Hoppy Easter

We had a nice Easter weekend here in Virginia. The weather this afternoon was lovely, a bit cool, but not too cool to sit outside. Yesterday we had rain so we skipped the local egg hunt and mellowed at the house. We also dyed our eggs. Both the kids really got into it.

I also got an excuse to play with my new camera since I broke mine in DC. I could have waited a few weeks to get a new one, but I'm impatient about some things. I couldn't risk missing the perfect Easter picture, so picked up a new camera Friday.

The kids wore their special Easter outfits for church. They both looked adorable. I ended up putting Jeffrey in the pants from last year's outfit since the new ones were still a little large. Sadly, last year's were a little short and made for some silly pictures. At church the kids had an egg hunt during service and both found their allotted 5 eggs (numbered 1-5).

Once we got home, I took a few pictures before they changed into some more comfortable...and warmer... clothes for egg hunting at home. "The Easter Bunny" (the kids know it's daddy) did a great job hiding this year's batch of eggs in the yard an on the deck.

Later in the afternoon we went down to the stream to play and then had a roasted chicken with wild rice and cauliflower for dinner. It was a very nice Easter.

Exploring Our Capitol

Since Erin had been learning about our early Presidents I thought this might be a good year to spend a few days during Spring Break exploring Washington DC. She's been particularly obsessed with Abraham Lincoln and the the Lincoln Memorial. I haven't done the tourist think in DC in a while so we headed up for a few days.

As usual the weather was not necessarily our friend. We missed the Cherry Blossoms by two days but not the crowds. My weather forecasts said it would be in the mid 50s with one rainy day. We planned to head to the newly opened American History Museum on that day and tour DC the other 2.

The American history Museum opened last fall after a 2 year renovation. I've been excited to visit so the whole crew....mommy, Erin, Jeffrey, Noni, Uncle Jonathan and Oma headed to the Museum. Problem is so did the rest of the tourists in DC. We did get the chance to see Dorothy's Ruby Slippers, and a new Abraham Lincoln exhibit as well as a transportation exhibit, but the lines for the exhibits were crazy. I've never seen it that way before. Erin was excited by Lincoln's hat, and the pictures of his funeral train (the one that carried his body but not his head according to Erin). Jeffrey had fun exploring the trains and cars in the transportation exhibit. And oddly enough, the rainy day didn't end up that rainy and we were able to eat lunch outside at a nearby cafe.

On Tuesday Noni had to work so Uncle Jon and mommy took the kids on a Duck tour of DC. We took the Metro into Union Station (for those of you wondering...yes the Metro was the highlight of the whole trip) and bought Duck tour tickets. The Duck tour is cool because it's a WWII era amphibious vehicle that can drive on land and float in the water. So the tour runs along the monuments of DC and then heads into the Potomac for a float by some of the other sites. We had a little extra time before the tour so we wandered over to the Capitol building to explore some fountains and reflecting pools.

Weather issue No. 2....when I checked the forecast in the morning it was calling for low 50s. So I made sure we had long sleeved shirts layered with T's as well as jackets. Unfortunately I must have missed the section where it mentioned the 10 degree wind chill. It was down right cold and blustery, but we still had fun -- and oh yeah. I dropped my camera and busted it right before the Duck trip :(

Day 3 Noni came along for our Monument tour. We had hoped to get tickets to go up the Washington Monument but they were all out. So we went to plan B (something mentioned on the Duck Boat) and headed to the Old Post Office Building to get another cool view. This day it was supposed to be close to 60, but apparently that only counted when standing in direct sunlight under a heat lamp behind a wind shield. It felt more like 40. I gave in a purchased new ski caps for us all to stop the whining. A might cute bunch we made after that. The view from the Old Post Office is really cool, and I recommend it if you're ever in DC again.

Next came the most awaited portion of the trip...the Lincoln Memorial. We hopped the Metro in that direction and headed over. Erin was really excited to see it close up (we'd seen it several times on the other 2 days, but not closely). She begged Noni to take some pictures (remember I busted my camera the day before). So Noni brought out her fancy-dancy camera..only to find the battery was dead. Off I went in search of an overpriced disposable camera so we could take pictures of Erin at the memorial. From there we wandered down the reflecting pool, past a few other memorials and headed over to get a glimpse of the White House. After a long day and a few pictures of the White House, we stumbled back onto the Metro and back to Noni's house.

