Visitors, hair, etc. Basically, the rest of July

We were so excited to have Fiona and her cute kiddos come to visit us last week. Teresa had so much fun with her cousins and "Auntie Tara" as she insisted on calling Fiona. Every time we asked her to say Fiona she replied "I can't". So. I guess because Bran and Nuala were calling me that? Who knows. It was insanely hot and humid and nasty weather wise, but we still had fun at the park the first day.

The heat just sapped all of Nora's energy, and she fell asleep in the swing

We went on a fun pirate cruise in Annapolis. All the kids had been excited to go on a boat, and the pirate part was supposed to be a fun surprise. Too bad we couldn't get reservations until 5, and then all the kids fell asleep on the drive there. Also, there was jet lag involved. The first half of the boat ride involved a lot of crying and refusing to participate. Eventually they all warmed up and really enjoyed the rest of it.

Bran and Nuala helped haul up the pirate treasure:

And then they each got to fill a bag with treasure.

T immediately started lining up each piece of treasure. She's been doing it all week at home too, I keep having to step over lines of treasure on the stairs.

It was a pretty cool cruise, the kids got to be pirates and help find where the treasure was buried in the water. They got to shoot water cannons at another 'pirate' and pull up some pirate 'grog' (ginger ale) from the water as well. The only lame part was that Nora had to pay full price, too. Really, guys? She's five months. We totally should have demanded a bag of treasure for her.

The next day we did some backyard swimming. This was around 9:30 in the morning. While we were out there sweating, Marc came out of the air conditioning to let us know it was already 100 degrees, with a heat index of 120 or something. It was pretty ridiculous. But, the kids were having fun, so we suffered through it ;)

We were going to go to a real pool on base as well, but they don't open til 11, and by then there was a lot of napping going on. Turns out it's kinda hard to coordinate leaving the house with 5 kids!

Maeve is so cute! Seriously, she is just so happy and cute, I loved sitting at the dinner table with her, she would just randomly wave at people, with a big, cute smile. Love her.

And she looooved holding Nora. Nora did not love it so much.

They're just about exactly a year apart.

I know they'll absolutely love this picture one day:

We had to get some last minute cousin shots. These were the best we could come up with.

Auntie Fiona inspired us to be more adventurous with the girls' hair:

And Nora's just cute here:

And here too:

T was coloring this morning, and was just absent-mindedly singing to herself while she colored. Of course we thought it was so cute, so Marc tried to get a video of it without her noticing.

Monday morning from Tara Milligan on Vimeo.

And, one last picture of T. That's her little hair accessory holder, it's supposed to have three little drawers in it. I have no idea how she got in there, but she was freaking out about not being able to get out. I couldn't get her out either, so I had to carry her down like that to get help from Marc. We got her out eventually (obviously), but it definitely took some work. She's a crazy girl.

Leave

Once Marc finally finished his last training class he took a week of leave, and we had a little 'staycation'. Teresa loved, loved having her dad around all day everyday for so long. We had a lot of fun just doing stuff around here.

She likes to wear those ears to look like Pepper. My friend Claire inspired me to make some finger paints for T. She loved them, of course. The paint was super easy to make, just flour, water, dish soap and food coloring. And it washed off really easily (probably because of the dish soap?), so that was a plus.

Nora sat safely (and happily!) out of the way on the other side of the porch.

During Marc's time off we also took a quick trip down to Roanoke, VA to visit some friends from our BYU days. We were both amazed by how gorgeous that part of Virginia is! Once we got past D.C. the drive was just so nice and beautiful. Lots of hills and green and little mountains in the distance. Here's the view from their house, try not to be too jealous...

We were so excited to get to see the Bohons! We were neighbors in Springville, and we were way bummed to leave them when we moved. T had a blast with their little girl.

Nora chilled as usual.

The day after we got back from VA we went to an Irish festival in Annapolis. Because when would be a better time for an Irish festival than July, right? Anyway, the best part of it was that there was a ton of free stuff for little ones. T got to ride her first pony! I'm not sure who was more excited about it...

Okay, it was me. Poor T, Marc just plopped her on the horse and then started to walk away. She wasn't pleased.

She was a little happier when Marc went back and walked with her and the pony, but she looked pretty solemn the whole time.

After, I asked her if it was fun, and she said yes, and then I asked if it was scary, and she said yes to that too. She did agree that it was more fun than scary though. And she's been talking about it all week too ("Sessa ride horse!"), so I'm pretty sure it was a success.

And here's a picture of Nora, because we love her too :)

4th of July

You guys, seriously, I LOVE the 4th of July. We had so much fun this year. We bought tickets to a Nationals baseball game a month or so ago, and it was a blast. We almost decided not to go, but I'm so glad we ended up going. We only lasted for 5 innings before T was asking to go back to the car (innings 2-7, because it literally took us 2 innings to walk from the car to the stadium - T insisted on walking herself and she was going as slow as molasses). We were in the cheap seats, but our seats ended up being a set of three, so it was nice that we didn't have to shuffle past a bunch of drunk people with all our kids and kid accessories :). T really had fun although I'm not sure if she registered the fact that there were people playing baseball way down below. She just liked being outside, and all the music they were playing and stuff like that.

Getting ready to go. She was mad about having to get her hair combed:

We brought peanut butter sandwiches to eat in the car...T decided she didn't want the second half of hers. I'm just glad she waited until after she'd chewed it up to make that decision...

Self portraits...

Teresa taking her sweet time walking to the ball park:

Nora was doing okay, until Marc cheered for a good play. Poor little thing got so scared :(

Me and Teresa. And Nora's in there too...

Here's something awesome - we were sitting in front of two really friendly guys, and when they were talking to T one of them referenced the fact that I was nursing Nora, and I totally realized that the stadium seating pretty much made it possible for them to see straight down my nursing cover. Awesome. But, I'm pretty sure they were gay, so that somehow made it less awkward for me.

Anyway, Nora was a little happier later on in the game:

Sisterly love...

Teresa and Daddy.

Luckily T agreed to be carried back to the car, so we made much better time on the way back.

When we got back on base after the game we realized the big festival/celebration/thing the base was putting on was still going on, so we decided to walk over to that, even though it was well past nap time. They had a bunch of bounce houses that Teresa loved, of course, and we were surprised that she didn't want to bounce for very long.

Hmmm...T looks a little creepy in this picture. Oh well...

Tired girl

I had to post this pic of T's outfit. I made her skirt and belt, and it was a headache and a half! My wonderful Aunt Darlene gave me a sewing machine a few years ago, and unfortunately I don't get to use it as much as I would like to. Mostly because we live in a tiny little house and the only space I have to sew is our dining table. Anyway, it should have been a super easy, quick little project, but some two-year-old induced mishaps (and some 25-year-old ones too, I guess...) made it take way longer than it should have. But, we got it done, and it fits, and T loves it, so I guess that's all that matters...although, someone did ask me if she was supposed to be a pirate. Umm. No.

Anyway, once T was done bouncing we headed back home. Even though Teresa was super exhausted she had no interest in napping, so after we got home we headed over to our neighbors house for a little barbecue. Teresa's friend Mina was there, and they were too cute feeding each other berries.(I didn't have my camera, so I stole these off of facebook)

We didn't stay for the fireworks because T was soooo exhausted, but they woke her up, so we let her come down and watch them in the backyard. At first she kept saying "oh no", then when she was a little more awake she kept saying "oh, wow!".

It was probably my favorite 4th of July yet.