Celia Evidently Figured out the iPad camera

and shared it with her sister!

Can you guess which one loved the beach?

For the past two weeks we have spent time in the Outer Banks.  This has been an annual trip, Pete stays for a week and my Mother, the girls, and I stay for 2 weeks.  This year was a bit different because the second week was rainy, not that warm, and the ocean was wild.  We did find time on the beach almost everyday and time in the pool a few times the second week.  The first week the weather was very nice and the girls were able to go to the pool at least one time, typically two times each day.  Celia has a puddle jumper that she uses in the pool however she remembered her lessons from the previous year and basically after day one she did not need it.  So I put it on Audrey to see what she would do and she loved it.  She was a little over confident though and needed to be watched like a hawk.  There was a ledge all around the shallow end and Audrey would just jump off the ledge, no matter if someone was close by or far away (no one was ever out of arms reach after!).   She also would whine "no Mommy" when I would help her swim in the water.  She thought she could do it herself.  With the puddle jumper she actually was fairly good at kicking her feet and moving around however she sometimes drank some water so I was sure to keep her up high.
Celia was so good in the water that by the second week she learned how to do a hand stand in it!  She also had fun playing with friends she met at the pool and on the beach.  The ocean water was not as scary to her and she came into the ocean a few times with me.  She was not so brave in the ocean though but she will get there.  I was fearless as a kid in the ocean so maybe a little fear is a good thing.

I will write more about the beach later.  Can you guess which child liked the sand and the ocean water??

Cole's party

We celebrated my nephew Cole's birthday party a month ago.  I just noticed the picture of a game that my sister in law created.  The theme of his party was Dr. Seuss.  I thought it was a really cute idea.  I thought it was very funny that Cole thought it was just as much fun to get in the fishy pond as to catch the magnetic fish!!

How I get the kitchen cleaned up

So Audrey often plays velcro with me, especially when I am trying to clean up the kitchen.  My solution??

In a few weeks

In a few weeks this little girl will be 5.  I am not one of those Moms that says "Oh where has the time gone". I have had a blast with her and really I know where the time has gone, I have enjoyed it all.  I am excited to see what the future brings.  

In one year she starts kindergarten but this year she is in pre-k with a teacher that is supposed to be beyond amazing.

Oh, but guess what this little girl has started doing??  She has started reading.  Basically she can sound out any three letter word and is starting to get harder words.  

In a few weeks we will do our annual parking lot photo and hope that this year is better then last year

Life as it is

So I was thinking of some things that the girls have done or said lately.

Celia:  Well you know Audrey would not throw fits if you just gave her, her way
Me:  Well then she really would not learn to behave
Celia:  Well Mom it would be a lot more quiet if you just gave her what she wants all the time
Me:  Another random reason why not
Celia:  Well, you could just give me whatever I want

Pete and I were giving the girls a bath one night.  They are old enough that we can do some things around the bathroom, but we do not have to be sitting in there right beside the tub.  Okay, or so we thought.  We all of a side hear a slight thud and then "I'm Done" and Audrey was out of the tub!!  She acted like it was an every day thing but Pete and I were a bit surprised as it was a rough landing.

Audrey is not the calmest child, she has a temper.  She hits Celia when she is mad at her.  One day Celia had been a bit rough.  She had just finished yelling at me that she did not want to do something and was almost on her way to timeout when she straightened out.    She then began playing with Audrey.  Audrey hit her.

Celia whining "Audrey hit me, ouch, ouch, Mommy Audrey hit me"
Me:  You need to tell Audrey no and said it loud
Celia:  Oh no Mommy, I can not yell at Audrey, I love her

Thanks sweety, the fact that you were just yelling at Mommy 5 minutes prior makes me feel awesome.

We lost electricity a week or so ago.

Celia:  Well if we have no tv, I can just watch tv on the iPad
Pete:  Well no, there is not internet so no tv on the iPad
Celia:  Okay, we can cook dinner in the stove if we do not have electricity
Me:  No, that works on electricity
Celia:  Oh, I know we can use the microwave!!

Celia played dollhouse with her Grandpa a short time ago.  There is a longstanding joke with them that they try to throw a dollhouse character off the roof that they call Grandma.  Everyone loves Grandma, it is just a longstanding funny thing.  But Celia and Grandpa had not played that in awhile.

Grandpa told her that he would pretend to be Grandma and fall of the roof
Celia:  Oh okay, but don't tell Grandma we still do that!

Of course that made Grandpa go right home and tell Grandma!

Audrey loves to play with this plastic dog that she can pull around with a string.  She calls him puppy which sounds like Poppy.  When she asks to go to the potty she also says poppy.  Confusion sometimes happens.  The other day she came up to me and said "I unt (want) poppy".  So I took her off to the bathroom in which she said "No".  I got annoyed, went and got a reward for her and tried to get her to go to the potty.  She grabbed the cookie from my hand and ran away.  I was really mad now.  She said again "I unt poppy".  But she said it a little louder.  So now I am mad and there is no way I am getting another reward, I tried again to get her to go with no success and she is still saying "I unt poppy".  So finally Audrey went over to the closet, searched and presented me with puppy.  I sort of felt bad.   Then she looked at me and said "I poppy".  So evidently after all that, she now had to go to the potty...

Is there anything more cute?

Playing in Thunderstorms

At my Mom's house we played in a Thunderstorm.  Okay, not really but it was looking a bit crazy and we were out so we had some fun.  The storm ended up not being that bad once it arrived.  I am not sure why Celia was pouting, but she was.

I love this picture of Audrey blowing the bubbles, she is trying so hard!!!

