DANCING

Let me just say, we do A LOT of dancing in our house (we do have two daughters)!  The girls love music...whether it's from their CD's, our ipod, the radio, or from the music channels on tv.  They also like to dance along with others who dance on tv.  As a result, The Fresh Beat Band (if you're not sure what I'm talking about, tune to Nickjr for a little bit and it's likely be in the lineup) is a popular show in our house.  Additionally, we have recorded some clips of So You Think You Can Dance and they LOVE to dance along.

I also have to mention that Addy has discovered what I would call pop music???  Call Me Maybe is, hands down, Addy's favorite song.  She heard it playing on the radio while we were in the car and now, every time we turn on the radio Addy requests that we play that song (she has no idea that we cannot control what comes on the radio).  I'm not sure how this happened...shouldn't The Itsy Bitsy Spider still be her favorite song? 

So, with all of that said, here are a couple of videos of the girls dancing (and one with their daddy).  It might be a little repetitive, but trust me when I tell you, this is an extremely narrowed down list of videos! 

Dancing with the Fresh Beat Band...

 

The Happy Feet soundtrack still ranks pretty high among  popular music in our house also. 

 

 

 

The girls demonstrate their version of a "booty dance" in this video.  

They obviously get their dancing abilities honestly =).

Carly refused to let go of either...

Another Minnie...

 I should also mention that Addy and Carly have improved drastically in the pool this summer.  I wish I had video of them swimming, but you know how that goes.  Addy can swim all by herself now and Carly prefers to be without swimies most of the time.  They both love jumping off the side of the pool.  Carly is still not crazy about her face getting wet, so she is very strategic in her jumps.  They both really love the water. 

Headed to the pool...

A cute pic of Carly.

Summer fun

Once we got back from vacation it was time for some serious unpacking...  So we spent most of our time either unpacking boxes or swimming (you cannot work ALL the time).  As a result, the girls spent a great deal of time getting acquainted with their new home. 

This corner or our living room has officially been claimed by the girls as "their house".  It comes complete with chairs for relaxing and a garage for them to park their cars!  The chairs often double as the double door entry to their home. 

Here is a video of them playing in "their house". 

Just another cute video...

Couldn't resist...another great Addy outfit!

 Some reading time with daddy...

Some reading time...

 

We love our daddy!

Another cute shot of Addy

Our new kitty - Gloria

Back in the spring, at my parents' house, a sweet little kitty wandered up to my parents house...so, of course, we gave her some food.  At the time, we thought she was a kitten.  She would come by every few days and we would give her something to eat.  Well, about three weeks later, her kittens followed her up to the house for a visit.  They quickly set up house in my parents' garage.  These are the pics we took of them the first time we saw them.  The girls just fell in love with them! 

Here is Gloria, the mommy kitty at my parents' house.  

Here are some pics of the kitties playing in the yard.  I just love this pic.  

I think he's praying...somebody take me home!

 

Now fast-forward to July...Gloria, the mommy kitty, comes to live with us.  The girls have really taken to her and she loves them - especially Addyson.  Addy has taken the responsibility of feeding Gloria each morning, so they have really bonded.  Carly is a little rambunctious for her comfort, so Gloria is happy to find a nice quiet hiding spot when Carly comes looking for her.  But in time, I think they will be pals also. 

 The girls just LOVE her!  This is obviously before Carly started man-handling her. 

Here is a little video of Carly playing with Gloria, which is ironic because now when Carly tries to pet (grab) Gloria, she quickly finds a nice hiding spot.  

Summer Vacation - continued

After we left the cabin, we headed to Jane's house to visit.  We stopped in Virginia to see our friends Karen, Anthony, and Grace.  We had a fun night of dinner and swimming in the hotel pool.  It was the girls first stay in a hotel (except Addy when she was only 3 mo's old).  The girls really enjoyed staying in a "bedroom" as Addyson called it. 

Here is a pic of the girls covered in stuffed animals in the car and then a pic of the girls in the hotel room.  

While we were in PA, we visited the Hershey zoo and visited with family.  We forgot our camera when we went to the zoo - so we had a decision to make - to buy or not to buy...a disposable camera.  Well, we decided to buy one, and of course, it is still sitting on the shelf waiting to be developed (oh the joys of the digital era!).  I'm not sure what other excuses we have, b/c we didn't take a single picture with our "digital" cameras while we were visiting.  Maybe it's b/c we were having so much fun!  It was so great to visit with everyone - thanks for such a great time. 

