The Adventures of Purple and Pickle

Ballet Boots!

2011-12-30T23:40:00.003-05:00

"I wish I had rain boots!" has been Ashley's near-daily mantra since Elizabeth opened her pair on her 5th birthday.

Grammy and Pop-Pop heard our littlest ballerina's plea...and Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Mike, Matt, and Erin came through with a matching raincoat!

Ta-da!!!!!

And she didn't take them off for nearly 3 hours!
Now that's what I call Rain-Ready! ;-)

Canopies for All!

2011-12-30T22:26:00.009-05:00

What's better than ONE princess canopy?

Why, TWO, of course!

Elizabeth and Ashley were THRILLED to receive one for each of their rooms from Grandma and Grandpa! Initially, only Elizabeth's was over her bed, while Ashley's was positioned over a fluffy round floor pillow. They both loved the floor pillow...but in true "monkey see, monkey do" fashion, once Ashley saw that big sister got to SLEEP in her "princess castle," she requested that we move her bed under her castle too! (See photo above!)

Here is video of the "big reveal"! :-) They were two happily surprised little girls!

Much of the audio may be unclear...but some highlights include:
E: "I'm gonna sleep in that! I'm gonna sleep in that EVERY DAY!"
A: "It is! It does!" (In response to Mommy's urging, "Do you think your room has one too?") "I'm going to go IN there!"
E: "It looks like the Enchanted Forest, too!"

Cutest Little Cow and Sweetest Little Shepherd. Ever!

2011-12-30T21:33:00.005-05:00

Elizabeth and Ashley participated in their first Christmas Pageant at our church on Christmas Eve. Initially, only Elizabeth was signed up to participate...but, evidently, we neglected to explain that to Ashley. So at the first rehearsal, she made herself right at home on the steps of the altar with the rest of the participants. By the end of the practice, she had managed to score herself a supporting role as a cow! Again, we failed to inform her that stable animals typically do NOT play a starring role. So on Christmas Eve, you can probably guess who the ONLY animal INSIDE the stable was! (And don't even get me started on the PINK BOOTS!) Yep...that's our Ashley!
She even managed to gain the adoration/attention/caretaking of the older girls in the pageant. Mary and one of the wise "men" in particular. Don't think she didn't just eat that up, too! And I should add that, on the night of the pageant, she was a very convincing little cow! (Though, I'm not sure it warrants the reaction Peter gave while watching her 4-year-old counterpart take off his cow head and swing it around up over his head before wandering off to find his mommy in the congregation! That is, he poked me in the ribs and whispered--hopefully more softly than I remember, "That's right! My cow can out-moo your cow ANY day!" Easy there, Proud Papa!)

For her part, Elizabeth was very intensely concentrated on performing her shepherdly duties. For several weeks leading up to Christmas, she was elated when we would run across the shepherd passage in picture books and animated movies (even Charlie Brown Christmas). By the end of the season, she was retelling the complete Christmas Story in her own words (and some slightly paraphrased Bible verses) using her Fisher Price Little People Nativity Set. It was quite impressive!

Here are some highlights from the night of the pageant! (The angel is E's little friend Annabelle, whose family is visiting for the year from Michigan State!)
For the full story, please see Luke 2:1-20. :-)

Smash! Smash! Smash!

2011-12-02T11:15:00.003-05:00

Ashley and I made Peter's Favorite Cookies this morning.

Well...that is, before I put the crumb base of the cookies into the oven and inadvertently turned the oven to "self clean" mode, only to realize a few minutes later that that burning smell was due to the blackening of the flour/sugar/butter mixture in the baking dish! YIKES! Tried to open the oven, but it was LOCKED, so I quickly turned it off and--after about a minute--the lock released and I was able to take the baking dish out. The cookie base is ruined...so we'll just have to do this part all over again...but at least I had not yet reached the stage of adding the black raspberry jam, chocolate chips, and pecan/sugar/butter/flour topping! ;-)

At any rate, here is Ashley helping me mix the crumb base that would have turned out perfectly had I not ruined it!

Candyland Party (Behind the Scenes)

2011-11-14T22:22:00.005-05:00

I threw my last post about Elizabeth's Candyland Party up in a bit of a rush...so I thought I'd take a minute and post a few details about the set up and the party itself.

We were EXTREMELY lucky that the weather was GORGEOUS for the event! With a mid-November birthday, it could have gone either way! But it was truly beautiful!

Since the weather cooperated, we were happy to hold much of the party OUTDOORS! (Thank goodness we did, too...b/c 13 kids and their moms and a couple of dads would have been a LOT to cram into our lovely, but modest home for TWO HOURS!)

After leaf-blowing the yard (thanks, Pop-Pop!)...
...Daddy put up (and repaired some small holes in) the inflatable bounce house/slide. (No, we did not hook up the water feature! It was nice FALL weather, but still only 60-degrees!) This gave the kids a place to play and bounce and burn off energy! They LOVED it!
Then Grammy and I went to work putting colored foam squares down to make a Candyland game path up the walkway to the door.
I stuck my homemade lollipops (circular styrofoam disks from Michael's...wrapped in colored cellophane and skewered with wooden dowels) in the front flowerbed to create our "Lollipop Woods", and arranged the upside-down sand pails (spray-painted with silver glitter to give them a shimmering sugar look) into a "Gumdrop Pass" next to the walkway.

We also duct taped colored foam squares in a circle to create the "Candyland Carousel" game. (See below for a demonstration!)
I also staked out (literally) a spot for the Sack Race and put out some sacks that I purchased on clearance at the end of the summer from World Market! Woohoo!
The kids seemed to love it all...and the bounce house was definitely an obvious WIN with everyone! But I was surprised by how popular my simple little game of "Candyland Carousel" was with the kids! I just put on some music ("Lollipop, Lollipop") and had the kids walk around in a circle. When the music stopped, they froze on a square while I pulled a Candyland game card. Whoever was standing on the color (or special icon square) that I called out won a present to unwrap! Even after winning their one allotted prize, the kids still wanted to play the game! (I came up with this as an "indoor" alternative game, but ended up moving it outside since the weather was so nice! Worked beautifully!...see for yourself!) :-)

Candyland Crazy!

2011-11-14T15:03:00.007-05:00

Our big girl is 5! FIVE!!!!

How did that happen?!?! I'm pretty sure it was literally yesterday that I was in the hospital excitedly and oh-so-anxiously awaiting her arrival! But it wasn't yesterday...it was FIVE YEARS ago! WOW!

To celebrate...we had a little CANDYLAND PARTY! Okay...so it wasn't all that "little"...but it was her first "friends party"...so Mommy went a tad overboard on the theme! (In fact, I'm not sure whether I had more fun planning and preparing or Elizabeth had more fun at the party!) At any rate, it was a success and we all had a great time!

Here are some pictures of the actual party!

Minivan Madness!

2011-09-24T10:36:00.005-04:00

We finally did it! Or, I should say...Mommy finally convinced
(sweet talked? guilted? begged?) Daddy to do it! We bought a MINIVAN!

And it's wonderful and fabulous and SO MUCH FUN! (See what I'm doing here? I'm trying to pretend that a minivan is just as cool as a sports car! Is it working??? Peter says NO.) But, no matter...I am determined to help him enthusiastically embrace this minivan moment in our lives b/c I know that this, too, shall pass...and before we know it, the girls will be all grown up and going to college! *tear* And, even he agrees that it was a smart purchase!

So, hurry--quickly!...before all the growing up happens, take a look at some photos of our new ride!
P.S. Bought this at CARMAX and it was the easiest car-buying experience EVER! Picked it out on the Internet...called to schedule a test drive...arrived at 7:30pm...drove out of there with our new car at 9:35pm! No haggling...no hassle! A completely stress-free process that I highly recommend!

Prima Ballerina!

2011-09-20T20:37:00.007-04:00

After months and months and months of watching Big Sister don her tutu and dance her little heart out, at long last, Ashley has her turn to SHINE as a ba-ba-rina! Today, she started real ballet lessons of her very own! Here she is before class, practicing her signature stretch-and-reach tip-toe moves!

She could not have been more excited, and she had no trouble separating from me and going right on in there! She had a fantastic time...even if she was the teeniest little wee one in the whole class (far right on the mat)! So cute!

Halloween Sneak Peek

2011-09-20T20:19:00.003-04:00

Well...Halloween costumes have arrived!

So here it is: A cacophony of cuteness in the form of a sea turtle and a mermaid!

These two have cleverly dubbed themselves "Under-the-Sea Sisters!"

First Day of Preschool Fall 2011

2011-09-13T10:14:00.005-04:00

Just dropped Elizabeth off at preschool...again! (tear)

And, I have to say, it wasn't *much* different from the first time. Fewer tears--from MOM--but I am still going to MISS HER every morning! Elizabeth, of course, was just fine as always! We are lucky that she is such a confident little girl who is happy to go off and learn new things and make new friends!

To say she was excited, eager, and enthusiastic about her first day in her new classroom would be an understatement!
Within minutes, she was printing her own name on the sign-in sheet!
The only one of us who had a REAL meltdown was Ashley, who was very disappointed when it was time to leave Elizabeth's classroom...and she let us ALL know about it!

We think it's going to be a great year!

Making MORE Words...

2011-07-20T20:15:00.002-04:00

No commentary on this one...just wanted to share the process as it continued.

I give you...Fun with Word Families! :-)

"I'm a WORD Maker!"

2011-07-20T20:02:00.002-04:00

Today, I bought a vintage Fisher-Price school house. (E has been commenting that she has a school bus but no school for them to drive to...LOL...so I caved and found this one for $15 (thanks, Craigslist--and clueless seller who has no idea that these go for $50+ on eBay!) And Mom...I know you have one of these, but if I let you send us ALL your fisher-price gems, what would the girls do at YOUR house?!?! ;-))

Anyway, Elizabeth and Ashley played with the house and little people for a while when we got home. But when Ashley went to bed, Elizabeth started playing around with the magnetic letters that came with the house.

And, just as she started doing in the bathtub the other night, Elizabeth began making words with the magnets!

The enthusiasm E is showing on this video speaks for itself! ;-) She is SOOOOOO excited to be a WORD MAKER! :-)

Big Girl Bed: Expectations vs. Reality

2011-06-13T20:25:00.005-04:00

Funny how things never turn out the way you expect!

Up until this past weekend, if you had asked me what to expect when it came to Ashley's transition to her "Big Girl Bed" I would have insisted (and, in fact, DID insist) that convincing her to STAY in her new bed was surely going to be a nightmare and a battle all rolled into one! To put it another way...I was completely convinced that her enthusiasm and excitement about her new bed (as seen in these photos) was all part of her elaborate plan to lull us into thinking she was simply going to hop into bed and go "night-night!"