Visit with Katie

So we brought Katie up here for a fun filled week.  We had plans for a variety of activities however the weather was not nice, it was either rain or hot as $#^&.   My girls are used to going out in the heat and walking for awhile but I was not sure if I should put Katie through that.

We did visit our library on craft day, we went to a children's museum in the evening one night for $2 admission night, and we visited Longwood Gardens.  The visit to Longwood was good at the end but the beginning was rough.  Celia evidently was out of the practice of hiking in humid weather.  I thought that when the weatherman said that it would be 85, it would be perfect however I failed to listen to the excess if humidity warning.  We were all dripping with in a few minutes.  Celia was whining and although Katie was not complaining, she was dragging.  Audrey was fine, she had the BOB stroller.  She kept giving the two girls looks like what on earth is your problem...

To make matters worse when we entered the conservatory after walking to two tree houses, there was a field trip in the children's garden with counselors that were too interested in their cell phones then the kids.  So it was chaotic.  Luckily after about 10 minutes they left.  The girls then decided this was a good trip.

Happy Birthday to the Best Grandpa!

Our journey to Tennessee part 2

So Monday we started out on our 10 hour journey to Tennessee.  By we I mean my Mom, Celia, Audrey, and I.   It was not that bad.  It helped that my Mom and I shared the driving and Celia had a portable dvd player.  We arrived a little before dinner time at my sister's house in Tennessee.

The cousins were all happy to see each other.  Audrey loves my nephew Emmett and Celia and my niece Katie are best buds.  Emmett did request however that it would be better if Audrey were older and a boy!

We primarily hung out at my sister's house and let the kids just have a good time.  We did go to the Gaylord Opryland resort to visit.

We left with my niece Katie on Friday to go back to my Mom's house.  The 10 hour journey was again not so bad, some arguing and meltdowns about the dvd (my kid) but overall not so bad.  We arrived around dinner time again!

We went back to Lewis Ginter with my niece and as it often happens when we go there, there was a thunderstorm that cut our trip early.  On Monday I headed home with my niece and the girls.  That 4 hour trip home was far worse then the two 10 hr road trips we previously took.  It was awful!!!

Our extended journey to Tennesse part one

I do not think that I ever posted about our first longer trip of the summer (we took an earlier short trip to our neighbor's beach house). The weekend before July 4th, our Air conditioning stopped working. Okay, it started freezing around pipes, leaking, and then started to not cool. It was the hottest week of the summer. Actually it still remains as the hottest week of the summer, close to 100 or over each day. The repairman came out and got me all excited because at first he said, oh I think this is actually an easy fix. Then he said let me just make sure and check one last thing. Then he said, well it isn't going to be so easy. 5 days later, a new compressor and a pricey coil then it was fixed. So as of Monday despite many fans, the house was getting above 85 degrees. Audrey does not do well in the heat, it makes her reflux worse and some how she seems to do her water choking tricking frequently when she is over heated. But quite honestly, who does awesome when the thermostat is creeping to 90? So my Pete's parents were very quick to just say "Come on over". I decided to pack up and head to their place. However I was supposed to leave for Tennessee the following Monday and it looked like the AC would not be repaired much sooner then that. So I packed for an extended trip. It actually was a fun trip in Lancaster and we need to do it another time. We went to the North Museum

It was a very small museum and had some good points, the two headed deer head in the drawer was especially thrilling.  The kids had a good time.  Celia loved driving with Grandpa everyday to get Grandma from work.  We also had a great fourth of July with them!

So on Friday we packed up and headed to my Mom's house.  We did not leave for Nashville until the following Monday so we had a few days in Richmond.  We have enjoyed the Splash Park at Lewis Ginter park.  

Audrey was stung by a bee shortly after this picture was taken.  She stepped on the bee and grabbed her head and cried.  We thought she was hit in the head somehow until finally I thought to look at her feet and saw the stinger.  She was fine after about a minute but her poor little foot swelled quite a bit.  She walked on it fine though!  At least we now know she is not allergic to bees.

The differences in my girls

I was always the kid that loved to get her hands in the icky stick gross stuff. It felt great. My sister, not so much. It seems that trend is repeating itself. Can you tell which one of my girls is like me?

Our Little Star

Brandywine River Museum

A local museum near us offers free admission on Sunday mornings.  As a child I remember going to this museum quite often.  In the winter they have an amazing train and doll display.  Outside they often have craftsmen/women making their products.   My father was an artist on the side.  He did some wood carvings but primarily was a wildlife artist.   He was very talented and thankfully some of my gymnastics classes were paid for by a panting that he did, a nice barter.   In any case, I am assuming that it was because of his interest in art that we took those trips to the museum.  My Mom may be reading this and saying no, it was my idea, etc...  However I remember following my father along in the museum for some reason and I really remember looking out those big windows with him.  So I have that memory and who knows, perhaps I was out there in that hallway for another reason (I was always a perfectly behaved child so it really could not be due to anything negative).

So we decided this past Sunday to take the girls.  We had little expectations that they would be interested in the artwork, but it was a free activity and we decided to give it a try.  It was nice, we were able to see some nice artwork and I actually think the girls had a good time.  For the most part we let Celia set the pace.  We did not make her go very slow but she did look at some paintings.  Remember the big painting of the pig Mom? Celia liked it.

We did enjoy watching the group of people tubing down the river with the coolers of beer!!

Goodwill finds

I have not done a goodwill visit in over 6 months and so I decided to drag Audrey there while Celia was at VBS. $15 and I came out with these items. Gap capris, american eagle skirt, coldwater creek blouse, and an old navy sweater. All look new.