Trip to Michigan in Pictures

Yes, probably too many, but oh well! Can you tell they like to be buried in the sand?

What We've Been Up To

We've been busy and I don't even have cute pictures of the girls to post. It's hard when you're outside all the time and without the camera. David and I have been to several of his work-related functions recently. All have been good, but one was really good. I got to meet Jon Stewart and hear Train live (not like chatting with the Commandant of the Marine Corps and his wife, along with other heavy political hitters isn't also very cool!). See grainy picture taken from David's phone.

Other happenings...I got these wonderful floaties/life jackets and can take the girls in the big pool by myself (together!). It's liberating! We've had a ton of playdates with friends after work and lots of trips to our pool. We've also met a new friend (baby Olivia born 6 weeks ago), went to a friend's christening (baby Melina, sister to Max, the girls' friend who was born a day after them). David had a minor surgery, so we helped him recover with lots of snacks and time on the couch. David also took a trip to St. Louis for Marine Week and a sucessful bruch his Foundation hosted and our patio project is in full swing.

We are gearing up for a trip to Michigan to see Great Granny, Grammommy, Gramps, Uncle Gage, 4 cousins, and Great Uncle Kirk. Should be good fun! We took them on a choo choo (metro) to the airport to see airplanes. A few days later we went to watch them take out and land near the airport, which the girls LOVED, but it was awfully loud and it scared them a bit.

An update post-trip will be in order after the 4th.

Happy Independence Day.

Wildlife Haven at The Romley's House

We mentioned on Easter we had 2 ducks swoop in and spend a good bit of time while we looked for eggs. We've also mentioned there are fox that are often in the woods next door or just hanging around the neighorhood (we've heard, but not seen, the 5 baby fox!). Well, after dinner one night, we saw 3 deer in our yard! One kept hopping the fence for mulberries! The male was a 6-8 point buck! Very cool! Unfortunately, that video was so long, it wouldn't load. We love our house for so many reasons!

Daily Schedule

The girls stay busy. Angela puts together a program for them focused around skills -- motor, language, social/emotional -- music, circle time, and an outing. They have a program for each day of the week. For example, on Monday, they focused on lacing beads, pulling up their pants, a memory game (the old flip over the cards, which they do really well at), making father's day cards, learning ABCs, singing a few songs including "you're happy and you know it," and going to Mount Vernon (they toured the farm, learned about Ox and ran around on a beautiful day). Other activities this week include following 3 part directions, learning days of the week (they are good at this and months). Other outings include going to play group (a usual Tuesday and Thursday occurance -- two different groups), checking out the local farmer's market and library, visiting our neighborhood pool and going on a train ride (metro) to see the airplanes at the airport. They do a lot in the morning, come back for lunch at Noon and then take naps at 12:30. They are up by 3pm, have a snack, and then Mommy comes home. Mommy usually has 2-3 play dates arranged each week after work. We play outside, at the park across the street or at a friends house.


I'd say they have a pretty good life. Since most preschool programs at age 2 are glorified play programs (or full-day day care, which we don't want/need), we will start them in two or three day a week half day preschool in the fall of 2012, when they are 3.5 years old. Thankfully with two kids, they are always have learning about sharing, taking turns, and not being the the full focus. So, I don't think they will miss anything!

Bribery Works

After about a month of very successful potty training with few, if any, accidents. Evelyn had a setback. It lasted about 3 days and she had several accidents. So, knowing stickers as rewards didn't really work for her, I decided to reward her with something she's had just once. ICE CREAM. We picked out her Tinkerbell undies and told her that she should keep Tinkerbell dry and if she does all day, she will get ice cream after dinner. Sure enough, she did! She was very proud of herself. Tomorrow, she will get a popscicle if she keeps Nemo dry.


We are very proud of Evelyn.

Here Mommy

On Saturday morning, I was sitting next to Evelyn on the couch. She loves to cuddle up in a blanket. She looked at me with sweet little eyes and said "here Mommy" and handed me a DEAD MOUSE! I freaked. Leaped out of the couch and Daddy quickly rushed Evelyn to the sink to wash her hands. Then, Mommy called Orkin. It was kind of cute. We speculate the patio project has caused them to come inside. Yes, pretty gross, but that's what happened at the Romley's on Saturday morning.

