Pink Girly Giggles

Spring break fun

2011-04-22T16:49:00.005-04:00

We've had a great spring break this week. It's been fun getting outdoors and doing some fun things as a family.

Roller skating was so fun. The girls are starting to get the hang of it:

We spent some time at our favorite parks and playgrounds:

We got to milk a cow at Oxon Hill Farm:

Skyline Caverns was fascinating:

Cotton candy and fun

2011-03-28T21:05:00.010-04:00

We had a fun family night at our local carnival. The girls were in heaven. I don't even think they noticed that it was cold!

Busy girl

2011-03-28T20:38:00.008-04:00

A couple pictures of Danielle. Every morning Rebekah and Samantha lock their bedroom door when they leave for school - they are trying to protect their doll house. When they leave, Danielle picks the lock, and Mommy catches her: At play school on St. Patrick's Day. A little leprechaun came and turned everything green. Danielle loved it! At the third grade school play "The Cheese Stands Alone." (I couldn't see Rebekah, so no pictures of my third grader.)

Pearly whites

2011-02-23T22:42:00.003-05:00

Samantha wanted to share her good news - she pulled out her own tooth today! Hurray! What a cute grin she has!

Our 3-year-old

2011-02-06T22:14:00.003-05:00

How did my baby get to be 3 years old?! Unbelievable!

Last summer she really picked up on the whole birthday thing. "Happy birthday" became her favorite song, and she started talking about her birthday (about 7 months ago). The long-awaited day finally came when she had her very own birthday party! She had a few friends over for a "RED" birthday party. It was really fun. I have never seen Danielle quite so excited!

Happy birthday, Sweet baby! We love you!

Family fun weekend

2011-01-19T21:53:00.006-05:00

We had such a great weekend at Great Wolf Lodge. It was so fun to escape the cold weather with their indoor waterpark.

And Monday we took the girls roller skating for the first time. The girls are now covered with bruises, but they were such troopers, and we all want to go again.

Guess who got a cute new hair cut today ...

2011-01-11T21:01:00.001-05:00

Cool girl

2011-01-07T17:21:00.001-05:00

Christmas break

2011-01-01T14:31:00.001-05:00

I love that Christmas morning just-woke-up look:

Fun at Grammy & Grampy's Richmond Children's Museum this week:

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T21:29:00.002-05:00

Going to visit Santa Claus at the mall. (Santa was not very sociable today)

Danielle brought gifts for baby Jesus during our family Christmas play:

Funny girls

2010-12-24T19:35:00.005-05:00

Here are some random, fun pictures of the girls I never got around to posting.

Thanksgiving weekend in Richmond. We loved going to the park with Grampy and our cousins:

It's always fun to have Danielle around when you're running errands:

A couple months ago Rebekah did a book report about Clara Barton. She did a great job:

Our little chefs making their own pizzas at Unos Grill:

Flower girls

2010-12-12T22:11:00.004-05:00

My sister Shelly was married on December 3rd. It was such a beautiful wedding!

As you can tell she had a fabulous photographer (more at http://www.miketophamblog.com/ - DECEMBER 4, 2010 // WEDDING).

She had 6 flower girls and 1 ring girl since we have no boys in our family. The girls were darling, and amazingly they all did a great job. (It wasn't until the bride & groom left that one girl started trying to clean the flower petals up, and another tripped and lost her shoe. Oh well.)

Kindergarten Musical

2010-11-22T21:14:00.002-05:00

We had so much fun watching Samantha at the Kindergarten Musical last week.

Sunday morning - the girls are sitting on the couch, all ready to go to church. Sweet girls!

Fall fun

2010-10-15T15:20:00.010-04:00

It's always so sad when summer is over, but here are a few reasons why I'm actually pretty excited about fall:

*Pumpkin pie! My friend Chery brought us a yummy pumpkin pie last week. I think I almost single-handedly ate the whole thing.

*Fun halloween decorations. This year we splurged on a great treat calendar from Pottery Barn, and I also made a few yard signs.

*Our family's favorite October tradition - the pumpkin patch! This year we tried the Lake Ridge Nursery. It was really fun - lots of moon bounces, a rope swing, a zip line, and we even got to drive around on toilets! Oh, and the kids got a free ice cream which was delicious.

