Slacking in the Blog Department

It's been a very long time since I've written anything worth writing about. All summer really. And now here we are, with the first official day of autumn looming and I have literally thousands of pictures that I have not shared.

First of all, Mia and Laney are back in school; Mia is in first grade, taking only English this year, and Laney in the 4s/5s at SSNS. Carina is 11 months and is getting to be SO BIG (as she demonstrates often -> see photo album).

Mia will be taking karate classes this fall and is still one of the tallest girls in her class. She attended Pony Pals camp this summer, and asks every week or so if she can have a horse, so I'm trying to show her things she can do to one day own a horse of her own. Right now I am working on encouraging her to look into becoming an Equine Veterinarian - she can work with horses all day and hopefully make enough money to own one, too!

Laney is queen of the world right now. She LOVES school, is working on making her me-doll right now with princess fabric, she knows about half of the alphabet, and still loves dolls and princesses more than just about anything else. She takes after her Mommy in that her favorite food is cheese, and she ADORES being a big sister.

Carina is really coming into her own. She's still allergic to milk, but is tolerating Nutramigen formula with just a constant stuffy nose. I don't know where we go from here, maybe soy milk or almond milk at her birthday, but we'll see. She's crawling and pulling up, but still no walking. I'm not in a hurry for that to happen anyway. Like her sisters, Carina loves loves loves to swing. She also loves animals (except horses, she's afraid of them). And, she absolutely hates to be left out and doesn't like to sleep if her sisters are awake.



We've decided to not list our house until the early spring to keep the girls in the same school all year, and we're still looking at neighborhoods all over the DC area. Patrick is finishing up little things that we notice need fixing as well as keeping the landscaping up to par, and I've been busy making sure the new members of Laney's preschool are submitting their paperwork correctly and on time.

We took a mini-cation to Hershey, PA a few weekends ago once we decided our house wasn't going to be listed this summer, and had a great time! It was perfect for small kids and big kids, too! Mia and Laney loved the rollercoaster! That's great news because I love them too and can ride right along with them. Woo-hoo!

The Week in Pictures

Here are some pics from our last 2 weeks or so...

The Girls


Carina's First Fat Lip (Floor 1, Carina 0)


Mia's Cookies

The Neighborhood Girls' Show

Carina In Her Crib

Pouring Water on Their Heads

The Downed Tree Limb

Patrick Wields the Chainsaw

Laney is 4!

Happy Birthday to my Little Princess! Laney turned 4 yesterday with a bang, and had a fun filled, patriotic, princess day.

We walked in the Takoma Park Independence Day parade, met Miss Maryland (a REAL princess with a REAL tiara!), had friends by for a playdate, opened presents, ate pink princess cake, and stayed up late to watch fireworks on TV and play with glow necklaces. By the time her day was over, Laney was out in less than 2 minutes.

Patrick and I were able to watch the local Takoma Park fireworks from our porch (a bonus I will miss when we move).

Overall, a very happy 4th for us and our newly 4 year old.

Mia is 6!!!

Mia turned 6 this week and it just amazes me how time has flown by. How can my little baby be 6?!?

She had a fancy diva party. We hired three 12-year-olds to come do makeup, hair, and nails; we made homemade lip gloss from Kool-Aid and Crisco; and we made bead necklaces. We played freeze dance and had a make-up cake and Mia opened presents in front of her friends for the first time. I think she had a great time!



Mia had her Kindergarten "graduation" ceremony in her classroom the last week of class and received a medal from her teacher for being so soft and sweet - it was the "Soft Pillow" medal - too cute! I guess she saves her loud spunky side for home. :) The school also put on a variety show and Mia's class did a dance that made me blush a little, but it was cute. I'll try to post some of it later, but it's a huge file and I'm still trying to get it off of Patrick's camera.



I have to say, a year immersed in Spanish has been incredible! Not only can Mia read and write and do basic math in English, she can do that in Spanish! And she can talk to people in Spanish! She may not be fluent, but she can carry on full conversations with people about basic subjects, and her pronunciation is amazing. She has surpassed my Spanish skills and I turn to her for help at times. It's really an amazing program.

With summer upon us it's getting more and more difficult to find time to write, but I promise only to try and at least put labeled pics out every month or so to keep everyone up to date. By the way, did I tell you we had our house painted? It's not green anymore.

Pictures

I'm still recovering from a few days of no sleep and too much to actually get done in a day, but here are some pictures from the last few weeks - enjoy!

6PM Encore...

The Wait is Over!! (for Mia, anyway...)