Bounce House Pix & Videos

We made it!

Well, I made it to South Carolina alright yesterday. What is normally a 7.5 hour drive took me 10 hours because I had to stop and feed and baby and when I did that I also ended up playing with Lizzie. This was my trip:

Virginia - listen to Junie B. Jones CDs, drive, feed the kids at McDonalds (which mercifully had an indoor playground). North Carolina - listen to Junie B. Jones CDs, drive, long break at a rest stop where Lizzie and I played teacher/mommy (Liz) and student/child (me), HEAVY rainstorm, patches of traffic, feed the baby at a gas station.

South Carolina - listen to Charlotte's Web CDs, drive, Lizzie finally drifts off to sleep for an hour nap, arrive.

Today has been a bit more fun (and relaxing). We swam a bit in the morning and in the late afternoon Julie and I slipped away with the babies for belated lunch. We spent the evening at a local bounce house. Super fun.

We're Off!

I'm heading to South Carolina in about ten minutes, or however long it takes to load the girls and some odds and ends into the car--thanks to Drew for packing all the heavy stuff. I'm excited to see my parents and sister, but I'm a little nervous about driving eight plus hours with a newborn. A couple days ago she screamed for the entire half hour drive to the outlet mall--not because she was wet or hungry, but because she wanted to be held. She slept for the entire return trip. I'm hoping for a drive more like that.

Pumpkin Patch Attempt #1

Today was our first attempt at a pumpkin patch (and I'm guessing Drew will say it is also his last this year). We went when Andrew got home from work. Unfortunately there was heavy traffic so by the time we got to Nalls it was only open for about fifteen minutes. At least we had time to take a few pictures.

Bowling Party!

The Longest Day

Yesterday was THE LONGEST DAY EVER.

Totally our fault.

We over scheduled.

First thing in the morning Drew took Liz with him to choir practice. Unfortunately the rest of the choir did not show up. It was just Drew, a woman who refused to sing alone, the choir leader, and a couple that was there to babysit kids. Andrew pretty much got a private voice lesson and Liz got lots of attention.

Next was Lizzie's soccer game. It was pretty hilarious. We spent most of the game laughing on the sidelines. The kids basically ran around in a pack and sometimes two or more balls were unintentionally in play. Liz was really excited about the game and seemed to enjoy herself. Unfortunately she did not want to pose for a picture (until she had a friend next to her):

Notice the cool pink cleats that Andrew just had to buy for Liz.After the game we raced home to do last minute prep for Lizzie's party like bathing the birthday girl (only half hour turn around time before guests started arriving). We invited eight friends with the assumption that some of them couldn't make it and we would have enough room to transport party goers in our own vehicles. It just barely worked out. We brought seven little girls to the Fort Myer bowling alley (perfect place for kids--uncrowded and non-smoking). The kids bowled one game, ate cheese pizza and cupcakes, and watched Liz open gifts. We provided bowling t-shirts and a mixed CD as party favors (both made by Drew). Even Alaina had a bowling onesie.
Our CD mostly had kids songs pulled from the "No" and "Philadelphia Chicken" albums, but we also included some peppy and/or silly adult music. Unfortunately we did not check all the music and belatedly realized that Queen's Bicycle song takes the Lord's name in vain and talks about "fat bottomed girls." We are so classy.

We got home from bowling just in time to babysit for our new co-op. It was our first time babysitting and it was very different from our previous co-op experience. Before we only had four kids for one to two hours before we put them to bed. Now we have the possibility of eight children for four long hours. Not pleasant. Last night we only had four additional children. Within half an hour our downstairs neighbor knocked on the door and asked us to be quiet. I was super embarrassed. He's banged on the ceiling before, but in five years he's never shown up on our doorstep!

We took the kids to the park for awhile, but that only ate up 1.5 of our 4 hour sentence. I felt so stressed trying to keep the kids from running and jumping in the apartment that I swore I would not participate in the co-op next month. Andrew was like, what's the big deal? Really, I think the problem was that we basically watched kids from 1 to a little after 8 p.m. Seven hours of childcare! That's a full days work.

After the kids left I took off to my friend Lea's house for a ladies icecream social and a much needed break. Today was the antithesis of yesterday. We hung out at home with our kids (it's still so weird to refer to "my kids"), visited with our friend Jessica and her cute twins, and took turns napping. So nice. My main accomplishment today: french braiding Lizzie's hair (first time I have ever french braided someone's hair).

Last Wednesday . . .

Yesterday was Alaina's four week mark! I was excited that she finally fit into my "maybe I'll have a baby outfit."

Wednesday was also the day that I got to observe Lizzie's dance class. I took lots of videos to show Drew because he was unable to be there. In the following picture I asked Liz to do a ballet pose for me.

In Lizzie's class she studies tap:

Ballet:

Gymnastics:

I intended to post all this Wednesday night, but the past two evenings I have been so exhausted that I have fallen asleep on the couch holding Alaina and Andrew has had to send me to bed.