Witches and Princesses

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Halloween 2016

  • 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.

  • Harper dressed as Sophia the First and stuck close to Daddy as she was scared of the witches!

_mg_4446The witches…_mg_4444-3

Maddy girls and Mei Mei…_mg_4449Gladwells in their Ghostbuster attire…._mg_4451

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

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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!_mg_4315

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…._mg_4318and posing…._mg_4331 _mg_4329 _mg_4328

Justin had fun trying to get apples high up in the tree.img_4337

The girls enjoyed watching.img_4333

We enjoyed using the fruit picker as a prop.img_4349-1

Harper got tired and wanted to be held pretty quickly. We settled on some piggy back rides instead.img_4353img_4356

The girls played on the playground, checked out the ponies, and checked out the horses._mg_4369

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

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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. emerson-hair-cut-10-16

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!stefanie-haircut-age-4

Justin keeps telling me she is my child…you think?!?!

Reston Pumpkin Patch

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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.

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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

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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

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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!!img_5582  img_5585img_5588img_5593

***Update 10/8/16 – Justin took Avery and Emerson to the bank to open their accounts and deposit their piggy bank money.img_5611

Sandbridge Saturday

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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._mg_4273_mg_4269_mg_4270_mg_4257

Harper’s First Day of Pre-school

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Harpee on her first day of pre-school at VPC!

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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

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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!IMG_4076_MG_4092_MG_4100 _MG_4098_MG_4094 _MG_4101IMG_4081 IMG_4083 IMG_4087img_4075IMG_4070IMG_4115 IMG_4113_MG_4123 _MG_4110

Followed by a walk to the bus stop for a bust stop breakfast._MG_4132_MG_4163

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._MG_4141

This was all the kids at the bus stop! _MG_4154_MG_4157

Harper looked on!_MG_4142 _MG_4151

And then before we knew it they were off._MG_4168 _MG_4169_MG_4171 _MG_4173_MG_4179

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._MG_4192 _MG_4202

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…._MG_4180_MG_4188_MG_4191

…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.IMG_4015

On the way home, she was embarrassed and didn’t want to talk about it.IMG_4018

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!

Chicago

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This past weekend Justin and I took the older girls to Chicago for a long weekend. We decided to do a trip with just the older girl’s months ago. Initially we were going to visit NY but realizing we wanted to have the girls to have their first plane experience sooner than later, we decided we would go to Chicago. I had never been and felt like it was one of those cities I may never visit if I didn’t make it a priority. So…Chicago it was!

We left on a 12:55 p.m. flight Thursday afternoon. It was perfect as we didn’t have to rush in the morning but with the time difference, we still had most the afternoon to explore Chicago once we got to the hotel. Justin especially had done a lot of talking about the flight to prepare the girls so they wouldn’t be frightened of flying and it paid off. The flight was non-eventful and the girls did great!img_3683 img_3686 img_3689 img_3691 img_3693img_3696 img_3699

We took a cab to our hotel (Springhill Suites in River North Area). It was the girls first time a cab and they were without car seats so they thought they were living it up.img_3700 img_3701

We settled on Springhill Suites as the hotel room was a little bigger and breakfast was included in the rate. The hotel room was ready early so after quickly unpacking we set out towards Navy Pier. While we traveled with the double stroller, we decided the girls would walk. They complained some, especially Emerson, but overall they did pretty well walking. First stop was the beach. Seriously, how cool to just go to the beach surrounded by city buildings. The girls put their feet in the cold water._mg_3794 _mg_3800 _mg_3801 _mg_3797

Next stop was Navy Pier. The girls rode the carousal by themselves. Emerson wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel…Avery didn’t. It would have been ridiculously expensive to ride so we managed to divert our attention elsewhere and somehow never made it back to the Ferris Wheel._mg_3807

The Children’s Museum was on the Pier and it was just our luck that the high admission prices are waived every Thursday from 5:00 to 8:00…we arrived at 4:45! The girls had fun playing in the fire department area, climbing, and exploring a few other exhibits._mg_3816

We didn’t stay as long as we probably would have had we paid to get in but without having dinner reservations, wanting to get into a good restaurant, and knowing time was against us with regards to the girls behavior being that we had gained an hour, we decided an hour would have to do.img_3831

I had done a bunch of research on restaurants prior to the trip and I identified several top rated in each of the areas I thought we might visit. That led us to Volares, which was excellent Italian food. Great find…we were very happy with our choice! Justin and I shared a kale salad that was excellent. I had salmon for dinner. Justin had the chicken parm. Avery had plain pasta and salami. And Emerson shared a little bit of all of our dinners. Yum…my mouth is watering just writing about it now. And the service was excellent!

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We strolled back to our hotel, gave the girls a bath, and were all in bed at 9:58! Since we were all in the same room we all went to bed at the same time. We all slept great and for over 9 hours…probably not great for the girls, but awesome for me and Justin!

Friday morning we woke, ate breakfast in the hotel, and then headed out for our next adventure. Again, we had the girls walk. We headed to the river as we were planning on taking a 11:00 boat tour; however, when we got there the tour we were planning on taking wasn’t recommended for children. We decided to take the 4:15 boat tour recommended for children (the price was half as much as well). So we decided to head towards Millennium Park. We saw the Bean.img_3720 img_3722img_3728_mg_3851 _mg_3858 _mg_3860 _mg_3861

Emerson wanted to take some pictures as well. She went finger happy and probably took at least 20 of the same shot.img_3726img_3730 img_3738 img_3739_mg_4034_mg_4030

We just walked and explored more including walking past the Museum of Art, which Justin would have LOVED to go to had we had the time to fully devote to it and Avery and Emerson appreciate it.

