ODEDS Fundraising ... Lil Bows & Things Style

(Daddy & Lily Entry) I've done previous posts about how lucky and amazed we are to have a wife; Mommy who can do such great things with just fabric and a sewing machine. Never ceases to amaze us on what she can whip up in that back, dark corner of our den (her workspace). About 3 weeks ago, Sara made the decision to put her talents towards a fundraiser at Lily's school. The school was having a fair where people could set up tables (crafts, Pampered Chef, toys, jewelery, etc) and contribute a percentage of profits to the school. So for the past 3 weeks in her "free time" (between being a mommy, wife, grad student, chef, household manager, laundry engineer, chauffer, and countless other jobs), she has been working non-stop cranking out bows, bow holders, binky clips, flowers, and new additions to the collection ... reusable snack bags and Boo-Boo bags.

Not knowing what to expect (but having a sense that she would be busy), I took the day off from work to play Mommy for the day to allow Sara to concentrate solely on the fair. The girls and I popped in three times during the course of the day and all three times, Sara barely had time to talk. She was pretty much occupied with customers throughout the day! All in all, almost $500 worth of her creations sold, resulting in quite a sizeable donation to the school.

Sara has been working so hard for this and we are so happy and proud of her! Awesome job ... we love you Mommy!

Gotta Love...

when these girls fall in love with a toy that's been hidden for a bit.

Makes some days go by so much faster.

This tent and tunnel have provided days upon days of fun.

It has turned into a drive-thru restaurant, a bow store, a camping tent where they pile in every pillow and blanket they can find and a vet.

Our Tired Players

This is how they napped yesterday.

Gotta love our little Steelers.

Accomplices

These two are joined at the hip and every single day gets more and more awesome than the last. Mike and I are truly blessed to have such wonderful girls that are so caring, thoughtful and concerned about one another. And, good or bad, they are accomplices.

Lily taught Emma how to get up on her twin bed. Not so good when Emma fell off the bed and onto her head (yes, Emma has the BEST guardian angel on her shoulder) but very cute when we find them cuddling or reading a book.

I think they would love to take a nap together but that's a longer story for a different post.

Love our accomplices.

By Themselves

Yep, they position themselves like this pretty much every night.

Definitely cuts down on the mini-fights we encounter every so often.

Thanksgiving Illness

We went to bed Wednesday night with all the usual pre-Thanksgiving Day thoughts: being thankful for our family, no work, parade & football watching, and of course all the great food. Our day started off briskly at 6 AM by the sounds of moans coming from Lily's room.  Lily (and we say this with all the love in the world) can be a little dramatic sometimes when it comes to illness.  She does unfortunately suffer from pretty bad allergies and we just assumed the "I can't breathe" and "My tummy hurts" were due to combination of allergies and being hungry. After falling back asleep on the couch with Daddy, she woke up around 7:30 and we tried to get her to eat some breakfast. At 8:00, bagel went down and at 8:05, bagel came up. Guess she wasn't overreaccting this time, Lily officially had some virus. A 102 degree temperature check confirmed it.

Lily pretty much laid on the couch all day, alternating between TV watching and sleeping.  Emma just loved it because pretty much her day evolved around whatever made Lily happy ... watching movies and cartoons. We spent our Thanksgiving watching the classic cinema feature of Garfield II: Tail of Two Kitties (Cox Cable really needs to update their On Demand selection), followed by multiple showings of the Pixie Hollow Games.  As the day progressed, we felt worse for Lily.  Fever pretty much stayed the whole day and she couldn't even hold down ice chips or a popsicle.  What kind of parents would we be if we ate our Thanksgiving dinner in front of a little girl who couldn't eat? So we put the turkey away and had chicken nuggets (once again making Emma happy).

ODEDS Thanksgiving Feast

Along with the tradition of Thanksgiving itself, no Thanksgiving holiday would be complete without the many school functions across the nation.  To do their part, Lily's school has the annual Feast.  Since Lily started in January last year, she missed it.  This year though, our little Pilgrim girl was there in all her glory.  The kindergarteners kicked it off with a cute retelling of the history of Thanksgiving, but then quickly turned it over to the lower classes for various songs.  As usual, most of the kids clammed up once the spotlight was on them, but they were all cute.

After all the performances, we were able to enjoy a feast of turkey lunchmeat, green beans, applesauce, corn bread, and apple juice.  As you can see, our girls had no trouble on "chowing down"!

Picture Is Worth More Than Words

Picture pretty much says it all.  Our usual routine is to start the bath water and then round up the towels / toys / soap / shampoo.  Tonight, Emma mysteriously disappeared from sight. Here's where we found her, clothes and all!

