Alexander News from the Beach

Jumping jumping jumping

2012-01-31T08:02:00.000-05:00

Bounce House

2012-01-31T07:37:00.004-05:00

The girls didn't have school on Friday so I took them to the Bounce House for an hour. That's as long as they wanted to be there. Sophia was complaining that she was tired and hot. Lilly quit bouncing and decided to play in the area for babies and kids under age 2. That's when I knew it was time to go home.

They had a good time when we were there, but it sure didn't kill the day like I had anticipated.

Sophia's 4th tooth

2012-01-27T08:38:00.002-05:00

It fell out this morning while she was brushing her teeth. She screamed and ran downstairs to tell Will. She's so excited that the Tooth Fairy is coming again tonight.

After she calmed down a bit she commented that now people (meaning me and Will) will stop calling her weird. (oops)

Practicing for Valentine's Day

2012-01-25T06:54:00.002-05:00

A few days ago I put out our Valentine's Day decorations. Since the girls both had pink on for school I asked them to hold this dish and smile pretty. They are both so good about getting their picture taken these days. I didn't have to beg them at all. They both sat down and smiled away. Aren't they just the cutest little girls ever?

Their first symphony

2012-01-22T19:04:00.000-05:00

About a week ago Sophia told me that she wanted to learn how to play the flute. The flute! I have no idea where she even saw a flute, but of course I will entertain the idea.

The perfect opportunity came up today for us to go and see a symphony orchestra play live at the performance arts center, the Sandler Center. Apparently they do this every January (mental note!). This year the theme was a "Carnival of Animals". We got there right on time so we didn't get to browse around in the atrium before the show. While I was standing in line to buy our tickets Will took the girls to get their faces painted. Lilly didn't want anything. Sophia chose a blue doggie on her left cheek.

After the show, there was an "instrument petting zoo" for the kids to walk through. Sophia wanted to wait in line (quite a long time) to learn about the flute. She even got to blow into one a time or two. It seems really, really, really hard.

Lilly wanted me to take her picture

2012-01-20T14:06:00.003-05:00

Tooth #3

2012-01-20T14:04:00.001-05:00

Sophia lost tooth #3 on Saturday. It was one of the top front teeth. She wiggled that thing until her fingers were sore!

It looks like she's going to have a monster tooth growing in because the hole is enormous. You can kind of see it in this photo, but I'll have to take a better one...and soon. You can already see the adult tooth coming in already.

Addie's 6th birthday party

2012-01-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

The girls went to Addie's 6th birthday party on Saturday. The theme was Littlest Pet Shop. The girls arrived and were hustled into the grooming station where they were transformed into one cat and one dalmation doggie.

Then they went to the craft station where they were each given a box to decorate as their pet carrier. It was really cute. The food was an assortment of animal food: goldfish, gummy worms, cinnamon grahams that looked like dog biscuits, chicken fingers, etc.

They played a few games including one shown in the pictures below. Ms. Amy had filled up two cat litter boxes with prizes then she dumped oatmeal and small tootsie rolls on top of it. It really looked authentic! The kids each had to put on a blindfold and dig for as many prizes as they could get in 30 seconds. They all loved it.

2012-01-11T20:28:00.001-05:00

Sophia is studying Dr. Seuss this month at school and last week they celebrated "Wacky Wednesday". The kids were encouraged to come to school wearing whatever they wanted.

Sophia chose to wear her nightgown backwards. Most of the kids wore pajamas to school actually!

She also had on two different shoes. We topped it off with 5 pony tails of hair flair.

Jonas and the girls

2012-01-11T20:23:00.001-05:00

Aunt Claire and Jonas came down for New Years. Sophia and Lilly had a great time with Jonas. They played baby Jonas for a week after he went home. Here they are playing outside. It was a beautiful day...

January 2012

2012-01-11T20:15:00.002-05:00

It feels like yesterday that it was just January 2nd and the girls were gearing up to go back to school the next day. It's already the 11th! Wow. Time is flying.

We're selling Girl Scout cookies right now. Sophia and I went door to door on Sunday. We made it to 7 houses before she petered out on me. Lilly was tagging along and loved pressing her face directly on the glass to check to see if anyone was coming along to answer the door at each house! It was cracking me up.

This coming weekend we will go out again and hit the houses on the other side of ours. We only went to the left last weekend. We'll probably knock on another 7 doors.

Lilly is obsessed with fancy dresses right now and carrying the purse around that Aunt Carol got her. Her purse contains much of what mine does....cell phone, lipstick, money, credit card, etc. and I've heard her refer to it as her mommy purse. She insists on wearing her fancy dresses every waking moment. She even sleeps in them. I am, of course, the mean mom because I make her wear regular clothes to school. She fights me every morning and every day we compromise that she can put on a fancy dress immediately after school.

Wish I had some pictures to post. I haven't taken any lately.

Nana and her girls....

2011-12-31T10:30:00.002-05:00

Nana and her girls at Hunt Club Farm, 2011

I haven't ranted in a while....

2011-12-30T23:39:00.002-05:00

I hate blogging backwards!

If I don't keep up with the blog then I fall behind and, to be honest, when I fall behind, all hope of me going back to blog about a past event really just falls into a very well-known thing called the black hole. I usually have very good intentions of turning back the pages of time and catching the blog up to date, but never get around to it. My blog is missing some very important posts because I fell so far behind and never went back to catch up.

Tonight for instance, I blogged about us going to Busch Gardens today, but I have yet to blog about the following:
Sophia and Lilly's holiday school show and Big Daddy's visits
Sophia's Christmas show at church
Sophia's choir singing
Christmas eve and Lilly's photo dressed up like a sheep. So cute.. . .
Christmas day
Nana and Poppy's visit!

WOW....I'm really really really behind! More so than I realized. Well, enjoy the pictures below and you can catch up on a few of our missing posts.

Ok - here goes - - -

My resolution for 2012 is to make a vow to maintain the blog in a more up-to-date fashion!

Fingers crossed.

Christmastown, Busch Gardens

2011-12-30T23:25:00.000-05:00

We went to Busch Gardens this afternoon to experience their Christmas-town celebration. It was amazing and awesome! We all had a wonderful time and we didn't have one complaint or bad moment the entire 6 hours we were there. We had a crash course on "how to survive a crowded amusement park without losing your patience" this summer in Florida and we all put it into practice today.

It was 55 degrees when we left the park at 9:15. It was 65 on our drive up there at 2:30. Great day, trust me!

Sophia and Lilly enjoyed riding a few rides. Sophia made a friend, Rachael, while her family was standing in front of us in line for our second ride. They just happened to be from Virginia Beach and actually know friends of ours. It's a small world after all! (Can you tell, I'm still on my amusement park high?)

Will ran into one of his old co-workers and buddies from GMTI. Sophia saw one of her Sunday School classmates too.

We went into the Sesame Street Theater and watched a live performance by Abby Cadabby, Elmo, Big Bird, and all the usual friends. We were the last 4 people allowed in the theater. Good timing!

Funny how we had good timing all day, actually. We got to be first in line at the "Kids Karousel" and Sophia had first pick at the horse that she wanted to ride. There is only one bubble-gum pink colored horse and that is the presise one she wanted. Luckily Lilly likes to ride on the non-moving benches. I rode beside Sophia on a white horse. Fun!

We also saw some penguins from Sea World of Ohio and Atlanta, I think...
They were really pretty.

