Lauren's 3rd Birthday

Today Lauren celebrated her 3rd birthday with her friends from school at Philly InMovement, the same gym we've had Sophie's birthday for the last two years. She had a great time jumping around with her friends. At first Sophie was sad to be the only "big" kid there, but then she realized she could show everyone the ropes.

The Big (almost) 3 year old! 

Lauren & Sophie demonstrating "tree" for the group

The girls showing how a handstand is done. 

She had a second party celebration at school. In her class birthdays are a big deal. She made her own birthday hat and Sophie got to come in a visit during the celebrations. 

The birthday girl

Sister love

Thanksgiving 2015

We were down in Virginia this year for Thanksgiving. It was a big crew, as usual. Doug, Vickie, Quinn, Carley, Nana, our friends Carl, Amanda, Gianna, and Ella from North Carolina, and Aleen and Yvonne were all there.

We deep fried the turkey again this year. It think it might be the 5th or 6th year we've done that. It's always delicious. Doug was the turkey master again. I think he waits all year for this. He was out there for hours getting the oil and the turkey just right. But time worth spent because it was super tasty.

Doug lowering the turkey

The weather was amazing and we got to spend a lot of time outside. We took a few hikes and just enjoyed my parent's amazing property. It was also an opportunity to try and get a cousin picture. Alas, more failed attempts... Why they can't all smile and look at the camera at once is beyond me.

Ariana is highly skeptical of her cousins. 

Lauren has clearly had enough. 

Sophie's First Ballet Performance

Sophie and Lauren have been taking ballet for about 3 months, and Sophie had the chance to perform in the school's annual holiday performance of The 12 Days of Christmas. She was a drummer. Although she was super nervous leading up to the big day, she did a great job and had a good time. She even told me afterward that "it was pretty fun." I'll consider that a success.

Here's the little drummer girl

With her friend Rachael

Florida

Dave had his annual sales meeting in Florida again, this time in Clearwater, so we made a mini-vacation of it and the whole family went down for 5 days. The weather was beautiful! We had 2 days with the whole family, and then 2 days with just me and the girls while Dave was in his meetings. We hit the pool early and stayed the entire day - it was lovely.

Carl, who works with Dave, brought his wife, Amanda, and their kids, Gianna and Ella. Sophie and Gianna get along famously, which was really nice.

Sophie, Gianna, Ella & Lauren in an chair perfect for 4 friends

We took a boat trip to a little island where the girls found shells (you can see Sophie and Gianna's skirts are full of them). We also saw dolphins on our way back, and a bunch of cool birds. 

The best shot I was able to get of the girls. Beautiful morning walk on the beach before hitting the pool. 

Dan & Maithili's Baby Shower

We're just one month from the arrival of Dan & Maithili's son! On Saturday the family was all in town to celebrate Nana's 90th birthday, and on Sunday we hosted a baby shower at our house. Maithili looks great and says she feels good too. T-1 month!

Dave, Dan, Maithili, and me

Everyone at the party decorated a onesie for the baby, and we displayed them in the playroom

Halloween 2015

What an amazing October! The weather has been really beautiful - in the 70s many of the days. We've been trying to spend as much time as possible outside, knowing that it won't last long! 

We hit the pumpkin patch at Milky Way Farm in Chester County. We had a hard time narrowing down the pumpkins we were going to take home, but we finally settled on 5 to carve, and many, many mini ones for around the house. 

The finished products. 

Lauren (Sophia the First), Sophie (a Cheetah), and Ariana (a cupcake)

Denver Weekend

In October I got away for the weekend to visit our friend Wade, who moved to Denver three years ago. Dave stayed with the girls and I headed out solo (ah...). The weather was amazing and we took full advantage, doing as much hiking as we could fit into 3 days. 

This was a hike in a town called Nederland, which is outside of Boulder. It was beautiful and ended at a lake on the top of the mountain (pictured below). Wade's dog Boomer joined us and proved to be extremely agile scrambling up some of the steeper inclines. 

Pope-cation in MD

The Pope came to Philly at the end of September and the entire City had to basically shutdown. We took the opportunity to enjoy the 4 day weekend in Rock Hall with the Devine's. The weather was beautiful - perfect early fall days and nights. We spent a lot of time on the water.

John, Dave and the girls trying to catch jelly fish off the dock

Sophie and Ava waiting to take Tiny Boat out

The girls on Tiny Boat

Sophie Rides a Two Wheeler!

Today Sophie finally rode a two wheeler bike on her own! After three straight days of frustration and tears she finally got her confidence up and peddled hard. She was very proud of herself and so were we! 

And she's off! 

Lauren's First Day of Soccer

Sophie had no interest in doing soccer again, but we thought we'd give it a try with Lauren. She's a pretty coordinated kid and loves to kick a ball around the house. First lesson was a success! She did some dribbling and even scored her first goal.

GOAL!

Control with her friend Julia

First Day of School

The girls went back to school the day after Labor Day this year. Here are the cuties in front of our house. Lauren headed to her second year at the Toddler House and Sophie headed to her first day of Kindergarten! 

Wrapping up Summer

The sound of cicadas has been replaced by crickets chirping, so that must mean summer is coming to an end. It was a pretty great one though.

