First Birthday

 I can't believe our little girls are one! We had 24 people crammed into our skinny row home on Saturday. We had things set up outside as well, however, it was a hot-sticky mess so most everyone stayed inside. Becky and I made lots of snacks and a super fun (and a bit time-intensive cake/ cupcakes).

The party was 3 hours and the girls had a lot of fun! We had a few gift-opening sessions over a couple days and they got a lot of great goodies!

House Guests bring the heat!

The sis and niece, Luna, came to visit last weekend.. bringing with them the sauna-like weather from Minnesota. It sounds funny that they "brought" the hot hot weather from the northern mid west; we are the ones that are supposed to have the hot weather down "south", right?? The entire 4 days they were here we had heat indexes in the triple digits.

Stella, Luna, Lucy

Luna- 10 months

Friday as we were cooking up some food in preparation for the big #1 party, our lovely energy saving plan kicked in. We are using Peak Rewards which will cycle the air 15 minutes on and 45 minutes off in peak usage times. This was going on for almost 6 hours and with the baking etc., our house was a balmy 88 degrees virtually that entire time. Thank goodness for kiddie pools!

Smiley Face tattoo?

Today during nap time, as I gazed upon Luciana's left baby bicep (looking pretty strong by the way); I noticed every parent's nightmare... a tattoo. Now, I thought we would have a few more years and a few talks to prevent such a thing before we had to confront the situation.

At least its a smiley face; two 'eyes' and a 3-toothed 'smile'. Now wait a minute, what does that remind me of? Two on the top and three on the bottom? Oh yeah! Stella's mouth! So our mischievous Stella has struck (or bit) again, but this time left quite the mark. I am sure if she could talk she would say something like "But Mom! Lucy started it!" No blood was drawn thank goodness!

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Rocky Gap State Park

We have now completed camping trip #2 with the girls (still sans puppies). We decided on western Maryland this time- a bit further away than our suburban camping experience. The campground was considerably nicer at Rocky Gap however; I don't think I have seen cleaner bathrooms while camping... ever.

Dave spent a good half an hour attaching the stroller to the roof of the truck so we could bring it along this time. We never ended up using it however since we didn't want to spend the time taking it down:) We also brought a 2nd pack n' play along with our little noise machine. I attribute better baby sleeping to 1) They each had their own bed (one did not have to go on the floor next to us 2) the noise machine added a nice wave-seagull ambiance to the tent (it was like we had an ocean front campsite!); 3) they have started to get used to camping!

Stella

Lucy

Dad with Stella

We went to the beach at Lake Habeeb for the girls' first swimming experience. Lucy was not a happy camper when we put the sunblock on her - but once she was in the water she was all smiles. It took Stella a bit to get used to the whole experience but she was soon having fun as well- especially when we started playing with the mini pine tree-looking seaweed! I should note that Stella was the first one in the water!

The only thing that we kind of messed up on is that we did not prepare very well for the cold nights (i had checked the weather before we left and it appeared that it was not going to go below 75 at night, but it was wrong!). None of us had warm clothes with us so we had to get a bit creative. The girls used their own blankets plus a few of Daddy's t-shirts and we ended up using the girls play blanket as an extra cover.

Saturday night, after the girls fell asleep and we were chatting around the campfire- we saw a UFO. At first Dave pointed at the blinking light in the sky through the trees and said "Look at the satellite!"; all of a sudden it shot across the sky. We then thought maybe it was a shooting star, because satellites do not move that fast... right? All of a sudden it shot back- it was moving all over the place up there! We were pretty convinced we were having a super natural experience. And then, right before our eyes, the UFO zoomed down towards my face. This is when we realized that we had been watching a lightening bug the entire time.

After all was said and done, this experience went a lot smoother than last time!

The Bread Winner and Bread Maker

What's the best thing since sliced bread?
I would have to say un-sliced bread; at least the kind that I make at home and can put whatever I want in it and not have to worry about high fructose corn syrup being on the ingredient list!

I have been getting into making bread (sans machine)... so while we know the bread winner is the hubs right now, he is also the winner of great bread. Nothing beats a fresh loaf of summer dill, rosemary-onion, or garlic- basil goodness. Domestic? Yes. Does kneading relieve stress? Yes. Did it take me a while to realize that when they say  mix the yeast with luke warm water that it really needs to be luke warm? Yes. Is it kind of ridiculous that I am trying to make bread from scratch with two almost-walking girls at my feet? Maybe!

And letting it rise outside in the steamy heat of summer works wonders... and very quickly as well.

 So let's toast... to bread!

Quick note regarding this specific delicious loaf of garlic-basil bread: It is now in the digestive tract of my eldest canine. (We did have a few slices at least)

The things under the bed- and hanging from the ceiling

Storage.

Living in a city, packed with enough people and garbage that it could be referred to as Rat Paradise, we have come to realize that storage is prized and sometimes unattainable. Living with two little ones and two furry ones, we have acquired quite the collection. However, since we have had to do another round of baby-proofing; we quickly realized the outlet covers are the tip of the ice berg. So we have come to the conclusion that we are, at the least- storage (above 2 feet) challenged.

My two new favorite things:

1. Under the bed tupperwares (or whatever those plastic bins are called these days)
2. Pot hangers... ceiling pot hangers to be exact

I would like to thank the native Minnesotan responsible for this installation.A great Independence Day gift as it "frees" up a lot of cabinet space for other more dangerous items that need to be out of sight (i.e. blender, food processor)!

Blueberries: Ripe for the pickin!

I used to pick raspberries up at our cabin on the great Lake Superior when I was a kid. It seems like every time I have gone back since college, I've been off by a week... or months.

I heard about a farm in Baldwin, MD (Hybridoma) about 45 minutes away from our Baltiscape and we trekked out this weekend. Blueberries were the main attraction but we heard there still might be some raspberries left as well. It turns out we got lucky; they are closed down now until later this summer due to the unexpected rush of berry pickers!

So Lucy and Stella in tow- the contest began... of course, a contest, we are talking about Dave and I here.. two stubborn firstborns who like to win. And our first-born was out helping too! Most of the treasure ended up in her mouth, but who can resist!

There was a bit of a mad rush at the end but we all know how it goes...I won't draw out my victory, but I did indeed win with 3 lbs on the nose of BB, Dave coming in at 2.2 lbs. After the great Blue, Dave hung out with the babes in the shade and I braved the prickly black and purple raspberry bushes (a pint of each in about 45 minutes-is that good?)

Dinner and a Movie

OK, so I did indeed make dinner, a zucchini- portabella number, but what my offspring were consuming was a little less appetizing- at least for us adults. I saw Lucy chewing on something, looking pretty happy about it. When I went to investigate I found out it was a new delicacy that comes in pellet format... dog food. Mmm good. So the good news is she did not officially ingest it, but she was sucking on a piece for a few minutes- yuck.

Moving on... we took the girls in their carriers down to Little Italy. It was the first night of summer movies outside and we thought we would check it out. We did not expect to actually be able to sit and watch a full movie with little ones in tow, so we just went down to check out the scene and get some gelato. They were playing Moonstruck and people were packed in with their captains chairs and Chianti- it was quite the sight! We ended up running into some of Dave's friends that lived down there, hung out for a bit and journeyed back- a bit past the girls' bedtime, but it was worth it!

Photo taken by Mitch Lebovic