Spain Girls Reunion 4.4

As you know, every year the girls I studied abroad with in Madrid get together for a reunion. This year was extra special because Cheryl was able to come--we haven't seen her in 9 years(!) because she lives abroad. It was so great to have her join in the festivities!
Here are pics from previous reunions. 2009 and 2008 and 2007.

Addie SO excited to welcome her friends Shannon and Kelly! :)

Sharing my lap :)

It was a gorgeous weekend so we spent a lot of time outside.
Practicing gymnastics...
...the slide...
...giving George a ride...

Then Steve surprised the girls by riding the Barbie Jeep out from the shed

Shannon was chauffeur to Addie ...

...and Kelly

Addie and Shannon invented a new game with the water table which consisted of, you know, sticking one foot in the water then making footprints. Pretty fun game...if you're 2 and a half :)

There was a rousing round of Ring a around the Rosie

Simon says (or was it, Kelly says...)

Cheryl had fun snuggling with baby Cole

The girls loved having their meals together

Bottoms up!

Kelly was cool hanging out in the high chair--She'll join the big girls at the table next year :)

The adults had spanish tapas--ordered in from a nearby restaurant...yay patatas bravas!


The girls took yet another bath together. Please feel free to revisit their first bath experience together--I can't believe that they both fit in that infant tub and I also can't believe how roly poly Addie used to be! Notice who has the duck...

...and now who has it. Unfortunately, this scene of the girls both crying happened quite a bit this weekend. It was typical toddler-doesn't-want-to-share stuff. Yeah...

Luckily they still love each other very much despite their occasional tiffs.


There was some relaxing over the weekend....

...and some general chaos.

We played a LOT of dress-up


Even the "grownups" took part in the dress-up fun.




Addie and Shannon helped Steve make his traditional Sunday-morning pancake breakfast


And we took a walk in the nearby Rock Creek Park



All in all, a very fun, very busy, tiring but wonderful weekend.

Jodi, Alexandra, Brette, Me, and Cheryl

Ladies, I had a blast! I hope we do this for many years to come. MWAH!

Oh, the smiles make it allll worth it.

This week Addie turned 2 and a half and Cole turned 2 months old!

Cole has started to become a VERY happy baby and we are loving every smile we can coax out of him! He likes when we eat in front of him or just make munching noises (Addie loved that, too) and he just likes when we smile at him--he just smiles back. He's such a happy baby! Unless he's hungry, overtired, or riding in the car (grrrr...) he's a pretty laid back kid, which we are SO grateful for. So does that mean that life is easy in the Silvestro household? In a word...no. Cole doesn't give us more than 2.5 hours of sleep at a stretch at night (often less) though he usually gets a 3+ hour stretch in the late afternoon--that's no help to us! We've started waking him up at the 3 hour point, because as much as I hate waking a sleeping baby, I also need more night sleep! Luckily I have the best husband in the world and he does one of the night feedings so that I can get a good stretch of sleep at night. And while Addie is AMAZING with Cole--she loves and kisses him as much as she can, any frustration she has at no longer being the center of the universe anymore is taken out directly on us. She cries and whines and tantrums quite a bit these days--the last two weeks have been really hard. If she doesn't get what she wants...and right in the split second after her request comes out of her mouth--tears. Needless to say, mommy is tired and frazzled all the time, so if you get a strange comment from me or if I forget something...please forgive.

But wow, this smile makes all those sleepless nights worth it.


Channeling Uncle Dan's inability to keep his eyes open in a picture ;)

When you have one child that you love so much it hurts (even when she's throwing a tantrum) it's hard to imagine that you'll be able to make room in your heart to love another just as much.

But gazing down at smiles likes this and I have no hesitation to say that our hearts have fully opened and expanded and we are very much in love with Cole as much as our darling Addie.

Despite the frustrations of the last few weeks...it really is all worth.

Welcome Julie Madison!!! Cousin time!!!

Please welcome Addie and Cole's FIRST first cousin, ms. Julie Madison Silvestro, born May 4th. Proud parents Doug and Alli are doing well. We are SO excited to have a cousin for the kiddos! We hope you'll be seeing a LOT of Julie here on the blog.

Welcome, little one!




We love you already!!

Addie and Anne

Addie and Anne have been friends since Anne was 3.5 weeks old (Addie was 3 months old). They hung out together in the famous pile o' babies photoshoot and even dressed like twins way back when. They've been playmates over the 2+ years and now the girls are actually playing with each other instead of just next to each other, which is so much fun. We went to a bbq at Anne's aunt Kate's new house this weekend and the girls had a blast.

Eating up some pudding

Taking a bath

And being adorable.
I love these girls!

Loving double bathtime!


A mighty big yawn

cheeese!


Carousel!

Just one

Photo by Corinne Whiting

Drama, accessories, etc.

Addie got a book from one of Steve's colleagues recently called "Olivia Saves the Circus" about a precocious young pig with quite a flair for the theatrics. Addie and Olivia have a lot of similarities. As you know, Addie is our diva--she's VERY dramatic and throws herself into imaginary play. She LOVES to act out stories from her books and her favorite story role is Cinderella--she makes me be the fairy godmother AND the prince...it's quite entertaining--tickets will be available soon.

Addie will also assign us roles and make us stay in those roles for some time. "You teacher, I'm student" "You librarian, I'm big girl" "You Q, I'm Weepee" (no clue where she came up with that last one, but it's a consistent game we have). The funny thing is, LONG after we're done playing school, she'll STILL call us by our roles---as in 30 minutes later, "Teacher, can I have snack?" She's also been playing "Baby" a lot since Cole came (surprise surprise) and she speaks in a high pitched voice when she's baby. She'll speak that way for a good hour or two. And if she goes down for a nap as Baby, then when she wakes up from her nap, she calls out for us...as Baby in her high pitched voice--she never forgets her character :)

Olivia accessorizes her school uniform in the book and Addie asked us what "accessorize" means,
and well--I think Addie already knows since she does a lot of it herself! Some of these are a little blurry, but I think they make some good examples. Addie rarely goes out of the house without adding some little "flair" of her own :)


The ever-present rainboots. I'm SO glad I spent the $17 on these at Target last year and yes, they still fit!

My favorite because the hat--oh that santa hat is on Addie's head ALL the time. And why NOT wear it to the playground?

And so you don't think we've forgotten our newest little one...a few cute ones to whet your appetite.

Hanging with Dad

We're starting tummy time...for now he's happy just sucking his hand

He's starting to smile!!! :) I *swear* this one had nothing to do with gas.

We started our garden this weekend! Thanks to Gaga for everything. Addie had a BLAST digging with her own shovel!

Hope you enjoyed the post!
Love,
"Q and Weepee" :)