OBX Beach Fun

We are back from our trip out to the Outer Banks. It was so much fun; the girls couldn't get enough of the beach!

The girls buried Arturo in the sand...

Emma and Alexa have the giggles!

These pictures were taken after we got home from Elizabeth's party Saturday night. The girls promptly ate both the cupcakes that EZ gave them. They also had the giggles. They played and laughed with each other for a good 10 minutes, completely oblivious of us. It was really funny to watch!

Weekend with good friends and good food

(Note: All the pictures in this post were taken by Howard, photographer extraordinaire. When he is around, I don't even bother to take out my camera!)


Margaret, Howard and Aidan came up to DC this past weekend -- they came over to our place Friday night for dinner (more like chaotic shovelling of food) -- and all the kids got to hang out and run around wild. We were able to trick them into all sitting down for a group shot though.

On Saturday night, Elizabeth had a BBQ at her place -- even though the kids ransacked her place (and Alison's) -- sorry to both of you! -- everyone did have fun. And the consensus was that Chris grills up some mean fajitas!

Reston Festival

This past weekend was the annual Reston Festival. As usual, the girls spent most of their time in the Wee Play tent filling up trucks and cups with rice. Emma also did lots of the art projects they had, and the girls got caricatures done of themselves...they came out really good! And it was so hot, everyone got a Sno-Kone :)

Thank you Alison for the Dress up Skirt!

Little Chefs in the Making

Ok, I know this is sort of silly that I'm posting this on the blog, but the girls had so much fun making Pizza Bagels for dinner tonight, that I had to snap a couple of pictures. Our new thing the last 2 weeks or so is that the girls have helped me with making dinner each night. It slows things down by a lot and the kitchen gets really messy, but they take their jobs seriously and I think it really does make them more interested in trying some of the new foods we have made.

Backyard Fun

We had a laid back July 4th. The girls really wanted to play with the sprinkler in the backyard, and they had a good time making "chocolate milk." This top secret recipe includes dirt and water...

Here's Emma giving the Jetta a final wash before he meets his new owner... :(

Laid Back Sunday

We went to Mark's Duck House for Dim Sum Sunday (Yum!) where Emma loved the Shrimp Dumplings and Alexa couldn't get enough of the Radish Cakes!

The girls were attached to Chowie Jo Jo the entire weekend. Here they are spending their last moments with him before he headed back to Pittsburgh.

Alexa Gay, Firefighter/Princess!

We had a very small party for Alexa to celebrate her 2nd Birthday. She had asked for a "Firefighter/Princess" party (really, she asked for that!) so that's what she got. We started off by visiting the local Fire station, where the adults were WAY more interested in everything than the kids, and kept asking tons of questions.

Then we went back to Old Quincy, where we had Burgers and Dogs and the girls bounced and roller coastered around.

Piñata time! The girls taking a whack at the piñata.

Here's Alexa the next morning diving into her presents. The girls love the "lemonade stand" from Sydney and Julia, and have already sold us many $20 cups of milk...

...They immediately started fighting over the "Magic Wand" from Alison. (Note also the flashy beanie hat from Alison, so cute!)

...and actually begged to put on the dress from Nina, Hannah, Tessa, and Lukas. (She wore it all Sunday!)

The Celebration continues at CBA

Alexa must think all birthdays last for days and days. On Friday, we brought in cupcakes to her class. She's starting to get the hang of this!