A beautiful, almost-spring day

Jeff took the girls down to the beach today to enjoy the great weather. And then they had a relaxing dip in the hot tub before dinner. Aaaaahhhhhh, life is good!

Brownie camp-in extravaganza

This weekend Margaret and I had our first overnight camping experience with her Brownie troop. Fortunately it was a camp-IN instead of a campout, and we got to set up our camp in the community center at the church where we have our regular scout meetings. We had a fun-filled event, jam-packed full from Friday after school until noon on Saturday. I'm totally exhausted by it all, but I think the girls were pretty energized by the whole thing. They really are a great bunch of girls!
Playing a team-building hula hoop game on Friday afternoon in the glorious sunshine!

Performing in front of her peers and loving it.

Margaret & Chloe making the fruit slushies for Saturday morning's breakfast.

Enjoying s'mores over our portable s'more maker...

The whole troop posing in front of the monster tent they all slept in

The final touches...

We've said that before, haven't we? This time we ALMOST mean it. Jeff spent most of the weekend installing the new cabinets on the wall in the living room. Still need to finish the lighting and decide what's going to go in the center of the wall, but otherwise this wall of the living room is done!

Holiday fun at the Aquarium

Today we spent the day in Seattle with Grandpa Bill and Grandma Lourdes. What a gorgeous sunny day we had--perfect for a stroll along the waterfront, lunch out on the deck at Ivars with the seagulls, and a trip to the aquarium. After pooping out at the aquarium, we headed back to their place for a game of Seattle-opoly, which Margaret turned out to be a natural at. She even got to buy Ivar's! Caroline was pretty happy to have been able to buy the Space Needle, but ran out of money before she was able to fully develop all her property holdings. We went back down to the waterfront Red Robin for dinner and caught the beautiful sunset. Lourdes treated the girls to a pedelcab ride on the way back to their condo. What a great day!

School project

This weekend Margaret started work on a big school project--she's making a 3-D model of the sea creature she is studying, which is the Blue Fairy Penguin. She decided to carve it out of foam, cover it in paper mache, and then finish it with either paint or fabric. Step one was getting it carved, and then she started on step two, the paper mache. Caroline decided to make a pinata at the same time--how could she pass up the opportunity to do a messy craft? We've got a ways to go, but they're looking good so far!

Sleepover milestone

This weekend we hit a milestone at the Doyle house. BOTH girls had sleepovers the same night! Margaret went over to her friends Monica & Christina's house, and had a great time with three other third grade girls. She didn't want to leave when I came to pick her up on Saturday morning. And Caroline had her best buddy Kat over here for her very first sleepover ever. Kat, who has a couple high school age sisters, was an old pro at sleepovers. She was a complete delight to have over, and we look forward to many more with her.

How to clean a rug...

Jeff and the girls demonstrating the proper way to clean our living room rug.