Poppy gave Sophia and Lilly some money to spend today at the park and, as usual, that's what Sophia worried about all day. How was she going to spend her money? In the end she bought a small stuffed Clydesdale horse replica. We saw some huge, real ones today. They are big!

Lilly opted to get nothing. In fact, I will have to remind her that she has some money to spend. I think I'll hold onto it for a while and surprise her after the luster has worn off all the Christmas toys.

Both girls fell asleep in the car on the drive home. Yay!

In case you were wondering???

2011-12-30T22:55:00.002-05:00

Gingerbread House

2011-12-20T07:12:00.005-05:00

On Sophia's last day of school before winter break (which was Friday the 16th!) she made a gingerbread house.

I think she did a great job. She also made the golden wreath below. Lilly gave me a silver imprint of her left hand and I have it hanging with the gold imprint of Sophia's right hand that she did in her 3-yr old classroom. They are simply priceless.

Hello Kitty

2011-12-20T07:00:00.002-05:00

The girls each got a Hello Kitty shirt at Target last week. They couldn't wait to wear them to school. They also both love to wear their warm winter boots!

The real Santa

2011-12-03T17:36:00.001-05:00

The girls know that every single Santa out and around town is not the real Santa Claus, but they did meet the real one today! Sophia swears he was the real one because he told her that flying makes him tired. And, he had a real beard to pull it all together.

Lilly didn't want to sit on his lap. We didn't force the issue.

Sophia was literally too big for his lap. He tried hefting her up without any luck a few times. He finally decided to pull her up onto his lap....using all of his might. Sophia told him she wants an American Girl Doll.

Little Poser

2011-12-02T07:43:00.001-05:00

I really like the outfit that Lilly had on the other day so I asked her if I could take a photo. I just kept snapping because she kept posing for me. Take a look.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T10:46:00.001-05:00

We had a nice Thanksgiving with Will's family in Northern VA last week. I went out shopping at 9PM on Thursday night to hit Toys R Us for some good Christmas deals for the girls. When I got back I discovered Will asleep on the couch. He decided to go and get sick with a version of the flu and it lasted through Saturday evening. Miraculously it disappeared after I drove home and presented him with his new *Black Friday Special* Playstation 3 game!

Lilly and Sophia got a kick out of playing with Jonas. He's walking and starting to babble now. He and Lilly really hit it off and made each other laugh a lot. Aunt Claire put up the princess castle and had a tunnel coming out of each end of it in between their bedroom doors! What a fun way for them to spend the morning.

We went to lunch and the playground on Friday afternoon. Sophia and Lilly attempted to ride down the slide with Jonas, but he decided it wasn't for him this year.

Good grades

2011-11-20T13:19:00.001-05:00

I'm really behind on keeping up with the blog.....bad grade for me!

Will and I went to parent/teacher conferences for the girls on Nov 8th...and they are both getting good grades. Well, Lilly doesn't officially get graded yet, but Sophia does...and she has all Outstanding (equivalent to an A) and Satisfactory (equivalent to a B) marks.

Here's Lilly's answers to the questions her Mrs. Harden asked her:

Q: Favorite Friends
A. Lizzie, Colin, Victoria & Sophia

Q: Favorite Activities:
A. playing at home, playing at school, playing at the playground, getting stickers on my papers, singing songs, dancing with Belle and playing with Cinderella.

Q: It makes me happy when....
A: I hug Da da.

Q: When I grow up I'm going to be...
A: a big kid!

Q: I like to go
A: to the playground.

Sophia can write her numbers all the way to 30. She can count by 10s all the way to 100. She can write all the upper and lower case letters. And she knows way more about the solar system than I do!

She's going to be tested out of Reader book 8 this week and she's learning short vowel sounds. She also understands digraphs: th, sh, ch & wh.

She just started math book 3. She's currently learning to identify the following shapes: pentagon, octagon, hexagon, trapezoid & rhombus and she's studying how to count in manipulatives of 2 and 5. WOW!

Dance Class

2011-11-19T20:46:00.001-05:00

The girls are really enjoying dance class this year.

Lilly lo. She really absorbs what her dance teachers tell her and she comes home and practices. Sometimes she even plays "dance class" and she's the teacher. She sings the Buzy Buzy Bumble Bee song that she sings in her own dance class and then proceed to yell at everyone in the class. It's so funny.

She also plays school and she's Mrs. Harden and she just yells at her students to clean up and get in a straight line, etc.

And sometimes she yells at her pretend friends when she's going to sleep at night. She screams at them over and over to be quiet!

Sophia likes dance class too, but I think only because she gets to see Haley (and Abby, a new addition to the class when she's feeling up to it). Speaking of Abby, she just spent the week in the hospital after catching the stomach virus that 5 other kids in the Kindergarten class had the week before last. Sophia was lucky to dodge the bullet, but poor Lilly got sick Sunday night and stayed home from school on Monday. She was all better by Tuesday and ready to rejoin her classmates.

Christmas Beauties

2011-11-08T07:30:00.000-05:00

The girls are definitely in the Christmas spirit. Sophia received a practice CD from her choir director on Sunday and has been blasting it every day. To get in the mood, she found a couple of holiday dresses that my mom picked up for her when she's older....but, get this... THEY FIT now. They are size 12 and the only thing that is a little too big for her is the length. Unbelievable! She's not even 5 1/2 yet.

Lilly also wanted to wear a holiday dress...and still fits in the ones she wore last year. She's been taking care of her baby, Baby Jonas for a few days now. She switches between being obsessed with baby dolls and purses filled with anything she can find. Here she is wearing her Christmas dress and holding Baby Jonas.

Spooky Spider Web Woman

2011-11-08T07:02:00.003-05:00

Puzzle time

2011-11-08T06:26:00.001-05:00

Last night before bed the girls and I put together almost every puzzle we own. Sophia is really obsessed with learning how to spell...so these word puzzles were really fun to do.

Read to a dog

2011-11-06T18:19:00.002-05:00

We went to the library again yesterday morning so Sophia could read her school book to the therapy dogs. She loves reading to them. She was ultra confident compared to the first time we went. She absolutely loves bonding with the dogs.

Lilly looked simply stylish! This is the outfit that she picked to wear. Jeans, tutu skirt, flip flops, shirt, sweater, jacket and, of course, her purple sunglasses. As she strutted through the library I could hear the comments from the older ladies. They loved seeing her!

Just looking adorable

2011-11-06T18:11:00.002-05:00

L I L L Y

2011-11-06T07:52:00.001-05:00

Go TEAM ABBY

2011-11-05T22:20:00.001-04:00

Team ABBY's goal was $2,000. We successfully raised over $4,250! Go team! Sophia and I exceeded our goal of raising $100 each. Together we raised $238.45. Thank you to all of our supporters!

We had a really fun time tonight, although Sophia didn't "walk" a single step. She rode in the wagon and I pulled her and Elizabeth the entire time! Elizabeth's mom, Carolyn, and I chatted the whole time so it wasn't so bad. We met at Starbucks before carpooling in our van to the ocean front. The girls both got hot chocolate and Carolyn brought chocolate marshmallows too. HUGE HIT!

It was extremely windy, but not frigid cold. We wore hats and mittens...that helped!

Abby (the girl in the blanket below) was really cold....and tired tonight. She had several days of chemo this past week. What a tough cookie to be out for the walk tonight.

We all wore red TEAM ABBY shirts (except Abby, she wore white). The back is really touching. It's a pair of angel wings and reads: She believes in fairy tales. We believe in a cure.

