early summer pictures of the girls

Here are some pictures of the girls taken over the last month. First, we have Evie in the backyard. Looking good in Allison's hand-me-downs!

 Here they are playing the in the sprinkler but Evie kept her distance for the most part. Of course, Allison ran around like a crazy person!

 Allison's school put on an end of year program. All the children sang. It was very cute!! We enjoyed watching her and her classmates!

 This is us out for a walk to splash in puddles after a rain. It didn't rain very hard so the puddles weren't that great. We try to make it out for a splash on rainy days! 

 The next 2 pictures are Evie playing at local children's museums. Much like her big sister she loves to play in water (except the sprinkler, it's to unpredictable)!

 This thing has a blower that blows the balls up in the air. Evie loved it and she makes the cutest sounds when she plays here. I'll try to take a video next time we go!

 Allison at the dentist- she did a great job and was so grown up!! She didn't even flinch! I can't believe how fast she is growing! Sometimes she seems like a teenager, but then she does something really silly to remind me she is just 4!

 The girls riding a ride at the mall. Evie enjoyed it but not as much as Allison!

Evie on the move

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls doing laps around the house. I'm sure there will be many more videos of them chasing each other around this portion of the house. The picture below is Evie hiding behind oven mitts which Jim and I can't get enough of, very cute! 

 This is Evie biting Allison because she's trying to take the stroller from Evie. Biting is Evie's number one defense against Allison! We're hoping she won't bite other children when she gets mad. We've started going to a playgroup at the Library and so far no one has felt the wrath of Evie so we'll see how it goes.

Last, we have a video of the girls doing laps!! Evie is getting pretty fast now that she lots of room to practice walking indoors! 

Evie's on the move

Here are a couple of videos showcasing Evie getting around in the last 2 months or so. And her famous silly sounds video!

Getting started again

I'm trying to get the blog up and running again so that our far away friends and family can see the girls grow! It will probably take me a week or so to get everything back in order!

pictures from our past....

 Allison and Evie met for the first time-it was love at first sight for everyone!! They have had a very close bond since the moment they met. Evie is in awe of her older sister, it's very cute!

 Allison took ballet with the amazing Ms. Heidi. We miss Capitol Hill Arts Workshop ballet classes very much! We hope to find a new dance class for Allison sometime in the spring.

Jim and Allison enjoying hot chocolate and conversation at the ice rink in the sculpture garden of the National Museum of Art. This was a favorite hang out for the cold weather loving duo. Mommy usually stayed home or came with the car when they didn't have the energy to walk/tricycle home.

Allison cooling her feet in the fountain that becomes the ice rink in the winter! Daddy usually stayed home or was at work on the hot days we visited the fountain.

Evie slept about 18-20 hours for the first six months of her life. I was a bit worried at times- how could she need so much sleep? Allison slept very little as an infant so it was not what I was expecting from a baby but it was a blessing! 

 Allison continued her quest to try all the new things she encountered! We called this "baby sling shot"- she loved it and she drew a crowd. After all, what kind of parents let there 3year old do this sort of thing??? (Actually, she did it the year before as well, when she was only 2 and 1/2. She begged to go on it and I refused for the first hour. Then I said, okay ask the man if you can ride. I figured surly he'd said, no your to small but he said, sure come on in-seriuosly???!!! She rode and loved it!)

 Allison shaving before she went to play with her friends. No one wants to play with a preschool with 5 0'clock shadow! She loves to share Daddy's razor in the morning!

 Jim and Allison enjoying hot chocolate and conversation at the ice rink in the sculpture garden of the National Museum of Art. This was a favorite hang out for the cold weather loving duo. Mommy usually stayed home or came with the car when they didn't have the energy to walk/tricycle home.

Allison cooling her feet in the fountain that becomes the ice rink in the winter! Daddy usually stayed home or was at work on the hot days we visited the fountain.

Cox Farm Fall 2010

We visited Cox Farm Fall Festival! Allison had a ball running around, climbing, sliding, and wearing her parent's out!

Here she is climbing down part of the HUGE straw maze! She loved to climb underneath the maze and scare me. Several times I stood back   to let her go with all the kids and parent's running in and out of the maze. I wanted to see if she would come looking for Mommy & Daddy, but she didn't! We finally had to drag her out of the maze in order to see all the other fun things on the farm. 

