Cupcake Love

I have been craving cupcakes since yesterday, which is unusual because I hate cake and I hate frosting even more. But I would literally sell my soul for a cupcake right now.

I searched the internet for a cupcake bakery in my area. There are none. A simple cupcake from the grocery store wouldn’t cut it either, I wanted a REALLY good one. But surprisingly (or maybe not, I don’t know) there isn’t anything like that within an hour of my house! I found a few up north in Baltimore and a few down south in D.C, but my little suburb sat bakery-less!

I was complaining about it to my mom when she mentioned that Starbucks now carries cupcakes! That’s where I headed first thing this morning because while we lack in bakeries, we have a multitude of Starbucks… this seems backwards. Who cares about lattes, I need cupcakes people!

Cupcakes were the first thing I saw when I walked in. I wasted no time in ordering it, paying for it and running back to my car where I sat with the windows down and music playing, eating the best cupcake I’d ever tasted!

There are pictures of me sitting in the parking lot eating my prize. Pathetic? Yes. Delicious? YES!

Activa... don't buy it!

I’m pretty brand loyal to most things and recently discovered why I’ll be more diligent about this self imposed rule. On a routine trip to the grocery store the other day I picked up some yogurt because my kids love it and it’s relatively healthy. I usually buy the Danimals or GoGurt. I wouldn’t touch those things with a ten foot pole myself, but the kids can eat 10 a day. The abnormal fluorescent colors make me nervous…


Upon going to grab my usual brands, I noticed that one particular brand was on a huge sale. The sale made the price nearly half of the kind I was buying. What the heck, we’d try a different brand this time! I picked up 4 cases of this yogurt. This yogurt also known as Activa had a nice natural color to it and actually tasted awesome. I had no qualms about eating several that first day. Pinky also liked it and had about 3 a day for next 2-3 days.

It was soon apparent why the store had offered this ‘yogurt’ at such a steep discount, they were trying to get rid of it because it’s side effects are awful, nobody would actually pay a normal price for it.

Activa, I found out (after buying it) has an intended purpose, which is to help your intestinal track in some way. Some way that is really bad if you have more than 1 a day. I was hurting that night and Pinky is too young to make the correlation between why she’s in the bathroom 20 times a day and the fact that she eats these yogurts like they’re going out of style.

Once I realized what was going on, I halted consumption altogether and slowed hers way down to about 1 every other day. I feel ripped off. I don’t want my snacks to double as medicine for my health track. I want my snacks to be tasty and (as most snacks are) not too good for you. To snack companies… Keep your medicines and probiotics out of my food! Now I’m stuck with all this yogurt in my fridge I’m afraid to eat.

Weekend

Another great weekend, another great chance to hike! This time we ventured through a new trail we discovered while just driving around in the country the other day. The trail is 3.5 miles in one direction, by far the best one we've done. My mom came long this time.

The walk path wasn’t a wide as other hikes we’ve done but the scenery was a lot more beautiful, most of it was wooded although it did take us through a giant field. I felt a little vulnerable walking out into a wide open area after being enclosed and hidden by the woods for most of the walk.

Eric and I are pretty picky when it comes to what we consider nice land but this seemed to meet our qualifications. The giant stream which emptied into the Potomac River was a highlight of the walk, or at least Loki though so. His favorite part of any walk is the swim.

Another highlight was coming across somebody’s old lean to. It looked pretty old but has to have been built really well to last this long.

At one point Pinky was attacked by a patch of Stinging Nettle in an attempt to catch a frog, which she successfully caught and held for several seconds before realizing her hand was burning. Another downside to this particular path (but one we can overlook and will just have to be more careful with next time) is the fact that it was crawling with ticks. It wasn’t until we got home that we realized just how many we’d given a free ride too. Pinky had two attached, plus one that was roaming around her. Elle also had two attached and we found two more in her bedroom. YUCK!!! The lesson learned here is to CHECK CHECK CHECK ourselves and the kids when we get home and immediately hop in the shower. Ticks, Chiggers, Stinging Nettle, Mosquitoes, thorns… all crappy things to deal with but come with the territory.

