Archive for September, 2013

Back-to-School picnics

Posted in Leah, Molly, School on September 29th, 2013 by jen – 3 Comments

Leah's preschool had a Back-to-School picnic at a nearby park. The playground was packed the entire time, giving the kids lots of practice at taking turns.

Back-to-school picnic number 1

La Pearl Waffles came to the picnic. While Chad waited for them to fix our waffles, Leah and I relaxed on the hillside.

Waiting for waffles

Leah loves to give great hugs!

Mommy love

The girls had a lot of fun playing on this elephant. They said they were riding it to Alabama. Chad told them that this would not be a very speedy form of transportation, but they felt that the journey was just as important as the destination.

Elephant ride

Back-to-School picnic #2 was Molly's, which included some outstanding face painting. Molly went for the full face look.

Face painting

I think she likes it.

Final product

Leah opted to have her arm painted instead of her face.

Rainbow arm

Selfish Sewing Week

Posted in Sewing on September 27th, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

I rarely sew for myself as sewing for the girls always seems to take the priority. So, when I saw this post on Selfish Sewing Week, I knew that it was my motivation to make one of the dresses for me that has been on my to-do list for over a year.

I made the Angie dress from Sis Boom. This is the second Sis Boom dress I've made, as I previously made the Jamie dress. I think my Girls Night Out on Sunday will be the perfect occasion to wear my new dress. :)

Angiedress

Edit: My dress was featured on the Imagine Gnats Selfish Sewing recap for today. What a huge compliment!

A Pinktastic Party

Posted in Celebrations, Family visits, Leah, Molly on September 22nd, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

We're tickled pink
and thrilled to say
It's a Pinkalicious Party for
Leah's 4th birthday!

When Leah requested a Pinkalicious party for her 4th birthday, she and Molly also requested dresses made by Mom. The girls looked through their Pinkalicious books and picked out the dresses to replicate. Leah's dress is inspired by the classic Pinkalicious dress, while Molly's is inspired by the nightgown in Silverlicious.

Pinkalicious girls

A Pinkalicious party must include a reading of the original Pinkalicious book.

Reading Pnkalicious

Leah didn't care for all of our cries of "no peeking" when playing Pin the Cherry on the Cupcake.

No peeking

The girls decorated pink wands.

Nice wand, Matilda

And then played Pinkalicious Bingo.

Pinkalicious Bingo

Aunt EA and Uncle Scott continued their tradition of cards including audio. And like before, it's a favorite. Someone else took a video of the same card, if you're interested in what it is.

Great card

All eyes on Leah. Well, except JJ.

Still opening

Leah's wanted some Stompeez ever since Molly got a pair, so she was very excited to get this pair. She actually ended up getting two different pairs for her birthday, and she loves them both.

Stompeez!

I love birthday parties just as much as my girls, since it's a creative outlet for me too. :)

PinkaliciousCollage

We all wore pink for the occasion - even Chad!

Pink family

JJ made sure Pinkalicious's little brother, Peter, was represented. Apparently JJ had an important call to make (or maybe it's that he loves listening to his daddy's music!).

Phone call

The My Little Pony purse and wand are just Uncle Scott's size.

Manly man

The morning of her actual birthday meant more presents - this time from our Alabama visitors. Leah is the very proud owner of this Sofia the First book.

So proud

She requested a fancy 4th birthday dinner: grilled cheese sandwiches and cupcakes from Oh, What a Cake! It was nice to have quiet dinner after a busy birthday weekend.

Cupcakes and candles

You can see all the pictures from the birthday weekend on Flickr.

Exploring the dinosaurs

Posted in Family outings, Family visits, Leah, Molly on September 17th, 2013 by jen – 1 Comment

After spending the week in New York, G'Mom and Grampa joined us back in Maryland. We decided to take a trip down to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. And to get there, we had to take the fun route of riding the DC Metro. This was actually the girls' first ride on the Metro.

Train ride

Leah studies the subway map carefully. Not sure how she's seeing it with her sunglasses on while we're underground.

Our navigator

We thought of making this trip because Molly's been asking to see dinosaur bones. Well, now she can see them, but I think this allosaurus is staring right back at her.

Dinosaur bones

Some of the dinosaurs were very big. Those tiny figures under that tail are Molly, me, Grampa, and G'Mom.

Big dinosaurs

Look. Up there. Swimming dinosaurs.

Swimming dinosaurs

Look, Dad, look. Big prehistoric birds.

Big prehistoric birds

They had a hands-on area for kids to play with archeology-related things. Leah was a big fan of the binoculars.

Binoculars

They had a few microscopes that the kids could use to look at fossils up close.

Under the microscope

There were some things (like this rock) in the main exhibits that said kids could touch them. This rock in the gemstones exhibit made a good seat.

Have a seat

Lots of shiny things. Naturally, pink and purple things were favorites of the girls.

Wow

Purple. And you could touch it, too.

Purple

The girls got to see the Hope Diamond up close and personal.

The Hope Diamond

In the Insect exhibit, the girls got to see a tarantula.

