Easter (Late Post)

Lots of fun at Easter! Including coloring easter eggs, easter egg hunt with the neighbors, and the white house easter egg roll.

Space Shuttle Sighting

The world's most-flown spacecraft, the Discovery, arrived in the nation's capital, where it will be permanently displayed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The girls went to Old Town to see it fly by twice. Mommy even saw it flight overhead in DC. So cool!

Fun Weekend With Old Pals

Mommy's old DC Crew was united in DC over the weekend to celebrate the wedding of Rich and Cate (not pictured). Folks from DC, VA, IL, WI partied like we did 10 years ago when we had no kids and didn't need to get up in the AM. So fun!!!

Easter Yummies

We made rice krispies into Easter shapes and then decorated them. Yum!

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Evelyn and Sylvia are already loving Easter as much as Christmas. I planned our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt and about 40 kids + parents came. Tons of fun and even had an spoon and egg race after. Next up, White House Easter Egg Roll and then Easter celebration at home!

Sleeping Together

The girls haven't slept together since they were infants. We tried when on vacation in December and it didn't work well. Since Mommy and the girls are going to visit the Indiana family over Memorial weekend and will be sharing a bed, we thought it'd be wise to practice before we go. So, we tried it out. On Friday, they were up until 10pm! They weren't fussing, they were reading, chatting and playing. It was super cute to watch. On Saturday, they fell asleep at 8:30pm after just 45 minutes of playing and reading. Here's a shot from the monitor. Sylvia is hiding behind a book.

Videos

While I love our new camera, I have to figure out how to compress the videos before posting. The flip video did this automatically, so stay tuned for videos.

Nearly 3 Years Olds!!!

What big girls! We had a great weekend while Daddy was in Brussels. They are playing together so nicely and the independent play is a nice break for Mommy! They were even cooperative for these pictures (Sylvia less so...she seriously can't sit still). In one month and two days, they will be THREE!!!

Where has March Gone? I will tell you!

We have been BUSY! Sorry no posts. Few things we've been up to:

1) Mommy and Daddy went to Aspen for 6 days/5 nights without the girls. They did great for Angela! We had a blast. 4 full days on the slopes, great hotel (St. Regis) and lots of fun.
2) Mommy completed another half marathon (while sick and in too hot heat!). Angela did it too, along with many other friends.
3) We have completed 2+ projects -- adding extensive moulding in the living room, family room, dining room, foyer and stairs; AND adding about 14 tress in the back yard shrubs and plants, moving plants around the frount (3+ days of work) and moving the sprinkler lines to accomodate the new plants. House and yard look beautiful.
4) Watching the girls play independently together so nicely for nearly 2 hours (this has been an ongoing trend lately and it's GREAT!). Further, when asking them if they wanted to watch their 1 show of the day or continue to play outside while Mommy went inside to make dinner, they chose staying outside. So, for about 20 minutes, they played nicely outside, by themselves (first time, huge deal!) before Daddy came home.
5) Enjoying LOTS of time outdoors, including all dinners on the new patio, lots and lots of outdoor play + the kiddie pool numerous times and will again today. This weather is unseasonably HOT HOT HOT!
6) Finishing dance and soccer classes, and starting swim class. The girls LOVE to put their faces fully in the water. Gymnastics starts next week!
7) Daddy taking his international trip with his new job to Belgium. We are all waiting for yummy chocolate upon return.
8) Second trip to the dentist with GREAT SUCCESS. They did great, sat in the chair all by themselves, had full exam and flouride treatment with NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER!
9) Starting to plan the girls THIRD BIRTHDAY PARTY!!! Will include petting zoo and pony rides!!! Grammommy and Gramps are coming to visit too!
10) Purchasing a new camera so no more video/camera excuses. I do have pictures to document almost all of these items. Stay tuned. Hope to get them up soon!

Footprint Painting

So fun! And, quite pretty!

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.