The Coolest Park...Ever!

We went to the coolest park ever yesterday! It was called Clemyjonti Park and it was up in McLean. (Thank you Diane!) I had been wanting to go, but not wanting to make the 45 minute drive to get there. Yesterday promised good weather, and all 4 kids were home, so I bit the bullet and off we went. We also took Joshua's friend, Giovanni with us. Yikes! 5 kids and me at a huge park. I lost the oldest 4 in the first five minutes. I kept track of Delaney, but the rest were gone in a flash. Marian was pretty easy to locate- just look for the monkey bars. She loves to climb on them. I would have worried less about Callie if 'd known she was with the boys. They kept an eye on her and all was well. The place was huge, and absolutely packed, kids everywhere!

We took a break for a picnic lunch, and then they were back to playing. Delaney found a little boy, just her size and followed him on the slide about 20 times. Then that was all she wanted to do. So we went round and round several different slides, up and down, up and down. She also wanted to swing. I was okay with that, because the only other thing she wanted to do was run. She's fast too! I'd look to make sure I had eyes on Marian and I'd look back and Delaney was gone. Callie was like that too, but at least I could track her by looking for Joshua's blue shirt, or Giovanni's red hat.

They had a blast. It was worth the drive. Of course, having the GPS helped. That is my new favorite toy and I cannot tell you how much I LOVE it! I am directionally challenged. I truly am. And the GPS makes life considerably easier for me. But, enough about the new love of my life, and back to the fabulous park. Here are pix of their fun day....

Good Idea/Bad Idea

We had such a lovely Christmas at home this year. The drawback was that we had nothing planned, and no company to play with. So we decided to get out and do some fun stuff. Friday we went down to Quantico, to see the Marine Corps Museum. That was a very good idea. WOW! We loved it. The kids had a good time and Callie was thrilled with all the nifty art work. She kept running over to me to tell me about each new thing she saw. It was pretty cool.

There were some pretty neat displays, and a lot of different things to see. Anything you wanted to know about the Marine Corps and it's history was in that building. The thing that shocked Dan the most was a picture of a former boss of his, blown up huge on the wall.

Joshua loved this. I don't think you can tell, but it is made entirely out of legos! Yep, even the flag. Joshua was pretty impressed. As was I.

My little cutie pies! FYI- all the red bricks (by Marian's feet) around the building have names of Marines inscribed on them. Pretty cool.

Yes, we had a really good trip and a wonderful day on Friday. We made the mistake of pushing our luck. We decided to Metro into DC and go to the Smithsonian on Saturday. Bad idea. 4 cranky kids.... We went to the Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural History. Both were absolutely packed. The kids complained about being hungry, Callie kept running off, and I was hating the solid mass of humantiy in the way of my big double stroller! So we did not stay long, and we were home before 1pm. And the kids watched Wall-E and felt better.

This is the space capsule-like potty at the Metro station. I thought it was neat! Dan wouldn't let me go in to take more pictures though.

This is one of the few great things we were able to see in the Amreican History place. And shockingly, there isn't anyone else in the photo.

And on to the Museum of Natural History. I think Marian was crying about needing food here. I did provide them with a healthy and nutritous breakfast, which they all turned their noses up at, so don't blame me!

Here we are, jammed into the dino exibit at the Natural History Museum. The kids did like the dinosaurs, but there were SO many people there. It wasn't much fun. We'll have to go back when it is less crowded.

On the way back to the Metro, we passed through this sculpture garden. Some funky stuff in there! We liked this spider sculpture in front of the building the best. Isn't it fantastic?!

So, the moral of the story is, quit when you are ahead. Just because you had one good trip, don't push for another!

Merry Christmas!

This was our very first year to have Christmas all by ourselves. I was a bit uncertain how it would be. Family has always been important to me, and the idea of no family at Christmas would have been devastating 10 years ago. After a few children, traveling became more of an issue (for all of us!). Still, I like having family around. Dan's family, my family, I like family! I was afraid it wouldn't feel like Christmas without some of them around.

