American Idol or Dancing with the Stars?

Frying Pan Park

We went to Frying Pan Park over the weekend -- here is Alexa trying so hard to feed the baby calf one piece of hay!

New roof for Theresa

This post is for Theresa and Steve -- check out the new roof! Sorry I couldn't get any truly close up shots, but it really does look very nice. You can click on each pic to get a much better view of it. See you in a few days! -- Fran

Belated Easter Egg Hunt

Two weeks late, we finally had our Spring Egg Hunt in the backyard. Alexa, as usual, was focused and all business. The older girls were so busy running around, they ran past eggs many times in their excitement. And little Jujy did good staying upright and picking up all the eggs that Ginny kept dropping!

Alexa had a FULL bucket!

After the hunt, the girls settled in to check out the loot!

Great Falls

Finally, a beautiful and warm weekend -- and we spent Sunday morning at Great Falls Park. Alexa got to ride in the back pack (which she dubbed the "high chair") and the girls got to run around as much as they wanted, which was A LOT.

Here is when Emma and Alexa figured out that they could throw small pebbles into the falls -- so they were on their hands and knees picking stones. We also got to play "Pooh Sticks" with Dandelions, which Emma calls "Daisylions."

Reston Town Center

Emma loves her bike!

Good thing Alexa doesn't have a license yet!

Green Thumbs

The girls picked out flowers and then painted and decorated their pots last week. So far, we've done a good job watering the flowers and keeping them alive!

Alexa enjoying a ripe Mango

Circus

It was too cold to play outside over the weekend, so Arturo brought the outdoor toys inside the garage. I came back from my food shopping trip to see the Circus... Alexa on the balance beam and Emma on a homemade trapeze.

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens and Frying Pan Farm

We took advantage of the beautiful weather at the beginning of the week and went to Meadowlark on Monday. On Tuesday, we met the Orozcos at Frying Pan and the girls had a blast too...

Busy Weekend

Though we didn't do anything special, it was a busy Sunday for us. Last week on a walk, the girls and I found some nice big flat rocks, and today they decorated them with paint.

In the afternoon, Arturo drew a picnic table for them using sidewalk chalk and they had a birthday party for Arturo, who according to Emma, was celebrating his 4th birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy! On the menu was: Chocolate Soup (cup of sand), Spicy Tofu (cup of sand), and Strawberry Cake with Grape/Lemon/Tofu icing (another cup of sand). YUM.

Emma also took lots of pictures with the camera. Here are some of the funny ones she took. The 2nd one is a pic of Alexa in the middle of a temper tantrum. Funny.

The Reston Egg Hunt

This is the Reston "Egg-normous" Egg Hunt. Despite the cheesy name, it's actually lots of fun. We got there early and had a picnic lunch which was really nice. There were also lots of carnival games and a moon bounce set up. Emma did this thing where you have to throw a bean bag into this hole far away -- she was 3 for 3 -- and she didn't even look like she was trying, so I'm thinking we have a little basketball star on our hands!

Next was a visit to the Easter Bunnies... The funny thing here is, if you look at the pictures, Emma is always doing this "half turn" pose, which perhaps looks "cute." In actuality, I'm standing just off camera to the kids' side, and was trying to get Emma to turn all the way around. But she wouldn't budge. She's all smiles, but I think inside she's thinking, "I don't know what these things will do to me if I turn all the way around!"

The hunt is divided by age, and since the girls are in different age groups, we decided to have Alexa join in with the 3-4 year olds, rather than have to go to 2 hunts. We were slightly worried that Alexa would be run over by aggressive preschoolers, but she held her own. In fact, she ended up with more loot in her basket than Emma! As soon as she figured out what the goal was, she was all business, cleaning up the eggs and candy all around her. It was actually quite funny to watch.

Decorating Easter Eggs

Over the weekend, we decorated Easter Eggs. Though it was fun, decorating eggs with a 3 yr. old and a 1 yr. old is nerve wracking because:
1) The eggs are cracked before they are even dyed. (I think Alexa dropped at least 2-3 eggs on the floor)
2) It is MESSY doing this - the dye does not come off your clothes that easily...
Still, we had tons of fun, and we had nice colored hands to show for it afterwards.