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).