Wedding

Daves brother got married in June and we went up to Hershey PA for a reception this past weekend. Dave went out to the wedding in June so we were happy to all go up this past weekend to participate in it. We had so much fun and love spending time with family up there. We also found Claires twin. At Daves house his mom has a picture of her mom as a baby. They look exactly alike. chunky cheeks and all. Everyone has said that she looks exactly like me but now we know.

the baby in this picture is Daves grandma (his moms mom). It's Claire!

having fun with cousins and cool uncle Steve.

All my girls in matching dresses for the reception.

o so cute.

Baseball game

Dave called me in the morning and asked if we wanted to go to a Nationals Baseball game that night with the company tickets. I was so excited. They were good seats and it was something to look forward to that night. The kids were so excited. It was a perfect night, there was no humidity and it was a nice temperature. Once again our kids were mostly excited for the food but they liked the game too. Siena was way into it this time. She was very upset that we left after the 8th inning because the game wasn't over but it was 10 o clock and we had to get home. She doesn't completely understand what is going on with the game but she loves keeping score. We got a program and Dave taught her how to write all the runs. She was really good at scoring it. Looking at the card though you can hardly understand her writing. I think she has regressed a little with her writing. Dave said he was never so proud of her. She was learning all the terms and enjoying the game. I see a future little daddy's baseball bud. It was a fun night for all.

Fun pictures

Between my real camera and my phone camera I take a lot of pictures. I just seem to forget about a lot of them and getting them from both places when I blog.
Ben has his cool Iron Man sunglasses
my tan beach bum in her new bathing suit.

cute Claire. The kids thought these glasses were so funny.

Finally mid July we took her into the pool. She loved it probably because it was so hot outside even the pool water wasn't cold.

Swim lesson pictures

I jumped the gun when I wrote about swim lessons, I didn't have any pictures. Finally I remembered my camera at the last swim lesson. They loved swim lessons so much.
flutter kicking out to Mr. Jon

Finally Siena put her head completely under water! that is worth all the money I paid. I think she had jumped off the side of the pool so many times and had started putting her head under that way that she decided that it wasn't too scary. Ben puts his head under occassionally but not really on purpose.

Claire 4 months

Time is just flying by. Claire is getting so big. I think she is still the biggest of all the kids at this age. I checked Siena's baby book and Claire is a whole 2 pounds heavier. Claire is 14lbs 9 oz. the 73%. Apparently my book keeping is getting worse because I didn't record hardly any of Bens stats. She definately has the most rounded face and chuncky cheeks of them all. She is a very social baby. She loves to be held looking out and observing other people. She is always quick to give a smile to anyone who will pay attention to her. I think this is mostly my fault but she still gets up once a night most nights and she never naps for very long. We have been busy this summer so she is always being carted around places. Luckily she still naps in her carseat. She loves her excersaucer I think because she can be up looking at everyone. Now when you lay her down on her back she tries to do a sit up so she can be up. She doesn't really laugh yet but she screaches. I am trying to get it on camera but she always stops when I turn the camera on. We love our chunky monkey so much.

Pool time

It is so hot here. It is 7:30 at night right now and it is still in the high 90's with humidity so it feels like the 100's. It is awful. Siena and Ben have had swim lessons for the first time and they love it. There have been 2 days that they didn't like but they have come to like it again and that makes me happy. They are learning a lot. I am a little slow at putting them in swim lessons as this is Siena's first year but she is learning quickly and I hope she will be a good swimmer and love it. I have learned here that swim team is a big thing and kind of serious. I don't know if we will get into it but I hope that Siena and Ben will learn how to swim. They have learned how to blow bubbles, jump in unassisted and put their head under water and kick. They also play this alligator game where they chase the other kids around the pool. They love it. The teacher at this pool is so good with the kids. He is just really silly with them.

Also we hit up Great Waves waterpark. Last year we were season pass holders but this year I didn't do it with Claire being so young, I didn't know how often we would actually get there. We went there this past week and had so much fun. The kids practiced all their swim lesson skills and they went down the two waterslides all by themselves. It was wonderful. I didn't even have to catch them at the bottom! I sat on my chair and nursed Claire while they played. They even attempted the wave pool and were brave and went out further in the tubes. It's so exciting that they love the pool. It makes me very happy. Claire was pretty good the whole time we were there. I just worry that she is too hot just sitting in the stroller. She doesn't really take water from a bottle and she can't wear sunscreen yet so I have to keep cooling her off in pool and then put her back in the stroller. She has been really good all the times we have been at the pool.

Goodbye again

Allie and Ben causing trouble in the ice cream store.

Cute Siena and Kaylee

enjoying the trolley ride.

Our good friends the Horners came back to D.C. for the summer. We were so excited to see them again. They were here for only a couple of months but the kids had so much fun playing together again. They stayed in Old Town and on their last day here we got to ride the free trolley. We have lived here 8 years and have never been on the trolley. We rode the trolley, fed the ducks and had ice cream. It was a perfect day that wore them out. It's funny all the looks we get from people because we cause a great scene wherever we go. I had my three kids and Aubrey had her two and she is pregnant. People want to run the other way when they see us! we will miss you guys.

Siena rides a bike

I am grateful for our long, somewhat flat, driveway to practice on.

There are a few things that dads are just meant to do. In my mind teaching a kid to ride a bike is a dads responsibility. I am glad Dave took this on. He was very good with her. Ben was really excited to run along with her.

