Happy 4th of July!

Love, Elise & Avery (our flag-waving fools :))



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Since Kyle is on call this weekend, I wanted to be sure and celebrate together last night. We had intended to go to Mason for Red, Rhythm & Boom, but then I started having visions of crowds and toting the double stroller on and off the shuttles from the parking areas.... and sought after something more low-key. I spent quite a while this week looking, when I should have known exactly where to find the perfect event...


































Oxford, of course! :)

It really was perfect for our little family this year. While lacking in the fanfare of the local, suburban festivities (and the big name acts!), it was absolutely charming. If you've been to Oxford and Miami University, you'd know to expect nothing less. There was a penny carnival setup at Uptown Park (yes, the games cost a penny. Unless you didn't have any, then they were free), a bounce house, a big inflatable slide, the ever-popular Uptown Park fountains, and even "train rides" on the Freedom Express! :)































The girls even got to check out an ambulance and fire truck up close!



















Later in the evening, we enjoyed patriotic tunes (and a few - gasp! - religious tunes thrown in thanks to small-town values) on the lawn while the girls played and entertained the crowds.






























The uptown portion of the evening ended with an adorable parade (not the kind I'm used to, but one with tricycles and dogs and toddlers walking while waving flags... in addition to the requisite fire trucks and police cars, of course!). The girls actually really enjoyed it!














We called it a night and headed home instead of joining the crowds at the Ditmer lot for a DJ and fireworks. It was adorable, and just the right mix of entertainment and freedom (no holiday-related pun intended) for our All-American 12.5 month olds!

Ball Pit, and other Basement Fun

The other day, after seeing the girls' excitement over the ball room (not ballroom ;)) at the Museum Center, I thought it might finally be time to set up the ball pit in the basement. I had purchased the stuff for it 7-8 months ago, but the girls never really showed any interest. In fact, when I put them in a small pit at about 6 months old, they freaked out. I put it out of my mind, and forgot about it completely until earlier this week.

It's nothing spectacular, but they seemed to enjoy it! (And wow, they really aren't as cramped as the second picture would suggest. It's not THAT tiny! :-P)



























They also enjoyed checking out some of the other toys down there, and were content to play for nearly an hour in the basement - at dinnertime, even!







































Yesterday, I split up some of the toys in the living room, swapped some stuff out, etc so they'll just have a third set of stuff to explore when we need a change of scenery. I'll take more pictures eventually, but the play area down there is coming along ok for a boring, dingy, unfinished basement!

(Yes, all the grown-up toys are all still down there. They will ALWAYS take priority -- Elise & Avery run the rest of the house, you know... we have to keep some of it for ourselves! :))

S'mores!

Yep, tonight we introduced the girls to one of the most fabulous food concoctions ever created - the S'more. It was absolutely adorable, and now they are in the bathtub! :-P

Eating some of the ingredients while Daddy worked on the fire














And sharing some of the ingredients with Thea














Yum!


























Bathtime!














More photos in the album... follow the link on the right sidebar to the July sub-album! Happy long weekend, hopefully, to most of you! :)

Rockin' the Spoon

I have to confess, I rarely let the girls use their own spoon or fork. It's just so messy, and they don't even usually like to try, they just prefer to gag themselves with it.

If you recall correctly, Kyle is not a fan of biter biscuits, zwieback toast, etc - basically anything that gets the girls too messy.

SO, imagine my surprise when I found this adorable video on my camera this morning! (And please note the repetition of bite (with fingers) THEN (empty) spoon in mouth. Hey it's a start, I suppose.....)

The Best Laid Plans...

... always get the most royally screwed up. Did you read about the birthday party? If so, you know this isn't a new concept to me. There was little surprise then, when everything was as wacky as possible this morning and we ended up at the Museum Center instead of the Zoo. Long story, but still a fun morning.

We started in the Little Sprouts Farm, as we often do --















But we quickly moved to the Sprouts Town instead. We played in the kitchen --


















until Avery heard the bells ringing from the ball room, and took off in that direction :) (please note two things: a) I learned how to rotate a video that I (stupidly) recorded sideways. It's so easy it's embarrassing; and b) listen for Avery's excitement, all the way to the end - "Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!". Not sure why she chose that syllable, but it's pretty cute nonetheless :))



After we played in the balls a while,














we played with the train table and worked on some auto repairs --



































































before Avery headed off to do some grocery shopping.






























Pretty quickly it was time to call it a day. After all, afternoon naptime was fast approaching. (Remind me again then, why they are hollering in their room right now instead of sleeping?)

More Summer Fun in the Photo Album!

Just wanted to let you know that I am always adding pictures from these summer afternoons in the Picasa album, even when I don't update here. Pictures like these, as a sample :) --