In July Aleen and I road tripped it up to Mass to visit Sallie. It was a long drive (preview of what was to come a few weeks later for our Maine trip) but so worth it to hangout with some great, old friends.

Sallie, Aleen & Me

And then in August we headed down to Va. for the weekend to drop Sophie off, who spend an entire week with my parents. We had the annual high school friends BBQ at my parents house with the whole gang, and most of the kids

Becky, Ari, Sarah, Jenny, Aleen, Lauren, Me, Bracy, Samantha

Lexi, Parker, Darby, Kaylee, Darby

 Sophie was also reunited with Lexi. Sarah and I are really forcing this best friend thing on them. We'll see where that ends up...

Lexi & Sophie

And then for the very last week of summer we trekked all the way up to Maine. All four of us packed in the car and headed to Bucks Harbor in Brooksville, MA and picked up a 40 ft. boat that was our vacation home for 5 days and nights. We sailed/motored around to Swan's Island, Mount Desert Island, and McGlathery Island before heading back to Brooksville.

We did a lot of exploring in intertidal zones. They were teaming with cool creatures, like these start fish that Sophie found. 

Sophie at the helm. It was tough navigating the waters with so many lobster pots, but there were a few spots where Sophie (and I) could steer for a bit and give Dave a break. 

Dave and the girls

The fam in Acadia National Park. Beautiful hike and breathtaking scenery. 

Sophie in front of a very cool, very big rock that was only visible at low tide. The tides were huge there. On this particular hike we started having to wade thought water and ended with vast rock to walk on (you can see in this pic). But the tide also comes back in pretty quick, so we couldn't linger for long. 

And that's it. The last hurrah of the summer. We tried to pack in as much as we could it and was a great one! 

Wrapping up the School Year

It was a great school year! Lauren's first in the Toddler House and Sophie's last as a pre-schooler. Lauren loves her class - I'm so happy she'll have the same teachers again next year.

Water transfer

Cutting cheese and giving the stink eye to anyone even thinking about taking it

With a friend

Sister love in the hallway. One of the teachers caught this cute scene.

End of year ice cream social

I volunteered to be a parent helper for Earth Day (actually, Dave volunteered, and then and to travel, so I took his place. Although I knew worms were involved, I agreed anyway). We did a lot of planting in the courtyard. 

Sophie with her posse: Liora, Claire, Beatrice and Else.

And the 3 Amigos: Sophie, Liora & Claire

I also volunteered to be a chaperone for Sophie's class trip to City Hall. 

All 28 kids and 6 adults took the City Bus to get there. I will tell you that not everyone on board was so happy about this. But the kids had a blast. 

Once we got there we got to go all the way to the top of the Tower, which is something they only recently started letting people do. The elevator to get up there, and the space to observe is small, so each parent went with just 5 kids. It was a pretty cool view. 

Potty Training

Lauren is 2.5 and that means potty training! Actually, her teachers told us she's been showing interest for a while, so she was ready. And she was. This kid had it down within less than a week. After the struggle that we had with Sophie I was expecting some long weeks ahead, but it's been smooth sailing. Her only request: purple underwear. Done. 

The Summer so Far

Unbelievably we're almost half way through the summer. We've packed it with a lot of trips and friends and tried to enjoy every last second.

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed to The Sharps' house in MD with friends John, Crystal & Bella and Pete, Leslie & Hudson.

Here's he crew picking' crabs.

And of course there was sailing. Here Sophie is helping John steer. 

The first weekend in June we headed down to DC to meet John, Crystal and Bella again. 

 

Here we are in front of the White House. This is as close as they would let us get. But we did see Obama come in on his helicopter, flanked with two others, and land on the lawn. He had just given the eulogy at Bo Biden's funeral in Delaware. 

Dave and Sophie also spent a week together on the boat sailing around Maryland with our friend Carl and his daughter Gianna.  

Sophie and Gianna. 

We've spent a lot of time down in Maryland. The Sharp's house is only a 2 hour drive from our house, and Rock Hall is a town that the whole family loves. Lots of time on and in the water, bike riding, and of course crabs! 

We have two kayaks down there, and Sophie loves to go out for a spin the bay.

The girls acting goofy on the beach.

Benson has been getting a little braver with the water. He'll wade in about chest deep - but still prefers to sleep on a towel on the beach. 

Dave and the girls. 

Aleen also came for a long weekend visit. We went to Morris Arboretum which was in full bloom and beautiful. 

Selfie

 And when we can't make it to Maryland, there's always the baby pool in the back yard. Hardly a substitute, but the girls love it anyway. 

The girls and our neighbor Maya.

And we just got back from our annual 4th of July week in Ocean City, NJ. This year the extended family was there as part of the year long celebration of Nana's 90th birthday. 

All of the July birthdays: me (36), Maithili (30), Addison (16), Mom (60), Becky (33), Graeme (33), Vicki (51). And Lauren, who would not let me put her down.

Quinn and Sophie. 

Cousins

The girls on the beach after our family picture 

Some of the crew on the beach house steps. Uncle Dick was there, so of course there were balloon hats.