They had a great hayride through the corn fields and all around the farm. We saw aliens, cowgirls, "wild" animals, trolls, and went through a super fun musical barn at the end.  Even Jim admitted it was fun and well done!

The farm had about ten huge slides and many other smaller ones. She talked Daddy into going on the castle slide with her.

The dinosaur slide was really fast. She rode it several times. 

Finally, even Allison was tired from all the activities of the day. So, we picked out pumpkins, got some kettle corn to go, and headed back to the city. What a wonderful day our little family had together! 

Blizzard of 2010, Washington DC-Sunday

Sunday morning! Time to start really digging out. DC is a fun city even in 2 feet of snow! Most people here are very "go with the flow". You might have heard that about 11,000 people walked to the Verizon Center in the middle of town yesterday. Georgetown had a basketball game to play. So, the students marched over and lots of other people just wanted to get out of the house. We weren't bored enough to walk to the metro and join in on the craziness. But it says a lot about this town!  

Here's what we were up to....

Since it snows every weekend here ;)   Allison looks out the window and checks for snow. Then demands to go out in the snow promptly at 6:30 am.  We usually get her out around 9ish. 

Allison in front of our yard. Jim had to throw all the snow from the front walk and sidewalk into our yard. There just wasn't anywhere else to put it all!! After he finished digging one of our cars out. The snow in the yard is about 6 feet high! No early blooms in our yard this year!

 

Allison heads around the corner of our house to Pickford street.  Were Mommy's jeep is completely snowed in.

Allison crossing the street. She is in the cross walk, not that you can see it!

Allison walking down 8th street. We gave up on most of the sidewalks. Not everyone takes as much pride in shoveling the side walk, as Jim! We hope citizens enjoy the luxurious 10 feet of completely shoveled sidewalk in front of the Tuite house.  Mean while, we took to the streets and some tiny shovel paths Allison couldn't resist checking out. 

We aren't supposed to have any more snow until Tuesday evening.  Should be interesting....

Blizzard of 2010, Washington DC-Saturday

As I'm sure you all  know. It started snowing Friday morning, and kept snowing until Saturday evening in DC.  Here are some pictures of what we woke up to find on Saturday morning. At this point is was snowing but hadn't started to really blow around.  The winds never got that bad in our area. So, the snow and ice covered power lines stayed up and working!! 

Jim making his way out the door!

Allison with her "snow shovel".

Mommy thought this was funny. Allison didn't find it so funny.  The snow is so thick and heavy. She didn't sink very far. 

Practicing the art of snowball making! She mostly just grabbed snow and put it on our pants. She was pretty proud of her efforts. Then I showed her how to pelt Daddy while he shoveled.  Sadly, I can't take pictures and bomb Jim at the same. 

More to follow.....

Welcome to our Yurt!

We went "camping" in Virginia last week. We had a great time in our Yurt!!

This the "grilling deck".

Here is the "reading deck". Which didn't get to enjoy with Allison running around, and testing the all safety aspects of the deck! 

Let's head inside! Here is Allison testing out the couch.

Our kitchen!! I explained to Allison that all 'tents' should be equipped with matching stainless steel appliances.  

The "out house". Another of my favorite features, showers with hot water!

Jim and I practiced "roughing it" by not turning on the the flat screen in the evenings. It was strictly back to nature for us!

Allison's room- the fake tree really brought the outdoors in for her!

That was our yurt for the week. When weren't enjoying hanging out on the deck. We were walking all around the "camp ground".

Allison and Daddy on the one of the play grounds. This was Allison's favorite slide at the resort. She asked for the "side" every morning.

Allison sized rocking chairs were a big hit.

Headed to the lake to "honk-honk" at the geese. It was really windy, as you can see. I pushed my glassed up on my head. So, Allison had to do the same. 

Allison's first pony ride!! Mommy was very excited! Allison was an old pro! She didn't mind the helmet, and wasn't afraid of the horse!

I hope this is only the first of many horse adventures we'll have together! 

They had so many animals around the barn-chickens, roosters, ducks, peacocks, goats, cats, and several breeds of horses! We started each morning with a walk to the barn. I really miss being around animals (and grass)! This was such a great experience for our city girl. 

Lastly, the awesome pool deck! I thought it looked much better in person. For some reason the pictures don't do it justice!! They had 3 pools, and 2 huge spa tubs. Plus, a great splash fountain for the little kids! We never made it to the pool, maybe next time! 

So, that was our week of "camping" in VA!