Marble Maze

Tuesday was chilly and damp, so we stayed inside and played every game we own. The highlight of the day was making this marble maze together. The girls listened really well and carefully stacked each piece as I instructed them...they were VERY proud of our "super deluxe" monster creation!

Pajama Time Movie Theater-Cars Edition

We ended Monday with baths and Pajama Time Movie Theater. Every once in a while we have family movie night, and to make it extra special we pretend our living room is a movie theater. Greg and the girls stay upstairs and get jammies on while I make popcorn, set up the concession stand, and get the movie queued up. The girls get to pick out popcorn, a treat, and a drink, and we show them to their seats. This time we watched Cars and enjoyed snuggle time on the couch!

Memorial Day

Greg worked all day and overnight on Sunday, and came home Monday morning.  We needed it to be a productive day!  The girls helped Greg turn over the soil for the garden, and I (finally) finished unpacking.

Huge, wiggly, slimy, monster nightcrawlers!!!

Greg taught Lucy how to be a soccer goalie...here she is in her ready position.

Going for the save!

Julie and Jones stopped over for lunch, playing outside, and a trip to the park.  Jones watched Lucy, and decided he could be a goalie, too.  Here he is in his ready position.

Jones makes the save!

While the girls napped, Greg got everything ready for planting.  Lucy and Ella were big helpers--they dug holes and trenches, sprinkled in seeds, and covered them up.

I can't wait for all of our garden goodies...we will have everything from herbs and salad greens to tomatoes, beets, and eggplant.  YUM!!!

Happy Memorial Day from the Heideman sisters!

Family Kite Festival

On Sunday my mom and dad took Lucy and Ella to the Family Kite Festival at the lakefront.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and perfectly windy for kite-flying!!! 

Time for snacks

There were hundreds of kites and the girls loved it!

Grandpa with his Poonchka and Groobas

Grandma and Grandpa bought the girls a kite of their own to fly.  They had a blast--thanks again, Mom and Dad!

Shemanske/Hamm Wedding

Saturday afternoon we had the pleasure of attending Megan Shemanske and Morgan Hamm's wedding.  Megan is my friend Kristi's sister, so I have known her for 12 years!  Since I was around for the very beginning of Megan and Morgan's relationship, it was an honor to be there to see them start the next chapter of their lives together.

Dan was an usher, so Greg and I kept an eye on sweet Chloe during the ceremony.  She was an angel!

The ceremony and the reception were held at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield.  It was a beautiful setting!

The Simek Family

Chloe and the bride!

Dan, Kristi, Morgan, Megan, Jo, and Paul

Sisters

It was a date night for Greg and I...Mom and Dad took the girls for a sleepover at their house!

Mr. and Mrs. Hamm's first dance

Visit with the Murphys

Auntie Julie and Uncle Patrick came for a visit on Thursday night.  It was wonderful to see them--it's been too long!  We played outside until the weather took a turn and had a yummy dinner together.  We are already looking forward to hanging out again--we love you guys!

Visit with the Simeks

Kristi and Chloe stopped over after school on Tuesday to catch up.  Chloe is the sweetest thing ever!  We had so much fun that Dan ended up joining us after Greg came home and we had pizza for dinner and hung out for the evening.  We got to see Chloe get her first taste of apples--hilarious!  Thanks for a fun night, Simeks!

Home Sweet Home

We're home! We've been home since Sunday evening, but it has been a little crazy around here and I haven't had a chance to do a post. The drive home was good overall. Lucy and Ella were troopers, but had a few breakdown moments. At one point, Lucy said, "I JUST DON'T WANT TO DRIVE ANYMORE!!!" Greg and I completely understood...

We took a break at a rest stop for lunch and ordered some kids' meals from Burger King...I came to the table with the famous Burger King crowns, which was AWESOME. The girls are big fans of Fancy Nancy books, and Nancy often eats at The King's Crown, where she always gets a crown for herself. Lucy and Ella were convinced that we, too, were eating at The King's Crown, and were thrilled. The best part was when Ella announced that she was Robert, Nancy's only male friend. For those of you who aren't aware of Ella's fascination with alter-egos, you should know that she is almost never herself, but rather a favorite character. Some popular choices are Huck (from Strawberry Shortcake), Diego (of Go Diego Go), Max (of Max and Ruby), and Tyrone (from Backyardigans). Yes, all boys! It's hilarious because she can be SO girly, too...she's obsessed with shoes and loves to dress up with beads and to style my hair. Anyway, it was just perfect when Ella decided she was Robert...absolutely priceless.

Sandusky, Ohio was our stop on Saturday night. By the time we got settled into our hotel room, it was almost 8:00, so we went right to dinner. Cracker Barrel was our pick, and it ended up working out perfectly. The girls loved their dinner and had a blast in the store afterwards. Greg did too, as he found one of his favorite toys from childhood, a gyroscope. He had way too much fun showing the girls how it worked back at the hotel!

We hit some traffic in Chicago on Sunday, but that was expected...it IS Chicago, after all. The girls surprised us and never napped, so the last leg of the trip was pretty long. We were all very excited to get home and out of the car!

