Day 334: "Shh"

The girls kept telling me to "Shh" this evening because their baby and bears were sleeping.  Paige and Virginia put their favorite things (bears and baby) under their other favorite things (blankets) for a nap while I was working on something in the kitchen.  It's so nice that their baby and bears are able to nap on the dining room floor.

Day 333: Popcorn

Today for snack Ben made the girls popcorn.  In case you didn't know, it's a very high fiber food, which we need in this house these days.  Virginia and Paige love popcorn and were happy to sit on the couch with their bowls and eat it.  Please ignore the fact that they're not wearing pants.  It's very difficult to get them to agree to putting pants on after naps these days.

Day 332: 29 Months Old (and one day)

Virginia and Paige turned 29 months old yesterday.  Yesterday was a long day with us driving back from Tennessee, so we didn't have any luck getting a decent picture of them together in the chair.  Today's attempt wasn't much more successful, but we managed to get a halfway decent picture of them together.  Poor Virginia has a stomach ache so she was not interested in smiling for the pictures, but Paige was perfectly happy.

Day 331: Sound Asleep

The girls did great sleeping in their peapods while we were gone.  I was amazed, but I'm sure part of it had to do with how exhausted they were every night.  We ended up getting two adjoining rooms, so the girls had their own hotel room, which worked out wonderfully.  Friday night Virginia woke up crying in the middle of the night and didn't settle down, so I went and got her out of her peapod and we climbed into the empty bed together.  We cuddled for a bit and then I moved away from her so I could try to get some sleep.  I ended up with barely any room in the bed since she'd turned sideways in the bed, so I ended up getting up and going back to the other room and bed.  When we went in to get the girls up to get ready to head for home, this is how we found Virginia.

Day 330: Virginia and Pops

Friday night we went to dinner at Uncle Bob and Aunt Beth's house.  Both of their children were there with their children.  It was great to have the whole family together.  If only Lloyd could have been there it really would have been everyone.  The children had a wonderful time all playing together and then we had spaghetti for dinner, which was delicious.  Paige and Virginia did great and even sat at the children's table for dinner!  I thought for sure I would end up with Paige on my lap during dinner, but she made it through the whole meal, including dessert, at the other table.  Instead Virginia ended up on my lap after dinner and dessert, but that was because she was tired and had an upset stomach.  I handed Virginia off to Pops and she was perfectly content curled up on his lap.

Day 329: Thanksgiving

We had a great time on Thanksgiving Day at Ali and John's house.  It was an absolutely beautiful day so we all got to spend plenty of time outside.  Ali and John also rented a bounce house for the day, so all of the children had a great time in that.  Virginia and Paige weren't quite sure about it at first, they crawled around in there a bit, but by the end of the day they were running around in it and climbing up to go down the slide.  Here they are in the bounce house with Carson, Justin and Elizabeth.

Day 328: Cracker Barrel

We just got back yesterday from our Thanksgiving trip to Tennessee.  We had a great trip, but we are all happy to be home.  On the way down on Wednesday we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch.  After we'd finished eating we went out and down in the rocking chairs for a few minutes.  The girls loved having all of the different places to sit.  Paige was a big fan of this chair.  And if you want one, they're on sale until today, so run out to your local Cracker Barrel for one!

Day 327: Thanksgiving at Daycare

Today was the Thanksgiving lunch at the girls' daycare and it is also my mom's birthday, so when I decided I was going to go to the lunch I invited her to come along.  I'm so glad she was able to join us.  It was a lot of fun, but it was really hard to leave them there.  I talked to their teachers this afternoon when I picked them up and was told that all of the children cried when their parents left, but it didn't take too long for them to calm down.  One of the fathers of another little girl in their class was nice enough to take a picture of the four of us together, so here's me, Paige, Dee and Virginia.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Day 326: Paige's New Seat

This evening when we were watching tv Paige found a new seat- Ben's feet and legs.  He was sitting with his feet kicked out in front of him and apparently she thought they looked like a comfortable place to sit.  She sat there for a minute or two, until Ben moved his feet apart and she slid between them.

