My family...they're so cute

More pictures

Here's a link to many, many more pictures that I took when we were in Pennsylvania.

Out for the night

Will and I recently had our 6th wedding anniversary. Tonight we're going out to celebrate. We've got a sitter coming to watch the kids and we're going out to dinner and a movie. Aren't we lucky?

______________UPDATE_______________

We're back from our night out. It was really nice to have some alone time, adult conversation and a beverage or two. We tried a new Greek restaurant (thumbs down) then walked to the movie theater. We saw Inception. It was a fast paced drama with tons of twists and turns. We really enjoyed it. - Will a little bit more than me.

The sitter, Amy, told us that Lilly helped herself to the dinner that she brought for herself. She thought it was hysterical. Lilly ate her fries and her pickles. Cute.

Another first

No, I'm not writing about any of Lilly's firsts, but Sophia made me very proud this morning when she took her very first shower. I've offered countless times before for her to join me, but she's always seriously been too scared to take me up on it.

This morning she decided it was time for her to take a shower. She announced that she wanted to take a shower and then marched right upstairs into her bathroom, got in the shower and then asked me to leave the room so she could have some privacy! I didn't, of course. She even washed and rinsed her own hair.

My little baby is growing up. Yesterday she got her first hair cut that wasn't straight around in the back. Because her hair was getting so tangled and it really hurt her when I brushed it, I decided it was time for her to get her hair cut. I'm thrilled with the results. I took her to her "kid" salon and asked to keep the length in the front, but to have the back stacked with layers. It looks really cute. I do wish I would have asked the girl to cut it a little bit shorter. I'll probably take her back for a trim just before school starts in a month.

Our Visit to Nana & Poppy's House

We arrived on a Tuesday afternoon and left the following Monday morning. It was a great trip. We managed to pack in a lot of activities while still affording the girls some quiet time almost every day.

Nana and Poppy both went to work on Wednesday so the girls and I were on our own. We ended up going to Target and then McDonald's so the girls could play on the outdoor playground. They really enjoyed it and the weather was beautiful. It was nice and hot. When we got back home my Aunts came for a short visit. Shirley and Donna are my mom's sisters. Sophia performed for them the entire time. At one point she was falling on the ground and Lilly was laughing her head off at the commotion. This continued for a long time..(smile)..making it hard to hold a conversation.

After they left I wasn't sure what we were going to do, but I quickly decided it was time for some "water play" - outside. What kid doesn't like to play in water? I apparently did... My mom saved my old sink (it's over 30 years old and she still has the Christmas photo from the year Santa brought it for me!) and the girls got to use it to wash my old, plastic dishes. They loved filling up two Nana's two watering cans using the outdoor spigot and dumping the water into the sink, or more honestly, on themselves. Once they were almost entirely wet I let them play with the hose and sprinkler. Sophia couldn't get enough!

The following day we went to Aunt Carole's pool. She gave us a tour of her new condo which is really nice. I absolutely loved the openness of the floor plan. After the tour we hopped in my car for a quick ride to the pool which, at the deepest spot, was 5 ft. Sophia could swim around no problem. Lilly liked jumping from the top of the steps into the water. Nana's arms were probably hurting after the day she had playing in the water. Aunt Carole prepared an awesome snack for us (fruit salad, Cheetos, iced tea, and Dots candy). I think Lilly ate half the bag of Cheetos! We stayed at the pool for a few hours that day and Lilly fell asleep in the car on the ride home. Boy was she tuckered out. It really was a lot of fun. We don't have access to a pool where we live so it was really nice to take advantage of Aunt Carole's pool.

My mom took the day off on Thursday and our plan was to let the girls play. We might have originally planned a trip to he playground too, but that didn't happen. Instead we had guests visiting for most of the day. My Aunt Donna and my cousin, Carly, came first thing in the morning. It was fun to catch up with Carly and get the scoop on her 17-yr old perspective. She's an amazing girl, smart, beautiful, athletic, etc. The total package if you ask me and this will be her senior year of high school. She's trying to decide on a college now. I should have plugged Allegheny.

Anyway, after they left, my mom's other sister and my namesake, Aunt Shirley, brought two of her grand kids down for some play time with Sophia and Lilly. Immediately after they left my mom's cousin called and asked to come over for an impromptu visit. We sure did get to see a lot of family in one day. It was early to bed because we had a big day ahead of us. Friday was Idelwild Park day.

