Spoiled Girls

Here's Daddy giving the girls footrubs while they relax on the couch with a snack. Spoiled!

Enjoying the Patio

The long-awaited patio and fireplace are a huge hit. We are out here all the time and over Labor Day weekend enjoyed several fires because it was cool.

Naughty Sylvia & Silly Daddy

Sylvia didn't want to take a nap. She screamed and cried. This is how we found her. I have no idea how she reached her curtains or why she wanted to put them over her face (thank goodness she didn't strangle herself!). Daddy decided to climb in with her.

Grandpa and Grandma Debi Visit

Grandpa and Grandma Debi flew in from Fort Wayne, Indiana on Thursday night (midnight) and stayed through Monday afternoon. Friday we went to Old Town to feed the ducks, walk around and have lunch. Friday afternoon we hit a nearby water park, which was so fun I'd wished we'd spent all summer there. Saturday morning we went to the zoo and admired a baby gorilla and six lion cubs playing, then went out for Thai on our way home. Sunday we went to our neighbhorhood pool and grilled out there. Monday we went to the National Harbor to play and have lunch. In the evenings we fired up the fireplace, had smores, drank lots of wine. Good times. Plus, many of David's honey-do's were checked off the list with Grandpa's help. These are tiny pictures Debi sent from her iPhone.

Play Date With Wyatt

Today the girls met up with Finn and Wyatt to play. Wyatt had to take a break and Evelyn (our cuddle bug) snuggled up next to him on the ground, then Sylvia joined. How stinking cute are these pictures!?

Happy Birthday Mommy

The girls and Daddy gave Mommy a wonderful birthday celebration. I came home to flowers, balloons, carrot cake, and sushi. Yum! We enjoyed dinner on the new patio (tofu stir fry for the girls and sushi for Mommy and Daddy...they used the chopsticks, but spit out hte sushi)The girls both had to stick their fingers in my cake when I first saw it (we hadn't had dinner yet) and Sylvia pretty much threw it up. The rest of the night "Mine eat ice cream, no like cake." I'm certain she will come around to cake eating. Evelyn, on the other hand, Evelyn enjoyed two small servings of each. They were so tweaked out from sugar, I'm surprised they were able to go to sleep. 37 isn't so bad when you have a loving husband and two amazing little girls, along with a wonderful family and friends. Thanks to everyone who made my day special!

Dog Sitting Lucy

We watched our friend's dog, Lucy, this weekend. She stuck to Mommy's side every moment. While the girls were incredibly sweet with her, I think it was a lot of stimulation for her. It was fun and we all enjoyed her. She's such a good doggie!

Hurricane Irene

An earthquake and hurricane in one week! We prepared for a hurricane that never came -- thank goodness. The girls had fun playing inside (music and taking a bubble bath with Daddy--don't worry he has swim trunks on) and in the rain!

Birthday Party

Yet another birthday party. This one was for our neighbhor - Charlotte. She turned 3. It was a great birthday with splashing, dinner, play and cake! Good times!

Patio Reveal

The patio is FINISHED! It was a long project, but the result shows for itself. We think it's gorgeous. I see lots of fall nights in front of the fire with smores and wine!

Earthquake!

Around 1:50pm today, we had an earthquake. One that really shook up Washington, DC and the surrounding area. It was a 5.8 magnitude shake, which is the highest in recorded human history for this area. Everything is fine, no damage and the girls slept right through it.

Sunday Playdate With Clara

We had the girls' good friend, Clara, over on Sunday with her Mom (Amy) and Dad (Bo). Clara inspired Evelyn from to go to the potty and Amy took her to the potty for the first time! Clara is just a month younger than the girls, but we always learn a lot from her. She's wearing a dress her Mommy wore when she was her age! How circa 1975-ish! [Sylvia wasn't interested in being photographed.

Playing Together

The girls had a blast at a playground after naps on Saturday. They were so cute watching these bigger boys play. Then, we went for ice cream and to Trader Joes. Mommy needed a few things and then always gets them stickers. Again, sorry for the video quality, I can't see what I'm filming, so I'm lucky they are in the frame at all.

Doggie Lucy

Next weekend we are dog sitting for Mommy's friend's dog. The friend is Kamela and her dog, a cock-a-poo, is named Lucy. The girls LOVED meeting her. Evelyn is so gentle and loving to small-ish dogs. Sylvia is too, but not as interested.