And what fun weekend isn’t complete without a little rock climbing!

First Cavity…

I’ve been taking the girls to the dentist regularly since Elle turned 3. While Pinky seems to effortlessly glide through her visits with little more than a cleaning, poor Elle has suffered the brunt of the dental experience.


From a young age I was told Elle would need braces because her mouth was very small and her teeth were squished. Sure enough she’s needed braces as well as a whole gamut of other things. It seems every time I go in there’s a new problem. Their cleaning visit yesterday was no exception. Pinky’s cleaning went great and I was told again, how perfect and strong her teeth are, her spacing is great for when the adult teeth come in, I was told Elle on the other hand, had a cavity.

According to the dentist the culprit is soft teeth. I’ve been told numerous times over several visits that her teeth weren’t as hard they should be, so I knew this day was in the works. I also suffer from this unfortunate problem. I have no idea why my teeth are so crappy but I’ve apparently passed this wonderful issue down to my daughter. Soft teeth (there is a more scientific name but I can’t spell OR pronounce it) occurs when the outer layer of the tooth never hardens correctly the way a normal tooth should during childhood. Chipping of the outer layer is very common as Elle has a few chips in her back teeth. Cavities love soft toothed people. The way it was put to me was that Pinky would be fine with normal brushing but Elle would have to work 100% harder than everybody else to avoid getting cavities. Yikes.

Her drilling is scheduled for May and frankly I’m nervous. Not so much because she’s being drilled, she has a great, competent dentist but because Elle has an aversion to needles (drills will fall into that category soon). Shots at the doctor require no less than two nurses holding her down. She’s only 8 but incredibly strong when she’s terrified of something. I threaten the kids with getting cavities if they don’t brush their teeth but suddenly that doesn’t seem fair anymore seeing as how Pinky will most likely be fine and Elle will most likely get one or two every year!

Because I have soft teeth like Elle I know from personal experience that it sucks. I constantly got cavities which was disappointing because I keep my teeth cleaner then anyone I knew! My routine consists of flossing every morning (sometimes twice over just to be sure), then brushing for a LONG time, then I use either mouthwash or a tongue scraper, and top it all off at the end with chapstick. Seriously, WHO does that everyday?? Me, I do! I do and I still have had a cavity in every tooth I have except my front ones. The worst time was when I was 22, I went in for a cleaning and had twelve… you read that right TWELVE. Having 6 done at one time and the other 6 done two days later really messed up my bite for a long time because it changed the way my teeth met when I closed my mouth. You know the feeling you get when you have to get used to a new filling fitting into your ‘bite’, well imagine that times 12 at one time. It didn’t feel right for about a year.

On the bright side though, Even if Elle is destined to have her teeth drilled for the rest of her life; at least they’ll be strait! 

Funny Things Kids Say

Pinky has been discovering new things she’s able to do daily since her surgery. Usually these discoveries are good things like being able to hear me talk to her, even when she’s in the next room (she has supersonic hearing now!) This morning however, she discovered she could not only hear people around her but also people in her own head. She asked me this morning where Elle was and when I informed her Elle had left for school hours ago her response was “I keep hearing Elle talk to me in my head. I don’t want to go back to the surgery doctor because he’s freakin’ me out; he made people talk in my head!”


While Pinky is busy learning about life around her, Elle is learning how to effectively use wit and sarcasm in conversation. She’s getting pretty good too. Yesterday she asked me something, I can’t even recall what it was but my answer was a sarcastic one. Her response was an eye roll followed with “Thanks for that kind response, it was much appreciated…” LOL

Laziness vs. Coming to Terms with Reality

One thing that stands out more and more as I approach my 30's is my slowing metabolism. The wonderful genes I was born with that allowed me to eat whatever, whenever I wanted without consequence, are no longer as spry as they once were and I am now reaping the unfortunate effects of my lifelong sugar binge.