We left PA and headed to Kelley and Joe's.  We stopped in Lexington for another "bedroom" stay in order  to take a drive thru the VA Safari Park.  If you're ever on I-81 near Lexington, VA and are looking for a fun activity, I highly recommend this...  Of course, our camera battery died while we were driving thru (are you sensing a trend here), but we got some good video.

So here's how it works...  You drive your car around this 3 mile loop filled with all kinds of exotic animals.  You buy these food buckets and hold them out the window of your car and the animals come up and eat out of the buckets.  It is CRAZY, but SO much fun!  You drive less than 5 miles an hour, so we let the girls sit in our laps and help us feed the animals - this was a little insane also, but they otherwise would not have gotten the full experience.  Here are a few videos that we took.  Sorry if they are a little crazy...remember - wild animals eating from buckets, girls in our laps, car moving.  But, I hope they are an indication of how much fun we had!

 

 

Okay, so they told us NOT to feed three animals...cannot remember other two, but one was definitely the zebras!  The first group of zebra we passed did not even look our way, so I thought we were in the clear.  The second group had other thoughts...  

 Please excuse the minor slip of profanity in this video, as I thought it was too funny not to share - ear muff your kids!

 

 

Thought this was cool...as did Addy.

Only pic taken on our adventure...

After our trip thru the wild, we headed for our last stop, Charlotte.  We had a great time there as well.  A great weekend of visiting, pool time and the girls playing with their cousin, Harry.  Once again, pictures were minimal, but did get a couple good ones.  Thanks Kelley and Joe for letting us stay...we had a super time!

Then we headed for home =)

Summer Vacation

We had a great vacation this summer.  We took a two week road trip, visited lots of friends and family, and made a few other stops along the way.  Thanks to everyone for letting us visit and for "putting us up" for a night or three!  We had such a great time and have such wonderful new memories with our friends and family.  However, as I was picking out pics of our trip for the blog, I realized, I have GOT to get my cameral out more often.  I don't have pictures of all stops, but lucky you...I will tell you all about them =)

We first stopped in for a visit with Lauren, Jose, and Mia.  We visited their Luna Rosa Cafe for some awesome Gelato - yum, yum!  Then my wonderfully sweet, and I should also mention pregnant, friend, Lauren, made us a delicious Italian meal.  Addy, Carly, and Mia had a great time playing together, as did their parents.  It was so great to see you guys...we had such a great time! 
Then we headed to the cabin for a little RnR.  Jane, Gary, Tim and Ben joined us.  We were there for July 4, so we watched the parade and enjoyed the festivities in Banner Elk.

Here are some pics of the girls sporting their 4th of July goodies, thanks everyone.

 

I think this is such a beautiful picture.  

 Carly napped as the parade got under way...

There is a nice swimming hole in Banner Elk, but it was a little cold for the girls (and their mom).  I think they swam for maybe 10 minutes the whole time we were there.  There were also two play areas right there so the girls were just as happy to be playing out of the water as in.  

What great cabin fun...

 

 We thought the girls might like to feed the ducks at a nearby pond, so we tried it out.  That was an understatement!  We actually went back a second time they enjoyed it so much.  These videos are of the second trip...  Guess what - I didn't have my camera the first time.

 

 It had rained that day, so feeding the ducks quickly turned into this...  

Another one of Carly's favorite words - puddles!

We have a new house!

Here are the first official pics and videos taken in our new house. 

Here are a couple of clips of the girls reading books... 

...and then some pics of the girls in our new house...

Gymnastics, lizards, dance, and saying goodbye to Gi and Papa's house

Here is a short clip of Addy's final gymnastics performance. 

Here is a cute pic of the girls together.  I really cannot even tell you where this pic was taken =)

Here is Addy on the day of her dance performance.  

Carly's favorite word in the spring was Lizard.  This is probably because there are thousands (maybe a slight exaggeration) of lizards at my parents' house and we encourage her to repeat it constantly, because it is just too cute. 

 
In June, we said goodbye to Gi and Papa's house and moved into our new house.  Here is a video of us packing up and really just making a mess.  Gi and Papa, we cannot thank you enough for allowing us to live with you during this year of transition.  We had tons of fun!!!