Amber and Clara enjoy mauling Diesel. Don't let him fool ya', he loves it.
Clarissa, Sadie, and Maggie put on a little production on the stage.
Then, after a long meeting for church and a short Family Night lesson about scripture study, we had cake. Marbled cake with marbled frosting of course, to celebrate Martin Luther King's dream that all people will someday live together in peace regardless of the color of their skin.
What a beautiful (and tasty) dream!
We began the day with a tour that was all about disabilities and the tools used to help those with disabilities adapt to the world around them. Here Clarissa and Krystal try on goggles to help them see what it would look like if they had eye disabilities like glaucoma or tunnel vision.
In this picture Jared is playing a game of wheelchair basketball with a friend.
Next we had a little tour about the Voices of Virginia. This was basically learning about different people from Virginia who have played an important role in the history of our country. Jared is helping hold items to demonstrate the Civil War period. This tour also dealt with the Reconstruction period after the Civil War and some famous African-Americans which helps to lead us into our next area of history that we are studying which is the Civil Rights Movement.
All the kids really enjoyed playing with model boats on the replica of the James River with water flowing through locks and dams and real rain falling over the city. Here, Krystal is pushing a bateaux down the James River while her friends sit and enjoy the ride.
With four floors to explore, we found ourselves going up and down the stairs quite often, which were fun in and of themselves because the stairs light up with different colors as you walk on them.
Clarissa and Cailin explore motion and timing with golf balls on a track. The idea was to get them to roll into holes that were constantly spinning.
After a break for lunch, we headed to the bottom floor and found Rock Band!! The girls loved playing the guitar while Ryan sang to a Rascal Flatts song.
After some more time on the tower (the play structure) it was time for some art. This is an all glass room where the kids can go in and paint on the walls. Then the staff come through and just wash it all down and it goes through a drain in the floor. It was fun to watch the kids create through the glass.
We finally pulled everyone out after four hours of continuous play. As we headed to our cars which were parked right by the James River we saw this awesome fountain shooting up with a rainbow at the bottom in the mist.
This is a bowl layered with jell-o, chocolate ice cream, and vanilla ice cream. The jell-o represents the permafrost layer of soil, the chocolate ice cream represents the soil, and the vanilla represents the snow.
As we let the "snow" melt, we saw that the melted snow mixed with the "soil" to create mud, but it did not penetrate the layer of jell-o that represented permafrost.
Then, we each enjoyed our own layered treat, complete with animals in the snow. 
After days of worrying that she was going to swallow it while eating, Krystal finally lost her first tooth while she was brushing her teeth.
Here are Cailin and Clarissa acting out one of the scenes. The jist of the story is that they are two rock stars who are on an adventure to discover the true meaning of happiness.
Although Jared and Connor did have some supporting roles, they also did all the backstage work, music, sound and lighting. It was all quite impressive.
Finally, it's time for Monopoly (and little hot dogs!)
Chris was the banker of course. The kids did enjoy the game, but even with all the sugar from M&M's and hot chocolate, they eventually started to get tired. 
They were happy when the radio station started the countdown and they could gather in front of the clock in the kitchen to blow their noisemakers. 
We had been listening to disco music the whole night and the first song they played for 2010 was YMCA, we couldn't resist a little dancing. Although Jared is actively participating in this picture, it didn't take long before he started to get a little embarrassed that his Mom and Dad were dancing in front of his friends. 
She picked out the banner in the background when we went to the store, then the girls and I made some more decorations by coloring pages printed from the computer. She even insisted on dressing up as Tinkerbell.
I made a lemon cake with green frosting to stay true to Tinkerbell colors.
When I asked her what kind of food she wanted she said, "Hamburgers and cheese." So we had mini cheeseurgers (I used hot dog buns and cut them into three), goldfish crackers, and fruit snacks for lunch. LaLa (Alyson), LiLi (Liam), and Ladaline (Adaline) came for the party too. After lunch, they played with playdough which was a huge hit, then Amber unwrapped her presents.
Next it was time for cake and Ice Cream. Amber loves to sing the Happy Birthday song so she sang loud and clear, "Happy Birthday to me!"
Blowing out the candles. She loves to blow out candles and her sister got mad when she blew her candles out last September so she was so excited that this time it was her turn.
Our two blonde pixies.
Our beautiful little Tinkerbell. If the purpose of pixie dust is to make one smile, then Amber must truly be a fairy. She is full of smiles and has always brought laughter into our home. Happy 3rd Birthday Amber, We love you!!
I went out one day when the sun was making the snow sparkle and tried out the Circular Polarizer filter. I didn't have much luck with the snow, but got this shot of the sun that I love. Only I can't remember if this is with the filter or without. It will be hard to try to get this shot again as the sun rarely shines so brightly in Virginia.
An attempt to get a plate of the cookies that we delivered to friends and neighbors this year. No flash, good light from the window, but the shadows were causing problems.
Mother nature must have known that I got a new camera because we rarely see sunsets like this.
Chris took this one of Amber in the portrait mode which blurs the background.
No flash, low aperature. I've discovered the lighting in our living room is difficult to shoot in.
I don't like the way the flash washes out the colors, but without the flash the images are blurred or have deep shadows. I took this one with the flash, but used a 812 warming filter to warm up the colors. I like this combo the best so far for indoor pictures, but it still leaves the image without any depth.
Outdoor lighting is so much easier to work with. This is using the macro mode which also blurs the background.
This was actually the fourth picture I took with the camera, it was in full auto mode, but I love the colors and clarity. This was sticky rolls that a friend made for a breakfast we had with our Young Women.
These are the gifts from Mom and Dad to the kids, all wrapped in coordinating paper, I couldn't resist the photo opp.
Krystal was pleased to get an Easy-Bake Oven from Santa.
Clarissa opening her Barbie clock/radio from Santa.
With a faster camera I actually caught the moment when Jared realized that Santa had brought him the Lego set that he had been hoping for.
After opening the family gift that was a Karaoke machine, a note told the kids to go to the basement and there they found the stage that Santa brought (and Dad helped assemble).
Also in the basement was Amber's train table that Santa brought and Jared's train set that he gave to Amber this Christmas.
I love this camera! I captured the moment when she gave her brother a thank you hug for giving her the train set. (I didn't get the tears of joy that Jared shed after the hug).
All the kids got these portable microphones in their stockings to aid in their performances on the stage. Krystal is all dressed up in her feety pajamas and purple accessories (too bad you can't see the purple heels from her Aunt Kara).
Amber wearing her bling and putting on lipgloss. She's in almost-three-year-old heaven.
While the kids played with their toys and Chris napped, I spent the day cooking all our favorite holiday meals. Chris got this picture of me cutting the ham with one of my new knives (and sampling the ham :)).
Ham, sweet potatoes, cheesy scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade rolls, cranberry sauce, pretzel jello, and cranberry sprite is what we had for dinner. Jared asked me why I was cooking so much food. I tried to explain something about traditions and smells and family togetherness and Chris was like, "Because Americans are obsessed with eating." Aww, leave it to a man to crush the romantic ideals of a woman who just spent all day making sure that every sense of the human body was tickled by this holiday feast. Oh well, in reality he was the first one to grab the camera and start taking pictures of the food and the first one to dig into the savory bites of his favorite dishes. We polished off the night with pumpkin pie and egg nog and rolled into bed happy, tired and very full.