Sophia's teacher, Mrs. Faulker, and her family were there. Allison, a fellow classmate and Daisy was there with her family. And, Grace, from our Daisy Troop was there with her mom. We all wore TEAM ABBY shirts. The back is really touching.

Big Daddy came for a Halloween visit!

2011-11-03T14:18:00.004-04:00

The girls had a great Halloween this year.

It started a week earlier when they went Trick or Treating at our Kohl's shopping center and came home with enough candy to last a few weeks. Then, they both had parties at school in addition to their Halloween show.

On Saturday, we celebrated Trunk or Treat at our church (an event that I was responsible for and turned out fabulous....with over 100 children making an appearance!).

And, the grand finale of the month, Big Daddy came on Halloween day and went trick or treating around Mulberry Loop with us.

The girls didn't quite make it around the loop, but they almost did. I'd say we skipped 25 houses. There are 88 on our loop, so we already had a ton on of candy anyway!

Videos from the school Halloween show

2011-11-01T11:25:00.001-04:00

Here are Lilly's songs:

Here's a few of Sophia's songs. Notice she's the tallest...

Here's the whole school singing together. Sophia is still in the top row. You can see Lilly to the right of the teacher/conductor.

Be kind to others

2011-11-01T06:51:00.000-04:00

Sophia's Cherub choir sang at the 8:30 service in church on Sunday. It was a cute song, but not very loud. I could pick out her voice a few times, but mostly the little guy, Gabe, carried the group.

Sophia is on the far right in the front row. Make sure you watch her. She cracked me up.

Halloween show at school

2011-10-29T08:51:00.001-04:00

On Thursday Will and I went to the Halloween show at Beach Manor.

All the kids wore their costumes and there were some really good ones. Lots of princess fairies, Buzz Lightyears and Spidermans.

Sophia's costume was definitely recognizable and there was only one other little girl dressed in a Jesse costume, but she was in the 2-yr old class.

Lilly dressed up like Little Orphan Annie, minus the wig, which I'm going to attempt to return. It did not look right at all and was more of an auburn color than a bright red. It's a good thing she actually has red hair.

Some of the moms I talked to recognized Lilly's understated costume, but for the most part nobody realized who she was supposed to be.

Later that day we were running a few errands and one lady stopped me to tell me that she loved Lilly's costume.

I love the wolf costume in this picture. His name is Davis and he's in Lilly's class. Next to him is Olivia, then Lizzie (Lilly's best friend), Lilly and finally Victoria.

I'll try to post the videos soon....

Thanks Aunt Carole

2011-10-29T08:38:00.003-04:00

The girls received Halloween cards with Target gift cards in them this week from Aunt Carole. They literally dragged me out the door so they could "spend" their gift cards.

Sophia picked out a Rapunzel doll and Lilly choose a beauty salon kit complete with hair bows, a stylist tool belt and fake makeup.

Lilly loves copying me and there is a straightening iron in her kit which she knew exactly how to use. The blow dryer takes batteries and actually makes noise, but doesn't blow any air. They've been fixing each other's hair and playing "patient" all week. I think it's hysterical that they call it patient instead of client or hair salon or anything else. How cute.

Lilly actually came with me earlier in the week when I got my hair cut. She was on her very best behaviour and sat quietly in the welcome area eating her lunch and looking through the books they have for little kids.

Off to school...

2011-10-26T15:44:00.000-04:00

Just looking cute...

2011-10-25T15:32:00.005-04:00

Lilly's turning into quite the artist lately.

Sophia loves playing with her doll house these days.

We are soooo ready for Halloween!

I finally got my van back!

2011-10-20T16:58:00.001-04:00

Actually, I got it back yesterday after not having it for a total of 8 days! I didn't mind driving around in the Explorer, but dealing with the girls struggling to get in and out of the back doors solidified my decision to buy a minivan with power, sliding doors! Believe me, I didn't need back-up proof at all. I still love my van. For one thing, it doesn't driving like a truck.

Seriously, the only thing I will miss about cruising around town in the Explorer is the awesome sun roof! Instead I think I have a built in luggage rack on my van. Blah...who needs that with Stow-and-Go storage anyway? And, it's not like we take a million vacations (I'm seriously counting down the days until we go again - only 792!) Does anyone want to come with us?

Save the Sea

2011-10-19T07:57:00.001-04:00

I donated to a charity last year to help "Save the Sea". The girls are wearing their shirts today since it's going to be a bleary, dreary, muggy, day. We're supposed to have severe storms this afternoon...

They wanted to be twins and both wear pigtails in their hair too.

I had to take a photo. Forgot to wipe the powdered sugar off of Lilly's mouth.

As you can see from Sophia's hands, we painted their fingernails this morning too. Lilly has already picked all of hers off. Sophia is trying to preserve hers until her first Girl Scouts meeting tonight.

Another Lilly-ism

2011-10-18T20:04:00.004-04:00

This morning I saw Lilly picking at her eye. I asked her what she was doing. She said something was in her eye and she showed me. I could tell there was a sleepy eye booger in the corner of her eye.

When she finally got it out. She announced: Oh, it's just a seed!

Ha ha ha

Little Hams

2011-10-17T22:52:00.001-04:00

The girls asked me to take their picture yesterday before church and again today before school. Perhaps it's because today and tomorrow are fall picture days at Beach Manor. Sophia's scheduled day was today and Lilly's scheduled day is tomorrow.

They are each wearing a cream sweater for their photos so I can place the photos side by side on the mantle.

Sophia told me that Ms. Sue grabbed Lilly from her classroom when it was Sophia's turn today and they took a sibling photo. I can't wait to see it because their outfits definitely did not coordinate. We'll get to see the photos before we buy them. I love that part.

When we had their dance studio photos taken last year, I was required to purchase the day of the photo shoot and didn't get to see any proofs. Oh well...of course they looked great!

Here are some photos from yesterday morning and this morning. The last two pictures are Lilly from this afternoon. She asked me to take her photo right before we left to pick up Sophia from school. She ran right out to the sidewalk and posed for me. What a great smile!

Jungle Golf

2011-10-16T22:32:00.003-04:00

We went to play miniature golf on Saturday at the beach. It was Jungle Golf and the girls got a kick out of all the enormous animals scattered throughout the course. We saw a gorilla, an elephant, two rhinos, and a few giraffes.

Sophia got a hole in one! It was awesome. She was so proud of herself and I have to toot my own horn. I got a hole in one - twice! Will always gets a little bitter when we play mini golf because I always beat him. This time the score was 35 to 33 in my favor. I chalk it up to my years of practice working at Putters, my aunt and uncle's mini golf course.

Here's some cute pictures that I took.

Halloween

2011-10-14T22:28:00.001-04:00

The girls have settled on their Halloween costumes.

Sophia is going to be Jesse from the Toy Story movies. We already have Sophia's costume. It's cute...complete with red cowboy boots.

Lilly is going to be Little Orphan Annie. I found the perfect dress today. I had to order a wig and the heart locket from amazon and they should be here next week.

Sorry, no pictures...no sneak previews....

Let's wipe out blood cancer together

2011-10-13T23:09:00.001-04:00

Sophia and I are going to walk in a fundraising walk** on November 5th to support her friend, Abby. Abby is a fighter and is going through some really serious medical treatments right now to help her blood cancer stay in remission. Click here to meet Abby on our team page and read a little about her amazing strength.