I look forward to all that goes along with getting older, being taken more seriously, no longer being lumped in with the societal misfits of 20-somethings. However, the downside being that my days of carefree eating are gone.

Time keeps chugging along and I get zero say in it. All I can do is drastically change my habits and perhaps work out harder

Along the way I’ve discovered some unpleasant things about myself. Laziness stands out. In my head I always have an excuse for why I don’t get things done or why I don’t follow through with tasks I need to do. But in reality, I’m just too damn lazy. I can’t sugar coat it anymore, though not for lack of trying. (Get it? Sugar coat! I crack myself up)

Laziness is a bad quality to have when you’re trying to be more health conscious. Working out and eating right takes effort and if I’m being honest with myself, sometimes I just don’t feel like it. So I don’t. After skipping a workout or eating cheesecake for lunch is when I instantly feel guilty. I know that what I have done (or not done) is a direct result of my being LAZY. It’s a quality I loathe in myself, yet haven’t figured out how to change. I suppose I could just power through it. The problem is, laziness is stronger than my desire to power through anything.

Procrastination is another loathsome quality I have. Sometimes to pacify my guilt about skipping the gym, I tell myself I’ll go tomorrow. Whatever I have neglected out of laziness, I will surely kick out the next day. Somehow in my mind, the next day consists of me suddenly not being a lazy ass anymore. Right.

I guess what they say is true; the older you get the wiser you become. Except by wiser, they really meant understanding the gaping-personality-flaws-that-can-no-longer-be-ignored-because-you-are-not-a-selfish-20-something-anymore. Getting old is harsh.

I’ve easily put on close to 5-10 pounds of blubber over the past year. This is when my journey of self discovery began, when I noticed the weight wasn’t being shed in its usual fashion. A lifestyle change is required but is hard when you’re lazy and procrastinate everything. This is really a catch 22 here, with the moral of it all being; if I can control and master my newly discovered problems, I can control and master my weight.

I have a few options going forward. Continue to ignore my problems, which will lead to disaster I’m sure, or tackle my issues head on, smashing them into the ground, and come up being a better person in my 30’s than I was in my 20’s, with the added bonus of looking fabulous again. I prefer the latter.

No Dignity

Being at the bottom of the family hierarchy has obvious disadvantages. Just ask Loki who on a daily basis is forced to participate in girly games thought up by Pinky. Some days he has to endure the embarrassment of wearing headbands around his head or pink socks on his feet. Being a dog, he doesn’t understand what he’s being make to endure but being the manly German Shepard that he thinks he is, he knows enough to feel incredibly emasculated when these unfortunate events occur. It’s obvious by the way he sulks around the house when Pinky decides to play with him, almost as if he were embarrassed to be alive, no doubt praying to God that none of his dog friends walks by and witnesses him swaddled up in a purple blanket.

Notice the look of desperation on Loki’s face below. I walked into the room and noticed Pinky had once again, wrapped her beloved play thing up like a burrito. Poor Loki has learned to deal with it gracefully, that is by not fighting it. He’s tried to wiggle his way out of tutu’s or play bite as a show of his dislike, but those actions were met with swift reprimand by higher members of the pack. He’s surrendered to his role in this house, to let the little one play as she pleases, within reason. Burrito wrapping and hair bows are within reason.

Wow, best commercial ever!

Never before and never again

I am about to do something so crazy, your mind might not even be able to comprehend what I'm about to tell you. I'm going to let you in on a shameful secret I recently discovered I had. I say shameful because, well, I'm ashamed of it. Every fiber of my being is screaming at me to keep my stupid mouth shut but I can't deny the awesomeness (I mean embarrassment) of what I am about to say. This really goes against all that I am, all that I encompass. Or at least what I thought I encompassed. Really it’s done nothing but make me second guess views on life as I previously perceived them… not really, but it is making me question my loyalties. You’ll see what I mean.

Anyone who knows me knows what a brand name snob I am. I would rather spend more money to get something with more prestige then spend less and get a bargain/ generic brand. I pride myself on having my children and myself look great at all times. Frankly, I should be more embarrassed admitting that but I’m not.

