Hammocks, Hammocks and Goggles

We've had the traditional hammock out back since we moved in. Frankly we are a hammock loving family! While Nahnah and Pahpah were here for Fiona's birthday party they were kind enough to bring down my hammock chair so I could install that outside also. Sunday afternoon we hooked up the hammocks set out the sprinkler and enjoyed a little time outside. The girls were not nearly as interested in the sprinkler as they were in the hammocks!

Then the girls found their bird feeder which had fallen off the deck and broken. Oscar repaired it and they all set out to paint it (this time with outdoor paint, rather than our child safe washable paints).

And lastly for our random happenings! ... Luli has decided wearing her goggles at random times is better than wearing them in the pool. This is Luli the other night at dinner!

My First Sewing Project

My friend Molly has inspired me to get my sewing machine working more often than the necessary taking in of Luli's pants. She suggested a helpful book Bend The Rules Sewing, By Amy Karol. I have really enjoyed the book because it's rather easy to follow for beginners and has really cute projects. At first I wanted to do one of the kid projects but then I thought, I'd really like to make something for myself first. While it's not going to be sold in stores, I'm pretty darn proud of it for my first project. I went with the "charming handbag," I did 'bend' the rules a wee bit by using a pink thread on my brown lining, I thought it would add an element of fun. I really like it, but you can see my stitch veering here and there a couple times. Oh well! Like I said I'm really proud of it and can't wait to start using it.

What is cuter than a newborn? ... TWIN NEWBORNS!

We are thrilled to welcome Miss Laila and Mr. Lathan to the world. They're adorable little twins, I went to visit the Joof family last night at the hospital with my friend Jen. Laila and Lathan are lucky little babies to have an amazing big sister Toni Sahai and big brother Michael! Monsio and Tony look great for already having 24 hrs of twin time, and a c-section recovery. The babies slept the entire time we were there, Lathan looks exactly like his brother Michael, and Laila shows some likeness to big sis Toni Sahai. Have I mentioned that Laila is one of my favorite names?!

Jen and I spent the whole time rocking and holding babies. Then switching and rocking and holding babies. Jen is known for her amazing pep talks to newborns. All of the girls (including mine) have received the "you're a strong woman" talk and the boy pep talks are about treating women well and being a good boy. Both of the pep talks include a message about how loved they are and how lucky they are to have the parents they have and that family is larger than just blood relatives. It's really sweet and Monsio and I have both loved our kids getting their own "pep talks."

I took tons of pictures of the babies and their parents, so the few that are here aren't all. The others are up in the picasa album on the left sidebar, just click there. Enjoy these special little treats!

More New House Requirements

Luli now requires:
Paintbrushes
Mommy
Daddy
3 bedrooms

Happy Birthday Fiona

We celebrated Fiona's birthday a few days early. We had a backyard painting and swimming party. We had a great time with all of our friends painting and splashing and running through the grass. Fiona's been really excited about her party all week. Every time I talk about getting things or getting ready for the party, Fiona pats her tummy and says with a big smile "ME," she's also learned to say "TWO." We had a painted pot birthday theme, all the kids got to paint their own ceramic pots to take home. Then it was on to the water games in the pool and running through the sprinkler. The sprinkler was a clear favorite for Luli, Eleanor, and Hannah. Others found it delightful to stand and wait for the startling sprinkle on the face, then run with glee. We had some dry fun as well, the tent was set up with pillows and blankets, the sandbox was open and the playroom was easily accessible! After the party the girls both went down for naptime, Luli procrastinated a bit in falling asleep but Fiona fell asleep almost instantly.

Here's a picture of Fiona and Luli all dressed in their party dresses. They didn't last long, quickly replaced by bathing suits!

I'll do another post later all about Fiona and the wonderful new fun things she can do, and say!

Check out the pics on the sidebar also, I uploaded more party fun there.

pictures are coming soon

i have to upload pictures for the past few posts, i just wanted to get the posts up for now.

