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!

My Kind of Town

Mark and I spent this past weekend in Chicago and had a fabulous time. Mark was there for a game, and I flew in for the weekend to enjoy the city, go to the game, and see Mark's sister, Deb, and her family. The weather there over the weekend was unseasonably cool, but it was awesome for walking around the city. We were staying downtown, just a few blocks from Michigan Avenue, a.k.a. the Magnificent Mile, and a few blocks the other way was Navy Pier and the waterfront side of the city, so it was a perfect location. On Friday night we walked through downtown and got a table for dinner at Carmine's which was a fantastic meal. On Saturday, we shopped on Michigan Avenue, had lunch at an outdoor cafe, then Mark got ready for the game and I kept on walking around to the waterfront side of the city.I didn't bring my nice camera b/c I was trying to travel light, so the pictures aren't great and I didn't take many...too busy having fun!
I went to the game with Deb, Rick, and the girls. Everyone is all smiles here after the game since DC got their first road vicory. Maybe I'm good luck and should travel away more weekends? :) My parents (who watched the girls for us) might think otherwise, but I appreciated the chance to get away for the weekend with Mark and have some fun.

Where's Nina?

Since getting her responsibility upgraded during her hour of quiet time, Nina no longer has to stay in her bed and look at books. She's allowed to freely move about her room - coloring, looking at books, playing with princesses, etc. - or just laying in her bed for rest (yeah, right). Today, I walked in her room to get her out of quiet time and didn't see her playing in her room or in her closet. She has a desk built into the wall of her room that she sometimes hides under, so I figured she was hiding under there when she heard me coming to her room, but I looked under there and found her asleep. She had made a little barricade with one of her pillows and her dirty clothes basket, and must have fallen asleep while waiting to be found. Very cute.

Girlfriends

I recently heard a comment that was very true. In photo albums (or photo blogs) everyone is always smiling. You always get the good side of people in your photo albums because those are the times you want to remember. No one puts the picture in the photo album of you getting your finger slammed in the door, of temper tantrums, meltdowns, or the family trip that everyone would rather forget. Instead, you get all the happy images...not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just doesn't fully represent real life. So in tribute to that thought, here are the happy images from our cousin outing today. Doesn't it look like everyone is happy, non-whining, and not sweating their hiney off in the 90+ degree heat?
To keep things real, here is the picture taken less than a minute before the previous two when Shen and I asked them to get their picture taken together. Now, this is one for the family photo album!!

Princess Down!

Let me preface this story by saying that both of our girls are/were afraid of the vaccuum. I always thought it was a silly fear. Sure, the vaccuum makes some noise, but what other harm can come from it? Well, yesterday Nina's fear of the vaccuum might have gotten rekindled a bit. Here's how things went down...

• Me: (thinking) I'm almost done vaccuuming...so tired...need a shower before Lyla wakes up...Ariel doll is laying on the carpet by the wood floor...too much effort to bend down and pick it up...I'll push it onto the wood floor with the vaccuum so I can finish that spot of the carpet
• Nina: (painting at her table, thinking) It's a good thing I saved three weeks worth of allowance to buy my new Ariel doll because I really love her
• Me: (out loud) OH NO!!! (looking down at the red flecks all over the carpet and hearing some sort of grinding sound) The vaccuum definitely did NOT push the Ariel doll onto the wood floor. It sucked her up and was spitting out pieces of her back on the carpet.
• Nina: (out loud) Mommy, what happened?????
• Me: (pulling Ariel from the bottom of the vaccuum) I'm really sorry but I ran over Ariel with the vaccuum cleaner
• Nina: (very distressed tone) Mommy, why would you do that to Ariel?
• Me: (trying to be apologetic) I am so sorry. It was an accident. I'll get you a new one with my money this time.
• Nina: (heightened distressed tone) But, Mommy, why would you do that to Ariel? She's wrecked!
• Me: (thinking) Next time must not be too lazy to bend over and pick up Ariel... must remember that princess dolls and vaccuums don't mix... am really hoping Target has one in stock...
• An hour later: Nina has now told even strangers in Target and McDonalds that Mommy sucked Ariel up in the vaccuum but is completely thrilled to have replacement Ariel!
  Her hair took the worst of it on the actual doll, but the pretty dress she was wearing was definitely ripped beyond repair. Luckily for Nina, the only Ariel doll that Target had in stock was the "upgraded" one with three dresses, three underwater friends, and a treasure chest. So, of course I had to plunk down the extra $ to get the only replacement they had, but it all ended well for Nina.
  

