Christmas Morning

We traveled to Maine for Christmas this year. The girls a had a great time visiting all the family and playing in the snow, what a treat. Here are Sophie & Lily checking out their stockings Christmas morning at Gram & Gramp Phillips’ house.

Sledding with Gram Phillips

Over a stream and through the woods to the hill behind Grandma’s house...a very brave Gram Phillips took Lily out sledding behind the Phillips home in Vassalboro. Fun but hard work especially considering how deep the snow was. Thanks Gram.

Holiday Sing-a-long

Lily’s preschool had their annual Holiday Sing-a-long today. Lily’s class performed ‘What a Wonderful World’ originally made famous by Louis Armstrong (look out Louis). Shown here are Lily and three of her classmates...not everyone made it through the entire performance but what are you going to do, they’re 3! Lily of happily had no problem with performance anxiety and sang out loud and clear for all to hear. Great job kids!

At the grocery store

Here are Lily and Sophie riding in the much coveted ‘car’ cart at the grocery store. This is Sophie’s first time and she seems to be really enjoying herself.

Santa 07

Lily and Sophie visited Santa today. Lily was so excited to meet the big guy and chat about Christmas. This is one of two photos we managed to take before Sophie broke into inconsolable tears. You can kind of tell by the look on her face she hasn’t got long.

Sophie's bike

Sophie now enjoys pushing and riding things. Here she is on her ‘bike’.

Sophie climbs the stairs

Sophie is learning to climb the stairs. Here she is getting into trouble.

Lily & Sophie's new ponchos

Here are the girls in their new ponchos made by Mom. Not bad for a first attempt at knitting something other than a scarf. This is such a cute picture of the girls and you can tell they get a kick out of eat other.

Halloween

Here are the girls in their Halloween costumes. Lily had so much fun this year. Halloween is a very important holiday to a three year old (they love dressing up and candy...go figure). We made many a Halloween decoration and had tons of fun putting together Lily’s costume.

Sophie's 5th tooth

Sophie is getting more teeth. If you look very closely you can see it and the 6th one isn’t far behind.

Sophie, 9 month check-up

Sophie had her 9 month check-up today with Dr. G. Yeah, no shots! She was still very suspicious of the nurse and doctor. She doesn’t trust them one bit. Sophie is doing great but kind of a peanut weighing in at 16.2 lbs.

Sophie stands

Well, she finally got it. Sophie can pull herself up to standing. Here she is trying to get at a Halloween pumpkin (Lily and Mom were decorating). Yeah Sophie!

Sophie, 8 months

Sophie is into everything. Although she can get on her hands and knees she prefers the military crawl. As you can see here she is playing with the idea of standing up. She has a great appetite and enjoys snacking on Cheerios, yum! Now if she can just catch up with Lily...

First day of school

Lily started back to preschool today.  Here she is posing in her new school dress with her new play shoes and her school bag (note monkey with her name on it).  She absolutely loves it and runs into class without another thought about Mom or Dad.

Lily starts ballet

Lily started ballet class today. We’re not sure what she is more excited about, the class or the cute dance outfit they all get to wear. Here she is proudly posing in it. She wore it all weekend after that first class.

Sophie, 7 months

You can just tell these sisters are going to be up to something soon. Sophie just turned 7 months and had her bangs trimmed for the first time. Here she and Lily are clowning around at our house. Lily is proudly wearing the fairy princess crown she and Mom made together one afternoon when she wanted to do a “project” (as she calls it). A few items from the sewing basket combined with some bows and decoration from the wrapping bin and presto...fairy princess!

Dorval's 35th Anniversary

The Dorval kids held an informal (and belated) anniversary celebration for Mom & Dad today. We took family pictures, had a lobster feast, swam, and just generally chilled out by the pool. The day concluded with a viewing of some old family home videos. A special thanks to Shelly for heading up that project. Great job Shelly!

Day at China Lake

The Morse family joined the fun this week. Julie braved the long road trip with her three boys to spend time with the family in Maine. Here Julie, David, KJ, Lily, & Chuck take a canoe ride at the Phillips camp in China, ME.

Anne's Graduation Party

We held a belated graduation party for Anne at camp in China, ME. Here Aunt Mary and Lily supervise Anne opening her gifts. Congratulations Anne!

Grammy King's 90th Birthday

The King family celebrated Grammy’s 90th birthday at St. Joseph’s Nursing home in Waterville, ME. Here are all the King kids with Grammy and great-grandson Teddy Decker.

Sophie's Baptism

Sophie was baptized today at St. Bridget’s in Vassalboro, ME by Fr. Piselli. Her godparents are Aunt Anne and Uncle Doug. We know they’ll provide her with any needed guidance. Here we all are with Gram and Grampy Phillips and Memere and Grampy Dorval. We all went to the Phillips’ camp in China for a party afterwards.

Sophie 6 Month Checkup

Sophie had her 6 month checkup this week. She now weighs in at 14.5 lbs and is 26.25 in long. Her head circumference is 43 cm. Basically she is very tall with a big head but is lacking in the weight department. Not to worry though, she’s doing great and is starting to eat baby food. In this picture here we’ve just noticed she is cutting her first teeth.

Swimming Lessons

Lily started swimming lessons at the YMCA this week. This is her first swim class without Mom or Dad in the water. You can see here she looks a little uncertain of things.

Sophie, 5 months

Here is Sophie at 5 months, 1 week. She enjoys using her walker and jumper and is rolling over now. Sometimes she does get stuck on her stomach and becomes frustrated. Got to work on the front to back flip! As some of you may notice she has a little bit more hair than Lily did at this age. It’s starting to get downright unruly and Mom has a hard time taming it. Hope we don’t need to get out the scissors too soon. She laughs all the time especially when her sister Lily is around. We recently introduced rice cereal to her but she’s not too into it yet.