Perfect Princess

2010-10-13T14:09:00.004-04:00

I can't resist. Danielle went to her first birthday party last week. She got to dress up like a princess. So cute!

Before the party:

After the party:
(very hyper from birthday cake and treats)

Duck

2010-10-11T21:18:00.007-04:00

We just had the funnest weekend - not just fun, but funnest! We went down to Duck, North Carolina with some friends. The weather (and everything else) was absolutely perfect! It was one of those weekends you wish could last forever.

National Book Festival

2010-09-25T16:09:00.002-04:00

The grass is always greener ...

2010-09-24T20:35:00.004-04:00

Gary's worked really hard this month digging up our very dead grass. Today he put down new soil and sod. It looks great! Who knew a little tiny yard could be so much work.

The White House

2010-09-18T21:54:00.001-04:00

We had a fun day Friday touring the White House.

Surprise

2010-09-16T10:30:00.003-04:00

Today I found a little surprise when I went to throw something away in the dumpster at our church

School Days again

2010-09-10T12:53:00.004-04:00

Back to school again! I'm always so sad on Labor Day - the last day of swimming at the pool and having all my girls home for summer. We've had such a fun summer - obviously, because I sure haven't spent much time blogging. But the girls have really been enjoying this first week of school. Rebekah is doing great in 3rd grade, and Samantha is really enjoying Kindergarten. Yea!
How are your kids doing with school?

Samantha and her fellow kindergarteners - and Danielle. Danielle assumed she was getting on the bus too, so she was a little bummed. She misses the girls and keeps asking for Sammy to come home and play baby dolls with her. And she won't take off her backpack - she even takes her nap with it.

Our Danielle

2010-06-11T22:26:00.002-04:00

Our Danielle is so much fun. She always keeps us laughing. What a hoot!

She wants to say hi to Grandpa and tell him, "Don't forget to eat!"

Baptism Day

2010-05-30T19:11:00.004-04:00

Wow! What a special day! Rebekah's baptism yesterday was absolutely perfect! We were so glad to have Grammy and Grampy there and our ward family. It was so special to see my worthy husband baptize and confirm my sweet daughter. I really have no words. Okay, so maybe I have just a couple more. Everyone always says, "It's different when it's your own child." And it really is. I remember being baptized, and now to be the mother and to see my own daughter being baptized is so amazing! We love you, Rebekah!

Graduation day

2010-05-27T23:02:00.004-04:00

Graduation day for Grammy also happened to be ear-piercing day for Rebekah. (Can you see the little diamond star studs) This was a reality check because I remember getting my ears pierced!

A Rockin' good time!

2010-05-27T22:45:00.007-04:00

Rebekah is 8 years old!! We can't believe it! She had a Rockstar Birthday party. The girls decorated cardboard guitars and microphones and then rocked out to Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. Lots of fun!

One of my favorite things ...

2010-05-27T22:34:00.003-04:00

Strawberries! We went strawberry picking with friends last week. Very fun, but very brief with a 2-year-old. The hayride was an extra bonus!

I made an "Amy Hughes" special - cream cheese filled strawberries. Isn't it wonderful when you find something that's beautiful and delicious?!

Mother's Day Tea

2010-05-12T14:03:00.003-04:00

I just went to the cutest Mother's Day Tea at Samantha's preschool. We were served juice and cookies, and the kids sang several adorable songs. I almost wanted to cry when they sang a version of "You are my Sunshine" with the words changed to fit Mother's Day. So fun!

Bowling

2010-05-12T13:52:00.002-04:00

In April we took the girls bowling for the first time ever. We all had a blast! Rebekah even got a spare! And Danielle had fun being the cheerleader.

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

2010-04-25T15:48:00.002-04:00

Grandpa, we hope you're having a great birthday! We love you!

Zoo fun

2010-04-19T15:52:00.002-04:00

We just got back from a fun morning at the zoo. It was a perfect day - great weather, not crowded, and the animals were out! Of course the play area was one of the big hits for the kids.

(I think red pandas are so interesting)

Our Outstanding English Major

2010-04-13T21:56:00.003-04:00

We're so proud of Grammy. She received both the Dean's Scholar award (for a perfect 4.0) and the Outstanding English Major Award! We can't wait until graduation next month!

