Christmas vacation

I woke up this morning and it was dreary and sn-icey (as a fb friend put it) out. And no one has to go to school so we stayed in bed and cuddled until 8ish. Hey. That's late for me. Does vacation HAVE to end? It's so relaxing right now! I'm teaching myself to crochet, the kids and I have been playing games and reading. The kids have been getting along wonderfully and playing together and it's all been just SO RELAXING.

Right now it is almost 9 and I have my cup of coffee, the kids are at the laptop at the kitchen table and are still in their PJs watching "Martha Speaks".

We had a fabulous Christmas. I will share a few pics and hope my inlaws and parents have more as our camera died before the day was done.











My New Years Resolution this year is to continue to update this blog regularly. I love Kate's idea of making a book at the end of the year and so I need to make sure I update! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Oh so many things going on!

I always think "Oh, I should update the blog!" Then I think "Why am I updating a blog? It's not like people besides me and family read it and, even then, they have already heard all this stuff on facebook." If you for real actually look at this blog, drop me line and that might keep me motivated to keep updating it.

Let's see... what has happened since I last updated...

We've had Halloween. Ariel was a pumpkin, Rachael was a witch, and Trevor was some hideous zombie. We also took a neighbor-friend who was Bumblebee from Transformers. At every house he would tell people that Trevor was a zombie... but not a REAL zombie. And he would make Trevor take off his mask and show them that he was really just Trevor under there. It was hilarious. Then Ariel collected so much candy her bag broke. So we had to knock on a door again and ask for a plastic shopping bag to hold all of Ariel's candy. It was a great night for the kids. They had a blast.


We also went to Ariel's preschool fun night where Trevor and Rachael had an indepth conversation about politics and health care reform. Not really. But it sure looks like they are having a serious discussion, doesn't it? I actually think they are really talking about zombies in the dark and farting.


Ariel got all dressed cute as a pumpkin. She looked adorable. That night, after she had gone to bed, Rez found the little hair thing and chewed it up. I'm glad she got to wear it for one night at least.


Ariel was so super excited to show daddy her preschool room!

We've been doing many other things. I don't have pictures for them, though. Today was Rachael's first Daisy field trip. I've been having fun with Emily starting the troop. This was our first excursion requiring a permission slip and it was quite exciting for all of us. We met at the school playground and did a scavenger hunt. We had the girls pair up and each girl had a clipboard with the things they needed to find. We found leaves, pine needles, a treasure (Rachael found moss!), etc etc. Then, when we got back to the playground, each girl interviewed her partner and found out things like if she had any pets, sisters/brothers, fav colors, etc. The girls had lots of fun. Then they spent the rest of the time playing on the playground. I was really nervous about our first field trip and I don't know why, it turned out fantastic and the girls had a blast!

I know more has been happening, among them, a trip to the Museum of American History, Cox Farms, our first Daisy meeting, I taught GRACE Art to Trevor's class and liked the project so much we did it at home, I studied for and passed my math placement test and signed up for spring 2010 semester (3 more semesters and I think I will have my AA!). We also have been walking and taking care of Rez and he's getting so big. In fact, I will go ahead and post that video I posted to fb of him playing. He is HUGE now and I can't believe he has more to grow!



This is Ariel putting on a show for me. Ariel mainly danced around. Rez was being very very very good in this video. He has a ball in his mouth, that's the squeaking noise. Normally he is really mouthy and, if he wasn't holding the ball, he would end up having to sit by me because he would chase Ariel and gnaw on her arm and be generally obnoxious. Puppies seem to be cursed with obnoxiousness. heh. But he is REALLY good in his video and you can see how big he is! For the record, Rez will be 9 months at the end of the month. I might have to double check that, though. I thought he was only 8 months. Time sure is flying!

Ariel's version of art

Sometimes I realize that my facebook status updates will eventually meander their way down my facebook page and end up eaten by the vast internet abyss. So I should probably jot down those odd comments my children make sometimes.

Ariel hates sandwiches. OK, maybe she doesn't. Maybe she loves sandwiches. But she dissects them- eat the meat first, then the cheese, then a bread. So I hardly ever give her a sandwich- choosing instead to give her a plate of lunch meat, a cheese stick and some fruit or veggie or yogurt tube or whatever. Usually our lunch meat is balogna from the farm- it comes like regular balogna from the store- in round circles. But the similarity ends there- it's a VERY different product. But right now we have thin sliced turkey from the grocery store. Ariel loves it, but she eats it into these long strips as she hums and talks to herself. And with these long strips she pretends. She hangs them from her mouth as fangs, or slithers them across the table as snakes. I don't buy my children toys... I just give them a hunk of lunch meat and say "Here, go to town." OK, not really.

So today Ariel is playing with her lunch meat and I suggest in a most helpful way, "Ariel, I sure wish you would eat the lunchmeat..."

