England, baby!

Mark's branch manager came out today. For those not familiar with military-speak, he assigns all the people with Mark's job to different places where they are needed. And, we're going to ENGLAND!!!!

Wahooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

Next fall, we'll be Europe-bound. And the pets get to go- we were previously told Korea, where you can't take pets andwere pretty worried about leaving Cleo and Rocko.

What an awesome opportunity for the girls (and me!).

Best Christmas present EVER.

Photos from the Christmas show Saturday

Since Rowan has short hair, I couldn't do the traditional rhythmic gymnastics bun. I wassweating the whole hair thing- I am not very good at doing hair, that's why the girls have SHORT hair. But look how cute this little weave is! I am super proud of this!

Rowan did her routine in front of people for the first time- she was nervous, but did great! And now she isn't nervous about the upcoming meet, which is good.

The whole team did a darling routine to the James Bond theme.

This sport is so much fun to watch!

Rowan's Gymnastics routine!

Rowan had her "dress rehearsal" tonight, where she did the floor routine in her competition leotard to make sure everything works right, nothing is too tight, etc. I took the opportunity to videotape it, since at the meet in January I have no idea where we will be seated or what he lighting will be like. The video is not so great, because I didn't focus the camera- whoops. And, I am having a really hard time using my video editing program, got sick of it and gave up, so the first 45 seconds is pretty annoying: its me talking, moving, people walking in front of the camera, etc. But hang on- its worth it! You can get the general idea. I am so proud of her, she's only been learning it for a few weeks!

Enjoy!

December 6th photo

It was a snow day here for the whole neighborhood!

I sat around this morning, and at 10 I finally decided to go get dressed.As soon as I got upstairs, Gryphon came barrelling into the house yelling that there was a news reporter outside who wanted to interview them! I threw a sweater on over my pajamas and ran outside, where I was met by a fully-made-up, cute as a button blond reporter who wanted to tape the kids sledding. She interviewed the kids, and then ME! Sans make-up, hair crazy. If you've ever wondered why people on TV look like such morons, well, now you know!

The kids all came in for cocoa at 12, and we watched the news broadcast. Rowan's interview didn't make it to air, which was sad for her, since she is SO shy but wanted to be on TV. I have a feeling the runny nose may have gotten her axed! It was great fun for the kids to see themselves sledding and playing on TV!

December 5th

Yes, we got SNOW!! Only about an inch, but enough to cancel school. =)

We went and got a sled, but it was more mud-sliding than snow sliding!

Girls were thriled, I'm guessing you can tell that by the photos!

December 3rd Photo

OH Christmas tree...oh Christmas tree...We'll soon forget to water
How lover-ly
your branches be
soon to be brown
regretfully
Oh Christmas tree...oh Christmas tree...we should get ar-ti-ficial!

December 2nd photo

This (blurry) photo is Gryphon doing the 100 freestyle this morning. Her goggles flew off at the start, and so she did the whole race goggle-less. I was so proud, she didn't stop or break her stroke, just kept right on swimming! Shesaid her coach has them do drills with their goggles full of water so they get used to it if it ever happens. Smart coach!

Photo a Day in December

I'm trying for a photo-a-day again, for December's Holiday Happenings! Based on how crazy our months are in *general* and then adding the holidays to boot- I may be missing some days!

Here is December 1st:

Its the girls going down the stairs from the berthing deck to the hold on the USS Constellation in Baltimore Harbor. We're up in Maryland for a swim meet, and since driving alllll the way up here in the morning for warm-ups at 7 (!) am is a pain, we just spent the night tonight. Spent today tooling around Baltimore, and since Mark has never been we checked out the Constellation- he's into that stuff. Want to know something interesting? The USS Constellation is the last sail(powered) ship built by the USN, in 1854. It was used in WWII for 2 years as a flag ship for an admiral, because that would free up another (modern!) ship for use in the war effort. Hard to believe an admiral used a sailing gun sloop in 1942! I wonder if he used the Captain's potty- its a hole in a cupboard, surrounded by windows!

A few more of Baltimore Harbor:

Turkey Day

We started Thanksgiving off by taking photos of things we were thankful for. Rowan chose...me! (Awwww....) S here I am, photo by Rowan.

Gryphon is thankful for her neighborhood buddies, shown here in her photograph. The girls played outside all morning unil it was time to go, then we drove up the George Washington Parkway into the city. The leaves are *still* just gorgeous!

Cleo is thankful to have a nice home, even if we do leave her all alone on Thanksgiving. No dogs allowed at the Old Ebbit grill, in downtown DC, right across from the White House. This was the same restaurant we went to last year.

I am thankful for someone else doing the cooking! As a bonus, whiel they have a Thanksgiving meal that everyone else ordered, you can still order off the menu, and I had the yummiest steak ever.

Mark is also thankful for someone other than me cooking! Here they are enjoying pie.

After dinner, we drove down Embassy Row and checked out the National Cathedral. It is beautiful!

A wonderful Thanksgiving, with so much to be thankful for. Hope all of you had a fantastic Turkey Day as well!

