75/365 - My Girls

Sisters. Best Friends. Adorable.

74/365 - Sunkissed

We've been soaking up all the sun we can lately. We spent the afternoon watching Los & his squadron play ultimate frisbee - those photos will come another day, I just couldn't resist editing this photo of Miss A first!

73/365 - Beautiful

The title says it all...

72/365 - Back to the photos!

So after a very long hiatus (I have no excuse really, except moving to England! :) ) I am finally back to the photos and blogging. Here are a few photos of the girls taken over the past week or so in our backyard or house. I'll share more of the house as we gradually get more settled. For now, I am still enjoying watching the girls enjoy their new backyard and having their toys back!

Although the girls didn't have many toys for the past 2 months, they had each other!



Miss A still insists that I photograph her while we're baking. We tested out our new oven with a batch of brownies!



Miss M is getting very big and we cut her hair for the first time this week - nothing drastic, just added a little fringe (bangs) so she can see!



Miss A is growing up and suddenly doesn't seem like a toddler anymore



And finally we have spent MANY mornings down by the river watching & feeding the swans (only a 12 minute walk from the house!)

71/365 - A Day At the Park

Not sure who had more fun today at the playground: the parents or the children?







All 6 children together on the swings!

70/365 - Another Sunny Day

I spent a large portion of today behind my camera for other families, so today's photos are courtesy of my phone!!

Miss M was having her snack in the sun. Hard to beat mid 60s and sunny!!

69/365 - Curiosity Killed The Cat

Today Los & I spent a little time cleaning out papers and other assorted items that used to be in our car. One of the assorted items was an Atomic Fireball candy that we had picked up on a previous road trip. For those that are unfamiliar with the candy, it tastes like cinnamon until it starts to get very very hot - hence the name :) Well, Miss A, even though she was told to leave the stuff from the car alone, managed to get her hands on one, opened the wrapper and came out of the kitchen as she was putting it in her mouth.



The next sentence out of her mouth as she handed the Fireball to Los was "I need aqua Daddy" :)

68/365 - Time with Friends

We were blessed with a beautiful spring day today, so Miss A's friend (another Miss A) came over to play today. Time was spent on the playground, running around, and even playing with bubbles!



After the play date, our friends kindly invited us over for another BBQ so I offered to bring brownies (still cleaning out the pantry!!). Of course Miss A jumped at the chance to help again and had move the stool to the counter before I could even grab the bowl! She then promptly instructed me to get my camera - I think I might be creating a cooking diva! :)



Also just for fun, I played with the processing on theses photos a little - I'm feeling a little nostalgic with the impending move and needed to reflect that in the pictures.

67/365 - Dinner Differences

As we're getting closer & closer to our move, I'm realizing that my blog posts might not fall on the day they're supposed to but I am still taking the photos and I will post as I can!

Dinner yesterday was a perfect example of how different our girls are. Miss M will eat anything we put in front of her as quickly as she possible can get it in her mouth.



On the other hand, Miss A sometimes needs a little convincing. Last night that took the form of a promise of a bite of brownie if she ate all of her dinner. Magically, all of her food disappeared! :)

66/365 - The Quiet Moments

Lately I have realized that we 2 children under 3, we have very few quiet moments (big shock, right?!). Unfortunately this often translates to missing moments with Miss A or Miss M because the craziness of everyday life takes over. For that reason, I'm learning to really appreciate the few moments that I have one on one with either Miss A or Miss M. Today was one of those days with Miss M. Just a few quiet minutes during snack time while Miss A was off playing with Uncle Knute & Daddy.



And I have 2 questions for you: When did Miss M get to be so big and have so much personality? And to those who have daughters, where do all the hair clips go? With 2 daughters with CRAZY hair, hair clips are a must and I couldn't find any during the week so we went to Target and got 2 new sets of clips - well in the course of 1.5 days, we've already lost 2 and have misplaced one entire sheet of clips!!! How does that happen?

65/365 - Just a little taste

(Note: These were actually taken yesterday, just not posted!)

We our moving rapidly approaching, we are in the final "pantry clearing" phase. During that process, I discovered several baking mixes that needed to be used up so I decided to make brownies. Miss A very quickly announced that she would be helping to make them and pulled the stool right up to the counter to get in the mix! Even though she was still in her pjs, I though adding the apron would be a good idea. Plus it made her look even more adorable!



And, of course, she got to lick the spoon at the end and she made sure not to miss any of the chocolate!

64/365 - An Almost Daily Event

Most days when the girls wake from quiet time, Miss A insists that we call Ammie (my mum). Miss A doesn't mean that we should use the phone, instead she wants me to get out the laptop so that we can Skype with Ammie. Some days there isn't much talking and all Miss A really wanted was to say hi, but other days she tells Ammie about everything she can think!

63/365 - Family Fun

We went out tonight with some of the good friends we have made here at Wright Patt - with time winding down here, we're trying to get together as much as possible before we all go our separate ways! Today we went to an indoor inflatable play area - basically a big room filled with moon bounce set-ups! I'm not sure who had more fun, the children or the adults!





(P.S. Please don't judge the quality of the photos :) Sometimes it's nice to just have the quick snapshots without having to worry about all the settings, lighting, etc!)

