Garber Preschool Easter Party

Today we got together with all our preschool friends for a fun Easter party at the park.  The kids played, ate a yummy snack, then hunted eggs and came home with their very own Easter baskets with treats.  They have been talking about the Easter Bunny nonstop for the last week and I'm sure will be talking about him long after Easter is over. 

Davis pushing Piper on the swing and Piper sliding with Emma.  Davis was our class helper for the day.

 Water bottles, fun! 

Emma pushing Josie and all the kids having circle time.  Josie and Piper definitely have not caught on to this yet. :)  

Eating yummy treats, including cupcakes, which Josie keeps calling her "birthday cake".  

 A bunch of the kids checking out all the eggs they gathered and brought back. 

22 Days

Ahhh, moving.  We were so close for so many years.  One move every year for five years.  Since then, we have slipped away from each other.  Grown apart.  Gotten comfortable and settled in somewhere.  We have been in New Bern for five years - the same amount of time we lived in Quantico, Pensacola, Meridian, and Washington. 

Over the past few weeks, we have been like old friends becoming reacquainted.  Every closet has been cleaned out, cars have been sold and purchased, goodbyes are being said, and plans are being made.  We are pulling out of New Bern on April 20th - just 22 days away.  I remember pulling into town on April 12th, 2007, my 30th birthday.  We are pulling out of town to head up to Boston on April 12th, my 35th birthday.  It's been quite a five years for us and we're excited and anxious about what's to come. 

A Visit From Friends

As is often the case in this crazy military life, we are doing a kind of switcheroo with our friends the Cromwells - just missing each other as we move on to the next place.  They are moving back here to New Bern right about the time we head out and we were lucky enough to get a visit from them when they came to house hunt.  The girls really had fun playing with Gavin.  They are old enough now to play together and Gavin didn't have any trouble hangin with them.

 It was a quick trip, but they are going to come visit us in Utah! 

The dogs were not left out of the fun.  Adam took them out for a trail walk one morning and practiced his photography skills.  I love these pictures he took so much!  This one is definitely going in a frame.

 Blue was worn out for a whole 30 minutes after this walk.

See you soon Cromwells. 

Say "Ahh"

Josie and Piper had their first trip to the dentist last week.  The plan was to visit my hygienist, check out her "tools" and play it by ear on whether they actually got their teeth cleaned.  Surprisingly, both girls were pretty excited about it it.  Piper took to Ms. Teri right away, most likely because of the penguin on her brush.  Josie wasn't quite so sure, but she eventually warmed up too.  They both got their teeth cleaned and polished.  Over the past week, they have occasionally said "dentist?" when we're in the car headed somewhere.  Next time we go, we'll visit Uncle Jim. 

February in Pictures

As I wrote last week, February was crazy, but I didn't want to end the month without some pictures. 

These pictures were taken a couple of weekends ago when we took a day trip to Raleigh.  The girls were troopers and went all day without a nap, including a 2 + hour drive both ways, and then a visit to the mall and Trader Joe's.  They entertained themselves with our sunglasses and Elmo on the DVD player (their new favorite). 

Also, this is Josie's new "smile for the picture" face. 

 And finally, a couple more of Piper playing over the weekend.

 Happy soon-to-be March!  Next month will feature a big move and a big marathon!

Three friends

Last week, the girls and I headed downtown to Union Point Park with our friends McKenzie and Emma to feed the ducks and play on the swings.  We are going to miss the Hall family so much and are dreading saying goodbye.  The girls and Emma play together almost everyday - either at school, at the Y, or at gymnastics class.  They are true buddies and it is so much fun watching them together. Also, McKenzie is my true buddy and I will miss her smiling face and positive energy everyday. 

Here's a picture of our baby girls at one of their first play dates:

And here are the big girls feeding the ducks downtown. 

