George=Laurelea's Baby

We spend a lot of time with George and his parents Lonna and Clay. We hardly ever take pictures of our weekly get togethers. We generally spend Friday nights together catching up on our week and letting the babies play. Laurelea now thinks that George is hers as she has a similar doll at day care that she loves to play with. We have been working with her to not pick him up by his neck. Since Nana is here, we even caught some fun pictures of a normal Hays/Williams/Carlyle hang session.

Clay, Lonna, George, me, L and Cory

L was attempting to pick up George and Cory had to intervene.. good thing he was there to help :)

L wanted to hold George in her lap, unassisted of course

Then we had some fun tunnel time. L was patient with George and would wait for him to come out before she would go in.

George

The next mornings are tough, as L misses her baby and so we have to play with the baby in the swing (George often hangs here)

Then she and her baby have to get in.

Visit from the Millers

On Sunday, Bethany, Brian, Daley and Lola came over for some pool time. Bethany and I have worked together on and off for the last 7 years. She is back at the Bureau and we had to celebrate having her back. Daley is almost 3 and Lola is just over a year. Laurelea had such fun playing with them both.

Bubbles!

Lola, cold chilling

pool time with Daley

Daley

Brian, Lola and a beer :)

Bethany and Daley

Laurelea hoping to not have to go back into the cold water

L loved Lola's hair

Hugs with Mom

Hugs with Lola

sharing her ball with Lola

Nana's back in town

Nana arrived on Tuesday and it has been so great to have her back in town. She has been visiting the day care and spending time meeting all of Laurelea's close friends. We also went to the building museum this morning to check out the AIDS Memorial Quilt that is being featured in several locations around DC.

L climbing up in the fort at day care

She kind of looks like a gangster here

George and L having dinner

L having her favorite-corn

L and Nana playing at the building museum

The AIDS memorial quilt

L attempting to climb the pillars

checking out the fountain

We stopped off at Cory's office so L could grab a quick bite to eat before we went home

Weekend in the Ville

This weekend we spent some much needed time by the pool and hanging with friends. On Saturday afternoon we spent quite a bit of time in our respective flotation devices. Meredith and Duder came over for a bit to swim in the pool and play. Sunday we went to brunch at Avery's and had a delicious meal and then spent the evening with Karin and Greg.

Team Carlyle in the pool



Everyone at daycare says that they could be siblings. You can see it in this picture

Thanks, Papa for my hat! I love it and wore it all morning.

First Field Trip

Laurelea went on her first field trip to Germantown Splash park. We had a tough time letting her go so far away for a field trip and really struggled with the distance in the car (over an hour each way, on the freeway). She was able to ride with her friend Avery, and Avery's Dad Korey. A huge thanks to Korey for driving the girls.

 The day care only goes on one field trip per year and we didn't want her to miss out on the opportunity,  but also both of us couldn't make this trip. I had this horrible feeling about the trip and it kept me up for a few nights prior to her going. They say that mother's intuition is really something as Laurelea had her first major fall while she was at the splash park. She fell face first and her teeth went through her bottom lip. As the cut was inside her mouth, so stitches were not needed. Needless to say we are staying pretty close to our Bee right now.

L at the splash park (Thanks to Korey for the pictures)

Sunshine at the Splash Park

The whole gang

L and Sulma- they are pretty tight

This was in the car when Cory and L came to pick me up from the metro. She wouldn't look at me, which crushed me.

Here is where her teeth went through her lip. We are keeping it clean with peroxide.

Missing Grammy

Grammy was with us for just over a month and it's been a tough transition for us this week to have her gone. Laurelea has been asking for her and pointing to her room. She is pretty confused as she became so accustomed to giving her "night, night" kisses so she now runs around trying to find her Grammy to kiss her good night.

L and her Grammy

3 Generations

On Sunday night we went to Graffiato for dinner. We had an excellent meal.

Baby Shower for the Clarks

The food!

We were planning on having the baby shower for the Clark's out at a water park, but due to the heat wave that has hit our area we opted to have it at our house so folks could keep cool. We kept with the water theme at had a take a dip shower. It was a team effort to pull this together. A huge thanks to Esther, Lonna and Jess who really made this possible.

Fondue station- we had both chocolate and cheese fondue

Esther out did herself with her famous cup cakes

Lonna, Esther and Molly

Hanging out by the pool

Duder and Laurelea playing in the sprinkler that Meredith shared for the party. It was a huge hit!

L

Duder and Meredith in the pool

Rachell and Tricia

Jacob reading to Jackie and Lucy- Lucy got some big sister Olivia books