I was so completely convinced of this, actually, that we put off making the transition for a few months. But we finally got around to assembling the toddler bed (who am I kidding?...Pop-Pop did it for us...Thanks Pop-Pop!) and Peter took the crib apart on Saturday...and we made a little bit of a big deal about it, and then held our breath as we tucked her in and closed the door. A few little whimpers that might translate into "I don't know how I feel about this" that lasted about 35 seconds...and then NOTHING. I even sat right outside her door on the stairsteps, waiting. Not a peep...not a cry...not the pitter-patter of little feet shuffling to the door...NOTHING! What??!?! For real!?! That's right! It all went off without a hitch or a glitch! So we thought...

As it turns out, it is possible things did not go quite as smoothly as we led ourselves to believe.

Did she cry? No.
Did she wail "Mommy! Daddy! I want my crib!"? Uh-uh.
Did she get out of her bed and throw her toys around the room and bang on the door to get out? Absolutely not.

So, in many respects, it was a complete success.

But...by morning, we found ourselves faced with the need to redefine the experience by referring to it, as George W. would say, as "a catastrophic success"...b/c when I entered her room on Sunday morning, our wee little Big Girl was not, in fact, lying in her Big Girl Bed. Instead, she was stretched out on her tummy on the shag rug NEXT TO the Big Girl Bed.

OH! And that probably explains the loud THUMP sound we heard at about 11:30pm on Saturday night--which Peter and I both dismissed as Elizabeth kicking the wall with her foot, since the thump was not followed by crying or wailing.

The good news, however, is that Ashley has now spent TWO nights and two nap times in the bed and there are no new thumping sounds to report! :-)

Sidwell Summer Soccer Camp: From Superstar to Sidelines in Sixty Seconds!

2011-06-13T19:54:00.002-04:00

Well, folks...it was a short-lived career!

Today was Elizabeth's first and last day of 9am–12pm 5-day soccer camp at Sidwell Friends in D.C. If it's any consolation, the two girls facilitating check-in did announce "Cutest Camper Award" when we approached! Haha! But, unfortunately, looking the part was simply not enough to sustain her love of the IDEA of Soccer Camp!

When she tried on her soccer outfit (complete with shin guards and athletic knee socks) last night, Elizabeth was very enthusiastic about the adventure that lay ahead of her. However, I could sense there was a little hesitation when we arrived at camp and she grew very quiet and unsure of herself. She was a little trouper as we met her nice, young soccer coaches (two very sweet girls probably in early college or late high school) and she bravely kissed me goodbye.

But it felt like the first day of preschool all over again. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I dialed Peter to confess that I was very hesitant to leave her in this new environment with unfamiliar counselors and peers to participate in a camp surrounding a sport she really knows nothing about. But he reassured me that "I know how you feel...but, you know...she'll be fine. She may even have a great time! And if she hates it, she hates it...and you just don't take her back. No big deal!" Ah...Level-Headed Daddy! Hooray!

Well... from what I gathered at pick-up, she didn't exactly participate enough to really HATE any of it. ;-) But she did report to me that she "didn't really want to do the games" and "it wasn't fun like at Mobu Kids camp" and "I was there for a loooooong time and when I told the teacher I wanted to go home, she said it would just be a little while longer, and it was!" Awww...poor li'l thing!

No tears...but it does sound like one of the sweet coaches--Sarah--probably spent MOST of the three hours trying, unsuccessfully, to persuade Elizabeth to participate. So we think it's probably best, for Elizabeth (and for Sarah!) that we don't insist that she return for the rest of camp.

In a year or two...maybe she will be ready. Or, maybe she would enjoy the team experience with a 45-minute practice here and there with games on Saturdays. But, for now, she is very much looking forward to "Safari Camp" (hello, MONKEYS!) at MOBU Kids in two weeks! ;-)

"I Have This Little Sister..."

2011-05-21T23:02:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to post about this adorable series of books called Charlie and Lola. Written and illustrated by Lauren Child, these books are charming stories of the everyday life and imaginary adventures of a British brother and sister, as told from the point of view of older brother, Charlie.

Each book begins, "I have this little sister, Lola. She is small and very funny."
The girls LOVE these books and, every time we go to the library, they INSIST on checking out a new Charlie and Lola book! Of course, it probably doesn't hurt that Mom and Dad add to the fun by reading the books aloud in a British accent. (You have to!...the qwerky expressions and uniquely-British phrasings "absolutely, completely" demand it!)

Ashley loves these books so much that she has memorized the first line and can recite it on cue with a knowing little giggle. I think it's safe to say that, right now, Charlie and Lola books are "absolutely, completely her favorite and her best"!

Summer Fun in a Box!

2011-05-21T21:02:00.006-04:00

I wasn't positive about the wisdom of this purchase when I made it...but now that we have used it ONCE, I can unequivocally say that it is hands-down the BEST purchase I have made for summer! This combo slide/bounce house is going to bring hours and hours of fun to our front yard! :-)

We are happy to report that this colorful contraption inflates in about 2 minutes (well...except for the bumpers along the landing of the slide, which have to be blown up manually!) and it can be used wet OR dry!

So far, Ashley definitely seems to prefer it dry...

But Elizabeth had just as much fun with the water on as she did with the water off!
Maybe when it gets hot enough, Ashley will share in her sentiments! But at least she enjoyed splashing in the puddles. Either way, I can tell it's going to get a LOT of use this summer!

Preschool Playdate

2011-05-19T16:08:00.002-04:00

No special post today...just a snapshot of a moment in time.

After preschool today, Elizabeth and Ashley were excited to go to Chick-Fil-A with their little buddies, Elias and Gregory. Their baby sister, Arabella, came along too...but she was sitting in her carrier while these pics were taken.

Elias and Elizabeth are in the same preschool class, and Gregory and Ashley are classmates in MOPS. Clearly, they get along well! ;-)

And Mommy & Daddy are thrilled about that because we happen to think their parents are pretty swell too! :-)

Easter Egg Hunt...err...Race?

2011-04-24T21:06:00.003-04:00

So...I mentioned that the girls participated in an Easter Egg Hunt at church today. But, to be honest, it was more like an Easter Egg RACE! It took place on a flat grassy field...no place to really "hide" the eggs! So the kids were just in one big race to grab as many eggs as they can before they were all gone!

Elizabeth must have elbowed a few kids along the way... ;-) b/c she scored about 12 eggs out of the situation! We would offer this video as proof, but really, she was gone in a flash and Peter couldn't track her fast enough! Ashley, on the other hand, simply meandered about, not so interested in the collecting of eggs. She got two. And then Elizabeth kindly gave her two of the eggs out of her own basket. Awww.

By the way...the blur on the video is not your screen. It's finger smudges on our camera lens. All clean now, but that doesn't help our set of Easter photos or this video! :-/

Happy Easter 2011

2011-04-24T14:43:00.011-04:00

Happy Easter!

I hope you are enjoying your holiday with your loved ones. We have already had a pretty full day...and it's not even 3:00 yet! However, these are the days that really do make me long to be closer to our extended families!

I had a bit of a "shoe crisis" last night when I realized that neither of the girls has dress shoes that FIT them right now. I've known this for a few weeks...and have just improvised for a while going to church in tights and brown Mary-Jane-type sneakers that don't SCREAM "sneakers"...but still...they are sneakers! I had intended to remedy that situation earlier this week...but it completely slipped my mind until about 9:00 last night. So I post on facebook about my dilemma--Do I run to Target or do I just make do with sneakers!? Peter, of course, voted for making due! I then got busy with work-related writing...and when I returned to my facebook page at about 9:45, it was filled with comments from my girlfriends: "Target!" "New shoes!" "Go now, or you will be sorry tomorrow!" "I vote Target!" "No sneakers! Go to Target!" AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! Parenting FAIL! It was too late to go to Target. So I sat and fretted a little bit...but then shrugged it off and went to bed.

Thankfully, when we woke up, it was already about 10 degrees warmer than it was supposed to be before noon! HOORAY! That meant sleeveless sundresses with NO sweaters! And SANDALS! Happy Day! No ragamuffin sneaker children!!

Elizabeth and Ashley came downstairs to check out their Easter baskets filled with a few little goodies: egg shakers, egg-shaped sidewalk chalk, chocolate bunnies for each, Easter stampers, and some kid-sized gloves and a shovel for helping Mommy...(errrr, Grammy?)...in the garden! :-)
Daddy made pancakes while Mommy took a shower. Then Mommy dressed the girls while Daddy took a shower! It was a team effort kind of morning!

It was a great morning, so we even had a little time left for picture-taking on the front lawn.
When we arrived at church, however, it was PACKED like we have never seen it packed before! No really. I dropped Ashley in the nursery and then we opted to go up to the balcony, and we barely got a seat up THERE! There was no Sunday School this morning, so Elizabeth stayed with us in the sanctuary for the whole service...and she did remarkably well!

After the service, they had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. The lawn was roped off in sections, divided by age groups: Under 5, 6-7, and 8-10. That worked really well!

There was even a surprise appearance from the Easter Bunny!
However, savvy little Elizabeth took one look, then turned to me and said very matter-of-factly, "But Mommy...that's not the REAL Easter Bunny. Real bunnies HOP...they don't walk." And, so, of course, I confirmed to her quietly that "no...it's not the real one...but it's fun to see someone dressed as a bunny, isn't it?" and then she announced that she thinks it would be fun if maybe she dressed up as the Easter Bunny for Halloween! LOL

All in all...a fun morning. The girls are napping now. When they wake up, we'll hunt for eggs that are hidden in the backyard. We can hardly wait! :-)

Happy Easter!!!

Family Traditions

2011-04-19T08:18:00.003-04:00

As the girls get older, I have started to give more thought to what our family traditions will be. Not HUGE celebrations or extravagant blowouts that require months (or even weeks) of planning...just the little things that, when they will look back on their childhood, will make them feel all warm and fuzzy about family and remind them of our happy little HOME.

So far, we have definitely established a few things that fit this criteria...some borrowed from my family (e.g., turning over the hand-made advent calendar at Christmas) and some borrowed from Peter's family (e.g., our dinnertime prayer is one that his family said together every night). And we are also beginning a few of our own (e.g., annual Cherry Blossoms picnic, Pajama Christmas light viewing where the girls get dressed in their PJs and we take them for a nighttime drive to see Winter Wonderland and Christmas light displays and they fall asleep on the way home and so on).

