Seriously, she makes my heart melt…her smile, her sense of humor, her laugh, her personality…EVERY single thing about her I LOVE. Seriously, how did I get SO lucky!!
Witches and Princesses
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Halloween 2016
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Avery dressed up as a witch. Her hat and her broom didn’t last very long and the purple and black tights didn’t even make their way onto her legs!
- Emerson dressed as Rapunzel and experienced the blister problems that arise out of wearing high heels for the first time and having bangs that won’t cooperate.
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Harper dressed as Sophia the First and stuck close to Daddy as she was scared of the witches!
The witches…
Maddy girls and Mei Mei…
Gladwells in their Ghostbuster attire….
We had the pre trick-or-treating cul-de-sac party with pizza and drinks. Then the kids took off for trick-or-treating! Justin, Ludmilla, and I all went this year and we made it to way more houses than we did last year. I was really proud of the girls, especially Avery who walked the entire way (and didn’t take a turn sitting in Harper’s stroller).
Apple Picking
Apple picking has been on my long list of “fun things to do” for the last few years and finally Justin and I decided Saturday was the day. We started looking up orchards on Friday to find out that peak apple season for many of the orchards is in September (oops!). We came across one Macintosh Fruit Farm in the Shenandoah Valley that still had a variety of apples in season and looked like it would capture the girl’s attention for a few hours. We arrived in time for a late lunch. Justin and I had the BBQ sandwich, Emerson the cheese quesadilla, and Harper and Avery a hot dog. I love how big Harper’s eyes get when she eats a hot dog!
The food was actually pretty good and reasonably priced. After our bellies were full, we made our way to the orchards. The girls had fun looking for apples….
and posing….
Justin had fun trying to get apples high up in the tree.
The girls enjoyed watching.
We enjoyed using the fruit picker as a prop.
Harper got tired and wanted to be held pretty quickly. We settled on some piggy back rides instead.
The girls played on the playground, checked out the ponies, and checked out the horses.
We bought eight pounds of apples! Sunday we made homemade applesauce with some of the apples and we also decorated pumpkins with felt and stickers. It was a great weekend and it was neat that the girls and Justin and I all got to experience our first time apple picking together!
Emerson’s Bang Trim
Avery and Emerson LOVE art work! So when I found some scissors, cut up paper, and markers in their room, I was a little annoyed that they had taken those items into their room as they know art work activities are to occur only in the playroom. And when I found a little snippet of hair on the ground in the room while I was cleaning it up solo, I assumed that they cut their dolls hair (not that I thought that was okay). Fast forward a day later…I was looking at Emerson and noticed that her hair was looking as though she had bangs. I took a closer look and realized the hair I found was HER hair! I asked Emerson about it and with a straight face over and over she told me she didn’t do it. She tried to blame it on Avery a few times so I asked Avery about it and it was clear to me that Avery had no involvement. We took a break from discussing it again until later in the evening. I told her we would talk just the two of us after she put on her pajamas. Instead of going to her room to put on her pajamas, she came and found me in the laundry room and asked if we could talk now. I got down to her level and said of course. It was then that she admitted what she had done. When I asked her why she lied, she said she was afraid of getting in trouble. I told her that I was proud of her for telling me the truth now and that she was being brave and I appreciated that. I also made it clear that she is never to cut her own hair again.
Here is a picture of Emerson (fake smile) after she cut her bangs. 
Here is a picture of me at age 4 AFTER my mom took me to the salon to fix my long hair that I had cut myself!
Justin keeps telling me she is my child…you think?!?!
Reston Pumpkin Patch
We went to the Reston Pumpkin Patch for the third year in a row. They added a third moon bounce combo and while the girls were excited when they saw it, it somehow took away from the pumpkin patch experience. The choo-choo train wasn’t operational, the pumpkins seemed to be sparser than normal, the indoor fruit market was only half full, and there were minimal employees working there. While it was disappointing for Justin and me, Avery and Emerson still had a good time playing in the moon bounce combos. Harper had a good time looking at the baby pig and hanging out with Mommy and Daddy. Harper also enjoyed sitting in the wagon and Emerson enjoyed pulling her and picking out the large family pumpkin.
While it was somewhat disappointing, the fact that we stayed for a lot less time than I anticipated meant Harper could have a nap at home and Avery and Emerson could have quiet time….which meant Justin got to watch the second half of the Nats Game and the end of the Redskins game and I had time to finish the laundry, do an arm workout, prep tomorrow night’s dinner, and even had a few minutes to watch some of the Nats Game!
Avery Eye Update
It’s been a long while since I have posted an update about Avery’s vision, so here goes it. Avery has been wearing glasses for almost two years now and continues to do well with them. She has a regular pair that is tinted and then a very dark pair that she uses as her sunglasses. Avery’s vision hovers around 20/250 and 20/200 when using both eyes bilaterally. About a year ago the eye pressure in Avery’s right up started to go up so we monitored it for a few months. It continued to be high (mid 20’s) so we decided to start her on an eye drop once an evening to reduce the pressure. The pressure immediately dropped to the low teens and has stayed in the teens since she has been on them. Avery is still patching…going on five years now, which is hard to believe! She patches daily alternating daily between the right and left eyes for a total of 2 hours a day. Avery really likes her glasses and knows they help her to see. She had purple frames up until August of this year, in which she switched to pink frames!
