Carter's Mountain Orchard

Mary, Mom and Sophie

Last Sunday was a beautiful day after a dreary Saturday with pouring rain. Kind of like today, actually, but I think Sunday was nicer. It was just a great day to be in Charlottesville. Peter had lab work to do. So the girls and I set off for Carter's Mountain Orchard to see some pumpkins. They really like pumpkins these days. We also got some apples - it is an apple orchard after all - and we had some of their signature apple doughnuts and went on a hay ride. Just the drive up the mountain was an adventure, on a mostly gravel road. The girls were in the back seat saying, "Whoa! Wow!" They enjoyed the rest of the visit as well.

It was such a nice day in C'ville, I took a couple of pics along the way - there's the mountain!


View from the top of the mountain


View of the orchard and cars driving down the mountain

Sophie eating a doughnut


Doughnuts, juice and a hayride - life is good!


Mary


Sophie


View of the Apple Barn coming back from the hayride

2nd Birthday Part Deux

Mary and Sophie and their new rides

I wanted to post a few pictures I have from the girls' birthday party in Charlottesville, but the last post got pretty long with all the other birthday pictures. We had a small party at Azalea Park with a few friends. The girls got some tricycles for their birthday. They are still learning how to ride. That's their "fly babies" in the baskets - a birthday gift they got in GA from my cousin David's family.

Elana gets the party started


Trying out the trikes


Mary had to try the big kid swing after Elana's demonstration


Sophie can do it, too!

Kelsey and Tyler did not stay still for long - I could only capture them while spinning!


Mary takes a spin

Interestingly, I noticed the merry-go-round was missing from the park when the girls and I were there on Monday. Just a big spot where it used to be. Hopefully it will be back soon! There was a community meeting about plans for the park last night, I didn't go but want to find out what's going on. There are lots of parks in Charlottesville - this is the closest one to our house.

Mary and Sophie's 2nd Birthday

Here are finally some pictures from the girls' birthday celebrations. On our trip to Georgia, we visited Grandma Ilona then had a birthday party at Grandma Carol and Papa's house. We had a second party back in Charlottesville at Azalea Park with some of Mary and Sophie's friends.

Thanks to Susan for taking pictures at their party at Grandma and Papa's house in Georgia. I have a disc full of pictures she took, there are just a few of them here.

Grandma Ilona (Nagyi) was so happy to be with the girls again -
and gave them some stylish new outfits with jackets!

Sophie - How do I look?

Sophie loves her new guitar!

Mary and Nagyi

Saturday was a busy day - started off with an Edge family reunion in Forsyth then the girls had a birthday party at Grandma and Papa's house. It made for a long day, but everyone had fun. We saw a lot of family that we haven't seen in a long time. The older girls played well with Mary and Sophie. And it was the first time we got to see them play w/ our cousin Palmer who will turn 2 in a few months. Sophie is still talking about him - I think she really likes to say his name. The kids got to play in a giant dinosaur moonbounce! Russ and Mandy brought their 4-wheelers to give rides to the bigger kids.

Sophie just a swingin'


I like to call this Mary's "What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?" look. She'll probably never get that...

Hey - there's Kristie w/ her camera - she got some good pictures too!

Everyone enjoyed being outside... until the downpour,but the rain only lasted
through the ice cream and cake!

Palmer: ugh, I moonbounced too much again...


Hooray! Time for birthday cake!


Mary contemplating her birthday wish


Hey, did you get a text from Elmo? Yeah, I follow him on Twitter.


This is why you should not go grocery shopping when hungry!


Sophie meets "Rina" for the first time.

Mary and Sophie's Portrait Adventure

Mary and Sophie

Now that the girls are 2 years old, we decided it was time to have some more pictures made at a portrait studio. I took them to Olan Mills (at K-Mart) on Monday at 4:00 PM. Perfect time - just after the afternoon nap - except they didn't take one! Only the second time in ever they have not had a nap all day. So I went expecting the worst.

They were cheerful, but very rambunctious and would not stay still one bit. Even so, the photographer (Albert) got a few good shots. He used to photograph stock cars as they were racing around the track, so a lot of experience there w/ trying to catch things in motion.