This was a fabulous Christmas! No stress. No out-of-wack schedules. Heck, I didn't even try to make toffee this year, and I only made one batch of caramel. It was also kind of fun to get to set up our very own traditions. We still need a little work in that department, but at least now we have an idea of what is important to us and what we want to keep doing every year. And did I mention that the kids slept till 7 this morning?! Aaaahhhh, that was wonderful!

It was sweet to see Marian so excited about wrapping gifts for her siblings. She loved finding things for Callie and wrapping them up for her sister. That really melted my heart. Delaney caught on very quickly to the idea of things and she had a blast tearing into gifts. We like to take turns opening gifts so everyone can see, and the kids were great about that. It was cute to see them so excited about their own gifts and their siblings gifts.

Christmas makes me think about being a mother. Joshua was 3 1/2 months old at his first Christmas. I remember reading the Christmas story and really seeing it for the first time. As a brand new mom, I wondered how Mary must have felt, and how could she deal with this huge responsiility she had been given. And I realized, I had that same responsibility. I had been given a child of God to raise. My son was a child of God. I had been tasked with raising him, and teaching him. Wow. I remeber that feeling most strongly at Christmas, and I hope I am doing a good job. I hope I am treating my children as the special, wonderful spirits that they are. And I hope they know they are divine beings who I only get to boss around for mortality.

And on that note, here are some random shots of the loot-fest!

The Ward Christmas Party

I love the annual Ward Christmas Party. No matter what ward we are in or where we are at, its one of my favorite things every season. I love getting together with friends. I love the food and the fun. I love that the kids usually get to see Santa, especially since that tends to be the only time they will. I just love the Christmas party!

This year there was some fantastic food. The kids liked the turkey, but I must say, the roast beast was amazing! Check this out- lovely table cloths and centerpieces.

Callie was upset about the contents of her plate. No worries, that's what Mom is for!

They had a little talent show. It was short and sweet. Joshua got up and sang, all by himself. He was also the very first act; he was pretty brave. Look at that grin at me!

Marian did not want her picture taken. Hee hee hee! What a crusty face!

Callie totally wanted to see Santa and almost chickened out at the last second. The girls gave courage to each other and sat on his lap together. He was a really good Santa.

My not-shy boy!

Delaney wanted nothing to do with Santa. Nothing at all! She had her "Buppy!" and did not want to go see this stranger. This is as close as she got.

She did, however, want the candy!

Life with a Toddler

Life with an almost-two-year-old is never dull. It is the exact oppopsite of dull. Sometimes it is crazy, and I mean that in the pull-your-hair-out-and-scream kind of crazy. Sometimes it is break-down-and-cry kind of crazy. Sometimes it is the giggle-maniacally-because-it's-that-or-scream kind of crazy. Occasionally it is the I-can't-believe-you-did-that crazy. But sometimes it is the very entertaining kind of crazy. And that, my friends, is my favorite kind.

I'm talking about times like this, when you have spagetti for dinner and your daughter, who has total nap-hair, eats it off her plate like a puppy dog, but stops the second she sees the camera. (And that would be the kind of sentence that makes Dan crazy. Those gramatically anal journalist people!)

Then there are the times, after that spaghetti dinner when your toddler is still wearing her dinner on her face, and she does this....

And I have no idea what she thinks she is doing, but she certainly cracks me up. That's why I take so many blurry pictures, I'm laughing so hard I can't keep the camera still!

Last, but not least... Delaney!

This kid is the one I liked more BEFORE she turned one. The rest, I coulda left 'em and come back to get them when they could walk; that's when they became enjoyable. This one was different! She was a delightful, happy.... normal baby, and I liked it! Now that she's walking and trying to express an opinion, well, its gone downhill!

Meet the grumpy face. The "I want a cookie now" face. The "I'm about to hurl myself to the floor screaming" face. Fortunately, it is still a very cute face.

