Are we ever home?

It sure doesn't feel like it the past couple of weeks. We had hardwood floors put down in our formal sitting and dining room areas, so the girls and I stayed with Mimi for a couple of days last week. We had tons of fun visiting her, Ashlyn even said "Mimi" which made my mom s0 happy! In fact, we showed Ashlyn a picture of Mimi, Kim, Kara and me from Kim's wedding and she named all four of us in the photo!

Ashlyn and Kennedy both love statues of animals. Skipper and Snowball, dogs that live with Pop and Grandma/Grandpa Grogg always get big hugs when the girls are around them. This week they have found that Mimi also has some animals at her house, here they are loving on Mimi's ducks and kitty cat that both reside on her front steps.

The girls had a chance to explore a local toddler playground with Mimi one afternoon. They had so much fun and especially enjoyed the playhouse. Ashlyn convinced Mimi to come inside to play! While we were visiting both of the girls recieved a brand new Elmo doll from Mimi. Kennedy was in heaven! Elmo is absolutely her favorite Seasame Street character and she wouldn't leave him behind while they were playing outside.

Before we headed back we stopped by to see Grandma McIntyre at her office. Of course the girls found all of the toys that she had stashed there. Considering it is a Head Start, early learning centering it wasn't too hard. :-) Grandma Grogg enjoyed introducing K&A to all of her friends.

After a long week away, we returned to a brand new home! Our floors were completed and baby gates were down. What a brand new world for everyone! Since we had to remove the baby gates for the workers to move the furniture around and to work on the floors we decided that we would leave them down and see how the girls reacted. K&A behaved very well while visiting the beach and Mimi, and they stay out of trouble around the houses for the most part. I am happy to report that the past couple of days have been a success! It is so liberating not to be fenced in around the house anymore. It kinda of reminds me of how you train a dog using an electric fence. Once they get used to the "safe zones" where they do not leave those areas even when their collar is removed. Over the weekend the girls have reacted the same way. Kennedy accidently threw a ball into the formal living room area and stopped where the gate used to be and said "Uh oh", Jeremy had to tell her it was ok to go after the ball. So funny!