Day 325: Bag Lady

Paige and Virginia love bags.  They love filling them up, carrying them around, and trying to see how many they can carry at a time.   They also love wearing my shoes and, sometimes, Ben's shoes.  This afternoon after a disastrous nap Paige was filling up bags.  She had three, but had to share with her sister, so she ended up with two- her Halloween bag and one of my new purses.  The teal and black bag she is holding was a birthday gift I received from Mimi and Pops.  I also got a purse from Ben for my birthday, so I've been using that one and haven't used the one from Mimi and Pops yet, but Paige and Virginia are having fun with it.  Oh, and she's wearing my slippers, which she and Virginia both love.  It's amazing that I ever get to wear them.

Day 324: Headband

This morning my parents brought me a pack of 6 headbands and tonight the girls got ahold of them and started playing with them.  Virginia kept putting them around her neck, but Paige figured out how to get them on her head.  She didn't put them on the way they're designed to be worn, but it still works.  And Paige looks so cute and happy wearing it around her head.

Day 323: Ketchup Anyone?

Today the girls and I met Mollie and Tessie at the mall for a little shopping and lunch.  After spending some time (but no money) at JC Penney and Baby Gap we headed to Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  I got Paige and Virginia sliders with french fries for lunch, but they didn't eat much of the sliders, they preferred the french fries- and the ketchup.  Paige was pretty neat with her ketchup, but I think Virginia got more of it on her face than in her mouth.

Day 322: Mommy's Birthday

Today's my birthday so we had some ice cream cake after dinner.  Paige ate hers first and then went around stealing cake from everyone else.  I was the last one to finish mine, so I had both girls next to me trying to steal my birthday cake.  I had to fight Virginia and Paige for my own birthday cake.  I was nice and shared some, but I still got the last bite.

Day 321: Balloons are fun!

Tonight Ben went out to dinner with a couple of friends while I stayed home with the girls.  After we all finished dinner we went and played in the living room.  The girls got out their balloons that they had from dinner out with Dee Friday night.  They love their balloons, love them.  Virginia was so happy to be playing with her balloon tonight.  She also was not wearing a shirt because before dinner she'd stripped down to just her socks.  We finally got a diaper and pants on her, but she was refused to wear a shirt.  Oh well, we have to pick our battles and that one was not worth the fight.

Day 320: Stickers

Today was a long day for all of us.  After work and daycare we took the girls to the doctor for flu shots.  Then we went to get dinner at Baja Fresh and finally came home after that.  We were all out of the house by about 6:45 this morning and finally got home about 7:15 tonight.  Long day.  Paige was upset when we got them ready for bed and I took her bandaid off of her leg, so I told her she could have a sticker, which ended up being a sheet of stickers.  I knew Paige couldn't get a sheet without Virginia also getting one, so each of the girls got their own sheet of stickers and a sheet of paper on which to put their stickers.  They had so much fun playing with their paper and stickers.  This is going to have to become a more regular activity, I believe.

Day 319: Happy Virginia

Ben took some pictures of the girls while I was washing dishes after dinner tonight.  I'm not sure what they were doing, but it sure sounded like they were having a good time.  And I just have to say that listening to Ben and the girls laugh in the other room always makes me smile while I wash the dishes.  Like I said, I don't know what was going on, but Virginia was definitely happy about whatever it was.

Day 318: Slide

This morning we took the girls to the playground at a nearby elementary school and then we went out to lunch.  The girls love the playground.  We didn't even get on the swings today- they had enough fun walking around on the equipment and going down the slides.  I think the highlight, though, was playing Earthquake with Daddy on the suspension bridge (look for the video on facebook).  Virginia enjoyed checking out the whole playground from the top of a slide.

Day 317: Bubbles

Today we didn't have any plans so when the girls got up we asked them what they wanted to do.  Paige said she wanted to go bye bye and when I asked her where she wanted to go, she said she wanted to go to Mimi and Pops' house.  So Ben called them and asked if we could come play for a little while.  They were happy to have us come over.  While we were there the girls found some bubbles, so we all went outside and played with those.  Ben was the best one at getting the big bubbles and I was taking pictures.  I know this doesn't have the girls in it, but it's my favorite picture of the day.  I love the way the bubble looks in front of the different colored leaves.

