Winery

This past weekend we went to a local winery with our friends the Envalls. I never would have thought that you could take your kids with you and still enjoy the outing but it was very fun! While the adults did our tasting (8 wines - 4 red and 4 white - for $5) the kids played in the "toy corner." Then we headed outside to have a picnic and let the kids run around. Here are some pics from the day:

Audrey is explaining that these are grapes for Chardonnay.

Preschool Playdate

The preschool that the girls are going to be going to in the fall had a little playdate on the playground today so that the kids could start getting used to a new place. In addition, our teachers had their meet and greet right after the playing. So here are some things that I learned today:
When we got there, they looked at me and said "leave Mommy." Nice. Apparently I have been talking a lot about how I will leave them there and come back to get them later.

There are 12 kids in their class - 4 boys and 8 girls. Of the ones there today, Brooke's name was the only girl name that did not end it the "ee" sound. Perhaps we should make them call her Brookie.

One of the teachers lives just one street over (sure hope that the girls like her!)

The class is the younger of the two T/Th classes and most of the kids seem to have birthdays from Aug to Dec.

And the most interesting thing (in my opinion) is that of the 11 moms in the class - 3 of them have the same name. Would you believe that there are 3 Kerry's - spelled like that?? I can't think of another Kerry (that was a girl) that I have ever met and now-bam- two others.

General Info

It has been a while since I have done a post of just general information, so here goes.

• The girls LOVE to watch TV....no surprise as they are my children. I love to watch them watch tv. They are mesmerized - and totally interactive. If they are told to yell something, then yell they do. Our current favorites are Team Umizoomi (love anything that makes math cool), Handy Manny (though I can't stand listening to FEZ), Super Why, and Little Einsteins (aka The Rocket show). Dora and Diego are still popular, but I am tired of watching the same 10 episodes over and over - seriously the show has been on for 10 years and they can't find more episodes to show?? Their favorite in the car movie is The Letter Factory - which has single handedly taught the girls the sounds of all the letters.
• Generally, I don't proclaim the girls to be "ahead" in any skills, but I have decided that they are for sure ahead with their playing together. They are so cute playing now. They generally are playing together rather than just near each other.
• Which brings me to my next point. They are ADORABLE to listen to as they have full out conversations now. It is amazing to hear all that they talk about. I am going to have to do a better job remembering specific examples, but you can trust me that it is cute! Though on more than one occasion they have been "caught" discussing jumping on the trampoline together since I was out of the room. Trouble is clearly on the horizon.
• For a while at night, we had some trouble getting the girls to stay in bed. But after a reward chart (seriously worked like a charm even though they really are not that interested in their final prize) they are now great at staying in bed. Unfortunately the by product of our brilliant plan is that now instead of leaving the room, they just yell for us. Though to be accurate, Audrey is the designated yeller. And she SCREAMS. Clearly she does not know that there is a monitor in their room. The typical scenario is some quiet chattering between the girls. Then Audrey YELLS for us - for example "Brooke can't find her cat" "Brooke is thirsty" "Brooke needs her covers on" As you can see our tiny little spokesperson is always yelling on Brooke's behalf. We tried to ignore it, but then they have a conversation where they wonder why we aren't coming - with the conclusion being that we must not be able to hear them and so Audrey yells louder. I think a new chart may be in our future.
• The girls are going to start preschool next month. They will be going for 2 days a week for 3 hours each day. The thing that I am looking forward to the most is going to the grocery store by. my. self. I currently dread going with the girls and I hate going at night or on the weekend. I feel like if I am staying at home, I should at least be able to go when the stores aren't crowded. Anyway- this Monday I decided to be wild and crazy at the grocery store. I let them bring their own carts and babies. Apparently I am brilliant. It was the best shopping trip in recent memory. Here is a picture (yes I was the one who brought in 2 carts and then was going up and down aisles taking pictures)

Sass

New Friend

One of my best friends Erica - and her son Spencer is therefore one of the girls best friends - had her second baby the day before we left for the beach. I was able to go visit them and here is a picture of little Parker when he was less than a day old - it is hard to believe that they can go from a tiny little blob to a walking, talking little person in less than 2 years.

Now that we are back to our normal life, we were able go and see them this week. The girls have been very excited to meet Baby Parker. They LOVE babies!! (kind of makes me sad that they won't get to be big sisters) Here are a couple of shots of them with him - Brooke likes to be a little more hands on with babies, but Audrey is currently calling her little doll Baby Parker.

It is hard to tell but they were moving his arms and hands around in the last picture....I am not sure he knew what to think about all of the attention he got from them.

Grandma Di

The day after our family beach trip ended, Darren's mom passed away suddenly and totally unexpectedly. While it has been shocking, it is also comforting to know that we had just spent a week together making wonderful memories and having a blast. As D said, if he knew that his mom only had a week left, he knows that she would want to spend it at the beach with her family - especially her 4 grandkids!

Death is always hard, but it has been really tough to explain it to the girls. It is just so hard to know what they understand. I can't imagine dealing with this if you couldn't end the conversation with the fact that you will see her again in heaven one day - though needless to say this brings up bunches of questions from the girls as well.

So here are some pictures of Grandma Di from our last week together.

Hilton Head

Every year we go to Hilton Head with D's family for our annual beach vacation. Here are some pictures from that trip (the last week of July).

Here are some pics from our photo shoot on the beach. Unfortunately we were a little too early taking the pics so there are lots of squints and shadows.Here are some non-posed pictures from the week as well. There is no doubt that the girls love the beach-just like their mom and dad: