Good photo of Ava smiling

Rachel took some good photos of Jenny and Ava yesterday, including a really good one of Ava smiling.  Here they are.

J.

Jenny holding Ava

Here is a video of Jenny holding Ava.  She's such a good big sister!

More later.

J.

Celebrating the holidays with Jane and Greg

Since we were not able to go to Cancun this year, Jane and Greg invited us to their house for Christmas eve and Christmas day.  It was so nice spending time with them and Jenny was so happy to play with Alex and Ella-Anne.  We took lots of photos.  Here are few good ones.

Family photos at the Four Seasons

We walked around Georgetown as a family this morning and took some good photos at the Four Seasons Hotel of Jenny and Ava together plus some good ones of all of us together.  Here they are.  I may use some of these for a holiday card.

J.

Video of Jenny and Ava on Play Mat

Before we left the house this morning, I got this video of Jenny and Ava playing on the mat.  I love the fact that Jenny loves playing with Ava.  We have to remind Jenny to be gentle.  She's very careful with Ava but  she can't resist getting right down and rolling around with her.  It's so great seeing them together.

J.

Seth and Jill visit with Chloe and Cooper

We had a really nice Saturday today.  Rachel had a bunch of errands to run so I took both girls and just went with them on a monster walk all around Georgetown.  We started walking through the Georgetown University campus, including a stop in the classroom I used the last time I taught my Community Development Finance class in G'town's Masters Program in Real Estate.  Whenever we walk on the G'town campus, Jenny likes to stop in that classroom.  She likes to draw on the blackboard using chalk and pretend to be the teacher.  Ava ended up needing to be changed so I changed her right on my classroom desk! (I made sure to keep it clean).

After we left the classroom, we ended up leaving the campus and walking through the historical G'town residential neighborhood and we walked to the Four Seasons Hotel on M Street.  I just love walking with Ava in the stroller and with Jenny through the historical parts of G'town,  There's so much to see that I don't notice when I'm in the car (all kinds of historical markers and beautiful aspects of the houses).  Many of the houses were decorated for the holidays and it looked great.  Jenny and I spent much of the time telling stories and playing fun games.

The Four Seasons was having their traditional exhibit of different Christmas tree displays.  They have a fundraiser where they have different designers design various styles of tree.  It was so beautiful and we had a really nice time just hanging out there for a few hours.  We also bought Rachel a gift card for a massage at the Four Seasons spa (it's the one thing Rachel has been asking for!).  After a few hours, we made the long walk back up the hill to home and then our friends Seth and Jill came over with their two kids -- Chloe (Jenny's age) and their little one, Cooper.  We order takeout Turkish food from Cafe Divan and had a really nice time.  Jenny and Chloe loved playing together and they were happy watching a movie downstairs while the adults hung out.  They just left a few minutes ago and Rachel just put Jenny to bed.  Here are a few photos from their visit.

J.

Video of Jenny reading Dr. Seuss to Ava

This morning, Rachel and I were upstairs getting ready and I went downstairs to find Jenny in the playroom reading Dr. Seuss to Ava.  It was so cute.  Jenny really likes reading to Ava and it's good for both of them.  Ava was asleep and seemed oblivious to it but perhaps on some level she was paying attention.

More later.

J.