Lilly and Carlie - still best friends

A mom took these at our Girl Scouts ceremony on Wednesday night. 

Carlie and Lilly are still best friends even though we don't see the Wyles as often as we used to....life just interrupts the chance for any fun playdates these days!  They still take dance class together on Thursday nights.  It's so cute to watch them hug until they fall on the floor!

Farmer's Market

We went to the Farmer's Market this past Saturday.  The girls enjoyed playing in the bounce houses and climbing on the giant pumpkins.  Here are some of the better photos from the day.

Lilly, Sophia and Summer

Summer is our neighbor and she and Lilly attend Beach Manor together this year.  It's worked out great that Summer comes over in the morning to our house before school when her mom goes to work and I take them to school.  Then Sue, Summer's mom, picks them up at lunch time and brings them home.  Sue is a morning Kindergarten teacher so she finishes her day at the same time the girls do and it's only a short drive from her school to Beach Manor to pick up the munchkins. 

Lilly and Summer LOVE coming to the Sophia's bus stop every morning...I have a feeling they wish they were allowed to get on the bus with the big kids.

School is in full swing

The girls are thriving at school.  Sophia loves her teacher and she's getting good marks on the papers the she brings home.  Her homework so far has been a review of things she already knows so she's breezing through it.  Either Will or I show up every Friday to have lunch with her.  It's kind of funny that Will knows all the boys in her class because they try to sit with him.  I, on the other hand, know most of the girls in the class.  I was in her classroom last Wednesday and heard Sophia being referred to as an example of good behavior.  I was very proud of her.

Lilly loves school.  I haven't connected with her teacher at all this year and her assistant,  Mrs. Brantley, is barely there because she's going to have a baby soon (not terribly soon. in November), but there seems to be a substitute quite frequently. 

Lilly's school photo: fall

Look how Lilly posed for this picture.  It's so her!

I saw my new motto today.....in Hallmark

First Day of School - 2012

It was a week of firsts for us. 

Sophia started first grade which meant that she rode the bus for the first time.  When the bus arrived she got right on and never looked back (well, ok, everyday she waves out the window at me).  Honestly, I thought she would cry, but she's a big girl now and I don't think the thought ever crossed her mind. 

The first day caused a little confusion for her.  She forgot her lunchbox in the cafeteria.  She got off at the wrong bus stop in the afternoon.....she got off at the one right before hers.  Luckily she saw us waiting and ran for us right away.  She went to the nurse the first day of PE class because she scratched open a mosquito bite and it was bleeding a little bit. Even with all that - she LOVED the first day and so far so good.  Her teacher is really nice.  She's a brand new first grade teacher this year.  She did her student teaching last year and when Mrs. Anglin (the teacher that Sophia was assigned to) retired the week before school started, Mrs. Marks was hired.  She's 35 and has two kids of her own. 

I surprised Sophia today and met her for lunch.  She loved having a lunch buddy.  Two girls, Honesty and Savannah, sat across from us and chatted with us throughout the meal.  It was great to meet some of her classmates and get to be part of her daily routine.  I may just join her every Friday....we'll see.

If you look really close at the third picture you can see her smiling face peering out from behind the window.  Off to first grade, at last!

 

Lilly had a great first day of school too.   One of our neighbors, Summer, is in Lilly's class this year so I'm carpooling with her mom, Sue.  Sue drops Summer off before she heads to work in the morning (she's an AM Kindergarten teacher) and all three girls get to play for a half hour before we all walk to the bus stop together.  Then Lilly and Summer have another 10 minutes to play before I have to take them to school.  I'm done by 8:35.  Sue picks them up in the afternoon and drops Lilly off at home.  It's the perfect scenario if you ask me.

Seek & Reach the Beach

Seek & Reach the Beach is a summer program at our Church for rising 1st-6th graders.  Sophia qualifies this year and since I agreed to help chaperone Lilly is allowed to come too.

The theme is "Animals" and so far we've been to a Bee Farm and a REAL FARM....which had tons of dogs and cats running around, tons of horses, birds, peacocks, countless chickens - but mostly horses!   Get this:  I held a CHICKEN!  Yep.  Here's the proof. Pretty darn disgusting!!!  I may be smiling, but I was freaking out on the inside and quickly let go. 

Sophia was too chicken (pun intended) to ride on the horse, but she was cool on the hay ride.  Lilly was a little leery of the hay ride and loved riding the horse.  In fact, that night at dinner Will asked her if she'd like to take lessons and she quickly said yes.  Hmmmm.....that's my next project:  Lining up our schedule for the school year. 