I was excited to take the girls because it would be their first time at an amusement park and I was curious to see their reaction to all of it, especially the rides. When I was a little girl my parents took me to Idelwild. My dad also frequented the park with his parents when he was a little boy. Wow. I guess it's some sort of a tradition. Hopefully some day Sophia and Lilly will want to take their children to the park.

I thought both girls would be thrilled about the Story Book Village stroll. Maybe it's because it was the first thing we did and the girls were trying to overcome their confusion about where they were, what they were supposed to be doing, and why there were so many people milling around, but the girls didn't really care for this part. We walked along the path and saw the homes of The Three Bears, Snow White, and Little Red Riding Hood and walked by or in about 25 other nursery rhyme displays. I was certain the girls would love it. Shows you what I know. Sophia fained a bit of interest, but mostly acted bored/aloof and Lilly wouldn't get out of my arms to look at anything. I thought it was going to be a flop of a day, but it immediately got better when we rode the train and then went to explore other parts of the park.

I was a little worried that Sophia would be scared of the rides. I was actually prepared to spend all day in kiddie land (or Raccoon Lagoon as it was called) just to build up her confidence to ride some of the rides. I thought Lilly would be ready and willing to ride and I was right. She got right on and loved every minute of it. Smiling and waving each time she rode by. What I couldn't have imagined was that Sophia would also love the rides and would get so bored with the kiddie rides so quickly. Well, maybe I could have guessed it when I saw her mocking another girl holding her hands up in the air on the mini roller coaster. Oh my gosh! My head must have done a full 360 when I saw her. Was this child really Sophia? Was she seriously not holding on AND enjoying it? Incredible.

After that we decided to hit the adult rides in "Olde Idelwild". She was tall enough to ride everything with an adult and so was Lilly in some cases so all five of us eventually did get to ride a few things. As it turns out Sophia loves all the rides. She really doesn't have a preference between the spinning rides and the roller coasters. She actually rode her very first "Rollo Coaster". She sat in the very first car with Poppy. I sat behind them. After she tackled that one with ease, I took her on the Log Jammer. That was the last ride we did before leaving the park. I thought we would get really wet, but as it turns out only our legs got wet. Sophia jumped off the ride and shouted I GOT SOAKED! (Ha ha ha) We left the park around 7 pm and got home at 8:30.

Saturday was a lazy day. We let the girls play all day. They mostly played in the water - either in the sprinklers or with the play kitchen sink. Lilly also filled up the bottom of her stroller with rocks and pushed it around for hours with either Sophia, a baby or Lamby on board. Around dinner time my mom and I left Poppy in charge while we went to pick up fish sandwiches for dinner. We weren't gone for very long. When we left Sophia was worn out in the living room watching Beauty and the Beast and Lilly was outside having a tea party. Poppy was chilling in a chair in the shade. When we returned all three of them were in the exact same spots, doing the exact same things they were doing when we left. What a relief!

On Sunday afternoon my mom and I took the girls to the annual church bazaar that I used to love going to each year. I fondly remember the penny candy table which sadly doesn't exist anymore. The girls still managed to get their fair share of penny candy anyway. They also brought home 8 stuffed animals and two plastic necklaces. They literally won a prize for each and every single game they played. Sophia got balloons painted on her cheek and a flower tattoo on her arm. Before we left the bazaar we got to ride in a 1914 Buick that belonged to my dad's brother, Uncle Alan. Sophia loved the fact that the car didn't have any windows or seat belts.

We also briefly ran into Aunt Carole again, but we got separated in the crowds and never managed to hook back up. We bought our bbq chicken and then went home. The girls were completely exhausted from the hot sun beating down on them all day and from waiting in the long line for chicken. Sophia resorted to rolling down a grassy hill and got grass stains all over her pants and then decided it was fun to push Lilly down the hill too. A small price to pay for the hours of fun we had.

We had a great trip and got to spend some quiet time with Nana and Poppy. They loved seeing the girls and vice versa.

On Monday morning we headed back to Northern VA for Grancy's birthday and to see and congratulate Uncle Rob and Aunt Christina. They just got engaged and have asked the girls to be the flower girls in the wedding. I can't wait.

