Princesses Mow Lawns Too

Maddy is a Princess.  We all know it.  She refuses to sleep in pants or shorts because princesses only wear skirts or dresses to bed....

The pictures below are blurry because she was posing so much for me.  She wouldn't stop moving, my little model.

Princesses may not wear pants but apparently they can mow lawns.....
(note: she's wearing a Cinderella tee shirt and skirt, her pj's for the night, and she was wearing high heels until Matt told her if she wanted to help she couldn't wear heels)

Deck progress

So the actual building has begun!  After 2 trips to get the permit, weeks of necessary prep, removing almost all of the existing deck, Matt digging 18 (I think) footer holes, and 2 inspections of those holes, we had our first lumber delivery. (note: although the lumber was so expensive you'd think the 2 cute girls came with the lumber, they weren't included in the price)


A not very good picture of our deck "Before"


Partially Demolished:

And the building begins:

Loving On Daddy

We had another great but EXHAUSTING weekend!

Friday night Maddy had a sleepover at PopPops.  Saturday Matt and dad worked on the deck while I had a yard sale.  Thankfully Kiley and Mimi came to participate in the yard sale/help with the girls.  The yard sale was followed by a birthday party and then neighborhood party.

Sunday morning was pouring at our house so we drove out to dads.  It wasn't raining out there so we spent the earlier part of the day outside followed by watching The Little Mermaid and a cookout.

Camryn has 2 teeth coming in so although she's doing really well sleeping, it's still spotty and I don't blame her, I'm sure it's painful.  Then Maddys wakes and cries at least once a night.  I'm still trying to figure out what happened to my good sleeper.  I'll never take a full nights sleep for granted ever again, that's for sure!

Camryn testing out the merchandise at the yard sale.

Hanging by the lemonade stand.

Kiley and Maddy built a fort.

Maddy was so pooped from her sleepover Friday.  Saturday after the sale Camryn went down for a nap.  When she woke up I went to get her from her room and by the time I got back to the family room Maddy had passed out!

Camryn laying on the floor coloring like a big girl.

Filling up a cup from the sprinkler and drinking it.

Maddy giving Kipper some love, which was much needed considering Camryn was literally dragging him around by his tail.

Matt was trying to rest and the girls were all over him.  It was so cute.  They were laying on him, kissing him, the works!

I just have to talk about how wonderful our girls are.  I am tired beyond belief, and they sure do test my patience, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  They sure do grow up way too fast.

Puddles

The other afternoon was dreary and overcast but the girls wanted to go outside.  We decided to go for a walk but were quickly stopped by a big puddle that the girls just had to play in.  The only problem with the puddle was that it was at the bottom of someones driveway, right on the road.  I let them play for a few minutes and eventually convinced Maddy that we should play in the baby pool (Camryn left the puddle kicking and screaming).

Much safer than the puddle on the road

Camyrn's new thing is to carry around baby dolls and she loves kissing them.  This is an action shot of her kissing her baby.  She even makes the kissing noise, it's so adorable!

Last night Vienna had a "Concert on the Green", a free concert in downtown Vienna and it was a kids band.  Mom, Anna, and I went to dinner then took the girls.

Anna running around with Camryn

Maddy and her friend dancing

The concert was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.  The girls were horrible at dinner, but I've learned to eat my food at super sonic speeds so we survived, albeit a little stressed on my part!  When we got home we took quick baths and the girls went down pretty easily and they both slept all night.  I mean not even a dog got up last night, it was the first night in FOREVER that Matt and I both slept from the time we fell asleep until the time the alarm went off!!

Wildlife

The amount of wildlife seen around our house still amazes me after 6 years.

Just today there was some sort of Crane on our playhouse and if you look closely there is a fox peering through the fence.

If I think back to all the wild animals we've seen at our house it'd include deer, fox, raccoon, hawk, moles, chipmunks, snakes, crane, frogs....maybe that's it.  And all that with 2 dogs running around.  My cute pups don't even scare the wildlife off, ha.