We'll wear red that night (a team ABBY shirt, actually) because we are supporters. Abby will wear white, the color for survivors. I can't help but think that the girls (who may be a little too young to fully understand what they are participating in) might just think it's similar to Rapunzel's story and the lanterns.

We're raising money for a very important cause, through The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light The Night Walk: finding better treatments and cures for blood cancers so patients can live better, longer lives. I'm asking you to help by making a tax-deductible contribution! Please use the link below (or click here) to donate online quickly & securely. You will receive an email confirmation of your donation as soon as it is made. We thank you in advance for your support which will make a difference in the lives of thousands of patients battling blood cancers.

We really appreciate your generosity!!

If you would like to make a donation or would like more info on the event, please visit http://pages.lightthenight.org/hr/VABeach11/SAlexander

Girl Scouts

2011-10-13T20:59:00.000-04:00

I'm officially a Troop Leader of the Girl Scouts. Sophia is a Daisy Girl Scout (grade Kindergarten and 1st). We're going to have 12 girls in our Troop and they are all in K this year (and we know all of them). I worked to get the girls I wanted. There are 22 others on the "waiting list".

So far I've been organizing lots and lots of info for the moms and also doing/receiving a lot of training!

It's going to be really fun and I can't wait to get started. We have our first Troop meeting on the 19th.

Last weekend (on Sunday) I hosted a Troop Meet & Greet at the AMF bowling alley. I was able to get free passes for all the girls and even their siblings. Of course, Lilly was our tag-along. She won't be able to do everything with us, but I'm hoping she can participate as much as possible.

Some of these names will be familiar, but here's a list of our Daisies...
Sophia
Haley
Addie

Elizabeth

Caroline
Abby
Mia
Allison
Mary Price
Megan
Grace
Maggie

While the cat's away, the mouse...

2011-10-12T13:53:00.001-04:00

gets a flat tire.

Will is in California this week. On Sunday night we dropped my minivan off at the Chrysler dealership because it started making a strange squealing sound (it turns out to be a bad shim on the side of the alternator for those of you who understand what that means) and we also had two recall notices about the van to take care of too. One was on the electronic, sliding door and the other was for the drain tube for the windshield washer fluid. The verdict was that I won't get my van back until Thursday (tomorrow). Did I mention that on Friday afternoon I got 4 new tires put on the van and also got oil change? (not cheap)

In the meantime, I'm driving the Explorer, which Will had to put a new battery in on Sunday when we realized it wouldn't start. On Tuesday morning when I woke up to take the girls to school, the Explorer had a completely flat tire! And, the spare was flat too!

Normally I would have just hopped into one of our other two cars, but Will drove his Diamante to the airport so it wasn't here and neither was the van.

Luckily we have AAA and we were able to get the Explorer towed to the Firestone service center and got two new tires put on in record time! The girls were only 60 minutes late for school.

The girls got to ride in the tow truck and thought it was sooooo cool!

We walked to the local Food Lion grocery store and they picked out a second breakfast (milk and powdered donuts). I also found some stickers and blank paper in my purse for them use and we had our portable DVD player and movies in the Explorer so they also had that to keep them occupied while we waited for the truck to be done. They were pretty good considering the fact that they kept complaining they didn't have anything to do.

Fall Festival at the Farmer's Market

2011-10-10T09:28:00.003-04:00

We spent Saturday afternoon at the Farmer's Market for their Fall Festival. The girls had a wonderful time. They got to pet a four week old chick (I think it was a baby duck), dance in the center stage to a live band (we all did), milk a fake cow, make their way through a hay bale male, eat cotton candy, make pine cone bird feeders, take a tractor pulled hay ride (we all did), and spend at least 90 minutes in the various bounce houses they had. WOW! They were filthy and exhausted by the time we got home. It was a gorgeous day to boot.

Hopefully this link will play a slideshow of all the pictures from the day.

Paws to Read

2011-10-09T16:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Sophia and I went to the library for their "Paws for Reading" program. Basically kids between grade K-5th are encouraged to come and read to a therapy dog. There were six registered therapy dogs there yesterday. Lilly stayed home with Will.

Sophia took her school reader and chose a different section of the book for each dog. There is a dog named Pippen in her book so she thought it would be neat to share Pippen's story with the dogs. I think they really enjoyed it too.

She had a GREAT time. This will definitely become a monthly outing for us. Maybe Will can take her next time.

The performers

2011-10-05T13:21:00.000-04:00

Here's a few movies starring Sophia and Lilly Alexander:

A pretty blah Somewhere Over the Rainbow:

Halloween Song:

Goofing Off:

Lilly the Ragdoll:

Disney on Ice, Dare to Dream

2011-10-04T11:23:00.000-04:00

Sophia and Lilly both had a fantastic first month at school. Sophia received all "green dots" from her teacher which means she was on her very best behavior every day. (smile)

As a reward for a job well done we decided to surprise the girls with tickets to see the Disney on Ice "Dare to Dream" show. We didn't reveal the "reward" until Friday last week, at the end of the month. Our tickets were for Sunday afternoon. The only thing the girls couldn't believe was that they had to wait 2 days to go to see the show. A few days earlier in the week, Sophia saw a tv commercial for the show and instantly knew she wanted to see it so when she saw her ticket she jumped for joy!

We raced home after church so they could change their clothes. Sophia dressed up in her Cinderella dress and Lilly was Belle.

The show itself was AWESOME! We saw three performances...mini versions of Princess Tiana's Princess and the Frog story, Cinderella's story, and for the grand finale, Rapunzel's story. All of us like Rapunzel's story the best.

Click here to see all the photos from the three shows. I ran out of space on my camera SD card and had to delete while we were there or there would have been a lot more.

Even though the venue didn't permit videotaping the performance, I was able to capture a few minutes of Cinderella's performance. Take a look:

The Pirate Birthday Party

2011-09-26T13:10:00.000-04:00

Well, I took Lilly to her classmate, Colin's, birthday party yesterday afternoon from 4:30 - 6:30. If you're thinking this is an ODD time to have a b'day party, so did I! Instead of offering any sort of "dinner" food, there was tons of junk (which the kids LOVED, but all the moms silently resented, I think). They had caramel covered popcorn, a treasure chest cake, chocolate covered marshmallows on a stick, chocolate dipped pretzels, and a cotton candy machine! (Ok, I have to admit they also had a veggie platter, but if you were a kid would you want that?)

This was the party that was moved from last weekend due to rain. Well, it rained again all day yesterday just like it has been for a solid week....

The original invitation stated that the party would be at a neighborhood play ground and would have a bounce house. When I got the voicemail that the party was postponed for a week the mom, Christy, also mentioned that the location of the party would be at their apartment instead of the park. So, in my head, that meant an INDOOR party! I was wrong! Most of the party was held outside! The food was inside.

Their yard was a muddy, swampy pit. Lilly and I both ruined our shoes. They did have the bounce house. Rain was soaking through the roof of it and the entire thing looked slimy and wet. In fact, when any kid emerged from the exit, he would literally slip off of it and onto the concrete sidewalk below! A few kids ended up crying because they would land in an akward position. Not to mention that all the kid's clothes were wet too.

Thankfully Lilly didn't want to go in the bounce house...maybe because all the kids at the party were boys! Not a single little girl from her class showed up. There was an 11-yr old girl (Colin's sister), an 18-month old, and another girl that looked slightly older/larger than Lilly, but she was a neighbor and not a girl from Lilly's class.

On the ride home Lilly told me she had fun, but I think she was just excited that she got a goodie bag to bring home to share with Sophia.

