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“Oh The Places You Will Go”

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My first born babies graduated from pre-school today!  It’s hard to believe….the past two years at VPC Pre-school have just flown bye.  The girls were in separate classes this year allowing them to develop and grow as individuals.  Both girls had a really successful year.  Emerson has really come out of her shell.  She enjoys playing with other children and having her own friends.  She knows most the letters in the alphabet and can write her own first name and last name. She likes to do artwork and puzzles and enjoys doing beginner math!  Avery loves doing art work and her drawings and paintings are already surpassing my level of skill.  She knows all her letters and can write her first and last name (although sometimes still backwards). She likes to do puzzles and loves imaginative play.  

The last day of the school the girls had their end of the year concert.  They had been rehearsing their songs at home some and while they knew all the songs, I was a little nervous that they would have some stage fright.  The girls stood next to each other center stage and they were awesome…they were loud, knew their words, and had good accompanying hand and body movements.  Seriously, I was so proud of them….they did awesome.  And we have it documented forever!  (Last week Justin and I bought a video camera….as much as we love photographs, I wanted to have their little voices and funny sayings and special moments on video.  My long term goal is to put together a video highlight each year so that the videos are actually watched in years to come).
 
Justin took video of “concert” and I was supposed to take a few pictures, but where I was sitting, I could barely see Avery and Emerson so taking pictures were out of the question for me, but Justin managed to get one while he was also taking video. 
I also had them pose for theit obligatory last day of school picture in the same spot as their first day of school at VPC two years ago.  Avery was ever so slightly more into it than Emerson…this was the best we could get.
 
While VPC has been great and we are sad that Avery and Emerson’s time there is up, we are excited about them starting kindergarten and excited that Harper will be at VPC for the next two years!  
 
Happy Pre-school graduation day Avery and Emerson!  “Oh the places you will go!”

Life Recently

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Life recently has been busy…..Emerson has been sick on and off the last few weeks.  I traveled for work last week to Tennessee.  Harper has been sick running a fever the last few days.  Appointments and schedules have been non-stop the last few weeks between medical, vision, and grooming appointments; school related meetings; and extra-curricular activities (ballet, gymnastics, and swimming).  Weekends have been busy but overall a good mix of pleasure and play.  Work has been very busy and because of all my appointments I have been going to during the day, I have been working late at night many nights.  My schedule and the girls schedule will continue to be just as crazy through May.  While it is busy, I really am trying to enjoy the little moments because I know they won’t be little forever.

Meadowlark

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It’s been a year since we were last at Meadowlark.  We didn’t have a lot of time today in between gym, cleaning up the house and going to my parents for Passover tonight but we managed to squeeze in a little over an hour there.

My mom and I took the girls to Kohl’s yesterday and I bought them (okay mostly Avery and Emerson) new clothes to play in.  I really didn’t buy them much last year and they literally have only a few pairs of pants left that fit them and are without holes or stains.  Everything was 50% off and I had another 30% off coupon so I the dresses that Avery and Emerson are wearing I got for $7 each.  And the dress that Harper is wearing is a hand me down from Avery and Emerson….Gigi actually got it for Avery and Emerson a few years ago!

We have been coming to Meadowlark at least a few times a year since Avery and Emerson were born and just watching all my girls run around non-stop, I just take it all in….I can’t believe that they are already this big!  I adore each and every one of them….they each have so many qualities that just make me smile…I am so fortunate to be their mama!

Exploring Playing in the tea garden and attempting to get them all in the same picture (playing a game of who is taller) 

Running

Watching the fish and turtles

Attempting to get a picture of Daddy and his three girls.

Easter 2016

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The girls woke up a few minutes earlier than normal today in anticipation of finding what the Easter Bunny had put in their baskets.  He brought each girl their own jump rope, bubbles, coloring activity, and chocolate.  They were very excited!

We decided to go to the 11:00 Church service so we didn’t have to rush.  That gave me time to make pancakes and sausage for breakfast, which is usually a hit with the girls.  Avery loves the pancakes while Emerson and Harper are all about the sausage.