So far, here's what we're thinking:  Both girls are trying out gymnastics classes tonight.  Separate classes.  This would replace their Thursday evening dance classes.  Sophia talked about taking acting classes for a while, but now she seems to want to try gymnastics.  I'm not going to stop her.  It's a great form of exercise and maybe she will actually enjoy it.  She likes to jump that's for sure.  Lilly said she would prefer gymnastics to dance even though she loves dance and seems to really be doing well with it.  We can always switch back. Lilly will continue to take her music class and Sophia and I will continue on with Girls Scouts:  Year Two Daisies.

Anyway, back to the farm.....here's Lilly riding the giant horse, Noodle.  The kids had a great day.

Daniel and Meg's baby shower

My brother and his wife are expecting twin girls (Juliette and Penelope) in about 6 weeks.

We drove to Aberdeen, MD two weekends ago to attend their bumblebee baby shower.  We had a really good time and the dessert table was simply beautiful.

The girls loved sprawling out on the floor as the gifts were being opened.  They helped out a little by passing presents to Meg a few times. 

Speaking of presents.  I was totally stressed about what to get twins from the girls.  Our Babies-R-Us didn't have any of the SwaddleMe blankets that they registered for.  I was originally going to get them those from Sophia and Lilly because they are AWESOME, LIFE-SAVING, SLEEP INDUCING BLANKETS.  I loved all of mine.

So when we couldn't find those, we went the clothing route.   They each picked two outfits, well...let me rephrase that, Sophia picked and Lilly agreed, but we didn't have many options.  In my brain, there are 4 different ways you can dress twins. 
1)  identical
2)  same outfit, different colors
3)  coordinating outfits (different, but similar, like the Gymboree clothing lines)
4)  totally unmatching

I was going for option 2.  Same outfit in different colors.  It was really hard to find, but we found some pink and blue in two different outfits.

Will and I also went in on the baby monitors...which seem simply awesome because they have video...and since they cost a small fortune I hope they have WiFi too.

They certainly were showered with tons of things they need to have.  It was so fun watching them open their gifts and secretly reliving my own baby showers in my head.  How tiny everything is.  How precious. 

Grancy and Big Daddy

Grancy and Big Daddy came for a visit to help us celebrate our anniversary.  They arrived late afternoon and the four of us went to dinner that evening at the same restaurant, Alexander's on the Bay,  we dined at 8 years prior with many of our family members in honor of our wedding.  We didn't actually have a rehearsal, but we definitely had the dinner!

The following day Grancy and Big Daddy took the girls for the entire day and they went swimming in their hotel pool, went to see the latest Ice Age movie and then closed the day with a trip to Red Robin, a favorite of Sophia and Lilly.  A win/win for all of us.  I had a free day, Will had a quiet house and Grancy and Big Daddy spent time with the girls.

It was the perfect way to spend our 8th anniversary. 

Girl Scout Camp

Sophia went to Girl Scout Camp for a week in early August.  Haley and Elizabeth also went which made it nice for carpooling.  Sophia said she loved camp and is already talking about going back next summer. 

Each day they got to go swimming and she passed the test to swim in the deep end (five ft). A big accomplishment for her since she refuses to take the test at the pool we go to all the time because not only will she be required to swim the length of the pool, but then she has to tread water for 30 seconds.  She's too nervous to take the test even though she's fully capable of passing. 

Twice she went canoeing at camp and loved it.

On Friday they had spa day and she opted to have her hair curled and wear a touch of makeup .  She looked so pretty.  The girls also sang a song on the last day and she was called up to receive a certificate and a few patches...you can see below that she's doing the Girl Scout Handshake and receiving her certificate.  Boy, it looks so official.  

Poor Lilly

She got sick this morning.  It was a one-time thing, but man was she not feeling well.  She quickly got over it and ate like a horse this afternoon, but wasn't able to go to the scheduled play date.  I asked a friend to pick up Sophia so she was still able to go. 

Lilly helped me clean up the office, but mostly she vegged out on the couch to Strawberry Shortcake. 

Vacation Bible School

July 16 - 20 was Vacation Bible School.  I taught Lilly's preschool class of 3 and 4 yr olds.  There were 25 children in my class. Talk about stressed out!  That week was insane every morning from 8:30 - 12:10 when I was around my class and then I still had my own two children to entertain all afternoon every day.  I always thought I would make a good teacher, but I definitely don't think I could hack it.  I guess perhaps all teachers must build up a high tolerance pretty darn quick.  Kudos to all the teachers out there.

