Belated Birthday Pictures!

Well here are some birthday pictures I promised you a while ago! Nonni made the awesome, custom birthday shirts (Pablo the Penguin & Tyrone the Moose of the Backyardigans) & Sofia wanted Pablo & Ava wanted Tyrone, but at the last minute Ava decided not to wear her Tyrone shirt but instead wear her London shirt (brought back byAuntie Abey (aka Elisabeth!).
I made the Pablo cake (took me a few hours & I might not make another cake for a while, well, Daddy would probably prefer that I not make a cake for a while...). There was no Tyrone cake pan unfortunately, but they both loved the Pablo cake.
After the cake was gone & most guests had left, Ava, Sofia & Xavier had a ball popping all the ballons with Zack & Sarah (twin friends born on same day, remember?!). Sorry I missed your head when I took the picture X...I'll do better next time. You're just getting so dang tall!!
Then after that Daddy & Xavier set up a race & obstacle course for the 4 year olds! Nothing better for releasing sugar cake energy than running around the yard kicking balls :o)
Finally, Sofia & Ava just HAD to try out their new big girl bikes. I know, I know...BARBIE?!?!?! Yuck-0! But, hey, when you've got to buy two of almost everything you have to look for the deals & sales & of course only Barbie was on sale. What can ya do? They love them :o)

Beach with Big Brother Xavier

Finally we ALL got to go to the beach! Even Chef Daddy who rarely gets to go to Nonni's! Of course, being his usual giving self, he did do some things around the house while he was there, too...But we had time to go have fun at the beach & in the pool!

Ava & Sofia love spending time with their big brother Xavier & he has just as much fun playing with them! He's 10 years older than they are, but he really gets back to being a carefree child when he's with them. It's awesome to see. They built (and destroyed) many sandcastles, but really enjoyed building a dam that kept getting hit by "big" waves! It was a lot of fun & a day I am truly grateful for. I mean, I'm grateful for all these days, but this was one that will live in the memory banks for a really, really long time.

Oh - I forgot - they did turn 4 in August & I haven't posted birthday pictures yet, but I will next post.

What a difference a month makes!

It's official. Ava now loves the beach as much as Sofia! She did start out wearing those beach shoes, but then she wanted to take them off like Sofia :o) Unfortunately this was the one & only time in August that we've gone to the beach, but I might try again this weekend if it's not too chilly.

They liked bringing water back to add to the moat that I built around our sandcastles. They actually liked acting like monsters & destroying the sandcastles even more than that, though!

We've been having a great summer walking Bella to the "beach" at the end of our street (the unnamed beach with the rusty pipe that we do not swim at!), reading at the library, playing every and any type of game - already established or made up by my very creative and imaginative girls - and baking banana bread and cookies.

My Little Mermaids!

July...

July picture! Now I'm only one month behind!!
Ava doesn't like sand between her toes & spent most of the time on the beach towel...but I managed to convince her it would be loads of fun to bury her feet in the sand. She actually didn't mind that, but as soon as she was unburied she asked me to carry her to the water so she could rinse her feet! She definitely prefers Nonni's pool! I'll get more pictures up when I've got a little more time...

Pictures from June

Activities in June with friends

Okay, so I'm a little behind in the blogging...This is a tough gig! Here are a couple pictures with friends from June. Since then, we've mostly been swimming in Nonni's pool! I'll choose some of those pictures I took & put them up soon. I'm telling you, I have 2 little mermaids who LOVE to swim! You'll see :o) But first, a trip to the zoo with Zack & Sarah & a trip to Mystic Aquarium with Ethan, Tristan & Xavier...but the only picture was taken when Ava, Sofia & Tristan enjoyed their ice cream!!
I'm having trouble uploading pictures, though, so you'll have to wait for pictures...