Favitts

The girls are so chatty these days and getting better and better all the time. I'd better write down some of their cute little jargon before it's just plain English.

Some of my favorites from Ella these days:

alvins=almonds
cardimal=cardinal
doctornarian=doctor confused with veterinarian
And a my definite most favorite:
It's not THERE!=It's not fair.

Some of my favorites from Nora

mah pummy=my tummy
eeder=either, which she tacks on the end of any sentence to make it negative, like "I want cereal eeder" which means she doesn't want cereal.
dawbook=a pad of paper. She coined this phrase herself!
mah favitt=my favorite. applied to anything she likes at the moment.

Just a handful, but worth remembering at least these I think!

Double piggy-back

That's right.

Maryland

 It was soooo nice to get away from it all last weekend. Here's another BIG thank you to my awesome Aunt Debbie, who offers her amazing palace of a lakehouse to her family to enjoy while she works tirelessly to take good care of soldiers overseas. I knew I was kind of stressed out, but I wasn't aware how much and how good it would feel to let it all melt away for a few days and bathe in the sun, lake views and uninterrupted family time. Sighhhhhh . . .

Here's what we did:

took a longish car ride to get there

explored historic downtown Berlin (MD! : ) )

enjoyed more than one kind of pool

(I received the truly lofty praise from my husband who is not wont to such gushing "I was pretty sure you'd be terrible, but you weren't that bad.")

went fishing

ate a bunch of chips lakeside

said, "what responsibilities?"

played tag

blew bubbles

danced in them

sat on the dock

had a nice breakfast out

enjoyed cups of coffee

fooled you! just water in the little ladies' cups, but it's so fun to pretend to be a grown up

said, cheese

hit the boardwalk at Ocean City

and danced there

ran around like wild

just a reminder that I was there too!

held hands

got treats!

jumped and splashed

went fishing again

hung out in the backyard

kept close tabs on the waterfowl

celebrated fathers day

hit the beach

and for the grand finale, a canoe ride the morning of our departure

It was a good weekend.

Driveway continues

Work on the driveway has continued. It's been the focal point for a lot of our family activity these days. In between trying to figure out crazy illnesses with fevers and spots among other things. Cue cute sick girls:

We've made a lot of progress. The gravel has been tamped.

Sand has arrived. Its delivery wasn't quite as exciting as the gravel's but it is a lot more fun addition to the back of the house than the rocks were (don't get me wrong, the girls love picking up rocks too, but they are actually allowed to play in the sand).

Paul has been tirelessly spreading sand and laying bricks and pavers, day and night, rain and shine.

nice evening

nice night

 nice day

rainy night

Meanwhile, the girls are enjoying our mini-beach when the weather is nice.

It is looking great! Paul got the top layer of sand over pretty much the whole patio tonight, quickly, as a downpour began over him. This driveway is going to be a lot stronger for all the heart and soul built in!