Picture Post

We've had a surreal week so looking at these pictures is a nice additional reminder that life is good and we are so very blessed.

Lydia likes to wear Abby's swimsuit

Our first trial run of Sam and Lydia at a park while Abby was at a party.  Kindergarten starts next week so these two are going to have lots of time together.  I think this is gonna work.

Abby's "all ready for kindergarten orientation" pose.  She has moved beyond the fear of starting to just being so excited!

Life

Love these sisters! 

Sam may be the only one I know who can pull off wearing my sunglasses while watching "Angry Birds Toons."

 The kids gardening project of the summer!  All the kids water it when we play outside.  It's amazing it hasn't drowned yet. :)  The mammoth sunflower (not kidding, the stalk is 6-1/2+ feet...go big or go home...or at least grow big enough to be impossible to become squirrel food) finally bloomed last week.  The picture above is the day it opened and the one below is yesterday, 6 days after it bloomed.  We actually have 3 hummingbirds who visit our flower each day.  The kids are so proud of it and can't wait to grow more next year!

Weekend Fun

We went down to Williamsburg a few weekends ago and of course we needed to spend some time at Busch Gardens.  It was SO hot so we were super grateful for the water area in Sesame Street.  We only spent part of the day there, but the kids had a lot of fun.

Waiting for Abby & Grandma 

 Grandma spoiled the kids with gigantic lollipops.  The kids still haven't finished them all yet.

It has been really fun to see the relationship blossom between Sam and Lydia.  She really is the best mix of the personalities of Abby and Sam.  It's great to see how Lydia goes between playing dollhouse with Abby and cars with Sam.  She is at the stage, too, where she copies anything they do that's funny, which makes it all the funnier.

Roy took the big kids with Grandma and Baba Z along with Steve-o and Catherine's family to see "Planes".  They loved it.  Apparently, Sam started the movie with Baba Z and ended up with Uncle Steve-o.

Here are the kids today.  Check out Abby's pretty Hawaiian flower clip (if you look really carefully, you can see the tip of one petal :) and Sam's super cool tie.  I have some cute kids!

It's the Little Things

Abby:

• Abby is my singer.  She sings songs all the time, learns new songs quickly, and makes songs up every day.  My favorite new song is, "If you're on a date and can't relate, I'll be thereeeee!"  Love it.
• Abby has been learning to read and it's been so fun to help her learn new words.  She enjoys sounding out new words, following along in the hymn book at church, trying out new books, and impressing people with her ability to spell our last name.  Honestly, the last name spelling is as impressive to me as anything else in the reading world.  It took me a while before it rolled off my tongue!
• Abby has been earning money to buy a new Lego set.  It's been a nice excuse to teach her to wash windows, clean the bathroom, dust, and organize.  It's been a good exercise of teaching for me, especially since it's so much faster to just do it myself.  The other day we cleaned 3 bathrooms, which would take me half the time it took us.  But even Sam got involved and took over scrubbing (or painting, as he calls it) the toilet bowls.  And we sang the whole time. 

Sam:

• I gave Sam a haircut about a week ago.  He despises haircuts and does his best to avoid, delay, and generally make them awful for all parties involved.  Even lollipops and a movie during the haircut is not sufficient to make it an only slightly-awful experience.  So one morning, I told Sam, "Today is haircut day.  Would you like to do it this morning or after quiet time?"  I'm pretty sure he didn't hear the options because he started wailing as soon as the word haircut escaped my lips.  So I made the decision to give him 10 minutes to finish eating and just get the job done.  While I was getting everything set up, he came over and said, "Haircuts don't make people die."  With the way he responds during the process, I'm sure the neighbors are wondering if that is true...
• In case we needed additional proof that we have a male child, here are three things he has said in the last 24 hours:
• When I commented that he was sleeping crooked in his bed, he whispered excitedly, "Where's the cricket?!?"
• When Roy was washing the kids in the bath tonight and commented that the water was warm, Sam asked excitedly, "Where's the worm?"
• When I kissed him goodnight, he wiped off his cheek and said, "Eww, that's gross!"

Lydia:

• Lydia is such a Daddy's girl.  As soon as she is awake, she is rushing to get to him.  He's allowed to shower without much fuss, but she is back in his arms as soon as he is done.  When she sees my phone or the laptop during the day, she pats it and asks for Daddy.  When Roy is travelling, we Google chat daily so she's very hopeful that the computer might mean Daddy time.
• Lydia loves singing too.  She loves to do all the action songs we know, especially "Two Happy Feet, "Roll Your Hands", and "Eensey Weensey Spider".  
• Lydia is developing quite the fun (and funny) personality.  She loves to hide and jump out and scare people, she cracks up when balls bounce off the floors and walls, she teases the whole family, and tries her best to keep up with the antics of Abby and Sam.  I laughed so hard the other day when the kids were running around the house, Lydia following behind, and randomly stopping to fake sleep on the floor.  Lydia would drop as soon as Abby and Sam stopped running.  
• She can really talk now too!  I love how she says please--it's just "pssss".  It actually sounds a lot like when she requests treats.  She surprises us every day with new things she can say.  Today she asked Roy to "open" the play-doh.  Lydia also picks up books and babble reads them to herself.  It's so exciting to hear her talking!

Green Springs Garden

Our new summer tradition is to go to Green Springs Garden in Alexandria with the Wittwer family.  This time we added the Meadows boys too.  Green Springs is seriously a child's dirt paradise.  There are ponds to throw rocks in, creeks to explore, places to dig in the dirt, and plenty of places to get your hands muddy.  We spent a nice morning exploring, climbing, digging, throwing, leaf-racing, and picnicking with this energetic crew:

Lydia, always willing to prove that she can hang with the big kids, dove right into digging and throwing rocks. 

My little gardener boy.