"Teeth Coming"

2010-04-06T21:52:00.006-04:00

Rebekah finally lost a tooth (up top) that has been very loose for a long time. She has been talking about it for a while, and with Samantha loosing her first tooth recently, Danielle has picked up on all this talk about teeth. So Danielle now (several times a day) points to her own mouth and says, "Teeth coming!"

Playing outside with neighborhood friends - what beautiful weather we've been having lately!

Spring break

2010-04-02T16:04:00.003-04:00

We've been enjoying our spring break this week -

the Dulles Air & Space Museum:

The Science Museum in Richmond:

And even the dentist's office:

Easter egg hunt

2010-03-27T22:30:00.003-04:00

The girls had fun at our neighbors' annual easter egg hunt.

Aegina

2010-03-18T15:45:00.003-04:00

I just think it's so cool that you can be driving along in Greece, and all of a sudden you see an ancient temple that was built in 500BC, like this one - the Temple of Aphea. Amazing!

We spent today on the island of Aegina. We spent more time waiting for the bus than anything, but it was very relaxing and picturesque.

We rode the metro across Athens to and from. Christy pointed out this sign - remember Barbara Thompson's talk? "Mind the gap"

I had to sneak this picture in - my neice Natalie (almost 2) trying to copy Christy reading to the preschool children. So cute!

Corinth

2010-03-16T14:01:00.007-04:00

We drove (and hiked the rest of the way) up to Acrocornith, the ruins of a Greek fortress:

On our way back down the mountain we had to wait for a herd of sheep to cross the road:

And then on to Ancient Corinth. It was very neat to see the bema (platform) where Paul was accused by the Jews of Corinth:

And the Temple of Apollo:

And the Temple of Octavia:

The Acropolis

2010-03-15T15:07:00.002-04:00

I made it up to the Acropolis today. It's a serious hike to get up there, but it was amazing. Here's the Beule Gate, it was the first entrance to the Acropolis:

This is the Propylaia, the main entrance to the Acropolis:

The Erechtheion, with the Porch of the Caryatids (the statues of women used as columns) and an Olive tree growing where Athena first planted her tree in a competition against Poseidon:

And of course the Parthenon. Amazing!

Kalimera

2010-03-14T12:29:00.008-04:00

Here are my first pictures from Athens, Greece! I'm having a wonderful time visiting my sister Christy and her family. Yesterday we drove down to Nafplio. I loved this very Mediterranean town. Here's what the shops look like:

The Palamidi fortress looking over Nafplio and the sea:

And today we took a beautiful drove along the coast to Sounio to see the Temple of Poseidon:

The Wilton Rose

2010-03-02T16:40:00.004-05:00

My lastest cake - trying to learn how to make the Wilton Rose. That's the end of Course 1, but I will keep practicing.

Feel the Flutter

2010-03-02T15:25:00.004-05:00

We just got back from a little trip into DC. We saw the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Very cool.

Our Sammy

2010-03-02T15:17:00.006-05:00

Samantha has had a couple changes over the past week. She got a darling haircut, and she lost her first tooth!

Bath time

2010-02-20T20:53:00.002-05:00

Gary told the girls, "Come on! Time to get ready for the bath!" And Danielle did just that! (She just forgot to get undressed first)

Fluffy

2010-02-16T16:42:00.004-05:00

I've finally started the Wilton cake decorating class - I've wanted to take it for a long time. It turns out decorating cakes is a lot harder than it looks. But my first cake turned out alright. We used it today so that we could have a birthday party for Samantha's Webkin, Fluffy. What we do for fun!

Yesterday we endured (I mean enjoyed) a couple hours at Kids N Motion. And that's exactly what it was.

Laundry fun

2010-02-13T23:38:00.002-05:00

I found a funny video of Danielle from last month. She has a thing for laundry baskets.

Food Art

2010-02-13T21:38:00.005-05:00

Creative Food Art by our very own artist Samantha.

Budding Pianist

2010-02-11T16:33:00.004-05:00

Very cute.

Some day I will stop blogging about the snow, but until then, here are a few more pictures. Gary dug a snow fort out of the mountain of snow that used to be our front yard. Danielle was so excited to be a part of what the big kids were doing.

Some scary icicles outside of our bedroom window.

Desperate times

2010-02-10T16:45:00.005-05:00

The Blizzard of 2010 continues. We woke up to another few inches of snow today (much better than the 10" we were supposed to get - we'll count our blessings).