Mommy & Lilly @ Chuck E Cheese

2011-09-25T15:56:00.000-04:00

Birthday Parties

2011-09-24T23:27:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we had three birthday parties to attend on Saturday...all back to back..beginning at noon. We also had a previously planned church cook-out event for the whole family that I was hosting (from 3-6) at a local park. Due to the rain, we moved our cook-out to my friend's house and luckily the third birthday party was postponed to this weekend (Sunday). It's supposed to be a pirate party with a bounce house and treasure hunt and I'm not sure if they'll be able to pull it off because it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow too!

NOON - 2PM: Chuck E. Cheese...for one of Sophia's classmates, Abby. She turned 5.

2:30 - 4:30: Matthew's house....he's in Sophia's class. He tuned 6. It was a reptile petting zoo party. Will took Sophia while I attended the church party with Lilly.

4:30 - 6:30 TOMORROW: Pirate party at Colin's house. He's in Lilly's class. Turning 4. His mom sent home a note to make a donation to a local charity in lieu of a gift. The girls and I went to the Virginia Beach SPCA last week one day after school and made a donation in Colin's name. We fell in love with a Husky puppy while we were there too.

Anyway, back to last weekend's birthday parties.

Abby's mom found out that Lilly would be coming with us to Chuck E. Cheese for the party so she was included in the fun. That was really nice of them. Elizabeth and Sophia ran around together and Lilly, Will and I tagged behind.

This is Abby. She's a very sick little girl. I want to share a two page letter with you that her mom sent home on the first day of school.

Dear Beach Day AM Kindergarten parents,

Our daughter Abby is in your child's kindergarten class. She also has cancer. Abby was diagnosed with Leukemia, specifically B-cell ALL Ph+. She's currently undergoing chemotherapy and has doctors all over the country tracking her medical care due to the rare and especially serious nature of her particular disease. Chemo and other complications with her treatment will keep her out of class fairly often; however, when she feels well enough, she would like to attend school. We want the same thing. Abby is very excited to be at Beach Manor with her friends when she can.

Abby will share a book with her classmates that she wrote about cancer with the help of her Child Life Counselor at the hospital. Below is the text of the book. It is very basic and we hope it answers some questions that your children will have. We understand that children are naturally curious. When a friend of theirs looks different and misses school frequently, they want to know why. The book's text is:

"Hi. I'm Abby. I like the colors purple, pink and green. I also really like princesses. I am a kid just like you. Cancer is small bad cells inside of me. It only makes me sick. You can't catch my cancer. When you get sick, sometimes you have to take medicine to make you feel better. Chemo is medicine that fights cancer. I need chemo to get better. I will be taking it for a long time. Chemo fights the bad cancer cells but also makes my hair fall out. Don't worry, you're not taking chemo so your hair isn't going to fall out. Chemo can also make me tired and sometimes I get sick easily. Even though I have no hair, I can still play and have fun. My port is how I get my chemo medicine. Some days I will be at the hospital for treatment so I won't be at school. I'll be back as soon as I'm well enough. One day I will be cancer free! Then I won't have to take chemo anymore and my hair will grow back."

Abby will be at school when she is feeling well and her immune system can tolerate it. Please take the same precautions for her as you would for others in the class: when your child is sick, please keep them home from school. And just like all kindergarten classrooms hand washing will be encouraged.
** The one request we have is in regards to Chicken Pox. If you believe your child either has or has been exposed to (e.g. sibling) the virus, please notify us or the school immediately. We can then discuss it with Abby's Oncologists for a risk assessment. Chicken Pox exposure for Abby is extremely serious. **

We thank you for your time and consideration. Please feel free to call or email us with any questions at any time. We are extremely open and comfortable with the topic. It is a huge part of our life now, so there is no need to walk on eggshells. Please don't hesitate to reach out with any concerns or questions. We look forward to a great year at Beach Manor with you and yours!

Sincerely,
.....

Page 2

FAQ:

What is Abby's prognosis?
Unknown. Her leukemia is an extremely rare variety. Until very recently, it was highly fatal. Abby did go to Chicago for a Stem Cell Transplant, but while there Abby was put on an experimental drug that appears to be working very well for her. As such, the Oncologists and Transplant Specialists recommended waiting a bit for the bone marrow transplant. The long term efficacy of Abby's experimental medicine is unknown as it has only been used for her type of cancer for about 2 years now, and not all children get this drug.

Where can I learn more about Abby's disease?
Ask us. We're open and will gladly tell you what we know. If you are he googling type, try: Pre B-cell ALL Ph+". The long version of that is: Precursor B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Philadelphia Chromosome Positive. Our only caution is not to believe everything you read there. Believe us, we're read all of it. Some sites will tell you Abby has no chance, some will tell you Abby is as good as cured. As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Wikipedia for "Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia" isn't bad for an opener and toward the bottom, there is a link to "Philadelphia Chromosome" that may be slightly more medically-oriented than you'd like, but is fairly straightforward. "CureSearch.org" is also a very good site.

How did Abby "catch" leukemia?
No one knows how or why some people, especially children, develop cancer. Genetics probably play a role. As a side note, we donated Abby's cord blood to an Oncologist in Europe specifically studying how and why leukemia "turns on" in some kids.

Is it contagious at all?
Nope. Not even a little bit. It would be like catching someone's blue eyes or their blood type. Can't be done.

Is there anything Abby cannot do?
Abby had a port installed, which is a small receptacle under her skin that has a tube running straight to her heart. As such, rugby is not recommended. In all seriousness, she cannot do contact sports. Her energy levels will probably determine what she can and cannot do more than anything else.

Why doesn't Abby have hair? / Will Abby's hair grow back?
Your kids may ask about this - it is our most common child question. Abby's chemo targets, among other things, rapidly dividing cells (like cancer cells). Her follicles, some skin cells and pigmentation fall under this category, too. So it is a normal side effect. When chemo slows down, she may get some hair back. When chemo is complete, she should get it all back.

How long will Abby be on chemo?
God willing, for a total of about 3 years. We say it that way, because the protocol calls for 3 full years of chemo, and we will stay with this experimental protocol as long as it works. Abby is currently in clinical remission. She still has cancer. It is however being managed.

Are you on Caring Bridge?
Yes! Caring Bridge is a medical blog. Go to caringbridge.org and search for Abby Furco if you'd like.

Yep, it's rocked my world as a parent! I can still cry at the drop of a hat when I think about Abby. Sophia and I had a long talk about her and Sophia really didn't ask any questions at all. I just reinforced that she is sick on the inside, but she's taking medicine, etc...

When Sophia found out that Lilly would be coming to the b'day party, she made a comment that Lilly might be scared of Abby (because of her lack of hair, I guess. I waited to see what Sophia would say, but she didn't follow it up with anything).

Abby's not a school a lot. I ask every day... She wasn't there at all this past week because, ironically, Elizabeth's little brother has the chicken pox!

Anyway, the girls had a really good time at the birthday party and I have a feeling that Abby and Sophia are gong to be great friends. That makes me smile.

Pirate Sophia

2011-09-24T22:08:00.000-04:00

Sophia begged me for fifty cents today so she could put it into a gumball machine and "win" a set of disgusting fake front teeth. Luckily, she got the set she wanted. She wore them all day and pretended to be a pirate.

She now wants to be a pirate for Halloween. She can't decide between:

Snow White
Rapunzel
Witch
Little Orphan Annie
Pirate

Take our picture, Mom

2011-09-24T22:03:00.000-04:00

So the girls have actually been asking me to bring the camera with me when I drop them off at school so I can take their pictures. Here's a few of our better shots.

