Camping with Grandpa

Super fun time with Grandpa in his fancy RV with cousin/niece Alexis for 3 nights!  We stopped on the way to pick peaches and blackberries. 

2 Weeks Have Gone By...

It's hard to believe 2 weeks have gone by already. I still need to update pictures from the last post!  Oh well, I suppose you could say we are having a good time enjoying summer.  Evelyn and Sylvia enjoyed 2 weeks of morning swim lessons and then almost everyday went to a playground and then back to our pool.  Some days they were in the pool 3x in one day!  They literally smell of chlorine, no matter how often they take a bath.  For the weekends, it seems to be the norm to have 1-2 families over for dinner one evening.  The Garr's and Berry's joined us (so 7 kids total!) on Friday the 12th. Saturday, we hit the pool and Sunday we met up with some friends for breakfast in Old Town to meet their new baby.

Last weekend, Grandpa and Alexis (14 year old niece and the girls cousin) drove all the way from Indiana to meet us in Luray for camping at Jellystone Park (or as Sylvia calls it, Jellybean Stone).  It was sooo hot, so we were very thankful for Grandpa's luxurious RV with air conditioning, beds, and full kitchen.  The DVD and popcorn helped too!  We pretty much swam all day and hung out in the RV after around 4pm.  We did go out on paddle boats and did a round of mini golf.  On the way out we stopped to pick peaches and blackberries.  David rode his motorcycle out so Grandpa and David enjoyed some guy time on skyline drive.
This week the girls are in drama camp at a local elementary school.  They are really enjoying.  They seem to be making the set and preparing for a show they will put on Friday.

Next week and the week after they are in Vacation Bible School at local churches/preschools.  Lots of their neighborhood friends will be there too (it's the best deal in town!), and while we aren't religious, I'm not opposed to them getting a little Jesus in the summer.  They are well organized and a lot of fun!

Then, we go to Michigan to see Granny, Grammommy, Gramps, the Benson Crew (including 3 cousins), Uncle Shane, Aunt Sheri, and Uncle Kirk.  I'll be there 9 days with the girls, David will come out a day later.  Should be good fun!  Excited to see all that Grammommy and Gramps have done.  Lots of hard work that will provide many, many more years of enjoyment for everyone.

I promise pictures soon.  Maybe tomorrow, if you're lucky :)

Fun Week of Plans

The girls have a fun week of activities planned, just like most week's!  Last week was camp, this week they are getting together with friends for play dates on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

• Monday they went to a friend's house in the morning for play time.  In the afternoon, we had over 2 other friends for a drop off play date and dinner to help out some good friends of ours.  
• Tuesday they met the kids of Carolina's au pair friend (the host family's kids!); they are 4 and 2, then they had a picnic lunch and then went to the pool.  
• Wednesday, they will decorate their bikes for July 4th with friends and have an afternoon playdate with more friends.
• Thursday, we are going to a friend's pool 4th of July party with bouncy houses and swimming.  Home for a quick nap and shower.  Then we head into DC for dinner and then to the White House for fireworks.
• Friday, we are having a BBQ with 2 families from our neighbhorhood.  This day includes skyping with Granny and family at the cottage in Michigan! 
• Saturday, David and I are going to a National's game with friends. 
• Sunday, we will rest.  Go to the pool or hang out at home.  

Happy 4th of  July!

Slip & Slide Fun

We're pretty lucky we have great outdoor space at our house, so often we don't have to go anywhere to have fun.  They love to play in the sandbox, on the play set, trampoline or with the water toys. Here they are cruising down the slip and slide!  I should have gotten a video of David's attempts.

Weekend

The weekend was fun, but slightly uneventful.  The girls wrapped up a week of sports camp.  It rained every single afternoon, so attempts to go to the pool were a complete bust.
--Friday--happy hour playdate with friends.  Terrible storm that blew down our neighbhor's fence; David came to the rescue to help fix it.
--Saturday -- Absolutely nothing on the calendar.  Hung out in the morning at the house and hit the pool in the afternoon.
--Sunday -- Mommy had brunch with girlfriends (so fun!) and then enjoyed an afternoon of sweating in the back yard.  It was so hot!

Oh Sylvia

Sylvia has always loved to use scissors.  She says "I want to do my cutting."  She will cut out hearts or cut string to make a kite.  Well, on Sunday, she decided that she would cut her hair!  Yes, about 3 inches of hair from the front part of her hair I pull back into a pony tail.  I found the hair under our craft mat.  Clearly she knew she did something wrong when she hit it.

I found the hair 2 days later.  I asked her when she cut it, she said "a long, long time ago at Granny's cottage."  Ha!  Lie!  I asked her again and she finally fessed up.

Little booger.  Thankfully it doesn't look too bad, since I pull up that part of her hair anyway.

I guess I should have forced her to use the lame scissors that only cut paper.

Recent Happenings

We've been busy, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to post.  Here are some recent happenings:
-David was away for 17 out of 21 days beginning in late May.  He was in Latvia, a few cities in Germany and Bilbao, Spain. The girls raked in the gifts with a woven bracelet from Latvia, travel bag from the "pilot", and beautiful music carousels from Germany.  They wind them up all day.  Sylvia was the most thankful and carried hers around for 3 days.
-We celebrated Father's day with a surprise of the photos from a shoot of us in May.  He was so surprised.  The pictures are adorable and turned out great.
-We enjoyed a Swedish Midsummer Festival celebration with Carolina. Midsummer is their most celebrated occasion after Christmas.  It was very cool.  We decorated the maypole, played games and sang songs and danced around the pole.  We had no idea what the songs meant, but it didn't really matter.  Then, we feasted on a potluck dinner of lots of yummy Swedish and American foods.  Gotta tell you, pickled herring is not very good.
-After all of David's travel (and Mom may have been a bit exhausted too), we headed to Bethany Beach for some well-deserved R&R.  What a great trip!