We're glad to be home and don't have any travel plans for a while plus school starts in three and a half weeks. Time for some back to school shopping....and time to sign off for the night.

Idelwild Park

Voted #2 in children's amusement parks. My parents and I took the girls there on Friday during our vacation in Mars.

The trek to PA was a bit of a spur of the moment idea. Will and I were initially heading to Fairfax for Claire's baby shower and I decided to continue on to PA for a visit with my family. We stayed for almost a week. After the shower Will went back to Virginia Beach and was by himself for 7 days. The girls and I were gone for a total of 10 days. We're all glad to be back together.

Here are some pictures of our first few days at my parent's house and a few pictures from our trip to Idelwild Park. Sophia rode her first "Rollo Coaster" as they call it. She sat with Poppy and I sat behind them in the very first seat. I think she was terrified, but she really enjoyed it! She got off smiling and was so proud that she rode it. The last ride of the day was the Log Jammer. We went on it together and barely got wet. She remembers getting SOAKED.

Life is good

Visitors

We've got company this week. Uncle Dan and his girlfriend, Meg, are visiting through Thursday. I'm pretty sure our only plans are to go to the beach, but there are no better plans if you ask me. I think Will is going to take off from work tomorrow and join us. I've got a sitter coming tomorrow evening so the "adults" can go out to dinner. Fun. Fun.

Just peachy...I'm mean beachy.

We went to Sandbridge Beach again this past weekend. Lilly had a blast jumping the waves with Will. So did Sophia, but every time Will did anything with Lilly he had to do the same with Sophia.

Will plays a game with the girls. They wait for a big wave to come to the edge of shoreline and then they turn around and make a bee line for the beach. It's really cute.

Take a look at all the pictures.

Somebody wrote on the wall!

I'll give you one guess which girl it was! Nope, wasn't Sophia. It was Lilly. She found her flower pen and decided to draw all over one of the kitchen walls. And then she looked at me with this adorable face and I couldn't be angry with her anymore.

Playing violin at princess camp

Sophia's princess camp recital photos

Here's a slide show of the pictures I took at the princess camp dance recital. Sophia smiled the entire time and really got into every dance they performed.

I was so proud of her.

She kept waving to Will throughout the show.

Dancing Lilly

She still loves to dance! Here's a video of her shaking her groove thing. (Not a very good video, but you can see her in action a little bit.)

Puzzles

Sophia is a pro at puzzles now. All three of these are 25 piece puzzles. She can put them together with ease.

Videos from Princess Camp

Be prepared, these movies are almost three minutes a piece.

Here's the tap dance:



Here's the ballet dance (Under the Sea):



Here's the cheerleading part:



Here's the gymnastics routine:

Lilly and her Lamby

Here's a picture of Lilly the day she found her Lamby. She was 100% happy.

Child care at church

Ms. Mikey, Sophia and Lilly's surrogate grandmother, took these pictures for me while I was at church decorating for vacation Bible school. She works in the nursery at church and sees them every Sunday.

On the day this picture was taken Ms. Mikey also gave each of the girls a Beany Baby. They carried the bears around with them all day. Sophia's is bright pink with a heart on it's chest. Lilly's is green with a shamrock on it's chest.

Princess camp recital video

I'm still trying to upload some of the videos, but wanted to share at least one. Here's the video of Sophia walking in for the tap dance at princess camp and there is a great close up at the end of the video.

I did it.

Yesterday I stopped the gas pump exactly on $20.00.

I've tried to do it for years, but have always been a penny or two off.

Maybe it means good luck???

Playing guitar at Princess Camp

Day 1 of Princess Camp

Sophia wore her Cinderella dress to the first day of Princess Camp. In the morning she told me she didn't want to go, but when I picked her up she cried that she didn't want to leave.

They played with a parachute yesterday, played guitar, danced and did a cute handprint craft.

They practice a few dance routines and then perform them on Thursday.

Today is "Under the Sea" day so she's wearing her Ariel costume.

She found Lamby

Lilly found her Lamby this afternoon. She found him by accident I think.

I heard her saying I FOUND LAMBY MAMA. I went to see what she was talking about and she was right! There he was shoved into a drawer of the entertainment center cabinet.

