Time For a Mid-Day Tooth Cleaning

I just kissed Lila, and she said, "Your breath stinks ..... (pause) .....like a port-a-potty."

Nice. I can't make this stuff up.

Lila's Turn

Today was the first day of Pre-K for Lila - very exciting! She's had mixed emotions all sumer, but once Emma started, she was ready to go and asked everyday if it her first day yet. We purposely didn't talk much about it yesterday, as Lila tends to shut down if you make a big deal over her. At bedtime, I said, "You know you have school tomorrow?"
"Yes, Mom," was her overly calm response. She wasn't nervous last night or this morning - all smiles over breakfast and getting ready.

When we walked in the room it was a different story. Lila hid behind my legs and wouldn't look at anyone. She wouldn't even take a squirt of Purell from her teacher, and Lila loves Purell! After about five minutes, her pal Kate came in, and that made a huge difference. They played and didn't even care when I went to the parents' meeting. She had a great time and didn't want to leave when I came back for her.

Tomorrow is the first real day, so we'll see how that goes. Her teachers still think she's a shy, frightened, fragile little girl. ;)

Yum - pancakes on the special plate!

Does she look nervous to you?!

Ready to go in...

Yeah! Kate is here!

Busy ironing for some new friends

Look Out Fourth Grade, Here Comes Emma!

This morning was finally the first day of school for Emma! She was ready to go back, and we're all ready for a little more of a routine around here. She had her outfit all laid out, and woke up with her alarm even though she had a hard time falling asleep last night. We even had time to paint her nails (blue to match her outfit) after breakfast. We woke Lila up to say goodbye, knowing she'd be missing her sister all day. Luckily for Lila, the cable guys were here this morning, so she had someone to talk to. And show all of her toys to. And talk about dog breeds with. Incessantly. For an hour.
I hate waiting for the first day to be over! The suspense is killing me! I feel so left out! Emma has a half day today, though, so only a few more hours before I hear all about it.

4th Grader

Back Pack Shot

Beautiful Emma!

I'll miss you!!

Here it comes!

Happy Birthday Gappy!

We love you and hope you had a great birthday! And thanks for keeping the girls so Ryan and I could go away for the weekend!

LBI

We're running out of summer quickly here, so I took the girls to LBI last Thursday for a few hours. I haven't been to the beach hang out of my youth in many years, and it was great to go back. The beach was a bit chilly and windy, so we stayed for a bit, had a swim, then went shopping down at Bay Village. New anklets and ice cream for the girls, and a toe ring for me made it almost as much fun as the beach!

Hazy!

Chilly!

Windblown!

My Merfolk

Babysitting

The girls (especially Lila!) were so excited to have our 13-year-old neighbor, Ellie, babysit last weekend. They've been asking for her all summer. We are fortunate enough that we rarely have to pay for a sitter with family all around us, but we planned a dinner outing with friends and planned to have Ellie come for a few hours. Lila talked about it all week, "What day is Ellie coming?" "Is tomorrow after this day?" "Is she coming after breakfast?" etc.

Ellie also has two high school age brothers, Jack and Ryan. In the car, the afternoon of the big night, Lila said repeatedly, "Mom, I bet Jack and Ryan are SO JEALOUS that Ellie gets to come babysit us!! I bet they wish they could come over too!" Emma and I exchanged glances and enthusiastically agreed. That's just what teenage boys like to do on a Friday night!

It's so cute the way she flatters herself.....

Last Summer Fling

We decided Monday afternoon to accompany Ryan to D.C. on an overnight business trip. We had a lot going on here that had to be juggled around, but when we can jump in the car with Ryan (no air travel involved) and stay in his hotel room (in this case the Ritz-Carlton!), without interrupting a school schedule - we do it!
The hotel was wonderful - literally white glove service. The girls said they felt like Eloise at the Plaza. We checked in around 9:30 pm. Ryan had to speak and attend a conference until lunch time, so we hung out in the morning and waited for him. Then we enjoyed a half day of museum fun and dinner in Georgetown before returning to our car and heading home.
We would have made it home by 10:30 if Lila's hadn't thrown up! She went from happy, sweet chatter to, "Mom, I think I'm gonna throw up." "Really?!" "Yes - (hurling noise)." That made for some fun clean up on the side of 95 in MD!

Enjoying some posh robes..

Daddy and his girls

A bit blurry, but - the real Kermit
(When we told Lila it was the real Kermit, she said, "He's dead?!?!" much to the entertainment of the woman in front of us.)

Very proud that a butterfly chose her arm to land on!

Lila took this one of her sister at dinner.