Day 212: Sophie's Party

This morning we went to Sophie's second birthday party. Sophie is the daughter of a woman with whom Ben works. At the party they had a sprinkler going, but the girls weren't very interested in playing in it. Instead Virginia decided to try to fill up her water bottle with the sprinkler.

Day 211: Driving the Car

These girls are growing up way too fast. Today they decided they wanted to take the car for a spin. Thankfully their legs are too short to reach the pedals and the keys were in my pocket. We got back from Target and I unlatched the girls from their carseats, but they didn't want to get out of the car, so they climbed into the front seat. Paige wanted to drive and Virginia was happy to ride shotgun. They're already safety conscious, though- see they tried to put on their seat belts.

Day 210: Walking the Dog and Watching the Rain

Tonight while we were waiting for Daddy to come home Virginia found Jefferson's leash and wanted to walk him. It was raining outside, so we couldn't take him for a real walk. I put his leash on him in the house and let Virginia try to walk him. The girls went to the back door with Jefferson and watched the rain pour down and watched for Daddy. They love walking their "oof oof" as they call him and he's such a good dog for letting them walk him.

Day 209: The Mess

This is what our living room ends up looking like most evenings. Thankfully the girls help a little bit in the clean up.

Day 208: 25 Months Old

Today Paige and Virginia turned 25 months old! We did our monthly photo shoot tonight and it was the best monthly photo shoot we've had in quite awhile. The girls actually sat in the chair, looked at the camera and smiled- no one tried to run away. Amazing!

Day 207: Wearing Hats & Playing with Clipos

Tonight Virginia and Paige decided to pull a couple of hats out of their box of dress up clothes and wear them. Then they sat down in front of the book shelf and starting playing with/throwing their Clipos and blocks.

Day 206: Watching Daddy

The girls have a new evening past time- watching Daddy cook dinner. Tonight Paige wanted Virginia to sit with her on her chair. Virginia was happy to sit with Paige and look lovingly at Daddy while he cooked.

Day 205: Moving the Toy Box

This morning Paige and Virginia were misbehaving and standing on their toy box, so I took it away moved it into the kitchen. After their nap they wanted the toy box back, so Ben helped them move it back. They had so much fun being able to help Daddy move the toy box. They've also decided that it's a lot of fun running around in just diapers or in nothing at all. Here are Ben, Paige and Virginia moving the toy box.

Day 204: Reading with Grandma

Ben and I went to a concert last night and my mom was nice enough to come watch the girls for us. She brought the girls two books, which they love- mainly because they have Elmo in them. Virginia and Paige were happy to sit in Grandma Cindy's lap and listen to her read their new book to them.

Day 203: Fun with Glasses

The girls love to play with the pair of blue toy glasses they got with their doctor kit for their birthday. They haven't figured out how to really put them on, but they'll hold them up to their face and laugh. Tonight, though, Virginia wanted to wear Mrs. Potatohead's glasses. Paige saw Virginia with glasses and grabbed the blue ones. Virginia did manage to get the green Mrs. Potatohead glasses on at one point, but I didn't get a clear picture of her. Paige likes to take the blue glasses and stick them down her shirt and say, "Mimi." When Mimi takes her glasses off she hooks them on her shirt. I think that's what Paige tries to do, but hasn't quite figured out how. So here are Virginia and Paige with their toy glasses trying to be like their Mommy and Daddy in their glasses.

Day 202: ELMO!

Tonight before dinner Paige and Virginia were fussy, so I turned on Sesame Street to try to settle them down. Paige got very excited when she saw Elmo on the screen.

Day 201: Taking Her Temperature

One of the things Paige and Virginia got for their birthday was a doctor (or nurse) kit. Paige decided tonight that she wanted to take her temperature. So she took the ear thermometer from the doctor kit and tried to put it in her ear to take her temperature. Thankfully she did not have a fever.

Day 200: Girl Talk

Today my good friend, Beth, and her daughter, Kendall, came over for a playdate. Virginia and Paige don't have much experience with little babies and weren't quite sure what to think of Kendall at first, but it didn't take long before the three of them were all sitting on the couch together enjoying some "girl talk."

Day 199: Sitting with Daddy

Often when I sit on a step the girls will come and sit beside me, one on each side. Today Ben sat on a step and both of the girls went and joined him. Virginia wouldn't sit on the same step as Ben and Paige, but she was content sitting on the step below them.

Day 198: Drinking bottles?

And no, it's not Paige and Virginia! I went to a baby shower today for my good friend, Mollie, and one of the games we played had people competing to see who could finish drinking about 4 ounces of Gatorade out of a bottle the fastest. I got sucked into playing (and won!). I have new found respect for babies because drinking out of a bottle is hard work. I completely understand why babies get so frustrated when they're ready to move on to a new nipple size. Anyway, my friend Beth thought it would be funny if another friend, Jess, took a picture of Kendall and I both drinking out bottles. So here I am drinking my bottle of Gatorade and Kendall sitting on Beth's lap drinking her bottle.

Day 197: Playdate

Today the girls and I went to my friend, Liza's, house so the girls could have a playdate with her son, Franklin. They all had fun playing in the same room, not so much together, but they did interact some. At one point they were all looking out the window together and I couldn't pass up the photo opportunity. Here are Franklin, Paige and Virginia looking out the window together.