Her face had the hugest smile. She hugged Lamby so tight. She insisted on carrying him around all day and she fell asleep tonight without so much as a whimper. Ahhhh, things are back to normal.

Lilly's Lamby

Lilly's Lamby is GONE!!!! We have no idea where it may be...except that it has to be in our house.

She had it Saturday morning before we left for Northern VA. We forgot to bring it with us so she was forced to sleep with Big Daddy's spare Lamby. It worked, but she wasn't very happy about it. She cried herself to sleep.

When we arrived home last night I searched the entire house, but couldn't find her Lamby. I searched again this morning and simply cannot find her.

Lilly loves the tag part of her Lamby, so luckily I was able to find a Taggie Blanket for her to sleep with last night. This morning she decided to carry it downstairs with her so I think it might be an OK substitute for now.

But where the heck is her Lamby???

All of her friends

Sophia lined up all of her stuffed animals on her bed during quiet time. When quiet time was over she proudly showed me her hard work and bragged that she was going to sleep with her friends. She told me she wanted to leave them on the bed until Christmas.

UPDATE (Sunday night): She went to bed with all the animals that night, but when I checked on her around 11pm all the animals were at the foot of her bed and she was back "on her side". At least that's the reason she gave in the morning.

They were speechless

For 20 minutes on Sunday night the girls were absolutely speechless. Will and I just looked at each other - in total disbelief. We took them to see fireworks at Mt. Trashmore and they sat there in awe watching the sky light up and sparkle.

The Beach

We hit the beach again today. The sand sure was hot! Sophia whimpered and complained the entire walk (both ways) because her feet were hurting.

We had a lot of fun. Sophia and Will played in the water and ran up and down the shore line the entire time we were there. Lilly ate a snack and worked up the nerve to join them in the water. Once she got wet, she had a ball. I enjoyed my time basking in the sun.

Damaged Key

Damaged Key...that was the message that appeared on my dash yesterday when I tried to turn the minivan key in the ignition. Of course Chrysler couldn't make a regular key with teeth! No. They had to make a computer chip key that can break! Who ever heard of a car key that is damaged? Unbelievable.

I'm taking it into the shop for repair on Wednesday.

Our stay with Grancy and Big Daddy

We overstayed our original visit by 4 whole days because the transmission died in our minivan. We barely made it to Grancy's house. It's a miracle we didn't break down on the highway. By the time we got to their house our car wouldn't get into gear and seriously wouldn't move.

Grancy and Big Daddy were so accommodating, gracious and really made us feel right at home. And if I can be blunt, we definitely moved in and made ourselves comfortable. The girls had toys and clothes strewn all over the house. I took over half the refrigerator and Will created a home office for himself in the basement.

We got to visit with Christina and Rob every day too. They came over for dinner every night after work except the one night that we went out to dinner with them. It was so nice to catch up. We met their new dog, Jaxster (on the right). He was a sweet puppy, but it took Sadie a few days to really get used to him "invading" her territory. She's always very protective when we're at Grancy's house.

We arrived on a Wednesday night. The girls and I stayed home without a car on Thursday. We made the best of it and found lots of fun activities to pass the time. We played outside with the water hose for a while, played on the playground, made some playdoh, read lots of books, drew with sidewalk chalk, and watched Snow White for the 100th time. Sophia even tried to eat jello with chopsticks.

On Friday Christina came over in the morning. We went to breakfast at a bagel joint then stopped at Kohls so I could get a pair of sunglasses. I also got Sophia and Lilly the most adorable princess folding beach chairs (can't wait to use them at the beach this weekend). Christina bought Lilly a super cute onesie jumper. Sophia told Christina that she didn't want anything. That's a first! After that we hit the neighborhood pool. We stayed for hours! The girls had an incredible time floating and swimming around in their floaty rings. Not surprisingly Lilly was scared at first and needed to feel secure holding onto an adult, but by the end of our stay she was kicking around all by herself.

On Saturday I had lunch with Courtney, my friend from college. Grancy and Christina took the girls to the park. They rode on the carousel, the train and the playground equipment. I know Sophia had a great time because when Grancy asked her what her favorite part was she answered ALL OF IT. I think it was Saturday afternoon when we went to the pool with Rob and Christina.

