A beautiful day

We woke up to a perfectly beautiful summer day. The sun in the sky was sunny all day.

We had power all night from what I can tell. It did flash off right before I went to bed around 11pm, but it came immediately back on.

Our lake was not flooded at all. In fact it had receded quite a bit from where it was around 4 in the afternoon.

Our only semi-casualty was the purple Japanese Maple tree in the front yard fell onto it's side. The ground around it was so saturated, it simply blew over. We've managed to stake it up, but the ground is still so wet we'll have to restake it in a day or two.

We still have power

It's been a steady rain all day and we're now in the height of our storm surge on the coast. The swells are 8 feet. It's going to rain for another 6-9 hours so it's definitely not over yet.

There are many many many power outages, but so far we've been lucky and still have power.

Flooding is the major threat in our area. The lake behind our house is slowly creeping into some backyards..the ones directly across from us. We are lucky to have a large grade between our house and the lake. I can't wait to see what it looks like tomorrow morning in the daylight.

The Mall

Here's two pictures of the girls at the play area at the mall this week. I couldn't decide which one was better.

Another fun day at the Botanical Garden

On Wed we picked up my friend Jen and her girls (Kate and Caroline) at their car repair shop and we headed to Botanical Gardens for a day of fun. The girls spent the first HOUR paying the fine dirt under a tree. Thankfully there was a bench for Jen and I to sit on! They were dirty from that point on!

We check out come mazes. We went to the butterfly garden and then ate our picnic lunch at a dock on the lake in the shade. The girls actually went in the sprinklers this time! They had so much fun....take a look.

Crazy weather

None of us felt the 5.8 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday (8/23/11) at 2 pm. Lots of our friends, and even far away family, have their own personal stories to tell, but we don't. My cousin felt it at Penn State University and my Uncle was in an office in Pittsburgh and felt it. I was rearranging and cleaning Lilly's bedroom, the girls were playing upstairs and Will was sitting at his desk. Sadie was, more than likely, sitting by Will's feet and she didn't react at all. We literally have nothing to report.

And this weekend, we're in the direct path of Hurricane Irene (which has been downgraded to a Category 3 to a Category 1 thankfully).

It's raining here. We woke up around 7:30 with periods of spurting rain with LOTS of swirling clouds in the sky, but the rain was not consistent.

Now, at 9:30, it's raining for sure and it's windy. It's supposed to get worse at the day goes on. High tide is 7:30 pm and that's when it's supposed to be the worst. I can tell it's going to rain all day and all night...and all day tomorrow.

According to our trusty meteorologist, our area is expecting mostly flooding.

We'll probably lose power later today. We've lost it a few times already this morning, but it's always come back one within seconds.

The girls are busy watching a movie in my bedroom because they know they won't be able to when the power goes out.

Will seems to be glued to the tv hurricane coverage.

I'm tucked away in a comfy chair with my coffee listening to the fall of rain on the window in the FROG and catching up on my blog. Saturday mornings don't any better than that.

Photos from my phone

I've finally downloaded summer photos from my phone. Here are some never before seen photos...

Lilly's first haircut

A Bible School Shot - this was at assembly on the final day of bible school. The kids were all up front singing the songs they learned all week.

These are from the first night the girls and I went to the Oceanfront to watch the beach side circus. We stopped at a new play ground after the show and the girls played in the sand. They were covered in sweat and sand when we got back home so they were up really late that night because they both had to take a bath.

This was taken at a church festival in PA. Aunt Carole with the girls in front of of one my Uncle Alan's antique cars. We all took a ride in it. The girls liked riding in a car without windows and seatbelts.

Horray for "No Shots"

We had a busy day yesterday!

The sun wasn't blaring down on us yesterday morning. It was only 85 degrees so we decided to take Sadie for a walk. Sophia rode her bike. Lilly walked (and complained that she had to carry her Lamby and her diary, but I warned her that if she brought them she would have to carry them the whole way). Sadie was ready for a long walk, but in the end we had to cut it short. Sophia intentionally fell off her bike twice when she started to get too hot. I could tell she was "melting" and Lilly was complaining that she was sleepy and that the bugs were chasing her...so we turned around and headed back for home. We really hadn't made it that far.