We then made our way to the Crown Fountain. I had packed bathing suits so the girls stripped down and let loose. At one point they ran into each other and fell and Justin managed to capture it on video. I managed to capture it on camera._mg_3880 _mg_3881 _mg_3886 _mg_3887 _mg_3889 _mg_3890 _mg_3891 _mg_3892 _mg_3894_mg_3895 _mg_3897 _mg_3896 _mg_3898 _mg_3900

While the girls were playing some twenty something workers were doing a random act of kindness for their company and started giving away ice-cream._mg_3902 _mg_3905 img_3908

We then made our way to The Gage for lunch. It was excellent. I had an heirloom tomato salad and Justin had the NY Strip sandwich special. Emerson was thrilled because she got to have her own mac and cheese and Avery ordered (but didn’t eat) chicken tenders and fries.img_3749 img_3748

After lunch we headed back to the hotel and rested for about an hour before we went back out again.  Again, Emerson took about 30 pictures of Justin and me. img_3756 img_3757 img_3763 img_3765 img_3766 img_3767 img_3770 img_3771

We left the hotel a little after 3:00 so we could get to the boat tour early. We decided to bring the stroller since we knew we could store it on the boat and the girls had already done a lot of walking that day. The boat ride was great….it was 90 minutes but went by really quickly.img_3775 img_3777 _mg_3911 _mg_3914 _mg_3965

Chicago is just a really cool city and it was neat to hear about the history of the city. Avery fell asleep about halfway into the trip.img_3937 img_3949

We didn’t get off the boat until 6:00 and we knew the girls were tired and hungry so we decided to go to Portfillos, which was a well-known “fast food” restaurant in Chicago. Based on the reviews I knew it was an order at the window type place. I anticipated it to be small; however, the place was huge and a little overwhelming. We got hotdogs, burgers, and chili. It was okay…definitely cheap and I’m glad we tried it out, but that type of food always leaves me feeling blah. For dessert Emerson had a smoothie (she barely ate her dinner as I think she was saving up for the smoothie) and Avery had a chocolate cone. Justin and I shared the vanilla and chocolate custard…it was cheap and delicious!

We took a few selfies on the way back and pics by the canal before heading back to the hotel.img_3786 img_3787_mg_3994 _mg_4001 _mg_4003 _mg_4004 _mg_4007

Saturday morning we headed back towards Millennium Park with the girls in the stroller. We hadn’t seen everything we wanted the day prior. We walked past the Art Museum and took a picture with the Lions that was part of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off…I only vaguely remember the famous sight after Justin telling me._mg_4010

We then headed to Buckingham Fountain. Again, Emerson wanted to take some pictures and probably took about 30…some of me and some of me and Avery. When she was taking one of me and Justin, a man offered to take one of the four of us.img_4013img_4018 _mg_4022_mg_4024 img_4015

We then walked along the river and past Cubs Stadium, where a pre-season game was about to start. We headed to Lou Malnati’s for some deep dish pizza, which was pretty good. After lunch we headed in the direction of the Lincoln Park Zoo via a quick stop through the Crown Fountain._mg_4027

We walked for a bit before deciding that while the trip was walkable, we would waste too much time and energy if we walked there. So we hopped in a cab and saved about an hour of time and energy.

Since the zoo was free, we probably didn’t explore as much of it as we would have had we paid an entrance fee, but we saw a few exhibits and the girls got a kick out of watching the gorillas.img_4035 img_4041

When we exited the zoo, this was the view…just gorgeous._mg_4045 _mg_4048 _mg_4049 _mg_4050 _mg_4052

We walked back to the hotel from the zoo. We were planning on going to the beach area right across from the zoo, but somehow missed the path to cross the highway and had we turned around, we most definitely would have had to get a cab ride home. We stopped at Portfillos on the way home for custard and a smoothie for Emerson. The day was very hot and we were so sweaty so Justin and I took showers in the hotel while the girls played together and colored. For dinner we went to Frontera Grill. The wait was an hour…we strolled around trying to buy some time…passing by the firehouse._mg_4057img_3867 img_3871_mg_4056

Then Avery fell asleep before dinner and Emerson sat at the bar with me complaining that the wait was taking too long.img_3875img_3873 img_3874

The food was good quality but not superb….as I expected it would be.  Again, Emerson was practicing her photography skills.img_3876 img_3879

Sunday morning we took the girls in the stroller and just started walking. We headed along the canal and the river and just kept walking for about an hour….it was a hot day again….we came upon Maggie Daley Park, which was an awesome outdoor playground. Avery had some trouble and kept crying so we didn’t stay for too long. For lunch we headed back to The Gage since it was so good and we knew we could expect one last good meal in Chicago.img_3884

And after a quick walk back to the hotel, our trip in Chicago was coming to an end. Our trip was great. The weather was great. The food was great. Our adventures and the sights were great. The girls were overall well behaved. It was busy but relaxing at the same time. While we sure missed Harper, Harper was having a great time being alone with Papa and Grandma. I don’t know when, but we will go back to Chicago again!