"Instead of making art with it...." she replies absentmindedly as she wraps a big strip of lunch meat around her bitty arm in some sort of ancient Egyptian arm band.

I never really thought of her lunch meat toy as art. But, in an odd way, I suppose it is. Maybe one day I'll see her in some modern art museum meat jewelery exhibit. Anyway, I thought it was a comment I would like to remember.

Ariel funny and Hidden Oaks.

The kids always steal our mail. Rachael had a coupon pack and discovered a Red Robin ad detailing a contest where kids can design a burger that could go on the menu as a gourmet burger. So my pajama clad children and I were lounging on the bed, I had "Journey to the Center of the Earth" all open and we're ready to read our chapter. But, this ad is so glossy and thrilling that we simply MUST first discuss the fine art of burger making. So Rachael has the floor and she's designing her burger. We listen raptly as she tops her ground beef with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, ketchup, mayonaise (which she hates), mustard, cheese and meat. There is a moment of silence as we contemplate this masterpiece. Then Ariel adds a topping in her teeny tiny voice: "And pants." It was so out of the blue, such a serious comment- this adding of pants to the gourmet burger- that I thought I misunderstood her at first. "Pants, Ariel?" I queried. "Yes, pants!" No explanation why. And we all cracked up. And we couldn't read our book, which is way too full of silly words like "stupified" and "indignant" and "manometer" and men speaking very formally to each other about the formation of rocks and whether or not they are still 80 leagues under Iceland. So I sent their silly giggly selves to bed for Trevor to read them a story, which he is upstairs at this very moment doing. I think pants on a burger will be a joke for a while, though.

AND-- on a MUCH more serious note, we went to Hidden Oaks Nature Center today. We haven't been in a while so this was a fun excursion. All pics are from my iphone so they are not the best quality.

Smelling a huge pretty flower.


Sitting on the butterfly bench.


Inside the nature center is all kinds of cool stuff to do- this is a leg thing that shows (I typed shoes! lol!) all kinds of bugs and how many legs they have.


There are also lots of costumes to dress up with. The girlies dressed as snakes and then jumped on Trevor the bird. heh.


There was this shelter thing behind the nature center. It wasn't there last time we were there and there was nothing around it. It was cool. Trevor is holding a magnifying glass the kids got from their coupon book through the library's summer reading program.


After being inside the Nature Center for a while, we head out to the many trails outside. We once hiked back there and I got completely lost. Thankfully, this time we didn't get lost. But I wore completely impractical hiking shoes.


I guess they knew their favorite color. or the air speed velocity of a swallow. heh... AURGHHHH!



NOW which way should we go guys? We ended up trekking back up to the playground and played for a while. But the wasps kept bugging me. I was wearing a black shirt and all I could think of was that time we were geocaching and Ray disturbed the wasp nest and they chased him forever until he ripped his shirt off. Turns out wasps like black shirts. So I was all super paranoid and twitchy because the wasps kept freakin LANDING on me and crawling around on me. Normally wasps don't scare me. But landing all over me does kind of make me nervous. So after wasp filled minutes in the woods, and wasp filled minutes at the park, I was ready to head out. So we went to the ever exciting grocery store.


This is Cooneyisle's Chaos Magickian. He regularly sits like this on couch arms, chairs, the table. Chaos runs the house.


THere's Reznor under the table. Rez is the laziest puppy I have ever seen. He literally spends most of the day sleeping. He gets up to eat food off the floor as I cook. Honestly, I think I need another cat and perhaps another dog. ;) Shadow doesn't come downstairs until later.

Goofy Newfy

I should blog about our Newfoundland puppy. We have had several bad experiences with dogs. Mostly dogs that aren't so wonderful with children. Especially non dog savvy children like mine are. We finally decided that buying from a breeder would be our best bet in getting a dog with a more stable temperament and a known lineage. So then it came down to researching breeds. I wanted a dog that was larger, would love kids, would be able to live with cats, wouldn't be super high energy and would basically be a good first dog. I don't mind hair. I don't mind drool. I can provide basic training and exercise. Everytime I researched breeds, Newfoundland dogs came up as a #1 choice. So we found a breeder near us and, after months of looking at the breeder website and speaking with the breeder, we brought Rez home! His full name is Reznor (yea, Nine Inch Nails fan here) and he is a big sweetheart. So far he has been a GREAT puppy. As of 5 months he is housebroken, knows "sit" "wait" "down" "settle" (most of the time), "give" "leave it" (at home) "rollover" and walks with a loose leash MOST of the time. He is ok with the kids distracting him, he is ok with commands on the trail where we usually walk but he is still learning in other places. But I think he's perfect for 5 months!

