You've had a birthday!

My baby, Mary, the little stinker went and turned 5 on Monday.  Her breakfast in bed was quite the sugar bomb.  Her choice of favorite cereal was Froot Loops, grandpa brought donuts with heart shaped sprinkles and a little hot chocolate for a cold winter morning.

She has been counting the days and every day would ask me if it was her birthday.  When they sang to her in Primary on Sunday, the teacher told me that she bounced all the way to the front of the room.  She was that excited.

 A few days before she turned five (yes when she was still 4) she lost her first tooth.  Crazy but she was glad to be able to put her tooth in the tooth pillow for the tooth fairy.

Gratitude part 3

Sweet Ella.

She is 9 now and growing up too fast.  She is busy, busy, busy with her jump rope team, some tumbling training (for jump rope) and dance (that she wanted to do so she could be with her good friend Julia).  She definitely keeps us on our toes.  She is passionate, independent and knows what she wants (and doesn't want!).  I know I can get a hug from her.  She is so loving.   I am grateful she is part of our family.

Gratitude, part 2

Last night the kids and I and 30,000 or so friends went to the Romney/Ryan rally.  It was great to feel the energy and excitement of the crowd.  

The thing that I am grateful for and the thing that I was trying to teach the kids by taking them there is that we live in a great country.  No matter what your political affiliation, it is a blessing that we can assemble, voice our opinions and vote.  My limited travels outside this country have really made me appreciate what a gift it is to have been born here with opportunity, freedom and liberty.

Gratitude

I've noticed on Facebook and other blogs that some are taking the month of November to count their blessings.  What a wonderful idea.  I think it is easy sometimes easy to focus on the things that are difficult or the things that go wrong.  But we (I) are really so blessed.

This little baby cakes (that's what I call her) is such a fun age.  She is independent enough to not need me all the time but still likes to do things with me.  She loves movies and electronics just like her siblings, but loves being outside and playing, too.  She is loving preschool.  She brings so much joy to our lives.

Fourth of July, DC style

We learned from our previous mistake and packed a lunch for our trip down to check out DC on the 4th.  We were excited to see all that DC would offer.

We had hoped to leave a little earlier than we did and worried that there wouldn't be anywhere along the parade route to sit once we got there.  Turns out there was still plenty of seating because everyone who was already there had crowded into the shade.  It was SO hot, like melt-your-face-off hot.  Sarah found a little shade.  We eventually moved across the street and sat in front of the American History museum where there was enough shade for all of us.

We tried to watch the parade which I heard can last a couple of hours.  I think we lasted about 20 minutes before we bailed and went into the museum.  Too hot.

The kids spent the next hour or so building pyramids with Legos.  Not really what we came for but they were happy.

Tanner and Ella were pretty proud of their pyramid, but a bit disappointed that before they left the room another kid had destroyed it to build something else.

While the kids built with Legos, I took Rylee and Mary over and walked through the Star Spangled Banner exhibit.  It was amazing.

We also walked over to the National Aquarium that is in the basement of the commerce building.  That was not amazing.  In fact it was quite a dump and a big waste of money.  Skip that if you go.  I hear the National Aquarium in Baltimore is quite nice.

We tried to go to the South Side of the White House but it was blocked off for invited guests only.  Apparently someone was throwing a party that we had not been invited to.

So we walked on the north side and our kids ran through the White House sprinklers to cool off a bit.

We had planned to go back down to the mall for fireworks but really were not looking forward to the crowds.  Marc overheard someone in the line at Whole Foods say they were going to the Kennedy Center to watch them.  This was literally about a 5 minute walk from our hotel so we decided to check it out.

It was great.  Not crowded, (still hot!) a great view and we passed the time while we waited watching the boats go by on the Potomac and taking pictures of the kids.

Washington DC, Day 2

On the second morning of our trip, Marc got up early and went to grab some tickets to tour the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  We watched money being printed and learned all about the process so we can duplicate it!  Unfortunately, this tour did not end with any free samples of their product.

Since we were so close, we walked down the road a bit to the Jefferson Memorial.  I couldn't remember that I had ever visited that one even though I spent a couple of summers living in Northern Virginia with my parents.  

I was a little bothered that the concrete just ends with no fence or anything and drops right into the Potomac.  At one point I couldn't find Sarah and thought for sure she had fallen in.

The Martin Luther King Memorial was new since the last time we were there too.

Again we found water to put our feet in.  It felt a little disrespectful at the WWII memorial but everyone else was doing it too.  Good reason, right?  

After having to leave our water at the door at the capital building, we left the hotel empty handed and decided to get lunch at the Museum of Natural History.  That was our most expensive and least impressive meal of the whole week.  I think it was almost $70 for sandwiches and french fries for our family.

The elevator operator at the museum (yes, they actually pay someone to sit in the elevator and push the buttons!) told us that the butterfly house was free on Tuesdays.  I sat in line while Marc walked around with the kids.

I think almost everyone ended up with a butterfly on them at some point.

We made a stop at the American History Museum, pretended to give a very presidential speech and saw Abraham Lincoln's hat.

Washington DC, Day One

On July 1, we left home for a week in our nation's capital.  Ella had jump rope competition there late in the week so we made a family trip out of it.  We drove in on Sunday hoping to hit Cafe Rio but much of the DC area was without power from storms that blew through including the shopping center with the restaurant.  We were VERY disappointed.

We stayed at the George Washington University Inn in Foggy Bottom.  It was a perfect location.  We were two blocks from the metro, five minutes from the river, 3 blocks from Trader Joe's and surrounded by fun local eateries.  We parked our car on Sunday when we got there and never moved it until we left.

The first morning, we walked down to the Potomac and Marc took the kids canoeing.  Only four could be in the boat at once so I stayed back with the waiters.

Took some pictures of Mary.  She is such a fun age right now.  I love this four year old.  She is kind and helpful and happy, most of the time.

She said enough pictures.

We found a little bit of shade and sand while we waited.

That afternoon we had scheduled a tour of the capital building.  

We listened to a lot of interesting things and disappointed our children by refusing to buy anything at the gift shop!

We left our hotel room right after lunch and took water and things with us so that we could spend the afternoon seeing sights and going to museums.  Before entering the capital building, security personnel go through your bags and ask you to dispose of all water bottles.  The theme for the week was definitely heat.  It was boiling hot.  After much whining, I bought popsicles and water from an overpriced vendor on the street.  I believe it is the federal government that is employing the asian people who sell $3 bottles of water on the street after they take them away from you.

Tanner wanted to send this picture to his math teacher and ask him to figure the volume.

We spent at least an hour doing this.  Feet in the water just cooing off.

Before heading back to the hotel, we walked through the American History museum and Tanner tried to give gum gum to this statue.