A month of visits

We finished up June with a visit to Uncle Mike and Aunt Alyssa's in DC (our last post) and we spent a lot of July visiting more family.  Aunt Mary Anne, Aunt Robin, Uncle Charlie, Great-Grandma, Dan, Kristian, Matt, Uncle George, Aunt Debbie, Dee, Adrienne, Aunt Patti, and a lot more people from Dave's family.

The girls marched with Aunt Robin in a parade.  Look at Catherine's silly arms.  She's so serious, even in play.

Samantha and Great Grandma have always had a special bond that goes beyond their love of bread.  Here they are vegging out at the end of a long day.

"Don't I look like a star in Mommy's new hat!?"  I think it fits her as well as it does her Mommy.

With new gardening supplies from Aunt Robin and Uncle Charlie they helped Nana water the flowers.

And then there were fireworks of course!  No 4th of July would be complete without them.

Their new life jackets make pool time amazing.  They are much more independent and they love it, and so does everyone else in the pool with them.  Catherine loves to jump in and be thrown from person to person while Samantha likes to spin in circles.  Towards the end of pool time they both manage to take off the jackets and try to float/swim on their own.  They sink, of course, but they try really hard and we're so proud of their courage.

Saying 'Good bye' to Aunt Mary Anne.  We had a lot of fun at the beach, even though there were no seashells.  (Samantha was very disappointed.)

Then Matt, Dan and Kristian came with their puppy Calli.  We had so much fun at the beach and playing with the puppies, and introducing Matt to the girls' favorite movie, Wreck it Ralph.

Grandpa bought a kite that we flew at the beach.  The girls were interested for a little but would rather play in the tide pools.  Samantha got really into it, looking like a little Ester Williams (from when they did synchronized swimming in the movies) in that suit.  Catherine just kept jumping from puddle to puddle.

Then, to finish it up, we saw Dave's side of the family at Ocean Isle.  The girls had a great time reading with Aunt Patti and playing dress up with Lana and Cora.  Catherine was especially excited to be included with the 'big girls'.

It was hard, and I couldn't possibly have hoped to get a picture of both sets of twins looking at the camera, but at least I got them all in the same place.  Here are Cade, Cole, Catherine, and Samantha making bugs in the sand with Aunt Patti and then squashing them.

In the meantime, we'll keep working on our potty skills (making slow progress, they often ask to go and are staying dry for longer and longer) and we've made it into toddler beds.  They don't go to sleep as quickly as we would like, but they do stay in bed (though there were a few times that Sam pulled all the books off of 2 shelves).  See you soon!

DC Trip

We got some time to visit family and were finally able to see Mike and Alyssa's new house.  It is really coming together, and the one of the best parts of all was the yard.  As soon as we got there everyone went outside and ran off their energy from being cooped up in the car for 4 1/2 hours.  My favorite part is how close they are to DC while still having a yard like that.  The next day we went to the National Zoo and we were so excited for the girls to see the pandas.  The WWF app is their favorite on the iPad and this is the only place they'll see them in person.  Samantha planned our route through the zoo.

It was too hot outside so we had to see the pandas inside.  It was everything we expected, though, the girls were very excited.  Daddy and 'Uh Mike" picked them up for a better view.

The beavers were out and about and very close.

Then we saw the carousel.  They said they wanted to ride but as soon as we got close, Sam started getting upset.  I saw a panda next to an elephant and thought it was perfect for us, but no.  Samantha was even more upset.  Yes, I'm laughing, because she does this on the train at the museum, too.  Then, once it gets started she's fine.

Catherine thought it was great.

Samantha, however, wouldn't stop crying, even when I got up there with her.  She wouldn't even sit on it, I had to hold her the whole time.  But, of course, the last 30 seconds she calmed down and Mike got a picture.  Then when we got off she was upset again and wanted to ride.  Every time we walked past she asked to ride again.  Figures.  Oh, Samantha!

Yes, it was so hot that the tiger went in for a dip.  I was hot enough to contemplate joining him.  This was my favorite part of the visit, you don't get to see this every day.

Sunday we went to the Natural History Museum and Samantha loved it!  Catherine was good in the beginning and then end but acted scared in the middle.  Not that she was upset, but she wanted to be with Daddy the whole time.  Daddy pushed the envelope of fun and got Mike to take this picture.

Uncle Mike with his favorite Goddaughter and dinosaur.

Does this hat make my head look small?

Here, you can have it back, thanks!

Hugs!  Can't believe we're saying goodbye already.  Another visit is definitely a must.

The beginning of summer

The school year ended very quickly for me and we rushed right into summer.  We went to the girls' first  Durham Bulls ball game and they were pretty good, but we need to work on sitting in chairs (this goes for church and other places too).  They had popcorn and ice cream and it was hot but great.

 Together we have been living as a family of 4, which is nice for a change.  I'm home when Dave is home more often and it has felt so wonderful.  The girls helped him clean up blood from Sam's scraped knees.  Mike was right in giving her bandaids for Christmas.  She is like her uncle.

We work out together!

And Catherine learned how to drive.  She was so adamant she could do it herself that she pushed my dad's hands off the wheel saying "I do it!"  Sigh, she really is my little clone.

After that we went to the beach and had a wonderful time, as usual.  I can't wait until we can stay there even longer.  We have a tent, I think we need to break it out.  We are spending the summer potty training.  Catherine has sort of made progress, but Sam still thinks the diaper is better.  On Monday we are taking the sides off their cribs and making 'big girl beds'.  Wish us luck, and we'll keep you updated.

All of May at once!

Well, the month of May was quite crazy so this is the first chance I've had to update the blog.  Let's start with Mother's Day.  My mom was here and we went strawberry picking and to the park.  The girls were great at picking strawberries.  They didn't squish too many, didn't eat any off the ground (though they tried), and had a great time pointing out the best ones and putting them in the basket.

"You'll have to talk to my agent, but she's on the phone right now."

At the park Samantha got very adventurous.  She really doesn't seem to be afraid of much, which I guess is why her knees and shins are always such a mess.  Catherine is much more skittish at trying new things.  However, once she sees Samantha trying it, she'll do it, including the big slide (which on second thought was too big).

It is hard to see, but Samantha is trying to wave.

When our school ordered caterpillars we got some too and had a wonderful time with them.  The girls loved to check on them, and Dave couldn't believe how quickly they grew.  Once we got the cocoons into their new home it wasn't nearly that interesting, nothing was moving around.  But, when they hatched, holy cow it was so exciting!  They showed the butterflies to everyone, including holding the phone up to the container so my dad could 'see' them.  I was surprised when we released them that they didn't want to hold them.

Then we went to the beach.  Dave showed the girls how to bury themselves and Catherine was a great help with that.  The first day Sam spent playing in the sand, didn't really go into the water until it was time to rinse off and go.  Then she suddenly remembered how much she liked it and didn't want to leave.  The next morning we told her where we were going and she wouldn't let it drop.  She tried to get Dave towels and keys so we could go.  Then she put her suit on over her jammies!  She couldn't wait to get there and spent most of the time in the water.

We filled our time in between with lots of reading and bouncing and building and adorable faces and singing and dancing.  Samantha spends a lot of time entertaining others when we are out with her dance moves, especially at the Cuban restaurant playing salsa music.  Catherine, on the other hand, loves to sing and often repeats as many words in a song as she can.  The best part is that when we play "Sweet Caroline" and she hears "touching me" she hears "touching knee" and that's what she does.  It is hilarious!  More to come, and hopefully more often because I'll be out for the summer, woo hoo!