Hey, I like a deal as much as the next person and get pretty excited when I see an expensive item on massive sale. That’s an even bigger score to me then paying retail. I said I liked expensive things, I didn’t say I liked paying for them! In fact, some of my most favorite items were purchased from thrift stores. I love finding that one (or two) incredible deal at second hand shops. So, as you can plainly see, my issue isn’t with brand new vs. used, it’s with brand name vs. generic.

Because of the way I am, there are a few stores I refuse to shop in. Namely Wal Mart. Even my kids know I will NOT go into a Wal Mart to save my life. I can’t speak for them all but the one by my house looks as it hasn’t been updated in 20 years. I’m almost scared to drive in front of it, for fear I might run over some woman and her 10 children trailing behind her, or be accosted in the parking lot by a homeless man wanting a few bucks. Why on earth anyone would beg for money outside a Wal Mart is beyond me but whatever.

I was gifted a few Wal Mart gift cards recently and seeing as how I’m not one to turn away a gift card, I was very grateful and accepted it. Not knowing it would change my LIFE! My first attempt at patronizing the Wal Mart was futile; I just couldn’t get out of the car. I gave myself a pat on the back for effort and decided to brave it again the next day.

The next day proved easier and I walked in to what is now my favorite place to grocery shop! Turns out the inside isn’t so run down after all, it’s pretty decent. The best were the aisles and aisles of food. Most of it brand name and ALL of it incredibly cheap. I loaded up my cart with the normalcy’s I usually buy as well as a few treats for the kids I usually don’t buy. My total was less than 100 dollars. After food shopping I waltzed over to other aisles and was equally impressed with the selection of home goods, arts and crafts, bedding, beauty products… I could go on. Everything I could ever want in one store.

I loved it so much I have been back three times since then, including this morning. Each time I dress extra nice in order to distinguish myself above the typical Wal Mart shopper, which I clearly am not... Cleary. I haven’t told anyone about my secret love affair with Wally World for fear of well, I don’t quite know, rejection, judgment, shock, disbelief? Maybe writing it out first will make it easier to vocalize later, after all, acceptance is the first step to recovery.

While I still haven’t (and if I can help it, never will) bought clothes at Wal Mart, they have a plethora of other things worth buying and worth going in for. So there it is, I’ve divulged my dirty secret. Now that you know, you must never speak of this again. I will deny it if ever brought up in company and look at you like you are crazy for even thinking I could possibly like shopping there. There will be no further evidence of this confession. This post will self destruct in 10 seconds…

Lessons learned this weekend.

There are basic rules in this life that one follows. Simple, little things like; if you don’t want to get wet, avoid the rain or use an umbrella, if you don’t want to get burned then don’t play with fire or touch the hot stove, or there’s the rule my daughter didn’t follow and suffered the natural consequences because of it. This rule would be, if you don’t wear long pants and/or socks whilst hiking in the woods, bad things are 100% more likely to happen to you then to others in your hiking party who are adequately dressed.

The weather on Saturday was beautiful, perfect hiking weather. We of course went out for a few hours on a trail, let the dog swim in the stream and stopped to have snacks before trudging back to the car. Elle insisted we go again the next day. Why not, it was an even more beautiful day the next day and we had nothing formal planned, so later the next day we all got our hiking clothes on again. Everyone except Elle that is. The weather was warm but bordering on hot and Elle didn’t want to be bothered with the inconvenience of sweating since she refused to wear pants and instead put on shorts. I told her she’d be happier in pants and informed her she might regret it later. No, she assured me she would be fine. I did draw the line however, when she came down wearing flip flops and made her go back upstairs to put on socks and sneakers. Once again under dressing, she came down sockless shoes. ‘I hate socks, they hurt my feet, I never wear socks, etc…’ We were all ready to go at that point so I didn’t fight it with her.