Despite the cold weather we had a great time exploring some of the DC sites. We might head back for a day this summer to spend some more time wandering outside when it's not quite so cold outside.

And now that I've written a novel, here's a picture overload. I'm also working on a little slideshow so keep your eyes out for that post too.

Of Eggs and Things

As usual, in the weeks leading up to Easter there are several "egg" related events to attend. Jeffrey's school had their Easter Party (they're allowed to call it such because it's a private school held in a church), the Kindergarten classes had an "Eggstravaganza", the county Recreation Department held their annual "Run Around the Soccer Fields and Pick Up Eggs" event, and we even dyed some eggs while visiting Noni. Somehow this year, we have thankfully missed out on some of the general schlock inside the eggs and gotten mostly candy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to stuff the kids full of candy, but the little toys, stickers and abundant other things to get stepped on or stuffed into the depths of my couch I'd rather deal with a little sugar.

So here are some pictures of Jeffrey's Easter party. They got a visit from the Easter Bunny, and then had an egg hunt in the church (since it has been raining here since last April I think. I'm surprised no one has built an arc yet). After some games and a rousing round of "Little Bunny Foo Foo" and "I'm Picking Up A Baby Bumblebee" we took our sugar-laden eggs home to be counted and coveted.




The next day the Kindergarten held their festivities. Since they were also rained out they celebrated their "eggs" inside. There was some kind of hunt, and egg dying. In the afternoon they did some egg and hopping races (Bunnies are OK as long as they aren't Easter Bunnies"). It was great fun watching Erin have such a blast playing games with her class.


Saturday afternoon brought the annual egg hunt. Hunt is really a misleading word. The county dumps a few hundred eggs across the soccer fields. They then line up the eager kiddos and at the exact toll of 3:30 set them loose. In previous years we have returned with baskets overflowing with eggs. This year, after a whopping 90 seconds all the eggs were gone. Erin and Jeff managed to snag about 10 each. All fine with me.



Finally during our few days at Noni's house we spent an evening coloring eggs for her Easter. Grandpa got an old fashioned Paas kit and they had a blast. Erin enjoyed mixing all the colors. Jeffrey was not quite as creative, but enjoyed himself as well.


We still have eggs to color as a family and then our egg hunt at the church and at back at home. Then we'll be all egged out until next March -- when hopefully it will have stopped raining.

History Lesson

The life of Abraham Lincoln through the eyes of a Kindergartner. Very informative. Make sure you catch the part about the train.

Almost There

Back in January I was convinced that I would be purchasing Pull-ups for another few years. Jeffrey had no interest in night training. And with all the stories Tom tells about his experiences growing up I figured we were in for the long run. Back in mid-February Jeff started waking up dry a few days a week. It was still a fight to get him to use the potty first thing, and often he'd just go in his pull-up rather than the potty.

By the end of February he'd go for longer stretches being dry...even a week at one point. But then we'd have 3 soaking wet mornings. I decided at that point that when the pull-ups ran out we'd try going without for a night. He's been doing great with the pull-ups recently. Been dry for almost 2 weeks. So last night (with 2 pull-ups still left in the bag) we had the big discussion after bath time.

"Hey buddy. You want to try wearing your big boy undies to bed?"
"Why?"
"I think you're ready. You want to try?"
"Why?"
"Well you've been dry in the morning for a while now, I think you can keep your undies dry."
"Why?"

I think you get the picture. "Why" was the only answer I was going to get so I grabbed a pair of Cars undies and explained again that he was growing up into such a big boy I thought he was ready to say goodbye to his Pull-ups.

After a few extra trips to the potty before bedtime he snuggled into bed. And this morning.....

....All dry. Yay big guy. I'm so proud of you.

Down By the Stream

We had a beautiful day last Sunday and decided to take the kids for a walk around the lake. It's a bit of a long walk, maybe a couple of miles. Generally the kids are hyper for the first half and then beat for the last 3/4 mile or so. And they always complain when we bring up the idea. "No, I don't waaaannna go for a long walk." So we decided this time not to tell them we were going to walk the lake, and started with, "Let's play outside." Then moved to, "Want to go down to the bridge?" And finally, "Let's walk for a bit. We'll come back."