This year Avery and Emerson went to Sunday school during the service and Harper came with us since she was still too young for the Sunday school class.  That was fine by me as she wanted to cuddle with me the whole time and for one hour, she had all my attention and love.  After the service was over, we picked up Avery and Emerson (who had a great time and requested to go back to Sunday school again) and made a quick stop at Giant to pick up the rest of the groceries for the week.  We ate a quick lunch and then it was time for the Easter Egg Hunt in the yard.  We started in the back.  The girls were so excited that they ran out the porch door so quickly that it slammed on Harper and she fell.  She was not a happy camper and Ludmila helped her pick up her first few eggs.

Meanwhile Avery and Emerson were having the time of their lives running around to find eggs.

We eventually made our way to the front yard where the girls found more eggs and we attempted some posed pictures.  Avery and Harper cooperated but Emerson was not in the mood.   We got new mulch two weeks ago and our yard is so beautiful this time of the year with the cherry blossoms, even without the majority of the tulips blossoming as a result of the crazy warm weather we had in December.

We attempted to move picture locations a few times in the hopes that Emerson would partake. 

We had a little luck at times.

 

Cherry Blossoms, Shaved Ice, and 145 Active Minutes!

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Thursday was the second day of the girls Spring Break that we took off.  We had decided to go to D.C. for the day.  We didn’t have specific plans but when the forecast showed temperatures of 75 degrees, sunny skies, and peak cherry blossoms, we knew the Cherry Blossoms, walking and being tourists outside were on our agenda.

We decided to drive and parked in a garage near China Town. We started walking towards the mall and then decided we would walk by the White House.  How crazy is it that in my 36 years of living in Northern Virginia, I have never been to the White House….not even the White House gates!  My first experience was with my girls!

Next stop (after a coffee and bathroom break) was the Tidal Basin.

We started walking towards the Jefferson Memorial but we stopped before we made it there and enjoyed a snack on the picnic blanket.

After a stop for lunch at Corner Bakery, we headed back towards the mall with our first stop at the Sculpture Gardens.

Avery fell at one point and Harper came over to hug her…it was so darn cute.

Next stop was the Carosel.  The five of us were going to go on, but Avery chickened out at the last minute so her and I watched Daddy, Emerson, and Harper. 

Then because we still had two tickets, Emerson got to go for a second time…this time with Mommy.  

Last stop was soft serve ice cream and shaved ice from a street vendor.

We had an awesome day exploring D.C. as a family!  And as an added bonus, I had 145 active minutes and 18,000 steps!

Winning Isn’t Everything but…

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Justin and I took Monday afternoon off.  It was the first day of the girls spring break and we wanted to do something fun as a family.  While it is now officially Spring, it was cold and windy today, so we decided bowling would be the perfect indoor activity for the day.  The last time I was bowling was about 10 years ago and the time before that was five years prior to that.  We were impressed at how easy it was for the girls to bowl….bumpers were on every lane if you wanted them (we did) and they even had these cool ramp things that kids could use to bowl. Ms. Harper loved when it was her turn and often couldn’t wait until she found the swivel chairs behind our lane.

Avery had a great time and intently watched to see how many pins her bowling ball knocked down each time. She also loved to watch the ball come up each time.

Emerson getting a little coaching and encouragement from Daddy!  She was also quite the helper in making sure each person had the right ball before each turn.

Mama wasn’t so bad either.  Yes, the bumpers were there….but I only had a few rounds were my ball would have been a gutter ball.  In fact, my first frame, I had a spare!

We know winning isn’t everything BUT check out that final score!

Manis and Pedis

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I have been promising to take the older girls to the nail salon for several months now.  The real hold up was that my nails were sadly so disgusting that they weren’t even  worthy of a manicure or pedicure. But with spring around the corner, I decided it was time!  The girls picked out their own polish….a shade of purple for Emerson and a shade of pink for Avery. 

 Avery sat to my left and seemed to thoroughly enjoy each stage of the pedicure.
 
Emerson sat to my right and was very stoic the entire time but when I asked her to look at me for pictures, she would smile real big. 
 
The kids pedicure was shorter than mine so I decided to let them get manicures too.  
 
They were very quiet, relaxed, and enjoyed the mani/pedi experience.  And it was crazy to me that I was already at this stage of life with Avery and Emerson.  
 
Daddy and Harper met us at the salon and then we went across the street to Church Street Pizza for dinner and then to Cafe Amori for dessert and coffee.  Turns out it was open mic night so we ended up staying for about an hour enjoying the music.  It was an evening of a lot of smiles and a lot of laughs.