I Think They Are Related.

What do you think? 

I'm pretty sure the 3 of them have the same mom and dad...

ha!:)

An Afternoon with Family.

The day after Thanksgiving, we met up with Ryan, Kara and their kiddos at Gravelly Point.  

It was a perfect day.  

Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was lovely.

Gravelly Point has to be one of my favorite places here in D.C. 

There is plenty open spaces for the kids to run and they absolute LOVE to watch the airplanes.  It's amazing how close they are to you.

These 4 little cousins had a great time together.  They all got along so well...

...especially Nathanial and Braden.  They became very close little friends.  

It's nice to be able to spend time together with family.

Brielle loved making Emily laugh...Emily has the best little laugh. 

While there, Brooke got hungry so I headed to the car to feed her, Brielle came along and wanted to hold her.  It's amazing that Brielle once was that size! 

I wish I had been paying attention to their conversation.  It's a wonderful thing that children get to be children...not much to worry about...

I'm glad that my children get to play with their cousins.  

After a little break at our house, we headed to the Air and Space Museum by our house.  

Nathanial wanted to ride in our car.  

We made it to the observation tower just in time and spent a few minutes up there. 

We got there around sunset.  Braden and Nathanial had a fun time with their shadows. 

I think the boys were in heaven.  

Braden absolutely LOVES and marvels at these huge aircrafts and spacecrafts. 

He told me several times that he is going to be a pilot or an astronaut when he grows up.  

Brooke didn't find the museum as entertaining as Braden did!:)

We spent a fun afternoon with family.

My Heart is Full of Gratitude.

I have so many things to be thankful for this year.  I love this time of the year because it always brings me to reflection.   The other day I read a quote that touched me deeply, it said:

It is not happy people who are thankful,

It is thankful people who are happy.

It is true that when we begin to count our blessings, our perspective changes, our attitude becomes gentler, our hearts become softer and we become cheerful.    

I am reminded of Elder Eyring's talk a while ago, "O Remember, Remeber".  

We see evidences of the hand of God in our lives everyday.  We just need to look for them.  I have learned that the good things that happen in my life are not coincidences.  They are blessings.  Heavenly Father is very much involved in our daily lives. 

This year we spent Thanksgiving with friends.  It was great not to have to worry about hosting and having to make a full thanksgiving dinner.  We brought a turkey and cranberry sauce. Easy!

Brooke was having technical difficulties. 

Our dinner was delicious! We had so much food.

We enjoyed our friends' company.

The kids had their own table.  I don't think they were able to focus for very long on eating.  They sat down for a few minutes and went to play.

I think Brooke wanted to eat the yummy food too! 

The kids had a blast running around  and rough housing with Scott and Kem. 

Brooke was busy watching the older kiddos. 

Cooper and Evelyn loved the fireplace.

With Brecking and Holly...blessed to have such wonderful friends. 

...and I of course had to squeeze my little Preston. He's just so lovable!

Preston and his mommy.  

The fussy balls kept them busy for a while.  

Braden the rambunctious one. 

...and just because I can't get enough of those cheeks and dark brown eyes...here are more of Brooke Kate...

Braden and Brooke│Sibling Love.

Braden absolutely ADORES his little sister.  

He loves her to pieces and shows his love to her all the time. 

She looks at him completely intrigued.   The other day she accidentally grabbed his glasses.  

Braden said: 

"She doesn't know better mom, she's a baby." 

He has all sorts of names for her, like:

Miss Poopsalot

My little sweetems

Little Baby Face

Little Stinky Face

I think Braden has finally realized that he's not the baby of the family any more.  He's been very helpful lately ...we are still working on being gentle...but overall, he's such a good big brother! 

Dad's Day.

Brielle had a Dad's Day event at her school.  The kids got to bring their dads to school and had a bunch of little activities ready to do together.  

To say that Scott had to jump through hoops to be able to be there is a complete understatement! His attendings put up a HUGE fuss about him missing a couple of hours at the hospital on a non-busy day.  They basically told him that he had to choose between his family and a good grade.   The funny thing is that Scott has NEVER EVER taken any "personal" time during his whole medical school career! 

The kids understand that Scott's profession is demanding and that he often misses things...but this was much too important to Brielle for him to miss.  Scott wasn't willing to break Brielle's heart by not going to this.  

I normally don't complain much about how demanding medical school is and how it often takes a toll on our family.  I always try to keep a positive attitude...and I am proud of Scott for all the effort that he puts into his studies.

...at the same time, I am grateful that I have a husband that understands his priorities and that he chose his family over a good grade to make his little girl happy.

Brielle has such an easy time making friends.  Her teacher says that everyone loves her and she gets along with everyone.   She is very motherly too...I went to school one day for an event the other day...one of the boys in her class coughed in his hand and she told him, "now you have to wash your hands because you coughed in your hand and your hand is full of germs...you have to cough in your arm, like this." and she proceeded to show him how to cough! 

I was laughing! 

She was so thrilled to have her daddy there with her.  She's always been such a daddy's girl. 

Scott and I have been feeling so proud of our Brielle.  She's so bright and so eager to live life.  Her teacher recently told me on our parent-teacher conference that she is a star! 

She has gotten perfect scores in all of her assessments.  She is at the top of her class.

It is so deeply satisfying to watch our first-born turn into a beautiful, compassionate, smart big girl! 

They measured  each other by counting the turkeys. 

Scott was one proud daddy that day...and was so glad to have chosen to be there for Brielle.