We went through three bags of bread.  My girls started eating it themselves about halfway through when they realized it wasn't just duck food.  Also, Piper didn't feel like posing or cooperating with Josie and Emma, so there are lots of sweet pictures of Josie and Emma together. 

 Thanks for a fun morning Kenzie and Emma!  We love you! 

A February Check-in

Well, look at that, it's been almost a month since I have even thought about blogging - and probably that long since we've taken a picture.  The past few weeks have flown by in a blur of ear infections (six total, three for each girl), bronchitis/chest colds (one for me, one for Josie), pinkeye, big projects at work, marathon training, potty training, Valentine's day, President's day, and all the list-making and middle-of-the-night stressing that goes with preparing for a cross country move.  In fact, I find myself awake right now at 5 a.m. again for no apparent reason.  We have been fueling up for it all with the 14 boxes of girl scout cookies Josh purchased from our lucky neighbor girl.

The girls have powered through it all in typical two-year-old fashion.  It seems unoriginal and cliche to say they're "into everything" but I don't know how else to describe it.   They recently discovered they can pull out one of the top drawers from the kitchen and hang from it.  I glanced over to see both girls hanging from the drawer, feet lifted and touching their hands in gymnast fashion, the drawer bending dangerously, the girls yelling "sawwiiiiinging!".  Something we'll have to add to our list of house repairs, I'm sure.  A recent trip to the park featured some older kids going down the slide head first on their tummies and you better believe the girls have adopted that method for themselves - down the big slide, no little slide for them. 

Their independence streak knows no bounds.  I think the theme for the age of two for Josie and Piper will forever be "my do it!"  A list of things they want to do for themselves: buckle their carseat, climb up into their carseat, buckle their booster chairs, brush their hair, clip their fingernails, feed the dog, push the button (any buttons), put on their shoes, open the door, shut the door, etc, etc.  This is amusing because when they were tiny babies and it took forever to get out of the house or do anything at all, I used to think "oh, this will be so much easier when they're a little more independent".  Eh, not so much.  Now we accommodate this independence or face an epic meltdown. 

They both still have their separate interests.  Piper has become mildly obsessed with matchbox cars - and particularly one specific yellow matchbox car.  She will randomly look at us and say, with the most hopeful look on her face, "yeyow car?", which prompts Josh and I to go into an immediate panic looking for it.  One of us runs out to the car to look under all the seats, the other one starts dumping out the bins in the playroom until we find it.  There is no replacement for the yeyow car.  She has used her matchbox cars to learn her colors and knows yellow, blue, orange, green, white, etc.  While riding in her car, she loves to point out trucks and can usually get their color right.

Josie still loves music and asks for - every single time we get in the car - "Shake it out" by Florence + the Machine.  She has a knack for picking up lyrics to songs and hours after listening to a song I'll hear her singing a line or two from a song we were listening to.  She also has her own version of the ABCs and is pretty close to knowing all of them.  Her personality has really emerged over the past few months and she is one jokester of a girl.  She will do anything to make us laugh - smear food on her face, show us her chewed up food, take off her socks and put them on her hands, pull up her shirt over her face.  She makes us laugh and makes us crazy!  I tell Josh that I blame the Jones genes for this personality trait.  Her teachers at preschool just shake their heads and smile when I ask them what kind of day she had. 

There are a million things I could write about these girls.  I only hope I can capture one percent of who they are and what they do. I think I have finally realized that each age has challenges, so I am really trying to embrace the craziness of our lives rather than thinking about when things will be easier.  There is nothing like Josie asking me for a "tight hug" or Piper finding one of her favorite books and crawling up in my lap to read together. 

As our move to Utah comes closer, we've been thinking a lot about the things we'll miss about New Bern: our house, our friends, the simplicity of living in a small town.  We are thrilled and excited to be moving home, but the past five years of living here have been eventful and full and it is a little bittersweet to be leaving.