Yesterday (beore it started snowing again) I went out with my neighbor - we were desperate to get out of the house for a few minutes. Once we finally made it up the hill on Springwoods Drive (we had to get out and help push a car up the hill) we enjoyed lunch at Panera and then browsing around the grocery store - not because we needed any groceries, but because we needed something to do. It's very sad when you go to the grocery store for some excitement. Even sadder than that: the produce section - completely bare.

Our trash pile is starting to look pretty bad as well. There's no way we can get the trash can around the house, so we thought we'd turn our back yard into a landfill. I'm not sure how the association will feel about that.

Can you see the icicles hanging from our upper deck (and on the air conditioning unit)? It feels like we're in an underground cave.

Our 2-year-old

2010-02-07T14:28:00.005-05:00

Can you believe our little Danielle is 2 years old?! She loves her raincoat and umbrella she got for her birthday yesterday. She insisted on going out in the snow with them.

Last night Danielle enjoyed having dinner, cake and ice cream, (and a few presents) with our neighbors.

The Blizzard of 2010

2010-02-06T15:15:00.003-05:00

Danielle's 2nd birthday is being called "The Blizzard of 2010!" (When you watch the news, the blizzard has its own theme music - very dramatic). It really is quite a snow storm - more snow than I've ever seen at one time. We can't even measure it, but I know it's past 2 feet. The snow drifts on our upper deck are up to the window.

It was hard to open the front door - there's no sign of the steps.

Much better, but it's still snowing, so a few minutes after this picture was taken, you couldn't tell Gary shoveled.

The bushes and the woods behind our house look beautiful.

Can you see our neighbor's tree that has fallen over and leaning on their fence?

Happy birthday Danielle!

Cute things

2010-02-06T14:56:00.005-05:00

Here are some things I've been working on:

Danielle's room has a Babar theme - I framed a few pages from an original Babar book that a friend gave me; other Babar prints; and a fun Ikea bed tent that Danielle loves.

Rebekah and Samantha's room has small prints of old children's book week posters that are kind of fun. I still need to finish doing some things (like painting the clock the right color and repairing their kitchen), but it's starting to look pretty cute.

Snow Princess

2010-02-06T14:48:00.008-05:00

We had a great time at Samantha's preschool play last week. Grampy and Grammy Warnick drove up for it (and got stuck in a snow storm on the way home). It made Samantha feel so special.

Samantha was a snow princess in the play "The Mitten." Her line was, "It begins to snow." (Very appropriate for the winter we're having.)

After the play was over, Samantha very enthusiastically announced, "I did great!"

Happy Golden Anniversary, Grandpa and Grandma James!

2010-01-15T08:49:00.006-05:00

The girls each want to wish you a Happy 50th Anniversay, Grandpa and Grandma! We love you and hope today is special!

Grammy's house and more

2010-01-07T22:47:00.004-05:00

We had a fun visit at Grammy's house last week. The girls loved seeing everyone, especially Great Grammy Pyron, cousins, Shelly's hamster, and of course Mitsy the dog.

This Sunday at church Danielle took off running. Where was she running to? Nursery! She loves it now! What a big girl! We sure love her!

Christmas

2010-01-07T22:12:00.005-05:00

We enjoyed Christmas Eve at Mount Vernon. They opened the third story, so we got to have a look around up there for the first time. And there was even a camel visiting Mount Vernon for the holiday season. Kind of fun.

Christmas morning was fun. Danielle (still waking up) joined in the fun. She knew she was supposed to be excited about something.

Let it snow ...

2009-12-22T22:21:00.004-05:00

We got about 2 feet of snow this past weekend. That's A LOT of snow! Our dining room door opens out, so it's very stuck - we wont' be using our deck for a very long time.

Can you see the very tall, skinny wall of snow on the railing - it started to melt, and just suddenly froze, so now we have waves.

Danielle LOVES being outside in the snow.

So, are you wondering why our car is the only one that doesn't have 2 feet of snow on it? Well, we decided to take a trip down to Williamsburg. Saturday we decided to brave the snow storm and come home. It started out fine. We drove slow and made it about 10 miles from our exit. Then all of a sudden, traffic stopped. We waited, and waited, and waited. 8 hours later we finally made it home! (It turns out there was an accident at our exit that took forever to get cleared.) We hope we never, ever have to be in the car for 12 1/2 hours straight again!