The hike started off innocently enough, until we had to trudge through some thorns. Everyone made it to the other side without incident except Elle who made it through with several scratches on her shin, probably realizing at that point that shorts weren’t the smartest thing to wear.

Fast forward about 20 minutes when everyone who had come hiking with us was engaged in friendly conversation, when all the sudden we see Elle up ahead screaming and flailing about, yelling that there was a tick on her. Sure enough, there was a little tick trying to attach itself to her shin. Vocalizing the fact that again, pants would have prevented this, didn’t need to be said… it was silently understood.

The last and final straw happened when we finally sat down to have a snack. Both the girls were sitting on Gramps’ lap. For the third time this trip Elle started crying and holding her ankle. I could tell she was genuinely in pain and therefore it might be pretty serious. Apparently Pinky had rubbed Stinging Nettle on Elle’s leg. It was an accident, obviously Pinky didn’t know what it was she was smearing all over her sister and unfortunately for Elle it was Stinging Nettle. Also, unfortunately for Elle she was not wearing socks, which would have prevented the whole thing. Before my eyes her ankle started to get red and splotchy then the white bumps started in. Yikes, I remember touching that stuff once… it was one time too many! Luckily we were sitting right next to the river, so Elle washed her foot off which helped for a few minutes but the walk back to the car was a hard one!
Here’s picture of her ankle. It might not LOOK like much but anyone who has experienced Stinging Nettle knows how awful it is to touch it… let alone have it rubbed into your foot.


So upon getting back into the car, I asked Elle if she had learned an important lesson today. She had. Her response was “Always wear pants and socks while walking around in the woods”.

Easter

We had an action packed Easter this year. Eric's sister and her family came out and the cousins had alot of fun together. Erics mom had a big Easter egg hunt for the grandkids, my kids loved it because I'm not a very fun mom and have never done a big one before! I only hide a few eggs for them on Easter morning around our living room. They dont know any better, so they think it's great, LOL! Having a 'real' egg hunt this year will make it hard for me to do my normal ones in the coming years...

Here are my kids in the living room after finding their baskets:


Here's Pinky after the FUN egg hunt... she's surveying her loot!:


Elle in her Easter dress:


Pinky is clearly ready to eat Easter dinner. She didn't want to wait around for everyone else!:


Elle and her cousin Rachel:


Pinky and gramps (Pinky commands his full attention at the swing everytime they go to the park). After Easter dinner we all went to the park to work off the ham!:


Swinging with Elle:


ALl the cousins:

So Far So Good

Well, Naomi is home now and slowly recovering from her triple surgery. She was pretty excited when we arrived at the hospital, we'd been talking about it for days and trying to explain it to her but she didn't get it and was looking forward to the part where she 'goes to sleep'. She kept asking when she would get to "go to sleep".
When the time came, I carried her back into the cold, sterile operating room... talk about uninviting! I wanted to turn around and run out! I held her on my lap while she had the mask on her face to fall asleep. I was expecting her to close her eyes and slump over on me but instead, her eyes were wide open and she had a blank stare. The nurses lifted her off me and layed her on the table. It was actually pretty awful for me. They were all swarming around her and she just layed there with her eyes glazed over staring at the ceiling. I was escorted out of the room at that point so they could fully put her out. The whole thing was nerve racking!
Here's are the 'before' pictures!




We had nothing to do at that point except wait. Which we did for about 45 minutes (not long at all). When the doctor finally came out, the first thing he said was "She needed it!". He explained that when he went in and inspected around, he saw pus... all over! There was infected pus all in and around her adenoids, all over the back of her nasal cavity and in her nose and also pus clogging up her ears. He said he's never seen so much infection in one little head before! Her left ear was completely blocked off from pus and other nasty stuff he described. To him, it looked like it was just one giant infection that just cycled over and over, that never would have had a chance to heal on it's own. She would have completely lost her hearing eventually, among other unfortunate side effects of having a bad infection in your nasal cavity,throat and ears canals.