Creepy crawlers

Leah wasn't scared of the hairy spider at all, putting her face right next to the glass. I had a slightly different reaction.

Not scared

After the bravery of my daughter, I got up close with the spider as well.

Up close

Grampa and Leah check out all the butterflies starting to emerge from their chrysalides.

Butterfly chrysalis

After the museum, the girls got some popsicles on the national mall.

Treats

They made a mess, but enjoyed them thoroughly.

A mess

Snacking on the mall with the museum in the background.

Snacking on the mall

Here we are, after a very fun trip to the museum, with the dome of the museum in the background.

The four of us

Now it’s her preschool

Posted in Leah, School on September 16th, 2013 by jen – 1 Comment

It's now Leah's turn to attend East Columbia Preschool. She visited the classroom the Friday before school started. No surprise, she went straight to the dress-up and wore this Ariel dress the entire visit.

Visiting the ECP classroom

Leah was sweet to ask Miss Carol to take a picture with her.

Smiles with Miss Carol

We are excited to be back at ECP after a year hiatus. Miss Carol is thrilled to finally have Leah in her class.

Bonding over legos

I am the class coordinator for Leah's class, so we hosted a Back to School BBQ for the class at our house. To our surprise, we had about 60 people come (24 adults, 36 kids). The party was definitely a hit. The weather was great, which we were very thankful for as I don't think we could have fit everyone inside.

Preschool party

Then finally, last Tuesday was Leah's first day of school. She was ready!

First day of school

When I asked how she wanted to decorate her duck bag, Leah said she wanted lots of jewels. Looks like she got her wish.

Duck bag

Acting like a bunch of animals

Posted in Leah, Molly, Playdates on September 15th, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

The girls and I joined some friends at The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. School was closed that day, so the big girls were able to join in the fun too.

Turtle ride anyone?

While waiting for her friends to exit a cave, Molly practiced some crazy faces.

One crazy kiddo

She's gotten a bit bigger than the last time she took this picture.

Spinning in a shell

That's one excited turtle!

One excited turtle

Leah had to practice her oinking while posing as a cute little piggy.

Cute little piggy

As the kids were checking out the giraffes, this one decided to poke his head around and check out the kids!

Hello Mr. Giraffe

Smiles at the end of a good visit to the Zoo.

Smiles at the zoo

Now she’s excited to swim

Posted in Molly on September 14th, 2013 by jen – 1 Comment

As we talked about earlier, Molly has continued to be hesitant around water, so we enrolled her in a swim school specializing in helping kids with anxiety issues. They were fantastic. Before starting, Molly wouldn't put her face in the water. After 8 lessons, she's like a different girl.

Swim lessons

Now, Molly does 10 or 20 bobs (going under water all the way) in a single lesson.

Bob

She even had a short burst of swimming by herself.

Solo swimming

Learning the backstroke.

The backstroke

Floating on her back. I think this was the first time she'd done this.

Floating on her back

She's still a little scared of jumping in, but she did it without any trouble.

Jumping in

Here she is preparing to dive in, which is still a bit scary but she's done it a couple times.

Diving in

There she goes. Nice dive!

Nice dive

We cannot say enough good things about MarTar Swim School. Molly made remarkable progress in her 8 weeks. We'll definitely be back in the Spring to prepare her for spending the Summer at the pool!

Elizabeth and Scott’s wedding

Posted in Celebrations, Leah, Molly, Trip on September 3rd, 2013 by jen – Be the first to comment

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating the wedding of Elizabeth and Scott. Our entire little family participated in the wedding. Chad took many, many photos and thanks to my Dad, we have some pictures from the ceremony too. Here are some of my favorites.

Mommy love at the rehearsal dinner.

Mommy love

The morning of the wedding was a beautiful day on a beautiful estate. On the way to breakfast, we stopped by a gazebo to relax a bit.

Gazebo

Flower toss. I hear this event may be added to the 2016 Olympics.

Flower toss

Leah has not been allowed to wear these white patent leather shoes before now, so she was very excited to be able to put them on.

Shoes

We're all ready! Not sure what Leah's excited about here, but she sure is cute.

Yes!

The ceremony.

Exchanging rings

The first dance.

First dance

Molly had been asking all day when the dancing would start. She was disappointed that we had to eat dinner first before the dancing began at the reception. So, of course, she was ready to get out on the floor as soon as we could.

Dancing family

The girls couldn't resist the opportunity to dance with Aunt EA and Uncle Scott.

Dancing with the bride and groom

Leah was dancing with Aunt EA to an oldie, when the DJ changed the song to a newer hip hop song. EA put out her arms and dipped low, and Leah didn't miss a beat before matching Aunt EA's new dance. It was adorable.

Dip low

Leah took some breaks, but Molly couldn't get enough dancing. Eventually she was adopted by the bridesmaids as part of their dance circle, which she loved.

More dancing

Molly made it all the way through the reception (including the last song), but Leah couldn't quite make it. She tuckered out on Grampa toward the end of the reception.

Faded

You can see all our pictures from the wedding weekend on Flickr.