Birthday Pictures

Mommy was Queen for the day!

Besties

These girls are besties.  They wake up in the morning and wonder what the other is doing.  They rarely want alone time.  Here they are walking back from the pool wrapped in 1 towel.  Silly cuties.  No idea why this won't rotate!

Summer Vacation in Michigan

What a super fun vacation!  8 nights and 9 days in good ol' Pentwater Michigan at the cottage with Granny, Grammommy, Gramps, Uncle Shane (and his girlfriend + her kids), and Uncle Kirk.  Super fun!  Link below is to all the fun pictures (paste into browser).  Here are a few highlights:

-Sylvia catching a fish on the first day!
-Evelyn catching 4 fish in the matter of about 15 minutes
-Evelyn tubing with Daddy
-Lots of beach time
-Fun boat rides
-Swimming in the lake
-Visiting a dairy farm
-Learning to play WAR with Granny
-Lots and lots of books read by Granny and Grammommy
-Crafts on the deck
-Pictures in Dinkins Dock shirts, just like Mommy did when she was 2.

http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=6546685016/a=8289532_8289532/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Super Fun Camping Trip

Great friends=lots of fun!  This is the end of day two.  Link to pictures below.

http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=6546490016/a=8289532_8289532/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

7th Anniversary & Girls First Sleep Over

To celebrate our 7th anniversary, we first planned to stay local in DC at the St. Regis.  Angela was going to watch the girls at the house. Then, we decided to just stay home and worked it out so Angela took the girls to her Parents (they adore the girls!) and have a stay-cation.  Then, David booked a room, train tickets and tickets to the show Wicked in Philadelphia.  We kept the plans the same for the girls to go with Angela to Frederick.  They had a blast!  It was a rainy day so they painted pottery, colored, ate Larry burgers (Angela's dad makes great burgers!), watched a movie, went to church, and visited the fire department (Pam is a volunteer EMT).  Besides waking up at 6:30 (Sylvia was told to be quiet until Evelyn woke an hour later...and did!), they were great.

Of course, David and I took one picture while in Philly and it's on David's phone!

What a fun anniversary and first big step for Sylvia and Evelyn!  Special thanks to Angela, Pam and Larry for helping make this happen!  xoxoxo!  

August Fun!

August is going to be very busy, but a lot of fun.  Here's what we have going on (yes, there are 5 weekends in August, so an extra weekend of FUN!).

1st Week of August/Last week of July:

• Vacation Bible School for the girls at Aldersgate, a rivaling day school in the neighborhood.  
• 7th Anniversary celebration for David and I.  Going to Philly to see Wicked and enjoy some good food and drinks. 
• Girls have first sleepover at Angela's parents! 

2nd week:

• Vacation Bible School for the girls at St Luke's, another rivaling day school in the neighborhood.  
• Weekend of camping at Pohick Bay with 4 other families on Friday and Saturday!  We've rented rustic cabins, which should make it more enjoyable for the 11 kids and 10 adults.  Lots of fun planning all the food, drinks, games, etc.  

3rd week:

• Carolina's family (Mom, Mom's fiancee, sister, Aunt, uncle, 2 cousins) arrive from Sweden!  We are hosting them for dinner on Tuesday night.
• Trips to Mount Vernon and lots of pool time planned
• Depart for Michigan!!!

4th week:

• Full week in Michigan with Granny, Grammommy, Gramps.  Will also get to spend time with Uncle Shane and Uncle Kirk!  So fun!  Lot's of lake time planned!!! 

5th week:

• Final week of swimming at the outdoor pool.  They will go every day, at least once, assuming the weather is good.
• Mommy's birthday on the 30th!  
• Labor day parties.  Annual neighbor "swine" fest.  Lots of friends, food, fun for everyone.

Hopefully I will have a few pictures to share.  Evelyn and Sylvia have been so sweet and fun.  

Emergency Wardrobe

For the first time in a zillion years, Sylvia had an accident.  She peed her pants at the park.  Carolina came to the rescue with her pink sweatshirt.  You can tell Sylvia really liked it...way better than her shorts I made her wear to camp!

Dinner With Friends & Dressing Up As Garden Fairies

Dinner with friends.  7 kids, 6 adults = slightly crazy when too hot and rainy to play outside! 

 

Garden Fairies.  We created the crowns with live greens and flowers from the yard.  They looked so cute.

A Special Way to Celebrate 4th of July

We are very spoiled to be able to be able to enjoy the 4th of July at the White House almost every year.  We have a bit of a ritual, go downtown early to find good parking, have a good meal, and then head to the White House.  This is our second year taking Evelyn and Sylvia and dining at the Hamilton.  Once at the White House, they enjoyed face painting, popcorn, cotton candy, dove ice cream bars (this is a WH tradition), the band FUN. performing live, and fireworks!  Pretty incredible day! They have NO IDEA how lucky they are.  The President and first family celebrated on the roof!