

Team finishing another lap!



Dylan at COLD water crossing obstacle at night

 

WTM gear!

Setting-Up WTM Tent in Pit-stop Area

 

 

Ella

 

Ella's First Bath

Magnus and Maliah helped Ella take her first bath. 

Maliah - Pink Fairy & Magnus - Paleontologist

It was an unseasonably warm day in November, and Maliah decided it would be fun to play outside in her pink fairy dress.  In the warm sunshine she truly looked like a beautiful magical fairy!

 While Maliah fluttered about, Magnus was busy digging up dinosaur bones with his new paleontology set!



In the end... after much flying and fluttering around, Maliah the perfect pink fairy slept soundly for her afternoon nap! :)









And that afternoon, we enjoyed a trip to outer-space on our space rocket with Grandma Newman!

Granny Jo's Birthday

Granny Jo, who came to visit to help with Ella's arrival (which coincidently occurred the night after she arrived.. so she got here just in time), was here for her own birthday on 7 Nov.  Magnus and Maliah helped to decorate her cake.  I must say it was beautiful! :)

Ella's Birthday

Following in the footsteps of her older sister, Ella decided to arrive 10 days early!

  Ella Marie Newman

  02 Nov 2013 @ 1114

  6lbs 3ozs and 19.5 inches

 

Siblings; Magnus, Maliah, Ella



Sisters, Maliah & Ella



the girls, Mom, Maliah, Ella

Three Generations;
Granny Jo, Deborah, Maliah & Ella