Our original plan was to arrive home on Monday, so Greg had off of work. I woke up with a migraine early Monday morning which meant the day was not as productive as I had hoped. The girls got to play outside, Greg worked on the garden, and I got meal planning done and the grocery list made. Mom and dad has the four of us and Bill over for dinner--a yummy homecooked meal and good company really hit the spot.

Yesterday afternoon I started feeling better and felt great by the evening. Today some massive unpacking and laundry needs to be done, but the sunshine is beckoning us outside...

I started this blog with the intention of having a great record of our adventures in DC, but am finding that it's a wonderful way to keep track of little everyday stories about Lucy and Ella that I would otherwise forget all too quickly. So, I've decided to keep blogging. My friend Kristi Jo gave me an amazing Mother's Day gift yesterday--she printed out the entire blog and put it in a binder! I have always wanted to scrapbook the thousands of pictures I take, but have never had the time to even get started. Hopefully I can find a few minutes here and there to continue the blog...if I don't get around to scrapbooking until the kids are in college, so be it.

Sick Day

Wednesday was a sick day at our house.  Lucy woke up with a fever and was very sad and lethargic.  Ella had a fever before bed, but woke up without it...anyway, they both needed to rest and get better.  We stayed in jammies, watched movies, colored, and read books most of the day.  I'm happy to report that everyone woke up healthy and happy today, and we are packing and getting ready for our trip home!  We will be leaving on Saturday morning and will make it home by Sunday night!

National Zoo

Greg skipped his morning classes on Tuesday so that we could take advantage of the great weather and go to the National Zoo for a few hours.  We were really impressed by everything we saw and wished we would have had more time to see more!
We started off on the Asia Trail and saw a sloth bear (like Baloo in the Jungle Book), a clouded leopard, a fishing cat, and...

...the giant pandas!

This one was content to sit and eat his bamboo, and we had a clear view of him so we stayed until Lucy said, "I'm done with the pandas..can we go see something else?"
Greg and I were amazed by this...it's called the O-Line, and it consists of a series of 8 towers connected by cables.  The first and last towers are in contained areas where orangutans have access to them.  They are free to climb and travel throughout the O-Line!  We were bummed we didn't get to see any of the orangutans taking advantage of it, but were impressed nonetheless.
The day wouldn't have been complete without a stop at the gift shop.  We let the girls spend the last of their souvenir money on some cute little pandas.  I can't lie, though.  These innocent-looking stuffed animals caused some big-time drama.  Greg and I tried to encourage Ella to get the same thing as Lucy, as her souvenir had THREE pieces--a purse and two pandas--pandas with BOWS.  Ella insisted that she wanted the plain panda, but as soon as we got home, she changed her mind.  After a few hours of listening to Ella's requests to use her pandas, Lucy finally gave in and shared with her...sweet relief.

Color Me Mine

I couldn't post these pictures earlier, because they are of Lucy and Ella making Grandma's Mother's Day gifts!  I took them to Color Me Mine, a paint-your-own pottery studio.  The girls made perfect choices...Lucy chose a candy dish to "thank Grandma for always having candy out at her house," and Ella chose a coffee mug because "Grandma LOVES coffee."  I have to say I was proud. 

They each got to choose their own colors, which was really exciting.

Both girls were so careful about keeping the paint on their piece, and each stroke was very deliberate.  

We had so much fun--it was a great afternoon project!  After painting, we left the pieces there to be glazed and fired and were able to pick them up a week later.  They turned out beautifully!  We forgot to get a picture of Grandma and the girls with the finished product, but we will do that when we get home.

Piggy Pile

I absolutely adore this picture of all my loves.

Sleeping Beauty

Because we did not bring Lucy's bed rails with us, we have just been setting her up with a fort of pillows surrounding her in the queen sized bed.  This is how I found her when I went in to wake her up from nap on Monday!

Mail Thank Yous

I had saved up some mail that we received while my mom and dad were here for Sunday evening to soften the blow of Grandma and Grandpa leaving.  The girls want to thank Auntie Julie for the 6 different kinds of lip gloss, Auntie Gail for the My Little Pony and Dora stickers, and Opa for the sticky hands and tattoos!

I feel like I should have had my picture taken with the Mother's Day mail that I received...thanks so much to all of you--it was very sweet of you to think of me!

Mother's Day

Sunday was Mother's Day, and we celebrated with a great brunch at McGinty's Public House, an Irish pub in Silver Spring.  It was another gorgeous day...not as hot as Saturday, but sunny with a nice breeze (as you can see in the picture above).

Grandma with her Peanut and Peanut Brittle

After brunch, we went to Fairview Park to play.  We were all needing a low-key day after three very busy days!
Greg surprised Mom and I with a fabulous chocolate peanut butter cake from Cakelove, an awesome bakery nearby.  The top candles are for Mom's 2 kids and the bottom candles are for my 2 and a half kids.
We had to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa that afternoon.
Our visit with them was tons of fun and we are so happy they came to see us!  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for everything!