Double Happiness--adventures with Lily and Elsa

Summer so far...

The girls have been keeping busy as usual. Summer is in full gear with the temps in the 90s everyday. We've discovered the secret to enjoying summer in Florida is to spend every day at the pool. We've been taking advantage of our season passes and the girls have been progressing in their lessons.

At the beginning of the month, the girls got to visit their preschool for Daddy's geology presentation to the summercamp kids. He brought in rock samples and a seismograph. The kids could make earthquakes by jumping up and down. The girls were very proud of their dad.

Then Aunt Chris came to visit while Mark was away at a conference. We spent the week doing fun things like swimming, going to the movies and our favorite the Florida Museum.

The girls are still little art fanatics. They are painting and drawing daily. I'm especially impressed with their painting ability. Here's a picture of Mickey that Lily painted entirely freehand with no help from me. They like to pose their stuffed animals and paint them.

And one of Elsa's self-portraits. I like how she includes lots of small details like all the fingers, toes and eyebrows.

And Super Elsa. This summer is all about imagination games. The girls are constantly pretending, wearing costumes and getting into characters. Sometimes they are super heroes, sometimes they are Santa Claus. They have so much fun together.

edited to add a video from when I was testing my camera. the girls are always talking (and often singing).

At the butterfly rainforest

Visiting the butterflies at the UF museum.

Lily's looking serious because she's trying to get a butterfly to land on her. The curator told her that only happens if she holds REALLY still.

Sister love. E,L

Watching the release of the new butterflies.

Beautiful. This museum is one of our favorite places to visit in Gainesville.

We have lots going on as usual. Grandma and Grandpa A came for Memorial Day which was really fun. They need to send me some pictures to post on the website! The girls and I just wrapped up another school year. Looking forward to a fun summer!

In other good news, Mark's department is safe for the foreseable future! One of the reasons I haven't been blogging much is because we've been under an enormous amount of stress with Mark's job. After relocating cross country (for the 2nd time since the girls' birth), we found out that Mark's department was on a potential termination list due to the state of the economy. The Geology Department spent the past few months on a crusade to make people realize the important work they do. In Florida with sinkholes, coastal erosion, mining etc...you'd think this would be a no brainer. Thankfully, university administration realized the mistake they were making and took the department off the list.

With this good news, Mark and I are feeling more comfortable and happy about our new town. We're in contract to buy our first house and finally get settled! So please send some good thoughts our way that the purchase goes smoothly. (i feel like I'm jinxing things by even writing them down!)

Still planning on joining the Angyus family reunion in Michigan and doing some visiting in Indiana the first week of August!

XO
E

Mother's Day Interview 2009

As interviewed by their preschool teachers, here's what the girls think of me at 4.5 years old.

My mom's name is . . .
Emily (E,L)

She is special because . . .
She is good at doing my hair. Elsa
She teaches at my school and is my mom. Lily

I like it when Mom . . .
takes me to the park and my grandparents house. Elsa
reads me stories. Lily

My mom can do many things! I think she is best at . . .
making art. Elsa
Giving kisses. Lily

My mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by . .
listening and cleaning my room. Elsa
Giving her kisses. Lily

My mom is as pretty as . . .
a ladybug. Elsa
the ocean. Lily

My mom is smart! She even knows . . .
my whole family. Elsa
kissing is nice. Lily

I'd like to tell my Mom . . .
I have a lot of friends. Elsa
I love her. Lily

Happy Mother's Day!

Still here....

So much to post, so little time. We never get comments, so I figured everybody had stopped reading. But, I've had a few requests. So, here are some pictures to share. Since we last blogged...
(Click on the underlined links to see our photo sets of flickr).

We went to Charleston.

Grandma Angyus came to visit.

Met baby Kurtis.

Went on a camping trip with Aunt Cathy.

Enjoy! Click on the underlined links to see our photo sets of flickr.

Random pictures....

A post of random pictures from our camera, phones, etc...

Silly hair from dress up week at school. (Lily, Elsa)

Elsa and Lily have enjoyed helping Daddy test drive his demonstrations for his intro to geology course that he is teaching. Here's Elsa making a volcano.

The girls (L,E) still enjoy making art in our "studio."

Lily bowling with her dad. (although they visited the bowling alley many times as infants back in California, this was their first time actually bowling.

We made a pilgrimage to find "Tim Treebow."

Cute picture of the girls (L,E) at the Ren. Faire.

The Chubby Little Snowman

I present the 1st and 2nd Snowmen of the First Lutheran Church Preschool Winter Pageant.

Lily and Elsa

The girls were beyond excited for their first theatrical performance. The girls put on shows at home all the time. So, imagine their joy at having a real audience and being up on an actual stage. Each class did a little song and the whole preschool presented a Bible Verse on the fruits of the spirit. As a consequence, the girls and I will have forever memorized this silly little song about the fruits of the spirit "Oh an Apple ain't a fruit of the spirit. If you want to be an apple, you might as well hear it....you can't be a fruit of the spirit because the fruits are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control." (repeat to infinity using the entire fruit bowl). Apparently, this is something that Lutherans memorize? I don't remember it from Catholic school.

I thought it was nuts on stage helping my little 2 year old class do their "Dance Little Snowflake" song. But, Mark informs me the real action was in the audience where the parents were pushing and shoving each other in order to photograph. It was apparently pandemonium. We have a 20 minute video of the entire show. (but it is mostly of the backside of the lady who kept jumping in the aisle in order to crowd everybody out). But, we did manage to get the girls doing their final practice just before the show:

When it came to actual show time, the girls got a little bit quiet and less theatrical. But, it was still great fun for all.

We are the champions

Today we went to The Swamp to watch the Gator football team receive their trophy from the National championship. We got to practice the Chomp, say a few cheers and hear Coach Meyer and Tim Tebow. It was pretty fun. Apparently, we picked a good time to move down here.