OUTSIDE:

SOPHIA AND ELIZABETH:

LILLY SITTING AT THE PLAYDOH TABLE:

Punky the Pumpkin Eater

2011-09-24T18:54:00.000-04:00

I took Sadie for a walk one morning after I dropped the girls off for school. Actually, I came home and went for a run and heard Sadie barking at me as I ran off down the road. I felt so bad that I had "left" her at home....so as soon as I got back from my run I decided to take her for a long walk.

We were almost home when I saw an enormous spider on the sidewalk. I stopped to take a photo with my phone to show the girls. At the same time Sadie was pulling and pulling on the leash. She had discovered something of her own. A bright orange turtle.

I picked it up, held it out at a full arm's length away from me the entire way home and put it in a box on the deck with some lettuce and grass. I peaked outide and saw the turtle trying to climb out of the box so I decided to put the turtle in the yard under our tree and I placed a laundry basket on top of it so it had room to roam, but wouldn't be able to escape. Sadie tried her hardest to get to the turtle. She started digging at the grass and nosing at the basket. I finally had to send her into the house (where she stood at the door for the next 3 hours waiting to give it another go). I secretly think she wanted to eat the turtle.

When Lilly got home from school we came up with a name for the turtle: Punky the Pumpkin Eater (appropriate considering her pretty color).

Later that night after Sophia had returned home from school and the girls had played with the turtle for a few hours we released her at the lake in our backyard to live with the twenty other turtles that live there. Punky quickly moved on...never to be seen by us again

My school girls

2011-09-17T08:13:00.000-04:00

The girls literally rush ahead of me every morning to get into the school before me. Sophia grabs Lilly's hand and walks her into Mrs. Harden's classroom to drop her off before I can even catch up. Lilly doesn't even turn around to look for me. Yesterday I peeked my head in the room to say goodbye to her.

Sophia then marches herself across the hall and digs in her backpack for her red folder and reader to put in the bin inside her classroom. At least she gives me a kiss every day before she heads into her room with her friends.

They both absolutely love school!

Slow dancing

2011-09-15T20:40:00.000-04:00

I came downstairs the other day and discovered the girls putting on a show for Will. In reality, it was a slow dance performed by Princess Sophia and her partner, Prince Lilly.

School work

2011-09-14T22:02:00.000-04:00

This is what the girls are up to at school so far. The last one is Sophia's page.

Finishing up the first week of school

2011-09-10T13:49:00.000-04:00

This is what Lilly chose for dessert on her first day of school: gum, buttons, nerds, and pumpkins. YUCK!

Thursday was the first nice of dance class. They are both taking tap and ballet, but in separate age groups. They will both be in the recital at the end of this year. It was Lilly's first tap class and she was so excited to tell me about it afterwards. I could tell she really enjoyed it. There are probably 5 girls and 1 boy in Lilly's class. Carlie is with her.

Sophia went into her ballet class just fine, but complained of a sore throat throughout the entire tap class. I was waiting in the lobby and I could hear her crying all the way back in the studio! Embarrassing, trust me! So far it's just her and Haley in the class. I hope more join.

The first photo here is Thursday.
Then Friday.

Sophia has already received two birthday party invitations. One for a little girl named Abby (turning 5) and another for a boy named Matthew (turning 6).

Lilly also got a birthday party invitation next week for a boy in her class named Ross.

Ironically all three parties are next Saturday (the 17th).....which is the same day at the FAMILY picnic I'm hosting because I'm the leader of Circle Mary at church.

The girls are already getting excited for Halloween...can you tell?

Lilly & Sophia

2011-09-07T13:54:00.000-04:00

Lilly's first day at Beach Manor

2011-09-07T13:48:00.000-04:00

Lilly started in Mrs. Harden's 3-yr old classroom today at Beach Manor. She's right across the hallway from Sophia's class.

She was excited to head out the door today. She bounded up the ramp once we got to school, but when it came down to business she was a little reluctant to let me go. I couldn't even stick around if I wanted to because I still had to drop Sophia off in her classroom.

I peeked on Lilly a few times after I said goodbye to Sophia (who walked right in like a big girl and joined the class!) and she was sitting with Mrs. Harden at the table. I think she's going to do just fine.

I asked her if she played with anyone today and she said no. She told me that she was digging for coins in the sand when she played outside. She ate a cupcake today for snack and said there was a party.

When I picked up her in the carpool line she came out with a giant smile on her face, climbed into the car and right into her seat. I looked in her bag and saw that she colored a few apple coloring pages today....and she stayed completely in the lines. I'll have to post a picture of it. It's absolutely amazing! Sophia (age 5) is just now starting to color in the lines! Great job, Lilly!

Junior Bridesmaids & Flower Girls

2011-09-06T22:07:00.000-04:00

BEFORE

AFTER

Seeing double...

2011-09-06T21:52:00.000-04:00

When you walk into the main entrance of Beach Manor this is the view you see. When Sophia graduates this year, I'm hoping they will give her picture to me.

* Notice Sophia on the wall - top left *
** The wrapping paper samples all over the bulletin board is for their annual fund raiser **

Sophia's First Day of Kindergarten

2011-09-06T21:12:00.000-04:00

It's simply bittersweet and I've been crying about it for days. Last night and this morning were especially hard. My precious baby girl started Kindergarten today! Not just 1/2 day Kindergarten, but she's also staying in the afternoon for the extended day program.

On one hand I'm so excited to watch Sophia grow up and develop friendships and explore the world little by little all on her own. On the other hand, I can't believe that she will be gone every day for 6 hours. Six hours that I'm going to miss of her amazing, wonderful, young life.

When I got home from dropping her off this morning (sans Lilly)...I walked into the house and Lilly immediately asked me WHERE'S SISSY? After learning that she wasn't home, Lilly took the opportunity to shut herself into Sophia's room and play with all of her toys! She was in there for a good hour too.

For me, it was the longest day ever! Lilly and I ran some errands and generally just missed Sophia's company all day!

This is Sophia with Mia and Elizabeth (in that order). They were both in her class last year. Adrianna is also in her class again. They've been inseparable for 2 years straight, but only at school. We never do play dates with her and her mom. At dinner she told us that she and Adrianna are still best friends. None of the boys from last year are in her class this year.

We were the first ones in line at carpool. Sophia was beaming from ear to ear when she walked out of the school. She jumped into the car and threw her backpack into the front seat for me to take a look at what she did today! She was really psyched about her day!! I noticed the first thing she told Will about her day was that she got to go outside 2 times. Lucky girl!

She mentioned that she's going to have a book club in her afternoon class. She seems excited to start reading. Last night we dug out her very first reader (Book 1) and she read the whole thing. When she completed preschool she was in Book 6.

Because it was her special day she got to pick what we had for dinner tonight. She picked mashed potatoes, quesadillas and cupcakes. I added a ceasar salad to the mix for Lilly since she doesn't like mashed potatoes. We all enjoyed the "K for Kindergarten" shaped cupcake display.

Last playdate before Kindergarten

2011-09-06T00:08:00.000-04:00

We went to the Portsmouth Children's Museum last Tuesday with Haley and Carlie. It was Sophia's last play date with Haley before they both start Kindergarten. Ironically, it was the location of their very first play date together when they were only 1 and 1/2. That was 4 years ago.

