Packing up- June.

Our July was spent packing up and getting the house ready so we could move to DC.

JoJo, in her two year old loveliness, has whined so much that mama finally let her have her nuk and blankie outside of bed just so she'd be quiet and let mama get some work done.

Mama was sad to have to take down all of the signs that Henry has made around the house.  This is from JoJo's bed.

Henry made this for our bed.

One day Henry used a permanent marker (when he wasn't supposed to), but he tried to get out of getting in trouble by making these signs for mama and papa's door.

Mama and Papa's sign.

Mama also finally cleaned out the boxes and boxes and boxes of special awards she and papa (mostly mama) had accumulated in high school.  Like this special Computer Award.  Mama can still write html thanks to this bad boy.

Here's papa's show choir award.

Papa's athletic achievement award.  Notice there are no achievements listed.  Ouch!

Mama's friend's had a going away party before we left and they made her this southern wine goblet.  

JoJo at (almost) 2- Mama.

Remember this girl?  On June's 2nd birthday, we broke out one of mama's dresses from when she was a girl and took some picture.  Click the link to see the whole birthday post.  

Since we will be in DC on Georgie's 2nd birthday, we got out the dress a little early and had another photo shoot.  At first Georgie wasn't into it.  

Georgie might not be two, but she's certainly in the terrible twos already.  She's either super happy (when someone is paying attention to her) or dramatically, shriekingly angry.  If you don't get Jo her "apple drink"  (her sippy cup, even if it's full of milk) NOW, you better hold on for a scream fest.

Back when there were only two kids, we used to think June looked like Henry.  But June's looks continue to change and she looks more and more like papa.  Jo, however, is a mini Henry, and a Seibert all the way.

At almost two, Georgie loves to play on the playground.  She's a great climber (almost as good as the ever-cautious Henry), but will only go down a slide if she's holding someone's hand.  

She loves to sing songs.  Some of her favorites include "Applejack," "Cecelia," and the Star Wars theme song.  (She can really carry a tune and the Star Wars theme is especially cute.) 

Georgie wants to do anything and everything the big kids are doing.  She loves all of June's toys and that drives June crazy.  Even if June isn't playing with a toy, if she sees Jo playing with something, she immediately tries to get it back.  On a good day, that involves trying to bribe Georgie with another toy.  And on a bad day, it involves tackling Jo and wrestling away the toy (and plenty of screaming by Jo).

Georgie loves swinging more than anything.  

She pleads "Higher! Higher!" but clenches the rope and holds her breath if she gets too high.  

We think we'll keep her.

4th of July- June.

During 4th of July weekend, mama was up in Rockville looking for an apartment. She was lucky enough to get up there the day after a huge storm ripped though Maryland and took out power for a half million people.  It was two days and around 100 degrees before they got power back.  

 At home, I was really acting goofy after I found a very sheer tutu and insisted on wearing it without tights.

 Mama got home just in time to go to the neighborhood 4th of July party.  After playing in the kiddie pool all afternoon, Georgie was outraged to find that the adults were drinking Coronas.  On the 4th of July?  Come on!

 Then she returned home to find out mama had made Sri Lankan food for supper?!?  Where are the hot dogs and jello?  (From mama- have you tried Sri Lankan food?  It's incredible!)

 I've been very interested in the camera lately and have been practicing my skills.

 Have you guys seen that Lego now makes girl legos?  I want some so much!  Right now, I'm stuck playing with Henry's legos and they are all trucks and planes.  Henry's been trying to get me to follow the directions to build some simple sets, but I don't follow directions.

 Here's a good picture of pretty much the only food I will eat. 

Finally, here's a video of how crazy things have gotten around home as we geared up for the move.  Chaos.

VBS round 2- Henry.

 I had a great time at Grams and PawPaw's house.

We played hard.

And crashed hard too.  Luckily for Grams, we're asleep in this shot.  Apparently, Grams let us take a nap together once and it culminated in a ripped pillow and a plot to hide the evidence.

 I made it back home just in time to go to our favorite VBS of the summer- the one that serves supper!  

Each class got to tie-dye shirts and June was not shy to show off this time.