Grand Illumination Parade - 2011

Another Christmas season brings the annual Norfolk Grand Illumination, complete with parade and Santa visit.  This is the third year that we have attended, and it is becoming one of our family traditions.  This year, we made the trek down earlier than usual to make sure we got good seats. The last two years, our friends the Stahl's would save us seats. Since they have moved, we did our best "Stahl" impersonation this year (Missed you guys this year!).  Fortunately, the Bonfiglios were able to make it so we had a pretty good Occupy Grand Illumination going.

To make the most of the evening, we got there around 5 and decided to get some pizza for dinner.  The four of us enjoyed our Granby Street Pizza while we waited for the start (Parade started at 7, so we had lots of time to chew).  Right at 7, all the buildings lit up and the parade started.  We weren't quite sure how the girls would handle the whole parade (mainly due to the loud motorcycles and fire trucks), but the girls had a blast! Sitting on mommy and daddy's laps the whole time, not even attempting to get down once. And as last year, the parade ended with the appearance of Santa, with the usual "He looked right at me Daddy!" from Lily. To be a kid, how great!

And of course, no Grand Illumination Parade would be complete without some hot chocolate from Starbucks to cap the evening.  Here is our girls getting all hopped up on some late night chocolate.

Our Thankful Tree

Sara always has the best ideas to celebrate the holidays by doing craft projects.  Not only do they help the girls hone motor skills, but more importantly, they further emphasize the sense of family we try to instill in the girls.  Whether it is coloring, decorating, or drawing, we also have a blast doing these things. This year, we carried on the tradition of the Thankful Tree.  This year, Sara had the great idea of tearing up paper bags and gluing to "build" the tree. Girls and us had lot of fun doing this.  Every night after dinner, we then all put something different that we are thankful for. Some of the things we are thankful for so far this season: Mommy (Daddy), My Country (Lily), Healthy Family (Mommy), and Playing Ball (Emma).

Do I Dare Say It

This is usually what I have when we go to pick Lily up from school.

A very sleepy Emma who sleeps for about 30-40 minutes in the car and then takes a very short afternoon nap because of it. And, some days she doesn't take this nap but other days it is very hard to stop it.

Today, she did not fall asleep.

And, today, she took a 4 hour nap!

Yes, she slept through the night last night put them down at 2 for a nap and she got up at 6.

Lily had dance so she got up at 4, we were not quiet. Mike came home and they left. When I checked in on her at 5 she was spread out on her back with both hands behind her head snoring. I knew better than to wake her up so just turned on some lights and when I went back at 6 she was snuggling with Honey Bear, smiling.

She then went down at 9 and slept through the night and took an almost 3 hour nap on Wed! And, while I'm typing this she's still asleep at 730!

Finally.

Or, is it a growth spurt.

Hmmm....thinking I just completely ruined it and jinxed myself by posting this but it was too good not to. Here's to a no nap Thursday :) and lots of coffee for me :)

Family Morning

Before our busy afternoon started we took time to go back to our park and have some family time. We took bubbles, soccer balls, frisbees and a yummy snack. Can't believe that it has been getting into the 70s and 80s the past few days and into this week! So, we're taking advantage of the warm weather while it's here!

Love You Nana

We love it so much that you come and visit us. Thank you for sleeping on our couch for an entire week! Thank you for loving Lily and Emma so very much. Thank you for being such an amazing Nana and Mom. The four of us wouldn't know what to do without you (and Pa too of course).

Love You Nana.

Parks and Parties

This morning Daddy and Nana took the girls to one of our favorite parks for awhile why I caught up on my school work. Lil and Em showed them how much they could do from climbing up the ladder, going down the slides and walking around the entire playground on the wooden timbers. And, yes, Lily usually goes on the big girl swings but when little sissy requests her, she goes :).

After dinner tonight, Daddy took Lily to her friend Jenna's birthday party at Little Gym. Lily loved it so much that she came home telling us that she wants her party there. Ugh, the one year that I was going to skip parties for both of them :) Guess we'll have to see if this continues and I'm guilted into having one.

Happy 11.11.11

Happy November on 11.11.11 :)

We also went on a date tonight :)

Yep, those are margarita smiles :) Thanks Plaza!

and, thanks Nana for taking after-nap, cranky town duty :)

Emma-Time

Since Lily is in school Emma got to enjoy time with her Nana. After a taste of it on Tues morning Emma definitely wiggled herself right in there with Nana even when Lily was around. Lily is very, not possessive, but very attached to her Nana so it was interesting to see how they were going to do.

They learned that they could each take one arm and one leg of Nana and be OK. They also learned, well Emma learned, to plan her attack on Nana when Lily was either distracted or when she left the room. Miss Emma is very smart and plans what she wants to do. Sneaky and Smart she is.