When we got home, they wanted to cool off and run around in the sprinklers. They put on some bathing suits while I brought out all the painting supplies and the easel so they could paint when they got sick of the water. It turns out they decided to paint first and then run in the water.

Sophia lasted a lot longer than Lilly in the sprinklers. The water was too cold for Lilly's taste. Sophia asked for her helmet and a watering can. Fun ensued....

Both of the girls had their annual doctor check-up in the afternoon.

We went to the appointment not knowing if any shots would be necessary for either of them. I didn't remember Sophia getting any shots at her 3-yr check-up so I figured Lilly was in the clear. I really had no idea about Sophia. She got lucky and didn't need any shots either.

They both passed their eye exams with flying colors. Lilly got a little "beep" happy when she had her hearing exam, but the nurse & the doctor both told me that Lilly was only their third 3-yr old to actually finish the eye and the hearing exams to completion.

Sophia measured at exactly 48 inches tall or 4 feet. She weighed 62.2 pounds...both put her in the "off the charts" percentile (greater than 97%).

Lilly measured at 3 feet 2 inches tall (38 inches). She weighed 34 pounds. The doctor said she was in the 70th percentile.

Man, they are growing so fast!

Botanical gardens

Yesterday we went to the Botanical Gardens with our friends. (Jen (the mom) and Kate (7) Caroline (5). We rode the tram instead of using the stroller. I was worried that Lilly was going to get tired, but she was tough.

There was a special Honey Bee Guild thing going on and the girls got to make a bee craft and see a colony of worker bees with their queen. Neither of my girls really cared one bit what they were seeing...and neither did I, but Jen and her girls were really into it.

We found a really neat puzzle station. At first Sophia was completely impatient and got really frustrated with every single puzzle she touched. She was giving up too quickly and getting really upset - to the point of crying! I explained to her that she needed to take her time and, after what seemed like a long time, she finally was able to complete a complex circle puzzle! YAY!!! She completely hated the maze puzzle shown in the picture.

Lilly attacked some of the puzzles too. They both received a prize...Sophia chose a small lady bug eraser and Lilly picked a troll tattoo.

The girls changed into their bathing suites and played all afternoon at the water pumps and we only hit the sprinklers for the last 20 15 minutes of the day.

Lilly's smiling at the camera these days....

Lilly's first visit to the dentist

Lilly went to the dentist today for her first appointment. She decided to bring Lamby with her.

She was sooo brave and sooo incredibly good. She listened to all the instructions and didn't shy away at all. She had perfect x-rays taken (both top and bottom front 4 adult teeth were present). She let them clean her teeth after she selected the orange flavored paste.

She had a blast filling up her rinse cup a few times, taking a small sip and pouring the rest down the tiny drain. Sophia hovered the entire time and encouraged Lilly to stay put and keep her mouth open.

They gave each of the girls a toothbrush, toothbrush, floss and let them pick a small trinket out of the prize box. Lilly also got a lottery scratcher card and won $2.00 at the Dollar Store. When we went there she selected cheese curls and cotton candy!

Sophia brought her piggy bank and spent $2.00 of her own money. She got Mike and Ike's and a tiny stuffed cat. She goes back for her 6 month check up Sept 9.

The Reading Bus

We went to the Reading Bus again today. If you're wondering what the Reading Bus is....then read the following. I took the info directly from the Va Beach City Public School web site.

What is the Reading Bus?
The Reading Bus is stocked with hundreds of volumes of books and fun activities. Its main purpose is to promote reading readiness to preschool children ages 2 – 5 years as it travels to various Virginia Beach communities. Parents board the bus and take part in Reading Bus activities.

Today the story was The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen. One teacher read the story and the other teacher performed it with stuffed animals/puppets.

Then they talked about opposites. Sophia found out that the program is for 2-5 yr olds and she thinks she's almost 6 so she was acting rather aloof to the whole program until it was craft time. She really enjoyed creating a paper plate fish and decorating it with bingo stampers.