The museum has been closed for the last 6 months (at least) for renovations. They renovated a lot of the exhibits and added a few new ones including a "theatre stage" room complete with bins filled with costumes and masks, red curtains, working stage lights, and even a puppet stage. Michelle, Haley and Carlie's mom, and I just sat back and watched them play.

Look how grown they all are. Tomorrow is the big day! First day of Kindergarten....

A beautiful day

2011-08-28T19:38:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-27T20:14:00.001-04:00

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

2011-08-27T10:20:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-27T10:16:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-27T10:01:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-23T21:42:00.000-04:00

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"

2011-08-23T21:22:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-21T14:04:00.000-04:00

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....

2011-08-18T00:03:00.000-04:00

Lilly's first visit to the dentist

2011-08-17T23:49:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-17T23:35:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-17T23:13:00.001-04:00

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

2011-08-14T16:31:00.000-04:00

Another long trip

2011-08-13T22:09:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-01T18:17:00.000-04:00

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....

2011-08-01T18:12:00.000-04:00

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.

Wandering home

2011-07-30T09:31:00.000-04:00

On Thursday morning the girls and I dropped my car off to have a state inspection done. We were also having the back brakes replaced so we knew we had a whole afternoon to kill without our car. Luckily our car repair shop is literally just about 1 mile away so we knew we could walk home.

We headed down the road and crossed the main street without any hiccups. We were making good time. The girls weren't really complaining about the heat...or the distance... I was enjoying the walk.

We decided to take a shortcut through the trees rat the main entrance to our neighborhood and ended up running around (in the shade of the trees thank goodness) for about an hour. We were all drenched the by the time we made it home and Lilly was begging me to carry her all the way down Mulberry Loop, but it was definitely worth the fun.

Sophia found this sawed-off tree trunk and told me that the this tree is 11 years old! Is she right?? Anyone??

We also found lots of pine cones and fallen leaves and inspected some tree bark.

We played freeze tag...for a long time. Sophia is a fast runner when she wants to be!

Had a refreshing drink.

Made some fun memories.

She cracked me up

2011-07-30T09:11:00.000-04:00

I was in the laundry room folding clothes when Lilly came into the room and asked if she could help BEND the clothes with me.

Sure!

I gave her a pile of socks and she proceeded to neatly bend every single sock in half.

So cute!

Doesn't she look like a baby doll?

2011-07-27T08:03:00.000-04:00

Dancing queens

2011-07-27T07:57:00.000-04:00

Two weekends ago Christina came down to pick up her wedding dress. The girls and I went with her to the appointment. The girls tried on their dresses too. Both are being hemmed and we will be able to pick them up on Aug 12. I absolutely love the dresses they will be wearing. They look just like little princesses. They loved the three-way mirror and little step pedestal in front of it where they could pretend to be on stage for all to see. I wish I had a good photo to upload. The only I have with the girls in their dresses is one of them with Christina and she's wearing her dress too. Clearly, I cannot post that picture (at least not until after Sept 3).

After the dress shop we went to a mall and looked for shoes. No luck, but we did stop by the play area and let the girls burn off some energy.

Eventually we made our way to Town Center and sat outside for dinner, made some wishes by throwing pennies into the fountain, and then got out even more sillies by dancing for everyone in the outdoor square.

Vacation Bible School...recap

2011-07-26T20:04:00.000-04:00

Vacation Bible School feels like an eternity ago...but really is was only last week. All week long. 9-noon every day. I had 20 kids in the preschool class and I was wiped out each and every single day. It's the boys that are so hard, if you ask me.

The girls both had a blast. Sophia's favorite part was Science Lab. They made snow one day. She tried to replicate it at home. This was her recipe: Put a little bit of sugar into a cup and then added some water. After you shake it for a while it will turn into snow.

I explained why that wasn't going to work and she insisted that it would. So she tried. We made ice cream in a baggie instead...and after I shook it for ten whole minutes...Lilly ate it!

We all got to decorate our very own aprons and chefs hats. Sophia made a recipe box and a recipe holder too.

Lilly was the youngest one in the class and she hung with the big kids great! I was so proud of her. She shared her mommy with 19 other kids. When she wasn't with me, she was attached to one of the youth helper girls, Banning or Sara Margaret. They both offered to babysit for me anytime.

When it was over on Friday and we ate lunch with everyone and I cleaned up and took down all the decorations, my friend, Jen, and I took our girls to the beach. Jen is Kate and Caroline's mom and she just happened to be Sophia's teacher this year. She said Sophia was a dream.

Can't wait until next year when the theme will be Ocean Commotion.

Princesses

2011-07-26T19:46:00.000-04:00

When we got home from Florida the girls immediately ran to find a Princess costume to wear. This is what they came up with.

In case you couldn't tell. Sophia is Ariel. Lilly is Cinderella.

Puzzles

2011-07-26T19:33:00.000-04:00

Sophia's been putting together a few puzzles this week. Each time she gets better and needs less help. She can do the princess one all by herself. She's almost mastered the cat one. The 5 Little Monkey one is missing a piece. Can you tell?

More Florida fun

2011-07-26T17:14:00.000-04:00

There is so many more Florida stories I need to write about while they are fresh in my mind. Here's a few of them:

One night we headed out in the minivan with Rob and Christina to Epcot to watch the fireworks show from the parking lot. We almost had a great view, but instead we saw only a few above the tree line. It was fun to eat popcorn and finally use our third row seats in their tailgate position. Here's Lilly singing one of her favorite songs, Tomorrow, from the movie Annie.

Rob, Christina, Will and I played miniature golf one night without the girls. I'm really proud to say that all my time spent working at Putters really paid off for me this time. I won! Followed by Christina...and Will and Rob tied for last place.

Trying to take this photo was fun...I mean...no it wasn't!. I think there were 3 cameras going at the same time and the kids were a bit confused.

Lilly and Jack really got along well. Sophia enjoyed playing with Madeline in the pool. Terra seemed like she always had Baby Jonas in her lap. They all really got along well together.

A fun day

2011-07-26T16:19:00.000-04:00

This morning the girls and I went to see a movie for $1.00 each. It was called Alpha and Omega. It was a story about two wolves from the opposite ends of the social pack structure that fall in love...and all the obstacles they have to overcome. It was cute.

After lunch we went to the library for a program put on by the Virginia Aquarium. All the kids go to listen to a story, play a few games including charades (although when Sophia was selected to act out an animal, she got up there and then decided she didn't want to play). She was all about touching the HUGE hissing cockroach and the enormous African beetle though! GROSS! She thought it was cool. Lilly opted not to touch.

Sophia wants to be vet when she's older. Well she used to want to be a vet. Now she wants to be the professor who trains vets to be vets!

Baby Jonas

2011-07-26T08:31:00.000-04:00

The girls absolutely loved playing with and taking care of Baby Jonas (or BJ as Big Daddy calls him) while we were in Florida. Lilly especially.

Lilly has always loved playing with baby dolls. She gives them bottles, pushes them in the stroller, carries them around, puts them to bed, etc... (all the normal baby doll activities)...

Well, now that she had a chance to help take care of a real baby, she calls every baby doll Baby Jonas. She told me that she misses Baby Jonas and that he's so pretty.

Three boys and their wives

2011-07-24T06:31:00.001-04:00

Rob & Christina, Mike & Misty and Will & I went out to dinner one night...it was so much fun.

I think we would all agree that the food was just so-so, but the company was fantastic!

I wish we all lived closer and could do it more often. By the way, all the cousins got along great too. The youngest is 10 months old and the oldest just turned 13.

