Our Favorite Season!

7:45 am CST December 16, 2010
The vibrant fall colors have filled the sky! We've enjoyed time outside and watched the days fly by! President's homes, a marathon, the National Mall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, friends and football! It's getting chilly...let's pull out the gloves! Happy 5th anniversary to my dear love.

We kicked off the fall season with a trip to Annapolis to see a Navy football game!!!

We were thankful to find a park to play at while we waited for the game to begin.

Jamil and Gabriel enjoyed watching all of the boats come in cheering for Navy!

We strolled around this precious town, had a nice lunch and grabbed some ice cream before heading to the game. Of course, Gabriel picked out the brightest and most colorful ice cream, rainbow flavor!

Where is Abraham during all of this excitement...hanging out in the basinet section of the stroller, which is under Gabriel! Most of the time he is sleeping so sweetly, but the poor little guy seems to get the shaft when it comes to representing the Musas in our pictures!

Go Navy...as long as you're not playing Air Force or TCU!

CD came in town to see the boys and was able to speak with Jamil in Arabic!

We walked around The Mall and saw the national monuments.

The boys got their 2 year and 3 month shots...not so fun, but we walked away with some awesome, bright, yellow bandaids!

Abraham has started to grab at all of the crazy things that have been hanging over his head for the past few months!

He has also found his cute, little fingers and his sweet, little mouth!

Jamil and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on October 8th! We go the traditional route with our presents, so the 5th year calls for a wooden gift. We got the exact same gift for each other.. a wooden salad set with a stand that we have been eyeing for years. HA! Elizabeth was so kind to watch the boys so that we could have a nice grown up dinner at a fancy steak house!

We headed on the road to St. Louis to see our friends, Chris and Kendra, get married! Jamil loves to stop at Dairy Queens in small little towns. I enjoyed their seasonal pumpkin ice cream, and Gabriel and Jamil had a good ol' fashion soft serve on a cone!

Our dear friends, The Conleys, were nice enough to let us stay with them in Indiana. They also made the trip with us to the wedding, and we visited the St. Louis Zoo!

Gabriel is still talking about the hippos he saw swimming at the zoo!

Where is Abraham? He was promoted from the basinet in the stroller to the baby seat behind Gabriel. He is able to look out and see the world and really enjoys it!

Brendan hit it off with Gabriel and Abraham. This was our first time to meet him, and he is such a doll!

Uncle John was able to make it to the wedding as well. He showed Gabriel the elephants. They were truly a sight to see as the babies were playing in the waterfall!

We got stuck on the elevator as we were heading to our rooms to get ready for the wedding! It came to a jolting stop between the first and second floors, and they had to send someone out the pry the doors open!

Gwen, Abraham, Gabriel, another man and myself all became very close through this tragic event! ;) Funny thing, we don't have any pictures of the wedding!!! You'll have to imagine the boys dressed in adorable matching suits from Mimi and Papa! Thanks! The bride and groom were gorgeous, and the wedding and reception were beautiful! We probably don't have any pictures, because the boys decided to give us a hard time that evening. I'll spare you the details, but it was definitely an adventure!

Halloween morning Jamil ran the Marine Corps Marathon here in DC! We tried to find him in through the crazy crowds and traffic from roads being blocked, but we missed him. Just imagine him running here past the Washington Monument!

Jamil ran for a charity called 25:40 that helps children who are orphans in Africa. Thank you to all who gave to this charity!

Jamil received a massage in the 25:40 tent, and Gabriel added to his relaxation by finding an African vuvuzela!

We went home and got ready for trick or treating!!! Jamil and Gabriel were Barcelona soccer players, and Abraham was a soccer ball!

After Jamil walked up the first set of steps I had to take over..not easy to go trick or treating after running 26 miles!

Where's Abraham? He had a nice little nap while Gabriel learned to say, "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you!" but sometimes not in the right order.

My referee costume didn't come together like I wanted, so I pulled together a witch costume in about 5 min...

I Love My Mummy!

Gabriel learned about skeletons this halloween and is still talking about them...I'm posting this fall blog in December :) He says, "Skeletons are all done about everyday". BTW, it is technically still fall, even though it's snowing outside today!!! I'll probably have the snow pictures up in early spring. :)

We went to the Reston Zoo with our friend Jocelyn and had a blast!

Thanks Christine, Jocelyn and Keira! We had a great time!

We LOVE the changing colors of the leaves!!! We have never lived anywhere to see a "real" fall season, and we are in awe!

We've spent a lot of time at our neighborhood park this fall. Here are some of my favorite pics!

How strong is he!?! He's doing something new on the playground everyday!

We're movin' on up to the big boy swing, but we head back to the baby swing when he wants to go really high!

Where is Abraham? Thank God he is so chill so I can supervise Dare Devil Gabriel!!

We've met many sweet kids, but Gabriel always asks about this little boy. Hopefully we'll see him again. He thought it was cool that they had matching vests!

...and another stroller picture it is... He doesn't sit in the stroller all day everyday. We DO hold him...a lot. :) I strongly believe that babies need a lot of cuddle time!

Gabriel played a little dress up with Abraham's orange diaper and his construction outfit!

Abraham was not happy about falling victim to his brother's make believe!

Finally, a picture of Abraham doing something else! We dug out the old bumbo seat this season, and he has really enjoyed the new view.

We got back to the house after another visit to the park, and I had to take pictures of my little boy's red noses! I don't know if you can tell in these pictures, but it is starting to get pretty cold outside!!!

We decided to hit up some of the homes of our past presidents this season. First, we went to Mt. Vernon to see Washington's home.

His home sits on the Potomac River and is a beautiful sight!

The next Saturday we went to Moticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. Jamil and I were both inspired as we learned more about Jefferson and took in the beautiful scenery.

We were amazed at how quickly things change as we drove out to Madison's house the very next weekend. Most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, but it was still a nice, scenic drive.

Gabriel was not having it with this home tour, so he and Jamil had to step outside while Abraham and I finished the tour. You wouldn't be able to tell it by the sweet look on his face in this picture. :)

Aunt Leila and Yaya came to visit for Thanksgiving!

I can't believe both of my boys got my eyes and CD's dimples!!!

Yaya cooked a yummy Thanksgiving meal. Thank you!

Jamil blew up Gabriel's Jumpolene and he went to town! He did a lot of summersaults and even caught some air for a front flip!!!

Gabriel knows all of his ABCs and loves to try to write them as well. Leila and I went out in search for some big, chunky crayons for those little fingers!

Gabriel surprised us all when he climbed up the rock wall!!!

Abraham is quite the wiggle worm! He loves to wiggle his way down until his feet touch the floor. He then bounces himself and LOVES it! It's quite funny to watch, but don't worry...we buckle him in when he can't have our full attention!

We made Chocolate Chip Cookies...YUM! Gabriel has turned into quite the sweet tooth lately!

The big news in the Musa household for the month of November is that Gabriel moved to his big boy bed, and Abraham moved into the crib!!! They are going to be graduating from HS in the blink of an eye!!! Thank you Yaya, for sewing the flag curtains in Gabriel's Around the World Room!

POSTED BY jdmoose

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