(June): Erin Gymnastics

The girls have really enjoyed doing gymnastics this year.  It's their second year - their first was in Texas.  Both had a friend in their class, which made it fun - and easier for me since we could carpool!

My Nana was able to come watch one day

Erin and Neive at their Spring Fling Demonstration

At the Spring Fling parents were able to come watch them do a routine on each piece of equipment.  I'm including videos for grandparents' sake :)

(this one got cut off half way through)

(June): Author's Tea

Second Grade focuses a lot on writing, and so at the end of the year, they had an "Author's Tea" where the students would present some of their writings for their parents and classmates.  They could choose to share their autobiography, samplings of their poetry, narratives, or a research project.  Elaina chose to share her research project, which was about her favorite animals, dolphins.

It was fun to spend the afternoon with her at school

(May): Rock Creek Park

Memorial Day was the perfect kick off to summer for us!  A pool party & bbq in the morning, a hike through Rock Creek Park in the afternoon, and smores over the campfire at a friend's house that night!  Here are some picture of our hike at Rock Creek Park.  It is so pretty!  We're excited to explore that area some more.

(May): Road Construction

This was better than Disneyland - we had street pavers in our neighborhood all month long!!!  Isaac couldn't get enough of it.  He loves cars, trucks, trains, and anything that moves.  When they were working in front of our house, I had live entertainment for him out the living room window, and it was great!  When they were in other parts of the neighborhood, we'd go find them and just sit on the grass and watch, or sometimes we'd bring a picnic.  Isaac was in heaven.  The construction workers got to know us really well and would always wave, high five, and honk their loud horns just for him.  At one point one guys let him come and stand on the back of one of the machines as it moved along the street, but that was too much for Isaac, and made him nervous so he chose to just stand on the grass and watch from a distance instead

I couldn't even get him to take his eyes of the trucks for a picture.  It was so fun to see him get excited about all the trucks.  He would just point from one big truck to another, saying "whoa!!!  WHOA!!"  Even now when we drive down the street, he likes to point out the big trucks and say "WHOA!!"  It's pretty cute :)

(May): Happy Birthday to my little buddy

Isaac turned two in May, and as soon as that milestone birthday came along, he started showing it!  I actually mean that in a good way.  My Mom has always reminded me what a great age two is and it is true.  They want to be independent and start to really want to do things the rest of us can do, and I feel like something comes alive in a child at this age where they realize what they're capable of...but not really able to do it all.  And they realize that too.  Isaac still doesn't say very many words, so it's frustrating for him that he can't communicate what he wants.  But in his little eyes I can see that he realizes all the fun things that he can get into do.

Isaac loves his big sisters and wants to imitate them and be apart of what they do.  When I would pack lunches and help get backpacks ready in the morning he would grab a little lunch box and hand it to me to make one for him.  He just wants to carry around a lunch box, like his sisters.  He also wants to join in on everything the girls are doing with their friends and as soon as they run out to play, he grabs his shoes and wants to follow.  Since we don't have a fence, unfortunately he can't go unless I'm there, so sometimes he has to settle with just watching them from the window.  I know he sees himself as just as capable and independent as they are, but he's just not there..yet :(

He's decided he doesn't like a sippy cup, and wants to drink out of a regular cup, like the rest of us.  However, if he gets upset or doesn't want his drink anymore, he just dumps it upside down.  When he's mad he knows it will irritate me - and he's right!

A few things about Isaac:

TV Shows/Movies: 

Thomas (the Train) Movies, Cars (just a short film on Netflix that he watches over and over again), Blues Clues
*Isaac can't say much, but these are the only three shows he watches (they're on Netflix) and one thing he can tell me is that he wants to watch a show.  "Vroom" means he wants to watch the Cars movie, "Arf" means he wants to watch Blue's Clues, and "TaTis" means he wants to watch a Thomas movie.