I'm also happy to report that Nana survived the "attacks" and was not harmed too much by the constant cuddles. :)

*PS...Mom, Thanks for the break :)

Zoo Time

We had a great time today visiting the zoo! The weather was absolutely gorgeous and most all the animals were out and active. We packed lunch, rode the train (thanks Nan) and had a great girl's day.

And, these two monkeys were being held inside since the moat around their home was being cleaned. Supposedly, according to the train conductor, it was getting pretty stinky. As we were heading to the new Trail of the Tiger exhibit we started to hear them. They are very, very loud and you could see a lot of people heading that way to see what was going on. And, it was just these two. Having a great time swinging and letting everyone know that they wanted out. Their voices definitely echoed and we really enjoyed watching them especially L and E!

Too Cute

Since Nana was visiting, we were allowed to sit in the studio during class. I'm thinkin Miss Lily kinda liked that :).

Steppin It Up

Miss Emma has pretty much mastered the puzzles and has moved onto stringing beads on a string!

And, she's really good at it. Definitely ahead of Lily on this one!

New Jammies

for Coconut and Honey Bear.

We went to a great craft show here today and found a lady that makes clothes for Barbies and dolls. Luckily, they fit our lovely bear friends.

Thank you Nana! Coco and Honey are very happy and cozy!

Two Happy Girls

Since we are headed to Richmond to pick-up our Nana.

Nana and Pa were in DC for one of Pa's seminars that he teaches. So, we are meeting them in Richmond so that Nana can come back to the beach with us for a week :)

So excited!

Half a Decade

Happy Anniversary Mike!

Above Love You

So Tired

I wish this little lady would get a clue that sleeping in until 7 and taking a nice nap in the afternoon would help her stay awake.

Tuesday while Lily was at school she was just getting down off of the couch and got so comfy that she fell asleep. Luckily, she didn't fall asleep in the car but only gave me a little over an hour of a nap.

Today, Mike was home (a whole different story and post) and she couldn't stay awake either.

Dinosaur Train put her right out. And, again only about an hour nap and then slept on Mike for another hour after we let her scream for a bit. We are trying tough love but man, she's really persistent and the more she cries the tougher it is to get her calmed down.

Love you Miss Em.

All In A Day

The girls always love dancing in the kitchen to their cd or to the radio and we've danced with barbies and Princesses before but today it was all Emma. She grabbed Tiana and Rapunzel and called Lily while pointing to the radio. She wanted to dance like this and it lasted a lot longer once I hid the knife on the counter. How in the world did she see that?

 

Today was another day of waiting for Daddy but inside. And, the yelling of Mama by Emma is pretty much all day long. I love it, I do. But, man. Sometimes I just have to ignore her. And, let Emma get a glimpse of the moon. She'll want you to look at it with her forever. I mean for-eva-eva, she loves it!

Finally Dancin

So, Miss Lily began dance class this evening at the rec center.

Lily's school has ARK, After-school Recreation for Kids, which includes lunch and classes that last until either 130 or 2. The classes range from science and art to Spanish and dance. When we registered her last year we signed her up for the dance class since she loves it and it would be a great opportunity to be with kids from school and she'd be comfortable. It's through a company called Dance Makers and I've heard great things about the teacher Miss Jenny.

BUT...there's always a but isn't there. But, I found out that she'd be having lunch until 1 and then having class from 1-2. Which is fine if she still wasn't taking a nap not to mention Emma taking a nap. She'd certainly take a nap in the car and our day would be thrown off big time. Plus, she's 3, does she really need to be at school that long? So we decided to pull her out of it.

Then, every Tuesday, on the way home she would tell me how many of her friends had their dance bag and they got to go to dance. :( So we looked into dance schools in the area and found out a lot of them are from Sept thru June. Wow. Then found one that has two semesters and we could sign her up from Feb-June but would she really like it? We decided to sign her up for a ballet/tap combo 6 week class through the VB rec centers so she is taking a class on Tuesdays from 5-6 at Great Neck Rec Center.

And, today was her first day. She and Emma took a quick nap and got up in time to get ready, get a snack and head up the 15 minute drive to the rec center. She was so excited and loved carrying her own bag with her ballet and tap shoes.

The parents got to sit in the studio this week, hopefully we can every week since Lily loved to look over at us and wave. But, there were 6 little girls whose age ranged from 3-5 and Lily had a blast. Her teacher, Miss Jan, is older and from MD and NY and seems to be used to teaching kids who already know the basics. It didn't seem to matter to Lily, she had a blast and can't wait to go back next week. I mean Miss Jan gave them Princess stickers, who wouldn't want to go back!

Only time will tell if she wants to take a different dance class this spring.