An Awesome 2011

What a truly Blessed year we have had.

Blue Eyes

and blonde curls.

Two Peas

We decided to use some Christmas money to get Emma her very own MobiGo like Lily's. They love them and blow us away on how much they can do on those things.

They have also been into playing baby dolls with their new twin American Girl dolls. :)

It's Back!!

When we left the hotel in DC a few weeks ago both Mike and I made a few good sweeps of the room to make sure we didn't miss something. And, this time...we did!

We missed the quilt that I made for Lily back in '09. :(

But, after a few calls and a very nice cleaning lady at the hotel, today we got it back via UPS.

Yay!

Sister Love

They love being each other's best friend.

We love it too.

Busy, Busy

Barbie Vacation House and Campout Set was a very big hit.

Emma loves Lily's MobiGo! She can even play games rated ages 3-5 :)

Christmas Day 2011

What a Very Merry Christmas.

Our morning began at 730 with us trying to keep Lily from running down the hall and into the den without us. Lily and Emma were very excited and couldn't help it. They ran to the couch where Santa left their stockings and the Ariel Boats they asked for! How Awesome is Santa!!

We then took the next THREE hours to open gifts. They are totally the type of kids to open a gift, want it opened all the way so that they can sit and play with it for ten minutes. It made for a long morning but allowed Mike and I to get plenty of needed coffee.

A tree with lots of presents produced a deck full of paper and boxes and a counter full of small parts that needed to be confiscated.

Lily's Present

She was so very excited for us to open it and we LOVE it. Her teachers took a ceramic tile and used her hand to paint a Santa face. I know that we will treasure this forever!

We ended our day with celebrating Baby Jesus' Birthday with a cake Lily and I made earlier in the day. We sang Happy Birthday and talked about all the ways God and Baby Jesus help and Bless us. Lily has grasped this more than we ever thought she would and love that she understands the

True Meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas to All.

Christmas Eve

We had a lovely day to begin our Christmas weekend and four days with Daddy.

We got our new camera today and had tons of fun practicing!

We were unable to attend church tonight due to some issues with shaving and Lily but took some pics before getting her out of her dress. Can't believe the one from last year still fits :).

Scratched the Stuffed Peppers for Lasagna. Yum.

Daddy and Lily, while Emma slept, set up our Manger. Lily loved every second of it and made sure everyone was in their "spot".

After dinner, Lily and Emma opened their sister gifts. Lily got Emma Tink slippers and Emma gave Lily some Barbie undies. Two very happy girls.

On to opening ornaments. We have a great assortment to add to our tree this year including Buddy from Dinosaur Train, Minnie Mouse, a 5 yr Anniversary Santa, a Barbie Ballerina, an "All-Aboard" train, a Jersey ornament, Daddy and Emma picture ornament and a family one too!

And, last but not least Santa's cookie plate with a carrot for Rudolph. Yes, we were planning on baking more cookies today but no such luck so Santa got some plain non-iced snowman sugar cookies, a lemon cookie and cookie bar slice.

I'm sure he didn't mind since they were gone in the morning. :)

Ya-Ya

We hear Ya-Ya A LOT now. Ya-Ya is what Emma calls Lily. For a bit we had to tell Lily that she was calling her but now when Lily hears her 'name' she runs to her or yells "What Emma".

She calls Lily for all sorts of things from wanting to play with her, read a book, and especially if we tell Emma to get Lily for some reason like bath or time to brush teeth.

I'm not sure how it's going to be to have two full blown talkers in the house but maybe they'll learn to talk each other's ears off instead of mine :) Can only hope :)

Checks Take DC!

A Mini-Family Work/Vacation

A few weekends ago Mike had to take a trip to MN so that he could look at an icebreaking CG ship that was having a few problems. These problems have been on-going and have recently been given to Mike to head the effort to fix them. So off he went knowing that a trip to DC to brief the very high ups in the CG about it would be in the very near future. We were very excited since we could take the opportunity to go with him for a mini-city vacation.

We arrived Tuesday evening at our very swanky hotel with valet parking, a Manager's Happy Hour and double room suite. We headed out into the city to President's Park to walk the Pathway of Peace. We are not city people and this walk across the city gave us crash course in conquering it. It was a lot of fun and the girls did superb!

