Mina turned 3

Mina turned 3!  How has it been 3 years already?  My sweet, little baby Mina is a talking, running, adorable, trouble making, smart and beautiful 3 year old.  We celebrated on her actual by letting her do whatever she wanted.  We had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, took her to the store to pick out a present and then had her best friend, Teresa, and her family over for cake and ice cream and giant bubble blowing!  It was a nice day and Mina said all day, "I'm three years old on my birthday!"  It was cute.  Teresa helped her decorate her cake (took a couple licks in the process) and they had fun eating it, too.  I'll post about the big birthday party later.
Mina is really smart.  She's beautiful.  She's fun.  She's sweet (most of the time).  She's also very particular.  She talks a lot and loves to sing.  She's really into princesses now.  She loves to draw, paint and to color.  She can pretty much copy anything I write or draw for her.  She loves writing her name.  She loves being a big sister. She loves going to the mall, to the park, to friends' houses, to church, really just anywhere.  She's almost always up for any outing of adventure.  She loves bubbles (the real kind and m&ms).  She's a pretty picky eater, but she'll always eat mac and cheese and mashed fruit baby food.  She's always stealing Dalia's.  She's a good helper as long as she knows she's making someone happy or if there is a reward in the end.  She LOVES puzzles and is so good at solving them.  She amazes me everyday.

Take a look at how Mina has grown the past three years:

Birth:

1 year:

2 years:

3 years:

Dalia turns 1

Dalia turned 1 year old this past Saturday.  How is she one already?  This year went by so fast.  She is still just the sweetest little baby.  I'm so glad she is ours.  Here are some facts about Dalia at 1 year:
She can say, Dada, Mama, baba and duh (which means boo).
She loves her Daddy and gets so offended if he ignores her.  She gets so excited to see him come home from work every day.
She can stand up by herself and is so proud of herself whenever she does.
She LOVES to eat.  If she sees anyone eating anything at all she stops what she is doing and makes a mad dash in their direction with her mouth wide open ready to partake.
She loves to be chased.
She loves to play peekaboo.
She loves to get out of the house.  She gets so excited when she sees me get her coat out because she knows we're going somewhere.
She likes to stick out her tongue and to make fish faces.
She loves to dance and to clap her hands to "If You're Happy and You Know It!"
She loves to take baths and to splash around.
She loves to give kisses.
She knows how to climb stairs even though the only time she gets to is when we're at friends' houses.
She loves animals.
She loves when Mina makes her laugh.  She tries copying Mina a lot.
She sleeps through the night.  8-9.  Yeah, she's awesome just like Mina.  I'm lucky.
She is 26 1/2 pounds and 31 inches tall.  She's finally slowed down on the weight gain.
She's just such a fun little person and you can tell she is enjoying life.  She is learning everyday and she loves it when she figures new things out.  I can't imagine life without her now.

 7 months

8 months 

9 months

10 months

11 months 

 12 months

Invasion of the Budges: Part 2 - The 6 pound milkshake challenge

Stephane deserves a post all his own.  Chick and Ruth's Diner was featured on the show 'Man vs. Food."  How he managed to eat, in an hour, a pound hamburger and then fit 6 pounds of creamy, peanut buttery milkshake into a stomach that is supposed to be the size of his fist is beyond me.  Yet, he did it.  He got a T-shirt and his picture on the wall.  Here is a picture story of the feat.

Doesn't look so bad.

Second thoughts?

Scarfing the hamburger down.

Tasting the milkshake for the first time.

Almost done with the hamburger.

Feeling full already?

Suddenly the milkshake seems 10 times bigger.

Gulpity-gulp-gulp-gulp.

He finished half pretty quickly.

Hazel was looking cute as always.

Two thirds done and he had to start standing to make more room.

Meanwhile, William was eating every pickle in the restaurant.

And, Meagan decided to attempt drinking a 6 pound milkshake herself.

Sipping slowly.

And, the rest of us decided to share a single 6 pounder.  We're smart.

It was so good and we enjoyed it more because we weren't trying to fit the whole thing into a single belly.

So close, yet so far.

Mina liked our milkshake.

The glass is almost as tall as she is.

Meagan is about ready to give up.  She got cold.

The empty cup.  

Our waitress poured the last little bit into a regular cup to make it seem more doable.

William is still going strong.

Still going.

Back to those pickles.

Back to the milkshake.  I really think this kid could have done it on his own.

The face of a champion.

