random bits of this and that

This is just a random post of a couple things that I don't want to forget.

First, the other morning, while I was in the shower, Melissa woke up. Mason, being ever the helper, got her out of bed, picked out some clothes (a VERY cute outfit from cousin Marcy, no less) and grabbed a clean diaper. He was in the process of getting her jammies off when I came out to check on them. He said, "Don't worry mom, I'm just gonna change her and get her dressed so she will be all ready to go." Then, he did! He got her diaper all changed and got her clean pants on. When it came to the shirt, he tried for a few minutes and then said, "Mom, you have to do this. She is just too wiggly for me."
That is my sweet boy!


Here is MJ in her new 'cat hat'. She looks very cute in it and even caused the bus driver to stop, exit the bus and come out to admire her at pick up the other day. Oh, and if you look closely, you can see her two new razor sharp teeth that came through last week!

Thanks Grandma Girl!

When the Matt's away...

...the rest of us will play!

Matt attended a conference on Cape Cod a few weeks ago. It was 10 days long. You heard me...10 days. I decided that in order for us to make it through that time with my sanity in tact, we had better do some REALLY fun things. Lucky for me, we have some REALLY great friends.
Day 1: Pizza picnic on out patio.
Day 2: Soccer practice at the park and popcorn at Target.
Day 3: We tagged along on a playgroup trip to the Grounds for Sculpture. There is a restaurant there called Rats. It is a fancy, delicious place (despite the name). At first thought, this day sounded great, lunch, tour of the kitchen, and playing on the grounds.

As soon as we arrived I had second thoughts. No plastic cups here. Glass top tables. Lots of people enjoying a wonderful meal. Then we showed up...six moms with 13 children in tow. The oldest was five.

Amazingly, all of the children were very well behaved (only two fell in the pond). The chefs prepared them a special meal of penne, fries, and (the best ever) chicken tenders. After we finished lunch, the chef (who is the father of one of Mason's friends) took us on a tour of the kitchen (fabulous!) and then we walked and played on the grounds.



The kids (and I) were exhausted when we got home so the four of us slept the afternoon away.

Keep scrolling down for the rest of our adventures!

Weekend fun!

Days 4-5: Friday morning was a mad dash to get Ollie to school, come home to pack and clean, pick Ollie up from school and hit the road. We were in store for a great weekend with friends in Virginia.
Did you know...?

Apparently it is also for a single mother of three.

We arrived at Emily and Curtis' house after a rather peaceful and uneventful car ride. We immediately headed out to the most incredible park in the universe. It had a HUGE playground that kept the kids occupied for hours. We had a picnic dinner followed by more playing. We got home after dark and five tired kids fell into bed and slept until morning.



On Saturday morning, we woke to the smell of pancakes and bacon, ate breakfast and headed out to the Air and Space museum located by Dulles Airport.
IT. WAS. INCREDIBLE.
First thing when we walked in the door was this Blackbird. Truly jaw-dropping.

In the hangar behind the Blackbird was a the Space Shuttle Enterprise. The real one. To look at it you would thing someone mocked it up out of styrofoam and cardboard. Pretty incredible.

It was surround by all sorts of cool 'space thingies'. There were missiles, mission control stations, the NASA quarantine station (looks like a rundown airstream trailer), and a Mars rover.

We looked a zillion more planes including the Concord, bombers, glider planes and the Enola Gay. Then we headed up to the observation deck to watch the planes take off and land from Dulles. Heaven on earth for my two boys.


I took this picture especially for Matt. The boys thought it was pretty funny too. I actually think it is genius.

Keep scrolling down for the rest of our adventures!

Reunion

Day 6: In some strange twist of fate, my dear friend Sarah (who moved to Utah 2 years ago) happened to be visiting her sister in Virginia at the same time we were there. We met up at the play area at the mall where the kids ran crazy for a good two hours.

Isn't she cute?

We were just sad that Sarah's son Andrew was not there with us. Mason would have LOVED to see him. Next time, for sure.

We stopped at Cake Love for some YUM! (thanks Kate)

After that is was time to get back in the car and head for home. Thanks for a great weekend Coates family and Sarah!

Keep scrolling down for the rest of our adventures!

Slowing things down

Day 7: Monday we all slept in a little and Ollie played hooky from school. We walked Mason to the bus stop and then jumped in the car to meet him at school for his Walk for the Red Cross. He raised $35 to donate to the cause, and then walked 1 mile with his class (and us).

Day 8: We were REALLY missing Matt by now and I was pretty tired. We tried to get back to our regular routine of school, play, rest, play, eat, play, bed.

Day 9: I was wondering how on earth I was going to survive without Matt for two more days. In fact, I was on the phone wondering it out loud to Amy, when the other line beeped. It was Matt. He was in the car, on his way home. A day early. My prayers were answered :)
Matt pulled in around 2:30pm. By 2:35, I was fast asleep in my bed, recovering from a very fun, long week!

Last fun of Summer

Last day at the Princeton fountain for this year!


A lot of fun was had there this summer and we will all look forward to more fun at the fountain when warm weather comes our way again!

Soccer stars

The boys started soccer a few weeks ago. As is standard for our family this fall, they play at the same time on two different fields. So, I sent the camera with Matt and Ollie. I took pictures of Mason with my phone.

Anyone have any idea how to get pictures off of the phone and on to the computer?

A great week

We had a great week of fun with Matt's mom and aunt. Unfortunately I have no photos because my battery was dead on the camera :( I'll get some pics from Matt's mom to post soon.