Swimming Lessons - Week Two

Luli has been attending her second week of swim lessons, and all seems to be positive. She's definitely excited to go and I can see progress on most things involving being on her tummy. Things on the back, well that's another story, back kicking and back floating are not going over very well. I happened to catch the experience of her learning to back float yesterday. I seriously laughed out loud, and thought "God bless Mr. Mike." He was so positive and encouraging with her and she could not have looked more like a spaz! I still crack up thinking about it, I had to re-enact the scene for Oscar last night (of course after the girls were in bed, I'm not going to mock my child). But you have to picture it, oh god if the camera were only waterproof, so Mr. Mike has Luli in the water and he's being really encouraging telling her to just lay her head back and put her feet in the water. YES, head AND feet are out of the water! So she has her head up and out with this scrunched up worried face, and her legs are sticking up out of the water pointing in jagged directions. She was so rigid I just couldn't help but laugh and think how she's clearly mine. Her lack of grace and fluid movement is a dead give away! I'll have to take a picture of me re-enacting the scene. But all the while Mr. Mike is telling her how great she's doing and how he's so proud of her and giving her high fives. I mean he was so great, in three years maybe she'll actually back float! HA!

Fiona is doing great. I hold my hands at water level now, just to catch her before her head goes under. She jumps so easily and loves it. She's also got a good swimming motion started when we go back to the wall for another jump. She likes to swim like a "fish" in the zero entrance area, and in the baby pool. This is when she floats and uses her hands to move her around (so her body is floating but her arms are straight down to the floor walking along). She seems to have a more natural ability for the pool, perhaps this is Oscar's trait for good athletics?

Oscar's Birthday Weekend

We had a weekend filled with Oscar birthday celebrations. We had an early start Saturday with Oscar running with the club and I walking with a neighbor and our girls, then meeting up all together at Starbucks for some post exercise chat and coffee. Then it was off to the Restaurant at Patowmack Farm for brunch, mmmm. This restaurant is easily our favorite restaurant. Not only is the food amazing (and organic) but the owner, Beverly, is like a friend. She's so great with us and our children, she makes each visit a wonderful memory. If you have the time for a five course dinner I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend dinner at the farm. No matter the season, dining in the greenhouse is beautiful. I would have to say that our Fall dinner there was remarkable, watching deer graze on the hillside, overlooking the Points of Rock Bridge and the colorful foliage. The rest of the day we enjoyed time as a family.

Sunday we took a fun family bike ride around the neighborhood, with a stop off at one of the parks so the girls could run around. Once we got home we had snack and playtime and Oscar got ready for some nice alone time to go windsurfing. He arrived home just in time for me to go to a friend's baby shower.

Monday was the actual Birthday, so I made the dinner he requested and his very favorite dessert, banana cream pie. Luli was very upset that we weren't having a party for Daddy. Clearly birthday = party. She then decided we would have a dinner party, seriously she told me we were. At her insistence we set the dining room table, made decorations to put on the chandelier and a nice big "Feliz Cumpleanos" banner for the girls to decorate. Plus both girls made drawings for Daddy. It was a fun weekend, and hopefully Oscar had a great birthday.

Beautiful Day to be Outside!

Today has been so beautiful, so we had to spend most of it outside playing with all our outside toys. The morning was spent out back playing with balls and digging in the sandbox. We did run some errands in between snack and lunch time though.

Luli wanted a picnic lunch and decided we should picnic in the dining room because "it's less windy inside." Lunch was painfully long, indoor picnics do not lend their hand to an efficient eat. Therefore they lost the option of playing in the pool before nap (which sun wise would have been great!). After nap time (nap for Fiona, rest for Luli - "I just wasn't that tired Mommy, I tried to though, sometimes that happens when you're a big girl, it's ok Mommy,") we ran to the grocery for two items needed to make dinner and then it was on to our final destination of the pool.

Wow, has one word ever created so much joy for Fiona?! I need to video her reaction to being told we're going to the pool, it's beautiful and hysterical. Enjoy the photos. I'm also trying a new thing with picasa photos on the sidebar, so you should be able to see more photos there (crossing fingers).

I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as we did!

Swimming Lessons - Day Four

Today we finished up week one of our two week swim lesson class. Luli is doing better every day and not freaking out at all. She was excited to go to class today and I didn't have to persuade her. But this may also have been due to the fact that we got an "Angelina Ballerina" DVD from the library today and I told her earlier she could watch it if she did well in swimming. A little bribery never hurt, right?

I kept an eye on her and she's doing better and better, definitely not ready to let go and swim laps anytime soon, but getting more comfy with the water.

