Happy Birthday Sean!

We just had one of those great fall weekends where the weather was perfect,  fall festivities were going on everywhere, and the kiddos were happy! And it was Sean's birthday :) We spent a lot of time outside as you can see below. Lots of photos in this post!

 It started with pumpking picking and hayride.

 Then just relaxing in the sun (and Ellie's first experience eating grass).

 A little soccer practice.

 Wrestling with friends.

 And kite flying too!

 Some porch decorating

 And Mia's first official treasure hunt!

Finally, we made cake!! My first ever (edible) carrot cake. Sean and Mia made the icing and it was all absolutely delicious!

My Girl

Poor Ellie. Over the past few weeks, she's been greeted as "Little Guy", "Little Man" and "Hey Buddy" a bunch of times. I'm just not a very "girly" mom and I've never really dressed the girls in lots of pink or frills. But I decided to purchase a few flowery hair bows to see if she'll keep them in.  I'll let you know how it goes.

 Showing off her two bottom teeth!

 Flashdance Baby!!

Yep, she's crawling :)

It's Fall!

My favorite month is finally here! I just love the crisp air, wearing jeans, putting pumpkins and mums on the front porch and trick-or-treating! I can't wait to go to the pumpkin patch and fall festivals and the whole nine yards! What is it about this time of year that we all love so much?

Anyway, last weekend we went to the Children's Festival in Norfolk. It was a gorgeous fall day and there were tons of people there. We had a nice time and Mia got to meet a few special people :)

 Legoland!

 Good ole' Clifford.

 Leading the way on the obstacle course.

Those with small children will recognize this guy...Mr Steve (!) from PBS Kids :)

Ellie Update

Elena Anne had her six month checkup last week. She's 16.9 lbs, 26 inches and just as sweet as ever. She's about average for height and weight and is doing all sorts of new and adorable things. I love this age! Now if she would just drop her 4:30 am feeding, I would be thrilled :)

Some of her cute new things:

 Sitting up unassisted and playing with toys :)

Graduating from the swing and bouncy seat to the walker/exersaucer :)

Discovering the cat!

And the cutest of all:

Her first official "babbling"! I will try to get a better video of this, but you can clearly understand what shes' saying, right? :)

Mia's Forest

I love where we live. We have a great old neighborhood with lots of nice people and we can walk to schools, restaurants, shops, movies etc. etc. Recently our little Colley Avenue even got street performers, which I think is super cool.

That being said, we do have a rather urban existence. Yards are small, so we walk to nearby parks on a regular basis. We are also fortunate enough to have a Nature Preserve at the far end of our neighborhood. Mia loves this place, which is only open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10-5. She calls it her "forest" and asks all the time if it is "open". My poor kid is growing up thinking that forests have operating hours! :)

One day I dream of moving to the country with no neighbors and only fields and horses and forests as far as I can see. For now though, we'll make do with Mia's forest.

Playing Tarzan!

Happy Half Birthday Ellie!

It is hard to believe that it has been 6 months since our little Elliebean entered our lives! She is such a joy and we all just love her to pieces! Mia's new favorite thing is to make Ellie laugh. Check out the video below--you are guaranteed to laugh (or at least smile) too!

Mia also loves to "hug" Ellie which is often a bit rougher than we would like. But Ellie tolerantly puts up with it.

This is super cute too. I love how Mia reads to her!

The 1/2 Birthday Girl. Could she be any cuter??

This is actually a lot longer, but I can only upload so much. You get the idea though :)

Twin Day

Finally got around to dressing the girls in the same outfits from Aunt Alexis :) 

I still can't get a photo with two good smiles though!

This is an example of how you are much more laid back w/the second child. Of course I was horrifed that she chewed on the dirty old swing, but I had to get a picture first!

Mia loved pushing Ellie.

Cool feature on new camera lets me do some of the photo in black and white and some in color. Stay tuned for more playing around with this!

Back to School!

Ahhhh, school is back in session! Mia goes 3 mornings a week at her same little preschool. She's had so many changes since this time last year! She's potty trained, sleeps in a big bed, and has a little sister! Lots of her little friends have had similar years, so I'm sure they had a lot to catch up on during recess! :) 

First Day of School Sept 2010 on top and Sept 2009 on bottom. She's not a fan of smiling in front of the sign I guess :) But look how much older she looks!