And now, we have a new addition to our Family Traditions. This one is borrowed from the Johnson Family in California. Every Memorial Day, they ushered in the summer season by changing their dishes to FISH plates. Nothing super fancy...just switched out the regular dishes for a set with a whimsical fish theme...and they used them all the way through Labor Day, when they were ceremoniously put away until the following summer! I had the pleasure a few times over the years of witnessing the excited anticipation on their daughters' faces as they "got ready" to take out the Fish Plates...and it was priceless! Seriously. It's amazing what the little things can do to add a little thrill to young lives!

So, piggybacking on this time-honored Johnson Family tradition, I purchased our Summer Dishes this week! And, in honor of all of our years spent in LA on the sands of El Porto with this special family...they are BEACH plates! Voila!

It is my hope that, as we celebrate summer together, our girls will experience the same thrill and sparkle in their eyes that I saw in S & J so many years ago! There is something about tradition that is comforting, sweet, and unspoiled. It is a little something special that says "this is OUR family...and it is good!" And it is...

Existential Crisis

2011-04-09T20:52:00.002-04:00

Ashley has a fundamental problem coping with being the subject of video recordings. Whenever she realizes she is being recorded, she immediately wants to "see Ashley" on the back of the camera. Problem is, obviously, she doesn't understand that in order to "SEE Ashley" she first has to "BE Ashley" while I record whatever it is that she is doing.

Here, Elizabeth tries to get to the bottom of the situation by analyzing what Ashley's issue is. She offers many plausible theories. And then finally, she nails it. LOL

Ashley Auditions for American Idol

2011-04-09T20:34:00.001-04:00

Okay...so maybe she was a little "pitchy" and needs to work on the lyrics. But girlfriend has stage presence! ;-) I think she's in it to win it!

Saturday Mornings with Daddy

2011-04-03T20:38:00.003-04:00

This post is for Grandma, who asked recently if the girls still play with their Ball Pit Car.

What?!...That old thing?!

Nah...totally. not. interested.

How else do you think Daddy gets to watch his DVR'd RUGBY games on Saturday mornings!?

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

2011-04-03T20:25:00.003-04:00

No Foolin'...Friday was Daddy's birthday! We made him a MOOSE cake! :-) German Chocolate Cake is his favorite...and he's always been a fan of meese. So I decided to get a little creative. Here is the result!

I can definitely think of ways to improve it (chocolate icing on the antlers instead of buttercream, for example)...but considering that I already had all the "stuff" for just making cupcakes and I thought of the "moose" idea at the last minute, it's not half bad! Even Elizabeth agreed it kinda looked like a moose--and she's a tough critic about these kinds of things! haha!

We had a little family celebration when Peter got home from work. Then we fed the kids dinner (yes...we did have cake before dinner! It was a fun/crazy night at our house!) and our wonderful next-door neighbors, Tiffany & Braden, came over to babysit the girls while Peter and I went OUT for dinner! FUN!

Hanging Out With Mr. Jefferson...

2011-04-03T14:45:00.009-04:00

The past couple of weeks have been pretty gloomy around here. Seriously. They even had to postpone the National Kite Festival last weekend--which we had really been looking forward to--b/c of chances of SNOW! (We only saw a few flurries, btw.) And it's been raining here since mid-week...which meant yet another weekend of cooler-than-usual temperatures and cloudy wetness. Not the optimum time for Cherry Blossom Viewing!

But, then suddenly, it cleared up! And today was a beautiful day
with near-perfect 60-degree weather.

Still a little cool...but sunny and perfect for a trip to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms!

So that's what we did!...along with about a million other people! The Metro was massively crowded! Here we are waiting at West Falls Church station.

When we made it downtown, it was pretty much wall-to-wall people...but not quite as crowded as last year when it was about 80-85 degrees! In fact, we really had no issues moving around and making our way to the Tidal Basin. We even managed to score some food from a vendor without waiting in line! And we picked a perfect spot just across the water from the Jefferson Memorial to have a picnic beneath the Cherry Blossoms!And the girls had fun running around from tree to tree, playing on the grass, and climbing on Daddy!
Here, Ashley is engaged in a game of Peek-a-Boo from behind a tree.

Sssssshhh! Don't tell her she was wider than the tree trunk! ;-)
Then we posed for a picture in front of the Jefferson Memorial...

(Well...at least we thought that's what we were doing! Ummm...Note to Guy Who So Kindly Offered to Take Our Family Photo: I don't wanna be picky, but there's this thing across the water behind us called the Jefferson Memorial! It's a little hard to miss...and it's kind of a big deal.
Maybe you could get it in the photo next time?? Ugh!])

At least I got one of Peter with the girls!...(Well..sort of. They were watching the ducks and paddle boats!)

And he got one of us...

(Thanks for making the sweet little sourpuss face, Elizabeth!)

The girls had a fun game of "Ashley!...come here, Sister!!!" wherein Ashley pretended to run away (from one tree to another) and Elizabeth would mock-scold her and run after her as they both giggled.

Once she caught up, the game would start all over again. It's hard to say who enjoyed the game more.
But on the Metro ride home, Elizabeth suddenly exclaimed, "Mommy...Did you see when Ashley was playing with me? She really IS starting to be my friend!" XO

Ba-Ba-Rina!

2011-03-17T18:39:00.002-04:00

Elizabeth has "Princess Ballet" class every Monday afternoon. Ashley tags along and plays in the toddler play area just outside the ballet room. But, please...don't tell ASHLEY that she is not a ballerina--or, in Ashley-speak: Ba-ba-rina!

Ashley's Turtle Party

2011-03-16T21:46:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was Ashley's 2nd birthday! (I know! Can you believe it?!?!) To celebrate, Elizabeth suggested that we throw a "Turtle Party" in her honor! This, because "turtle" is Elizabeth's favored term of endearment for her little sister.

A precious idea, really...if only the party supply companies were on board! Seriously! Unless you are looking for heroic (menacing?) Turtles of the Teenage Mutant Ninja variety, or the always-precious, but much-too-sophisticated-for-a-toddler designs offered by Lilly Pulitzer, you are pretty much out of luck!

So, we had to get a little creative and go to a combination of ETSY (for cute personalized turtle labels)...
Michael's (for wooden cut-out turtles, pink buckets, and pink grosgrain ribbon)...

Party City (for plain pink plates and printed paisley napkins)...

and BettyCrocker.com (for the turtle cupcake idea!)...

to piece together "the look" for the big event!

Here's how it turned out all together!

OH!...and the Little Turtle is wearing a turtle tee courtesy of BabyGap! :-)

Our very sweet next door neighbors, Tiffany & Braden, joined us (Mommy, Daddy, Elizabeth, Grandma, and Grandpa) to sing "Happy Birthday" to the Guest of Honor and watch her (and very excited Big Sister!) open all her presents! HAPPY DAY!
Special Note to Grammy: So...it sure is looking like there may be hope for at least ONE grand daughter to follow in your Delta Zeta footsteps?!?! No??? ;-) Somewhere, Mary Collins is surely looking down with a smile!

The Secret Park

2011-03-08T22:05:00.007-05:00

After naps, we met up with CariAnne (Mommy's friend) and her three kids, Elias, Gregory, and Arabella at a park. Well...to be fair, Arabella was not really participating in the park escapades, as she is only 3 months old! But Elias and Gregory are approximately the same age as Elizabeth and Ashley. In fact, while Elizabeth and Elias are in the same preschool class, Ashley and Gregory are in the same nursery class at MOPS!

At any rate, we originally met at Lincoln Park on Great Falls. But, seeing that part of the play area was flooded from the rains we had on Monday, we decided to caravan to another park that Carianne knew about.

Their family nicknamed it "The Secret Park" because, though it is located on Idylwood, (a major road in Falls Church), surprisingly, no one seems to know about it! And, it is AWESOME! It is a fully-fenced-in, beautifully-shaded area surrounded by huge trees! It has a wonderful playscape with several slides, a tunnel, a cool (and safe) shaky balance bridge, swings, a teeter totter, a tire swing, and...a MERRY-GO-ROUND! (Not the kind with horses...but the old-school kind where you run along side it until you get it going superfast and then hop on and whirl around until you're crazy dizzy!)

And, as promised, the park was EMPTY!

And the kids had a BLAST!

Elizabeth peering out at me through the "lookout" on the playscape!

Elias playing hide-n-seek in the tunnel slide!

Gregory showing Ashley how it's done!

Ashley with her tongue out at-the-ready!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Check out the static!

Elizabeth announcing that she wants to go on the "marriage-go-round"! LOL
(Side note: Is it a little bit wrong that this is one of a few phrases she has stuck in her mind that is so adorably incorrect that I hesitate to correct her?)

And here's a video showing the four of them taking turns zooming down the slide!

I see many visits to this park in our future!

Nap-Time Serenade

2011-03-08T21:53:00.002-05:00

This afternoon, the girls went down for naps at their normal time of 1pm. At about 2:40 (a little earlier than her 2-hour napping duration), I heard singsong sounds coming from Ashley's room.
"B-I-N-G-O...B-I-N-G-O...B-I-N-G-O and Bingo Bingo Name-O"
So cute!
As she was singing, I could hear the sound of her plantation shutters flapping open and closed in rhythm to the song!

I grabbed the camera and started up the stairs...but as soon as she heard my footsteps, the singing stopped. I stood outside her door for a few seconds with the camera set to video mode so that I could be ready to record at a moment's notice. But the only sound I heard after that was the mattress squeaking as she rolled around on it.

So, I opened the door, and this is what happened next...

Dental Disaster?

2011-02-21T22:58:00.003-05:00

Well...not exactly. Both girls got the "thumbs up" for no cavities! But, aside from that, it wasn't what I would call an ideal dental visit by any stretch!
From these pictures, you might think that Elizabeth was a wee bit nervous (well...she was!) and that Ashley is ready for anything (she wasn't!) LOL

They both got their teeth cleaned, and Elizabeth was the model patient, albeit with her little worried brow furrowed and fists clenched to her sides. But really...who doesn't clench their fists while at the dentist?!?! ;-)

When it was her turn, however, Ashley, decided she wasn't having any of that sitting in the dental chair nonsense. (I mean, it was fun when she thought it was a slide...but no way was she gonna lie down while the thing reclined!) So she sat on my lap facing me while we laid her head back in the dentist's lap. Yeah, it sounds just about as pleasant as it was in reality...which is to say NOT AT ALL! Poor thing pretty much screamed through most of the cleaning (in between pleading whines of "all done!") and I politely but firmly declined the fluoride treatment and flossing on her behalf. ;-) After all...she did pretty well for someone who isn't even two yet! (Especially considering that I didn't take Elizabeth in for her first cleaning until she was 3 and a half!) Mean mommy! :-( It was kind of traumatic for BOTH of us!