Dalia at 6 months

Dalia continues to be an angel of a baby.  Seriously, she is the type of baby that makes you want to have more right away.  She is so sweet and so good.  She can't help but smile at anyone who smiles or talks to her.  When she is mad, she can't help but smile if you smile at her.  She just can't help it.  She has the sweetest spirit.  She is taking after Mina as far as sleeping goes, too.  She is a GREAT sleeper.  She and Mina go to bed about the same time each night and despite waking up to eat during the night, she sleeps as late as Mina, as well.  I am so blessed to have such good sleepers.  (And for all of those who told me to not expect to have another good sleeper, what now?)  Haha.  Dalia has been rolling over for a while now.  She sits up with a little support.  I'm surprised she isn't at least army crawling by now.  When she's sleeping she moves all over the place.  She's been eating rice cereal and oatmeal consistently since 5 months.  So far that is all that she likes. We've offered her peas, bananas and apples and she spits them all right out.  She practically inhales the cereal, though.  She loves to look in the mirror at herself and to sit in her bumbo and play with toys.  She grabs at anything that looks interesting and wants to chew on everything.  She's been teething for a while, but no teeth have made any appearances yet.  She adores Mina and loves little kids.  Mina loves Dalia, too.  She loves to make her laugh and it's so much fun seeing her copy the things we do with Dalia.  She is so good when we go anywhere.  She rarely fusses when we are out running errands and such.  At 4 1/2 months old, she weighed just over 19 pounds and was 26.5 inches long.  She is literally off the charts.

3 months

4 months.

5 months.

6 months.

We are in love with Dalia and that love grows everyday.  We are blessed to have two beautiful and wonderful little girls.

Invasion of the Budges - Part 1

The Budges decided to take their family vacation this year to Maryland!  They stayed with us for 2 weeks and we had a blast.  We didn't do too much that first weekend they were here.  We made some air rockets and did some crafts with the kids.  On Labor day we headed to a local beach.  It was a nice day and the beach was not crowded.  Despite the water being a tad cold and a few gusts of wind that almost blew our tent away, we had a lovely afternoon.
Tuesday we headed to Washington D.C. for the day.  It was a little wet that day, but not wet enough to make it miserable.  We stayed cool and avoided crowds by being out there on a not so pretty day.  We walked by the Capitol building, the library and lots of other buildings.  We visited the Air and Space museum and the Natural History museum.  We rode the MARC train into the city and were also able to take a short ride on the Metro.  The kids loved riding on the trains.
Wednesday the Budges headed up to Philadelphia for the day while Mina and I headed to do some arts and crafts.  Mina created some beautiful paintings.  They were supposed to use straws to blow paint around on some paper, but Mina was having trouble with that.  So, I told her to use her hands.  She got really excited, but wasn't sure she heard me correctly and asked, "you want me to use my hands?"  She asked a couple of times before she actually did, but she was thrilled to be painting with her hands.
Thursday we didn't have big plans and hung out at the house until Dru got up.  Once he was up, we all went to the bowling alley for dollar Thursdays.  Everything is a dollar.  Even the food!  It was fun!
Friday, we headed back into D.C.  We walked around the monuments and took some pictures.  We also visited the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the National Archives.  The sun was shining full force that day which made the city a bit more crowded and us a bit more hot.  We were beat when we got home.
Saturday we went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival.  The kids got to go on pony rides, a really cool slide and we all got to watch a very entertaining juggling show.  We also got to eat some very tasty, but very unhealthy food.
Sunday we stayed home and called all the grandparents for Grandparent's day.  Monday we headed to Annopolis to eat at Chick and Ruth's.  If you've every watched "Man vs. Food" you'll understand why.  Stephane wanted to attempt the challenge of eating a pound hamburger and drink a 6 pound milkshake.  He totally did it!  Meagan attempted to drink a 6 pound milkshake herself, but couldn't quite do it.  All of us, including the kids had fun drinking so much milkshake.
Tuesday was William's birthday.  We went to Romp-n-Stomp, out to lunch and then the Budges took Mina with them to a petting farm in a town nearby.  They all had so much fun.  I was sad to have not gone with Mina, but I know she had so much fun with her cousin.  I had to go to scouts that night, but when I got back we had birthday cake and sang to William.
Wednesday the Budges went to Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetery.  I took my girls to arts and crafts again (by the way, Mina refers to it as 'arps and craps') where Mina got to use scissors for the first time.  When the Budges got back we all went to dinner and came home to pack up.  They left the next morning.
All in all, it was a wonderful visit and we wish it could have lasted longer.  We made lots of treats to eat, made our favorite meals and watched a lot of the show, '24.'  Meagan and I made bows and took some cute pictures of our kids.

Capital Building

National Library

Hope Diamond.  I want this.

Dalia in the butterfly garden.

Mina in the butterfly garden.

On the MARC train.

I would like this, too.

Washington Monument.  We weren't allowed to walk up to it because of damage caused by the recent earthquake.

The first thing we did at the Renaissance Festival was the pony rides.

William was a little scared.

Mina was a pro.

The really long, fast, bumpy slide.

I made Dru and Mina go twice because I fogot to take pictures.

Watching the juggling show.

Mina juggling the gatorade bottle lid.  Haha.

Tahdah!

Mina and her best friend, Teresa.

Meagan's normal face.

The light is hitting my face in a weird way.

Mina eating an Italian ice in an orange after throwing hay everywhere.

She was such a mess!