A little catching up...

I knew things would start getting a bit crazy as I prepped to go back to work, but didn't think I'd go this long without an update...oops.



We have a busy and fun-filled weekend ahead as we will be celebrating Mia's baptism on Saturday. Both sets of Grandparents and Uncle Romes will be arriving on Friday and we can't wait to have so much family together.

Isabel has loved shoes since the minute she knew what one was. I had forgotten to take the shoes upstairs that I had worn in Coelle's wedding over Memorial Day. I was getting lunch ready when I hear "clunk, clunk, clunk" on the tile floor in the foyer. I come out and this is what I see.

I managed to get a quick video as well, but will have to post that later. I asked her where she was going (since she was walking away for me) and her answer was the typical "going shopping." I asked her what she was shopping for and her answer "some new shoes." Sigh...I am not a big shoe person so no idea where she gets it from!

Now that Mia can sit in the bumbo for longer periods of time it makes it easier to get soem sitting up photos. Getting them to smile at the same time though is a bit trickier and something I have not yet mastered.

On June 6 we headed up to Baltimore to celebrate cousin Jack's high school graduation. Isabel had a great time at the graduation...when most people were getting bored of the name calling, she was still excited to clap for each and every graduate.

During the speeches, Isabel was occupied by my cell phone. "you there?" as she likes to say?

Isabel "had" to bring her hokie bird...though really we encouraged her to, as Jack will be attending UVA in the fall.

After the graduation we went back to Aunt Monica and Uncle Howard's for dinner.
Isabel and Jack are buddies. She even shared her precious duck (given to her by Aunt Monica) with him. Or maybe it was just to distract Jack so she could play with his girlfriend, Audrey.
Every graduate needs a massage, right?

After dinner Isabel announced "All done. Want to go play with those dogs!" So Ben was happy to join Isabel on the sheepy (a sheep skin rug) and play with Buster and Lola (not pictured). Geoffrey took this picture as he couldn't stop laughing at the fact that I was finishing Isabel's milk after she was done.

Isabel still loves to be a big sister and help Mia. On one of our morning stroller rides she thought Mia needed her hippo.

She is also good about rocking the car seat while I get my shoes on before we head out to get in the stroller.
Isabel loves her easel, and it is really neat to see her trying to draw differing things

Future engineer? Isabel loved helping me take the plastic feet out on this chair so that I could put felt on it.

Geoffrey had been out of town (his second trip in 3 weekds), so Isabel and I made him a welcome home sign...I didn't think I would get her back inside though. She now loves sidewalk chalk!

Geoffrey brought Isabel a shirt back that says "chocks away" and has 3 airplanes on it. As you can guess, she loved it.

Isabel was running a low grade fever on Saturday and decided to take a nap at 10:30 in the morning and wound up sleeping on the couch for 3 hours. This is the first time she has ever fallen asleep by deciding that is what she wanted to do and napping on a couch. I'm still not sure how she didn't fall off, since she moves around a ton in her big bed.
Daddy and Mia spent some time catching up by "watching" the world cup.
Happy 28th birthday Unc! Isabel and I made him a carrot cake.

Our sweet little Mia, just as happy as can be :).

Time is flying

I can't believe how time is flying. I felt like with Isabel time really sped along, and now with Mia things seem to be going even faster. I return to work in 2 weeks (still part-time) and don't really know where the past 10 weeks have gone. We've been busy and I just love spending time with my "2 girls" (Isabel still loves to use that phrase).

Two weeks ago on a dreary day I asked Isabel if she wanted to make cookies. She of course said yes. I asked her who we should make cookies for (assuming her answer would be daddy) and she replied "for Chesapeake!" (Chesapeake is a monkey stuffed animal). So we made cookies and Isabel helped decorate them. Chesapeake didn't get to sample the cookies and Isabel never asked to eat any of the cookies she helped to make.

Here is a shot of Chesapeake, who often sits in the "eat seat" before dinner and eats a lovely meal of plastic food.

In addition to placing Chesapeake in the eat seat, Isabel often finds it is a good place to feed her herd of My Little Ponies (which were Aunt Megan's when she was a little girl). She moves them from room to room in her shopping cart and then places them all just so in the eat seat.

Mia has really started enjoying spending some time looking at the creatures hanging from the activity mat, or ocean as we call it. She smiles and moves her arms and legs and makes cute little baby noises. Isabel has discovered she too loves laying in the ocean with Mia, and they often lay there together in the morning while I get breakfast ready.

(Mia's not so sure about sharing her toy with Isabel)
Geoffrey has been hard at work in the yard and garden (pics to come later). He's been on a mission to rid our yard of weeds the pesticide free way- by hand. Isabel also enjoys weeding...but she needs to be watched as she hasn't quite learned the difference between weeds and plants we want to stay.

Happy little girl with her chicken hair!

Daddy reading to his girls.

A super smile of Mia's. (I have to apologize to Mia though for the bad camera angle).

And finally some tummy time shots.

Our garden is doing great and we have tons of things growing. We have a ton of lettuce and will be enjoying many salads the next few weeks along with tacos, wraps and salads. Geoffrey harvested radishes this morning which I'm going to braise tomorrow. I'm not sure if we even like radishes, but they are fun to grow.

Finally, Isabel went to her second air show yesterday and had a BLAST. She went with Daddy and Uncle Romes and stayed awake for the whole day...though she was pretty exhausted when she got home. I'll have to get the pictures from Geoffrey, but I know she had a good time, when grace went something like this before breakfast (Isabel "leads" grace and usually names the things on her plate that she is thankful for)

(Sign of the cross) - Dear God...Thank you for Blue Angels...Thank you for trees...Thank you for airplanes... She eventually got around to being thankful for the pancakes, grapes and turkey bacon on her plate!

Sisters & Smiles

I'm a bit behind on blogging, but these things happen when you are busy with 2 little girls :). I'm taking advantage of a quick free moment to get these pictures up, and maybe tonight if I don't fall asleep too early I'll play a bit of catch up. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Isabel and Mia I took last Friday morning. Mia has started to have more smiles that past couple of weeks and I was able to capture a few small grins from her while Isabel joined in the fun.

Now its time to go and play with the stacking cups that Isabel rediscovered. It looks like it is going to be quite rainy today, so I'll be trying to come up with a few new things to keep us all entertained. And if I'm feeling really brave we'll all venture to the grocery store this afternoon!