Perfect Saturday!

Saturday was a perfect day! Started off with a trip to the Farmer's Market in Saratoga.

The girls got a homemade oatmeal cookie to snack on.

Then we spent sometime enjoying their cars. Even though they both have one...they always want the one their sister is in.

Ava: Hey move over. Belle: I don't see you! Go away.

Ava always is climbing in and out of the car....she refuses to use the door. She's our rebel.

The car even has tunes that the girls love playing.

Then we had our first ice pops. Belle got the hang of it immediately...even pushing it up when she wanted more. I was so impressed.

Stains and all...she enjoyed every drop.

Ava had some issues with her ice pop....she kept pushing it up and taking it out of the wrapper. We tried about 3 ice pops then gave up! Another day, another try.

Yeah, most times she enjoyed dumping it out on the car floor. Guess she enjoyed the plastic more than the cold ice pop. Go figure?

Then we came inside and Isabelle starting taking a few steps alone. She takes very small steps and takes her time but is just adorable as she says "up" when she stands up and starts to walk. Just precious! And I think she is proud of herself which is just too cute!!

And a perfect ending to a perfect day, my husband picked some lilacs from our bush and put them in a vase for me....love you honey!!

Memorial Day W/E

The girls were invited to another bbq at the Laura and Sean Moran's on Sunday. What a social life these 1 year olds have. A taking a stroll with Chris and Jen. I loved this picture!

Ava was having a grand time with Jen.

Bubble time. Jen is so good with the girls! She always lends a hand and plays with the girls.

On Monday we relaxed outside and played with our new tunnel. Ava is a bigger fan of the tunnel than Belle. Belle will go in only far enough to get something that is left inside but then she backs right out. Ava goes in and out over and over....which we figured since she is fan of the tunnel in her class.

I'm gonna get you!

Loving the bubble machine.

Saturday Afternoon BBQ

What is a Memorial Day without a BBQ? So Saturday we had a few people over for a little get together with their kids. Ava sporting her Yankees hat since we had some Red Sox fans in the house (take that Conor!)

The girls playmate, our neighbor Noah with his mom Mindy.

The twins with the twins!

Parent time by the fire when the real little ones were asleep!

Congress Park

Dave and I both took a long weekend for Memorial Day so enjoyed spending our Friday off with the girls in Congress Park. This was our rain check day for Mother's Day. We started eating lunch in the park, then visiting with the ducks (and making sure the girls didn't jump in the water..which they would have if we let them) and then off to playing with some toys.

Wow this is fun!

Thankfully there was a light gust of wind to help her.

Hey wait for me.

(She is able to take a few steps at a time when she wants but it is still pretty random)

Isabelle has come up with a new way of getting around, she walks on her knees. Can you say ouch?

Relaxing with daddy.

Snuggling with mommy. Ava has become very snugly these days and loves to be held when she is close to nap time.

Miss Ava...or could you tell by her initial shirt? I'm thinking they look so different these days but then again, I always thought they were easy to tell apart.

Hanging with mommy.

And of course before we went home we took a ride on the carousel. Unfortunately, Ava was afraid again so I ended up just sitting on the seat while Daddy and Belle road the horse. Sometimes these girls surprise me since Ava is usually my adventurous one but ever since Hoffmans she seems to get nervous on carousels. Hopefully she'll grow out of it cause it looks like Belle loves it.

The girls had a good time. I can see this being a pretty frequent weekend activity. Plus, they were asleep in the car before we even pulled out of the parking garage...must be exhausting being so cute! Naps were good for mommy since Daddy got dropped off on the way back home at the SPA golf course to hit 18....was this daddy day or mommy day? He's got the life!...don't let him ever convince you otherwise.

Milk?

