It's Raining, It's Pouring

Finally, it's raining!

It didn't rain for very long but it poured!

Emma is intrigued.

Corn on the Cob

Emma is loving this!

Gum

Lily had her first and last piece of gum.

After a long talk about gum and NOT swallowing it she was allowed to have a piece.

I turned my back to continue with dinner and when I turned back around she was just smiling....

I asked where the gum was and she said,

"It was good. I like gum. It's in my tummy forever (while rubbing her belly)."

Yes, I told her it would live in her tummy forever if she swallowed it.

Guess that didn't really scare her like I thought it would.

So, guess we'll try gum when she's like 10. HA.

Lovin' Ketchup

We have had to resort to realizing that Emma will most likely not wear a bib and that we need a designated rag to always wash her off.

This little girl loves her ketchup!

Beaches

Saturday we spent our day on Chic's Beach again. We loved every second of playing in the sand, jumping waves and taking walks. But, I do have to say that I loved my first 20 minutes of this beach morning. Emma passed out on the drive and stayed asleep on my shoulder :). How wonderful sitting in the shade, watching Mike and Lily and enjoying my sleepy baby. Happy Happy.

Sunday evening was spent on the oceanfront on 85th Street, love love love this spot! We had portraits taken by Kathy, or Mrs. Baksa Lily's asst teacher from this past year. She is also a photographer and is absolutely wonderful!! Here's her site and hope to have pictures by the weekend to share :)

Love living at the beach.

Soccer Week

Well, all in all, we would score this first exposure to soccer a success.

And, I mean for all of us.

Mike and I were not soccer kids growing up so this was very different for us.

The week began with Mike and Lily going by themselves with Emma and I going every day after that to watch. It was great that we got to watch and cheer our girl on, so weird seeing Lily run around looking so grown-up!

The rundown:

This Grassroots Summer Camp was run by the league's Technical Director who it turns out actually played in college and turned either semi-pro or pro. Lily loved Coach Brian and Coach Kevin and they seemed to really take care of our girl.

There were around 16 kids ranging in ages from 3 to 5. Funny when your girl is most likely one of the youngest on the field but looked like one of the oldest.

The goal of this camp was for the kids to get used to listening to coaches and become more independent from their parents. They played lots of games which included a lot of parent involvement and as the week went on the parents would take more steps back. Some of the games seemed scary to Lily so she watched some of them but really did great! 

Tuesday they had their first "scrimmage" and Lily just stood to the side watching the "bee swarm" go after the soccer ball. We would tell her to go after the ball but she didn't seem too interested..until we told her that was the point. It was OK to take the ball. On our way home she told us that it wasn't nice to take the ball away from people. :). But by Thursday she scored a goal in their scrimmage and was smiling from ear to ear! So proud.

Lily also made a friend this week, Lainey. She just turned 4, her Dad is in the Navy and her mom, Cassie, teaches 5th grade in VB. Emma and I sat with Cassie all week, Lily and Lainey were on the same 2 on 2 team and worked great together. After learning that the Fall league is one where the kids play 3 on 3, we will be signing Lil up. We're hoping that we can get the girls on the same team and the guys can coach.

It was a wonderful week and we really enjoyed watching our Soccer Star :)!

 

A little clip showing one of the games they played.

Red Light, Green Light.

Lily didn't like being part of the pack running down the field so Mike separated her a bit so that she could run. Seemed to work just fine but then she ran right towards Em and I. :) I got a great hug at the end of this game!

Summertime Week 3

This week we:

Went to the mall. We took a ride on the carousel in the Princess car, not the horses. We also enjoyed sitting and having a pretzel and lemonade, the girls most favorite treat!

We had a wonderful morning playdate with the Bonfiglios.

We read lots of books and had another great Skype date with our friends in TX!

We miss you Miss Elizabeth, Lor and Makin!



In the Zone

They definitely have the same I'm watching tv, I'm in the zone kinda look.

A New Stage

As of a few weeks ago we entered a new phase with Miss Lily.

We are now in the land of reverse psychology.

Yes, Lily is 3. A very smart 3. She understands a whole lot, makes unbelievable connections and makes our jaw drop daily on some things she says to us. So, even though she is 3, we have a hard time believing how this is working. But it is. It is working amazingly well.

This is how most of our breakfast, lunch and dinner conversations go:

L-"I'm not hungry anymore. I'm done. Can I get down?"

M or S-"Really you're not hungry?!? You haven't eaten very much. Are you sure? Why don't you eat a few more bites of .... and then you can get down."

L- "No, I'm done. I don't want anymore."

