Settling In

Today Carina had her one week (plus a few days...) check up and all is well. She's gaining weight back she had previously lost, her color is good, she's eating well, though not on any schedule yet, she's looking around, and she's in overall good health.

The doctor's office is out of flu shots (H1N1 and Seasonal) and it's a race in this area to get one. Evidently people are lining up at 3 in the morning when the listserves announce a place that has them available, and they run out in less than an hour. Our family is in the high risk group with Carina being so young, so we may spend the next few weeks getting up early and camping out at various locations trying to get a flu shot - sounds like fun.


Mia and Laney are being great big sisters. They get diapers and wipes, give Carina her pacifier, and want to hold her all the time (supervised of course).

Our friends from Laney's (and previously Mia's) preschool have coordinated a meal schedule so our dinners are taken care of each night. What a difference that can make, and how wonderful it is we have a supportive group of friends and neighbors to make the transition easier! We feel so blessed!

Mia has a bad cold and is home from school today so the girls are playing and getting into mischief today. So, life's almost normal, but with a quieter Mia since her voice is almost gone - poor thing.

Whew!

What a Weekend! (Still recovering...) Between Halloween, a Bar Mitzvah, a Birthday Party, an Election Day Bakesale, Election Night festivities, and a Time Change, I'm beat! But what fun!

Halloween night was kicked off with a Pancake Dinner hosted by our good friends and neighbors, then we all headed out to purge the neighborhood of their goodies and admire the carving skills in the area. Turns out political pumpkins took the cake this year, with all but one in some way referring to our new President Elect.

The night after Halloween, Patrick and I attended a Bar Mitzvah for our next door neighbor's son and we had a really nice time. Neither of us had been to one before, so it was really fun and also very interesting to learn about the customs and traditions involved in this coming of age milestone as well as the Jewish religion. David did a great job with his Torah readings, and though he shared his night with another Bar Mitzvah, he definitely shone brighter. (Don't tell the other family that, though.)

The following day we went to a Birthday Party at Pump It Up, an all inflatable jumping place (what a great idea for a party place!) and the girls just wore themselves out. Though I was a little unnerved by the bigger kids pushing by and over the 2 year olds, everyone had a great time. Happy 2nd Birthday, Elliott!!

THEN, Election Day the girls' preschool had a bakesale to try to take advantage of the extra voters and some potential school donations, so Monday was spent baking. I love to bake, but the kids had the day off of school, so I didn't really get to make as much as I wanted. This was a good thing, however, because we didn't sell all the things that we made. (Can I gloat? My banana bread was all gobbled up- yippee!)

Lastly, that night Patrick's company had a huge Election Watching Party in typical Accenture style. It was fun! There was a huge room decorated with one side in Blue Donkeys and one side in Red Elephants showing CNN, and there were satellite rooms - one Red showing Fox News, and one Blue showing MSNBC. Other rooms held human statues, a raffle drawing, food of course, and meandering ex-presidents. Lots of fun for us all.

I is for Ice Cream

Today our goal is to make our own ice cream - here's how:
http://crafts.kaboose.com/ice-cream-in-a-bag.html

Happy I Day!



A day late and a bag of ice short - somehow I managed to get home from the grocery store without the ice! So I just froze the bag of ice cream and we ate it the next morning - it was very delicious and tasted just like regular premium vanilla ice cream! AND, the battery in my camera died, so I took pictures the next morning, too. Notice the same outfits in I and J days.

Books we read today: I Love You Through and Through, ABC Animals

Laney Turns 2!

Happy Birthday, Laney!

Laney shares her birthday with our country, so there is a lot of hoopla and hurrah around when her day arrives.

We started the day with the Takoma Park 4th of July parade, but unlike last year, we got to walk in the parade with the girls' preschool, which was a whole lot of fun! Mia walked the entire way, Laney rode in our stroller, and our wagon was lent out for the tired little legs of our friends.


Then everyone headed back up to our house for some grilling and cupcakes to celebrate the big 2! Laney took a nap while the kids took turns giving wagon rides, jumped on the trampoline, and played on the swings! What a fun party!

After a dinner of Annie's Shells N Cheese (Laney's favorite) and a few more cupcakes, Laney got to open her presents and play with her sister and her new trike. The night concluded with the National 4th Celebration on TV, glow necklaces, and a peek at the Takoma Park fireworks out on our front porch. What a fun day!

Mia's Birthday Party

Mia's party was a lot of fun, and definitely worth the extra week of cleaning, purchasing and cupcake eating baking. The party started out with a little horse decorating, where the kiddos got to color faces on their hobby horses and then they took them to Patrick to add the stick and bandana. Then, outside, we had swings, panning for gold in the sandbox, bean bag and ring toss games, a chalk drawing and bubble blowing station, snacks and juice boxes. Later a hot dog lunch was served along with cupcakes and a pinata finale. The pinata did not burst forth with it's goods, however, and we had to tear it to get the goodies out. But it was sure fun for the kids trying to hit it. Mia had a great time seeing her friends that she's missed over the summer and loved her party - we were so lucky to have many of her friends available for a second date.

And here's a funny video of the Pinata Whacking:

SSNS Truck Touch Photos

Mia's preschool, Silver Spring Nursery School, has a creative and wonderfully preschool-centric fundraiser every year called the SSNS Truck Touch. What a fabulous event! Saturday, we enjoyed face painting, live music, truck-related arts and crafts, food, a book fair, and of course TRUCKS. Besides a UPS truck, tractors, a cherry picker, a police car, a school bus, an ambulance, a hang glider, and various other trucks for the kids to climb into and onto, the local fire station lent us its hook and ladder for the affair. Like any star, the engine arrived with fanfare about an hour into the event, and rushed off an hour later to a real emergency. The parking lot was noisy with children beeping horns and adjusting seats, squealing and flying UPS frisbees - just what every preschool aged child would want a truck touch to be.

Brilliant.