I thought Siena might be ready to ride a big two wheel bike. I realized that most of her friends her age are riding a 2 wheeler and she probably should try. Suprisingly she was excited to try. When Dave got home from work they went out on a hot and sticky night and tried. I have to say Siena is not the most graceful of all of us. She did love her dance class but I was worried about her balance. We have this step down in our house from our kitchen to our family room and I am not even exagerating when I say she fell down it every day. I don't know if she forgot that it was there or if she just fell on it. So I wasn't too confident that she would get this balance thing for a 2 wheel bike. She really surprised me! She did great. The issue is she stops pedaling and coasts and she can't balance yet when she does that. So if she would just keep pedaling she would have it. Also she has trouble starting so I have held it steady and kinda just push her off. She is doing great. The problem is that it is so hot she can't practice long before she gets too hot and comes inside. Hopefully by the fall she will have it down and can ride outside for hours.

Alexandria's Birthday Celebration

I got lucky and got a shot of a heart firework. Siena's favorite. Claire enjoying the fireworks

enjoying some birthday cupcakes.

my cute matching girls.

There are a lot of fun activities around here in July. The weekend after the fourth of July Alexandria city celebrates it's birthday. Everyone gathers down by the Potomac river and has birthday cake and fireworks with fun bands playing the music. It's all American and it's lots of fun. We love any firework show and it's always fun when it's accompanied by cannons going off and a live orchestra. We were all set with our glow sticks so we didn't have to pay their ridiculous price and a fun picnic.

Fireworks!

We had an awesome fourth of July! I love going into D.C. and sitting by the sites for the fireworks. It seems so patriotic and fun. We went in this year again and sat right by the Washington monument. We were really close to the fireworks and could feel the boom and actually had ash on us when we left. It was well worth it. All the kids loved it. Even Claire was good during the fireworks. We got there early to get good seats and the kids were good at entertaining themselves. There were a lot of kids there. Between them all there were coloring books and an Ipod and glowsticks so they were all entertained. The kids are looking forward to next year on the mall again.

summer fun

We went to our first baseball game of the season. It was so much fun. It was a double header but we decided that we probably only have the attention span for one game. Our kids know that going to a baseball game basically means that they get to eat junk food all through it. It keeps them occupied. Dave did try to teach Siena how to keep score on the sheet they have but she lost interest pretty quickly. We had a fun time. The Nationals won the game. Our friend found $2 seats so it was all cheap except all the food. It was a really hot day so we had good seats nice and shaded. It wasn't even that far off third base. It was Claires first game and she did great. The kids all had fun playing together. They had an awesome firework show after the game. It was so fun. I love that my kids love fireworks. It is one of the best parts of summer. It was a really good show. The best viewing area for them were in our section so everyone was rushing over to get seats and we were there first so it was perfect.

Pohick Bay

Ben digging for gold

the girls swimming

We love Pohick bay so much. We had a fun playdate there with some friends the other day. There were a lot of little girls and they had so much fun playing together. As usual Ben was a little outnumbered but he had a good time playing with the girls. The kids were really brave. Siena was in the big pool most of the time. Sometimes with her life jacket on sometimes not. The big pool is 3 feet where she plays so it is safe. She has started putting her head under water a little bit and not being so scared about it. She still is too scared to go down the tunnel slide. Maybe next year. Siena was excited to use her allowance to buy a popscicle there. We haven't heard the ice cream man in our new neighborhood and that all she wants to buy with her allowance is ice cream. It was a fun day and Claire was really good. She was out in the sun/pool with me for 5 minutes then she sat in the stroller for the rest of the day. Ben still enjoys the kiddie pool and sandbox over the big pool but is getting stronger in the big pool. Especially if everyone else is in there. We are starting swim lessons next week so I am excited for that. Ben has a little mean streak in him lately and I was 50 feet away from him in the pool when he started this fight with another boy over a water gun. I don't know where the other mom was and I don't know if Ben started it (he probably did) but he was really mean pushing the kid all around. I thought he was going to push the kid into the water. I have no idea how to deal with it. He will take a time out but it doesn't seem to translate in to making him stop fighting people. I know it has to do with super heros but I don't know how to stop it. It seems like everywhere we go he is pushing people. It was a fun day overall and Ben fell asleep in the car before I even pulled out of the parking lot. That means it was a success!

Claire 3 months

Now that Claire is almost 4 months I am finding this picture of her at 3 months. She is so much fun. She is smiling and making all sorts of sounds. She is trying to laugh. She still covers her face when the kids come too close to her but she loves the attention from all other people. She gets so happy whenever anyone comes close. She sucks on her fingers and doesn't really like the binky but I can soothe her with it if she is really frantic. She loves her exersaucer that she can sit up in and look all around and she can follow us around the room. She is a good nurser but not a very good sleeper. She still wakes up too many times during the night. Overall she is a good baby she still just loves to be held. At church on Sunday we were sitting near the front of the chapel and she had a screaming fit in the middle of the meeting. I had to scramble out of there with a screaming child. Our congregation does not have a lot of babies so it was really noticeable. I got MANY comments after about how strong my babies lungs were. I even was told, nicely, that I should find a seat closer to the back in the future so I can leave easier. Really nice. Luckilly because there aren't many babies in our ward people love to hold her and entertain her for me at church. She is a strong willed baby though. She goes from happy to crying fit in 30 seconds flat.