Thursday, February 9, 2017

Catching up on life with my girls


Life has been fun and busy lately, with a smattering of the flu as of recently. Luckily it's been a less than 24 hour bug and it has finally made it through the whole family. 
We've been taking advantage of the empty D.C. city as mush as possible. Tyson recently read "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough and he wanted to revisit the Wright Brothers Exhibit in the Air and Space museum. Taryn volunteered for this special science/history center they had. She got to demonstrate some flying devices for the audience. Tyson knew all the answers to the questions asked by the presenter, which we fed to the girls so they could answer. That was pretty fun!


Taryn's sorted colors from the game Quirkle. She loves to organize, creat patterns, and especially create the letter "T" out of anything she can. 



" Rocking the gee-tar, as fast as you can!" Every time we run to Target, the girls ask to go to the Toy section. This is one of Haddie's favorite toys to play with. 




Taryn is happiest when she is outside, playing hard and laughing with friends. Her hair static here had her giggling for a good long time. Haddie is just behind her.






Almost every morning after the girls do their secret hand shakes with Tyson, (each of them has their own unique shake) the girls sit on our sets and wave goodbye to Tyson once he reaches the top of our little hill. They follow it by saying as loud as they can, " WE LOVE YOU DADDY!!!!!" Sometimes when I'm chatting with neighbors, they tell me how they can hear the girls each morning saying goodbye to their Daddy and how much it warms their heart ;)




Bubble blowing sisters! When Taryn does well in class, she (and the other well behaved students) get to pick a little prize. Taryn had collected a few bubble jars and shared them with Haddie. 




From back in November, Taryn and I had a little day date. She was out of school but Haddie still had preschool. We headed to a bakery to share some treats and then her request was to go to a park with monkey bars. She spent the rest of our date showing me her flips around the bar. Her gymnastics teacher recently approached me and said, "Taryn is very strong. She is INCREDIBLY strong." She has the best abs and muscles to prove it :) Love her so much! 




I love those silent moments when I peer into their room and they are sitting around tons of blankets and reading. Always a lovely sight. 




This January and February has been the warmest we've known in the 4.5 years we've lived here. We've set many records of warmest days- like 70 degrees- warm. Crazy! But it's made for the best park days with friends!




There Taryn goes again. Finding my phone and snapping some of the cutest everyday scenes- getting ready for bed. 


On our morning walks- all bundled up.


I loved Taryn's outfit she picked out. She is one creative girl and her fashion choices are the best! Always so fun, just like her!




More park days with friends. We love Quincy park in Arlington. 


That foot pop! She did it all on her own. 





Swinging like a monkey- so natural for her. When I hold her little hands, I can feel the calluses that have formed on her palms. She's been working hard. 


Park days just aren't complete without a pink twirly skirt, or a princess dress!



The cutest kittens in town. We went to our friends "Go Wild" animal birthday party. There were several mass to choose from. Olivia and Haddie changed masks every 5.6 seconds. They totally acted the part with each animal. 




I went into Taryn's class recently to be the Mystery Reader. It was so fun to see her surprised face once she walked in the room and she saw me in the Reading chair. She gave me so many hugs and kisses and requested we snap a photo at the end of my reading. I chose to read "Dragons Love Tacos" and apparently it was a class favorite too!



Sometimes we have homemade burgers for dinner and the lions come out to join us :)





The most snow we've gotten this winter! I decided it would be fun to walk to school despite the cold temps so the girls could play in it a bit. The girls are really missing playing in the snow. Taryn wants it to snow on her birthday so bad. By the end of the day, this snow had melted away.




Haddie marches to the beat of her own drum. She loves this little tube on Taryn's school playground. She decided it was the perfect play for her to eat her apples. 



I love my blue eyed girl! After baths a few weeks ago, she asked me to cut her hair  as short as Hadleigh's. I was shocked and asked her several times if she was sure. She was, so I took out our scissors and cut away. We all love it. I was surprised at how many people didn't recognize her. 


Playing with water in the kitchen sink. I love her on those little tippy toes!




Our sweet girly girls. 



Crashed in the car. 



All the girlies on a Nature walk. 



This Rapunzel dress is a constant in our home. 




Another warm 60 degree day. Notice the bare feet?! My kids must have some of my California blood running through them because they hate wearing closed shoes just as much as me. Us girlies love to feel the air around our feet. We're hoping for one snow storm followed by lots of continued warm weather!

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

MLK Weekend at a Cabin 2017


For Martin Luther King Day 2017, Brittany and Seth invited us to a cabin near Shenandoah. The property was really beautiful. It was a hazy, cold weekend and it continued to drizzle almost the whole time we were there. That's what brought the beauty to the property. 
We wore our rain boots and jumped in every puddle! 


There were gorgeous horses on the property and Haddie was in love! She has been loving horses for months now, often choosing them amongst her toys to hold on tight to. We stayed for a good long while watching these horses. I loved how she intently watched their every move. You could see the light in her eyes! 


The biggest Snickers bar I have ever seen. You don't want to know how much sugar is in 1 inch of a serving size! Don't worry- amongst all 8 of us (no 18 month old twins included) we finished that bar pretty quickly. 


There was a great Mini Golf course on the property and we played several games throughout the weekend. The girls loved to whack the ball around and eventually Taryn wanted to really learn how to play Mini Golf properly. Tyson is always a great and patient teacher. 


Little Braden joining in on the fun! 



We walked onto a cute little lake dock and enjoyed the view. Right after this photo, Haddie stepped right through the cracks of the dock and her foot went right into the lake. Thankfully she had her rainboots on so only a few drops got on her pants. Her boot didn't fall off either! Needless to say, she didn't want to go back on the dock again. 




Homemade donuts! 
We used to make these growing up. My mom carefully placed the slightly pulled Pillsbury biscuits  apart to look like donuts. Into the frying pan full of hot oil they went. When they came out piping hot, we placed them in a bag of powdered sugar and shook them like crazy. They were delicious with frosting put on top! The last time we made them, Tyson and I were in California and he was asking my Dad for permission to marry me. It's been awhile! 











Cora and Lori (Seth's Mom) on the playground. 






Can you tell we ate well? There were lots of yummy treats at the end of the night during this cabin trip! The girls were in heaven. 




Smores' for the win! 




Love this guy! 
We played a ton of games throughout the trip and loved every minute! 
It was such a relaxing weekend. Games, walks around the property, chatting and good food! 





Entertaining all the littles 


The whole group!!!!

Thanks to Brittany and Seth generously inviting us on their vacation, we enjoyed a relaxing weekend with little cell phone reception, forcing us to disconnect and enjoy what was around us.