Great Pop's Christmas Village

A very special Gleason family Christmas tradition

is Great Pop's Christmas village!

It's absolutely gorgeous -

and you would be hard pressed to find a more creative craftsman

than my grandfather!

Kate was absolutely mesmerized when we took her to see it...

and so was I!

A Very Merry Christmas Afternoon in NoVA!

Our Christmas afternoon spent with the NoVA Gleasons was very merry indeed!

Kate enjoyed opening more presents!

And Great Pop lovingly assembled more toys!

I love this picture of cousins Erika and Lee!

Quality play time with Great Pop!

Rock Band provided awesome family entertainment!

My very sweet (but very tired) family

at the end of our glorious Christmas celebrations!

Magical Christmas Morning!

Christmas morning was magical!

Kate had so much fun opening her presents and

playing with all her new toys!

Christmas Eve

We spent a wonderful Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa George!

After attending a Christmas Eve service,

we enjoyed a yummy meal followed by birthday cake for Jesus

(a Gleason family tradition).

After Kate was all nestled and snug in her bed,

Tim and I got started on the toy assembly projects!

National Harbor

We started off our holiday weekend with a Christmas Eve play date at National Harbor.

The Christmas decorations at the Gaylord hotel were gorgeous -

Kate and Justin had a blast watching the water fountain show

and running around in wide open (and warm!) space!

Fun times with great friends...

what could be a better start to the holiday???

Kate & Two Miss Daisies Visit Santa

Enough said.

Downs Family Gathering

Sadly, Tim's grandmother passed away last week.

We were very sad to lose her and

found comfort in gathering with the Downs family for the funeral this weekend.

It was very special to get to see Rebecca with all 9 of her siblings and their spouses...

and we got to see Uncle Ted and many of Tim's cousins as well.

We are thankful for the loving family that is Grandma Downs' legacy!

Visiting Cousin Nolan's Farm

We made a trip up to Nunda/Mt. Morris, New York this weekend

to visit Tim's extended family.

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting

Luke, Lindsay and Nolan Therrien on their farm!

Nolan is Kate's second cousin and is only about a week younger than her...

they had so much fun playing together!

We hope to visit again soon!

First School Christmas Program

Kate starred in her very first school Christmas program last week!

Ok, maybe she wasn't exactly the star of the program

(in fact, she kinda freaked out and had to sit in her teacher's lap

the whole time she was on stage)

but she was certainly the star in our eyes.

I literally thought my heart was going to burst with pride!

Here's a picture of Kate's fan section!

Nana and Pop came over from Springfield to witness her debut and

Grandma and Grandpa were there too... I promise!

Christmas with Gran

Gran came to visit earlier this month!

We had a really fun time hanging out and,

as always, she helped us accomplish many projects

and baby-sat so Tim and I would sneak away for a date night!

Hurrah!

(Not sure what we would do without my Mom's frequent visits!)

Because we won't be able to get together again over the holidays,

Gran let Kate open her presents from Gran & Pop!

It was great fun!

And Kate looked adorable while doing it in the UBER cute Christmas outfit Gran made for her!

We also got together with the NoVA Gleasons while Gran was in town.

Here is a sweet picture of Kate with Nana!

Biker Babes!

Mommy, Kate and Miss Daisy had fun checking out a Harley

during our outing to Union Station on Saturday afternoon!

After pretending to be a biker babe,

Kate had fun running around with our friends,

Elaine, Jason and Justin,

and checking out the Christmas decorations,

the model train set and the real trains

and

a photo exhibit celebrating Sesame Street's anniversary!

Giving Thanks!

This Thanksgiving, I am so thankful for...

... my wonderful husband ...

... our precious daughter ...

... a day of rest ...

&

... a delicious turkey feast

enjoyed with the NoVA Gleasons ...

More Fun with New Camera

Fun with New Camera!!!

Santa came to our house early this year!

Tim and I decided that our Christmas gift to each other would be a new camera... but we really wanted to be able to use the new camera over the holidays! So, we've had a lot of fun today trying out our new camera by taking random photos of everyday things.

Here are some of our favorite subject!

A common look: determined concentration...

Wild bed hair!!!

A favorite toy: baby doll

One of the best things about being a parent:

being greeted by sweet smiles first thing every morning!