Fathers Day Weekend

Last Friday Keren was off for her nieces graduation so Mimi came and saved the day and watched the girls.  Friday night the girls and I played out front and had a little picnic.

Saturday morning the girls and I headed to Anna's house.  We walked to Whole Foods and had lunch and then Camryn and I headed home and Maddy spent the day and night at Anna's.  They went to the park, baked banana muffins, went grocery shopping for dinner (Maddy requested shrimp), and then Maddy had what I'd consider her first big girl sleep over!  Aunt Anna brought her home Sunday morning.

While Anna had Maddy, mom came over and watched Camryn because Matt was working on the deck/porch and I had Katies 30th birthday party in Baltimore.  Mom put Camryn down Saturday night and guess what?!  She slept all night!  She woke around 6am Sunday, I gave her breakfast and she went back down until 9:15am!!  What a wonderful Fathers Day present.  We are going on 3 nights of sleeping through the night, wahhoooo!!

 Whit and I on the water in Baltimore

Katie about to blow out her candles

Fathers day we spent playing around the house and then we went to Whole Foods for lunch and got ice cream at Cold Stone.  While at Whole Foods one of the most embarrassing things happened....Maddy decided to lift up my dress for all of Whole Foods.  I was holding Camryn so was helpless until Matt came and saved me, but only after everyone eating a Whole Foods got to sneak a peek.  Thank you Maddy!

But in all seriousness, since it was fathers day weekend I should mention what an amazing husband and father Matt is.  Our girls are so lucky to have such an amazing father.  Matt loves his girls so much and I'm so happy they have such a wonderful man to look up to.  There is no doubt our girls will be hard working and know the value of a dollar :)  We love you Matt!!!

Mish Mash Mush

This post title says it all.  This post is a Mish Mash of recent happenings, and I feel like our lives have been full of hectic craziness, sleepless nights, and it's making my brain mush...so there you have it.

Since we've been back from the beach Matt has been outside working on digging footer holes for the deck/porch and tearing down the old deck...leaving me with two crazy toddlers.  Throw in some crazy rain storms and we have giant water filled holes in our back yard and very muddy dogs (whom we hope don't somehow fall in the giant holes!).

I'll explain in pictures:

Back yard:



Crazy Toddlers:

Oh and lets throw in a few snakes Matt found (1 in our garage!, the other in the back yard)

If I lose sight of the girls, chances are they're under the dining room table.  Maddy told me yesterday they were having a picnic:

Camryn had her 15 month appointment yesterday.  She's around the 17th percentile for weight and 75th for height (I don't remember exact measurements).  She got 2 shots and was a champ, she's so tough.  She doesn't say any clear words besides Mama and Dada but she sure does babble and she understands so much.  You ask her to go find Maddy or take something to daddy and she knows exactly what you're saying.  She's still not sleeping through the night but we're working on that.  Last night was night 2 of no night feedings and she sure has some lungs.  Tuesday night she screamed from 9:15 - 11pm.  Last night she screamed from 12:15-2am.  Matt goes in there to calm her down, but she's just mad and continues to scream.  Ughh, strong willed little girl. She's sweet as can be but sure can throw a temper tantrum.

Maddy on the other hand has started the "why" phase.  Everything, and I mean everything, get a "huh?" or "why".  So while Matt's working his tail off digging giant holes in the muddy back yard I'm chasing around Camryn and explaining EVERYTHING to Maddy (from why it's raining out to why I'm asking her to be quiet).  Oh and Cash has decided he won't step on the kitchen or basement floor (he slips with his nails sometimes) so that's been fun.

But at the end of the day, these two are something else.  Gosh I love them.  They keep giving me check-ups...maybe it's because of how exhausted I look?

I have a feeling the rest of summer will be like this, crazy fun hectic madness.  Weekends are quickly filling up and Matt has many days of deck building ahead of him.  Lets just hope it doesn't fly by too fast!!