I still can't bring myself to cut her hair, but I know it has to happen soon. I just love her curls.

Lesson learned

If I've learned anything over the past few days, it must be this:
NEVER LET YOUR THREE YEAR OLD ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR CAMERA!!

First, Mia (who has her own, adorable, orange digital camera that she got last Christmas) attempted to turn off my camera by pushing the lens down on the table as hard as she could. After a week or so of trying to fix it ourselves, Sean decided to take it in to Best Buy and see what our options were.  He brought Mia, and the camera, in order to compare it to the others. Can you guess where this is going? While consulting with the salesman, Mia somehow got a hold of the camera. Again. And that is the last we saw of it. Oh, and it had 2 years worth of photos on it because I have (had) a giant memory card and a problem with deleting old photos. I'm so bummed that someone swiped the broken camera and I'm trying not to be too bothered by the fact that they now have all of our old photos. Ick. At least I have them all on the computer and most of the good ones printed by now, but still... what a pain.

So, I got an early birthday present and I'm having fun playing with it.  But I am keeping it as far away as I possibly can from my Mia.

Who me??

Ha! Trouble is written all over her face! 

Ellie is teething like crazy right now. I can't seem to find anything to give her relief. She liked this cold carrot for a bit today though.

The last stretch of summer

We've had a few busy weekends, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming long labor day weekend of doing absolutely nothing!


Mia will start 3 mornings a week preschool with a lot of her friends/classmates from last year. I'm sure she'll enjoy it and I hope her sharing skills have improved. We've really tried to work on it this summer, but we'll see... We keep telling ourselves that her assertiveness and self confidence will serve her well later in life :)


Ellie has started "eating" solid foods. So far she's had rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatos, avocados and green beans. She liked the avocados the best but she still just seems to roll the food around in her mouth and get it all over her face more than she's actually eating. Which is adorable and fine by me!


Sean has several travel possibilities coming up for work and I'm trying not to get too anxious about it. I know lots of people deal with much more travel than we do, but it is still hard when he's gone! We miss him (and his bathtime duties)  :)


We have our 8 year anniversary coming up! I was showing Mia our wedding album recently and she can't quite grasp why she wasn't there :)  We've had so much fun these past 8 years and will have even more fun with our girls by our side.


Camera is still broken so here are some recent photos from Maddie's princess party that Alexis took.
Happy end of summer!!

The Ups and Downs of Motherhood

I don't know if it is just me, but some days I can go from complete bliss to complete blah or worse in about three seconds. Lately I've been struggling with these ups and downs as I continue to adjust to life with two little ones.


Case in point: Yesterday afternoon was rough. The girls weren't napping, it was rainy and the house was messy. To top it off, Amelia broke my camera, for good this time. I was grumpy to say the least. We brought out some playdoh and cookie-cutters and Mia just transformed. All on her own she made me a heart cookie and told me she loved me "super" much. It is little ups and downs like these that sometimes make me feel crazy, but in the end remind me that playdoh hearts make my world look a lot better.


I would have taken a picture, but the camera was making funny noises and the lens refuses to open. Sigh...

Catching up again

What's been going on with us?

• Mia's Birthday party was a blast! We had family and friends in town, a great time bouncing at the Orb Family Fun Center, and delicious cake! She loves telling people she is three now. She had her 3-year checkup and is doing great! She's average weight, above average height and totally potty trained, including nights!

• I love going to the pool. It is relaxing, Mia has fun with all the toys and kids, and usually naps well afterwards, and Ellie usually naps while we are there.

• Ellie is in her crib full time! She slept from 8:30 to 5:30 last night, then back down until 9!! I think it helps that she can roll over now, and she's sleeping on her tummy.

• I'm ready for fall.  I know it must sound weird, but I'm done with summer. It is HOT and it has been challenging to stay busy, yet keep to a nap schedule for Ellie and Mia. I love the beginning of school and I'm ready for it to start!

• I'm finally updating our photo album site with all of the latest photos. And a few lucky grandparents will be getting some printouts of photos in a few days/weeks? Hopefully sooner than later :)

Until next time, enjoy some more pictures! Love xoxo to all!
P.S. The blog formatting has changed and I'm too lazy to figure it all out right now, so I apologize for any weirdness... will try to work on it next time:)

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