Happy Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day - the kids were happy, the weather was sunny, I had beautiful flowers to fill my kitchen, and a yummy brunch to fill my tummy. Also, I was invited to two very special tea parties last week. Hannah's preschool class had a Mother's Day Tea and Alex's class had Muffins for Moms. I appreciate Mother's Day even more now that the kids are a little older and can articulate their love much more clearly (as you can see from the videos). My kids worked very hard on creating cards and gifts that I will treasure forever.

Easter Sunday

The Easter Bunny was very good to Alex and Hannah this year. Unfortunately, Hannah was so tired after the circus that she missed out on coloring eggs. Fortunately, Alex made a couple special eggs just for her. Easter Sunday was quiet but nice. We searched for eggs, went to church, went to the gym, and had a yummy duck dinner.

The Greatest Show on Earth!!

We just got back from the Ringling Brother's Circus and it was phenomenal. The kids loved it, I loved it, and I think Jeff really liked it, too. I haven't been to the circus since I was about 8 years old and it still hasn't lost its magic. We were so lucky to have fabulous seats, second row - middle section. Alex's favorite part was the motorcycles in the spherical cage, Hannah's favorite was the bubble clowns and "My Little Pony" horses, my favorite was the elephants and Jeff's favorite was the acrobats. I was a bit worried about Hannah because she's had a fever for the past couple of days but she did great - just give her a corn dog, a snow cone in an elephant cup, popcorn, a stuffed elephant, mommy's lap, and she was good to go. The circus wiped Alex and Hannah out - they are both taking late day naps. I hope they wake up soon (did I just say that?!) so they can color Easter eggs so that the Big E Bunny can make his yearly visit to our house.

Six!! Already??

Alex has reached a milestone in his very young age. He now has to use two hands to show how old he is. Alex had a fantastic birthday! He had a boy's only Bolt Birthday party at the bowling alley (FYI: MUCH easier than doing it at home like we did last year), he had a special birthday lunch with daddy at Red Robin (can't beat those root beer floats), and best of all he now has two new pets - Lazer 1 and Lazer 2 (dwarf hamsters). Alex also chose a new bigger bicycle and is now asking daddy to take the training wheels off only after 3 weeks of having it. I can't believe that six years have already flown by. Alex has filled these past six years with joy and laughter and I can't imagine life any other way. Happy Birthday, Dude!!

Botanical Gardens

I've been living in the D.C. area for about twenty years and have never gone to the National Botanical Gardens. We decided to take Nanny and the kids there for a new adventure and for the most part it was fun (I'll get to the un-fun part in a moment). The gardens were beautiful - it was wonderful seeing flowers in full bloom and taking a warm walk through the jungle and desert in the middle of winter. The best part was smelling the flower sculptures filled with natural scents such as "Mexican Hot Chocolate" (cinnamon, saffron, and cocoa).

Now for the un-fun part of our adventure. After the visit to the gardens, we decided to go to the American History Museum that recently reopened after a few years of renovation. We needed some nourishment and a potty break. Well, some of us needed a potty break - after lots of unheeded coaxing and bribery, Hannah decided to postpone her break once she realized that the toilets were automatic flushers. I knew this could mean trouble but I can't force her to go so Hannah and I went back to lunch with everyone else. She decided that she needed to sit on my lap (any other mother could sense this was bad news but not me). All of a sudden Hannah looked at me with huge eyes and cried "mommy I just went pee-pee." Of course she didn't need to tell me - she was sitting on my lap, after all and I felt the warm trickle running down my lap and legs. I took the kicking and screaming child back to the restroom and dried out her pants under the automatic hand driers but had no luck with my pants. I tied my coat around my waist like I did when I was in junior high and grinned and bared the adventures with my daughter. Hopefully, one of these days I'll look back at this and laugh. Right now, it's still not too funny.

I celebrated my 38th birthday a couple of weeks ago. It was a quiet celebration with cake, flowers, a few presents and lots of hugs and kisses - it was perfect. My 38th year was a year of self-awareness and growth. I'm definitely a better wife, mom, and daughter but most of all I'm a better ME. I'm mentally and physically stronger and healthier than I've ever been in my entire life. Last year at this time I don't think I could have run two miles now it's nothing for me to run six or seven miles and I actually love it. I now spend more time reading scientific journals that I find fascinating and I get my morning hit of NPR which I simply disregarded several months ago. And most importantly, I have my glass of wine each night from my wine of the week club. Sure I still run around helping Alex with his homework/reading and volunteering in his class, trying to figure out how to calm down the Hannah temper tantrums, run to the grocery store and cook family meals, and go to work each day. But the point is I figured out how to carve a little ME time into each day which makes everyone in my life a bit happier.