In other developments, the girls can read basic reader books by themselves.  Pretty amazing stuff.  Their handwriting skills are amazing.  Further, we got these Brain Quest Kindergarten cards and they can answer all of the questions in the decks except for those about time and money.  So, that's what we will work on next.  They are masterful at patterns and sounding out words.  So proud of them!

Also, Sylvia has been sleeping in under ware for about a month!  Evelyn is a bit frustrated when she doesn't wake up dry, but we aren't worried or stressed about it.

Swedish Midsommer Festival

Decorating the maypole, games, singing and dancing.  So fun!

Bethany Beach

What a fun relaxing vacation.  Love that many of the pictures Evelyn just decided to go in with her clothes on!

Zoo

Pictures taken at the National Zoo on a fun Friday morning.  Notice the panda behind Evelyn.

Becoming a Lady

Sylvia just started doing this.  Balancing a book on her head.  She learned it from a show "Sophia the First" about a girl who becomes a princess.  Pretty good skills in high heels!  Evelyn is practicing...she got a little frustrated.

Recent Pictures

Playing outside, playing t-ball, walking a friend's dog, and eating donuts!

Happy Saturday

Before heading out to their friend, Clara's, birthday party, we snapped a few pics.

End of an Era-Angela's Last Day

Friday was Angela's last day.  We met her in March 2009 and hired her on April 9, 2009, 21 days before the girls were born.  So hard to believe it's been this long!  

We adored her from the start.  She first babysat the girls on our anniversary in August and then started work on September 8, 2009.  She has been an amazing addition to our family.  We were lucky that she actually lived with us for about 18 months and was the girls nanny for nearly 4 years.  Gotta say that Angela and I were a pretty amazing team.  We were always on the same page and worked through issues with the girls decently seamlessly.  Most importantly, Evelyn and Sylvia LOVE her.  Like REALLY LOVE her.  

We are sad that she is moving onto greener pastures, but very excited for her.  She is starting her career after finishing her Masters degree in non-profit management.  We are very, very proud of her.    

We had a nice lunch with Angela on Friday to wish her well.  There may have been a little bit of crying (ok, bawling).  We love her dearly as a friend and caregiver for the girls.  Thankfully, she doesn't live far and we will definitely see her as much as we can!  I know the girls are holding out for an invitation to be the flower girls at her wedding, no matter when that happens.

  

Daddy The World Traveler

Daddy is on the move...

Sunday, May 26th - Thursday, May 30th - Brussels, Belgium.  Yes, this is Memorial Weekend!
Tuesday, June 3rd - Friday, June 7th (really late return) - Riga, Latvia
Monday, June 10th - Saturday, June 15th - Germany Tour & Bilbao, Spain

Thankfully, when he returns we are headed to the beach for some R&R needed for ALL!

End of First Year of Preschool!

Hard to believe their last day of school has passed!  They had an end of year concert with the whole school (videos to come) and a class luncheon.  So super cute.  Next year they will be in the 5 day/4s class.  5-half days.  And, yes, they will be in the same class.

Welcome Carolina

We are so happy to have Carolina in the USA with us finally.  After Angela moved out in January we revised her contract through the end of May.  With the girls being in school 5 days next year and David's travel, it made a lot of sense for us to purse a more flexible nanny live-in situation.  We worked with Au Pair in America to find Carolina.  It was pretty obvious from the first read of her application that she was ideal for us.  She'd been working at a preschool for nearly 2 years with children ages 3-6 in Sweden, living on her own, and driving for some time.  We skyped a lot and finally made her the offer!  Happily she accepted.  We continued to skype with her for months calling her a "friend from Sweden."  Then, we asked the girls if they wanted her to to come live with us, so THEY actually asked her on Skype (we wanted them to feel in control, even though the decision was made long before).  On May 19th, Carolina arrived in NY for orientation with 70 other girls.  She made a lot of new friends, including several living very nearby.  She then finally got to DC on the 24th.  It was great!  We had a great weekend, including the last day of preschool, touring around DC, two memorial day parties with friends, and doing lots of other stuff like taking her to the bank, driving, etc.  Good stuff. The girls love her already and she has really fit in well.  We couldn't be happier!

Here are a few pictures of sitting outside Saturday night making smores!  It was a chilly Memorial Day, which I know Carolina appreciated...she was in for HOT weather the next week.

Deck Box Stage Singing

Their stage is on top of the deck box.  They put on a performance.  The first is an out take, it's hilarious.  Turn up the volume.  The third and last videos are the full song from the Little Mermaid!  They actually know the second verse too.  They love Ariel! 

Super BUSY!

Life is insane.  I promise posts in the next few weeks.  Few highlights of what has been going on.

-Over the top princess party for the girls 4th birthday.  Tooks weeks of preparation!

-Visit from Grandpa

-Visit from Grammommy and Gramps 

-Preparation for arrival of our Swedish au pair, Carolina, and for Angela's transition

-Finding new tenants for the townhouse and preparing it.

-Starting t-ball

-Enjoying a few furlough days

-Preparing for the final week of school (as room parent planning birthdays, end of year gifts, teacher appreciation, and end of year luncheon!).

-Hosting friends on the weeks for some seriously fun times

-Father's day portraits taken and printed

Pictures to come.