Visit to Firehouse!

Angela called up our local firehouse and asked if it would be ok to bring the girls by. They LOVE "woo-woos that help people!" They were a little shy when we were there and didn't want to sit in the driver's seat and honk the horn (can you believe that!?), but they had a good time and talked about it all day. It was pretty cool. A woman figherfighter spent a lot of time with us and was very sweet. Thanks to Angela for making it happen!

Counting and ABCs

Good news! Evelyn counted to 10 on her own (without repeating or saying "what's after 3") when she climbed the stairs. She did it again this morning, but skipped 7.

Sylvia can say her ABCs to G without help, but she sometimes misses D & E.

Great progress for 25 months, if you ask me! It's funny because the counting is great up the stairs, but when you have two kids, you can't just climb the stairs with one at their pace, you're often just trying to make sure they get up/down safely. So, we do a lot of counting before extra pushes on the swing, up the ladder, or before we do things. They are also very into the timer "set timer, Mommy." They like to brush their teeth for 2 mintues while singing ABCs. And, when they take FOREVER to eat dinner (my girls can eat!), we set the timer (3 more minutes to eat).

Making Pizza

The girls made pizza for lunch and had a great time. They even picked corn and peas to put on it. What good little eaters.

Fun in the Sun!

Although Daddy was working all weekend (and even stayed in DC Friday night), we had a great time. Friday afternoon, the girls had a playdate with their good friends Wyatt and Chip (of course Baby Gresham was in tow). They played in the pool and sandbox. That evening, Mommy's friend Melissa came over in time for baths and an adult dinner. The next day we all went to the pool (how about these cuties!?). Saturday night, Mommy and Daddy went to a black tie gala for Daddy's work. Sunday, Mommy took Sylvia to visit a friend who just had a new baby. The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed the humid, sunny day in the back yard!

Hot Summer Days

The girls love to have their good pals, Wyatt and Chip, over for play dates. Here they are enjoying a popsicle on a hot, summer day.

Let's Play

Nearly every day when I get home from work, this is what we do. Mommy changes, the girls put on their bathing suits and we play outside in the pool and sandbox. It's living!

Update

Phew, we've been busy! We hosted our friends Brian, Lynn and Baby Morgan for several days last week before their big move to California. Then, we had the Davis' stay over. We had guests for 5 of the last 7 days. Of course, no pictures were taken during this time. I don't know why! It was just busy, but so fun.





Other happenings...Evelyn is doing great with potty training. We had a backup nanny for 2 days (Angela has to take vacation too!) and she did not want to go for her. So, she put her in a diaper. I was pretty upset and worried we'd have to start over. I have no idea why she didn't just put her in a pull-up after several accidents, but as soon as I came home we went back to underware and all was well. The second day, Evelyn had 1 accident and she then sat on the potty for her. So, much better. All was great the entire long weekend. Not one accident. This girl even asks to get out of the pool and bathtub to go. Impressive.


Sylvia is addicted to stickers! She's quite noisy when she wakes up from naps, so I give her paper and stickers to play with in bed if it's before 2 hours. We haven't been to the libary in a few weeks and she is bored of all her books. This tactic has been working. She's mostly covered in stickers all day. It's hilarious.

We enjoyed a trip to our neighbhorhood pool this weekend and they loved it. It's a 5 minute walk from our house. An hour in the pool, then lunch, and home for 2.5 hour nap was the right way to start Memorial day!


Mommy and Daddy have selected a contractor for the patio project and work will begin in about a week. It will be about 1,000 sqft patio with 2 sitting walls made of pennsylvania blue stone on the floor (cut in geometric shapes) and dry stacked granite on the walls. There will also be a nearly 8' wide dry stacked granite fireplace and steps leading up to the driveway. We are also covering up the stairway and floor that leads to the basement to help finish the look, along with post lights and lights along the stairs. It should be pretty cool when finished. The patio there now really is way too small for the yard and it's just a few flagstones thrown on the grass, so we have grass that grows through it, etc. It was obviously not a focus for the previous owners. We are also putting in a travertine backsplash and potentially painting the kitchen. David is pushing hard to put in an inground pool one day. We'll just have to see about that. Definitely only after the girls are excellent swimmers and only if it has a retractable pool cover. I think he's crazy, personally.