I will (hopefully) be back soon with more updates and some pictures.  In the meantime, it's now 6:15 and its time to let the dog out, make smoothies, unload the dishwasher, pack the girls up for school, and sneak in a little work before they're awake at 7. 

Garber Winterfest

Today the girls had Winterfest at Garber, their preschool.  I was told to dress them in PJs and show up at 10:50 to take them.  I really had no idea what it was, but it sounded fun.  Josh was able to leave work for a little while and come with them too.  It was a lot of fun - they had a bounce house, face painting, some "ice fishing", a couple of art projects, and a bunch of cars covered in shaving cream "snow" they got to dig in and play with (I guess this is why PJs were necessary?).

Josie got a penguin painted on her hand.  She was so proud.  Piper didn't want anything to do with it. 

Here's Piper playing in the shaving cream "snow" village

I took some other pictures on my phone, but found out later it was actually in video mode.  Oops. 

They also got to take home a cup of hot chocolate mix with marshmallows and chocolate chips.  Only its like 70 degrees today, so we'll be saving that for a day when winter actually shows up.   

Happy Birthday Blue

Our boy Blue turned one a few weeks ago.  And over the past couple of months, he has gone from a crazy puppy to a good, good boy.  He isn't doing nearly as much biting and chewing and this is how he spends most of his afternoon with me while I work.

I require two things in order to work from home by myself: Radio from Hell and canine company.  First Jackson and now Blue - I am so happy to have the companionship that I just can't get from co-workers on the phone.

The girls love him too.  During our trip to Utah, they talked about how he was with the "other doggies."  He follows them around and is always quietly waiting for them, whatever they are doing.  He is also very helpful "cleaning up" the mess they make at dinner.

I am working on making him a running partner as well.  He can make it 5 miles pretty easily and now only spends about 5 minutes of that time biting on his leash.  All I have to do is get out my watch and he's ready to go. 

He got a nice, new big boy bed for his birthday.  No more kennel for this doggy. 

Happy birthday pal! 

Christmas wrap-up

Finally wrapping up on our trip to Utah.  We never did get any snow in Utah.  Here is what the mountains looked like. :(  So much for our white Christmas.  Oh well.

We also found an afternoon to head to the little aquarium in Draper.  It was fun.  The best part was the penguins.  Thanks for taking us Bubba and Grandpa.

 

Aunt Brynn came to visit one afternoon.  That's Josie and Brynn there with Moosie, my parents' vicious pit bull. :) 

And here are the girls showing off some new PJ's they got from Aunt Leslie and Uncle Jeff, and playing on their new table and chairs from Uncle Conor.  They got very spoiled for Christmas.

We ended the trip with a marathon day of travel, which included a 4.5 hour flight from SLC to DC, then a six hour drive home to New Bern.  The girls were troopers.  They did not sleep on the flight at all, but crashed once we got in the car.  We made it home just in time for one more three-day weekend to recover, do laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, pick up Blue boy, and try to finally kick the coughs we all came home with. 

iPhone photo dump

I still have a few more updates from Christmas and Blue boy's birthday, but in the mean time, thought I'd give an update on what we've been up to lately, based on the contents of our phone cameras. 

We aren't having a winter here in North Carolina.  I'm not complaining because really, I have no use for snow and cold unless it serves a specific purpose (i.e. lots of fluffy stuff to ski in).  Here, the cold is pointless and we are enjoying our last mild winter with more 65 days in December and January than I can remember.

Last weekend we went down to a new park on base for a change.  A teeter totter.  Weren't these basically made for twins? 

On New Year's Day, we went to a birthday party for their friend Emma in almost 70 degree weather.  The girls got to jump in the bounce house.

This is random, but these are all the things the girls require to sleep these days.  Their pillow pet pillows, doggy/froggy, bears, and blankies.  Super cute. 

Piper likes to pull all of her chairs out of the playroom, put them in a nice little line, then climb back and forth over and over.  I don't get how her little brain works, but it sure is fun to watch.