Carving Pumpkins and Building Walls

This past week we spent a good chunk of time working on our front yard and new kitchen. It's been a long time in the planning stage, but this week, we finally were able to begin on the actual building (and demolishing) process. My dad and mom came up and now we have new wall studs that will become one of the walls for the kitchen, as well as a new retaining wall and sod in the front. Woo-hoo! You would understand my enthusiasm if you could have seen the front yard just prior to the work - old rotting railroad ties, dirt and weeds. It was lovely - not. But now it is! (Going to add pics tomorrow - I can't believe I didn't take any!)






Sunday evening, we spent family time carving pumpkins. Both girls drew their own jack-o-lantern faces and neither one was even remotely interested in getting gooky pumpkin and seeds all over their hands, so Mom and Dad had to do that part. (When I was a kid, that was the best part! Well, that and the toasted pumpkin seeds!) The result was fun all around and some great spooky jack-o-lanterns on our porch.

Sick Weekend

Well, Laney came down with the Coxsackie virus blisters Friday. No wonder she was so cranky last week. Mia was disappointed because that meant we would be missing a Halloween party on Saturday that she had really been looking forward to.

No worries - Mom to the rescue! I happened to have a few things in my bag to make our own party. First Mia made cookies.


Then, we hung decorations we had made earlier in the week and donned Halloween Costumes. (Thank you to Travis for lending his hat.)

Then, we made Halloween cards, ate spooky snacks and the cookies, applied creepy tattoos, and had orange milk.

Then, we got to play in the dark with glow sticks - Mia bit into one and we worried a bit about poison. (So far, she's still normal, aside from HER Coxsackie blisters that showed up yesterday afternoon.)

We had an uninvited visitor or two, asking for treats (almost like real Halloween!)
and then we went to bed.

Phew! Crisis (and disappointed 2 and 4 year old meltdowns) averted.

H is for Hats Off to the USA!

Just have to say Congratulations to Michael Phelps for Kicking Booty in the Olympics this week and being dubbed the "greatest Olympian ever" and to the Girls Gymnastics team for their silver team medal.

Today for H day we made paper hats, did our horse coloring pages, and did some tracing of the letters (well, Mia did anyway).

Happy H Day!







(Note: this is supposed to be an "H")



Books read today: Horton Hatches an Egg, Hokey Pokey Elmo, and My Little Pony Hide and Seek

Summer Pics

A few pics of the girls in the backyard...


















And, some mini ice cream sandwiches...














And, some fruit salad Mia made all by herself to help me get better...

Happy New Year 2008!

Happy New Year to you! Today I am sitting here drinking a pint of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, something I like to toast with, but lately have been drinking like a coke. Last night we spent the early evening celebrating New Years' Eve at our neighbors' home a la Greenwich Mean Time (7pm here). It was fantastic! A little beer and wine for the grownups, a little juice for the kiddos, some fantastic Indian food, homemade mac-n-cheese, and noisemakers and glow necklaces for the big hurrah! Just a great family night for all. The best part was that we got Mia down to bed at 8:30, and she didn't feel the least bit slighted. Laney, on the other hand, is sick and didn't go to bed until 1am, so Patrick and I definitely made it to midnight and then some. Ah well, such is life as a parent.

Christmas week was spent in Raleigh with my parents, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Travis, Uncle Neil and Jessica, and cousin Jacque. Jacque and Mia played and fought like sisters, and Laney spent the time trying to woo her favorite Uncle Travis, as well as getting baptised at my parents' church. Gracious thanks to GrandMary and Santa George for hosting brunch afterwords - what a wonderful day.

The 23rd, Jacque turned 5 so we had a birthday party and Santa came to visit that night before his big day on Christmas Eve. Mia again reported that she'd like none other than a horse for Christmas, but Santa is a practical man and knows we aren't allowed to have a horse on our property, so she got a My Little Pony instead. :) Laney was a bit frighted by the prospect of sitting in any man's lap except Daddy, Grandaddy or one of her uncles, and let us know exactly how she felt. Very loudly.

Uncle Neil made a fried turkey this year, and whoa what a difference from our first experience - this one was fantabulous, as Amanda would say. The girls decorated gingerbread houses made of gingerbread graham crackers (thank you for the idea, Ms. Janise!) and enjoyed many many sweets and candies, much to my chagrin and to their sleep deprivation.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are having a great New Year's Day celebrating the passing of the last year, and optimistically planning for the new one.



PS: Thanks to Julie for showing me how to post an album link!! You can view our Christmas slide show via the link to the right under Volpe Photo Albums - enjoy!

Laney is One!!

Laney celebrated her actual birthday by attending the Takoma Park 4th of July parade and staying up way too late to watch fireworks.



We didn't actually go to the middle school to see them. We thought it would be too late, there was a large chance of rain, and a tornado warning, so we stayed inside and watched the National Fireworks on tv. We were lucky though, and were able to peek out our window to see the local fireworks just above the trees. Laney was mesmerized and kept hitting the window everytime she saw one. It was really cute.









Laney has come a long way in a year. She feeds herself, chatters nonstop (though we don't understand what she's saying), dances whenever music is on, is learning to sign a few words ("milk", "more"), and LOVES baths, electrical cords (!!), ripping paper, dolls, and of course Mia. She hates putting shirts with sleeves on, she hates when Mia is in timeout, and she really dislikes it when I take things out of her mouth that she finds on the floor or has ripped from a magazine.
Next on her list is walking, which could be any day now.









Happy Birthday Laney Bun!!

Elena Models the New Spring Line

This is from a few days ago, one of those days when the girls take alternating naps and I get no downtime. Elena and I played "Model". The first time we did this was at Marme and Grandaddy's house in Raleigh, and we got some studio-quality shots which maybe I'll throw in here someday as well.

For now, the news is that Elena has two teeth! They erupted on the 12th, and her favorite thing to do is to rub them on anyone and anything - watch out!