4-H Fair

We had a blast at the Fairfax County 4-H Fair on Saturday. The girls pet lots of animals (pigs, goats, sheep, cows, horses, baby chickens), milked a goat, went on a carousel and down a big slide. Oh, let's not forget how much of Mommy's kettlecorn they had!

Morning Learning Hijacked by Need to Clean

Today the girls had a great time painting "E"s and elephants and five (theme of week is E and 5)with colored ice (David thought they were jello shooters and wondered what Angela was up to!). Then, the cleaners came and Sylvia followed them around with her vacuum...without pants, of course. Angela said she "lost all control of learning activities" when the cleaners started to vacuum. Also, don't you dig their new art smocks?

Another Busy Weekend

Daddy has been gone a good bit lately, three whole days this week and three last week. This weekend we were happy he was home. On Friday, Mommy's very good college friend (Amy), her husband (Jason) and their 6 week old baby (Evan) came by for a visit on their way home to Chicago. The girls LOVE babies as much as puppies and want to hold, touch and kiss them. Baby Evan was very sweet and no one heard him at all at night.

Saturday, after our friends left and we had naps, we visited our friends the Turners for a fun playdate with Maya (almost 3) and unexpected gourmet dinner al fresco. What a nice treat. .

Sunday, we hit the pool in the morning (the girls are soooo good at swimming in the adult pool) and had lunch there. After naps we skped with Grammommy and Gramps and earlier we skyped with Grandpa and Debi. Mommy got a new computer so no more technical difficulties! The rest of the afternoon we rode bikes, pulled weeds, played in the sandbox and then came inside to color because it was HOT.

One picture was taken. Will post later.

Learning ABCs and Counting

I've been so impressed with Evelyn and Sylvia's learning abilities lately. Not only can they count to 10, often they go to 12, 13, 14, 15. Once Sylvia counted to 16!

As for the alphabet, somedays they can get through half of the song, or skip some of the middle. They always can say up to H. And, what's really great, is they know by sight (and out of order) ALL of the letters except J, K, Q, U, V, W, X. Yes, they know Y and start this weird arm jerking thing and yell YO, YO, YO. It's almost like they are trying to rap, but they are referring to a yo, yo. So funny.

Pretty impressive for 2 years 3 months. Well, at least, I think it's impressive.

Love to Bounce

Ever since our friends had the party with the bounce house, the girls are crazy bouncers. Angela and I took them to a place with a ton of bounce houses, so they bounced for an hour. Then, I discovered the Rody Horse and had to get one! They are still bouncing, especially Sylvia. For the first time ever, they want to play with Rody or tinkertoys BEFORE eating dinner. That's a big deal.

First Movie and TV Watching

This summer some of the local theatres are offering $1 movies. Angela took the girls to see Yogi Bear. They sat through the trailers and 40 minutes of the movie (1 hour total).

Also, in entertainment news, while the girls don't watch much TV at all, I've been trying to get them to sit down and watch while I cook dinner. Can you believe I WANT them to watch TV? It's especially important to have a few minutes to cook becuase we are now trying to eat dinner together when David is home, and by 6pm so they aren't chewing on my leg! We've been successful the last week or so. Also, on Saturday, I actually got ready while they watched Dora! 15 minutes of free time to shower and get dressed (David was traveling). It was almost liberating.

Welcome Angela

We're happy to share that Angela is now living with us. She's taken up residence in the loft, which is a big room above our main living level with a full bath and gigantic closet. We are excited to have her, for as long as she wants to stay.

Fun at Home

Wildlife Central

We've posted before about birds, deer, fox, and ducks in our yard. Here's a box turtle or Terrapene (you UMD fans) we found just hanging out by the sandbox. The girls were totally into him and tried to feed him lettuce (they are omnivores, but he wasn't interested).

Fun with Food

The girls love to help in the kitchen. Here they are making their own "face" sandwiches and ants on a log.

Weekend Update (pictures to come)

We had a blast this weekend, besides Sylvia having a little cold, which started with Angela and now David has it too. Just a matter of time for Evelyn and Mommy! Friday, after naps we had a play date with Max and Ella, along with all the other siblings (Olivia, 8 weeks; Melina, 8 months; Mia 6 years). It was full of chaos and fun, especially when they all ate dinner together! Saturday, Evelyn and Mommy ran errands, including checking out the Kid's Club at the gym Mommy just joined. She seemed to love it, but we'll see how it goes when she's dropped off there on Monday! Saturday afternoon we went to a big adult party that was incredibly kid-friendly with 2 babysitters, play area and a bounce house. The girls had a blast! Sunday, we hit the pool and then did yard work. It was sooo hot, the girls got into the kiddie pool in the backyard in their clothes.

The week ahead will include field trip to a park on Monday, play group and a pool playdate on Tuesday, library storytime on Wednesday, pool and music program on Thursday, and a trip to a big bounce house on Friday! This weekend we have visitors coming and 2 parties. I'm exhausted already!

First Bounce House

The girls have been around a few bounce houses, but not interested in getting in. Sylvia is quick to tell you when she's "Scared Mommy." Well, this time we were at a friend's party and they had a bounce house and nannies to watch the kids. We shoved them in and they had a blast. Sylvia now says "No scared bounce house Mommy." And, they stayed up the latest since they were infants (8:54pm). Did they wake up later than normal? NO!

White House 4th of July

Celebrating the 4th of July on the White House lawn is a pretty special place to be. Amos Lee and the band Train played. We had a sitter. (smile)

Trip to Michigan

We headed to Michigan to see Granny for 5 days! Grammommy, Gramps, and cousin Alexis (12) came too. Uncle Kirk was there as well (he lives up there). The last day, the Benson's came up too -- Uncle Gage, Aunt Jen and cousins Lydia (5), Calvin (3) and Vivian (1). It was so fun! Here are a few videos from our trip (note my flip video screen is broken so I can't few what I'm filming, hence the strange framing).
The girls were very excited to fly on an airplane. On the return flight the pilot let Sylvia push buttons in the cockpit and they were both given wings. They both now say they are pilots! They did great on the flights there and back, which total 7 hours...drive to the Baltimore airport (1hr), flight (1.5 hours), drive to the cottage (1.5 hours), plus the airport check-in, getting rental car, etc. Our only rough point was on the drive to the cottage (it was 1pm) and they couldn't sleep, so there was a lot of screaming.
We did so much while we were there, including lots of fun at the lake and beach (Granny's lake doesn't have a beach, just a dock, so we went to the beach down the road for fun in the sand, even in cloudy/cold days it didn't stop them from running in with dresses on), trip to the Uncle Kirk's property to see his new chickens, petted many horses at the Horse Show, made butter and fed cows at County Dairy Fair (and enjoyed lots of free ice cream). We even got to celebrate Uncle Gage's 35th birthday.
Most importantly, the girls (and Mommy) got some quality time with their amazing Great Granny (age 90!). She's in great health and sharp as a whip. At night we played a family favorite card game (backward Rummy) and she always beat us. The girls even kind of sat still for her to read stories one night.
A special thanks to Grammommy for making all this happen. She brough the packnplays, seats for eating, lots of toys, bought all the food and even retreated to a bed and breakfast when we reached capacity. She made several trips to make sure the cottage was ready (hiding medicines and breakables was a very smart thing to do!). We all know how much effort it took and we appreciated every single thing.
Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I'm starting to think about us going back sooner than next year, which was our original plan.
Pictures coming in another post.

Trip to Michigan in Pictures

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