Walking!

Caroline up and decided to take a few steps while she was standing next to me the other day...really took this mommy by surprise. She still prefers using her walker or cruising the furniture, but she is getting there!

Sadie

Here's the newest member of our family. Sadie is a chocolate lab that we adopted from a lab rescue agency and we are all completely in love with her. She is the most mellow and easy-going puppy ever, so far anyway!!

What's in there?

She LOVES to lay on our shoes, especially Brian's boots :)

Happy Birthday Caroline

Happy First Birthday Sweet Caroline!! We had a wonderful day celebrating with friends and family and you enjoyed every minute of it. Grandma Kathy made you an adorable birthday tutu and you looked so cute. You dove right into your cupcake and would have eaten the whole plate if we would have let you! We are so proud of all that you have done in your first year and cannot wait to see what you become as you grow up. You are the sweetest, happiest little girl and we love you so much :)

Back to School

We have all been looking forward to this day all summer! Moving across the ocean makes for a very long summer :) I think she was a little nervous but after meeting her teacher at Open House, she was more than ready.

Open House

She was so excited to put on her nametag and carry her special new bag. All ready for the first day! The dropoff at the preschool involves the 2 directors and 2 parent helpers opening the car doors and welcoming the students. They then walk the children in and the mom drives away...yikes! I was a little nervous that Ella would not want to get out of the car. Not so much :) She jumped out and ran right in!

very excited about getting to sit in the front seat while we waited for her door to be opened :)

A very good day!!

Washington D.C.

I have been wanting to see Washington DC for a long time, and now that we have wonderful friends who live right outside the city, we headed up to see both. Ella was very excited to see the President's house and I am not sure why but I couldn't wait to see the Lincoln Memorial. It was just as amazing as I thought it would be. I think that I could have stood in front of it all day.

Beach Trip

We have made many, many trips to various beaches since moving here, but never seem to remember the camera! So, for our last trip to one of our favorite local beaches I made sure to bring the camera to get some photos of the girls enjoying the sun and sand. Ella loves her new boogie board and loves to splash in the water. Caroline loves to eat seashells and sand!

She is up and at 'em!

Watch out world, Caroline is a mover!!

Ella, our little fishy :)

Ella was in swim classes the entire time we lived in England, but has learned more in the last 4 weeks of swim lessons here. She doesn't really have good form, but she can survive!

Summer Recap

Although I don't have very many pictures to show for it, we have had a wonderful summer! We tried to make the most of our last weeks in England and visit all of our favorite places. The flowers were in bloom so we took lots of pictures and got out on all of the sunny days that there were. And, of course, made lots of trips to The Black Swan :)

We spent the month of June in Texas with our family, and for being such a good girl on the 10-hour plane ride, Ella got her big-girl bike and hasn't stopped since she started.

After 24 hours in the car for Brian and Ella and 4 hours in the air for Anne and Caroline we all arrived in Virginia. We have already fallen in love (despite the outrageous humidity)! We think that we will only be here for 1 year, so we went to Yorktown for the big July 4th Celebration. Ella loved the parade, but it was so hot we could have rung out our clothes :)

We are loving our new house, we don't know what to do with all of the closet space!! We go to the beach as much as we can and have lots of trips planned already. Ella can't wait to start school and we are ready for guests!

Family Photos

We wanted to have some family pictures taken in our favorite park to remember our time here so a good friend took some fabulous picures for us. Thank you Andrea!!

Dublin

We tried to visit Ireland last year but the volcanic ash had other plans for us :) We knew we couldn't leave here without making the trip, so we loaded up the girls and took the ferry for a quick trip. Both girls were such good travelers and went from pub to pub with mommy and daddy so they could taste the delicious Guiness! We had planned to drive through the countryside and visit Cork as well, but a 4 year old with a stomachache had other plans (which included washing lots of bedding at 4 am). Oh, well...someday :)

It tastes so much better in Dublin :)

Christ Church Cathedral

The Oldest Pub in Ireland

Our Last Spring

You may start seeing a trend in the posts, most of them starting out with 'Our Last..." We will be moving back to the states in the summer and have started checking things off of our 'things to do before we leave' list.

Spring may be the best season in England: flowers, lambs and sunshine. We took the girls up to The Stray to get some pictures in the crocus flowers. Caroline was not too impressed with laying in the flowers. Ella was somewhat compliant, but wanted to be running around like a crazy person. Here is what we came out with :)

Ella's 4th Birthday, a little late :)

Where did March go??? I cannot believe that our little Ella is 4 years old! She decided to have a Princess party at the bowling alley on the base, which was just fine with me--less work :) All of her best friends came out to celebrate with her and she had a fabulous time.

Let's get this party started!

Strike! (well maybe not)

Ella and her best friends--Jacob, Justin, Charlie & Isabelle

Ready to dig in (I love Charlie's face)

YUM!!

Where is the birthday girl?

Charlie, would you like a bite of this stale chocolate covered ice cream cone?

Happy Birthday Princess Ella, We love you!!