I helped Lilly make her fishy. She wasn't very interested in the craft. In fact, I'm not sure if she really enjoyed herself there today at all. She kept asking to sit in my lap and the rule is that the children sit independent from their parent during story time/instruction. I kept encouraging her to sit with Sophia and she would...for a while...and then she'd ask again to sit in my lap. Anyway, I'm will continue to take her through the school year and hopefully she'll bloom a bit on her own.

** She's been posing for the camera lately and giving me some really cute shots. I love it! **

Sophia couldn't refuse the opportunity to share a little personality.

Puzzle

Aunt Claire is working on an extremely hard puzzle right now and Sophia came home inspired from our latest trip and now she's really into puzzles lately. Every few months she goes through a puzzle phase. It's always fun to watch how she improves with each go 'round.

We did this puzzle together a few days ago. It's 60 pieces...our biggest puzzle to date. I got it a few weeks ago when we visited the Borders store that's closing. I put it on the game shelf and didn't mention it to either of the girls. Sophia was psyched to discover it this weekend.

We had fun with Lilly learning about our bodies after we had completed it. By far, the hardest question to answer was Sophia's about why the heart is not shaped like a "heart". I have absolutely no idea how I got out of it, but I never did have to figure out the appropriate answer.

Photos from Idelwild & Soakzone Park

Another long trip

The girls and I just returned from another long summer trip. This time we headed north for 8 days. We stopped at Grancy and Big Daddy's house on the way to PA for Uncle Dan and Aunt Meg's wedding reception at Nana and Poppy's house. We stopped again in Northern VA on our way home.

The wedding party was really nice. Lots of great food (including this lovely bbq'd pig)!

We had a lot of fun in Pennsylvania. We got to see everyone in my family except my cousin, Lindsey, and her family: hubby, Wayne; daughter, Morgan; and son, Kale). They are living in Boston right now, but plan to return home to PA next year. We did spent a whole day with Cole and Rylee, my cousin Corey's kids. Sophia and Rylee played dress up. I played baseball with Cole and Lilly played with babydolls.

Will was able to join everyone for the weekend and we celebrated our 7th anniversary on 8/7/11 by going out for Mexican food and then topping it off with coffee and cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. It was so nice to have free babysitting!

My parents and I took the girls to Idelwild & Soakzone Park. We spent a lot of time in the wave pool and cooling off near the slides.

We also spent an afternoon at the pool in my Aunt Carole's neighborhood.

We got to spend some time with Aunt Claire and Jonas. Lilly loves helping take care of Jonas. She always plays "house" and she's the mommy to her baby dolls. She loves feeding them and taking them for walks in their strollers.

The girls got to play miniature golf. I think we were lucky that we were the only people there because Sophia ran off and randomly decided which holes she would play. Lilly basically handed her "stick" and ball to me and ran off to "ride" the animals.

Dance Recital Attire

This is a photo I've been meaning to upload for a while. Sophia is dressed in her dance recital costume. Lilly is wearing Sophia's dance recital costume from last year.

Next year Lilly will be in the recital herself. She'll do a tap dance and a ballet dance.

Ever since we went to Disney World and saw some the of performances/shows Sophia has been asking me to take a gymnastics class. Her dance studio offers tumbling so we'll probably give that a shot this year in addition to tap and ballet. Or...maybe she'll just want to pick two of the three. That would be nice.

Readers Digest worthy....

In the car today (at the end of a very long day of running errands) Sophia, still in a good mood, announced that she has freckles. I asked her to show me and I quickly glanced back at her. She pointed to her neck and the inside of her elbow. She told me she used to think that she was those were giraffe marks and that she was turning into one!

During quiet time today Lilly came down the stairs with a unopened single-serving size bag of classic potato chips. I knew they came from Sophia's room because I saw them earlier when we were reading a few books. I'm sure the girls were either playing restaurant or picnic and left them upstairs. (No surprise there!) Anyway, Lilly came to me as if she was ratting Sophia out and told me that she found the chips in Sophia's room. I said something like - Oh, that's ok. She wasn't going to eat them (side note: Sophia no longer eats chips because they are not healthy) and I think that YOU left them in her room the other day. With a shrug of her shoulders she told me that she didn't leave them in there, but maybe a dragon did...and then she walked off.