Rock Band

What do you get when you mix a curling iron, a Barbie guitar, a 5 yr old, and a 3 yr old? A rock band, of course!! Hannah got a Barbie guitar for Christmas and sometimes insists on being called Hannah Montana. Alex's favorite song happens to be from the Offspring; not really kid appropriate but he loves to rock. I got an IPod for Christmas and have to peel it out of his hands. What can I say -- my kids love music. Hopefully talent comes with age because they have a long way to go before they can hit the record studios or American Idol.

Note: please disregard the messy bedroom.

The Cottontails

I've had several requests to post pictures of Hannah's dollhouse that we built for Christmas. I have to say that it turned out pretty darn cute considering my "crafty" talent is a little on the shaky side. Thank goodness for good ole Mom and Dad for lending many helping hands in getting this completed before Christmas - I'm not sure I could have gotten it together all by myself.

I absolutely loved my dollhouse when I was a little girl. So when I saw this kit on sale (about 20 years ago) I just had to buy it just in case I ever had a little girl to give it to. I also saved the "real" dollhouse furniture for Hannah but she's a bit to young to have it. The Calico Critters furniture collection that Santa brought works great in this precious little pink cottage. Hannah (and Alex) loves playing with her bunnies in her little house. I have to say that I've had my share of fun with it too. It's a nice quiet and peaceful activity to sit and play bunnies with Hannah on these cold days we've been having.

Alex's First Lost Tooth

Alex lost his first tooth this past week. He actually lost it during school. Apparently, he went to show his teacher his wiggly tooth and wiggled it a bit too hard and it popped out. He was so excited for the tooth fairy's first visit. The tooth fairy needs to perfect her technique a bit before the next tooth comes out. The tooth fairy waited until Alex was asleep and successfully made the exchange but there was a slight problem in the morning. Alex woke up and there was no tooth under the pillow but there was no dollar coin either. Jeff and I were in his room searching the pillow cases, shaking the sheets and tossing stuffed animals saying "I know the tooth fairy wouldn't just take the tooth without leaving something." We even pulled the mattress off and moved the entire bed but still no coin was to be found. Finally, after much searching and tossing we found that the coin had rolled under the trundle drawer under the bed. I'm going to have to make a tooth pillow or something for the next exchange - Alex is already starting to work on wiggling the next tooth so I don't have that much time. Wish the tooth fairy luck on tooth number 2.

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas - Sort Of

Imodium? Check
Cipro? Check
Holly Leaf Cookies? Check
Passport? Check
OK so Jeff is off to Indonesia until the 21st. We were able to squeeze in our Christmas picture during Jeff's prep for his trip but it wasn't easy. The first picture was a keeper but wait all the pictures we just took are blurry - that darn camera. Alex stop crying; Hannah get your clothes back on - we have to take more pictures before Daddy gets on the plane! What will stop this chaos and get those kids back in front of the tree? Left over Halloween chocolate. We were able to get a few more pictures before Jeff had to leave but ultimately someone looked goofy or wasn't looking at the camera. I tried to choose the best one but you'll see next week once I get my cards written and sent out.


So we ventured out for our yearly Santa visit but where's Hannah? Too bad the picture doesn't have sound because then you'd hear the high pitch screaming of my daughter. She wanted nothing to do with going in the vicinity of Santa this year. I couldn't even get her to sit on my lap next to Santa. So after standing in line for an hour and shelling out $35 here's our 2008 Santa picture. Alex was a champ and told Santa that his crying little sister wants a Barbie and Baby doll.




So the saga continues. What are we doing while Jeff is away? Alex has a birthday party to attend; both kids have their Christmas Program on the same day and time in separate schools (I haven't figured out how to clone myself yet but I'm still working on it); I need to get my Christmas cards written; I need to get teacher gifts; boxes of outdoor lights are still sitting on my kitchen floor; I haven't baked the first Christmas cookie (unless you call melting marshmallows for Holly Leaves baking); oh, and the doll house that I'm building for Hannah is still in 100 pieces at least it's painted and wallpapered. I'm not sure when I'll be able to go to work, eat or sleep but it's the Christmas season - I'll sleep next year.