The National Christmas Tree (which we expected more from), the trains that surrounded it, the White House at night and Lily in front of the Virginia Christmas Tree.

Wednesday, Mike was off early to his 10am meeting at the CG headquarters which by the way he did great. So proud of him! He was even asked when he was going to transfer up to the HQ!

While he was at the meeting the girls and I walked through the city to the Museum of Natural History to see dinosaurs!!! The girls were awesome and we stayed for about two and a half hours, had lunch and took our time looking at everything.

We were very excited that by the time we wanted to leave after lunch that Daddy was on his way back to the hotel! Which meant that I didn't have to try to have both girls in this small umbrella stroller and walk back through the spitting rain 10 blocks back to the hotel. Yay for roadside pick-up!

Wednesday night, after nice naps from both girls, we headed to Chinatown for dinner and found a family favorite, Ruby Tuesday. So happy to find somewhere that all of us could find something to eat and Lily especially loved every bite of her ice cream sundae! After dinner, we met Uncle Mark, jumped on the metro and headed to Zoo Lights. We saw a few animals but really enjoyed the walk in the lit up zoo and catching up with Uncle Mark. Lily and Uncle Mark were inseparable and took every opportunity to give him hugs and kisses. Great seeing you Mark!!

Thursday morning after breakfast and packing up the car we were out walking again. We headed to the metro for another "train ride" to the Mall. We walked past the Washington Monument which is currently closed due to earthquake damage but impressive nonetheless. Lily loved the American flags and the map the park rangers gave her!

We then walked all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. Lily knows about the Lincoln Memorial from this book and our endless discussions about our country and the flag. The look on her face when she first saw the statue was priceless and even if she doesn't truly understand the meaning of it, the enormity of it is impressive enough. We can't wait to go back again!

Lily insisted on going down the steps instead of taking the elevator, which I'm glad she did! The views along our way were so awesome and lucky that we can enjoy these and live so close to them!

Some extra shots that I love. On our way back from the Memorial Lily rode in the stroller and Mike carried Emma. She's little but still heavy so she rode on his shoulders for part of the way. On our walk we past the White House which is the distance but in person, it's as clear as day. Lily looked pretty wiped out when we were waiting for the metro one last time and Emma looked pretty tired too. And, had to capture what we looked like as we walked through the city, and LOVE the handle on the side of our stroller. It is indeed Lily's handle.

We had a wonderful time and love DC.

Now Christmas can BEGIN!!!

# 10

Maci, can't believe that you turn 10 today! We love you dearly!

Some things about Miss Maci Girl...

-You love attention but only when you want it.

-You have very, very expressive eyes and looks. And, not all looks and expressions are good.

-You love to protect us. Now that you are older, you bark at every sound and even if there isn't a sound to bark at.

-You love, love, love your backyard and protect it relentlessly. You pace the fence to guard off squirrels and birds. You do NOT like the bunny that lives under our shed and many times we find you stuck behind the shed trying to get to it.

-You love Lily and Emma especially when they have food. You follow Emma around and have started to bully her when she has food in her hand, to the point where Emma runs from you yelling NO and pointing at you.

-You love your bed.

-When someone goes into the pantry you are always there wondering if they are going to bother your food. If they do, you're there to protect it. Yes, because we are going to eat your food.

-You are on pain meds for your arthritis and have been taking them more often. You are also on glucosamine and luckily you like it.

-You really like when I fix lunch and you get the crust I cut off of the girl's sandwiches :)

-There are times that you still act like a puppy and love to play ball for a few minutes until you get tired.

-At the end of the day, you snore even if you've slept all day long. And, you can snore really loud.

-Small things startle you. You can be standing on the deck, the wind will blow and move a leaf and you'll jump. When you're sleeping, you can even pass some really smelly gas and it'll wake you up to the point where you look annoyed that someone just passed gas near you.

-You eat only once a day, 2cups, but it must have parmesean cheese on it before you'll even consider eating it. You also take a few pieces and leave them around the kitchen like they are test food pieces to make sure it's good. Emma then finds these and throws them in your water dish and annoys you greatly.