Ah well! For our next attempt, we plan to check out a fun little place in Reston called the Dental Safari! :-) I'll let you know if they are WILD about it!

What IS it?

2011-02-21T22:41:00.003-05:00

Well, you probably already know that I am a part-time freelance writer for Lakeshore Learning Materials. (My primary responsibility for them is to write the content for the Teacher's Corner on their website each month.) What you might not know is that I have now been working for Lakeshore for TEN YEARS! WOW!

And, right now, the most exciting part of this is that Elizabeth is now old enough to be the guinea pig on whom I can "test" my ideas (sometimes before they are published, and sometimes after)! But it's a lot of fun for me to see firsthand these ideas put into practice!

Today, E helped me celebrate President's Day by doing the President's Day Puppet & Poem activity on the Teacher's Corner! She colored the picture and I cut out the George Washington figure and she glued him onto a popsicle stick. Take a look:

After she finally remembered what it was we were doing, we read the poem together! LOL (I would read a line and she would repeat it after me.) She seemed to have a good time with it!

While I Have the Camera Out...

2011-02-11T13:14:00.003-05:00

I figure, why not show you a few pictures and a video of the rest of the morning's activities? ;-)

After the Valentines were cleaned up and packed away, it was time for some Play-Doh Fun!

So I threw some wax paper onto the coffee table and E grabbed the Play-Doh bin from her closet, and they got BUSY! E was making a pigpen for monkeys (wha?!?!...yeah, I don't know either!)...and A was busy pressing out star shapes, which E later decided were starfruit for the monkeys! They seemed to agree on this idea, so I went with it! ;-)

Here...I'll let E tell you. She seems to explain it better. LOL

(Note the gasp from me early on in this clip when, for a brief second, I felt certain Ashley was about to smash the play-doh monkey with the rolling pin! Big Sister would NOT have been happy!)

My Little Valentines!

2011-02-11T09:33:00.003-05:00

Elizabeth's preschool class is having a Valentine's Day party on Tuesday (2/15)...and the kids are encouraged to bring Valentines to share with their classmates! So, without even thinking about the preparation this would require on my part, I blurt out: "Hey Elizabeth...do you want to MAKE your OWN Valentines?!?!" (Silly Mommy! About 2.2 seconds after it came out of my mouth, I reminded myself that she is four. And that she has a baby sister who wants to do EVERYTHING that she does...so I would need to be sure this make-your-own project is very kid friendly!)

We had planned to go to Target yesterday afternoon after naps, but, naturally, Ashley decided that this would be the day she took a 3.5 hour afternoon nap!!! Seriously.

So, by the time she woke up, it was getting closer to dinner time, and E helpfully suggested: "Mommy...maybe you could just go while I'm sleeping and get all the stuff and surprise me in the morning!" Ha!
Hmmmm...actually...not a bad idea!

So I did just that, and returned home with the following:
• A pad of 6" x 9" construction paper (which I made sure included plenty of sheets of red and white paper that I immediately removed for use with our project!)
• A pack of 15 paper doilies (b/c you can't make proper homemade Valentines without "LACE"!)
• Two sheet of stickers...monkeys holding hearts! (See previous posts for the monkey explanation!)
• A large gift bag (covered in hearts in red/white/pink of varying sizes...I cut out the hearts and spread them out on the table so that E could choose which ones she wanted to use and glue them onto the cards)
• A package of glue sticks
• A box of pre-packaged Highlights "Hidden Picture" Valentines (initially I bought these as a "back up"...just in case our handmade Valentine idea didn't work out. But E LOVES hidden pictures from her Highlights magazines, so we found a way to incorporate them into the handmade version!)

When I returned home and dumped all the supplies out onto the kitchen table, Peter shook his head and laughed at me ("What have you gotten yourself into?")...but, to his credit, when he saw me sitting down with a pair of scissors and going to work on cutting out the hearts from the gift bag, he grabbed a spare pair and joined me! Now THAT's what I call a supportive husband and SUPERDAD!!!! :-)

I tore out the red and white sheets of construction paper and folded them in half to make cards. And then discovered that the "Hidden Picture" Valentines would be a perfect fit to glue onto the inside of the cards! Hooray!

I made a "sample" card to show E the basic idea and left all the supplies on the table for her to view in the morning.

When she came down for breakfast, she was SO EXCITED that she wanted to get started on it all right away! But I did manage to convince her to eat breakfast first!

We moved the materials to the coffee table so that it would be easier for the girls to reach, and then we began! (I made sure we had enough cards for Ashley to get in on the action too! And boy did she! That girl LOVES her some glue stick!)

The process went a little bit like this:
Monkey sticker FIRST! (Of course!) And then once the monkey sticker was placed on the cover, E would embellish the rest with paper lace, heart cut-outs, and heart stickers....collage-style! The beauty of the collage layout, of course, is that there is no "wrong" way to do it!...and I could tell that my little perfectionist appreciated that creative freedom!
Next, we would open the card and glue a hidden picture card to the inside! (This was A's specialty--particularly b/c she could slather the glue stick ALL over the card and she loved that!) And then E would turn it over and pound it onto the card to make it stick!

We made 15 cards in all--one for each student in her class...and another two for the teachers!

Fun morning!

Monkey See, Monkey Do!

2011-01-28T22:03:00.004-05:00

It's as if this saying were created just to describe our two girls!

ANYTHING Elizabeth does, Ashley wants to do! But it goes the other way sometimes too! Like yesterday, for example. I got out the pack 'n play for Ashley to use in the den during naptime so I could get into her room and accomplish some things, and--right away--E wanted to hop in there with her.

It wasn't long before Elizabeth had invented a little trick that she started calling, "Wee! Look at ME!"...and Ashley wanted in on the action as well! Precious!

I know the sibling stuff isn't always going to be smooth sailing. But I love that they play so well together. And I love that Ashley wants to be just like her sister. And, I love that Elizabeth doesn't seem to mind having a little copycat around...most of the time!

So proud of my little monkeys and their tender kindness toward each other!

Snow Day

2011-01-26T19:55:00.008-05:00

Well, we are finally getting a really good snowstorm!
Daddy came home from work at about 3:00 today (Government's orders!) and the snow really started coming down around 4:00. After dinner, he had convinced both girls--with great enthusiasm, I might add--to get bundled up and venture out into the wet snow with him to make a snowman!

I should explain that, though she was born in California, once she understood that the snow wouldn't hurt her--and once we got her bundled up and she actually experienced the FUN of playing in the snow, Elizabeth has always been fairly eager to get out in it! So getting her fired up about this snow adventure was no big deal for her!

However...not only does Ashley, our native Michigander, throw an absolute fit when she has to put on a jacket (which is pretty much EVERY DAY from November through February!), she has made it very clear that she is terrified of the snow. She doesn't want to hear about it, step on it, walk through it, touch it...or really even LOOK at it! "No snow! No snow!!!!"

So, the fact that Ashley was willingly (and even joyfully!) participating in the bundle-up process as Daddy talked up the fun of building a snowman--is HUGE!

Here they are...all decked out and ready to go!
So far, so good, right?
Well...maybe not so much!

Okay, okay...now before you go talking about how cruel we were to do that to her...please bear in mind that she was out there for the sum total of maybe 48 seconds!

And this picture was taken about 33 seconds after I let her back inside! So all is right with the world!
Maybe she'll have a change of heart, right?
Wrong.

Instead, she was more than content to let Daddy and Elizabeth brave the snow alone while we watched from our primo position inside, behind the glass door!

Daddy found that the consistency of the snow was ideal for snowman building!
I should add that, as Daddy placed the coal and sticks onto the snowman to create a face, Ashley kept shouting "Froggy, Mommy! I see Froggy!" LOL But once Daddy added the hat and scarf, the little guy definitely took on a distinctively SNOWMAN persona!
And here is Elizabeth, proudly posing with the snowman that she made with Daddy! Good times...good times!

Monkey Forest

2011-01-23T23:43:00.005-05:00

In keeping with the "monkey theme" this week...I thought I would share this story of one of Elizabeth's recent monkey-inspired creations.

But first, a little background, if you will: As you may or may not know, we live about two blocks from the intersection of I-66 and 495 (aka just inside "The Beltway"). This particular intersection is experiencing a LOT of around-the-clock construction due to the addition of a HOT LANE, which includes the reconfiguring of bridges and entrance/exit ramps and such. Before this construction really got underway, VDOT was kind enough to erect a new sound barrier wall between our neighborhood and the aforementioned freeways. Naturally, all this activity has not gone unnoticed by Elizabeth.

The main road leading out of our neighborhood is parallel to the freeway...with the wall now on one side of the road and a mass of land and trees on the other. Not surprisingly, Elizabeth has nicknamed this wooded area "the monkey forest"! And, almost as soon as the work on the wall began, she would usually remark that they were "building that wall to keep the monkeys from getting out onto the freeway so they won't hurt themselves". Amusing interpretation. But sure...we'll go with that! ;-)

So the other day, Elizabeth is playing with a set of blocks on the living room floor. And when she announces that she's going to build a "monkey wall"...I admit I didn't take much notice of it at first because, well...EVERYTHING is monkeys these days! So, I go about doing whatever it is I was doing...and eventually I leave the room to change Ashley's diaper...and when we return to the living room, I see THIS:

I couldn't help but laugh out loud--and at the same time, marvel at her cleverness! She didn't have to explain any of it to me (because we have had so many conversations about what the monkeys would do if they accidentally got up on the monkey wall, etc.) and I immediately knew what she had created. But, in case you are not seeing it, I will relay her explanation just so you know what her creative mind was thinking.

First, there is the freeway...and next to that there stands the monkey wall, which, of course, is designed to keep the monkeys from getting out onto the freeway. But...just in case the monkeys DO happen to get up on the wall and they don't know how to get down without landing on the freeway, Elizabeth built slides for the monkeys so that they could slide down off the wall and get back into their Monkey Forest! Voila!...the Monkeys are saved!

There you have it! She added the monkeys from her Five Little Monkeys playset to complete the picture!

Thanks for letting me share just a glimpse of what it's like to be the Mommy to my funny little monkey!

The Monkey Line

2011-01-22T22:43:00.005-05:00

Well...this post is just going to seem bizarre if you are not familiar with Elizabeth and her very fierce love of monkeys. And not just ANY monkeys...but her specific love of a special little monkey called MO!

The complicated thing about MO is that there is not just ONE Mo...but seven (yes, SEVEN) "identical" Mo monkeys...and a couple others that are technically NOT Mo monkeys at all, but have, for some inexplicable reason, still managed to make the cut--so to speak!