Mark, This is For You

Mark, I know you were disappointed that you didn't get to see the girls before you left this morning, so we did a little video to say hello. We hope you enjoy it, and we'll see you in a week. (No one else may find this interesting, but this is the best way for me to share video, so if you're interested in just running around and saying Hi to the camera, then you may like it.)

There's Something About the Boa

Some of you may remember a blog post I did last year where Nina dressed up with this boa as a "pirate" and went on a treasure hunt. This morning, just after she woke up, she asked to get dressed up as a princess, so I pulled out the feather boa from the closet. Immediately, she said she needed her hat, her boots, and her magnifying glass. It must be something about this boa that lends itself towards exploration. Don't ask me why...most explorers I see aren't wearing hot pink feathered boas.After she decided she couldn't find bugs in the house or in Lyla's hair as seen in the above picture (which I'm thankful for on both accounts, obviously), she asked to get in clothes so she could explore outside. While we only saw some ants and a weird worm, it seemed fun to her. Lyla, always wanting to be like Nina, had to get in her hat and check stuff out too! :)

DC United vs. Real Madrid

Today was the much anticipated match between Real Madrid and DC United. For Real Madrid, it was the last games on their U.S. preseason trip, and for DC United it was a chance to play against some of the greatest soccer players in the world. It was a hot and sunny afternoon, but it was a great day to be at FedEx field cheering on the underdogs. Click here and select "Slideshow" to see my pictures from the game.

Sister Update

With August already fully underway, I must say that we've really enjoyed our summer. It's not like we've done anything terribly exciting, but all of us have really enjoyed the time outside, trips to the pool and park, community concerts, etc. I'm not ready to think ahead to fall yet, so we're enjoying the long, sunny days while we've got them. Lyla and Nina are both growing and changing so much. While keeping up with them can be exhauting, they are a tremendous joy to us right now. Nina is teaching Lyla lots of great words like MINE, and Lyla calls every princess Lella (short for Cinderella). They definitely know how to push each other's buttons, but they also know how to make each other laugh and smile!!

Now This is Interesting

Over the weekend, I was visiting at my mom and dad's with the girls when my parents mentioned that Lyla looks like she's going to be a lefty. Mark and I have noticed this for awhile. She kicks with her left foot, throws with her left hand, and prefers to eat with her left hand. It is very consistantly this way, so we were guessing that she'll be left handed. My mom brought up the very interesting point that the only other lefty in our family is Bo, and for those of you who might remember, Bo and Lyla share the same birthday. Interesting coincidence. Bo, however, is more ambidextrous than complete lefty. Admitedly, my mom confesses that she probably had something to do with that. She said she always taught him to do things with his right hand (eating, writing, drawing, etc) even though he probably was born lefty, so he now eats, writes, and golfs right handed, but growing up he always had an issue with penmanship and grips his pen/pencil like a lefty would. He does everything else lefty (kicks, throws, etc), and they've concluded that he plays tennis equally well with both hands. So, while this lefty birthday connection is nothing more than coincidence, we find it a rather interesting one.

A Typical Scene

If you were to visit our house any morning just after the girls get downstairs from waking up, this is the scene you'd find. Like I mentioned in another post, the stereotype that little girls sit quietly and play, color, etc., definitely doesn't fit the profile here.

On another note, we found the cutest baby birds (there are four of them - the other three were hiding) tucked inside the overhang of our neighbor's garage. Once the mother and father bird flew back and saw us there, we started to get dive bombed by the birds, so we went back to our yard, but they were so cute I had to try to get a picture of them. Also, how cool is that nest!