We love you Maci and Happy, Happy Birthday

Whatever Works

A couple of weeks ago, these two girls were wearing their tutus (a very normal and almost everyday occurrence) and dancing to Christmas music in the kitchen (also another favorite activity). But, we had to go to Walmart for a few things. So, out they went in tutus, play jewelry everything, and party shoes on. They were happy, had plenty of snacks (also another staple to any shopping trip of any kind) and had many, many admirers throughout the store (even when Emma was touching every green pepper, testing the freshness of the tomatoes.

At one point, I was rearranging the cart while they were enamored by the Dora pictures on the Spaghettios cans. Fine, they weren't screaming or fighting just looking. Until I realized that Emma was turning every single can so that they faced the same way then would take them down and stack them only for a few to fall and roll under the aisle shelves. OK, fine nothing a worker hasn't seen before. But, oh no. These two girls decked out in their party gear layed down on their bellies in the middle of the aisle to try to reach their fallen cans. So, to get them off of the floor I had to get down on all fours to reach a can of food that I would never buy and they would never eat.

Needless to say, we left with one very dented can (Emma insisted on carrying it through the store and dropped it a MILLION times and not once on her feet!) of Dora Spaghettios that were fixed for lunch and NOT eaten.

Baking Day 1

OK, so I am not a baker. I do not pretend to be. We do not own a fancy dancy mixer, only a handheld one and that's just fine with me. I definitely am not in need of anything more. But yesterday, Lily's class did a cookie exchange and the plate of cookies she came home with got me wanting to bake a bit. Nothing much, just try some new recipes out that we may like.

This made our Lily extremely happy and ready to bake when we got home from church yesterday. We made the very popular pb kiss cookies, lemon cake cookies which are oh so yummy and some treat bars. We have some more recipes waiting for us next weekend but these worked out pretty well and only since my girl helped with everything!!

Baking Day 1: Success.

A Christmas Story

This morning Lily did this entire sheet herself. It was a gift from her teacher, a sticker sheet with pieces of a Nativity scene for the kids to put together. When I saw it I ran for the camera since I knew she would tell me all about it, and this is her telling us for the first time about her picture.

Lily also made cards for her friends at school using stickers of gingerbread girls and boys and random little Christmas stickers we had. But, in one card she made this whole picture and I'm really sad I didn't steal it and make a new one. She put three gingerbread men, one large star and presents in front of the gingerbread men. She said it was the Three Wisemen, the presents and they were headed for the North Star since that was where Baby Jesus was. Miss Lily never ceases to amaze us with what sticks in that head of hers.

**And, the reason it's so foggy is due to me leaving the camera in the car overnight. Yikes. We went driving around to look at lights and found an awesome street/neighborhood at the beach. Love when we have to drive past some multiple times to see everything there is to see.**

Interested...

We're getting there.

Emma is very interested in letters and words now too. When we look through books at bedtime she points to the words and recently points to each letter wanting me to spell it. She also likes to pretend to read books with Lily when she's reading her small leveled readers. She's definitely surprising me!!

Daddy's Girl

 

Emma has a few more years to fit into Daddy's hat but it sure is fun to wear it anyway.

Sing Along

Today was Lily's class Christmas party and Sing-a-Long. Emma insisted on wearing her Super Sissy Cape the entire time. We all had lots of fun especially since Daddy was able to meet us there and took the rest of the afternoon off of work.

There is also a lovely present wrapped by Lily under our tree that she brought home today. Before nap she told us it was a surprise and we had to wait until Christmas to open it. After nap, she said without any questions from us, "OK, I'll tell you a few hints. It's very fragile and breakable. It's hard and you can put hot things on it like a pan or your coffee cup. And it has my handprint on it. No more hints, you have to wait until Christmas to open it." Mike and I can not wait to open our surprise gift :).

So Proud

Lily wrote a letter to Santa all by herself this year! While we were getting ready to write it, I suggested that I write some words and she write the words she knows. This didn't go over too well, she wanted to do the entire thing. She wrote this entire letter in one sitting, I spelled the words for her and she wrote them on the lines I drew so she would write small enough and fit everything on one side. I only helped her write the 'B' in boats and that's it. The other day, she wrote her entire ABC's, in order, all capitals but still she did great! There are sometimes that there are reversals and she really has to think about how they are formed, but needless to say we are very proud of Miss Lily.