Of these monkeys, Elizabeth definitely has her favorites. And, in the past few years, she has developed special names of distinction for each of these monkeys. Not only that, but she has made it very clear that each one has a special place in the "Monkey Line".

And they are as follows (from left to right):

1. Sucky Mo (b/c she sucks on him---oh sorry...did I say "him"?...I meant HER! Yes, E has recently decided that "Sucky Mo" is a GIRL monkey! "Mommy...Did you not KNOW?!")
2. Dottie Mo (b/c she has a dot for a nose...and E will tell you "this was the FIRST Mo that Grandpa gave me...but the second Mo in the Monkey Line"....Oooookay!)
3. No-Mouth Mo (duh--self explanatory!)
4. Taggy Mo (b/c this Mo used to have a Ty tag attached to his ear--as they all did at one time, but this one kept his tag for quite a while before we removed it)
5. Grammy Mo (as you can see, it is not quite like the others, but since it was a gift from Grammy, it was long ago given a place of honor among the favored Mos)
6. Monchichi (a gift from Santa and a recent addition to the Monkey Line).

The other Mos in the background are still "important"...but, alas, they are not part of the Monkey Line. "Why?"--you ask? Welllllll....It's because they are "too fluffy-bodied" to be in the Monkey Line.

[crickets chirping]

Yeah...I know...

So, why am I writing such a seemingly nonsensical blog post...and more importantly, why are you still reading it? Well...I suppose the answer to the former is that I find E's little qwerks to be both fascinating and endearing, and I wanted to have a record of how meticulous she was about categorizing and ordering her cherished loveys. And, the latter...well...maybe you wanted a little insight into what makes E's funny little brain work?!...and now you have it! :-)

DC Date Night!

2011-01-22T22:18:00.004-05:00

Just because it's a rare occurrence, I wanted to document our DATE NIGHT and report that, thankfully, this one was free of kidney stones! HOORAY!

We decided to take advantage of D.C. Restaurant Week and we booked a table for 4 at Cafe Bonaparte in Georgetown! Then, we invited another couple that Michelle met through MOPS and preschool to join us! CarriAnne and Daryl were wonderful company and we really had a great time together! We were even seated at a fabulous window-table at the front of the restaurant! Primo!

Unfortunately, our babysitter was on a tight time schedule and we had to book it out of there by 9pm (which required us to have our waitress box up our dessert to-go!) in order to relieve her of her supervisory duties! Next time, we'll be sure to plan for a more leisurely outing!

Elizabeth is a READER!

2011-01-20T15:29:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure when it happened exactly, since E has known her letter sounds (and could tell us what letter ANY word begins with) for at least a year. But slowly she has become more curious about how letters form words and how to sound out whole words--instead of just the beginning sound.

Enter Lakeshore's Sight-Word Readers and Word Family Readers! About three years ago, I was sent several boxes of these readers to "rework" as part of an assignment (yeah...they didn't want to pay additional money for more art--don't ask!), so I had a few of her favorites in E's bookshelf. She took one out the other day and started sounding out the words--on her own!

Well, that's all the encouragement I needed. I found all the boxes and brought them into her room. Most of the books focus on a few words at a time, using rebus pictures in place of more difficult words. But she LOVES them! And the repetition makes her such a confident little reader. You should see her face after she's read a page! She beams from ear to ear! And after she has read a WHOLE book, she jumps up and down and says, "Are you so proud of me that I can read?!?!" LOVE IT!

And yes...I am SO PROUD!

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-18T15:14:00.007-05:00

It's the end of 2010 and Christmas is upon us!

We took the girls to get their portraits taken and it was an amusing experience. For the most part, when one was smiling, the other was looking sideways or gaping at the funny animals and vice versa!

But we were grateful that the photographer was able to capture a few charming shots,

...as well as a few that showcased their fun-loving personalities.

And I should add that these are just "teaser photos" since they are all selections from the CD (we got to keep all the images!) that we did NOT choose to have made into prints! But we wouldn't want Christmas to come too early! ;-)

Elizabeth's Ballet Debut

2010-12-11T17:31:00.005-05:00

Well, we are officially THOSE parents! You know...the ones who enroll their wee ones in dance classes that Peter always insisted culminate in a display of ridiculousness that all the mommies find irresistibly adorable!

Guilty as charged. I thought it was precious!

Here she is practicing in a final run-through before the recital began!

And here she is with her teacher, Miss Monica, after the recital!

E has been taking ballet class for all of 5 weeks! Some of the other girls have been enrolled in this class for 13 weeks. Personally, I don't think it made much difference ;-) but you can judge for yourselves!

Enjoy!

"I'll Be the Horse If You'll Play With Me!"

2010-12-09T20:27:00.005-05:00

That's the name of a children's book by Martha Alexander. And it was one of my sister and my favorite books when we were kids.

And I have to say... it's kind of fun to look at these pictures and really understand--on a deeper and more appreciative level-- why this was such an appropriate title for the sequel to Nobody Asked Me If I Wanted a Baby Sister!

Goofin' Around

2010-11-22T22:32:00.002-05:00

I decided to give myself a little tutorial in the use of iMovie! A simple project, really...I just wanted to be able to put a short video to the music of my choice. Turned out it only took me about 20 minutes of trial and error to figure out what I was doing wrong. And here is my first attempt.

The music is a short piece called "I'll Be Waiting" from the score of the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks movie, You've Got Mail--but I think it fits the mood here! :-)

Enjoy!

If You Lived Here...

2010-11-14T20:44:00.004-05:00

then this could have been YOUR Saturday Adventure, too!

We're sure glad it was ours! :-) Could not have asked for a more beautiful day yesterday... or better weather in which to explore the treasures of our nation's capital! Did I mention we LOVE it here???

Happy Birthday to E!

2010-11-14T20:14:00.005-05:00

Our Little Monkey turned FOUR today!

And she had a "mod monkey party" to celebrate the occasion!

Move over, Suri...this A-list Birthday Soiree was such a Can't-Miss-Event, the guests came from as far away as LA---and San Diego!--and Seattle! to celebrate with us!

E got some fun gifts from a whole bunch of people who love her and, of course, it made for an exciting, festive, and exhausting day!

Here's a video of her getting ready to take a spin on her scooter from Grandma & Grandpa! After a few attempts around the driveway for practice, she was definitely getting the hang of it. And she continued to wear the helmet long after she had moved on to a rousing game of "hide the ball" (And, btw, did I mention this particular game involved E "hiding" a giant pink 8-inch bouncy ball in the monkey grass...in the same spot...in plain sight...every. single. time? Just sayin'...) ;)

Giggly Girls

2010-11-07T22:09:00.002-05:00

So, Pop-Pop will probably tell me how mortified the girls will be that this is now "out there" for all eternity for future boyfriends to see. But it's just too cute not to post! ;-)

So, with little shame (and half-hearted apologies to my daughters' future modesty), I present to you: Bathtime Giggles!

Fun Fall Day!

2010-11-07T21:29:00.006-05:00

Did I mention it's FALL at our house?!?!

Well...the constantly-changing leaves on the trees surrounding us are a daily reminder!

And, while the colorful autumn leaves are surely beautiful, we finally came to the realization that we could be buried alive by them if we did not invest in a leaf blower--and FAST!

This is the second weekend in a row that we have put the blower to excellent use!

And, obviously, the girls LOVE it!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Halloween Night

2010-11-07T21:21:00.003-05:00

Here we are just before venturing out on Halloween Night in search of some "good" candy. (Er...not to be confused by the "yucky" candy, AKA candy that Elizabeth has deemed worthy to give away to the trick-or-treaters who come to our door!) LOL

As it turned out, we made one trip around the block before calling it quits. Ashley never got out of the wagon. Just wasn't interested. But she did yellow "Tick-o-Teat" a few times after she saw the door open for Sister to get candy, sometimes resulting in an extra piece added to Elizabeth's bag. Clever!

Elizabeth did pretty well with the whole trick-or-treat event, save for a minor breakdown when she knocked on a door, waited, and politely said "trick-or-treat" to the resident, only to realize belatedly that she had left her pumpkin in the wagon. I found myself having to apologize to the startled homeowner for Elizabeth's sudden outburst of "I forgot it!!!"--while quickly explaining that we are "new" at this whole ritual! ;-)

All in all...a great night!

Monkey on Parade

2010-10-31T20:39:00.004-04:00

Halloweekend for us was jam-packed with non-stop fun-filled festivities!

Mom and girls ready for the neighborhood parade to begin! We're told the parade has been a family tradition in our neighborhood for over 40 years!

Gathering with neighbors to start the parade!
Following the crowd down Roswell Drive from Hillsman to Shelby Court. About halfway down the street, E asked "Where is the parade?"...so I had to explain to her that she WAS the parade! LOL

Following the parade, Elizabeth was awarded 3rd place for her age group in the costume contest!

We think it was a combination of her many "accessories" (a bow "so that people will know I'm a girl monkey"...a banana "so people will know I'm a monkey and not a mouse"...and a Mo "so people will know I'm a MOMMY monkey"!) and the endearing little determined look on her face as she marched around the circle!

It's hard to describe...but watch for yourself and you'll see that she was taking her task of "parading" around the circle very seriously. And she was insistent that she perform the task ALONE without Mommy walking her around. Toward the end, she even started to get her groove on a little bit. Maybe that was just the thing to tip the judging in her favor! At any rate...she was very pleasantly surprised (as were we!) when she was named one of the WINNERS! :-)

Heather's Wedding Weekend

2010-10-27T23:17:00.006-04:00

We had a great time this past weekend at my cousin Heather's wedding in Houston! Well...some of us did anyway!

Here are some highlights (and lowlights) of the wedding day!

The happy couple just after tying the knot!

After the ceremony outside the church...

Janeann & Jennifer waiting for pictures...

Atrial fibrulation landed Dad-o in the hospital the morning of the wedding. Here we are visiting him between the ceremony and reception. He's now out of the hospital and feeling great at home!

Together at the reception...

...and visiting with Peter's parents!

Richard & Heather on their way to Happily Ever After...

Double Blogging

2010-10-27T22:36:00.004-04:00

I have to apologize for lagging behind on this blog due to the fact that I post frequently on facebook--so it becomes a bit of a "double blog" to upkeep both sites.

Then I remind myself that there are some of you who don't get to see the stuff on facebook. So it is with you NON-facebookers in mind—along with the idea that I can drone on about mundane topics in this format without risk of being DE-friended—that I am resolving to Blog On!

