Mt Vernon

They girls go to Mt Vernon at least monthly and always have a good time. Often their friends, Charlotte and Mackenzie join them. Today they saw baby pigs and lambs!

Bubbles with Daddy

Trip to the Dentist

This was their second trip to the dentist, but the first REAL trip (meaning they got their teeth cleaned, flouride, and no issues). Amazing how good they did. Thankfully Sylvia went first without issue and set the stage for Evelyn. Look how happy Evelyn was to be in the big chair!

Summer In Spring

We returned from snow to 70-80 degree days! We filled the pool for the first time on March 14th. It's going to be a good summer!

Trip to Aspen March 4th - 9th

What a fun trip! We hope to take the girls next year!

Why?

Why, why, why???? A quick flavor for it here (before my camera ran out of space!)

Cute Recent Pictures

Don't you love their new sunglasses. How perfect -- blue and pink!

Sylvia is a hoarder and has to take many things everywhere.

The girls LOVED helping Daddy make a fire and then roasting and eating marshmallows on Sunday!

Busy Girls

If you're curious, here's what the girls were up to in February and what they will be doing in March, here are the calendars Angela put together. Every morning at breakfast they ask "what am I doing today." This calendar only includes the morning activities with Angela and doesn't include swimming and soccer on the weekends, plus all the weekday playdates Mommy plans. For explanation, Sherwood is the local library where they have all sorts of fun programs; Tavern Toddlers is a program at Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town; Windmill Hill and Grist Mill are parks/playgrounds; and Bounce House is a place that has tons of large indoor inflatables.

Below is their program for the week (it's sorted by day of the week and activity):

Gumball Painting
Gumball cut and paste
Easel fingerpainting
Coloring page
Gumball machine suncatcher
Gumball man
Ring around the rosey
Pop goes the weasle
Jack and Jill
Hokey Pokey
Things that start with G
G pom pom page
G dot page - stamps
Gumball couting
G lace card
Gumball Patterns
cutting
Size sort
Gumball Letter match
Gumball puzzle
Capital/Lowercase sort
Color by number*
Color Matching
Writing practice
ziplock letters
ABC Flash Card
Number Flash Card
Color Matching
Counting Objects
Week Review

Mommy is a Princess?!

The girls are very much into Princesses, especially Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Snow White. Two days this week I have worn dresses to work and Sylvia says, "Mommy, your dress is so pretty. You look like a princess. Do a twirl." Evelyn said today (before Sylvia) "Mommy, you look like Snow White."

Gotta tell you, I wasn't so into princesses growing up (factor of having brothers probably), but at 37 years old, I will gladly accept my daughters telling me I look like one! So sweet.

Also, the unsolicited "I love you so much" even when Sylvia is covered in vomit (see previous post) makes your heart melt.

Breaking Bad Habits

I always joke that David traveling gives Mommy the opportunity to break bad habits. The latest focus has been Evelyn banging on her door (waking up early and at bed time) and Sylvia waking up the whole house in the middle of the night with tears and claims of a "bad dream." We have a good reward system (they earn 7 magnets they get a prize), but Evelyn wasn't enticed. Unfortuntely, Mommy's mad face had to come out and the good old time out approach broke Evelyn of her banging. We also have a light on a timer for her at night (I think part of her difficulty was her transition to the toddler bed and perhaps a fear of the dark), which has helped. She also used to get very upset when she spilled milk or we switched milk cups or plates. Now she calmly communicates "whoops, let's clean that up" or "Mommy, you switched our cups." Smoothing out the ups and downs has been a challenge, but she's doing great. A few solid days of focus and we did it!


As for little Sylvia...she's a drama queen. She would wake up and decide she needed to cry, scream and yell for no apparent reason (the bad dream excuse often happens when she's awake too...it's just her excuse for bad behavior). I also told her she would get a time out if she cried anymore at night for no reason. Last night, I heard her make a little cry and then quickly quieted down. I asked her about it this AM and she said "Mommy, I cried a little bit, but then went right back to sleep."


Success. Life is good at the Romleys. Mommy and Daddy get along so well when the girls are happy and we are rested. Yeah!

G is For Gumballs

This week's letter is Gg for Gumballs. Here they are painting with gumballs (or marbles). Angela said it was a huge hit and they could have done it all day! So fun!

Broken Camera, Stomach Bug, Latest Happenings

Sorry I haven't posted, but my point and shoot camera is no longer working, my flip video broke long ago (the one Grandpa loaned is a decent subsitute, but fills up after just a few short videos), and Sylvia went from fever to a cold to the stomach bug. Taking pictures hasn't been a priority!