The theme was Dive Deep Into God and it was all about underwater sea creatures.  Each day we talked about a different one: sea turtle, sea horse, spotted fish, etc...  Lilly was extremely shy all week and I suspect it was because I was her teacher. 

Sophia loved the science experiments and came home every day begging me to let her do an experiment...which usually involved lots of kitchen ingredients, water and cooking pots!  No fun to clean up let me tell you. 

Allie's Birthday Party

Allison, from Sophia's class, asked both girls to her 6th birthday party held on same afternoon as Caroline's. The girls had so much fun.  It was at The Little Gym.  Take a look at some of the pictures.

Caroline's Birthday Party

Sophia's friend, Caroline, turned 6 in July and invited both girls to her party at Hunt Club Farm where they have a petting zoo, hay ride, etc....  The girls didn't enjoy the petting zoo parts because they are both very wimpy when it comes to that kind of thing.  

They really got a kick out of hula hoop activity and, of course, loved the cupcakes. 

Lilly and Alvin sitting in a tree

Our Visit with Nana & Poppy

Nana flew down for a visit at the end of June for a five days and then we all piled in the van, sans Will and Sadie, and drove up to Pennsylvania to return her to Poppy's keep.

We had an awesome time.  Besides just chilling around our house and letting Nana watch the girls play, we also added a bit of fun:  we went to the pool one day and went on a church outing to a bee farm another day.  Nana babysat one evening while Will and I went furniture shopping and then to our favorite sushi restaurant.

Once we got to Pennsylvania, we had a lot of family to visit with, but this is always the case.

It was extra fun this time because we kept so busy.  We got to spend some time with my cousin, Lindsey, and her two kids, (Morgan and Kale) one day at Nana's house.  Lindsey and her husband live in West Virginia right now and are planning to move back to Western PA as soon as possible.  Lindsey is pregnant with their third child...another boy.  WOW!  Three kids!

We spent a lot of time with my Aunt Carole at her swimming pool and since my girls are both fish (each in their own way) they loved it.  Sophia loves to put on her goggles and swim around in water up to 5 ft.  She could do it all day.  I have to beg her to get out on most days.  Lilly, on the other hand, likes to hang out on the pool steps and will occasionally blow some bubbles.


We also went to see Madagascar III (adorable!) with Aunt Carole and out to eat at Sophia and Lilly's favorite restaurant, Red Robin.  All in all, we got to spend some really fun time with Aunt Carole. 

Since we were there on the 4th of July we simply had to see fireworks (this is an annual requirement in the Alexander household) AND it was so fun this year to throw a parade into the mix too.  Make that two...even Poppy made it to both parades with us! 

What fun the girls had running and chasing after candy. They each came home with quite a bag of loot after the morning parade where my Aunt Shirley, cousin Lindsey and her kids, and my other cousin's daughter (in yellow) joined us.

Then my parents and I found out about another parade at 5 pm and rationalized to ourselves that if one parade was fun then two must be double the entertainment.  And guess what?  It was.  There were some kids activities set up before the parade and free hotdogs/drinks/chips/popcorn/etc. 

Then, finally, Nana, Aunt Carole, Sophia, Lilly and I went for an evening swim and saw fireworks from the "big hill" at Aunt Carole's house.  It was a super, great day.   

Here's the girls dressed up in their holiday attire with Nana and Poppy.

Our visit was so fun and we'll get to see Nana and Poppy again in August at Daniel and Meg's baby shower.  Woo hoo.

So gross!

Lilly just clogged up the toilet in the bathroom the girls share!   There was a huge poo and a mountain of toilet paper on top of it!

The water was overflowing when I entered the scene.  A second earlier I was reprimanding Sophia for charging in on Lilly while she was in the bathroom, but thankfully she did because she's the one that yelled out about water all over the floor! 

I bounded up the stairs at lightening speed and turned off the water,  but it still kept pouring out.  I ran downstairs to the garage for the plunger, but couldn't get it to plunge!  Instead it created a nice poo soup and mixed everything up (sorry to be so graphic, but I am still so grossed out about it I have to share.)  Don't worry I had gloves on during the process and have since thoroughly showered. 

In the meantime I called out to the girls to bring towels from the linen closet and they kept throwing in facial wash clothes...the smallest towels we have.

I also asked Sophia to run to get Will.  He came up, took one look and lost all color in his face.  He got to skirt away unscathed because he had a "conference call" to attend.

It finally plunged. I'm washing an extra-large load of towels.  I've scrubbed the floor, the toilet and I'm now onto the bathtub because it became the dirty towel holder.  Oh how I wish we had a live-in house cleaner.