Haymarket Halloween Party

This afternoon and evening was the much anticipated Haymarket Halloween party. While my mom and dad have had a Halloween party for the girls every year, this year was a turbo party complete with a hayride, spooky forest, dinner, campfire, and party treats. We had such a great time. Our friends, Jill and Mark and their two kids came also, and the Williams crew was sadly missing Shen who was feeling under the weather. We had such a great time, and we want to say a BIG thank you to Mousey and Poppy for all the work and creativity to make this year's party so much fun. Check out all the photos from the party HERE.

Sister Update

With fall now fully underway, I thought it was time for another sister update. It seems like Nina is changing so much these days. She is still full of energy and very imaginative, but she has developed quite a little attitude to go with it all. She can make us laugh with the funny attitude when things are going well, but there has also been the not so great attitude to accompany it. She puts her hands on her hips, sighs loud sighs, talks under her breath, and makes all sorts of interesting faces when things aren't going her way. We're having to have more talks about attitude and respect, but I have a feeling we'll be having those conversations for years to come.

In other news, she is SO excited for Halloween. She has been carrying around her Halloween bucket filled with all kinds of things from the house while pretending it's Halloween. Her costume this year will be no surprise - Cinderella. I was excited in the months leading up to October when we talked about her being Ladybug Girl - a character from one of her favorite books. She could be Ladybug Girl and Lyla could be Ladybug Girl's trusty Basset Hound, Bingo. It would have been great. However, walking through Costco one afternoon, we came upon the Disney princess costumes that they were selling. All thoughts of being Ladybug Girl went out the window, and Cinderella was front and center. I think I'm the only one disappointed.Nina really wanted her picture taken outside with Lyla and the pumpkin. Sorry for the weird shadows in the picture. I was just trying to snap something before Lyla got up.
Lyla just cracked the 19 month mark. She got a check-up last week and all reports came back great. She is still off the charts in height and low in weight, but I'm sure all that will even out soon. She loves building towers with blocks, stacking cups, etc. and loves to have books read to her. She is copycat #1 of all things Nina. One of the funny things she does right now is telling you when she passes gas. Since it's just family and friends that read this, I'm sure no one will be offended, but you'll hear a little noise and she'll look up and say "toot." I'm sure someday she'll be thrilled that I shared that information. While in the past she has been very eager to please, that trend hasn't exactly manifested itself as of late. The often self-involved mindset of a toddler would probaby fit her personality better right now. However, she is still loving and sweet most of the time.

1999 Reunion Weekend

This weekend we were part of the 10 year reunion of the 1999 championship team of DC United. Mark got to catch up with some of his former teammates, and we enjoyed a really nice evening on Friday and then the 99 team was honored at the rainy, cold game on Saturday night. The hotel was great, however it will be a long time (at least we feel this way at the moment) before someone could convince the four of us to stay in a hotel room together again. On Friday night, Lyla wouldn't go to sleep until 4:30 am, and Nina was up at 6:30 am. Needless to say, that put quite a damper on our energy level for Saturday, so we decided to forego the hotel room stay on Saturday night and sleep at home. Good choice. The guys from the 1999 team and their coaches.
The wives of the players and coaches.

All the kids that would agree to be in the picture. Lyla wouldn't agree to get in the picture, and Nina is clearly excited to be a part of the photo op. Click on the picture to see her expression!

Nina had a really great time at the dinner event on Friday. There were a lot of kids, and she did very well. Lyla, on the other hand, struggled to stay up late and take in all the stimulation, but with the help of her paci and lots of being held by Mark and I, she survived.

Weekend Wrap-Up

This past weekend we had the chance to spend some time with Mark's mom and step-dad from Florida. Mark and I had an engagement to attend on Saturday that was going to take most of the afternoon and evening, so instead of asking a babysitter to stay with the girls, we thought it would be a better idea to fly his parents in for the weekend so we could spend some time together and they could help out with the girls on Saturday. Nina got to show Grandma and Grandpa her bike riding skills, and we enjoyed a beautiful fall day together on Friday. While Mark and I were gone on Saturday, they all got to go to the community Fall Festival. I wish I would have been there to take pictures, but we heard it was a lot of fun! Grandma and Grandpa left on Sunday, and although the visit was short, it was great to have them here for a couple days.
Nina is teaching Lyla all about dress-up. Lyla finally fits in one of Nina's first dress-up dresses, and Nina is actually thrilled about it. Now she has a princess partner to play the part with.