Sunday (Father's Day) was supposed to be our departure day, but instead I spent the afternoon doing laundry so we could make it through the week. Late in the afternoon I took the girls back to the pool.

We hung out with Courtney and her three kids (Ben, Katie and Gavin) at their pool on Monday. The rest of the week kind of blends together. I took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese one day, but other than that we went to Grancy's pool almost every day. Lucky us!!!

WHEELWEE

WHEELWEE - this is how Lilly says her name now. It's so cute when she says it. She "finds" herself in the mirror and then says WHEELWEE with the cutest grin because she's so proud of herself.

YEEYEE

Meet YEEYEE. At least that's what she calls herself.

In the last week Lilly has started singing Baa Baa Black Sheep.

BA BA BACK SCHEEP
HA OO ANIE WOOL
YES SIR YES SIR
THREE BA FOUR

We're home...safe and sound

We arrived home on Friday at 1 AM. We didn't get on the road until 8:45 Thursday night because when Will and I went to pick up the van we found out that our technician had the keys in his pocket. Guess where he was? At home. Ugg. That was a 75 minute delay.

Anyway, we are so grateful to Grancy and Big Daddy for putting up with us for 8 straight days. We had a great time using their neighborhood pool (almost every day) and it's quite nice for the girls to get to know their grandparents. That was, by far, my favorite part and the fancy apricots. yum (look for a blog post about our trip soon)

So now that we're home our crazy summer schedule begins. Last night in the kickball playoffs we won so now we have to play the finals on July 10th. We have a bbq tonight.

On Tuesday Sophia begins her summer dance class at the gym. She's really looking forward to taking another dance class with Haley. It also happens to coincide with a class that I take so I'm thrilled. Sophia also starts swimming class on July 6th. She's doing a week of vacation bible school and she's also doing princess camp again. She's a lucky girl.

Lilly is going to vacation bible school too, but she'll be in the nursery with her church friends. She's also going to have private swimming lessons. Her coach will probably be Will. (smile) She got really comfortable in the pool while we were at Grancy's house. Now we need to get her to blow bubbles. If this strategy doesn't seem to work then I will sign her up for lessons at the rec center.

Will and I have packed weekends too. I mentioned the bbq tonight and we have another one next weekend. The following weekend we have the kickball finals and Sophia has a birthday party. The weekend following we are planning to get together with Will's business partners in Northern VA. The last weekend in July is when my brother and his girlfriend are planning to come down for a visit. The first weekend in August is Claire's baby shower in Northern VA. The second weekend (August 7th) is our 6th anniversary. On August 21st we have a wedding in New York, but I'm not certain we'll be able to go. It's going to be a great summer.

A lemon

We bought a lemon of a car. Our Chyrsler Town & Country minivan, which we've owned for only 19 months, basically broke down last night on our way to Northen VA. Luckily we were off the major highway and on the road to Grancy and Big Daddy's house when our transmission decided to quit working! We barley made it to their house. Will was flooring the gas pedal and the van wouldn't move, but then all of a sudden it would lurch forward and the rpm gage was all the way up to 5. (All the car people that read this blog will understand what I'm talking about.)

We had the stupid thing towed this morning to a dealership so they can fix it under warranty. It only has 25,000 miles on it.

At 23,000 miles, three weeks ago, we had to replace the front brakes. I swear I hear the back brakes squealing now a bit, but I might just be hyper-sensitive.

We also just got a recall notice in the mail to replace the radiator cap. What's next?

Never-ending questions

How come?

Why?

What's this?

What's that?

Sophia is completely curious about everything. I've got to polish up my ability to think on my feet. She wants an answer immediately and I don't want to ever say that I don't know the answer. I want her to think that mom knows everything!

Last day of school

Another year bites the dust. Sophia's last day of preschool is today. It's hard to believe that this year is over. It certainly went faster than last year. She made many strides this year like learning how to write all of her letters, adding numbers together, and dressing herself. She's incredibly smart and she works hard in school. We're so proud of her.

In the fall both girls will be attending school. Sophia will still be going 3 half days and Lilly will be going 2 half days a week. Every single day that we drop Sophia off at school Lilly barges into the classroom and starts to play with all the toys. Mrs. Harden is always so nice to her and makes her feel welcome and I'm the mean one that makes her stop playing and leave the room. She really wants to go to school just like her big sister.