Showering

When Mommy showers on the weekends, the girls like to shower too. Here are are post shower/play. Do you like Sylvia's shower cap?

Tuesday Playdate

On Tuesday, Miss JuJu, Wyatt and baby Gresham came to play! Sylvia is very interested in holding baby Gresham, who weighs about as much as she does. She's very sweet with him.

Potty Progess Report

Sylvia is doing GREAT with pee-pee training. She was awarded Dora underware and proudly wore them for 2 days (don't worry, they have 9 pairs). She tells us when she has to go and doesn't have accidents. We have the routine down when we are out. Pretty much when I have to go, I bring them to the potty with me. Girl #1 goes, the other stands by the door with their hands on their head (too much gross stuff to touch). Then girl #2 goes and the other stands at the doors. There's a lot of "don't touch that, put your hands on your head, that's yucky." Then, Mommy goes. We then wash hands (I have to pick each of them up, of course). It doesn't take too long. Besides touching things, the other thing that I have to watch out for is Evelyn peeking under nearby stalls. Some women are slightly amused and thing it's cute....others, not so much. I apologize and it's slightly embarrassing.


However, with all this success, Sylvia complains her "butt hurts." It's because she has to poop, but refuses to go (there's no diaper rash). She saves it up for naps, when she's in a pull up. Then she tells me her butt doesn't hurt anymore. Honestly, I think she's doing it while she sleeps because she wakes half into her nap crying to be changed. We'll work on it. I think we might put her in bed with her Dora underware and she if she keeps her clean. I really just want her to be grossed out enough not to do it. I doubt I will have a 3 year old pooping in her pants, so I'm not worried. She's mastered pee-pee, and I'm so proud of her. Her reward for having a big poopie on the potty is a half of an ice cream sandwich. She's very excited about that and often asks to see the sandwich in the freezer. She's never had one before, so it's new and exciting!

Little Bit of Country

Evelyn has a definite twang. I'm not sure where she's getting this cute little accent, but it's very strong when she says certain things, like "right there". I think it's her Indiana roots coming out (my Dad's side have accents). We joke that Evelyn is a little bit of country and Sylvia is a little bit of rock-n-roll. They are so funny.

Growing Feet

Around mid-June, I bought the girls some cute sandals. Sylvia's were size 5.5 and Evelyn size 5. Sylvia still wants to wear these shoes and I think she finally realized why we say no. She's now in a size 7. Evelyn's feet are so small and narrow. She can still wear her size 5's, but can manage her sisters 5.5's. Notice the painted toes. They love to be like Mommy and want me to paint their toes.

Weekend Fun

This weekend was busy and FUN! To top it off, the girls were ANGELS. I don't know if I could ever say that about an entire weekend, but they were soooo well-behaved. Almost eerie.


Friday afternoon, I took the girls to a new spray park.

Saturday morning we played downstairs (see videop of Sylvia pushing Evelyn in the wagon...she's so strong!), went to the pool, hand lunch and then got poured on! We were already wet, it didn't matter! Saturday afternoon, we had the Venner's over (Jason, Kelly, Lucas (2.5) and Marlow (9 months) and Melissa and her boyfriend. The kids played nicely (having a blast singing ring around the rosey) and then we had a great meal together.


Sunday, it was yucky weather so we took the girls to the bounce house place (tons of bounce houses). David even bounced around! We grabbed lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant (Rio Grande). The girls were so good and Evelyn announced to everyone "bye bye everybody" when leaving and cracked up the whole place. After naps we hit the pool. They are getting so good at swimming with and without their floaties. We are continuing swim lessons into the Fall and Winter with a weekly session on Sunday morning.


Good fun!

Puppy

Evelyn loves her puppy. She calls her pup-pup. We don't let her leave the house with it (for fear it will be lost), but it's what she talks about most and carries around. She has about 12 dolls/animals in her bed, along with 2 blankets and a pillow. She has names for them all...Mommy, Daddy, Grammommy, Angela, etc. Sylvia on the other hand is a purist. She likes one blanket, her pillow (sometimes), 1 doll and a few books. If she accidently puts another doll/animal in her bed she often later cries "I don't want it" and wants us to take it out of her room. So particular these girls!

Loving Greens & Friends

My girls are oddballs, they love to eat raw spinach and lettuce of any kind. I tried to serve some up to their friend Lucas on Saturday when we had the Venner's over, but his parents just laughed at me. Sylvia is trying to "cheers" Lucas in the above picture (he didn't touch the lettuce).