Our Williamsburg trip was fun (not worth the trip home, but fun nonetheless).

Danielle needed a little help throwing her penny into the fountain.

Rebekah and Samantha are trying to warm their back sides by the fire.

We even got to see Santa while we were there. Of course, Danielle is still terrified of anyone in costume. She didn't even want to make eye contact (if I don't look at him, he won't be there).

Grandpa and Grandma

2009-12-08T13:55:00.007-05:00

Here are a few pictures from Grandpa and Grandma James' visit. We had such a fun, relaxing visit over Thanksgiving. Gary's turkey turned out better than ever! So good! His secret tip: a few pieces of bacon on top.

We also enjoyed the pies. When Samantha saw Grandma's plate she said, "Grandma, you're going to get a tummy ache."

The girls' favorite day was of course playing at Chuck-e-cheese and then picking out a toy at the store. Can we say "spoiled" ...

Laundry

2009-11-14T12:20:00.002-05:00

Danielle has come up with a new use for our laundry basket.

Shopping with kids

2009-11-03T08:43:00.003-05:00

It's always a fun experience shopping with the whole family.

Riding (I mean, shopping) at Ikea and testing the music selection at Costco ...

Halloween

2009-11-02T21:46:00.003-05:00

We had so much fun trick-or-treating on Halloween. So glad the girls were feeling much better by then. Danielle did great trick-or-treating with Grampy's help. She loved her lady bug costume, carrying around her bucket of candy, and trying to keep up with the big kids. Too cute!

No Swine Flu ...

2009-10-30T13:15:00.003-04:00

But we have plenty of other germs at our house. Rebekah has pneumonia, and Samantha has bronchitis! I've been to the doctors twice and the pharmacy 3 times in the last 24 hours.

Last night Samantha was up coughing and wheezing. She said, "I'm breathing like Darth Vader." But then she re-assured us, "Don't worry. I won't throw up in your new bed." Very thoughtful.

Free ride

2009-10-29T12:00:00.002-04:00

Danielle getting a ride from Samantha. Funny girls. I love all the autumn leaves that now cover our back yard.

We Miss Daddy

2009-10-22T22:39:00.002-04:00

Gary has been out of town this week, and we sure miss him. A few times a day (at least)Samantha will say, "I really love Daddy" - Samantha is Daddy's best buddy.

Today we took a little trip to the National Zoo. Here's Danielle showing me the zebras. Fun!

Happy Birthday, Sonny

2009-10-17T13:11:00.002-04:00

Thursday we had a birthday party for (believe it or not) Rebekah's Webkin, Sonny. The girls sure love their Webkinz, and they have to be reminded that stuffed animals are not real.

Look, no training wheels!

2009-09-21T21:00:00.003-04:00

Rebekah wanted her training wheels taken off. So Daddy and Rebekah went out Saturday to practice, and she got it. She's so excited to ride around the neighborhood with her friends!

Home Sweet Home

2009-09-21T16:43:00.003-04:00

Some of our favorite house projects:

Gary has worked hard improving the yard over the past few years (and other improvements to the outside of the house). Before ...

And After ...

We love our red couch downstairs:

And I had fun making a bulletin board out of an old window frame:

And we're enjoying our deck more since we had it re-finished. The girls want to make sure everyone knows it's now "cocoa brown" - they're still trying to figure out how the splinters have disappeared.

We love our little town house; however, the girls would love to have more of a yard some day. Rebekah keeps asking, "When are we going to live in a house that's not stuck to other houses?"

Reunion

2009-09-19T20:17:00.002-04:00

It was so good to get together with my former (not old) college roommate, Debbie. We had a nice morning at Mount Vernon. Her family is adorable!

School days

2009-09-10T14:10:00.003-04:00

Rebekah loves when we sing, "School days, school days, Dear old Golden Rule days, Reading and writing and 'rithmetic, All to the sound of a hickory stick"

Both girls were so excited for school to start. Rebekah loves 2nd grade with the new teacher, Mrs. Eckert. She was the first one in her class to get a treat because of good behavior.

And Samantha really likes her pre-K class. She wasn't even nervous at all. She has grown up so much over the summer.

Rise and shout, the Cougars are OUt!