I will upload some pictures and videos this week. David's travel/away schedule is picking up again and our visitors have tapered off...should be back to "normal" soon.

Typical Weekend Morning

The weekend mornings are laid back. We get ready to go somewhere by around 10am, but before that we do chores and play; for example, (make two deck boxes), make pies, put stickers all over daddy, and obsess about foam stickers they spend countless hours obsessing over (so much so I took them away).

Mulberries

We have a huge, messy mulberry tree in our backyard. While it provides great shade and yummy fruit, we all have purple stained feet. Daddy is going to cut it down, I think.

Potty Progress

Evelyn has been doing great. She had an accident or two in the last week, but no big deal. It's often when she's preoccupied and doesn't want to take time to go. She starts to go and then calls to go to the potty. She doesn't just pee and sit in it. She also has a cold and low-grade fever, but still potty training like a champ and in big girl underware all day except naps and bedtime (pullups). We take our travel potty with us when we go out and she's good to go. We are very impressed. Still no interest from Sylvia, but that's just fine.

Evelyn's Potty Progress Report--Grade A+

Well, it's pretty amazing! Evelyn has only had a total of 3 accidents since we started training on Friday. No accidents since Sunday. She will tell us when she has to go. I also got a potty chair for when we are playing outside so Sylvia doesn't have to stop playing and go inside (and there's the safety factor of them playing alone in the pool!), and she's had no problem using it for #1 and #2. Evelyn is even waking up from naps DRY! I put her in a pullup instead of a nightdiaper last night and it was fine. No leaks, barely wet. The first thing she says in the morning is "go potty Mommy." She's going about every 2 hours during the day. I'm so proud of little Evelyn.


Sylvia is acting more interested and sat on the potty a few times. I'm not pushing her one bit. It's enough having to rush one child to the bathroom. I don't think I could do two.


I will continue to post progress reports.

Potty Training

Well, Mommy wasn't ready to potty train, but Evelyn was! Since Thursday, Evelyn has been consistently using the potty. This isn't Mommy putting her on the potty, this is Evelyn telling us she has to go and going! She does both #1 and #2. She had 2 accidents on Saturday (no diapers except nap and bedtime; we are actually using a pullup at naps and night diaper at night...rest of time she's in underware) and Sunday she had 1 accident. Pretty amazing. I will keep you posted on the week's success. I'm hoping she doesn't regress because she's been soooo into it. I call her my "pee pee, poo poo potty girl" ... she loves it. Here are a few pictures 1) Evelyn putting on her first pair of undies; 2) Evelyn in her potty dress (it was sooo cute and perfect height for her to pull up herself and get on the potty. She was also drinking lots of fluids, including the special treat of juice, to "make pee pee". I know there has to be a catch because this has been way too easy!

Watermelon

The Romley's love watermelon. Sylvia went through a phase where she wouldn't eat it (after LOVING it last summer)...last night she finally realized it's really good! The three of them ate a quarter watermelon AFTER dinner. Notice their hair is wet, they spent the afternoon goofing off in their pool and helping us in the yard.

Cutie Pies

These girls are silly and cute. Sylvia loves that dang vacuum, wearing her Daddy's ties and that silly flower that isn't even for her hair! Notice all their sun accessories. And, they demand sunscreen. What kind of mutant children do we have that like sunscreen!? Also, take note, this may be the only time they have worn the same thing -- their strawberry pjs and flower hats...because THEY demanded they wear them. Both were gifts.

Eb-A-Lynn

I've been working with the girls to say their own name and their sister's name. I've figured out if I change the V's to B's, they can do it. Here's Sylvia saying Eb-a-lynn.