A Trip to the Apple Orchard

So, we decided to take our first trip back to Stribling Orchard in close to seven years. The last time Mark and I were there, it was shortly after we were married, and we got so into the spirit of the fall weather, the apple picking, etc. that we ended up coming home with 37 pounds of apples. Keep in mind, we lived in a smallish one-bedroom condo at the time, our kitchen wasn't very big, and we were faced with the prospect of what to do with all these apples. We felt like Bubba and Forrest in that scene of Forest Gump where Bubba is describing all the things they do with shrimp. We made 9 apple pies, apple cake, apple turnovers, apple butter, cinnamon apples, ate the apples...you get the idea. We haven't gone apple picking since, but we decided to take the girls and enjoy the beautiful fall day. So, what's the one thing you can do to prevent yourself from picking too many apples??? Bring two toddlers with you! This time, we only came home with about 10 pounds.

Before we picked apples, Nina and Lyla had to check out the sheep, goats, and horse at the orchard.

Isn't it true that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!
Nina was so intent on trying to climb the trees. She made it up this one (with a little help) and picked some apples for us.

Mark, of course, got all the best apples from the very tops of the trees!

Both girls liked eating the apples straight from the tree, but we had to keep a close eye on Lyla who would happily pick up any rotten apple off the ground and start eating it.

We had a picnic lunch on top of the highest hill in the orchard and were able to look out over the Shenandoah Valley area. If only the leaves had been in prime season for the fall colors! Regardless, we had a good time together at the orchard.

Cox Farms '09

Yesterday, we made our annual trip to Cox Farms for their fall festival. While the past two years have been fun, I would say that this year was the best so far. We had such a great time. Check out all the photos from our day by clicking HERE, and choose the Slideshow option to read the captions that go with the pictures!

The 5th Time's a Charm

First there was Achtung Baby, then Zoo TV, then Elevation, followed by Vertigo, and last night was the 360 degree No Line on the Horizon tour. Those are all the U2 shows that Shen and I have gone to together since I was fifteen. Last night was awesome. Since the concert was at FedEx, we travelled via metro which provided us with some very interesting experiences, but aside from that, the night was amazing. U2 is hands down our favorite band, and they are fantastic in concert, so each time we go, the night is always a highly anticipated one that never disappoints. Here was the view from our seats while the lights were still on.

I tried to take a little video, but as you'll see, it's not good at all. Not only is my old camera on it's very last leg, but it doesn't focus well at distance, and it's hard to focus on much of anything when you're jumping and singing. To avoid feeling seasick, you might just want to close your eyes and listen if you click on the videos.

Weekend Fun

On Friday evening, we headed out to dinner with the Williams family. The girls had a great time playing together here at after dinner. They managed to do a good job of playing neatly! haa haa. We caught Lyla and Ryleigh in the act of "reading" together which we thought was cute considering most of the time the cousins spend together entails running and squeeling.
Lyla is very sweet with her hugs these days. She'll open her arms real wide and say, "Hug, hug."

Saturday night was a big of a disappointment, but we tried to turn it into some fun. It was the night of our community campout, and since DC United had a Sunday game this weekend instead of a Saturday game, we were so excited to take part in the campout. Nina was very excited also. However, the rain started on Friday and by Saturday afternoon, it was raining buckets. The campout got canceled for the night, so we let the girls stay up late for a movie night instead. Lyla didn't last until the end of the movie, but she liked being included by trying to watch.

Dinner Dollars to Make a Difference

Last night I had the pleasure of hosting 18 lovely ladies at my house for a night entitled Dinner Dollars to Make a Difference. Our concept was simple. We all had dinner together at my house, and we donated the money we would have spent out to dinner to a wonderful organization, Love 146, who is working to erradicate child exploitation and sex slavery through the prevention, education, and aftercare of victims. It was a great night to socialize and wine and dine with friends, but the bigger picture was of bringing us all together to learn more about human trafficking/sex slavery and to inspire and empower us to be change agents in this area. We had an awesome night, and I'm looking forward to doing this again and using all the creativity and bright minds in the room last night to really make an impact for those women and children who are exploited and entrapped in the world of sex slavery.

Family Day

Mark got home from Trinidad on Thursday, and since the team didn't play this weekend, he had the weekend free. The weather was beautiful, so we took advantage of it and spent the first part of the day yesterday at Algonquian Park. The kids had a great time at the big playground.Lyla is happy to spend the whole time climbing up stairs and sliding down the slide then doing it all over again.
Nina accomplished two big girl things recently. She now is completely self sufficient on the swings. After quite awhile of kind of pumping, she's got it down now.

She also got her first set of real golf clubs. Mark has been so excited to teach her, and she really likes practicing her swing. We had a picnic at a beautiful spot by the river, played ball, and then Mark transported a snake he found back to the river.

By the afternoon, it was time to head back and get Lyla a nap. While she napped we got in some exercise, cleaned up, then for the evening we headed back out for pizza and ice cream. It was a fun day!

