lydia

The day after we got home from Virginia we headed to the Christmas Tree farm to cut ours down.

Sophie trying her best to saw the trunk.

Dave and the girls with the kill.

Later that week we decorated the tree. Definitely one of my favorite things to do in the Christmas season. I love taking out all of the ornaments and remembering the story each has. Especially the homemade ones from the girls.

Lydia helped decorate too

The final product!

Benson stayed by the fire and monitored our process.

Earlier that day Lydia took the girls to see Santa at the King of Prussia mall. Sophie is asking for a stuffed unicorn, LOL dolls (which are apparently the hot item this year), a makeup kit, and a surprise. Lauren just wants a stuffed cat. We’ll see what Santa delivers.

It’s been 7 years since this amazing girl was born. Some of the days have felt extremely long, but most have gone by in a flash. It turns out she’s a stubborn, empathetic, happy, smart little girl who has given us 7 adventure-filled years.

On her birthday, Dave and I went into her classroom in the afternoon to read a book to the class and then she gave all of her classmates bubbles to take home.

Handing out bubbles.

And then, to celebrate 7 years, she decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced. We ended up at a Piercing Pagoda the same spot (in Va.) that I got my ears pierced 30 years ago. She was extremely nervous, and Dave and I expected some (lots) of tears, but she was a trooper and didn’t shed one. Then we went to Benihana for teppenyaki – her favorite.

Putting on a brave face

The action shot…

That night we had a little family party with our new family addition, Lydia, our au pair from Germany. She’s been living with us for two months and it’s like she’s been here for two years. She made a beautiful rainbow birthday cake for Sophie.

The rainbow cake

Two days after her birthday she had an ice skating party (for the second year in a row) with her friends. She’s pretty good on skates – which is great, because we haven’t really gone too many times this winter. I on the other hand didn’t even attempt to put on skates, like I did last year. It was better for everyone.