Evelyn Pee Pee's on Potty

Something strange happened yesterday. As usual, when I got home the girls were in the backyard playing. They were already in their bathing suits and playing in the pool. We were also playing in the sandbox. Sylvia drug a chair under the swing set and said she wanted to sit on it. She did and then all of a sudden Evelyn said "ya ya, pee pee." Sylvia peed on the chair (swim diapers don't collect urine, just poop). I told Sylvia if she has to potty, we go inside. Evelyn said "yeah, pee pee, upstairs on potty." So we went inside, upstairs, and I pulled off her suit and swim diaper. We left the bathroom so she had privacy and sure enough, she went! After bath she told me she had to go and went again on the potty! This morning, she went again! How about that! I'm surprised it's Evelyn because Sylvia is often asking to be changed and crying because she's going in her diaper (a sign she doesn't like it, but Sylvia isn't very interested in sitting on it). Good work, Evelyn. I plan to keep this up until I know they are ready and then we will do the 3 day potty training. I seriously can't potty train two kids at once for months on end! We'll see how it all goes, but we're off to a great start in that Evelyn is telling us when she has to go and going! Angela is going to take them out to pick out special stickers they get as rewards when they potty.

Second Year Finale

We have fully celebrated Evelyn and Sylvia's second year of life. It's been an amazing ride with lots of ups and downs, but with lots of great memories. We are creating hard covered books from this blog for each year of life and this entry will cap off year 2. They will each have a copy. We hope they love these books and reflect on them as cherished memories of their life.

Also, since you never know what might come of their memory boxes with cards and other cherished items, I thought it would be nice to include what we wrote in their birthday cards here on the blog.

Evelyn (it was a cute monkey card), Happy birthday my little money. It's hard to believe you are already 2! You are such a sweet, outgoing and funny little girl. You are incredibly kind to your sister already, making sure she has a "turn," her water, blanket, toy, etc. You say "here Ya Ya." Neither of you are interested in saying each others real names, even though your language skills are very good! You can't go anywhere without waiving to everyone and saying "hi". You love to sing and dance. You love your stuffed dog "pup pup" and your purple blanket. You are a bit of a dare devil and have the most infectious laugh and simple; those dimples ("special dimples" get us every time. We are so fortunate you are our little girl. We love you so much and know you will continue to grow up a wonderful daughter, sister and friend. Hugs and kisses forever, Love, Mommy

Evelyn, Happy birthday Boo boo. Your Mommy and Daddy love you so much and are so excited to see you turn two. You are such a Daddy's girl. I am so excited to see you when I return home each day and so sad to say goodbye to you in the morning. I love talking to you at night before you to go bed. You have full conversations with me even though I only understand every other word. You are such a good climber and like to show me how well you climb on your play set. You are such a good eater and will almost eat anything. You like to help Daddy with his coffee and always ask me to sit next to you. You are such a happy girl. We love you!!! Love, Daddy

Sylvia (her card is of a furry Kitty), My Silly Syl, you are such a sweet little goofball. You are getting so big - already 2- Happy Birthday! You have the biggest, goofiest smile ever and make the best expressions of anyone we know -- you are quick to let us know when you're excited and happy. You LOVE books and have to go to bed with at least 8 and say all day long "read Mommy." You are obsessed with snapping buckles and fiddling with latches -- your Daddy says you will be an engineer. You love the iPad and practicing shapes, colors, numbers and letters. You love to sing "wheels on a bus," the water (swimming and sprinklers), bubbles, chalk, sandbox and glue. You are strong willed and sassy, both characteristics we have gave you. :) You are an amazing little girl eager to learn and full of curls. We are so lucky to have you! We know you will continue to be a loving daughter, sister and friend. We love you! Love, Mommy.

Syl, Syl, Let's go for a horsey ride! You love to ride on my shoulders and make sounds like a horse while kicking me to "go"! You love to wear sunglasses and to push mine on top of my head. You love to build and tinker with tinker toys. Whenever you ask me to pick you up, you always give me a kiss. And, you are such a good swimmer! Your Mommy and I love you very much. Love, Daddy.