Wednesday, October 17, 2012
LOST: One Loose Tooth!
So Mia has FINALLY lost her very first tooth and
received a visit from the tooth fairy! Woohoo!
received a visit from the tooth fairy! Woohoo!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Apple Picking at Stribling Orchard
Yay apple picking!
We couldn't resist some of the freshly made caramel apples at the market. Yum!
Crunch! 
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tessa Celebrates Two Years!
Tessa really enjoys Elmo these days, so we naturally had to celebrate her upcoming 2nd birthday with him! She was so excited to have Elmo cupcakes and "hoo" (blowing sound) her candles out. Of course the frosting's always the best part! Tess got a little art desk/easel and has been a busy little bee thoroughly enjoying creating masterpieces with her markers and crayons and fingerpaints.
Happy Halloween from "Wonderland!"
So this year we actually had a collective theme -- Alice in Wonderland! The twins used their costumes from the school musical in May as the Queen of Heart's cards, Mia was Alice and Tessa the little White Rabbit. She told everyone she was going to be a "bunny" and then would hop around. Tessa was thrilled to "gallop" down the sidewalk behind her big sisters like a "bunny" and refused help up and down steps to people's houses. She was all over trick or treating! Finally, about 2/3 of the way through the night she accepted rides in the stroller between houses. It was fun to watch them sort through their buckets and very sad for Tessa to relinquish the treats for bedtime. Tomorrow will be a day filled with sweet treats I'm sure! : )
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Happy 6th Birthday Mia!
Mia turned 6 years old this past weekend. She started looking for bday cards in the mail about three weeks ahead of time and just couldn't understand why people would wait for the actual day to send or give her things. : ) She daily ran down the list of things she'd like for presents and in the days leading to her party with Grandma ran down the itinerary as to which order we'd eat, blow out candles on her Lego cake, open presents, etc. And did I mention a pinata? Mia has been wanting a pinata for her birthday for quite a while. So we surprised her with one this year. It was a hit! And plenty of candy for sisters too! She also got to pick out a brand new bike. Very excited to have some wheels as big as her big sisters' bikes that are all her own!
"Alice in Oz"
May 20 was Drama and Awards Night at school. This year's musical was "Alice in Oz." A take on, you guessed it -- Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz. Very cute -- funny lines -- the kids had lots of enthusiasm and did a wonderful job. Mia, with the rest of the kindergarten, was a "Jitterbug." When the Witch of the West casts a spell on Alice and friends the jitterbugs rush in and everyone starts dancing uncontrollably! They all wore new t-shirts with stripes of colored duct tape. Putting on the shirt (new shirt smell, duct tape smell) Mia says, "Hmm, I guess jitterbugs really are stinky!" LOL Katie was the 10 of Spades and Lauren was the Jack of Diamonds. They were part of a small cast of playing cards that introduced and closed each act. Lots of puns to do with playing cards as you can imagine. They both did great with their lines and little descant part on the opening and closing song. Fun night -- even more special because Grandma Butler was able to be there to see it too!
Happy Easter!
This year we dyed marblized Easter eggs. They turned out pretty cool! Tess got to go for her first Easter egg hunt this year. Not sure she quite got the whole idea, but was brimming with grins all morning. She was more focused on looking inside the egg rather than finding as many as you can. : ) At home the girls found these round, squooshy chicks in their Easter baskets. Loads of fun as you can imagine -- until one exploded all over the living room carpet!
Spring in DC
Over Easter break we headed into DC to try to climb the Washington Monument. We soon discovered that unless you arrive around 6:00 AM there's no chance to get a timed ticket for that day. Even online there is a two month wait! Ugh. Oh well -- fun trip to plan for the summer I guess. We still enjoyed a beautiful sunny day wandering around the monuments collecting National Park stamps in the girls' little Monument stamp book. The flower gardens were beautiful around the Smithsonian Castle -- perfect for a little photo shoot! : ) Tessa has a new found love -- bike riding! Here she is just before her very first ride on April 17. Now she gets very excited to put on her little bike helmet and get strapped into the bike seat. We've gone for several rides around the neighborhood. Tessa always has fun pointing out things like birds, squirrels, dogs, trucks and boats -- whatever catches her eye. If we go to the backyard to play, Tessa has many times headed over to the shed and wants us to open the doors to get out the bike. Looks like it'll be a fun summer!
Wax Museum
In March the school's academic fair was a "Wax Museum." Starting in January the kids chose a historical person to research. Over the months they read books, wrote a paper, collected pictures and items to display, learned a 30 second speech and put together a costume to wear as their "living" wax museum person. Kaitlin was Sojourner Truth (an abolitionist among other things.) Lauren was Helen Keller. Family and friends were then invited to tour the wax museum and listen and learn about the historical figures. It was quite a creative and fun night!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Autumn Leaves
Back in September when about five leaves fell down Mia wanted to know if we could rake them up and jump in the pile. I told her that there weren't quite enough yet, but when there is we'd be sure to do that. Well, here we are, havin' fun in the leaf piles!
Happy 1st Birthday Tess!
Hard to believe a whole year has gone by, but our little Tessa has just turned one year old! My parents got to be in town to help celebrate. I made a little pumpkin cake thanks to a cake mold I borrowed from a friend. Pretty happy with how it turned out as cake decorating is not my forte. When it came to light the candle and sing everyone was on one side of the table and Tess on the other. I don't think she quite knew how to take everyone staring at her with flashing cameras. No tears though. : ) After blowing out the candle she got her piece of cake and was being very ladylike poking her finger in the frosting and cake and taking little licks. When she finally figured out that it was pretty good stuff she got her hand around a big chunk and tried to fit it all in. Good to the last crumb! Grandma and Grandpa got her a Zebra Scooter that has an adjustable arm to work as a walker, seat and then scooter. It lights up and plays music and has tons of buttons to push. Tessa LOVED it! She'd get so mad when we'd put the seat up to push it. She wanted to sit and climb up on it and push buttons and rock back and forth to the music. Good times! She also liked the little dog the girls gave her. Tessa is facinated by the neighbor's dog's bark at breakfast every day. Now she has one to hug and likes it very much.
Happy Halloween!
As it turned out, I guess "winged creatures" was the theme for costumes this year. Found these cute pjs for Tess complete with a little tutu. I think she could sense all the excitement from the girls because she was rarin' to go that night! Lauren and Kaitlin found sparkly butterfly wings and Mia wore her fairy princess dress with wings too. This year we met up with some friends from church who live a few blocks away and embarked on our longest distance Trick or Treat ever. When they start saying their buckets are getting heavy, I guess it's time to go home! : ) Afterwards, the girls enjoyed poking around their candy to see what goodies they received. Tess enjoyed playing with the leftovers we had in our bowl to hand out to visitors at our house.
Pumpkin Carving 2010
This year the girls all got to pick out a BIG pumpkin! They were so excited to create a face and carve it. Tessa was very happy to sit in the midst of it all in her highchair and munch on graham crackers. The girls put a pumpkin in front of Tessa after it was carved and she was very taken by it. She liked touching the eyes and taking the top on and off and I believe even decided to kiss or lick it. Not sure which she was trying to do but do know that it left lots of remaining ink on her face from the surface of the pumpkin! After they were set out for us to enjoy, she could not leave her hands off them! They ended up in the basement until Halloween night. : )