Day 316: Paige the Gnome

Paige and Virginia wanted to play outside today, but didn't want to wear real shoes, so they wore their slippers and we played outside on the deck.  It was rather warm out today, but Paige insisted on wearing her new pink winter hat.  I got myself a cup of water, but then made the mistake of setting it where Paige and Virginia could reach it and they stole it.  Paige really enjoyed sitting in the chair wearing her hat and drinking my water.

Day 315: Where's Virginia?

Tonight while Ben was getting dinner together the girls were eating bread.  They saw Ben cutting rolls for our french dip sandwiches and wanted some bread, so he let them have some.  Virginia looked so cute sitting on the couch eating her bread that I tried to get a picture of her eating it.  She was not in the mood to get her picture taken eating her bread, instead she tried to hide from me.

Day 314: Raisins

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home today to pick up a few things for the girls.  One of those things was raisins.  I had to call the pediatrician's office the other day about a little issue Virginia is having and the nurse said raisins might help, so I got her some raisins.  The girls love the raisins.  They ate them while I did dishes after dinner and then they curled up on the couch with me and ate raisins and watched tv.

Day 313: Happy Paige

Paige smiling up at her daddy adoringly with Jefferson's glowing eyes in the background.

Day 312: Paige

Paige picked out her clothes this morning.  Can you tell?  She apparently wanted to see how many shades of pink she could wear. 

Day 311: Baby Tessie

Today my friends Beth and Mollie came over to go through some baby toys and clothes for Kendall and Tessie.  Kendall has a cold, so she stayed with her grandparents while Beth came over, but Tessie got to come and play.  Ben, Paige and Virginia got to meet Tessie for the first time today.  I can tell the girls will be good friends when they get older.  Along with meeting Tessie, Virginia and Paige got to hold their first baby- Tessie, of course.

Day 310: Christmas Pictures

We went and got our family Christmas pictures taken today at Portrait Innovations.  We got some really good pictures.  And we also got some pictures like this one when we tried to get pictures of Paige and Virginia sitting together.

Day 309: Riding a Rhinoceros?

Today my mom and I took the girls to Reston Zoo.  They loved it!  Actually, we all had a really good time.  The girls got to go on pony rides, feed and pet lots of animals (not that they actually touched many, but they could if they wanted to) and went on a wagon ride.  There were also some animal statues for them to climb on- a lion and this rhinoceros that Paige is "riding."

Day 308: Coloring

I had a meeting last night and Ben let me leave early for my meeting, so I was gone for pretty much the whole evening.  While I was gone Ben let Paige and Virginia color and then used what they'd colored to make a little sign/note that says "We love Mommy."  Isn't he the greatest?!

Day 307: Watching Videos with Dee

Today my mom came up and watched the girls for us while I went to work.  She was also sweet enough to stay late so Ben and I could go out to dinner just the two of us.  When we got home from dinner we got Virginia and Paige ready for bed and then they sat on the couch with Dee and watched dog videos on youtube.  I leaned over the side of the couches to watch as well.  I mean how could I resist when they were watching videos like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq8OVn03V-Q

Day 306: Virginia

First of all, I'd just like to say that me dressing Paige in Giants gear last night seemed to do the trick.  The Giants won game 5 and won their first World Series since 1954.  Go Giants!

I was snapping some pictures of the girls this afternoon and I got this one of Virginia and just love it.  It's such a Virginia face that she's making.  So cute.

Day 305: Go Giants!

Paige is all ready for game 5 of the World Series tonight!  Too bad it didn't start until she had to go to bed.  And just FYI, that shirt is one I got for my birthday 3 years ago- the day Ben and I found out I was pregnant.  It's a women's large, if you can believe that.  I also got the hat for that same birthday.  Paige wasn't in to posing for a good picture tonight, so this was the best I could do.  Go Giants!