Since it was so pretty I brought the camera along for the walk. The kids enjoyed 'fishing' in the stream, and Tom gave them a stone skipping lesson at the lake. There was the usual amount of whining about how Loooooong the walk was, but also a good amount of picking up pine cones, pretty stones, wild flowers and spotting geese, doggies, birds etc..

A little vent

OK, time for a little vent. Not really one about the kids though. More about a game.

You see I took Christmas as a time to give Tom family oriented gifts. The kids got him a board game. I got him a new game for the Wii. Since we all like to play the Wii together I picked out a Mini Golf game that looked fun. And it is. It's tons of fun. We all really like it, the kids can play on their own, and I'd say we've already gotten my $40 out of it.

So here's my beef. The game is rated "E" for "everyone". Family game right? Yeah it is. It's quite cute. If you get a par or better on the hole your character does a little dance. The daddy character does these silly things, and generally falls down. The mommy character is somewhat flirty and has cute little dances. The daughter character will twirl her club like a baton, or spin around and fall down. The little boy turns his fingers into 6-shooters and "pows" you. That's my issue. Really? That's all we can find for the little boy? He "pows" me.

I know, I know little boys will be boys. Still, does a mini golf game have to encourage it?

Cool thing about the game is you can earn different clubs to do new tricks. Yesterday the kids were playing and each wanted to get a new club. So Erin got the Dinosaur club, and Jeffrey got the Knight club. It's a golf club that looks like a knight on his horse with his jousting spear out. I figured the trick would be something "knightly". No. Upon achieving a great score on the hole, the young boy wields his knight club like an automatic rifle and "pow pow pows" the competition. He then sheathes his club like a sword. What on earth does that have to do with knights? It really bothers me. More than the 6-shooters with the hands does.

My guy is hyper, and crazy, and refuses to listen but he's also loving, and sweet, and influenced by the things he sees on TV. So today he's taking all his toys and wielding them like automatic weapons. I've explained to him that kind of behavior is not acceptable. We don't "pow" our friends. I expect in a day or two it will wear off. I'll change the club back into the train one that Choo-Choos around the screen, or maybe the fairyland one that makes a silly troll plop down on the screen.

But in a game that's rated "E", and is advertised as "A Hole in Fun", I'm a little disappointed that they couldn't come up with other ways for a little boy to celebrate a good putt than to "pow" the competition.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

We're all in our green today. Even though Erin's been sick the past few days we had to get outside a few minutes and take a couple of pictures wearing our greens. Now to see if they'll eat the corned beef at dinner.

Hello Eleanor

Last weekend (the frozen one, not the warm one) we headed to Baltimore to meet "Uncle" Gary and "Aunt" Suzie's sweet little girl Eleanor. Erin and Jeffrey were very excited about the trip and mom and dad were so happy to finally meet Eleanor. And, she is just so gorgeous. We are all totally in love with her.

Our trip ended up a bit more eventful that we had planned though. About 10 miles from Baltimore, our 'new' van broke down. Tom was able to drive it to Gary's and on Saturday morning they made sure it got to a Kia dealership for whatever work would be needed. Unfortunately they couldn't look at it on Saturday, so we were there until Monday....and then Tuesday...and then Wednesday. Well, not quite. We left on Tuesday in a rental car and I drove back to pick up the Kia on the warm weekend.

What it did give us was some wonderful time with Gary, Suzie and Eleanor. We went to Port Discovery together (one looooong walk but worth it), went out to dinner and of course oogled over the baby. Erin drew countless monkeys for Eleanor and insisted that Gary and Suzie put them in her room and on the fridge. Jeffrey also did his best to draw some pictures of everyone. When Eleanor's daycare closed on Monday due to the snow, we got to spend the day taking care of her while Suzie and Gary got some work done.

So guys, thanks so much for letting us crash a few extra days, and even more thanks for sharing your beautiful daughter.

Here's the picture overload.

Rid'em Cowboy!!

Best Kisses

Snuggle Buddies

Hanging on the mat

Mr. Fish

Last summer it became clear that Jeffrey's "thing" was going to be swimming. Aside from the infant class we took, he's been in love with anything water since he was tiny. Last summer I signed him up for a class and he loved it. So we gave him the option of doing swimming this spring or doing a gymnastics/tumbling class. He jumped all over swimming.