Skyline Drive

Today we headed out early to the Shenandoah Valley and the beautiful Skyline Drive. The road winds along the Blue Ridge Mountains, with spectacular overlooks off into the hazy distance.

Because of the drought here, the fall colors were late, and the trees were still breathtaking. We saw a bald eagle, too, but I couldn't get a picture that looked like anything besides a black smudge!

Cleo came along, and we did a little hiking- not too much.

For lunch we stopped at the Skyland Lodge, built in the 20's and right into the side of the mountains. Cleo had to stay in the car, but she got the doggy bag!

The girls had a great time looking out the window, and I think maybe a few of the pictures I took will end up on a Christmas card. Come visit us and we'll take you out there, too!

A happy little photo to share

Rowan reading to her best friend, Ben. How cute is that?

The Center of the Earth

We are doing Earth science and astronomy this year, and yesterday we studied what the center of the earth is like via pizza! Then today it was off to the Natural History Museum to see their fabulous geology exhibit, where we made earthquakes and learned about tectonic plates and volcanoes. Fun was had by all :)Gryphon has a swim meet this weekend, so check back for swim meet photos soon. And Rowan's turn is coming, a dad of a girl on her gymnastic's team took some gorgeous photos of Rowan in her competition leotard, all pretzel-y. Just waiting for them to get done!

Halloweenies

Its that time of year again- time for pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating!

Rowan is going as an evil dead cat. With wings. Don't you dare call her a "cute little kitty", by the way.

Gryphon is...wait for it...HARRY POTTER! I'm betting no one saw that coming, right? Its only, what, the 3rd year she's been Harry? We sprung for a new deluxe robe this year though, and a broom to ride on.

Mark is making sloppy joes, then its off to trick or treat we go!

Happy Halloween everyone!!

This is what Swim Team is all about:

See that smile? THAT is what swim team is all about. That is Gryphon's post-race smile. It's a mile wide, and a 1,000 volts. She hops out fo the pool, talks animatedly to her coaches (who think she's a riot), and trots over to give me a hug at my lane-end photo taking spot. All smiles.

See, that smile is unique, I'm finding out. I saw a girl get out of the pool, storm over to her mother, and burst into tears, after placing badly in the same heat Gryphon was in. Want to know what place Gryphon got, to warrant that smile? Dead last. First or last, same smile. Same enthusiasm. Same hopping trot to her coach to give a high-five. That smile, that attitude, will carry Gryphon so much farther than coming in first ever will!

She swam an IM (individual medley) today for the first time, at 100 metres her longest race ever. She also swam a 50 free, 50 back, and 50 butterfly. Here are some photos of her making the turn to backstroke in the IM, waaayyyy down the lane in the sunpatch doing butterfly, and swimming breast stroke.

What a fun day!

Jeanine and Shelby visit

My cousin Jeanine and her wife, Shelby stopped by on Sunday for a few days. They are doing a huge road trip in their new super-cute Volkswagen bug- a baby blue convertible! The girls really, really liked that car!

The girls talked their ears off, and Shelby got roped into playing Polly Pockets quite a bit. We also went to the Natural History museum with them, where Jeanine got food poisoning from a concession stand.

Despite all that, they swear they had a good visit!!

Growing up

Since we have had fall weather (only in the 60's, woo hoo!) Gryphon got to break out her fall clothes for co-op today. She picked them out herself this year, and they are all animal print. No more "I don't care as long as its soft" clothes, its all about the style (or not) now for her. I am just amazed at what a grown up girl she looks like- the braces, the clothes, the hair. Wow. Our little girl is transforming before our eyes.

Fall (?) Fun

Yes, it was a sweltering 92 degrees today- hardly puts you in the mood for pumpkins and cider! Still, it was pumpkin patch time, and we headed out to Northern Virginia's biggest, Cox Farms.

They have a hay ride, and lots of fun stuff to do, like dress up and pretend to sing on a stage.

The goats were big hit, too. I think a pet goat would be so much fun...Mark doesn't seem to agree with me.

Gryphon on the rope swing.

Rowan on one of the many slides- they have a big slide you go down on gunny sacks, too, but I wanted to ride so no pictures.

Even though the weather said "summer" Cox Farm just makes you feel like fall!

New House!

We moved 6 townhouses up in the same court, to a larger place this weekend. We *love* it-much better! Here is a virtual tour, starting with the entry way:This is the school room, we have a kitchen table and are using the dining room for school.Living room, including Pretzel Girl. Don't miss the cruddy carpet in the old place at ALL.
The girls bathroom, above, and Gryphon's room, below. They both like having their own rooms to decorate!

Rowan's blue room. I need to find her a canopy like her sisters!

The office in the basement- still need to put some stuff up (note the piles o crap). Plenty of room for a *bigger* scrapbook table (yeah me!) and the orange towers I keep paper and stuff on. Mark calls those orange towers "Isengard"!

The best part- the basement playroom. No toys underfoot, they can all stay down here. And the neighborhood kids can all come over, lots of room!

We haven't doen a thing in our room yet, like curtains and whatnot, but its a huge improvement because the carpet is not purple. Ahhhhhhh....so much better!