62/365 - Sunlight

So I didn't take these photos today - truth be told, I took my point & shoot camera with me to the mall play area with the girls today, and I just couldn't bring myself to post any of the photos I took! These are from 2 days ago and I just had to share Miss M. The evening light is just beautiful. Another thing to love about these spring days!

61/365 - Just Walking

I took this photo with my phone as we were walking to a friend's house for dinner. Miss A is becoming very independent and wanted to walk on her own at her own pace!

60/365 - Another Sunny Day!

It's always great when Los can get home early enough to play with the girls for a little - especially now that it's staying light out later and we've had such beautiful weather. This is when living next to the playground pays off!

59/365 - Playground Smiles

They love to climb. They love to swing. They love to slide. They love the sun!

58/365 - Spring is Here! (Maybe...)

I know it's early to think that spring might be here to stay, but today was one of those beautiful early spring days where it's still brisk out but the sun warms things up enough to give the hope that the real spring is right around the corner. Miss A seemed to love the bright sunshine and when Los asked if she wanted to walk to the mailbox with him, she laughed the entire way!

My only question is where did my baby (or for that matter, my toddler) go?!

57/365 - Afternoon Light

Today we were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny day and because the girls' room is on the back of the house, it gets wonderful afternoon light. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a few photos when the girls woke up from naptime.

56/365 - Tea Time

We've all been busy getting ready for our move to the UK and today Miss M joined in on the fun. Since England is known for drinking tea, she decided she needed to perfect the art of making tea!

55/365 - Just A Day

Today was really just another day but there are a few photos from it!

Miss M spent the morning helping Ammie pack a suitcase; Miss A spent the afternoon playing with her dolls and decided that she needed her stroller to be a double stroller, so she rigged it up like our Phil & Ted!

54/365 - The Green Eyed Monster

Today we went to a toy store to pick out a new doll for Miss M in the hopes that she would stop taking Miss A's "Annababy" doll. The whole time at the toy store, Miss A was very helpful in picking out a doll similar to Annababy for Miss M and even told the cashier that it was for Miss M. That spirit of generosity lasted until we stepped inside the house....

Can you see who has the new doll in these photos???





The Green Eyed Monster has taken firm root in the house... We've had at least a dozen meltdowns today while I've had to explain to Miss A that the new doll is for Miss M. I think we have a long road ahead of us... On a positive note, maybe tomorrow I'll manage to get a photo of the meltdown! :)

53/365 - Where ever you go, I'll go too

Miss M is already following her big sister around where ever she goes...

52/365 - Miss A & our move

As our move gets closer, we've been telling Miss A more often that we will be moving soon and going on a plane to England. I'm not sure how much she really understands, but lately Miss A has been announcing more often that she'll be going on a plane (that is when she isn't "going shopping" - the photo on the left!).

51/365 - Before & After

The Before - Miss M managed to fall asleep in her high chair after lunch - I guess we took too long to eat!

The After - Miss A woke with rosy cheeks after a good nap - which for once did not require me to go into their room 10 times to tell them to stay in bed & go to sleep!

50/365 - Bath Time

At bath time I realized I didn't take any photos today, so I took a few quick ones of the girls:

49/365 - Just Lay Back & Float!

One of the good friends I have made here in Dayton teaches ISR (Infant Swimming Resource). ISR is a program designed to teach young children how to survive in the water - it relies on teaching the children to float on their back, and then if old enough, to roll to their stomach and swim. They repeat this sequence until they are rescued or they reach the edge of the body or water they fell into. Angela has taught both Miss A & Miss M over the past year and we recently reenrolled both girls for refreshers before our move.

Miss A has always been a strong floater - Angela always says she has a textbook float and I think she would probably float all day if we let her! This week however she has surprised us - she has figured out that she needs to move both arms and both legs to really swim through the water. She now loves the water!



Because of Miss M's age when I initially enrolled her in ISR in the fall, Angela just taught M how to float. We decided to see if Miss M will show any signs of a short swim now because she is so strong & determined in other things. Much to our surprise, Miss M is moving her legs and doing everything she can to figure out the swim!

48/365 - Baking & Time with Abuela

Today the girls had lots of fun spending time with Abuela (more affectionately known as WaWa). Miss M spent quite a while looking for birds and was hamming it up during snack after her nap - probably because Miss A was still sleeping so she had our undivided attention for a little while!



Later in the afternoon Miss A & I decided to make brownies together since we know they are one of WaWa's favorites!



This was the first time that Miss A really helped me in the kitchen so I figured she could have the fun of licking the spoon :)

47/365 - Back to Swimming

The girls are back to swim lessons (ISR technically) and so are the telltale signs:
1) Crazy, unruly hair
2) Stamps on both hands (during the summertime it was feet too - and legs, and arms, and every inch of skin Miss A could stamp before I caught her!)
3) and Miss M looking absolutely exhausted!



Miss A also spent some time taking photos like Mummy. Last week she saw me setting up flowers for this series of photos. Today she got her camera out and then had to "put water" on the flowers just as I did.

46/365 - They're Back!

Los & the girls arrived back home late last night and Miss M is back to her old ways: