Memorial Day Weekend

Well, we girls were sick. Poor Patrick had to spend his long weekend taking care of us. It was SO wonderful to have him here while all 3 of us were sick, and not to have to do it myself while also being sick, but I do feel bad he didn't get any time off.






On Monday, my parents dropped in for the night. We were mostly well, so it was great to see them and we did get to grill out and enjoy the food I had stocked for our mini-party we were going to have and canceled.


We also had some pool time with the girls once we started to feel better, so it wasn't a complete wash out. Here's a cute shot of Laney's first pool experience.












Oh, and a pic I just LOVE from last week.

Welcome Little Ones!!

UPDATE:
Welcome, as well, to Sabrina Therese Michl of Reston, VA! Sabrina was born to Cerissa and Kyle Michl on May 29 at 12:33pm. Welcome, Sabrina!

_________________________________________________________________
Just wanted to welcome THREE new little lives to our world.

John Hayden Chiavetta of Raleigh, NC,
Lauren Marjory Thrasher of Takoma Park, MD,
and "Drake" Smylie Jacobi of Cumming, GA

were ALL born yesterday, May 24th!!

Welcome little ones!!
And Congratulations to John, Rebekah, and new Big Sis Charlotte,
to Katie, her husband (sorry Katie! I'm drawing a blank!) and new Big Brother Adam!!
and to Allyson, Jim and Big Siblings Yale and Anna Claire!!

What a wonderful (and popular, evidently) day to be born!!!

New Computer

YAY! It's just about finished! Patrick has been making (yes, making) us a new computer. He bought a case and all the essential pieces and put it together himself. It's way faster, has way more memory so I can keep taking loads of pictures to share with you all, and the new keyboard is very quiet so I don't wake up the girls when I get in the zone and type like a madwoman. Ha ha.



So, now you know my excuse for not writing in awhile. Today I hope I made up for it with 5 blog entries (created on the new computer, I might add). Keep on reading and thanks for checking in!

Our Little Headbanger

Well. What can I say except that Elena has been enjoying her music so much lately, and has taken to headbanging while listening. It doesn't matter if she's listening to Daddy's music (HOT 99.5), Music Together Music, The Wiggles, or Classical. She rocks and bops her head like she's at a Metallica concert. Have a look. We think it's hilarious.



Elena has really been quite funny lately, as well as a little bit mischievous. She likes to climb into drawers, the dishwasher, and out the door if we don't lock it. I keep reminding myself that I was the sneaky one in my family and that my brother was quite a climber himself, so she comes by it honestly.






And this is Laney at the zoo, in the Meerkat tunnels, eating wood chips.

Mia's First Haircut! (Finally!)

Well, I finally broke down and cut Mia's hair. I'd been wanting to do it forever, but I had been bowing to peer pressure and comments about how beautiful it was. Whatever. It was straggly, difficult to manage, and was always in her face.

So, I cut her bangs. She loved it, although she did balk at the blow drying afterward. No fussing, no crying over lost hair. Thank goodness.

Perhaps her eagerness had something to do with the brownie making we did at the same time.

Caterpillars!!

If there was one overriding saying these past few weeks at our house it had to be "Mommy, I want to go outside and play with the caterpillars." This, evidently, is caterpillar season. Mia absolutely LOVES caterpillars. We caught several that had been climbing up our walls, our trees, and on the picnic tables at our favorite park.

Mia would play with them as if they were her little dolls, "bundling" (her word) them up in blankets made of leaves, feeding them Maple leaves, giving them baths, and storing them in little bowls from the kitchen, much to mine and Patrick's dismay.

She was rough enough with them that I had to look them up to make sure we weren't killing future butterflies. You will be happy to note that they were nuisance caterpillars that turn into nuisance moths. Fuzzy, cute, striped, Eastern Tent Caterpillars.

We are still searching them out and find the occasional slowpoke straggler, but it looks like the season is coming to a close. I'm glad we enjoyed them while they were still here.

Mothers' Day

Happy Belated Mothers' Day to all my Mommy friends!












Mothers' Day was such a beautiful day here in what is known as "The People's Republic of Takoma Park". Earlier, Patrick had asked what I wanted to do for Mother's Day, and so I got my wish: to plant flowers and make stepping stones with the girls.









We were outside pretty much all day. Mia and I planted seeds all over the yard while Laney hung out in her pack n play in the yard, and Patrick took pics and supervised. We'll see if the seeds grow, but either way, it was fun to have her plant them.














Then, while Elena napped, Patrick and I helped Mia make her stepping stone. For any of you moms out there reading this, I highly recommend it. The kit we bought at Michael's came with the mold, the cement, and some tiles, and we just purchased some additional tiles for Mia to play with and put in her stone. It was a lot of fun for all of us.