Day 196: Peapods

The other day I ordered Peapods for Paige and Virginia because we needed someplace for them to sleep when they're not at home. Mimi and Pops tried to let them sleep in beds last weekend and didn't have much success. So I ordered them Peapods so we can try them. They came today. The girls took right to them and sat in them to eat their snack and even moved them around the house. Paige really loved hers- she made me open the box and then insisted I take the Peapod out for her to play in. Now we just have to hope we can get the girls to sleep in them.

Day 195: Stroller Fun

Paige and Virginia had a lot of fun playing with their strollers today while Mimi was here. The fun continued after dinner. I left Ben alone with the girls for a few minutes to do something and came down to find the girls sitting in their strollers and Ben told me that just before I got downstairs Virginia had been lost under a pile of stuffed animals.

Day 194: Our New Kitchen

Yesterday we got new granite countertops installed. Today they came back and reconnected our plumbing. It looks so much better now than it did before with the laminate countertops. Now if we can only keep the countertops from getting too cluttered.

Day 193: Snacks in the kitchen

We got our new countertops today! Most of the work was done while the girls were sleeping and the guys finished up as the girls had the first part of their snack. After the workers left Virginia decided she wanted to have her snack in the kitchen. Paige and Jefferson decided to join her. Paige wanted to feel the new countertops while Virginia watched her and ate her snack.

Day 192: Hair Bows

Paige and Virginia got a birthday package from my good friend, Mollie, in the mail while we were gone. They opened it today after their nap. It was a set of four hair bows that one of Mollie's friends makes and sells. They're super cute. At first the girls wanted nothing to do with them and would pull them out as soon as we put them in, but after a little while Paige wanted them in her hair. One wasn't good enough, neither were two or three, she wanted all four of them in her hair. I was happy to oblige her. And she loved having all four in her hair, for a little bit at least. Thank you, Mollie and Steve, for the adorable hair bows!

Day 191: Bart

On Saturday while we were wondering around Universal Studios we saw Bart Simpson standing outside the Kwik-E-Mart posing for pictures. We couldn't pass up that opportunity, so here we are with Bart Simpson, the only character we got a picture with on our trip (and the only picture of both of us from the trip).

Day 190: "There's a Zamp in the Lamp"

Islands of Adventure has this really cool area for kids (and adults) called "Seuss Landing." There are signs everywhere referencing Dr. Seuss's books. We were basically alone when we walked through there Friday morning, after visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter first thing. We were the first ones to ride the Cat in the Hat ride Friday morning (resort guests can get in early) and I got this wonderful picture of Ben holding his butterbeer under the "There's a Zamp in the Lamp" sign.

Day 189: Hogwarts!

Thursday morning Ben and I left for Orlando, Florida. We went down and spent 3 days at Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure. As soon as we got checked into our hotel on Thursday we quickly unpacked and headed for Islands of Adventure to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! It was awesome. Here I am with Hogwarts in the background.

Day 188: Comforting

This evening Virginia was upset about something and laid down on the floor while crying for something, I don't remember what. Paige wanted to be a sweet sister, so she went and covered Virginia with a blanket, brought her toys, smiled at her and patted her on the back. All of Paige's work paid off and Virginia cheered up after a minute or two. It's always so sweet to see them trying to take care of each other. They really do love each other. I mean, look at the way Paige is smiling down at Virginia in this picture.It will be a few days before I post again. Ben and I are heading for Universal Orlando tomorrow morning and will return on Sunday. We're taking a camera, but not a computer. I'll be taking pictures but will not be able to post them. Look for pictures for the next four days on Sunday.

Day 187: Virginia and Grandma

My parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew came over for dinner tonight before Todd, Sandra and Keats had to head for the airport for their trip to Germany. Keats was all over the place and kept Paige and Virginia entertained. Virginia had fun cuddling with her Grandma Cindy and laughing at Keats.

Day 186: Where's Bear?

One of Virginia's favorite things to do these days is take her bear and cover him with blankets. She's always very precise about how she lays the blankets down on top of him, making sure they're neat. Tonight Paige got in on the game, too. She put one of Virginia's bears in the stroller and covered it with a bunch of blankets, meanwhile Virginia was covering a bear on the floor with blankets.

Day 185: Happy Independence Day!

This morning we took Paige and Virginia to a playground for awhile. We were the only ones on the playground and the girls loved it. They ran around, climbed up on the jungle gym, went down the slides, went on the swings, and had so much fun. I mean, look at how excited Paige was when she saw this slide.

Day 184: Cousins

Today we went to my grandparents' house. There was a whole big group of us there, including 5 of my grandparents' 6 great-grandchildren. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we were able to go. At one point most of us walked out to look at my grandparents' garden. On the way Paige and Keats decided to (or maybe we asked to) hold hands. Pictures like this make me really wish Todd, Sandra and Keats lived closer so that these cousins could spend more time together. I mean, how sweet are they?!

Day 183: Good Idea, Paige

Today the girls and I went to my parents' house so we could spend some time with my brother and his family. I took the girls' tricycles with me and my parents have a tricycle for Keats, so my mom and I took the kids outside and let them ride their tricycles for a bit. Paige decided she didn't want to ride hers- it was more fun to just push it around. Virginia saw Paige pushing her tricycle and you can almost see her thinking, "Good idea, Paige." Virginia then got off of her tricycle and started pushing it around.

Day 182: Where's Your Tongue?

I asked Paige tonight where her tongue is and she was more than happy to show me.