Without further ado...I give you Today's Rainy Day Activity #37:Fairy Princess Dress-Up!

Here is a video that shows the kind of fun that can be had while dressed as a Fairy Princess...again and again and again! (Memory card on the camera was full before the fun was finished recording...but you'll get the idea!)

Back-up Lovey

2010-09-29T16:47:00.003-04:00

As many of you know, Elizabeth has a "lovey" named Mo (which is actually short for his full name, "Seymour") And, well...somewhere along the way, we accumulated 7 (yes, SEVEN) "back-up" MOs. You know...just in case. And now she sleeps with all of them on her bed! And, believe me, she notices if one of them is missing, as they are all completely distinguishable by her from one another. So much for the "back-up" plan.

Anyway, when Ashley came along, we decided on "Puppers" as her lovey, and I didn't do such a great job of planning ahead on the "back-up" situation. Upon finally decided to go ahead and purchase the back-up guy, I learned that Puppers was a discontinued lovey. (OOPS!) I eventually found him on eBay for about twice the price as the original...and considered myself lucky to find him at all!
Until last week, the back-up Puppers sat in the top of Ashley's closet, untouched...and, though I should probably not admit to this, her original Puppers had NEVER had a bath! Not once...in 18 months! YIKES!
Needless to say, I was a little skeptical about whether the "back-up" imposter Puppers would pass the smell/feel test and be deemed an acceptable alternate "Puppoo" while her TRUE "Puppoo" was getting his first washing-machine bath. However, as you can tell by this photo, there was no need for concern at all.

Operation Puppoo Switcheroo = SUCCESS!!!

Double Bounce

2010-09-29T16:27:00.002-04:00

Some days I get lucky and get a few pieces of fun on film! :-)

The REAL First Day of Preschool!

2010-09-16T20:40:00.004-04:00

Well...today was the Big Day!

Elizabeth started her first day of preschool! And she handled it like a pro! After a special First Day of School Breakfast with the Family (a tradition borrowed from Auntie P), she got dressed in her brand new school outfit (courtesy of Grammy & PopPop) and posed for pictures out in the front yard.

Got some great photos due to Elizabeth being a little silly and cracking herself up!

Thanks to a quick shutter, I was able to capture the naturally giggly moments on camera!

When we arrived at school, I parked along the street and we got out of the car and went to the other side to get Ashley out. I told E, "Let me get Ashley out of the car and I'll help you with your backpack." But Little Miss Independent responded, "That's okay...I can do it myself!" And she slipped her arms into the straps with confidence! :-)

We then crossed the street where she posed in front of the doors for another picture.

Then, we made our way down the hall, and I followed her into the classroom. She found the cubbies and cheerfully hung her own backpack on a hook!

She turned around to survey the room as if she were wondering, "Now...what should I do first?"

...and then, after a brief goodbye, she was off to play!

With Ashley in my arms, I slipped out the room, down the hall, exited the building, and made it all the way to the car before I let loose with buckets of tears!!!!

My baby is not a baby anymore...and today marks her first day of school...for the rest of her life!! (Drama Queen much? I think, yes! But then Dad calmed me down with his reassurance that "One of the most important parts of the being a parent is letting go just a little at a time. You're doing a good thing." Thanks, Dad-O!)

When I picked her up, she was all smiles! Had nothing but great things to say about school, and seemed to really enjoy herself! Throughout the rest of the day, she would give me more and more little details about the days happenings. I learned that she listened to three stories (one was about monkeys!), she rode the elevator to the playground(!), and she got to pass out cups at snack!

As I put her to bed tonight, she spontaneously announced, "I'm really excited to go back to school tomorrow!"...and I had to break it to her that, in reality, her next school day is not until Tuesday---which, in the mind of a 3-year-old, is about 100 "tomorrows" away!

Goofy Girlies

2010-09-14T19:13:00.001-04:00

Sunday after church, Elizabeth and Ashley were goofing around, holding hands and kind of wandering and dancing around the living room and kitchen. There isn't much to see, really...and even less to understand (b/c E is sing-songing a rhythm in some kind of made up gibberish that I couldn't even begin to translate), but I thought this video was kind of sweet. Enjoy!

Side note: We went back to Trinity Methodist Sunday (on the day of the Blessing of the Backpacks!...Hooray for no more evil-doing backpacks!...except E didn't bring hers, so the threat-level of her backpack may still be in question! OOPS!) and there were TONS of kids there! 20 kids in Elizabeth's 3- and 4-year-old class alone! And we really enjoyed the service and the message. So...we may have a winner!

Meet the Teacher (aka First Day of Preschool PRACTICE Run!)

2010-09-14T18:46:00.004-04:00

This morning was Elizabeth's "Teacher Meet & Greet" at The Day School! And was she ever excited!!!

Of course, all the pictures I tried to take of her standing on the front porch turned out completely goofy!

See Exhibit A:

So I finally got a close up after telling her "don't try so hard to smile" and this is what she came up with...LOL

We arrived at her school at 8:58am (the open house started at 9am) and we were the first ones in the room (shocker, I know!) ;-)
Anyway, Elizabeth impressed her teachers with her good "make a friend" manners ("Hi, I'm Elizabeth...it's nice to meet you.") and then she made herself right at home in the kitchen play area...with her little sister!

She put on an apron, "cut" some cookie dough, and topped the cookie pieces with pretend icing. Then, she spotted a little container of animals on the table. She began removing the animals and lining them up in a row. When I asked what she was doing, she said "I'm very busy sorting out the farm animals." LOL
We stayed for about 25 minutes or so, met a few parents and other classmates, and explored the classroom.
When I suggested that it was probably time for us to go, she responded with an oddly mature, "Oh....well...I'm not quite ready." It made me laugh...but I just reassured her that we would be back on Thursday. We said goodbye and left.

She is very much looking forward to Thursday morning for her official first day of preschool. I hope drop-off goes well! :-)

Froot Loop Fun!

2010-09-10T13:24:00.003-04:00

This morning, we made a run to the market and, along with E's favorite "Honey Bunches of Oats with Cinnamon Bunches", we picked up a fun-size variety pack of what I affectionately refer to as "junky cereals". This included two boxes of Froot Loops. (Side note: Is it just me...or has anyone else ever noticed that the cereal is spelled Froot Loops instead of Fruit Loops? I hadn't noticed until recently!)
Anyway, when we got home, we had lunch and then Elizabeth pointed to the variety pack and asked to try some cereal with no milk. The box she chose was Froot Loops. She took them out of the package, and it gave me an idea!
Why not try to show her how to make a color pattern necklace! Then she can eat it when we are done! She was ALL about it! So I got out some ribbon and began showing her how to lace the Os onto the ribbon, one at a time. At first, I was ambitiously committed to the color pattern idea. But then it became more and more obvious that this was going to take the patience of Job! Patience that my three and a half year old simply does not possess! So, we quickly abandoned the patterning in favor of the more immediately gratifying "put on any color as fast as you can" approach! Ta-DA!!!
When we were done, I tied it around her neck and she suggested, "I think we need to take a picture and send it to Grandma and Grammy!" (Sorry Grandpa and PopPop...apparently you two are just silent sidekicks in this scenario!) So...that's exactly what we did!

And then she ate them all up! Every. Last. One.

Morning Ritual

2010-09-10T09:34:00.003-04:00

Welcome to our Morning Ritual. Daddy leaves the door open when he goes out to his car so the girls can press their noses against the glass and wave good-bye! Today, they were back-and-forthing "Bye Daddy"s for a while before I got the camera out to record it, but you can get the idea.

Do you think Daddy has any idea how much he is LOVED??? ;-)

Prairie Girls

2010-09-10T09:23:00.004-04:00

Last week, we made a little day trip to the site of the Battle of Bull Run! (Yeah...I admit it would not have been my first thought either, but our friend, Chris, was visiting and he is a Civil War buff!) Anyway...it was a GORGEOUS day and it turned out to be a nice spot for a picnic and some really cute pictures. Cue the "Little House on the Prairie Music...Bum-bum-ba-da...Bum-ba-da...Bum-bum ba-da...Ba-da-da-da-dum...Ba-da!"

Date Night!

2010-08-08T21:03:00.003-04:00

This isn't a post about the children either...but rather the lack of children on our DATE NIGHT to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary!

Cheers to 15 wonderful years together...and to Devon, our built-in babysitter next door! (One more year until she is off to college...tear!)

Big Giant Tree

2010-08-08T13:28:00.004-04:00

This post isn't about the girls...but I couldn't resist sharing this picture of our neighbors' uprooted tree! You might recognize that this house is the same floor plan as ours. And, until last Thursday, it had a tree in approximately the same location in their front yard as the enormous hickory (?) tree in ours! We had a storm blow through...with strong, strong winds and heavy rain, lightning, thunder...the whole works!
From our front porch two houses over, I watched this tree fall with a gigantic CRASH!!!! Miraculously, not only was no one hurt, but it completely missed the house! Plus, despite the tree falling across their driveway, they had parked their cars on the street that day...so those were spared as well! Crazy!

Sunday Funday!

2010-08-08T13:15:00.003-04:00

After visiting yet another church this morning, (Side note to Mom: this place one-upped BUMC's "Blessing of the Animals" with "Blessing of the Backpacks"...really?!?! Is that what we are doing now?? ;-)) we returned home for lunch and some pre-naptime fun & games with the kiddos! Here is Elizabeth enjoying a rousing game of "Hide the Mo!" Although we didn't test this theory (we stopped after about 35 minutes), I think it's safe to conclude that she could play this ALL DAY and never get tired of it!

And here is Ashley showing off her "reading" skills! She's come a long way, baby!

Antsy-Pants Swimming Dance!

2010-08-01T16:22:00.003-04:00

I know it may not look like it from this video, but Elizabeth LOVES swimming lessons. No really. She does!

This is her "jumping" into the pool to her swim instructor!

And, if you ask her...she will say, "I was SO BRAVE! I put my WHOLE SELF in!" Which, she did. On the first day. This is Day Eight. Notsomuch with the "whole self in" today...but don't tell HER I said that. ;-)
By the way...yes...I am aware that this is pretty much the ugliest swimming suit known to man! But we were in Target and E saw it and exclaimed, "I need THAT one! Then I can look like a turtle!" ...and looking "like a turtle" is apparently a good thing. Especially when you are swimming! So, I bought it...partly b/c I am a sucker...and partly b/c it was on clearance for $3.48 (gee...wonder WHY!?!) ;-)

Airplane!

2010-08-01T10:19:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was a warm and breezy day in Virginia! So...we loaded up the fam and went for a little drive! Destination: the park near Reagan National so we could watch planes land. It was a huge hit with the girls!