And, not only is our girl writing but she is reading too! I had to revert to buying leveled readers from scholastic and soooo wish I had access to TME's guided reading library at this point. Think they would notice me sneaking in there?? Anyways, we have made our way through all ten Level A books and are on our way through the Level B books, which I thought would throw her for a loop...but nope, not at all. This book is definitely a Level A, but love her expression and pointing to the words. She definitely utilizes the pictures for clues and has displayed skills such as self-correcting, comprehension and extending skills throughout the books. Yay.

So, so proud of you Miss Lily!!!

I'm wondering how long it will take to get to Beginner Readers at the library?!?!

All Aboard

Emma loves trains. Loves, loves, loves trains.

And, now refers to trains as "All Aboooard"... and loves saying it all the time.

She carries the Polar Express dvd case around pointing at the front saying All Aboard and then says, I wanna watch. She loves the song to Dinosaur Train. Lily can sing the entire song but lets Emma say "Ride, Ride, Ride" at the end.

Colds Are Here

and in full swing.

Emma fell asleep on the way to Greenbriar...

and Lily fell asleep on the way home from Greenbriar.

Daddy's Home

Us girls spent the weekend by ourselves while Daddy went to the cold icy tundra of Duluth MN on a work trip. His flight got in today at noon, so we headed to ORF to surprise him.

This made for a happy Daddy and some happy, happy little girls.

Glad to have you home safe and sound Daddy.

And, also glad that we don't have to do that too often!

Fern and Ivy Happenings

So, we have Magic Elves and we absolutely love them. This year is so much fun to have sisters and Lily and Emma love getting up in the morning to find out what they have done while they are sleeping.

We have found them riding around in one of Emma's trucks, riding on the kitchen ceiling fan and watching our most favorite Christmas movie, The Polar Express.

They have also explored our Christmas tree, they played hide-n-seek on our bookshelves, taken a pony ride, completed a princess puzzle, set up a circus of little people and circled things in the toys r us toy catalog!

Lately, they wanted to take more rides with our snowmen on the sleigh, our little reindeer, tried to eat our cookies and spelled out Lily and Emma's name in Cheerios!!!

Love our elves and how they remind our girls that Santa is always watching them :).

Passed Out

My Baby Emma was so tired from our morning out after dropping Lily off at school and her little meltdown on the way home, she passed out when I gave her a binky. I don't usually carry one around with me anymore and binkys are just for naps and bedtime but she was so happy to get it, so happy she passed out for 45 minutes on her bedroom floor coat, shoes and all. Poor Baby Emma.

My Shoe Girl

Emma loves putting on her own shoes and doesn't need much help but if we need to help, we have to be very sly about it. She also tries very hard to put on her own socks but hasn't quite gotten the hang of it. But, not only does she like wearing her own shoes but any of ours will do especially Lily's shoes....

Snowflakes

Ok, first...when did she grow up?? She came out all dressed and ready to go this morning, headband and all. Not only that, but she just looks older than 3.5 to me. :(

Thought painting snowflakes would be fun today, an advent activity of course.

And, this is all Emma too. She really enjoyed it until I took this paper away from her to give her a new one. She doesn't quite get the concept of starting anew...oh well. So, even though her paper got some more snow on it, this was the only one she did since a minor meltdown happened.

Last Dance Class

Today was the last class in the six week session. After watching her for the entire hour and seeing her face light up we signed her up for the next session too. Same place, same time, same teacher and probably same girls too. Lily really is enjoying herself and seems to be one of the best listeners in the class.

Tonight we took our big video camera, you know the one that you carry and people roll their eyes at you cause you're that parent..haha..we did it anyway and we are so glad that we did. I think we videoed the entire hour class :). And, since we can hook it up to the huge tv, Lily now thinks she's a superstar dancer on tv :). I am in the process of downloading all of the videos to our youtube channel but here's a short one that we loooove.

Love it.

Oh and here's a link to our youtube channel in case you want to watch all 10 videos of the entire dancing hour :)  http://www.youtube.com/user/vbcheckfamily?feature=mhee