So a few weeks ago I went to this baby sign language course at the local school for about 2 hrs which teaches you how to start your children on signing. Of course, I was amazed about the wonders they fill your head with that signing can produce. So for the next 2 days I did the 3 signs they tell you to start off with over and over as I could weave them into the day. They were milk, eat and more. I even went as far as to sign up for the baby sign language course at Tumbling Tykes and we have been to only 1 of those classes so far (although to be honest with 8 kids in the class it is more crawling around time than signing time since none of the kids are focusing on the 1 instructor as she tries to teach multiple signs in one class.) Since I knew they were not getting much if anything out of the class, I kinda dropped it at home due to lack of time and the fact that I am not there all day to reinforce the signs over and over and that is how it is supposed to work....reinforcement and consistency. However, to my surprise I got a phone call from Grandma Kees this morning saying that Ava just signed milk. Grandma knew this because Ava was being fussy and started to do the sign for milk and Grandma realized oops she had forgotten to give her milk before going straight to her breakfast. So Ava kept her on track on a Monday morning by telling her what she wanted! Crazy to think she picked that up so quickly and not only remembered it but realized when to use it. Go Miss Ava! Now if we teach her the word cookie, we are going to be in trouble :)

Happy 70th Great Uncle J

Happy 70th!

Not sure what Belle likes more..ice cream or the spoon. The girls are really into trying to feed themselves. So depending on the food it can get quite interesting. Sometimes they rather not eat than let us feed them. Part of me is not looking forward to having them try to use the spoon (I can see the pasta on the walls) so right now I opt to give them their own spoon to just keep them content :)

Playing with Grandma Pondillo's stuffed animals. Ava loves kissing each one of them each time we visit.

Liam's First Communion

Saturday we went to NJ to watch Liam receive his first communion. Since we had to be at the church for 10am it was an early morning and eventful to say the least. Ava had some motion sickness in the car ride since we fed them breakfast in the car. So the last 15 minutes of the ride it was pretty chaotic since I was trying to clean up the mess of her getting sick. Lucky for me, since I was sitting in between the girls in the backseat, that she aimed the other way! Uncle Pete who was in the front with Dave was counting his blessings too that he did not get my seat. Dave definitely got the worst job though....cleaning the car seat while I dressed the girls. Thanks Dave!

Remarkably we arrived down at Liam's house about 9:30 am and still managed to clean up and change the girls and arrive at the church in time to see Liam getting ready to make his entrance (it was pretty close!). The girls were out of their element for the rest of the day after a 2 1/2 car ride then 1 hr church and no morning naps but at least us adults enjoyed seeing everyone. Too bad I didn't get a picture of them all dressed up at church. It was a real nice party and Liam seemed to have a good time. I am sure the girls will be running around with him in a few years.

Liam, Julia and Beth (the girls were our flower girls ....Dave's cousin Beth's girls)

Oh,oh, oh... Ava's reaction when she saw the present Beth bought for the girls. Guess she liked the new outfit! So did I...so adorable! Thanks Beth!!!

Grandma, like always, was a big help entertaining the girls.

Great Uncle J and Ava

Belle had the right idea...catch up on some zzz's later in the afternoon in the fresh air.

Ava was obsessed with climbing on the kid size picnic table. She spent more time sitting or standing on the top if it than on the bench. She is our adventurous one.

Hugs for Daddy.

The girls were so good on Friday that I had time to make some chocolate covered strawberries for dessert to bring down.

What a great dessert table.

The girls were EXHAUSTED by the time we got home at 7 pm. Then ended up sleeping in on Sunday morning till 8am (usually they get up about 6:30-7am).

Celebrating with Great Uncle C

Tonight the girls celebrated Great Uncle Curt's 60th birthday! Grandma and Grandpa Pondillo made a delicious dinner that the girls loved and then topped it all off with some cookies and birthday cake....who could ask for anything more. However, Ava gave us all a reason to cheer when she walked about 10-15 feet all by herself. We all have to wait to see when she does that again and is on the go for good.

Cookie faceI'll help myself, thank you!