Since having glasses, Avery has fallen three times while outside and landed directly on her glasses…the glasses have protected her face for the most part but each time has sent us into panic mode as the process for getting new glasses has proven lengthy. However, it is improving as we continue to search and find optometrist with labs that have the capabilities and experience making lenses with her prescription.
Dad is on duty
Stefanie was in Richmond Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning so I decided I needed to post a guest blog.
On Saturday Avery, Emerson and I learned all about Money. We colored pictures of coins as we learned about the presidents on the front and the objects on the back. We then played a game where we priced a few objects in the house, set them on the table and then I gave each girl $18 (play dollars) to spend at the store. One very fun item (a bead set) was priced at $20 so only if they went in together would they be able to buy the set. Each girl took a turn trying to make choices to pick which items they wanted with the money they had . . . Emerson had a really hard time and got very upset that she should not afford the bead set. Avery was having fun with the whole experience. After we played ‘store’ and Emerson stopped crying on the floor we talked about the experience and how it felt when we did not have the money to buy what we wanted, we talked about making difficult choices and that money is important to learn about it. Then we went upstairs to count the money in their piggy banks. Next weekend we are going to deposit their money in a bank account (one that has great APRs for kids savings!!!).
Sunday morning came and it was time to make breakfast . . . what else but the chicken fingers that Avery did not eat from OTB yesterday. We had chicken fingers and grapes for breakfast while we talked about the nature hike we were about to undertake. We had certain objects we needed to find (we found all but one). It was awesome!!
***Update 10/8/16 – Justin took Avery and Emerson to the bank to open their accounts and deposit their piggy bank money.
Sandbridge Saturday
We went to Sandbridge Saturday for the night to visit with Stacey and Cooper, their two little girls and some of their other friends. The drive was LONG and our time actually hanging out was short. But it was good to see Stacy and Coop and the girls had a great time playing with one another. Avery and Harper took to the other kids right away and had a great time playing with one another in the house. Emerson was content to hang out with the adults for much of the evening until some of the kids went for a night time walk on the beach with glow sticks and looked for crabs.
In the morning, the girls awoke early and quickly put on their bathing suits. Emerson had a great time building a kiddie pool. And Avery who was reluctant to go to the beach due to her fear of the ocean and the smell of the dead fish, ended up playing on the shoreline in the water and loved it! I was originally going to only post the one picture of all three girls, but Justin got some really great shots of the girls in the five minutes he had the camera out.
Harper’s First Day of Pre-school
Harpee on her first day of pre-school at VPC!
She did great! Justin and I both took her and we were scared she would have a meltdown due to her resistance to doing new things on her own especially with kids her own age. But she did great. I kissed her and she went to hang up her Dragonfly bag. Justin didn’t even get a chance to hug or kiss her goodbye. But since she went in, I knew we had to make a run for it before she knew what was about to happen. I picked her up at noon and she was actively participating in circle time and was all smiles when she saw me!
Kindergarten and Ballet – Here We Come
The long awaited first day of kindergarten finally arrived this morning! We have been talking about the big day off and on since the beginning of the year. Both Avery and Emerson have been pretty excited to start kindergarten and have only been a little nervous. The girls have been prepping for some time…getting their back packs, meeting their teachers, thinking about what they would bring to lunch, and even starting homework this summer!
The first day started with pictures in the backyard!
Followed by a walk to the bus stop for a bust stop breakfast.
I had actually wanted the girls to eat at home so their bellies were well fed with nutritious food but I did allow them to have something else if they wanted. Avery had a donut and a strawberry. I don’t think Emerson had anything…I think she was a little nervous and didn’t want to eat.
This was all the kids at the bus stop! 
Harper looked on!
And then before we knew it they were off.
I thought I would tear up but when that bus took off, I started to tear up more than I thought I would and when Fang rubbed my back, I started to actually cry which was only intensified when another neighbor commented on how sweet it was that I was so emotional.
I really didn’t worry about Avery and Emerson during the day and for good reason. They both came home saying they had a great day, although not sharing too many specifics.
Meanwhile, today was also Ms. Harper’s first day of ballet. She has been looking forward to this day for close to two years! Even this morning she was dancing around the house…doing plies and tapping her feet. She was READY….
…that is until she got to the dance class and she froze. She didn’t want to go in and while she did for a few minutes with Mila, it didn’t last long. And she spent the majority of the class watching from the outside.
On the way home, she was embarrassed and didn’t want to talk about it.
Poor thing….she finally talked about it that evening. I think she wasn’t expecting their too be too many kids and she froze. After a long discussion, she said she would be ready to dance next week. We shall see! We believe in you Harpee!