A water week

The girls are going to have a week full of water play. This morning we're headed to the Botanical Sprinkler Garden with Addie. Tomorrow Sophia has to wear a bathing suit to school for a beach party. They are going to play in some sprinklers and have an outside picnic. (She has to bring chips and watermelon)

Tomorrow after school we're going up to Northern VA for a long weekend. On Thursday we're going swimming with my college friend, Courtney, and her 3 kids and on Friday we're either going to Grancy's neighborhood pool or to a waterpark with Christina, Rob's other half.

Not sure what Saturday and Sunday hold, but I bet we could go swimming again at Grancy's pool if we wanted to.

Sophia and Lilly sure are lucky girls. I need to stock up on our sun screen.

A trip to the beach

We went to the beach this afternoon for some fun family time. Will and Sophia spent a lot of time splashing around in the waves and Lilly spent most of her time snacking and hanging out near the blanket. I relaxed a bit in a chair and then had to play in the waves with Sophia for a bit too. We made up a special move - it was holding up a leg as a wave came crashing in. Of course, we were holding onto each other so we could actually balance. It was fun. She's bananas about the ocean. The water was freezing, but eventually we all warmed up to it. Well...maybe just a bit.

We were there for just under two hours, but the sun was so hot it made Lilly crash on the ride home. She didn't even wake up when Will took her out of the car. She went right into her crib, sand and all.

Speaking of Lilly, she's talking up a storm these days. We'll see Grancy and Big Daddy this weekend and I want to find out if they can understand her. I think I may be a bit biased. Each day she seems to acquire tons of new words. She repeats us all the time and commits words to her memory.

Pictures from Hilton Head

Here's a link to all the photos I took while in Hilton Head.

Sophia jumping into the pool

We're back

We're back from our vacation to Hilton Head, SC. It was incredible, but missing one key ingredient: Will. He couldn't make the trip with us because of work. We headed out on a Sunday morning and after 9 hours in the car finally made it to our destination, the Grand Ocean Marriott Resort. We were invited to go on the trip with Haley and Carlie's parents, Mike and Michelle. So our total group consisted of 1 male and 6 females. How Mike survived, I'm not sure. How I survived without Will, I'm not sure either.

Regardless, we had a great time. We alternated days going to the pool and the beach. My favorite day was when we went to the beach in the am and then hit the pool after lunch - the best of both worlds if you ask me. The girls loved playing in the sand at the beach, but they loved the pool even more. After she warmed up to the pool for a few days Sophia became quite a pro at putting her entire head underwater. This is quite an accomplishment for her and we took Will to the pool last night to show him her new skill. She is so proud of herself.

On our first full day we went to the pool in the am and then Aunt Claire came for a visit in the afternoon and went out with us that evening too. We went to hear a guy performing for kids. He played a guitar, sang, told funny stories and encouraged all the kids to get up and dance to the One-eyed, One-horned Flying Purple People Eater song among others. Of course, neither of my girls wanted to get up and dance, but Sophia sat up there for a little bit with Haley and Carlie. Haley actually got picked to sit on his lap and sing a song. It was really cute. He asked her if her mom went "vacation shopping" for her outfit and Haley told him that Sophia went vacation shopping with them even though she didn't. Kids say the most off the wall things.

Throughout the week we did some really fun activities with the girls like celebrating Princess Day (the had a beauty make-up session and had their nails painted), painting ceramic magnets (Sophia picked a horse and a kite. Lilly/Mom picked a seashell), and tie-dyeing t-shirts (fun, but messy. I ruined a white top and my hands were completely blue for two days).

We went to The Salty Dog Cafe, a well-known Hilton Head attraction and had pizza and ice cream. Sophia bragged for days about picking up her whole slice of pizza and eating it that way instead of having it cut up for her. We went into some of the shops and at the end of the night, Sophia's hair had streaks of blue and red in it from Haley's ice cream cone.

I got Lilly an innertube swimming suit for the pool. In theory she should have been able to float on her own and swim around by herself, but she clung to me like she didn't like the water at all. By the end of the week I finally had her wearing that suit and sitting inside a blow up floaty ring and she loved it. I think the extra support made her feel more comfortable.

I will post all the pictures soon.