M or S- "Well, you haven't eaten enough. You need to eat 3 more bites of .... before you can leave the table to go play."

L- "Crying. Whining. Sometimes yelling."

M or S- "Well, you can't eat it. You can't eat 3 bites of ..., there's no way. Just leave it and I'll eat it."

L- "Yes I can."

M or S- "No you can't."

L- "Yes I can. Watch."

M or S- "Wow. No Way. You can't eat 2 more bites of ..., there's no way you can do that too?!?"

This is very common now in our house. It's hysterical. We can pretty much use this technique to get Lily to do most of what she doesn't want to do. And, we get her to do it smiling and laughing. HA.

Mike and I are also hoping that this will work for awhile. My mom assures me it will last until she's at least 8 or 9. I'm crossing my fingers for 5 or 6 and Mike is certain that we will be using this in her college dining hall telling her that she can't use all of her meal plan or flex dollars.

Another great stage Lily is in is being competitive. Most everything is also a game. Who can get to their room first. Who can get ready for nap first. You name it, it's a game. And, most of the time Lily wins :). You know this because she'll yell, "I WIN".

We are really enjoying this stage mostly because we finally feel as though we can outsmart our three year old.

Oh So Talented

Emma, We are very proud of you.

You have sheer determination, great work ethic and different ways of looking at things.

Love you Miss Em

Soccer Camp!

Today begins Soccer Camp week for Lily and Daddy!

Lily is extremely excited for this week of soccer. She has been counting down the days on her calendar. Hopefully it will go well and she will continue to love it after the week is over. And, isn't she too darn cute!

One Awesome Daddy

This guy is one amazing Dad!

We spent most of the day on the beach and in the water.

The girls are becoming quite the beach bunnies and enjoying the water more and more. Today Lily got her face wet which usually results in crying and needing a towel but today she looked us and said, "I'm OK, it's just a little water. I'm fine."

We love you Daddy!

And, Happy Father's Day to Pa, Poppy and all the other amazing Dads we know.

Summertime Week 2

Monday was Mike's day off so we went to the Gardens. This was Daddy's first trip with us this season so the girls were very excited to show him the ropes. They loved showing him the spray park area, the houses and then the way we walk to our picnic place. It was nice to take a break from following crazy Emma in the water and watching Mike become protective Daddy. We had a wonderful day.

Later this week we ventured to Chesapeake to the Fun Forest. It was quite impressive with separate playgrounds for different age groups, a sand pit, tons of swings and lots to entertain.

This week we also began our Summer Fun can! I've seen variations of these through all of the blogs I follow but made it into our own. Lily helped decorate a can and inside are all strips of paper saying the fun things we can do this summer. So far we:

1. Go to a new park (Fun Forest)

2. Make bread (Made banana bread! Yum!)

3. Go to the library (Lily loves playing on the computers)

There are simple things that the girls and I can do through the week and more fun adventures that we need Daddy for but we are all very excited of how much fun we are going to have this summer. I'm looking forward to saving all the strips of paper, pictures of our accomplishing them and compiling everything into our summer scrapbook.

39 Years!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad (Nana and Pa)!

It's very rare that you come across a couple that has been together for so long and I'm sure there are some days that they would both agree that 39 years is a very long time but then there are days I'm sure they would agree that it passed as a blink of an eye. Actually, I'm sure that they would agree that it has flown by.

Mom and Dad, Thanks for being the parents and grandparents you are. Thank you for showing Mark and I that is possible to find the ONE. Thank you for showing us that love, patience and compromise makes for an unbelievable happy life. Thank you a million times over. You are loved beyond any words can say. And, Happy Happy Anniversary!

Taking Turns

The girls love to take turns swinging with Daddy.

Last One Sitting

This girl loves to eat...slowly.

Emma will eat and eat and eat. She'll seem to be done and then as you clean her up she'll stuff some more food in her mouth. So, now she just sits until she shakes her head no and starts squealing to get out of her chair. This is usually well after we are all done and cleaning up the kitchen. But, Em, you go right ahead and eat. Let's tip the scales next week at your ear check, OK?!?

My Sweet Girls

These sweet girls love each other so very much.

They hug, snuggle and give kisses every chance they get.

Of course, in between the girl drama sessions and the spit-spats over toys.

Gotcha!

Emma thinks she's really slick.

We had to go on a hunt for Em and found her here. She had a little purse full of hair bows, Lily's bows. She was taking them out one by one, taste testing each one too (ick) making piles and then putting them all back one by one. The reason she was hiding; Mike and I were trying to take this little purse away from her. One, she shouldn't be putting Lily's bows in her mouth and two, we didn't want to pick the left overs up again. So this is where she ended up, hiding. Pretty smart.

