Bikes

We upgraded the girls' bikes this past weekend.  Before we had one 12 inch bike for them to share (primarily because Audrey had zero interest in biking).  It was clearly too small for Brooke and we thought Audrey would perhaps enjoy biking more if she picked out her bike.  We let them pick their new bikes and helmets from Academy (though as a side note, buy your 16 inch bikes at Wal-Mart because they will assemble them for you and you have to do it yourself from Academy.  Boo)

As I said in the last post, once we got them all assembled we realized that Brooke's back tire had a huge hole in it.  After buying a new tube and some impressive tire changing from D (thanks to all those years of biking the MS150) we were all set to bike around the neighborhood....or at least our street.

Here are some cute pics of them:

Assembling the bikes

Showing off their new helmets

Audrey biking on her new zebra bike (her dog Ella is riding in the little bag in the front)

First time they were able to ride together

Brooke showing off her new princess bike

Audrey posing by her new bike

And they rode off into the sunset together.

And here is a video (this is for you Kate and Renee as you saw Audrey trying to ride a bike right before we moved) showing their biking prowess:

Getting Settled

Memorial Day weekend we went down into BR to see the river and go see the real tiger at LSU.  It was BLAZING hot outside and I totally forgot what a giant sweaty person I am.  yuck.  And the girls kept commenting on how sticky they were and how thirsty they were.  I think it is going to be a long summer!
And the tiger sighting was a bit of a bust as well as they were apparently having a giant two day country concert in the stadium and therefore driving and parking was a huge hassle.  But we of course persevered and did get to see Mike...well the tiny bit of his nose sticking out as he was way in the back in the shade (smart cat!).  The girls did think it was interesting that his nose was pink so I guess that was a success.

In front of the MS with Gramma and Gary

So now we have entered the everyday life with D back at work and no school for the girls!  Week one went pretty well.  We went to the library for story time.  I cannot emphasize this enough: the kids here wear bows that are HUGE.  Like the size of their heads.  Having no bows in our hair at all, we were clearly the odd girls out.  I am not sure I can bring myself to buy any though.  I mean they are giant.

In front of our subdivision entrance

We have been lucky that we have a couple of friends here from Houston and they both have kids pretty close in age to the girls, though they are summer birthdays and will be in Kindergarten next year.  We have seen those friends a ton and that has made the time go by extremely fast.  Though they are working moms so not super helpful to me in filling up our days....which seem to go rather slowly when they are not in school.  Fortunately we have several new kids channels and the girls have really been enjoying some new shows to watch.

Last week as we were driving to Home Depot (though we decided that it was just too darn hot to start our garden now - we are postponing to the fall) I saw on the FBC sign that they were having VBS this week.  So as we were still in the car, I called them up and registered them.  So this week from nine to noon each day, they are going to VBS. (we did go to church service there this Sunday so it would not be totally weird).  Day 1 went well - though it is weird to just drop them off and pick them up in a carpool line.  Audrey told us that the Bible story was about making a path through the river so the peoples' toes did not get muddy as they crossed it.  Pretty good summary.  They said that they each made a new friend though they did not remember the names and as it turns out there was some shuffling around of the classes and the friends ended up being grasshoppers and the girls are ladybugs.

At our (super tiny) community pool.  The house just to the right of Brooke's head in the background in out house.  We have been walking and riding our tiny bikes to the pool.  It will be nice for the girls to use their new bikes!

Our immediate neighbors on our street are very friendly (though we have not actually met the parents in the house right beside us) and we have gotten some watermelon and (weird) Louisiana cookies and some FABULOUS strawberry jelly.  It is a small street and half of the people are retiree/grandmotherly people.  And there are three husbands named Bob.  There is one little boy who lives on the street who is just a little younger than the girls and will be going to pre-k with them next year (again a working mom so not home during the say).  And one of the ladies frequently watches her grandson and he is also the girls' age.

This was at Great Wolf Lodge in front of their favorite slide - sadly during the move we have lost these bathing suits!

They all were riding bikes together which helped to prompt the purchase of new bikes for both of the girls.  Which is huge that Audrey is now riding her bike!  Unfortunately Brooke's new bike came with a flat tire - which D has now changed - and so she has not gotten to ride it yet, but I assured her that we would do it today.   Will post pics of that later.

We are moved!

We are moved! Here is a quick recap of our move (probably more info than any person could possibly want but this is my only record of anything as my brain really no longer functions as a memory source):

Wednesday May 16: our packers Ed and Dave arrive at 7:45.  Girls go to school for their last day.  D's flight back to VA was canceled and he had to rebook on a much later flight.  The packers were crazy fast and had all our stuff in boxes and inventoried by 4 pm...the same time D arrived.  I had us all packed up and we spent the night in a hotel in Fairfax. (night 1, location 1)

The girls thought it was so funny to see the house totally empty.