2009-09-07T23:05:00.004-04:00

BYU - 14 OU - 13 ... Need we say more?

Summer fun

2009-08-29T22:57:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe summer is almost over. The girls will miss the pool. Rebekah has turned into a great swimmer. We call her our little mermaid.

Danielle's new favorite thing to do: turn on the television, grab the remote control, and sit on the couch watching t.v. (She doesn't sit still for too long.)

We love Daddy!

We love our beautiful girls ...

2009-08-09T23:00:00.004-04:00

But we're not prejudice at all.

Utah trip

2009-08-09T22:06:00.006-04:00

We had such a great time in St. George, Utah visiting Grandpa and Grandma and Aunt Kathy and the cousins. It's hard to tell who had the most fun - us or the kids? Here are a few pics from the trip.

We had lots of fun at the community pools.

We had a fun picnic in Pine Valley one day. The kids even put on a play for us.

Our trip to Provo was the best. While visiting the Bean Science Museum we got to touch a few live animals, including a Python.

Visiting with Uncle Lee and Aunt Cheryl and more cousins in Provo. Too fun!

Horsing around.

Danielle loved being with her cousins - they were so great with her, and she loved the constant attention. (I wish I'd gotten pictures of Christopher and Julian with Danielle.)

Time with Grandpa and Grandma and Aunt Kathy.

Danielle giving kisses to Lulu. Very sweet.

It was such a fun, relaxing trip. The two weeks went by way too fast! We miss our grandparents and our cousins already!

The Birthday Party

2009-07-13T00:06:00.005-04:00

Everyone had fun at Samantha's Beach Party for her 5th birthday. We decorated buckets & shovels to take home, played lots of games like Wipe out, Musical beach towels, Pin-the-tail on the Mermaid, and played in the sprinkler. We'll get some better photos up soon, but here's a very excited Samantha, and the girls with our little friend Maia.

Kings Dominion

2009-07-12T23:48:00.005-04:00

We had a BLAST last week at Kings Dominion (an amusement park about an hour away). We met up with Grampy, Aunt Shelly, Aunt Christy & Uncle Jeremy & their kids (Lydia, Clara and Natalie). We all had fun riding roller coasters, playing games, and eating popcorn and cotton candy. What more could you ask for?!

The cutest was watching Danielle and her cousin Natalie ride these little cars by themselves. Too funny!

Fourth of July

2009-07-12T23:35:00.004-04:00

We spent the Fourth of July at George Washington's home - Mount Vernon, Virginia. It's a great place. Then we came home and had a barbeque with neighbors. We felt very American.

Here's a picture of Rebekah and Samantha at Mount Vernon - Rebekah is George Washington, and Samantha is Martha. Rebekah has a grumpy face because she didn't want to be a boy - gross!

Shopping Around

2009-06-22T22:32:00.003-04:00

Danielle is done riding in shopping carts. She has to push the cart. She feels like such a big girl. When she's tired of walking she starts fussing, but she won't stop pushing the cart. She loves it. Rebekah and Samantha have the opposite problem. They still like to ride in the cart because they don't like to walk.

I Love to See the Temple

2009-06-19T15:20:00.003-04:00

Bumps and Bruises

2009-06-19T14:08:00.002-04:00

Samantha took a little spill down our front steps. Poor thing.

Spray Grounds

2009-06-14T16:48:00.004-04:00

The girls love the spray grounds right by our house - lots of fun sprinklers to run and play in.

Burke Lake

2009-06-07T21:37:00.003-04:00

We had fun playing at Burke Lake on Saturday. We had a picnic, climbed a tree, rode the train, explored the playground, and went for a walk. Fun times!

1st Grade Author Night

2009-06-03T14:36:00.002-04:00

Last week we went to "Authors' Night" at Rebekah's school. Each 1st grader read one of their own stories. Rebekah had written a long, complicated book about a talking dog. It was great! Her reading and writing has really improved this year.

A couple more Disney World pics

2009-06-03T14:23:00.003-04:00

The girls got to decorate Cinderella

We got used to being wrapped in plastic every day

Disney World

2009-05-26T21:17:00.007-04:00

Disney world! What a fun and very wet week we had. We made lots of fun family memories. Here's Samantha and Danielle in their pink ponchos - we were very tired of wearing our ponchos by the end of the week.

Finding Nemo
We went to the Rainforest Cafe for Rebekah's 7th birthday. It was a perfect day - she felt really special. She even got to be the conductor on the Magic Kingdom train - it was fun to hear her say "All aboard!"
Lots of walking! We were so glad Grammy and Grampy Warnick were with us.
We loved all the 3D and 4D shows. What a blast!
Besides the rain and hurricane-like weather, we had another unwelcome guest on our vacation - a little stomach virus. It started with Samantha getting sick in the middle of church on Sunday (we will never visit that ward again). Then Rebekah and Danielle got sick on Wednesday, and Gary held off until Saturday. Oh well. It's all about the memories.
It was great to see some of our favorite characters. Samantha got so excited one day when she saw Captain Hook. Her eyes lit up, and she said, "Daddy! Captain Hook! He's real!"

Danielle is not looking in any of these pictures because she was terrified of the characters.
Our favorite - the Princesses!

It really was a magical week!

Down South

2009-05-16T21:06:00.004-04:00

We are officially off on our Disney World trip. We're spending the night in Ridgeland, South Carolina. We had fun eating a picnic lunch during a break from driving. Then tonight we enjoyed eating dinner at an outdoor restaurant then walking along a nature trail. We saw a frog, turtles, plenty of mosquitos, and an alligator! We're having so much fun, and we haven't even gotten to Disney World yet!

School days

2009-05-06T23:45:00.004-04:00

Last night we attended Samantha's preschool open house. It was fun to see what she's done this year and to see how much she's grown up.

Wake up, Sleepyhead

2009-04-22T16:58:00.003-04:00

Who's That?

2009-04-22T10:54:00.004-04:00

This is Danielle's new favorite thing to do - she stands on the bathroom stool and talks to herself in the mirror. So cute!

Jack the turtle

2009-04-22T08:44:00.004-04:00

Our friends gave us a "grow-a-pet" - we've had fun watching it grow this past week. This is probably as close to a real pet as we're going to get.

Day 1

Day 3

1 Week

Easter

2009-04-12T21:48:00.002-04:00

Our favorite playground

2009-04-10T15:03:00.003-04:00

The girls had fun at their favorite playground this morning. A nice way to end our relaxing spring break.

Hunting for eggs

2009-04-10T14:52:00.003-04:00

Our neighbors did their annual Easter Egg Hunt. It's always fun for the kids (even though it takes much longer to hide the eggs than it takes the kids to find them).

Samantha Sayings

2009-04-01T13:35:00.003-04:00

We love Samantha! Her favorite things to say right now are: "Oh my!" and "Just joking!" and "Serious?" (like this morning when I told her I was going to sell her - she said, "Serious?")

Lately I've been putting a little baby powder on Danielle because of some diaper rash. This morning Samantha saw me changing Danielle's diaper, and she said, "Don't forget to put sugar on it."

Toddling around

2009-03-31T12:47:00.003-04:00

It is so fun to watch Danielle toddle around with her stroller - her new favorite thing to do. She gets so excited whenever she sees her stroller.

The Hat

2009-03-31T12:20:00.003-04:00

Samantha's hat is a family favorite.

Maryland Zoo

2009-03-23T22:20:00.005-04:00

We thought we'd explore the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. It was fun, but we like our zoo better (and it's free).

Can I play?

2009-03-23T22:02:00.004-04:00

Danielle loves to play, and she wants to do whatever her big sisters are doing.

Danielle loves music

2009-03-19T12:10:00.004-04:00

Our Rebekah

2009-03-19T12:04:00.003-04:00

What a big girl. Rebekah is really growing up. She loves first grade, reading, writing, drawing, playing with her friends, and being in charge. She's such a good girl.

Our Samantha

2009-03-19T11:49:00.006-04:00

Our sweet Samantha. She has always added humor and adventure to our family. We just love her. Right now her favorite response (for everything) is "Oh my!"

We've decided to put Samantha in one more year of preschool before she starts kindergarten. We want her to really be ready for kindergarten and to have a great experience.

Our Danielle

2009-03-15T21:31:00.005-04:00

Danielle is growing up so fast. It's hard to believe she's already 13 months (and climbing stairs).

Girl Play

2009-03-15T20:44:00.005-04:00

The girls are always playing either 1) doll house, 2) animals, 3) kitchen, or 4) all of the above.