Happy Independence Day

We love July 4th in our house.  We have an annual tradition of spending it on the south lawn of the White House.  This year was the first year we brought Evelyn and Sylvia.  After a full morning at the pool and bouncing in bounces houses brought in for the occassion, the girls power napped and got ready for an evening in DC.  We dined at The Hamilton (picture above) and then enjoyed face painting, balloon artists, country music star Brad Paisley perform for over an hour, and then watched the Nation's best firework's show!  So fun.  More pictures at the White House to come! 

Back Yard Fun

The girls' trip to Oxon Hill farm was cancelled because of a service visit from our sprinklers, so they invited their best pals, Charlotte, Mackenzie and Avery over for some good, old fashioned back yard water fun!  [They were drying...not laying out!]

Another Friend's Birthday Party

Always lots of fun parties to go to.  This time it was the girls' friend, Alex.  He turned 3 and hosted his party at the Playseum in DC on Sunday.  They dressed up, did a few crafts, played grocery store, looked at bunnies and birds, had story time, ate pizza and cake.  So fun! 

Age 3 + Father's Day Portraits

Each year for Christmas cards (in November) and Father's Day (late May) I have their portraits taken.  So, the Father's Day pictures are also kind of like their birthday portraits too.  So sweet.  Plus, Mommy gets one with the girls to give to Daddy on Father's day. 

Deep Creek Lake Long Weekend Vacation

We had a great long weekend at Deep Creek lakek -- 4 days in a great house on the lake. We even rented a boat one day.  Our friends, Kristin and Rick, joined us with their kids -- Kaitlyn (nearly 3) and Ryan (6 months).  They all play so well and we all had a great time, including an amazing Father's Day dinner for the guys.

Sylvia Is Grounded

The girls have been becoming very independent lately.  They will go down to the basement and keep themselves occupied playing together for a good while.  However, it's almost always doing crafts.  Messy crafts.  They like to paint with water on the chalk board and spill it everywhere.  They take out paints they shouldn't and paint (meaning they climb on a stool to the stop shelf of our craft tower and get it).  Besides a little mess, it's been a good thing.  Well, Sunday, Sylvia disappeared.  I found her with a RED sharpe permanent marker (taken from Daddy's desk drawer) and she MARKED on the wall in the powder room.  THANK GOODNESS it wasn't on my new wallpaper!  She did a nice big squiggle on the white window trim.  Oh man, not good.  Magic eraser took care of most of it.  She sat in time out for 7 minutes = double the normal time out + 1 minute because I WAS HEATED! 

So, Sylvia is not allowed to use markers for one week. 

She's such a goof.

No Pictures Update

We have been having a lot of fun lately and taking NO pictures.

• As soon as Daddy returned from 2 weeks in Europe, we had friends from Indiana come stay with us (Hollee, Max-age 10, and Meena-age 8).  They were loads of fun! 
• We've been to the pool A LOT!  At least 2-3 times during the week and every Saturday and Sunday. The girls love it.  They don't wear life jackets any more and love to swim around with their noodle.
• The girls went to their first baseball game. The highlight was having ice cream.  It was 91 degrees afterall.  They were troopers.
• Grandpa sent (without parental approval) a 15 ft trampoline.  It's safety netted.  It was finally fully constructed late last night and the girls will surely be jumping on it all day today!
• We've caught up with lots of friends (playdates for kids and adults).
• We've had our portraits taken for Father's Day (big reveal coming soon!)
• We are renting a lake house at Deep Creek Lake this weekend Thursday - Sunday with some friends.

Fun Happenings

 Daddy is finally back from his two week trip to Europe and we settled back into a low-key weekend at home that involved a lot of time at the pool and playing in the back yard.  They are doing a great job at the pool and are very proud that they don't hang out at the baby pool anymore.  We don't use floaties; they just swim around with their noodles or say in the shallow water (it starts at 2 ft and goes to 3.5 ft on one side of the pool).  They even went down the slide with David, which required total submersion.  They loved it! 

They got their new full sized beds with new mattresses and bedding.  It's so pretty (picture to come).

The pictures above are from a recent playdate (is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen) and watching firemen play basketball before gymnastics.  BTW, they have learned how to do a cartwheel!  Big girls. 

Indiana Trip

What fun we had in Indiana.  Visits to their Grandparents, Great Aunts, Great Uncles, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Second Cousins, and friends.  Lots of trips to fun places, including the Indianapolis Children's Museum, Fort Wayne Science Museum and Fort Wayne Zoo. Most importantly, lots of quality time with family, including fun at everyone's houses, cookouts, birthday celebrations and a visit to the Benson side of the family where I saw the rebuilt covered bridge built by E.L. Kennedy (my great, great grandfather) in 1886 (on the list of Historic Places), which was wiped out by a tornado.   So very special to our family.