whol-lotta to update

what we've been up to in the past couple of months.

cabin-ing at lake anna, where for $90/night, we got lake-front views and our own fishing pier.

my sister and i rotated spring-break day-care.  she took 2 days and i took one.  the cousins had a quadruple sleepover with fun activities like an egg hunt at pohick park and to reston zoo.  it was the girls first time away from home w/out us and they loved it!  i think all the traveling we do helps too, so it's an adventure sleeping some place different.

spring break ended on easter wkend.  the girls decorated these stunning eggs.  (girl cousins only, with my brother and his family visiting nyc.)

then an egg hunt, with lindsey as the big winner this year!

after church and a delish meal at season's 52, wonderful easter baskets fm gramma bunny:

other fun, sweet stuff the girls are doing at this age.

 laurel writing a letter to ady, her sponsor brother in africa: 'if you do not have money, you can have some money. love laurel'.  she taped pennies to the letter to send.  so incredibly sweet and compassionate.

vienna can pretty much read (laurel is close behind).  and loves to read and write, almost every where (in the car, in church, etc), all the time.  she's already written some mini-books, with cute illustrations.

here's her letter on saint patrick's day, setting her trap:

'der (dear) leprdcon (leprechaun)
we love you we whte (want) you to go in a hous(e) ples (please) love vienna'

vienna also loves piano and is excelling, her teacher likes to tell her, 'you're the youngest, but the best'.  she has her recital piece and has been practicing on her own, without any prompting from us.  here she is trying to write sheet music. our passionate, brilliant little progeny.

they're part of daisy girl scout troop, which i co-lead.  at this age, it's mostly craft-driven, but we do try in every mtg to empower the girls by making them share things out-loud (public-speaking) and voting on the activity (independent decision-making).

oh and we added new pets to the family, brownie & chick- chick.  i'll post pics for next time.