Thursday May 17: Ed and Dave had two helpers to load the truck.  They started at 7:45 and were done by 11:30.  Crazy fast.  Much faster than we thought it would possibly be done.  So we decided to head on out and get a few hours down the road.  So we stayed somewhere about 3 hours out. (night 2, location 2)

Our last family photo in front of our house in VA

Friday May 18: Since we left early we decided to stop at Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte and spend the day frolicking at the indoor water park.  We got there about noon, had lunch, bought Brooke some new crocs as she had packed one of her purple crocs and one of A's purple crocs (both right feet), and were in the water park by 1.  And thank heavens the girl measuring was very generous and measured Audrey as 42 inches so that she could go on all the rides except the tornado (perhaps it was because we were yelling at A to stand up super straight and lift her head as high as possible to try to hit that line)  The girls were AWESOME and did everything and LOVED it.  It was wonderful! (night 3, location 3)

The girls at Great Wolf Lodge

 Saturday May 19: We drove to Atlanta to visit with D's sister Leslie and her family.  (As an aside, D pulled a muscle in his back this morning while putting on his shoes.  If it had not looked so painful watching him writhe around on the floor, then it would have been hilarious that he got hurt putting on shoes!) The girls had been looking forward to playing with their cousin Kayla for weeks and it did not disappoint.  They had tons of fun.  (night 4, location 4)

Playing with Kayla and loving every minute of it

Sunday May 20: We drove to MS to stay with my mom....and leave the girls there while we unpacked and got settled. (night 5, location 5:  So I have been pointing out all the different places that we stayed mainly cause it was so hysterical each time that we stayed for ONE night after unloading 5 suitcases, two boxes of our special keepsakes that I did not want the movers to take, a cooler, 4 bags of food, two dora backpacks, two bags of stuffed animals, and a goldfish!!)

Monday May 21: We (minus the girls) arrived at our house just before noon.  Ed and Dave had already started unloading our stuff when we pulled up.  They unloaded all our stuff and were done by 5.  We went that night and bought a fridge, washer, dryer, and TV.

What our house looked like when we pulled up to it

Tuesday May 22: The unpackers arrived (late and man they moved slowly) and unpacked all our stuff, the uncraters arrived and took out the TV's and reassembled our computer desk, and the furniture we ordered for the girls' room and playroom arrived too.  We took Target by storm...thank heavens for that 5% redcard discount.

The girls' princess playroom...they love it

The girls' bedroom

Wednesday May 23: Lots of organizing.  Our purchases from Monday night arrived. D and I spent the first night in our new home!

Thursday May 24: D thought he had a training class but after arriving and walking through a class in progress he realized that it had been canceled.  We got our TV and internet all set up - we are loving the whole house DVR.  What a revolution in TV watching. More organizing

Friday May 25: D and I got our new Lousiana driver's licenses.  That is always a treat.  There were only 2 workers - and one of them seriously was the person that took people out on the driving test.  And you can only pay cash...but if that is the case why would you choose to charge $24.50 and not $25?  Most excitingly, my mom arrived and the girls got to see the house for the first time.  Their reaction was awesome!

Last Day of School

 The girls' last day of school was May 16, so they left about 2 weeks early.  Fortunately for me, their last Monday was their Spring Fling where they did a little show in their creative movements class and we all had lunch and watched them do their jobs and play in the big room.  On their last day, the girls got to make crowns and wear them all day (what a treat) and they made pizza for lunch.

 Brooke was a monkey with Zach P and Audrey was a snake in the little show

 Dancing around with Maddie and Sean

 Heading out for their last day of school

 Brooke with Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gray

 Audrey with Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gray

 The girls together with their teachers - they insisted that they take one all together.

I insisted that they take one by the sign

Mother's Day

 This year D was already in LA for mother's day, so it was a day for just the girls.  We had a delightful meal at McDonald's and opened presents that they made me at school. 

 They each made me a bracelet.  It is one of the sweetest things I have ever gotten.  Each of the big balls was made by them and it is adorable as you can still see their sweet little fingerprints in it.

Hard to say goodbye

These last three weeks have been super busy and very bittersweet. On one hand it is so exciting to be starting the next chapter of our lives in Louisiana and moving closer to our family and friends from Houston. On the other hand it is sad to leave our friends here and Virginia is really the only home that the girls have ever known.

We've been very busy trying to get in one last play time with all our friends. And since I want to make sure that I get pictures of our life and friends in Virginia, I am going to do a little photo montage.

 

Girls night with Kate, Kelly, and Amanda.  Hopefully we will meet up again as all our spouses work for the same company!

 Nathan, Audrey, Brooke and Abby at their last day of swim lessons.  As an aside, Audrey has improved SO MUCH!!

 Brooke, Spencer, Audrey, and Parker...Audrey seems to think that put your arm around each other really means try to strangle the person next to you.

 Me and Erica - one of my best friends from way back in college.

 Brooke, Lorelei, and Audrey rolling around together

 The girls with MASON!  Audrey was so cute as we were leaving his house.  She asked "How am I going to marry Mason if we live in different states?"  Heartbreaking!

 Playing with their friend Maddie from preschool.  Brooke was rocking that pink wig!

 Eating Chick-fil-A with their friend Tori

 My last night in VA with my friends Renee, Dana, and Andrea...they are single-handedly responsible for Goldie's safe arrival in LA.

 Same night - with Lanette, who was staying seated as she was technically supposed to be resting rather that being out and about.

 Their first real slumber party with Haley

 Playing with our neighbor Christian in the now empty POD as we were about to hit the road.

 Peter and Stacy came down one last time from RI to bid us farewell....and to tell us that Stacy was preggo!! I think I was as excited for them as they were!

 D's work goodbye dinner: John and Val, Amanda and Kevin, Kate and Jason, us, Jason (sans Kathie), Caroline, Heather and Matt, Jeff and Justyna

 The girls with their favorite babysitter Kelly!  She was so super sweet.  She even got them little goodbye presents.

 The girls in their PJ's having movie night with Falyn as I was at my last game night...

The last game night: Lanette, Renee, Dana, Sharon, me, Marci, Samantha, and Andrea

Happy (half) Birthday!!

Today the girls are celebrating their half birthday. Which means we have been in Virginia almost exactly 4 years. And we leave in less than a week!

Looking adorable in their PJ's

A perfect way to spend a (half) birthday - swimming with their friend Haley, one of the first people that they met up here who is now in their preschool class.