Rob & Christina, getting married on Sept 3rd

Mike & Misty, preparing to celebrate 5 years of marriage

Will and Shirley, 1 month shy of our 8th anniversary

Midieval Times

2011-07-23T21:23:00.001-04:00

Big Daddy took the whole family out to Midieval Times while we were in Florida. The girls really got into it...and we bought them the $1.00 flags to wave in support of our knight....and the flags both broke before the end of the show. I guess we should have gone with the $5 flags. Either way, our knight won the battle! We sat in the black and white section. We ate chicken, garlic bread, ribs, and potatoes with our hands. We drank our soup and "gulped" our wine. The girls really thought the horses were beautiful.

Sophia picked out a stuffed cat in a carry tote. Lilly choose a purple jewel necklace. Both were big hits!

Animal Kingdom

2011-07-19T06:43:00.000-04:00

The first time we went to Animal Kingdom we were with Grancy, Big Daddy, Rob, Christina and Baby Jonas. We actually got rained out that day. Since we really only experienced a quarter of the park that day so we decided to return. Afterall, we had to take the safari ride. It was really cool. There were so many animals for the girls to see close up.

Some funny moments from the day(s)...
1) We parked at Magic Kingdom, unloaded the stroller and almost started the long process into the park when we realized we were at the wrong park. Oops...(easy fix)
2) Lilly and Sophia spent their souvenir money. Sophia picked out a stuffed cat from the Aristocats named Marie and Lilly picked out the Princess music box that Sophia still regrets not choosing.

The vacation is over....but another one begins.....

2011-07-18T21:01:00.000-04:00

We just spent the last two weeks either vacationing in Florida, traveling to/from Florida or recovering from our trip (by far the most taxing part)! We're finally unpacked and caught up on our sleep, but tomorrow morning our next vacation begins -- Vacation Bible School that is! It's called "Shake It Up Cafe" and the theme is cooking. I'm teaching the preschool class (3s and 4s). Twenty of them actually! Lilly will be in the class with me and he rest of the Mini Muffins. Sophia's in the rising K class this year (I still can't believe she's going to be in Kindergarten!). Her class is the Banana Splits. She's going to have so much fun.

But...I have so much to write about Florida.

We had an uneventful drive to Kissimmee, Florida. It took us 14 hours, but we stopped quite a few times and let the girls get out an roam around a bit. We left at 5 AM on Saturday (July 2). We arrived that night around 8 PM. We spent our first full day (Sunday) at the rental house just relaxing by the pool. Sophia spent the entire day in the pool. In fact, she spent almost every waking moment in the pool if we weren't at one of the Disney World parks.

We went to Magic Kingdom three times and spent two days at Animal Kingdom. We definitely could have gone back to Magic Kingdom a few more times...if nothing else but to enjoy the fireworks another time. What a spectacular show! At one point, Tinkerbell flies out of the castle on a zipline rope and glides through the night sky...granting wishes I presume.

Another one of our favorite parts was the castle show and the parades. We times it perfect on our first day at Magic Kingdom. We arrived just five minutes before the castle show was about to begin. It was a fantastic way to be welcomed into the park. Some of the Princesses made an appearance and Sophia's eyes couldn't have gotten any bigger! During the afternoon parade on the first day there a super Giant Woody (from Toy Story) stuck his finger into Sophia's ear. She grinned so big.

We also met Rapunzel on the first day. The girls danced with her and then Sophia talked to her, hugged her and had her sign her autograph book. We forgot to ask her to sign Lilly's book. Lilly was too shy to give anyone a hug or to request an autograph, but I jumped right in and asked for her in every case except Rapunzel.

Lilly's favorite things about Magic Kingdom:
The rides (literally, all of them)!
The popsicles (they're GIANT sized)!

Sophia's favorite things:
Tinkerbell flying out of the castle AND the fireworks!
Driving her first car (I pressed the gas and she steered us back and forth slamming into the middle rail with every turn. I had to smile.)
The Carousel of Progress ride (she liked the mechanical dog)

My favorites:
It's a Small World ride
Watching Sophia's face light up over and over again.
Listening to Lilly experience an amazing fireworks show! She said WOW with amazement with every burst of light in the sky. It was adorable. You can kind of hear it in this movie. You have to listen for it, but you'll hear it really loud toward the end.

In addition to Rapunzel, Sophia also got to meet the following:

Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story)

Aurora, Sleeping Beauty

Belle, Beauty and the Beast

Cinderella

Pocahontas

Jiminy Cricket

Rafiki

Pooh

Eyeore

Tigger

And Pluto and Goofy, but I can't find that picture. I think it might have gotten deleted. Boo hoo.

Magic Kingdom was awesome. I already told the girls that we would go back every 5 years. I can't wait! Here are some images from the parade and the rides that we went on...

Cousins.....

2011-07-10T08:59:00.000-04:00

Dance class photos of Lilly.

2011-06-22T21:30:00.000-04:00

Since Lilly and I were technically both registered in the Mommy & Me class, I was able to take lots of pictures of her in dance class. Here's a bunch I just downloaded from my phone. She got really comfortable and did a great job participating on her own. It was so fun to just sit back and watch her do her thing. I was so proud.

Here's a short video:

Here's a longer video of her doing part of her dance class:

Here's a video of part of the song they warm up to called Miss Puffy:

Here's part of Miss Puffy about 6 weeks ago:

Sophia lost another tooth!

2011-06-22T21:04:00.000-04:00

I had no idea that Sophia's second loose tooth would come out so soon, but it fell out while we were in the car today. Incredible. I think Tina Toothfairy is going to bring a pack of sugarfree strawberry shortcake chewing gum tonight. Sophia's going to love it.

First night - pull up free

2011-06-21T09:47:00.000-04:00

Unbeknownst to me, Will put Lilly to bed without a pull up on last night. She was bone dry this morning. She's been waking up dry for about 2 weeks, but it never even crossed my mind to put her to bed in undies.

She's been completely potty trained during the waking hours for months now, but we're clearly in the home stretch for the night time as well.

Way to go Lilly! This is much earlier than Sophia was potty trained. I can see $$ now. No more pull ups!

Sophia lost her first tooth.

2011-06-20T22:26:00.000-04:00

It was literally hanging on by a few threads. She could push it with her tongue and point it completely upside down.

We were at Target - in the dressing room. I asked her if I could just pull it out because I was afraid she was going to lose it and flick it with her tongue and not even realize it. She was crying. She was scared. And then it just fell right out onto her tongue.

We ran to the $1.00 section and found a Hello Kitty round, pink "Tupperware" container and put it in there for safe keeping until we got home.

That was on Wednesday night. Sophia has a decision to make. She could either put the tooth under her pillow that night and have the tooth fairy visit without ever seeing her tooth - or she could wait until Sunday night. Will had left on Tuesday night for CA and wasn't getting back until Saturday morning, at which point he was planning to join us at Haley and Carlie's family's beach house in Duck, NC. The girls and I left for Duck on Thursday morning after swimming class. We were planning on coming back on Sunday afternoon, but like I already mentioned, Will was going to arrive by noon on Saturday.

Sophia decided she would wait until Sunday night to put the tooth under her pillow. So, last night, the tooth fairy came to our house. She left a red envelope under Sophia's pillow. Inside it was $1.00 and a miniature booklet of cupcake tattoos.

All day Sophia carried her loot around in the pink Hello Kitty "tooth" container.

I took this picture at Target.