Thursday, June 30, 2011

uninvited house guests


I hate lice. Not really sure why they are here except to torment us. Emma has brought them home from school before. We bought the medicated shampoo and they both cried that it was burning their head. This was before the halfway mark for the time they had to have it sit on their heads.

This time I searched the Internet for some other options. I remembered that my pediatrician had suggested using Mayo. I came across this_website and really liked her directions. I used the Mayo on Emma and myself, and used olive oil on Rebekah (since she is allergic to eggs). And a good thing too because I had mayo running in my eyes all night long. A friend of mine suggested using old swim caps instead of shower caps. That was an excellent idea, they worked much better.

Of course, the next day was spent nitpicking -givse new meaning to the word. Hours spent outside combing through their hair, one tiny section at a time. That was a tough job. I am eternally grateful to my dear friend, Melinda, for taking 4 hours out of her day to comb through my hair with a "fine-toothed comb". All the while I did around 14 loads of laundry and vacuumed the house twice (sofas three times)!!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

home grown

All of this came out of our garden (minus the pork on my plate).

Friday, June 24, 2011

New Neighbors

Every year I buy hanging baskets for our front porch. I love having flowers there. Here in Virginia it gets really hot, which means that I have to water these every other day. Lately, when I have been watering I have noticed a small bird fly out of the basket when I water. After about two weeks of this (yes, it took me that long), I decided there must be something going on in that basket. Sure enough, I found this cute little nest with 4 cute little eggs.
The nest belongs to a House_Finch. This might pose a problem for me when watering the flowers. Really, I don't know why the bird would make a nest in a place that gets drenched with water every other day!!!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Still more swim team


Here is Emma doing the butterfly. She had the fastest time, but got disqualified because her arms didn't come all the way out of the water. Too bad. Emma and Elizabeth relaxing on the cot.

Emma was bumped up to team A on the relay. The first picture is when Emma touched the wall and her friend, Hannah, dives in. The next two are Emma and Elizabeth as they are getting excited because they are in the lead, by a lot, and then hugging when Hannah touches the wall first. So fun for her!!! They got 1st place.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Sleep tight

Happy Father's day!! We took care of Clay today. Brought him breakfast in bed, made his favorite soup for dinner, played games together as a family, and got him a puzzle of the space shuttle launch.
Then, Rebekah and I had to leave them for a sleep study. Rebekah has been having trouble hearing, mainly do to multiple ear infections. She also has HUGE tonsils. I took her to an ENT who ordered an x-ray and a sleep study. Check out the big bed she got to sleep in (actually, we got to share it. It was either that or the chair.)
All hooked up. She did really well until they strapped the oxygen sensor under her nose. The technician came in several time during the night to reattach sensors and things. I also got kicked for most of the night. So I did not get a good night sleep and went to bed at 8:30 the next night.

We won't find out the results of all these tests until we talk the the ENT again in another week.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

More swim team


Emma continues to improve. She got 2nd place on the relay and 6th place on freestyle.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Last Day of School

Look how excited Emma is to be done with another year of school! Our neighbors invited us over for a "school's out" party. The kids had a great time squirting each other with water, while all the moms stayed up on the deck in the "dry zone". What a great way to kick off summer!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Cardinals vs. Nationals

Clay and Uncle Jay went to a baseball game tonight. They met in Alexandria and took the baseball ferry to the stadium. on their way they passed NRL -Naval Research Laboratory, where Clay has been on several occasions to do testing on their satellites.

Too bad the Cardinals lost. They still has a great time watching and chatting together.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Swim team

Swim team season has begun. We are at the pool all the time now. Today was Emma's time trials. She did GREAT!! Took a few seconds off her best time from last year.


In between events Emma plays Uno with her friends. Clay was one of the timers for the event. You can spot him in the BRIGHT yellow shirt.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

"Everyone likes berries"


Fresh from our garden. We are freezing the blueberries to save them for something special. Like blueberry muffins or something.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Preschool Graduation

Today was the Graduation Ceremony for Rebekah's preschool. She will be there again next year, so she didn't really graduate, but they had cute certificates to give to all the kids.
Her preschool is at one of the local high schools. Her student teacher was Alexis. She brought home lots of pictures that they drew together and hung up on her wall.
The carpool group with Ms. Corwine, who is retiring this year. Aaron, Luke, Landon, Rebekah, Emily, Hadley, and Liam. It was a bit of a drive over there, but I only had to make the drive once a week. It was fun listening in on the conversations of 5 preschoolers for the 25 minute drive. They were pretty crazy.
The preschool had a few little cap and gowns for the kids if they wanted to take a picture in them. Rebekah wanted to bring the "dress" home with her. So, we have a picture to remember it by.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Piano Recital, Woodchuck and Juniors, oh my!

We had a very busy evening. First, Emma has her last piano recital. Her teacher is due to have baby #3 any day. She is taking the summer off and we hope to resume again when school starts. Emma did a great job!
After the piano recital we saw a woodchuck (or groundhog, take your pick) on the side of the road. No one seems to believe me that they are out here. Every time someone visits I try to point them out, put they never see them. So, today, with the camera in my lap, I was ready to catch one on film.
We raced from the piano recital to Emma's Bridge to Juniors ceremony. There is Emma, right under the sign. Looks like we are going to do another year of girl scouts, so if you want cookies, keep us in mind in December and January -we will be taking orders! :)