Summer Days

This is kind of a random post featuring some everyday pictures of our summer . . . Sophie at the spray-ground where we met our cousins one morning . . . a birthday party for Madeline's best friend from her third grade class . . .

Another picture from the party of Madeline in her protective gear at Rebounderz . . .

Just chillin' in the yard . . .

Another day at a park with our cousins . . .

Getting a treat at Starbuck's . . .

We had Eddy and Rae over for the day . . .

Another park with our cousins . . .

A visit to our favorite frozen yogurt place that we can walk to . . . Rae enjoyed it . . .

and another pic of the spray-ground . . .

Home Projects

I have been keeping busy working on the girls' bedrooms. I really love this wall decal tree I added to Sophie's room. It included over 100 separate pieces and took about two hours to put up, but it was worth it. Sophie loves it!

You might remember the wooden letters both girls had in LA. Sophie's were green and white gingham, and Madeline's were white with purple butterflies. I spray painted them all a berry color, then added some pink ribbon to Sophie's.

For Madeline's letters, we hot glued them together in a 3-d-ish patten and hung them above her bulletin board.

I had been searching craigs list for a desk for Maddie for weeks.  I wasn't too worried about the finish since I knew I would paint it, but the scale and price had to be right. I found this one for $60.  Here is the before with one of the living room chairs she borrowed:

And here is the after:

I just found this chair on craigs list yesterday. It was a "curb alert" which meant it was free!!  So, sometime this week, I'll paint it and recover the seat with some fabric Maddie picked out.

More Maddie and Swim Team

Since my last blogpost, Madeline has been to four swim meets!! She swam butterfly in two "A" meets, free and fly in a "B" meet, and she swam in a "B" relay meet. The relay was very exciting because we got to see Maddie swim four times! Not very many kids from her team came for the relay meet, so Maddie filled in. She even swam a relay with the 9/10 year olds and placed second.

One Saturday, Maddie had 9 fans in attendance to watch her swim: Uncle Tim, Dawn, Eddy, Rae, Ralph, Shirley, Kent, Sophie, and me. Thanks to everyone to coming out early on a Saturday!

  Just when I thought her season was done, at this morning's practice, she was asked to swim at divisionals!! We did not expect this since each pool in our division can only send two swimmers per stroke. So, it looks like one more early Saturday for me and Maddie before we wrap up swim team for this summer. :)

Cars showing team spirit at an early morning "A" meet:

Swimmin' fly:

Her team photo. At her check-up last week, she measured in the 90th percentile for height and the 50th for weight. Such a beanpole!

Her ribbon collection has grown!

Camping and Tubing

We squeezed in a quick camping and tubing trip on the Shenandoah this week. The weather looked good and Dawn offered to watch Leah, so we decided all four of us would tube down the river this time. It was lovely, very relaxing, and the views from the river were gorgeous.  Unfortunately, I have no pics from tubing since I was afraid of damaging or loosing our camera, but the kids were adorable and the scenery was beautiful.

Monday Meet

Here is a video of Madeline swimming free style at last night's meet. They needed two girls to swim with the boys, and of course, she volunteered. She was in the lane second to the left, and she was very excited to have her grandparents in attendance for this race.

Our Park

We have a park about 6 houses down from ours.  The girls and I went to explore it the other day. Turns out that this downed tree, a result from last week's derecho, was a favorite climbing activity. The park has a couple of tennis courts, basketball courts, a playground, a creek,  . .  and . . .  the big surprise was . . .  a  ton of wild blackberry bushes!

We came home with about 30 ripe berries, and we plan to go back in a week or so to pick more when  they ripen. We love our new neighborhood!

Kid Purchase

Throughout our house hunting, we bribed the girls with a promise of a trampoline. We kept saying, as soon as we have a yard, you can have your trampoline.  And finally, after about 7 months, their bribe has come to fruition. We have a trampoline! The kids love it, and they are following our rules for jumping safety. My first rule was that is must have an enclosure; that's an easy one. The second rule is one kid at a time. They have been very good with taking turns and making sure the neighborhood kids follow through, as well.

More House Pics

Now that we have unpacked and there are no more boxes (except in the garage), I took some pics of our rooms with our furniture in them. We still haven't hung much on the walls, and we're considering painting in some color splashes,  but at least we've decided on furniture arrangements.

We decided to put the kids' computer in the living room so we could monitor their internet use. Ideally, it would go in the basement, but for now, their computer will remain upstairs.  You can see that Leah is quite comfy in her new digs, as well.

Here is the foyer. I am very excited to have a house with a foyer. It feels very grown-up.  :) I purchased the furniture piece below on craigslist. We used it as a file cabinet in the rental, but in our new house it will be where we keep mittens, gloves, and winter stuff.  By the way, I would estimate that half of our furniture has come from craigs list. I love buying quality furniture pieces at great prices!  It's a fun hobby for me.

Here is Sophie's room. I am letting the girls take the reins with their spaces. It's tough, but I think it is important that they have some say. So . . . Sophie's room is . . . you guessed it. . . pink. She likes princesses and fairies.  This is somewhat of a before shot. We'll add wall color and accessories down the road.

Her dresser is one of my favorite recent craigs list purchases. It is in mint condition, adorable, and purchased for less than 100 dollars.  It goes really well with the night stand I painted  for her last summer.

Consider Madeline's room a "before" picture, too. She has big plans that include bright green walls and more of a "tween" style.  The pictures leaning on her wall will likely not make the cut. Look closely at the paint swatches on her window sill for hints of her room's future.

Our entire lower level is pretty much furniture-less. We're not sure when we'll put anything in that space, but it will probably be in the winter since that is where our fireplace is, and we love having a fire on a cold winter night. There is a lot of room for company down there and an air mattress. We would love some company if you are planning to visit the DC area!

My Swimmer

Here is Maddie swimming freestyle at a meet a couple of weeks ago. I trimmed off the ending 20 seconds in my iphoto program so you wouldn't see the camera spinning around after the race, but when I uploaded it to blogger, it was mysteriously back to its original length. I am sure I could fix it, but I was happy to at least get a video up.

July 4, 2012

We started the festivities by purchasing some sparklers at a nearby stand. Madeline was super excited.  On the third, we drove over to Maryland to watch an early show over the bay. We had fantastic seats on Mom's balcony and didn't have to deal with any crowds or parking problems. That is my kind of fireworks show. Madeline loved watching the show, Sophie not so much. She stayed in the condo away from the noise.

On the fourth itself, we went to Home Depot and bought a new door. The kids had more fun than they expected to. We finished out the day with some sparkler fun in the backyard.