I selected one pose from these - the one w/ Mary standing up out of the chair and Sophie sitting on the floor. I thought it best captured their personalities. But now that I look at them again, I am not sure I made the right choice. We are going back for another round though - this time a late morning appointment, just in case. And we will be getting a haircut before that too - their hair is still not that long but a little unruly... maybe cutting it will help it grow more?

While the girls weren't cooperative, they were appreciative of Albert taking their pictures. After they got their jackets on and we were ready to go I asked them to thank Albert and tell him good-bye. Sophie ran towards him and said, "Bye, Albert! Hug!" and gave him a big hug. Then Mary had to give him a hug too.

Sophie was a little more cooperative and got some solo shots.

That's the one.

It's Official... We're 2!

Sophie

Mary

The 2-week long birthday celebration has finally come to an end. Yesterday the girls officially turned 2 years old. We had a birthday party in Georgia on Sept. 26th, then one here in C'ville on Oct. 4th. So we did not have a lot of festivities yesterday but still celebrated a little. The girls got some new Little People toys that they played with all morning, then we went to story time at Barnes and Noble as we normally do on Wednesdays. But the girls got to wear some special birthday ribbons all day, so several people noticed and wished them Happy Birthday. Then we stopped by ToysRUs to collect crowns and birthday balloons.

After their nap that afternoon, the girls watched a birthday message video from Grandma. Then we went out for ice cream and to Azalea Park so they could practice riding their new tricycles. After we went back home, Dad joined us and we all went out for a birthday dinner at CiCi's Pizza. Wow... now that I have this documented, I guess their birthday was pretty festive.

We have pictures from the two parties, many which are posted on Facebook. I'll try to post some here soon. For now, here are some videos from our visit to Georgia with the girls in action. Happy Birthday Mary and Sophie! Thanks to all who helped us celebrate!

Doggie Tea Party and Elmo

Mary pouring some tea for Simon

I work part-time and today was one of my days home with the girls. I was prompted to get the camera out after I saw Mary sharing some "tea" with Simon. So cute! Of course, Sophie saw the camera too and wanted in on the action so I had her do some poses with Elmo.

In other news, the girls are gearing up for their 2nd birthday, which is October 7th. They are already counting and learning their numbers 1-10, so I've told them that they will be two years old soon and if anyone asks them how hold they are they should say "two." Sophie is starting to do this now. She really enjoys talking and says a lot of words already. For example, she now talks about people and friends... her friends now are Tyler, Lexi, Elana and Uga (University of Georgia mascot - a bulldog - for those of you reading this that may not be familiar). Mary is not talking as much. We think she knows more words than she lets on - she surprises us sometimes. However, she is good at climbing, opening the refrigerator to get her sippy cup, puzzles, and songs (she sings along in her own way). Growing and having fun!

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Hostess Mary


Bailey was not really up for the tea party

Sophie loves Elmo!

Mary and Sophie with their toys

Mary

Sophie with another Elmo and his "shirt!"

Silly Little Girls

Mary and Sophie at home

Not a lot of news to report on the home front, but we haven't been on the blog in a while. Since we had our vacation in July, the girls have just been spending time at home and around C'ville. Going to the park, going to the pool, just enjoying summertime. And I think they have grown a lot just over the past month or so - they are little girls now, not babies anymore. They are testing their boundaries (or going past them). But they are also learning more too and showing off things they know that surprise us sometimes.

They can both count from 1-10 now. The other day, Sophie was counting pieces of food during dinner time. She counted all the way to ten, then shouted "Yay!" and applauded herself. Then I asked her if she was going to eat that, and she said, "Nooooo!!" Actually she did end up eating some after that. It's not much trouble getting Mary to eat, but she doesn't like to stay in the chair so much.

We have been doing more stuff than staying at home on the couch, but these were the moments when I had the camera handy.

Our friend Andy took some great shots a few weeks ago at Fridays After Five in C'ville. Friends Melissa and Pam are also in the pictures with me and the girls. Hopefully this will take you to the slideshow: (Side note: if you get to the earlier pictures, those were taken in May of last year - the girls have grown so much!)



If that didn't work, you can copy and paste this into your browser: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehcalum/sets/72157605552858074/show/with/3717570164/

Hugs!

Just relaxin.