And, there's even a rugby pitch right there...so Daddy and Elizabeth ran around on the grass, tossing the rugby ball around!

Ashley and I stayed on the blanket, had a little juice, and continued to watch the planes land!

"She's Forlorn"

2010-07-16T20:20:00.004-04:00

In case we haven't mentioned it before, now would be a good time to reiterate that Elizabeth LOVES books!
At bedtime, she usually gets to pick two books for us to read to her. (She prefers one book from Daddy and one book from Mommy...or, in her words: "I need TWO people to put me to bed!")
The House That Jack Built is a frequent favorite pick to read with Daddy! I suspect she loves the sing-song rhythm and repeating rhymes in the book. From this video, you can tell that Daddy rather enjoys it, too! XO

It's Official: We Have WALKING!

2010-07-16T19:37:00.002-04:00

Ashley debuted her walking skills this past Sunday afternoon. Then gave us a few sneak peeks of 3-4 steps at a time over the course of the next few days. But it was all leading up to tonight's PREMIERE PERFORMANCE! And voila!...Here she is! Look out, world!

Too Many Shoes?

2010-07-02T15:07:00.004-04:00

Of course not...no such thing!

I posted this on facebook the other day with just this photo. But I'm thinking maybe here I will find an audience that is interested in the live action version of events! ;-)

Today I walked upstairs to find that E had dumped (literally!) ALL of her books from her bookshelf onto the floor and was replacing them with pairs of shoes! HUH?!?! I gasped and took a breath in preparation of ordering her to put all the books back--now!...but instead something nagged me to ASK her WHY she was doing that! She looked up me with such an earnest little face and said "I needed these shelves for my shoe store!" LOL What else could I do at that point but help her set up shop! ;-)

Right away, we got to work on the sign (she wrote the "E" and the "L") and then I cut out some price tags (she dictated the prices...a little bit random...but hey...it's HER store!). Finally, she informed me that she needed a name tag to be a "worker"...so I made the little badge for her to wear. Voila!

Sidenote: As you'll see from the video...Ashley was not sure she wanted any part of this land of make-believe. But E and I had fun in spite of this! haha!

Two in a Tent!

2010-05-16T13:32:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth and Ashley are having a ton of fun...TOGETHER!

Ashley has long been interested in doing what BIG SISTER is doing. But now, Elizabeth is also discovering that some things are more fun with TWO!
Ashley doesn't quite understand all the "rules" of dual play—like sharing and making room for others, etc. But, have no fear...Elizabeth is sure to educate her in NO time! ;-)

Summer Cruisin'

2010-05-15T20:36:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe the years have gone by so fast...
but our eldest daughter is now behind the wheel of her first convertible!

YIKES! Clear the roads and look out!
No, seriously.

So...the story behind this little pink baby is that I scored it at a garage sale across the street from our house in Michigan last summer for the low-low bargain price of $20. (I know, right?!?! :-)) Anyway, the plan was to give it to Elizabeth (& Ashley) for Christmas...but then, well...we up and moved! So the jeep spent Christmas in a moving truck and while we spent it in a hotel in Pittsburgh! By the time we did get around to celebrating Christmas, there was a lot of snow on the ground and somehow it just didn't feel like the best time to do it. So we decided to put it off for a while. Then I came up with a grand plan to give it to her for Mother's Day! (Yes...why not? I mean...after all, they are the reason I get to celebrate Mother's Day!) Excellent plan foiled when the battery took over 72 hours to CHARGE! Oopsie! So...we again decided to postpone it for a bit.
So, today, while the girls were taking naps, Peter and I were cleaning out the carport area for the painters to come on Wednesday, and we decided to pull it out and get it all ready to give to E & A when they woke up! It was a GORGEOUS day and just perfect for cruising down the driveway!

E was THRILLED when she saw it, but was a little skeptical, too: "Is it for ME?!?!?!" (Hmmm...considering this is a PINK BARBIE JEEP, perhaps this would typically viewed as an odd question. But a few months ago, she accidentally discovered a portion of it hidden under a blanket, and clearly, she recalled being told "No, no..that's Daddy's!" LOL)

Here she is trying to reconcile whether or not the jeep actually belongs to her now...

Anyway, after that was cleared up, she hopped right in and we coached her on how to put the pedal to the metal! This resulted in a lot of abrupt stops and starts and tons of giggles. It's more difficult than you might imagine for a 3 year-old to control a foot pedal and steering wheel–at the same time!

As soon as Ashley woke up, we plopped her in the passenger seat so Elizabeth could take her for a ride!
Elizabeth seemed a wee bit nervous being the one in charge of the driving...but Ashley could not be more excited! I have a feeling that once E gets the hang of it, she will have a willing passenger anytime!

Honestly, I think Ashley would have stayed in there all afternoon!

Something tells me this was a wise investment! Hello, Summer!

Day Trip to the District

2010-05-11T22:52:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, the girls and I took a little day trip in to the District last week to the Air & Space Museum.

We arrived just before the museum opened at 10:00am. As soon as we entered the building, we got our FREE tickets to the One World One Sky show (featuring Big Bird and Elmo!) and headed to the planetarium theater to wait for the show to begin.

Ashley was more than fascinated by how the seat wanted to fold her up into a little pancake...she kept flapping her legs up and down and found it very amusing!

After the show, we walked around for a bit, and the girls each had a snack. I like to call this one "synchronized snacking"! haha!
Then, we made sure to stop at all the fountains that we had hurriedly passed on our way from the metro to the museum. Elizabeth was soooo excited by the ENORMITY of this one that she would barely hold still for a picture!
I did manage to get her to hold still for about a half second--sort of. Honestly, I know this picture looks posed...but in reality she was in the middle of alternately swinging her arms behind and in front of her while giggling and tippy-toeing next to the water! I just happened the snap this at the right moment.

This was taken in front of the "wishing fountain" from the previous post...just outside the Smithsonian Gardens.
And this last one...well...it was probably the MOST fun of all because it just comes spurting out of the ground, just begging for bare feet to splash in!

Fun day!

Mommy's Favorite Wish!

2010-05-10T20:42:00.001-04:00

While on a little visit to the National Air & Space Museum last Friday, Elizabeth wanted to stop at EVERY fountain we passed. So, on the way back to the metro, we did just that. At this one, she saw all the pennies, nickels, and dimes in the bottom and begged me to let her throw money in the "wishing fountain"! (Can you tell we have done this before??)

Anyway, except for the tiny little grammar issue (sorry--the teacher in me had to say it!), I think you will enjoy her wish as much as I did!

"There's an Animal In Trouble..."

2010-05-10T13:54:00.000-04:00

So...Elizabeth was recently introduced to this TV show called WonderPets! (Actually, I don't think she has seen a whole episode of it. Instead, she saw an ad for WonderPets that came on while she was watching something else.) At any rate...they have this catchy little tune they sing that includes the phrase: "There's an animal in trouble..." And, of course, the WonderPets' mission is to go and rescue said animal.

This morning, Elizabeth thought it would be a fun idea to dress Little Sister up in her caterpillar outfit and add butterfly wings (with Mom's help!) so that Ashley could play the part of an "animal in trouble"...and, naturally, it was Elizabeth's job to RESCUE her!

Not sure Ashley knew what to make of this grand plan! What do you think?

Cracker!!!

2010-05-10T13:46:00.000-04:00

Ashley is quickly acquiring some new words! Hooray! Trouble is...once she "has" these words, she often refuses to USE them! Stubborn little thing!

In this video, you can hear her say cracker at the very beginning...and then, of course, she only says it again once the camera pans away! Enjoy!

Social Butterfly?...Maybe not so much!

2010-05-05T15:20:00.000-04:00

This post is a little overdue...but I just ran across these pictures and it makes me laugh. This is Elizabeth at a birthday party in February.
Now, to be fair, she did not know ANY of these children, whereas they all knew each other b/c they attend the same class at day care. She even met the Birthday Boy (the son of one of Peter's grad school classmates) for the first time when we arrived at the party! They live about 25 minutes away in Maryland and were kind enough to invite us to the event, which was held at a local sportsplex...included bounce house (which E LOVED!!!) and cake and ice cream.

Every picture looks like Elizabeth just didn't know quite what to make of the whole situation.

I should mention, though, that she said she had a great time! LOVED the bounce house and cake and ice cream time! Just wasn't all that thrilled with having to interact with the other kids! LOL

On another note, I can report that, as she was playing on the playscape at the dentist's office this morning (yes...a HUGE playscape like they have at fast food places...IN the waiting room!), I overheard little Elizabeth informing other kids (herself?) at least two years older than she, "Okay...'it's your turn now' ...that's what you say when someone else wants a turn.'" Oh, brother! ;-)

The Picture Is In My Mind

2010-05-04T21:32:00.001-04:00

Well...as the title to this post suggests, I don't have a picture to accompany this blog entry. But at the suggestion of a friend, thought it was a good idea to document this afternoon's events.

Today is the first day of Daddy's summer school evening class. So, as most Tuesdays are when class is in session, it was a LONG day. After the girls awoke from their naps, we were playing around in the living room...and it was so nice outside that I suggested that we take a walk. Well...E wanted none of that. She just wanted to "play outside" in the front yard...fine, fine...just so long as we were OUTSIDE for a while! So, I grabbed the large picnic quilt from the hall closet spread it out on the front lawn along with the little inflatable innertube for Ashley to climb in and out of.

Once outside, Ashley and I plopped down on the quilt and E wandered around outside for a while. Then, she joined us on the blanket and the two of us lay on our backs and I started pointing out the movement of the clouds. A was curious and came scooch/crawling over to us and I promise you she squirmed herself RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of us and joined us on her back looking up at the clouds as well. The three of us just relaxed there together, pointing at birds, laughing at different sounds (helicopters, planes, chirping birds) and observing the trees and cloud formations. We must have remained there for a good 15 minutes! No joke! It was at that point that it occurred to me that this was one of those moments that was not likely to repeat itself again. It was bliss!

I LOVE my girls so much and this time together was PRECIOUS beyond words!

Eventually, Elizabeth got up and then Ashley rolled over and, as more and more cars began driving down the road, E exclaimed "We're watching all the Daddies come home!" Hilarious!

Great afternoon! And now it is permanently etched into my memory! So grateful to be at home with these two angels! XO

Customer in Training!

2010-04-29T17:26:00.000-04:00

We went on a little trip to the market today to stock up on some essentials. And, in case you have not seen these little gems in person, I thought I would post some pictures of the latest "turn-a-ten-minute-routine-outing-into-a-45-minute-fun-filled-adventure" invention! Of course, Elizabeth LOVES it...so we just allow some additional time to let her be Mommy's Little Helper! Some days, like today, it's fun for everyone!