Today's Play Date

Of course, their playdate involved water play too! This time nearly naked and Sylvia hoards the buckets!

Potty Progess

Sylvia did great yesterday! Until 5pm she was in her same cars underware. They went outside to play and got all sweaty and guzzled water. Then, she had a few accidents. Mostly just started to go and then had a huge pee-pee on the potty. She didn't go #2 all day on Wednesday.

Thursday morning she had a tiny #2 on the potty!!!! She earned 5 red M&Ms for her first successful #2 on the potty! Good work, Sylvia!

Also, they both earned 3 M&Ms because they went to the potty all by themselves and put on their undies and shorts back on. Sylvia did this Wednesday night and Evelyn first thing Thursday. Yeah!

Sylvia Potty Training Progress

Sylvia is doing great. She is earning M&M's all day long. Besides going #2, she is doing great! We told her the first time she goes to #2 on the potty she gets 5 M&Ms. Today she is in underware for the first time! She was excited to pick out Tinkerbell and then opted for Cars (the Disney movie...they are for girls). I have a feeling there may be some morning fights over underware (yes, they are sharing...is that gross?). And, I sold all my extra diapers so we are officially done with that phase (and spending up to $100/mo on diapers...at the beginning it was more like $150/mo). Hello big girls. I promised I would get her Dora underware, so a trip to Target is on the "to do" list.

Will post a great picture of her so proud in her undies and will keep you posted. We are also incentivizing the girls to go by themselves. Sometimes their butts, buttons or zippers get in the way of being completely independent. They are great at turning on/off the water, getting soap and washing/drying their hands. I'm so proud of my little ladies.

Summer Fun

We are spending lots of time at the pool this summer. To supplement our outdoor water fun, they enjoy going to a new spray park nearby. This week on the program, they went to a library beach party on Monday, Tuesday they went to the pool, Wednesday to the spraypark, Thursday to playgroup and the pool in the afternoon. Tons of summer water-related fun!

Obsession with Tinker Toys

Every day we play with tinker toys. They make all sorts of things with their wild imaginations. Sylvia made this cool windmill thing all by herself. Evelyn wanted to pose for a picture.

Sylvia Started Potty Training

Last week, Sylvia finally got over her fear of the potty ("No scared Mommy, No"). She had a lot of fun sitting on the potty, but nothing ever came out. After hearing great success stories from friends on their potty training efforts, we picked up some M&Ms to help incentize her along. Neither have had M&Ms, but often ask for chocolate when asked what they want for breakfast (weird...the only chocolate they get is in an occassional granola bar). Evelyn also joined in the fun (if someone knows how to not reward the other kid who's doing the same, but doesn't need to be rewarded, please tell me). So, Sylvia was told she got 1 for pee, 2 for poop. After several attempts with no success (and a few tears because she wasn't getting M&Ms) and pushing fluids, she finally got it. She went pee-pee all day on Sunday. Poop was another story. First time she almost got to the toilet, but didn't quiet get there in time. Second time she went in her pull up. It was a good start. And, you should watch how carefully they choose their prize. It takes up to 30 seconds for them to select the coveted M&M!


If she's successful for a few days, we will put her in underware! I'm pretty sure we are packing up all the diapers and giving them away.

Go Romley Girls!!! At 2 years and just over 3 months, Sylvia has jumped on the potty bandwagon. I estimate I will save about $75/month on diapers! We'll still have pullups for occassional long trips or when I don't want them to have an accident in their cute outfits and at naps and nighttime. When we transition them to a toddler bed, that's when we'll work on potty training while they sleep.

Pool & Dinner with Lemon's

We invited the Lemon's (Jon, Jen, Hanna, and baby Quinn) over to our pool and lugged stuff there to grill after naps (busy day after the bday party in the morning). Unfortunately, it rained and the pool closed. The girls still had a blast playing outside while we were hopeful it would re-open. We all got too hot and sweaty (and baby Quinn really needed to crawl around), so we finally decided to go home and the boys grilled in the downpouring rain. Good, summer fun!

Birthday Party

The girls went to Maya's 3rd birthday party on Sunday morning. It was a princess theme. They made crowns and dressed up. Can you tell Sylvia got into it? And, they loved these powered cars.

PS My flip video is partially broken, so the videos are often not centered because I can't see the frame as I film!

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!