Play inside school sandbox

Pretty much every Tuesday and Wednesday when I pick Will up at school I ask, "So what did you at school today?" Reliably, Will answers, "Play inside school sandbox!" As the school year has progressed so has the description of what exactly he's done in the sandbox. Yesterday I got a whole story about the activity pictured below.

He's always busy, but he's always happy!!!

Cherry blossoms!

With planning that would rival a Shuttle launch, we successfully got everyone down to the National Mall today to see the cherry blossoms. After breakfast, we rangled everyone into pinks and reds and off we went.


Will only wanted to fly his kite and he said he wouldn't be in pictures, but he happily obliged anyway. Here's the big brother and his little sweeties.



We have pictures of Will with the blossoms when he was one and in our mind's eye we really wanted similar pictures of the girls in the blooms. We're very happy to get these of Stella and Maggie. Ironically, Stella did all of the smiling today while Maggie was the serious one.


There was almost no wind on the Mall so Will had to produce his own. He was SO proud when this took off.


We have very few pictures of the five of us so we're excited to get this one (on a timer, no less). The trip was so tiring, and a little stressful, but so very rewarding.

A day in the park

It was another sunny day, and as predicted a tear free one (for the most part anyway!). After some morning errands, we headed to a new playground and Will thought that was "a nice idea Mommy!"

Maggie & Stella swung on the swings, trying out their new sunhats.

And Will explored all of the different slides and tunnels. In the end, he was happiest just playing with the mulch and running around.

Sunny, with a chance of tears

Spring has definitely sprung in Silver Spring and Wednesday was no exception. There were a few cloudy patches that brought showers of tears though. The girls got off to a tough start of crying hysterically when our sitter came and Patti headed upstairs to get ready (separation anxiety has set in). That continued until it was time for Patti & Will to leave for school, but luckily a stroller ride to the park made life without mom tolerable. Everyone made it through the morning, but Will definitely had the most fun. Here are a few photos of him busily playing at school.

The evening had its rough patches too, with fits of crying from Stella & Maggie. Mostly a combination of being tired, teething, and just getting over a bad stomach bug.

Will remained in good, happy spirits after getting to help Daddy in the back yard with the new fence, a short walk down the street to see the digger, and a full reading of his new "Highlights" magazine.

Thursday's forecast: just sunny, no tears.

Weighing in at 1 year

The girls had their 1 year well visit today with Dr. Ben. They're growing and developing on track. After getting measured and checked out by the doctor, the nurse administered a slue of pokes...a PPD skin test, finger stick for blood test, and 3 vaccinations.

Maggie was quite brave and cried just for a moment. Stella; however, wasn't a fan and cried, screamed, and thrashed about.

Here are their stats:

Maggie

Weight: 17 lbs 7 oz

Height: 29 3/4 in

Head: 44 cm

Stella

Weight: 18 lbs 3.9oz

Height: 27 3/4 in

Head: 46 1/2 cm

It's fun to imagine

Will & mommy had a great day at school today (it was my day to co-op) while Mimi, Stella, & Maggie stayed at home to play.

Will and a few of his friends asked to feed the guinea pigs, so we found some leftover spinach in the fridge. The kids and the guinea pigs were super happy!

Will found a race car helmet that he took to immediately. Everyone else wanted to take a turn to, but Will had plenty of time to pretend that he was a race car driver.

Before clean-up time, Will spent some alone time working at the light board. In only a way that Will would, he organized all the pegs in a row...clear on the bottom, then blue on top. If only he had more time to finish his creation...

On the playground, Will zoomed around with a shovel in hand and started shoveling the wood chips into one of the playhouses. When asked what he was doing, he matter-of-factly proclaimed that he was shoveling coal into his train. So, he spent his remaining minutes on the playground filling the firebox and blowing the whistle on his steam train. Imagine, Will the locomotive fireman...

After a quick stop at the grocery store to buy some bok choy (we've been meaning to buy some to try because of his Melissa & Doug stir fry set), we headed home to find Mimi holding Stella & Maggie, who enjoyed plenty of play time and a 2 hour nap.

A good morning for everyone!!!

Happy Birthday girls (cont.)!!

Here's some more fun pictures from Stella and Maggie's birthday. Please check out the slideshow on the left for more fun pictures too!

Stella was loving Mommy for a while at the party.

Maggie was doing the same with Daddy.

The kids all had a long day. After everyone napped, Will taught the girls a thing or two about opening presents. He "helped" Maggie and Stella open pretty much everything.

Here's Maggie and Stella's new wheels. They'll be cruising to the park in style.

Happy Birthday girls!!

We celebrated Stella and Maggie's first birthday today - hooray!! While the day started with gray and rain, it ended as beautifully as our girls (60 and sunny).

Patti made the day perfect for the girls. From the homemade hats below, to the thoughtful homemade favors, treats, etc., everything was just right.

Stella and Maggie had their first taste of cake. Stella didn't waste any time digging her fingers into her individual cake.

Maggie danced around her cake a little by just sticking her lips into it at first. She thought her cake mustache was pretty funny.

Big brother Will helped the girls blow out their candles on their shared five-layered cake. He was pretty well-behaved, all things considered, but despite singing Happy Birthday to the girls all week at home he didn't sing to them today at the party...