And other days...

I want to hunt down the marketing guru who invented these munchkin-mobiles and show him my bruised and battered ankles from where darling E has RAMMED the cart into me repeatedly when she was too busy "browsing" to watch where she was going!!! OUCH!

Gigglebox

2010-04-28T15:30:00.000-04:00

Ashley was having a little dried fruit snack and I snapped a few of these precious pictures.

Then, she started making these little noises where she would blow air out of her mouth. When I copied her, she laughed hysterically as though this were the funniest thing I had ever done! So I flipped it to video...see for yourself. Incidentally, she also thinks it is HI-larious when she offers to give you something and then SNATCHES it back just as you are about to reach for it! Little stinker! ;-)

Always Time To Be a Fairy Princess!

2010-04-20T22:54:00.000-04:00

Well...the other day, Elizabeth announced that she wanted to dress up like a fairy. So...we decked her in Fairy Princess gear from head to toe! She even let me braid her hair! Then, we romped around in Elizabeth's room wearing tutus and fairy wings and having a Fairy Tea Party! It was all so delightful...I'm sure you are sorry you missed it! LOL

Is there a better way to spend a day?? I think not!

Couldn't leave Little One out...she needed a tutu, too!
Is that too many tutus?? heehee

And, lest you think that Mommy was just a fairy princess bystander,
here is a picture taken by Elizabeth!
Finally, here is a video of Elizabeth putting on her entire outfit by herself! (This, after she had taken it off and then decided she wanted to become a fairy all over again!) Very entertaining!

Daddy Time!!!

2010-04-20T22:37:00.000-04:00

That's what Elizabeth calls it!
Last week, Daddy volunteered to put both girls to bed...but then I heard this sing-songy sound coming from Ashley's room and I knew something fun was happening. So I grabbed the camera and snuck up there to capture the magic. Battery in the camera died about a 38-seconds in...but the footage is still priceless! Sorry this is so sappy, but my heart is so full!!!! Is there anything more precious?!?

The Scooch

2010-04-10T21:28:00.000-04:00

Even though the time has long passed for Ashley to transition from her stationary to mobile phase, so far, she has shown virtually no interest in crawling. Actually, that is putting it mildly. Just for good measure, she would actually take it one step further and SCREAM HER FOOL HEAD OFF anytime we put her in the crawling position. She just. did. not. like it!

But, eager to put our minds at rest, she soon adopted a quite efficient mode of travel that we like to call "The Scooch!" Simply put--she scooches around by putting her feet together and pulling herself along with her hands--disturbingly, not unlike Eddie Murphy in the beginning scene of the classic film "Trading Places"--sans that little platform on wheels (And if you haven't seen that movie--NETFLIX it!--b/c it is so worth it!)

Without further ado...BEHOLD!: Ashley's bizzare adaptation of crawling! Enjoy!

Artsy and Fabulous!

2010-04-05T21:25:00.000-04:00

Let me know if you want any of these! :-)

Our Little Monkey

2010-04-05T21:23:00.001-04:00

Here, a picture is worth a thousand words...

Looks like those gymnastics classes are paying off in core strength! :-)

Tourists In Our Own Town!

2010-04-03T21:25:00.000-04:00

Being a tourist in your own town is a lot of fun! And even more so if "your own town" just happens to be our nation's capital! (Okay, technically, for us--it is not. But, since we can drive from our house to D.C. in less than a half hour, we think it still counts!)

So, today, we took off on an adventure to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom!
We began our journey at 9:30 am. Here we are just outside of Dunn-Loring station, about to board the METRO! (As you can see from this pic, Elizabeth is very excited about this, while Ashley is just trying to hunker down for her morning nap in peace!)
First stop: The gardens at the Smithsonian Castle...

Then we walked down the Mall right by the Washington Monument...

And stumbled onto a rugby match in progress (no, seriously! It was a total coincidence!)...
Enjoyed the picturesque beauty of the cherry blossoms...
Stopped to smell the flowers in the Tulip Library...
Took pictures of the Jefferson Memorial... Ate lunch under the cherry blossoms surrounding Washington's Tidal Basin...

Walked back up the Mall toward the Capitol (while both girls took a nap in the stroller!)...

Stopped to enjoy the fountains outside the American Indian Museum...

Rode the carousel in front of Smithsonian Castle (Warning: DO NOT watch this video if you are prone to motion sickness! For some reason, viewing of the video is much worse than being on the actual ride!)

And, finally, we stopped to appreciate one last fountain at the Smithsonian Castle gardens!

All in all...it was an exhausting and very fun-filled day of sightseeing, crowds, and beautiful weather! WOOHOO!!!

ABC...Easy as 123!

2010-04-03T20:18:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth was playing with her alphabet train the other day—(each "car" is a letter of the alphabet that magnetizes to its neighbor)—and she arranged it in order from A to Z! Predictable, I guess...but since it takes a pretty long attention span to hunt through the pile to unscramble, rearrange, and attach 26 cars, I gave her lots of props for it!!!!

But then, when she started pointing and naming each letter and pairing it with its phonetic sound, I shouted, "Wait right here!" while I grabbed my camera and made her start all over from the beginning! haha!

So, please consider this the gratuitous sequel to the "my-kid-knows-the-alphabet" video that I posted last year. Same rules apply: If you aren not a grandparent of this child, viewing is completely OPTIONAL! ;-)

Multilingual?...Sure! Why not?

2010-03-26T00:05:00.000-04:00

Lest ye think that Elizabeth is just babbling in bathtub gibberish, she is here to set the record straight! At least in her mind, this is a legitimate language!

Funny, I don't remember Mrs. Bell or Mrs. Zerbe teaching me any of these phrases when I studied this language in Jr. High and High School! ;-)

Party Preparations

2010-03-25T23:55:00.001-04:00

Daddy shot this video while Mommy was upstairs getting E ready for A's birthday party. Grammy & Pop-Pop were already here, but I think they were downstairs in the Den (the reason Ashley keeps peeking down there!). The video is about a minute long...but watch to the very end b/c we are going to count this as Ashley's REAL first "conversation" with her sister! Elizabeth wishes her a happy birthday...and, if you listen closely, you can hear Ashley respond: THANK YOU!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Ashley Rose!

2010-03-24T10:52:00.001-04:00

Ashley had a very busy First Birthday Celebration!
Here she is waiting for birthday cake!

Want some?....THANK YOU!

What fun!

Special Memories

2010-03-24T10:46:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd post a few of these since I ran across them in iPhoto. So happy for the special memories of Grams with the girls! XO

Uh-OH!!!!

2010-02-24T22:40:00.000-05:00

Cutest. Thing. Ever.

This is only a few seconds long...but totally worth it!

Even though Ashley repeats this clever little routine about 100 times a day, I am certain there will come a time when I will have forgotten all about it. So I want to preserve the cuteness here as a little reminder!

Cute & Cozy x Two!

2010-02-24T22:32:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you don't need a whole witty paragraph to describe a moment in time!

So...is this what it's like to love your daughters so much it HURTS???...

Inside & Out

2010-02-10T09:37:00.001-05:00

While the place is all spic'n'span, I thought I'd better post some pictures of the interior of our new home! I am offering this up as official evidence that I am capable of cleanliness!--at least in short little bursts that last until the pictures are taken and we start *living* in the space again! "Elizabeth...Ashley...Don't. Touch. ANYTHING!" ;-)

Above is the living room (taken from just inside the front door looking slightly to the left).

This one shows the front door standing just in front of the kitchen/dining room.

This one above is the dining room (taken from the living room) and the kitchen is just to the right. The kitchen/dining/living room make an open L-shape.

View of kitchen from the dining room.

This is the den. It's 7 steps down from the living room, so it has sort of a cozy basement feel.

This is a view of the den from the front corner of the built-in, next to the fireplace. Through that white door is the utility room--which houses the washer/dryer and a "guest bathroom".

Here is a view of Elizabeth's room from her doorway.

Let's Start at the Very Beginning...

2010-02-06T14:05:00.000-05:00

A very good place to start!
(Go ahead...sing along...)

So...my mom is insisting that it has been SO long since I posted an update that "those of us in blogworld don't even know you've moved!" Really, Mom?!? But you've BEEN to our new house and seen in for yourself! And I'm pretty sure that the other 3 people who read this have probably already been here too! ;-)

But,... just in case she is right and there are, in fact, more than three members of my reading audience in this blogoshpere...I will indulge and make the official announcement:

WE HAVE MOVED FROM MICHIGAN TO NORTHERN VIRGINIA!
(Falls Church, VA...to be exact!)

Peter got a great new job offer at the National Defense University, so at the end of December, instead of celebrating Christmas in the traditional way, we packed up our belongings and headed out on the road--spent Christmas Day in Pittsburgh--then completed the journey to Virginia where we closed on our new house the same week Peter started work at NDU. Though it all happened very suddenly, so far, it has been a seamless transition, and we are enjoying our new home and new town.

And then, all of a sudden...(cue music of doom!)...we are hit by WINTER SNOWSTORM 2010!

I have posted an album of photos on Facebook, but since Grandma & Grandpa are not on FB and since Pop-Pop--who was briefly on FB--is a "Quitter"...(I think that's the official term for former members of the cult of Facebook!), it's only right that we share a few photos here as well! :-)

Peter spent most of the late morning shoveling snow from our driveway! And, were it not for the very friendly neighbor across the street (who happened to have a snowblower that he *just* got back from the repair shop YESTERDAY!)...Peter would probably still be out there shoveling away!

We forgot to bring the snow shovel inside last night...so Peter had to force the front door open and wade through over a foot and a half of snow to the garage the get the shovel.

He then dug a path up the walkway to "rescue"

Elizabeth and me so we could come outside and play! :-)And here we are post-rescue...
making our way down off the porch along the path Daddy made for us!

And finally, here is a view of the backyard and playscape
so you can get a pretty good idea of how insane it is!
A LOT of snow (24 inches and counting!)...but it is SOOOO pretty!

Rub-a-Dub-Dub...

2009-12-15T11:18:00.001-05:00

Two girls in a tub!

And Elizabeth could not be happier about having a little company in the bath! She excitedly exclaims, "My sister is getting BIGGER!" It's as if she has been waiting her whole life for the "bigger" to happen and for "sister" to be big enough to play with her! And, at least where bathtime is concerned...the time has finally come!

I will have to post video soon...but I am not sure which of them has a better time! There is so much giggling and splashing that it's a wonder there is any water left in the tub with they are through!