This is the mischievious face. She figured out how to drag the stool from the bathroom, and put it on the chair all by herself. Then she climbed up on it, without any help. I happened to walk into the room and saw this. You can see that I first grabbed the camera, before I removed her. That's the kind of mom I am!

This is the happy, eating-candy face. She climbed up on the counter and found this pack of Smarties somewhere and started to snack on them. She has green frosting on her face because I let her lick the beaters after I made frosting.

...and speaking of frosting. I am quite cross. There is something wrong with my vanilla! I noticed that the frosting tasted off. Not horrible, but wrong. It turns out, my vanilla doesn't smell like vanilla. (And yes, it was pure, real vanilla at some point in time, I don't know what happened.) And now I must get a new thing of vanilla. But, back to Delaney....

Here she is, cracking me up with her happy stomp dance. I laugh hysterically when she does this. Don't you love the red velvet one-piece?! I thought it was very Christmassy, so I put it on her. I think red is a good color for her!

So, that's my baby. My adorable, trouble-making cutie-patootie!

Callie

This is my most entertaining child. Callie is a whirlwind of energy and emotion. She lights up the world with her sheer joy of life. When she is happy, the sun is shining, and when she is mad, it is major storm clouds. I love this girl!

She gets to hang out with me all day still. Yep, and one more year of that to go!

She is being silly for me. She loves to laugh and play. She will never quit, either. I love it when she smiles so hard her eyes become 2 squinty little crescents.

She is showing off her blanket and pink elephant. I think that pink elephant was actually a gift to Delaney last Christmas, but its kind of been comandeered by Callie, who loves it.

Did I mention how funny she is and how much she likes to be silly?

Callie is a happy, energetic, fun girl. Amazing to think she was a rotten infant! Now she is a delightful, happy girl. She loves to play with her friends, tell terrible jokes, and put on gobs of "lipsticks". She loves to laugh, play with her toys, and be with her siblings. I'm lucky to have her.

Marian

This is my sweet girl. She is so funny sometimes with her little quirks, but she is growing into such a neat kid. She is doing great in school. I don't know how much she's learning, but her personality is doing great!

She was not thrilled to have me pull out the camera in the middle of her favorite PBS cartoon after school yesterday.

She was willing to ham it up for me though.

She is such a cute girl. She refuses to wear jeans, and will only wear "soft" pants. She won't wear long sleeves either. It is hard to dress her. I have to make sure the pants are on her approved list. Then I have to find shirts that match the pants. Jeans are so great because they universally match everything. Sigh. She is wearing shorts here, because some days she runs upstairs to change into them as soon as she gets home from school. Silly pickle!

This was her weak attempt to smile for me. I love that about Marian. She's honest! She'll tell it like it is. When she is happy, you know it. If she's not, she isn't going to pretend like she is.

She is a great girl. This morning, I went to my room after my shower and I thought Dan must have made them bed. Then Marian came and admitted it was her. Wow! Not only did she do a good job, but she did it because she wanted to be a helper! She really is growing up nicely.

Joshua

I love this kid. He makes me laugh. Well, not so much today. He is whining that he is bored, but he won't work on his homework. On the plus side, that's about as bad as it gets with him. I am darn lucky!

He is a silly boy. He is a marvelous boy.

Today, Marian and I were watching old video clips of the kids. It was quite amusing. And I am so glad that Joshua is growing up! I do miss that gravelly, deep voice he use to have. So cute.

Dispite this face, he really is growing into a fabuous boy. I have a video clip of him, when he was 3 and in the middle of a 45 minute tantrum. I thought those days would never end! Whew and thank goodness they did!

Hee hee hee. His inner gargoyle does rear its ugly head on occasion, but nothing like 2 years ago! People really were right, it DOES get better!

And by fighting the fight then, I do not have to do it now. I am glad Joshua is my boy. He is a great brother, and a good kid. He is smart, he is funny, he is a good reader and he tells the funniest jokes! Yep, I love this kid.