We had to cancel all of our weekend plans with friends (sorry Jones and Turners) for fear one of us was just incubating the stomach bug/flu Sylvia had on Friday early; we didn't want to be in close proximity to friends. Thankfully besides feeling a little queasy, all of us remained healthy (besides the cold Mommy and Angela have been trying hard to beat). Therefore, the weekend consisted of soccer, a pedicure for Mommy (all the running has done a number on those toes!), swimming, and lots of backyard playtime. On Sunday we started a fire and roasted marshmallows. I did get some pictures, but haven't had time to load!

The big news is that we are preparing the girls for our trip to Aspen! Mommy and Daddy are escaping for 5 nights and 6 days to relax, reconnect, and wake up on our OWN timeline. Oh yeah, we will get a lot of skiing in too. Angela is watching the girls and has a week filled with fun activities (no different than usual) and an overnight visit from her Mom (the girls LOVE Pam, especially Evelyn...they have a very cute connection). We leave Sunday and return Friday, which will allow Angela some much needed R&R upon our return. We are very excited and grateful she is willing to do it.

Visit to Oxon Hill Farm

Just over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge is a really cool farm called Oxon Hill Farm, a National Park! The girls got to milk a cow (Evelyn did it all by herself...Sylvia was not interested), feed chickens, take the chicken eggs and feed the pigs, see the sheep and goats, and play in the visitors center. Grandpa was in town and got to share his insights of growing up on a farm. We enjoyed hearing stories about how many pigs, cows, horses he took care of as a boy.

Quick Update

The girls have been SICK! Sylvia had a fever on/off Monday, Tuesday and ending Wednesday morning. She had no apparent symptoms, but Evelyn has a wicked cold and a super dry face from blowing/rubbing her nose with tissues. Poor girls. Plus, Daddy has been away all week! Thankfully they are sleeping well and behaving like big girls, so it hasn't been too bad.

Lego Play

We have the toddler size legos, but the girls never seem to play with them. They rediscovered them after a bookstore storytime. You should have seen their towers when they were done!

Before Bed Shots

Just some cute pictures before bed in their new jammies sent by Grammommy. Sylvia was not interested in sitting still for her solo shot.

First Pictures on New Camera

Love, love, love this new camera. What cute random pictures taken at lunch after the purchase.

Learning Spanish & Roaring like Dinos

The girls' program is now focused on re-doing alphabet to more completely learn lower case letters. In addition, they are learning a spanish word of the week. They have mostly mastered -- aqua (water), bialar (dance), and casa (home). This week they will learn dia (day) and D is for dinosaurs. See the cool dinosour feet and you can see they are roaring! They demanded Angela send this picture to us the moment it was taken. Look at how fun fun they are having!

Super Bowl XLVI!

We went to a superbowl party, but it started before kick-off because the game started at 6:30pm (and it was party with kids). While at the party, Sylvia kept asking me when the party was starting (there was no football!) and I explained we were at the party. When we got home I told them it was time to go to bed and Evelyn screamed "No, I want to watch football." So we set up a picnic dinner and let them enjoy the game before bed. Who would have known we have huge football fans.

Spelling

Evelyn loves her name puzzle. And, she loves any words that have the letter E in them. Here she is showing off how to spell her name.

Baby Puppy Goes to the Doctor

Evelyn's puppy was sick and needed to go to the doctor. Doctor Sylvia made the puppy all better and then checked out Mommy Evelyn too. Note Sylvia putting the blood pressure monitor around the puppy's tail and checking his heartbeat on top of his head.

Sylvia Sleeping

When Sylvia sleeps hard, she's out. I went to wake her up from her nap (we get them up no later than 3pm so they actually fall asleep at night) and she was out. I snapped this picture of her sleeping so peacefully.

Friday Night Dance Party

After dinner tonight, Evelyn and Sylvia decided they must have a dance party. They scurried downstairs for their favorite dance party accessories. Sylvia carried up a huge basket full of dresses, Evelyn grabbed her Rody horse and horn. Then, the fun began! They were decked to the nines and danced around. Note in one picture Sylvia had to stop to put on her party shoes (note, she walks around all day saying "I'm a princess"). Evelyn had to run upstairs to find "pup pup" and downstairs for baby Snow White...how dare she party without them? You'll see in one video Evelyn was "feeding" her baby Snow White. She feeds them milk from her belly (she obviously sees my friends nurse their babies and she thinks they drink milk from their bellies since they are covered up and she's not totally sure what they are doing." She does this with a lot of her animals/babies. She likes being the "mommy."

They have really started to play amazingly with eachother and they are so cute imagining all the things they do! It's hilarious to watch.

A is for Apple

I've mentioned it before, but Anglea does a great job with their program and they will be more than ready for preschool next year (they are on the waitlist for the 3-half day, 3s program at St, Aidan's next door). Angela does circle time with them focused around a weekly theme and they go over the days of the week, months of the year, and weather. They are starting the alphabet over again (they just completed 26 weeks of A-Z) and focusing more on lower case letters, a spanish word and counting from 10-20. They did a lot of crafts this week, including painting with apples and making an apple suncatcher.