Another Round at the Dentist

The girls went to the dentist on Thursday. If anyone from Northern Virginia is reading this and you need an AWESOME pediatric dentist, let me know. They had a great time (yes, we really were at the dentist). When we went in SD in May, Audrey was a champ but Avery really wanted nothing to do with the dentist. This time, she was a bit suspicious at first, but she got on board and did superbly!

They each got to pick out their own toothbrush for the dentist to use (Avery picked a penguin, Audrey picked a zebra), their own flavor toothpaste (they both chose cotton candy), a prize at the end (they both chose a balloon ... I was surprised because other options included tattoos and getting nails painted, which they usually love), they got a cute zipper pouch with toothbrush, toothpaste, kid's floss and a timer to take home, and because they were both in the "no cavity" club, they got a gold coin to put in a gumball machine and get a prize. Audrey chose a ring, Avery chose a rubber cow. (I can't explain how a 2-year-old looks at all the possible prizes and decides on a rubber cow the size of a dime, but even 3 days later, she carries it around everywhere.)

It's a joy to spend gthe days with these girls, INCLUDING taking them to the dentist!

(I also have a video of Audrey but I tried for more than an hour to upload it and it never worked, so I'll try again later).

Dance Class

Audrey and Avery each take a ballet/tap dance class on Wednesday afternoon. Here are some pix/video of them from this past Wednesday.

Nap Time

A couple of weeks ago when we had some friends over, we brought the trundle up so that the 4 little girls could sleep together. After the friends left, though, Audrey and Avery wanted to keep the bed up and they've been sleeping together every night. It's so cute! Separately, Rufus LOVES the new bed and we find him sleeping in there all the time.

Here's a pic of Avery and Rufus from naptime this past week.

New Camera!

We bought a new camera last weekend. Here are the very first pix we took with it.

Maps and Glue

If you know us well (or even a little bit), you know that Iain loves maps and that we have HUNDREDS of them.

Today, we checked the mail and there was a thin package in the mailbox. We opened it, and inside was a new, slick-sided map. Audrey piped up immediately, "maybe the man didn't know we already HAVE lots of maps." Priceless. (In his defense, it was for one of his classes, so I guess that's legit.)

Separately, this afternoon, we were doing art and using glue (our bottle was approximately 2/3 full). So I know all kids love glue, but after we finished our snowmen, I made the mistake of leaving the art supplies out while I went to measure the water and rice for dinner. When I came back -- literally, less than 2 minutes later -- Avery had managed to squeeze the entire glue bottle -- the entire glue bottle -- onto her piece of paper. But she was having a good time, and I guess that's the point. =)

Audrey & Avery Tell a Story

The girls' favorite new thing is to tell us 4 or 5 characters and then have us tell them a story. Audrey usually picks princesses (almost always Cinderella and Snow White) plus Piglet and Avery usually chooses a few princesses (usually Belle and Air-wee-ull) plus Swiper.

Yesterday at nap time, Avery looked up at her bedroom wall (which has a farm scene painted on it) and said, "Once upon a time, there were 5 sheep. And the fah-mwer on the trac-tohr went to the store. And that [she means to say "after that"], the fah-mwer and the trac-tohr go to the pool. And that, the fah-mwer sees the pigs. And that, ..." Anyway, it kept going and going, and it was so adorably amazing. She got her Pop's genes for telling a story.

Last night, she just started telling us another story, and Audrey started chiming in. They both sort of lost track of telling a story, but it's still quite cute. Tonight, she told us another one, which I didn't video, but the consistent thread in all of them is that she's still having a hard time ending them... =) Anyway, I hope we'll hear another one tomorrow and I'll try to capture it.

Go Gators!

From dinner tonight. Audrey was doing it also until, of course, the time I decided to tape it....