Fiona on the other hand is my daredevil. Last week, at Aunt Joan and Uncle Tom's house she would have nothing to do with even putting her toes in the pool. This week she's jumping to me in the water without holding my hands. Seriously, she just jumps right to me. She's really not a stickler for waiting for "3" either, she can go on "1" "2" or "3." So be ready for her jump at any point! Frankly I'm not really sure if Fiona would have been comfortable in a class setting, things may have worked out for the best in the end (saving me some money, which isn't half bad).

Let's see if all progress is lost or retained on Monday!

Luli's requirements for a new house

A refrigerator
Crust
Shiny Things

Swimming Lessons - Day Three

Today was really grey and threatening to storm all day. I kept checking the lesson site to make sure we were on for lessons, amazingly 20 minutes before our lesson the skies cleared and it was really lovely.

Luli and Fiona got up from naps asking for the pool, Fiona was so excited! Fiona kept repeating "poo poo, I want poo." Luli put her bathing suit on all by herself, and Fiona wanted her's on faster than I could go.

We got there early and enjoyed some splashing and swimming in the kiddie pool, the big pool was on rest time. Luli was shy as she approached her lesson but went when she had no other choice. Fiona and I removed ourselves to the kiddie pool. That is, until Fiona decided to graduate to the big pool. Once we were in, she got more and more curious. She walked in from the zero entry until the water was up to her shoulders, then she wanted Mommy to carry her to the deeper section. I carried her to the terribly deep 3 ft section! There we jumped from the side repeatedly. She kept saying "I want more jump." So we'd count to three, jump and squeal with delight, then point and say "I want more jump," or sometimes it was just point and "more."

I watched Luli's progress to see how she was doing with her teacher and how her attitude was. I'm impressed with her belly kicking and more impressed with Mr. Mike's patience with the class. There is a wanderer who gets up frequently, she's also very comfortable in the pool and gets in while another kid is out with Mr. Mike. We're making progress, and overall I'm happy with both girls acceptance of the water this week.

We'll let you know how tomorrow goes!

Chicken and Spinach Curry

I love to cook. I love when my kids go play and I can put on some music and really get into the whole process of it. I like to really fool around with flavor, which wasn't always my way, and figure out what makes a dish really good. The greatest things about this dish are how easy, quick and yummy it is. Here's a quick recipe for it:

In your medium hot skillet mix 1Tbs panang curry paste, 2 Tbs Masaman paste, and 3Tbs Coconut milk. Let them bubble a bit then add in your cut up chicken (I use chicken tenderloins and cut those small because they're really yummy). Toss the chicken around in the paste/milk combo and let saute until nearly finished. Then add the rest of your can of coconut milk, 3 Tbs or more of Fish Sauce and let simmer until thickened. You can add whatever veggies you want, I used Organic Baby Spinach tonight and it was great. But I've also done asparagus, I just slightly steam them before adding to the curry. Then serve over rice. You can really play around with the pastes to get the right spicey for you, the fish sauce you can also play around with for a saltier taste. I hope you make it and ENJOY!

Swimming Lessons - Day Two

Today we had our second swim lesson. Let me rephrase, today LULI had her second swim lesson. After some firmly worded voicemail and emails, I have gotten a full refund on Fiona's lesson, so I'll be taking care of teaching her some water acclimation while Luli learns from Mr. Mike.

Luli did much better today with her lesson, well from what I could see. She didn't seem very thrilled about going to lessons today but I wasn't about to let her back out of it. We got there early and did some play in the kiddie pool, so everyone was excited about swimming now. When class started Luli acted very shy but I told her to go sit with her class and then left with Fiona. I did hang back and take a few photos. Later she seemed to be doing so well, kicking out with Mr. Mike and blowing bubbles in the water that I thought I could go a bit closer for a nice picture of her in the water with Mr. Mike. Well she saw me, and then she had a freak out in the pool - check out that face in the picture!

Fiona had a great time in the kiddie pool, splashing and walking around. Eventually she wanted to go to the big pool, where they have a zero entrance area. She had a great time there also, laying on her belly and "floating," splashing with her hands, kicking with her legs, and trying her hand at putting her face in the water. It was a great day at the pool for all three of us. And I have actually gotten to the point where I think I could survive taking both to the pool on my own!