And, yes I need to figure out a new hair bow storage solution since Emma tears them down from her wall hanging....

Backyard Sunday

So today we spent all day in the backyard.

It wasn't all fun and games though. Mike and I completely emptied the shed! We separated into keep, garage sale and toss piles. And, we realized something...boy do we have a lot of stuff! We each lived on our own before we got married, we each have some childhood stuff and not to mention the stuff we have accumulated together and the girly stuff that is taking over. We have a lot of stuff.

So the only thing to do...

Have a garage sale. In a few Sundays we will have our very first Check Garage Sale complete with lemonade stand :) Lily is going to be so excited!

But as we sorted, the girls played and played and played.

Thank goodness for all of our outdoor toys and plenty of water entertainment!

Maci was entertainment herself. :)

Oh...and Miss Emma turned 14 months today :)

Down By the Bay

So despite the sometimes rancid fishy smell of the bay, I believe we have found our go to spot for the summer. Chick's Beach. Mike and I went there pretty often before kids just because it's so peaceful and we could take Maci with us and Lily's first trip to the beach was here but now it's because the waves or lack there of are so less intimidating than the ocean waves.

Lily and Emma were very brave today and loved going into the water. They sat on the edge and let the water come up on their legs, they wanted to run after the little schools of minnow fish (yuk.) and loved being spun around by daddy.

Loving summer family days.

Summertime Week 1

Our week began at the Gardens with the Bonfiglios. It was the coolest day of the week and it was still nice to cool off in the water. The girls love to play in the water here and we especially loved having our friends here too. It was wonderful to hang out with our friends now that our schedules aren't conflicted with school.

Lily has gotten very interested in doing "Special Crafts". Today Lily made a very cute princess castle that now lives in her room. I need to stock up on easy crafts that when she *gasps* skips her nap, we can do together.

Wednesday we headed to the Chick's Beach for a special play date to celebrate Isabelle's 4th birthday. She is a little girl in our Mom's group and she also goes to the same preschool (and had the teachers Lily will have next year). There were plenty of moms there with their kids, all of whom love the water a lot more than Lily, but she did take last summer off due to Emma joining our family. But, by the time we had to leave Lily and Emma had gotten a lot braver than I thought. They were actually in the water!!! and not screaming!!! Total success and a lot of fun being with the other moms and kids. A weekly play date at the beach is actually being discussed :).

We ended our week with a play date with Miss Heather, Abby and Natalie. They were part of the Mom's group but Lily and Natalie were also in the same class and became quite good friends. Lily talked about her all the time and she loves Abby, Natalie's older sister who will start K in the fall.

At one point we noticed Abby and Emma weren't in the playroom and this is how we found them in their living room. Abby loves Emma lots and Emma didn't seem to mind being held like a baby. I'm wondering if Abby could come over to rock Emma to sleep some days.

Our next play date with these girls will be with their new baby brother, Blake!

Congrats Burner Family!!!

Emma and Her Bowls

or should I say, My bowls.

These bowls are located in the only cabinet we can not put a child lock on. Once Emma discovered this cabinet (and Nana's teaching of banging them!) she is in it several times a day. Really I don't mind. I've learned to fix breakfast, lunch and dinner around these bowls on the floor. I can now tolerate the sound of metal bowls on the ceramic tile and really it keeps her busy and out of trouble. But, I am really thinking about switching them out with much quieter Tupperware bowls :) just so I don't snap one day.

And, I have to say that I love how she lines them up. She is very proud of herself.

Our Mornings

I'm not sure whether these girls know that it's summer because boy do they get up early. There is no real reason to get up early but they do. I guess once they go to school full-time will they realize that sleeping in is a good thing and they should take advantage of it when they can but I have a few years until that happens.

So, now our mornings.

 My mornings have been starting later and later so I don't get as much computer and coffee time as I would like. The girls get up anywhere between 630 and 730. On average though, it's 715. And, since these girls are definitely like me and need their wake-up time before we even talk or decide to do a thing, they watch their shows. Usually their shows consist of Little Einsteins, Sid, Super Why, Imagination Movers or Mickey Mouse. They can choose what's on tv or from what we have on dvr.

This also allows for their morning milk and some Mommy time too. But, after their shows are over at 8 our day begins.

And, on most mornings, you can find these girls cuddled up on the couch with their bears.

Utensils

Lily is still the neatest eater and now uses "Mommy and Daddy" forks and spoons.

Emma is getting the hang of using her forks and spoons but is not the cleanest eater.