We're taking classes through my gym since it's a little more convenient. It's also a smaller class size. He really loves it, but he does give the instructor a bit of a hard time. He just gets so excited, and wants to sink to the bottom of the pool as often as possible. He still has absolutely no fear. At his last class he was monkey walking along the side of the pool, while holding onto the edge. He decided that wasn't enough fun and simply pushed away from the side.....into 4 feet of water with no instructor within immediate reach. She and I both were able to grab him quick enough and swing him back to the edge, but he only wanted to do it again. So clearly, swimming is essential for him as he has NO FEAR with the water.

Here are a few pictures and a short video of Mr. Fish enjoying swim class.

New York Family Visit

Bad blogging mommy. Things have been nuts, and I just haven't had the time to blog about Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Katie and Cousin Will's visit. We had a lot of fun time together. It was nice to just hang out together. We did take off for an afternoon of bowling, a morning walk to the beach and dinner at the German restaurant.

The kids had a lot of fun playing with baby Will. As always Erin loves to help Katie take care of him, especially feeding him. Jeffrey loved helping push his stroller on our walk.

We're so glad that they got the chance to come down and visit for a few days.

Hanging with Cousin Will

Together with Aunt Katie

Snuggles from Grandma

Giving Baby Will a Ride

Our Local Wildlife

Bowling!!!

We headed back to the bowling lanes on Friday while Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Katie and Baby Will were visiting. Erin had an early release from school so we picked her up and headed right for bowling. Grandpa stayed home to watch baby Will.

It was a quiet afternoon and there were very few other people at the alley. They had it all set up for "night" bowling with little LED lights and black lights and classic rock playing. Pretty different from when we went over winter break.

The kids were super excited. Ever since we went bowling back in December, they talk about it constantly. "When will we go bowling again?" "Look mommy, there's bowling!!! Can we go?" "Can we go bowling tomorrow?" Hopefully this little excursion has bought me another few weeks without pestering.

This time I did remember to bring the camera. I got a few shots of them bowling and also some videos. So here we go.....

Our bowling trip...

Happy Valentine's Day

Dancing

Erin got to go on a special date with her daddy on Saturday. The county held a Father/Daughter Valentine's day dance and Tom decided it would be fun to take Erin. They got all dressed up and headed off on a beautiful afternoon. At the dance they met up with a few friends, and danced the rest of the afternoon away. Erin said the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance were her favorite parts. Tom said they danced together the whole time and just had a blast. It's quite sweet watching my little baby grow into such a big girl these days.

Erin and her friend Delaney

Spinning with Daddy

The Axiom!!!

The kids are at the age that our lives are a series of phases. Mostly popular culture phases. We'll watch the same movie, over and over for a month -- Wizard of Oz, Cars, The Incredibles, Peter Pan....we've been through them all. And right now we are headlong into the phase of Wall*E. This seems to have another level (similar to the Cars obsession which is still under the surface). Every day is filled with Wall*E. Jeffrey asks to watch the movie at least every day, if not twice.

Tom and I are both film score fans, and were really drawn to the Wall*E score the first time we heard it. When Jeff got the DVD for Christmas and the obsession started we went out and downloaded the score. Now every time I'm in the car with Jeff he hollers, "Wall*E Music!!!!!" Both he and Erin will sing along to the couple of songs on it. What's more interesting is that he knows the movie so well that while listening to the score he'll tell me what's going on.

"Mommy, this is where Wall*E meets Eve"
"Eve put the plant in her tummy"
"This is the Spaceship. NOT the Axiom, the little ship."
"THIS is the Axiom mommy."

There are many, many more.

Jeffrey also seems obsessed with the Axiom. They only use the word Axiom a few times in the movie, but he picked up on it. Yesterday he was crunching his lollipop and said..."Hey mommy, Look...the Axiom." And it did look like the Axiom.

And then there's today's lunch conversation.

Jeffrey: sitting at table "Mommmy!!!! Come here quick!!!"
Mommy: cleaning kitchen "What honey."
J: "Come here, I have to show you!!!"
M: "OK" looking for any excuse to ignore the dishes
J: "Look Look!"
M: "What honey."
J: "It's the Axiom. See? My sandwich. It looks like the Axiom"


Honestly it did. So we have a space ship/food Axiom thing. I really wish I'd taken a picture of it. So the Wall*E obsession has reached a new level.

And here's Jeffrey pretending to be Wall*E. He came up with this all on his own. He's humming the Wall*E theme. Sorry the sound on my camera seems to be messing up that's the buzzing in the background.