Lorax 3D!!

Mike started his 2 weeks of vacation yesterday.......so it is a good excuse to start squeezing in some quality time with dad before starting his new job March 19th!!

Mike took Abby to see the new Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax" movie today!

Abby's first 3D movie.....they had a nice lunch/movie date on this very rainy day!!

(meanwhile I was at the Dr's office with Maddy to resolve the pinkeye she woke up with this morning......lucky me)

 

 

Maddy and her "friends"

 Maddy is really getting into entertaining her "friends"!

Found her setup all by herself recently at the computer so they would be entertained too.

Nature Girl

Mike took Abby for a ride to a potential fishing hole....they apparently spotted some water fowl as well!

Hair Stylist.....

I LOVE when I catch the girls being kind to each other, so I ran for the camera.

Often our days are filled with "NO" and "MINE" and someone cries, getting along unsupervised is priceless.

Last night after bathing Maddy, I found her in the corner playing with princesses, and Abby behind her brushing her hair!

Maddy very much dislikes when I brush her hair after bath time, or anytime.....Really she just wants everything to be in her control. But for some reason she let Abby sit and brush her hair for a good 10 minutes! So sweet.

Colorful Hands

 The girls had fun painting for some craft time last weekend.

I agreed to Abby doing some finger painting, and it turned into hand prints!!

School Pictures

 Abby had school pictures last week......I never actually buy them because they are WAY overpriced, but I snapped a few quick pics of what she looked like! She actually picked out the jacket to wear, and let me do her hair! And posed of course!!

 Then the other night the girls were going crazy with dress-up (aka littering our house with toys and tutus!!) and she came into the kitchen dressed quite diva-like! I called her Paris Hilton since she had the dog in her hand!

Daddy's Girl

Mike came home with flowers one night last week......logically of course, Abby assumed they were for her.....Great now I have to battle for flowers :)

Socks!!!

 

So I know this is an odd photo, its the best I could do to capture the underneath of Maddy's bed.

On a regular basis, whenever you put her to bed/nap with socks on, at some point she takes them off and drops them down the back side of the bed (crib) against the wall. Never are they tossed around the room, only dropped behind the bed. Clever little kid. Took me a while to figure out where are these missing socks were!!  

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day 2012!!

Sending our love from Virginia!! 

Craft day!

Its a quiet craft/movie day today at our house!

After a trip the gym this morning, I promised the girls a day of crafts and movies!

Mommy has a to-do list a mile-long! Hopefully this buys me some time to get it done.

SNOW!!!!!!

Winter FINALLY decided to kick in last weekend, mid-February. Who knows how long it will last, but so far the weather has remained in the mid/high 40's since!! And it snowed Saturday night!!

The girls woke up at 7am promptly and we heard them run into the living room, and Abby started shouting "Look Maddy, snow!!!!"

 Shortly after she had me out of bed and begged to put her snow gear on!

It was only a dusting, but it was enough for her to enjoy.

Similar Sisters

Gave them a bath the other night and had to capture how cute they are, but also how similar they are starting to look! Maddy is starting to catch up in size!! Amazing, since she is SUCH a picky eater these days. Good thing she loves her milk!!

Little Gymnast

Abby won a FREE month of gymnastics after attending a birthday party at the facility a few months ago. So we are redeeming them this month. She LOVES it!!!! Two more Saturday's to go!!

Here are a few shots from last weekend.

 I think she said this is the spider move. Not sure....

 Here she is in action. Its a fun toddler class with many different stations for all the activities.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Mike's 35th birthday was last week. 

We celebrated at home with a delicious homemade dinner and yummy lemon cake! 

Where do the years go??

Maddy the knight in armour.....or a blanket

Our dress up items get used more than I ever thought. Maddy showing off her finest knight costume!

Reiss Visit- January 2012

Sadly, another wonderful Reiss visit has come to a close.

Great-Grandma & Grandpa Reiss came out to spend the last 8 days with us.

We did just about everything kid friendly in the area, and were only kept indoors by rain for 2-3 days. And got lucky with a few days in the 60's even for outdoor fun!!

We visited the Zoo, Childrens Museum, Bounce House, Petting Farm, and the mall play area.

Their visit coincided with my 31st birthday, so we had a chance to go out together for dinner as a big family. The girls TRULY enjoyed having them here, and we will miss them greatly.....until we see them again this summer.

 Abby & Grandpa enjoying some cookies

 Hot chocolate by the fire on a cold night.....Abby's favorite!!

 No surprise, the kids LOVED getting Grandpa on the floor for some fun. Burying him in pillows and blankets (fort-like) was Maddy's specialty!! Where did he go?? :)

 Maddy's favorite time with Grandpa was doing her puzzles.....OVER & OVER on his lap!!!!

 The night of my actual birthday I arranged in advance for us to attend a kids performance of "Clifford The Big Red Dog" stage show that was happening that night only. So we went to the show after a delicious dinner at The Yard House restaurant.

 Girls during dinner

 

Mike showing off his half yard of beer

My birthday gift from Mike and the girls!!! A new waterproof camera for all of our water activities year round!! I can't wait! This way he will get to see the girls swim and play at the beach while he is away most of the summer, without me risking our good camera! We will test it out in March as we head back to the indoor water park for another fun 2-day trip, before Mike starts his new job!

 The show! The kids were about 90% captivated....Maddy, a little less. But it was a cute outing for us all to attend together.

 

The first weekday of their visit, both girls were in school, so we got a chance to spend a few hours together without them. Unfortunately it was the one gloomy/cloudy day, but we made a go of it and headed to the Fort Story Lighthouse anyhow. We walked to the top to get a little exercise :) Then we had a nice lunch in downtown Norfolk without the kiddos before returning to pick them up!

 

(The new lighthouse that is currently in service)

 (The old lighthouse that we walked up)

And their trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to Costco!! Enjoying a churro with Maddy while the van got new tires!!