When we walked into the recovery room to see her, she was still sleeping. All the nurses kept telling us that it's normal for the little ones to wake up fighting. I was expecting that to mean that she would be really cranky and out of sorts. Nope. She really woke up fighting. Throwing kicks and punches, throwing herself up against the bed bars, arching her back so much no one could pick her up, yelling and crying... she was twisting and turning so much that her tubes were getting all tangled up around her and the nurses had a heck of a time un-twisting her because she wasn't the least bit cooperative.

After thrashing about, she finally sat on Erics lap where she fell back asleep. She slept for about an hour or so. Waking up the second time was easier, she was still super upset but she at least wasn't fighting anyone.
Here she is asleep on Eric:


Waking up the second time:


Elle spent the day hiking around and playing at a friends house. She didn't come home until pretty late at night. Which was good because she would have been really bored with us all day! After we got home we layed Pinky on the couch and she alternated between sleeping and watching SpongeBob. After several hours she was feeling good enough to get up and be a bit more active. At one point she looked at me and said "MAMA, watch this!" and she breathed in really hard through her nose! She goes "I can SMELL"! She was so excited to now be able to breath through her nose. She went into the kitchen and started smelling all the food we have! She really liked the smell of the peanut butter but I think her favorite smell was my candle! She always 'smells' them when I go pick one out, only this time she truly COULD smell it now!

Her hearing is also completely better. I flicked on the light switch and she whipped her head around to it and asked me what that sound was. Another time we were sitting on our deck swing on the back deck, which faces the woods but a car drove past the front of our house, you could barely hear it but she asked me what that sound was. I told her it a car driving past the front. The ultimate one though was when she went to the bathroom... she came out crying and when I asked her why she was crying she replied with "I flushed the toilet and it was too loud".

Her smell and hearing are 100% better then they were before as well as her voice! She is still pretty inflamed in there, but you can tell a difference in the way she talks now vs. before. She no longer sounds like she has a perpetual cold. She words are alot sharper. it's really strange foe me and almost sounds like a different kid when she refers to me. Yes, I'm a little sad and miss her old voice, but her new and improved one is fantastic! She's the same kid only now she can hear, smell and talk better!


Today she is practically back to normal. She will be inflamed for about 6 weeks and her nose is still bleeding on and off, but as long as she's taking it easy, you'd never know she went in for surgery yesterday. I have to be diligent with the meds though, if those start to wear off, she switches pretty fast into painful crankiness. So with medicine and chilling on the couch, she's okay. It's hard to stay on the couch though because it's 88 degrees outside! I so want to go do something active! But the most avtive I'll be today is swinging with Pinky on the deck swing!
So far so good!

Daddy daughter date night

Elle's been interested in our guns since we got them. We obviously don't let her play with them and they are kept locked up. Recently though, Eric has started teaching Elle gun safety, gearing up to take her shooting one of these days. Well, that day was yesterday. We have some family in town so Eric took Elle shooting with his brother in law and Ells cousin Tyler. Elle was completely excited and almost couldn't contain herself!




When they arrived home, Elle seemed even more hyper then when they left. I think it was the adrenaline rush you get from shooting. She told me she loved it and I heard all the details. I was curious if she would still like them after shooting them, but Elle loves them even more now! She is definitely our daughter! She shot the XD9, Sig 226, and the AK-47. She shot the ceiling a few times (ooops, the rangers don't like that, LOL!), but overall had a great first experience!

My cute singing children!

So, the closer it gets to Pinky's surgery, the more I'm reminded I need to videotape her talking and singing before it's all gone! Of course she'll keep talking and singing but her entire voice will be changed forever. I'm excited for the 'new' her, but she's 4 and having this done and having her voice change will suddenly make her sound alot more grown up. I know I'll really miss my little baby.
With Elle I can't remember the specific time when she officially changed from baby to big girl, it happened slowly over time until one day I realized she was just so old! With Pinky, I know this will be the defining moment of her not being so little anymore. I feel like crying every time I think about it! I'm done having kids, I've purged my house of all things 'baby' (clothes, toys, etc...), I sinisterly laugh to myself when all my friends around me have baby strollers and diaper bags because I'm FREE of all that stuff. So I really relish those last stages in Pinky, knowing they are my last!
All weekend I've been following her around with the video camera, which mostly annoys her but I managed to get a few cute shots. My goal was really to capture her talking and singing in her little cute albeit, nasally voice that I will miss so much!