Favorite toys:

Cars.
Trains.
Balls.
And that's about it.
(occasionally a puppy toy, blocks, or any variation of those two vehicles in the form of puzzles, stuffed animals or books)

Words Isaac could say at his birthday:
(not very many, and he actually just qualified for Speech Therapy, so that will start in a few weeks)

Tatis (Thomas the Train)
Arf (puppy)
Rawr (for anything that roars, and really any animal that isn't a puppy - turtle, monkey, elephant....)
MaMa
GoGo (this is what he calls Mike, and we're not sure why - he used to call him DaDa)
GoGo - this also refers to a motorcycle - because he thinks every motorcyclist is his Daddy
LuLu - this is what he calls Elaina
Lala - this is what he calls Erin
Na - cup
NaNa - Goodnight
Bubbo - Bubbles (and also the white dandelions that you blow - he thinks those are bubbles too)
Poopoo (when he has a poopy diaper)
Woawoa - Laura, his little playmate
Tata - Megan, his other little playmate
Nana - he has a Nana, but right now that's what he calls anyone that isn't one of the people whose names he can already say
Ca - Duck or Bird
Uh-Oh

Oh, and of course "Ni"...which means "No,"  We hear this one a lot.

He's a great little helper, and can do the following chores when asked:
"put your shoes away"
"throw this in the garbage"
"go get Millie's leash"
"let's go get in the car"
"close the door"

(May): Camping, Round Two

The day after we got home from our last camping trip (where we got rained out, and poured on all night long!), some friends from church approached Mike about going camping that upcoming weekend.  My response to Mike was, "I can't even think about another camping trip until I have the laundry finished from the last one!"  Well, luckily Monday is my laundry day, so it gave us 5 days to gear ourselves up for round 2!  Luckily this time there was no rain, and we went with two other families from our ward.  It was a lot of fun!

A cute two year old boy with a bucket on his head

Packing up!

Monkey in the trees

Elaina and Erin with their friends, Laura and Alyssa

The girls were great helpers with Issac.  They all had fun exploring

Why does every Dad have to do this?  Does it freak out every other Mom like it does me?

Hiking at Cunningham falls

Our family at the falls

My friend Sara took the girls up closer to the falls.  You can't tell from the picture, but they were up really high - it was quite the little hike for them!

Searching for rocks to throw into the stream

Isaac and his friend, Laura.  Right after this picture they both tripped and took a tumble.  He wasn't so smiley and flirty after that! :)

The kids wanted to do a silly picture at lunch.  What goofs!

All the kids.  3 families.  10 kids.  2 dogs.  We had a blast!

(May): Springtime Fun with friends

It seems like we all came out of hibernation in April/May when it FINALLY warmed up!  It felt so good to be outside all the time.  The girls are eating dinner on the deck with our neighbor, Neive

It rains so much here in the spring (and summer too so far!).  It's a good thing Isaac has lots of fun rainboots!  He and his friend Megan at the park

Our good friends, the Thomas family moved to Richmond in January from Texas.  Their temple is DC, so when they had a stake temple day, they spent the night and I watched the kids while their Mom went to the temple.  Look at these helpful kids doing the dishes.  Can't believe they were both a year old when they met for the first time, and now look at how big they both are!

Erin and Allison are good little buddies

The kindergartners did an opera of the Billy Goat Gruff at the end of the year.  Do you see my cute kindergartner up in the back row?  She had so much fun practicing her songs and doing the show.  

The girls had their first sleepover with Sage, a friend in Elaina's class at school

(May): Zoo Field Trip

Isaac and I were able to accompany Erin on her field trip to the zoo.  It was fun to spend the day with her.  The great thing about the National Zoo is that it's part of the Smithsonian, so it's free!!!  Well, in addition to the $15 parking, but still, not too bad!

Chami, Bianca & Erin

Erin had a great class this year, and they all got along so well.  Each day she'd come home with a new best friend, depending on who she played with that day.  A great group.  

Here she is with Bianca, Chami, and Amy

Erin & Isaac checking out the lions

One of the other Moms bought them this huge bag of popcorn.  Yum!!

(May): Camping

Mike has been dying to go camping since we arrived here - he's gone a lot with the Scouts at church, but this was the first time we went here in MD with our family.  Unfortunately, we got rained out and had to race into the tent as soon as dinner was ready, and then spent the whole evening in the tent, but still it was a good night

The girls played Old Maid while we got the fire going

And Isaac couldn't wait for dinner.  Chips before dinner?  Sure!...when you're camping!

Thanks to the rain, we couldn't do smores that night, so we let the kids eat them for breakfast the next day instead.  Anything goes when you're camping!

 

Smores for breakfast!  Wahoo!

I forgot spoons.  So eating jello with the lid works too!

The kids had fun running around the next day.  Look at Erin's poses in the pictures below.  She cracks me up!

Millie had fun too!

Had a fun time this weekend with these 3 cute kiddos