Sister Update

One of our hopes for Nina and Lyla was that they'd make the most of their closeness in age by being good friends and playing together. It's been neat to see that develop a lot more as Lyla gets older and is able to do more big girl things. Right now, she really just want to copy everything Nina does. While that's much incentive for us to try to encourage Nina to be a good example, sometimes it works out that way and sometimes it doesn't come close. :) Lyla tried to play hopscotch also but really just ended up getting in the way, so she watched from the side for awhile.

It's not even 1:00 yet when this picture was taken, and Lyla has already become a certifiable ragamuffin for the day!
Here was their game this morning...

The Week in Review

After enjoying Labor Day with our friends, things got back down to business around here. DC United had two league games at home during the week, then they left on Sunday for a trip to Trinidad, so it has been a busy week for Mark. The girls and I visited Shen and her girls so we could get in one last day play time with Emme before she started school (her first day of Kindergarten was today). Here are Nina and Emme showing off their matching jammies. While we were there, we also got to check out Ryleigh's shiner. She had an unfortunate run-in with the corner of a boat cabin, and this was four days after the incident, so we didn't even see the worst of it.

Lyla had a rough and tumble week as well. Thankfully, I don't have any pictures to prove it. She started with falling while attempting to climb one of our kitchen chairs. I was on the floor putting on Nina's shoes, and Lyla was climbing the chairs (like she always does) when she slipped off the front and hit her face on the chair on her way down. It was scary for me because I couldn't tell if all the blood was coming from her nose or her mouth, but after getting her calmed down and cleaned up, I saw it was a cut in her mouth, so thankfully nothing major.

The next day, Nina and I were in the yard cleaning off our shoes from going to the playground, and Lyla was playing with her wagon in the garage (or so I thought) when I heard the sound of tricycle wheels on the driveway, and I look over and see Lyla careening down the driveway on the tricycle and crashing into the grass at the base of the driveway. Thankfully it wasn't the sidewalk or the street that she crashed on. I have no idea how she managed to get the tricycle from the back of the garage, get it to the top of the driveway (b/c she can't even reach the pedals when she sits on it), get on, and take off down the driveway in the 2 minute span of time it took me to get the hose unravelled to wash off our shoes.

She followed that up by dropping some unsavory morsels in the bathtub while in there with Nina - much to Nina's dismay. She's had quite a week! On a happier note for me, our computer is back now, so that means blog posts are back too.

Out for a little while...

Our home computer got quite a malicious virus on Tuesday. After many attempts from Mark and I to repair the problem, it was still infected and is now in the hands of professionals, so hopefully I'll have it back soon to update with some more posts. In the meantime, I only have Mark's laptop for use before he leaves for work or after he comes home, and since it doesn't have my photo program on it, the photo posts will have to wait. Check back soon...

Fun with Friends

Several years ago, Mark and I, P and Jeff, Meg and Mike, and Teresa and Caz all lived about 10 minutes from each other in Herndon. P and I lived on the same circle of townhouses, and Mike and Meg and Teresa and Caz lived elsewhere in Herndon but still close. In the past couple of years, we've all moved. This time, we live in the same community as Teresa and Caz, and Mike and Meg are just seven minutes down the road, but P and Jeff have moved to New Jersey (sad for us). Since they were in town over the weekend, we all got together to hang out and spend some time. Here are the two blondies - Lyla and Ben. Nina and Casimir were too busy to catch with the camera!
The guys got in a couple rounds of corn hole, and we cooked out and enjoyed each other's company until it was time for everyone to head home. I am already looking forward to our next get together!

Stroller Time - Take Two

When Nina was a bit younger than Lyla, she was really into a stroller we borrowed from Emme. After seeing how much she liked it, we got one for our house. Nina continued to play with that one for a long time. When Lyla came along, she was the one riding in the stroller while Nina pushed, and now we've graduated to Lyla being the one who wants to push the stroller around all the time. I also find it interesting how toys are "chosen" for a period of time. This bear was actually part of a flower delivery sent to us when Lyla was born. It has been down in the toy room closet for 1 1/2 years, but in the past couple of weeks, Lyla has become so attached to it. While this next picture isn't the most photogenic of Lyla, I love it because she seemed to be practicing her smile a bit. I got my camera out just to take a couple pictures of her with the stroller, and she deliberately stopped for both pictures, said "Chee" and smiled, so I thought that was cute.Bear gets lots of hugs and kisses!

Flying High

Yesterday evening was a very coolish, almost fall, night. We were all in the backyard playing when Mark started throwing Nina up in the air. I had to go in and get my camera to catch a few tosses because she was getting some big air and loving it!