building museum

Lots of fun today at the building museum.

Cameron dresses up as a builder...

Granny, me and the boys...

Smiles with our friends at the end of a busy morning...

Batman Jamie and the workman goggles...nice squished face!

Cameron with a tall tower of bricks....standing tall...

christmas morning

Yeah! Cameron is just waking up and getting into his presents.

Santa  brings Jamie a fun robot arm.

A new Ben10 lunch box brings a big smile.

Cameron loves Ben10 as well!

HAPPY BOYS!

christmas photos

Jamie ready for Christmas in front of our tree.

Cameron and Jamie with the cookies and milk that we left for Santa.  Jamie even made chocolate brownies for Santa.

The boys following the web site that tracks Santa's progress on Christmas eve.

jamie with santa

Here is Jamie with Santa.  He had a really nice visit with Santa on Christmas eve.  For some reason Cameron would not visit with Santa this year. We think he was worried about being on the naughty list!

this afternoon in the snow

here are more photos from our snow storm...there is so much snow outside that Jamie almost gets lost!

Jamie digging his Granny a path in the snow.

The boys digging in the driveway.

Cameron with his new snow shovel.

Grant getting lost in the snow.

Jamie falling over.

snow storm

Expecting 14-20 inches by the time it all stops today...

cookies

The chef eats the first cookie.

The chief taster makes an appearance!

school christmas program #2

Cameron's class is the oldest in preschool so they did the full nativity.  Turns out that Mr. Cameroni Macaroni was the only one with a speaking part! He introduced the play to the audience and then went back to the choir where he was singing with his friends.  They all did a great job!

school christmas program

Jamie's class sang "does the baby need a blanket?" and it was just so sweet. 

I've uploaded the video to my facebook page if you'd like to see it. Meanwhile here are some sweet photos of Jamie and friends.

snow!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Andrew and James show Jamie how to use the snowball shooter...

Cameron and Natalie mess around and build a snowman...

our house on its snow hill...

Cameron using the snowball maker...
and now a nice warm fire and boys exhausted in bed.

tennis on a warm november day

We had such a great weekend with Jackie and Farid.  Cameron and Jamie took them outside to play tennis this morning.  They were also showing them their bikes and scooters (hence the bike helmets!)  Jackie and Farid are very popular visitors with Cameron and Jamie and we hope they'll be back soon - thanks for coming to visit!

jackie and farid come to visit

Jackie and Farid came down from Hoboken to visit. We've had fun with them this weekend including a visit to Meadowlark, lunch at Clydes and Jamie's first turn on the ice in Reston. Jamie loved ice skating and after a few minutes did not want a hand to hold and was happy on his own. Grant had Cameron and Jamie pulling him along!

The boys take Grant for a spin around the ice at Reston town center ice rink.

Cameron and Jackie in Meadowlark...stopping for a break

Cameron and Jamie get a little help with our walk from Grant and Farid.

back garden tree

There are two maples in our back garden and one normally looks better than the other in the fall. This year it is the turn of the tree near the playset.  It has beautiful fall colours this year and I had to take a photo. I remember the years I was in Hong Kong and I missed the autumn and the leaves changing colour and the change in temperature. This tree is a beauty!

bike boys - look no wheels!

Yesterday was a lovely fall day. It was 70 degrees and sunny. In the morning I took the boys to the National Zoo. It was a busy day because everyone was out enjoying the sunshine.  Just as we arrived they were feeding the Giant Sloth Bears so we went to listen to the zookeepers talk about what they eat. At the end of the talk they asked for volunteers to feed the bear called Callie.  Cameron volunteered and later so did Jamie.  They both got to feed the bear though a tube, like a giant straw. They were both really pleased.

The afternoon was full of excitement. Grant took their training wheels off and both boys were cycling with no training wheels. Jamie got the hang of it so quickly and he was off. They both fell off a couple of times but no injuries so they were right back on their bikes and off again.  Their friend Dariya also came out on her bike and learnt to cycle with no training wheels either - a big day for our street!

Here is Cameron concentrating...

And Jamie the speed demon....

Cameron's party

Cameron had his 5th birthday party today at Sport Bounce. He had a great time with all his friends and is absolutely wiped out this evening. Both boys feel asleep in the car on the way home. 

This is Cameron and  his friend Devon enjoying birthday cake...

Here are all the kids before the party started....

This is Cameron blowing out the candles....

exhausting day at fall festival

Today we took the boys to Temple Hall Fall Festival for the first time. They had a great time and Cameron already wants to go back so he can walk in the 23 acre maze (or corn maize) all the way to the middle and back.

There are two giant jumping pillows, a cow train and a place where you can shoot corn on the cob out of air guns at targets - a favourite activity for us all!

Here is the cow train....

Cool passenger #1 Cameron...

Happy passenger #2 Jamie...

Cameron the cowboy on "Socks"...Jamie the cowboy on "Tony the Pony"..

The jumping pillows were a big hit with Cameron and Jamie and they did lots of bouncing and running around.

On the way home both boys fell asleep in the car. That's a good sign that we had a busy, fun day out.