The Website and The Blog

Day two of our blog is going well, seems MUCH easier than the website. I'm still downloading a lot of photos from our cameras, which is why there is a lack of photo display here. I'm also working on archiving the website to DVD for our keepsake. In an effort to do that, and make it somewhat easy, I've reactivated EVERY page I've ever made. If you're interested in a trip down memory lane you should check it out. It will remain this way until our ownership of the site runs out. Or if I need/want to put something up that can't go here I'll put it there. In the meantime here's a couple pics of the girls enjoying the river after a hot hike a few weeks back.



We went hiking at the Guest Shenandoah Park. It was a beautiful day, but unfortunately our favorite trail was closed half way through. The redeeming factor was the really nice swim in the river. We didn't even realize you could go swimming there, so we weren't prepared. But we were hot, enough motivation to strip the girls down to undies and diapers for a dip.
Luli was far more adventurous than Fiona. Luli could have spent the whole day in the river. Fiona was content to stay near the log and just splash a wee bit. After the dip, the girls were tired, as you can see here...there isn't much keeping this child awake!

Learning to Swim

Today was the first swim lesson for both girls, well it was supposed to be. The pool has an independent company teaching lessons there. In order to register you had to do it online and they gave no confirmation. I was a bit annoyed and intrigued to see if in fact we'd really be on a roster. Luli was signed up for the Preschool I class, so she'd take it on her own and Fiona was signed up for the Toddler class that is a parent assisted class. Well apparently no one else signed up for the Toddler class so they just put Fiona in the same class as Luli. She's definitely not ready for that. Luli had her class and Fiona and I went into the kiddie pool to play. Luli had a bit of a freak out with learning to get into the pool on her own and ran to me. I let her cry and then told her, "Luli you have to sit with your class and do as your teacher says, Mommy is going to leave with Fiona now." I knew if I stayed within sight she'd continue to freak out and run to me. From the kiddie pool I could safely watch her (and Fiona, obviously) but Luli couldn't see me. She was definitely scared but she did OK. We go back tomorrow, so we'll see if there is some improvement.

Fireworks - A mixed review

Thursday night our neighborhood held their fireworks spectacular. It is really amazing to see such a show from a neighborhood, it's quite professional and lasting at least 20 minutes. There were smiley faces, hearts, and star shaped fireworks as well as the traditional ones that shower from the sky.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner on the deck, got the girls in their pj's and then headed down the street with our blanket to a nice spot on a hill of the golf course adjacent to our house. We had a great spot, not near any crowds and the girls were able to run around and play on the golf course. Luli had her first experience rolling down a hill, taught and displayed by her father. Fiona really wanted to do it too but couldn't really figure out how to work her body for that purpose yet.

When the show started it was no surprise that she screamed in fright and ran straight for me. Fiona's always been easily spooked by loud sounds. Luli on the other hand made her way to Oscar's lap and enjoyed the show, commenting on how pretty they were and how she wanted more smiley face ones! Uncle Eyes seemed impressed by our lil' neighborhood show. Which this made it all the easier to decline the trip into the city to watch those the following evening and fight that crowd - no thanks!

Family Fun Filled Fourth

We enjoyed a wonderful Fourth of July holiday this year. Uncle Eyes, known to the rest of the world as Patrick, my brother, came to visit Thursday evening. He flew in from Portland and his 1.5 hr flight was only half the time it took me to drive to BWI on Thursday afternoon. Wow that was some crazy traffic, for three hours I didn't get out of 2nd gear! Anywhoo, the rest of the weekend was a lot of fun and a lot of reminiscing. Several of my maternal side cousins came down (I only clarify because I have the world's largest amount of cousins if you add in both maternal and paternal) and stayed with my Aunt and Uncle. We had a great time lounging by the pool Friday and Saturday, and laughing into the late night hours.

It was a lovely weekend to have my brother here, it's the first time he's visited us in this house, and at least 4 years since the last time he came down to visit. My cousin Bob is also leaving on a world tour next week so it was great to see him, and his lovely girlfriend, prior to his departure.

After days of eating and staying up late my body is yearning for the gym and my bed, an interesting combo!

Welcome to our New Blog

Hello Everyone,
I'm glad you've found us! I've been increasingly annoyed with the website program. This has led me to slack off in updating due to the amount of time it takes to update and the lack of time I have. I'm going to be playing around with things on here for awhile, figure out the best way to share photos, etc. Enjoy, and I hope to be a bit more on top of this with updates than I have been with the website.
~Jenn