Dana & Rob's Wedding

We attended Dana & Rob’s wedding in New York today where we saw Leah’s friends from Providence College. Look, we’ve hardly changed a bit!

Aunt Bee & Sophie

Today Leah, Anne, Lily & Sophie went to Boothbay to visit Aunt Bee. We had lobsters for lunch with Aunt Florence and the back to the house for dessert.

Curtis & Sophie

While in Maine we got to visit with family and meet Curtis for the first time. Here are Curtis and Sophie visiting Meme’s house. Although he’s two months younger he was just about the same size as Sophie at the time this picture was taken.

Caleb & Lily

While in Maine Leah and the girls got to visit with friends Amanda & Kevin who were vacationing in Belgrade. Here is Lily going for a ride with Caleb.

Nana Phillips' 97th Birthday

We were in Maine to celebrate Nana Phillips’ 97th Birthday. Here are the Dorval girls at the party we had for her in Waterville, ME.

Visiting Meg

On our way to Maine we stayed with Meg in Boston. Chuck and the girls visited while Leah spent time with friends. This is a picture Meg sent us of her holding Sophie.

Sophie, 4 months

Sophie 4 months old now and enjoying her big sister more and more. Here they are playing together while Sophie is in her jumper. They look like they could be trouble in the near future.

Sophie & Lily at the park

Sophie and Lily on an outing to a nearby park. As you can see Sophie sleeps while Lily plays.

Sophie, 3 months

Sophie is just shy of 14 weeks here. In this picture she is experimenting with sucking her hands. She has taken to sucking her fingers (not thumb yet) when she is tired, falling asleep or even while she is sleeping. Notice Lily’s penny collection in the lower left hand corner, not great for babies to play with. We’re working on that one with Lily but she hasn’t quite got it yet.

Vacation Day 7

Here’s Lily on the couch where the poor kid spent much of our vacation. Today she does seem to be feeling much better and was actually able to join us at the pool after her nap. In the morning we leave to go home.

Chuck's Birthday

Today was Chuck’s birthday. Unfortunately Lily is still running a fever although the only indication of that in this picture is the nightgown she’s wearing (thank you Motrin). Poor Lily just isn’t quite well enough to see the sights but we’re making the best of it. At least the sun finally came out and The Groves is a beautiful place to be. Trudy make a wonderful birthday dinner and we partied on the lanai at sunset (pictured above).

Tampa Aquarium

Today was a rainy day so we decided to go to the Tampa Aquarium (along with everyone else in the greater Tampa area). It was a beautiful place even though it was crowed. Too bad for Lily she wasn’t feeling well by the end of the day so we took her home to rest.

Easter

Here we are in sunny Florida for Easter. The girls are adorable in their easter outfits. We went to church with Meme and Grampy, then had an Easter Egg hunt followed by Easter dinner. We were all just thrilled to finally be relaxing in Florida for the week.

11 Weeks

Sophie is 11 weeks old this week. She smiles all the time and seems to enjoy watching us all go about our day.

8 Weeks Old

Sophie has grown so much this past month. At her 2 month check up she weighed 10 lbs. 9 oz., was 24 in. long, and her head circumference measured 39 1/2 cm. She is good natured and goes along for the ride on all our crazy adventures.

Scaling a wall

Today was a warm sunny day, a good day to play outside. We stopped at the playground next to church and dressed in her ‘Sunday best’ Lily had a great time. She amazed us when she decided she was going to scale this 7 ft wall all by herself. Here she is with Chuck watching her closely to make sure she has a handle on things.

Lily learns to skate

Chuck taught Lily to skate today. Even though her skates were too big she seemed to catch on fast and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. She watched all the big kids carefully and wanted to learn so she could skate fast too.

Afternoon at the Park

This was one of the first warm days of spring. We all walked to a nearby park where Lily likes to go to swing. She also proved herself to be a budding soccer star when we kicked a ball around. The afternoon ended with chasing bubbles before walking home again.

Sophie Smiles

Just wanted to share one of Sophie’s first smiles. She also likes to “talk” and we’re working on saying “hello”.

Doug & Meg Visit

Doug & Meg came for a visit on their way to Florida for Spring Break. Here we are walking around the Duke campus, one of our stops on the Durham tour. Other highlights included lunch at the Q Shack and frisbee golf.

Sophie's 1 Month Check Up

Today we visited Dr. G. for Sophie’s 1 month check up. She now weighs 8 pounds, 9 1/2 ounces; is 21 3/4 inches long; and her head measures 37 1/4 cm. The doctor was very pleased with her progress and no shots were necessary today!

Lily's 3rd Birthday

Lily was very excited about her birthday this year. Here she is with mom and friend Amelia as she blows out her candle. Although she loves the idea of a birthday cake, she does not really care to eat it. She did care enough to insist on a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, much to mom’s (a chocolate LOVER) dismay. The ice cream that goes with it is great if it comes in a cone...and is vanilla. Where did we go wrong?

Princess Party

Lily is all dressed up for the Princess birthday party of a school friend. She loves her wearing her new dress but don’t be fooled, she still loves her Thomas trains too!

Sophie Allyn

We are happy to welcome the newest addition to the Dorval family, Sophie Allyn. She was born at 9:11 p.m. on Wednesday, January 24 and weighed in at 7lbs, 4 oz. Everyone is doing well and Lily is proud that she is a big sister. Can’t wait for you all to meet her!

Snowstorm

A monster blizzard struck! When Lily saw the snow, she thought it meant Santa was coming. After we straightened that out, Lily donned her snowsuit (for the second time in over a year) and went outside. Not enough snow to make snow angels she said, but she had lots of fun throwing snowballs at daddy.