This video that I'm posting is a funny one! Both the girls decide to sing songs to each other and it's really funny to see their facial expressions, then in the end Pinky tackles Elle. AH, sisters!

You'll notice while you watch it that Pinky sounds a bit funny. What you hear as funny though, is what I will miss terribly!!! Also notice that wierd pink ring around her mouth... that would be shimmer lip gloss she put on herself before I started taping.

Spring Break!

This has been a really fun week. Last year, I was homeschooling at this time so Spring Break wasn't too exciting and the year before that the kids were too young to notice. This year they are old enough to really understand and enjoy that they have a week off of school. I tried to stuff it as full as I can with fun things! It makes things easier when the weather is so perfect. This week has been in the high 70's and low 80's.

Spring is in the air! And you know what that means... Cherry Blossom time! This is PEAK Cherry Blossom season right now. The one in our front yard always blooms before any of the others for some reason, people always comment on how pretty it is. It also confirms to me that winter is indeed behind us when the blooms come out. Here's a picture of our front yard Cherry Blossom Tree! Unfortunately later this year we are going to have to cut it down! I'm really sad, it's been a source of awesomeness on our street for years but it's getting so big the roots are growing into our foundation. It's makes it hard to have grass when your yard it's one big knot of bumpy roots! We haven't had grass the whole time we've lived here because the tree roots take over the yard. Our beautiful tree is ruining our yard and house. it's bittersweet really.



Eris and I walked the annual Epilepsy walk in D.C again this year. That;s always fun, except it was FREEZING! It was in the low 30's and SUPER windy. However, as soon as the walk was over it warmed up to like 60 and has stayed there ever since! Go figure.



So, this fun week with the kids has included things like play dates with friends, fort building, sleepovers, doctor appointments (oh wait...). We spent a day in D.C museum hopping. I don't take the kids there as often as I should. I live 20 minutes from the nations capital and really should take advantage of it more then I do. The American History museum recently underwent a multi million dollar renovation, so we stopped and checked that out. I have to say I have fond memories of the 'old' museum and don't like one bit how they;ve changed it. They've taken out all the things that were memorable to me going as a kid.

It's interesting to me the differences in the kids that I noticed. Naomi was fascinated by the exhibits and really looked and studied them hard. She had a piece of paper with exhibits to find and she really clung to that paper and focused on finding everything on it. Where as Elle is more like me... it's cool to look at but she really didn't spend a lot of time looking at stuff. She's more hands on, which is why she loved the hands on science room. She really was in her element in all the experiments and craftiness of the kids science room. When Pinky went into the room, she could have cared less about all the stations. She found it far more interesting to crawl on the floor on all fours searching the room for little plastic beads that were scattered from someones broken bracelet I think. She had lightning focus and I think, found every bead in that whole big room! Here's a picture of the girls in front of the original Dumbo ride (notice Pinky is holding her paper!)


Another fun thing we did was rock climbing. There's a mountain here that has all sorts of natural rock walls and its really fun to climb! I call it a mountain though, because to our county it's like the closest thing we have! To those who live near 'real' mountains, you would scoff at our 1200 foot molehill!
I precariously balanced the camera on a rock to take this picture of us.


Then we stopped for a bit to have a picnic on the cliff. Notice the view behind us, it was really pretty...(for 1200 feet up, LOL)


Erics sister is visiting and the kids have several of their cousins here to play with so I'm sure we'll be doing something fun this weekend with them! I'm excited for Easter, I'll post pictures of my tye-dye eggs after I do them later today!

And don't forget Pinky is getting surgery first thing Monday morning. I need to stock up on ice cream and Popsicles.