One thing June wasn't afraid of was singing the theme songs for this VBS.  Bless those people out there who design Vacation Bible Schools, write music, and produce music videos.  These things are much more high tech then the VBS' that mama went to when she was a kid.  Listen to at least the first song of this medley, then play it again 400 times and you can get a glimpse into what a day with June is like.  We are pretty impressed that June can perform multiple key changes while she sings this song.  Key changes and that low voice are pretty cute.

Here's a shot of the whole camp in their dyed glory.

And me with my class.  And in case you're keeping track (Aunt Jenni), the theme for this VBS was Adventures on Promise Island.

Here's a decent try at the family shot.  Except for the big kool-aid mustache on my lip.  You can only imagine how much of that sweet stuff I gulped down.  I love this VBS!

Then the sugar from all that Kool-Aid soaked in and things got crazy.

Vacation Bible School Take 1- June.

This week's theme: Operation Overboard:  Dare to go Deep with God!

While Henry was taking his week up in Ohio, I went to my first vacation bible school of the summer.  On the last night, we had a big show.

 When it was our turn to go up to sing, I refused.

 You would figure performing in front of everyone would be just what I'd like, but you forget that I like defying people's wishes more.

 I also refused to wear the white shirts we made at camp.

 Georgie was more than happy to put on a show following the arrows.  She can't wait until it's her turn to go to VBS!

 Next up, what happens when mama asks for a nice picture.

At least we both stuck our tongues out together. 

There's a nice one!

I haven't been napping very much lately.  I still have to go down for my naps, but all of my time is spent reading books, singing, playing with my animal friends, or coming out of my room to use the bathroom and ask mama if I can get up if I play quietly because Georgie is asleep.  So imagine how surprised she was when she walked into the living room one evening to announce supper and found me like this.   

Here's a new DC blog for you.

Henry took up a free lance job today.  Apparently, mama isn't doing a very good job of keeping up with the blog, so Grams said Henry should keep a blog and offered a modest weekly wage for his work.  (I think this is the modern day equivalent of getting a journal on the first day of summer vacation.)

Henry has a serious goal of earning enough money to by this bad boy.  It costs $100.  We told him we'd pay $30 if he could earn $70.  He only has $23.54 to go.

So swing on over to Henry's new blog for his first post- a very thorough overview of our apartment as told by our future tour guide.

Henry's picture blog of Rockville/Washington DC and home

We are still here! And we promise to be back!

We haven't abandoned the blog and we hope you haven't abandoned us.  We're all moved and settled in Rockville and I have a new power cord for my computer so we're back in action.  It's going to be an active week of blog madness!

When we left off, June was spending a week in Ohio with Grams and her cousins.  Aunt Jill was a real sport with all three kids.

Sadie and June.  On the way up to Ohio, June and Grams stopped in West Virginia to stay with Great Aunt Joann and Great Uncle Dean.  There, she managed to acquire several pieces of costume jewelry from Joann and Great Aunt Lillie, as well as this very large headband that she insisted on wearing everywhere.  She still talks fondly of her visit to the holler and feeding cornbread to the fish in the creek under the driveway with Uncle Dean.

 At home, life was a breeze with just two kids, especially with Henry in school for half days.  Henry and I passed our time playing long games of Battleship.  I don't think Henry has lost at this game yet.  I don't know how he can be so good at a game of chance.

 George is finally growing some hair in, so we made a little fountain.  It instantly makes her look much older and looks a little funny because she has her long layer of baby hair and another layer growing in underneath it.

 After school was finally out, we went up to Winston Salem to visit our good friends, the Paytons, to meet up with papa, who'd been at Wake forest for a conference, and to do a switch off with Grams to trade June for Henry.  It's a great time at the Paytons now because all the kids are old enough to play on their own, are fairly tolerant of JoJo and generally leave the adults alone for long periods of time to every each others' company.  

 And as a reward for sticking around after our long absence, here are Henry's school pictures.  It's like someone pushed his half grown out mohawk forward and told him to give the goofiest smile ever.

 This photo alone will be featured on awkward photo websites for years to come.  A terrible background, a clearly uncomfortable kid, and a "very handsome" wardrobe choice.  Matching plaids are always in, in Henry's book and the blue socks/black shoes combo is inspired.

And just in case we hadn't dropped the $40 on these shots yet (we didn't), there was a collage!  Future Henry, I'm sorry, but I will display this at every party in your honor for the rest of your life.