She works very hard and is determined to get food on her fork. We have seen her reposition a noddle four times so that she could get it, and she did!

Perfect For Every Outfit

A pair of pink snow boots.

Emma loves shoes. Any shoes she can find. These boots are a size 7 but luckily we can tighten them so much around her calves that she can walk in them. The funniest thing is to watch her lose one of them, pick it up and try to put her little foot back in while trying to balance on the foot that is still in this huge boot. And, she's done it multiple times. Like we've said before, our girl is crazy.

Gearin' Up

Today we went to get Lily ready for her summer soccer camp!

She now has a pair of cleats, shin guards and an appropriate size soccer ball. It's funny how this little girl is so into a sport Mike and I know nothing about. I mean nothing.

We are looking forward to this Grassroots Soccer Camp in a few weeks offered through the Virginia Beach Football Club where we will most likely enroll Lily in their fall league. This camp is for kids ages 3-5 with an adult for an hour in the evening. So Mike can learn right along with Lily :). I'm hoping Emma and I can go with them a few nights.

Here's to us branching out...

Bike Riding

Today we went to a local park with nice big trails for Lily to ride her bike. She has a Princess trike that is pretty small for her and her long legs to get used to and she has a 16" two wheeler that her legs aren't long enough for. So, Nana and Pa found this bike for our girl. A 12" girly bike that Lily seemed to get the hang of pretty quickly.

She rode her bike with Emma chasing her for a bit, we took a break to play on the playground and then rode bikes some more. Unfortunately our trip was cut short when Lil took a nice dive off when she turned too quickly. We'll get back on soon I'm sure. Our goal is to get our bikes to the oceanfront and to the Gardens this summer.

3 Years 2 Months Old

Wow. I can only imagine how we'll feel next Spring when Lily turns four and I cannot even think about when she turns five. Lily only turned three a few months ago and everyday she seems to grow in front of our eyes. And, it's completely and utterly amazing and joyous.



Recently Lily has really turned into a little girl. She is talking a lot better so that others can understand her, she is becoming very independent and her personality is growing by the day. Thus, the reason for a 38 month update.

Things Lily has said (with us biting our lip smiling/laughing):

*While standing on a little blue chair in the playroom she was playing with the blinds. I tell her that she shouldn't be standing on a chair or playing with the blinds and her response, "Mom, relax, I'm just opening the blinds so we can see out. Relax."

*After telling Lily to do something that she doesn't want to do she responds, "This is NOT my deal."

*She will talk, talk, talk on the phone. Real conversations too with her Nana and Daddy when he's on his lunch break.

*"Mom, I won't break your flowers, promise. I promise, Mom, OK."

*Phrases Lily says a lot: "Ok guys, here's the plan...", "Huh-huh, I just pooted...", "Um, Daddy, you really need to shave...", "I need some Lily time"

Lily being independent:

*She can completely dress herself without help from anyone.

*She mostly goes to the bathroom by herself and shuts the door. Of course she yells to tell us she's done and we're working on learning how to clean up by herself too.

*She can get into and out of bed easily.

*She can almost turn on and off the lights using the light switch.

*She only uses sippy cups when out and about.

*Sets the table, gets drinks for everyone and reminds us when we've missed something

*Climbs into her carseat and half-buckles herself in

*Gets the mail and newspaper

Ear Check

This morning was Emma's ear check with Dr. Wick. And, thank goodness. Some things that have been happening for the past four days:

-not finishing her morning milk

-fighting diaper changes...screaming!!!

-just plain cranky

-when she finds her Tylenol bottle, she brings it to me smiling

-has not slept through the night once and wants to be held

My suspicion as of earlier this week was that she still had the ear infection....

But wouldn't have thought that her ear would have looked EXACTLY the same as it did two and a half weeks ago! :( She is now on Augmentin instead of Amoxicillin, plus staggering Tylenol and Advil. Yep, she's on both! She gets Tylenol at 10am, 2pm, 6pm and Advil at 12pm and 8pm plus if she wakes up at night we are to give her Tylenol. I guess she has a doozie of an ear infection not to mention 2 upper molars poking through and huge, swollen bottom gums to boot. :(

I would say poor Emma but it hasn't slowed her down much. She's still grabbing her Crocs wanting to go outside, still running the hall, still playing babies and cars and still trying to get the best of her big sissy.

We will see if this medicine does the trick on June 21st. **Fingers Crossed**

Side note: This is considered the same ear infection so she has had two since March. Kids are considered for tubes or having chronic ear infections when they have four or more in a year.... only time will tell.

Happy June!