Goal!!!!!

Headline news:

After 3 seasons of soccer. Erin scored her first goal today. That means she also kicked the ball too :) This season so far she's been much more willing to get in there and go after the ball. There may be some hope after all.

Of course, I didn't have my camera on me. Never fails.

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.