As for Rez with the kids, he is fantastic. He isn't bothered by their screechy "AWWW!" noises they make around him. He loves when they put their heads on him while he's laying down- he will roll over on his back for belly rubs. He does all the normal puppy things, too. He plays keep away with their toys, he eats shoes, whether you are walking by or if the shoes are in the hallway. He is supremely lazy- like ultra lazy. His routine usually involves him getting his food from a Buster Ball in the morning. Then he gets a mile walk. Then he sleeps and sleeps and sleeps or chews his chewie toys. He wakes up around mid afternoon and wanders around and makes mischief or plays fetch or hide and seek with the kids, or just watches us as we go about our day. He goes for an evening walk for a mile and then he zonks out for the evening around 8pm. I am trying to get him swimming more, too, as he is turning into a water dog. The first few times we showed him the water he wasn't thrilled with it. Now he *loves* it. We walk him by the streams and he often tries to drag me over to them so he can wade in the water, though he would rather swim than wade now.

Yesterday we took him to Riverbend Park in Great Falls to go swimming in the Potomac. Here are some pics and a video.






Here's a video of Rez swimming. We have him onleash because he is still a baby and we don't want the current taking him away and I don't want him wading up on one of the rock outcroppings and not coming back in!



Here's another one of him swimming:

The Air and Space Museum

I have not updated this blog in a LONG time. I figure a post is well nigh due! Understandably, a lot has happened since Christmas: Ariel turned 4, Trevor turned 8 and Rachael turned 6. We visited parents, we went camping, we celebrated holidays. Our kitten, Stripey, had to be put to sleep- FIV. We went to a breeder and got a Newfoundland puppy who is now 5 months old and the best dog ever in a drooly, hairy, good natured sort of way. The kids start school soon and Ariel will be starting preschool this year. I am still in college and feel like I will be forever. But there is an end in sight.

BUT-- enough of all that. This post would be too lengthy if I talked about the year until now. So I will jump right in with our trip to the Air and Space Museum. I post most stuff to Facebook, so it has kept me from updating a blog. I mean, everyone who would WANT to see pictures of family, well, they are friends on Facebook, right? Anyway....

Yesterday we went to the Air and Space museum with my friend, Sharon. Sharon and I have been friends since like 8th grade, I think, when I moved to Florida. After I got married and moved to Virginia, we kept in touch, but ended up with very different lives. She is single, has her masters and travels to foreign countries teaching. I got married, had children and became a stay at home mom. This time around her job brought her to DC for a few days for orientation before jetting off to her newest assignment. So I got to see my best friend since high school! I haven't seen Sharon since she, Ray and I met up in Vegas, hmmm, 3 years ago? So she stayed with us for the weekend this time, and then Friday I met her in DC at the museum with the kids. We had a nice time. She had never been to the Air and Space museum. I've been a few times, but I love going to any of the DC museums and this is one that holds the kids' interest well. Here's some pics!

It really annoys me that blogger posts all my pictures in reverse order. This is one of the many fake people chilling at the museum. There were more fake people here than there are in department stores. This woman is showing us what people ate on the plane in the 50s (I think). Ariel was convinced the coffee on the tray was real.


I don't know what was up with Trevor's desire to punch all the fake people. Everytime I saw another one, I would call the kids excitedly and say "oh! Go stand with that fake person and I'll take your picture!". Ariel looks like she is thinking "please mom, stop making me pose already."


Then we saw this big plane front and I told the kids to go stand in front of it and instead, they tumbled under it and acted like they were being run over. Just don't take me places, I'll make my kids be kids AND I'll take their picture as proof they aren't model citizens smiling politely for a camera. In fact, they rarely humor me. I used to say "Just humor me guys" so often, it became a phrase they uttered to each other whenever they weren't getting their way. heh


When Sharon was with all the kids I told her I HAD to get her picture of her being "mom-like".


A fake person landing on us in a hang glider. I couldn't sling the kids up into the picture, so Ariel got to get out of taking a picture with him. I would love to go hang gliding.


The moment we got into the museum, Rachael started in about seeing "this balloon that goes up and down!" I had absolutely no clue what she was talking about as there is no balloon that goes up and down in the museum. Sharon wanted to see Early Flight, so we meandered that and, since we were on THAT side of the building, we wandered the exhibits on that side. The whole time Rachael was asking to go see this balloon on the other side of the museum. So, finally, mystified, we wandered in that direction to see what she was talking about. She ended up making a beeline for the hands on part of the museum and there was this balloon that went up and down based on how much weight you loaded into the basket. It was small and it sure made an impression on her because she must have remembered it from last year when we were here. And Rachael, after whining about seeing this balloon for an hour, spent like ten seconds playing with it before moving on. I told her she had been whining about this balloon for an hour and she better get back over there and play with it some more this instant. But she ignored me. I get no respect. Or maybe she knew I wasn't serious. But here they are wandering in the direction of the balloon. Both girlies looked impossibly cute today. Rachael got some new shoes from the LL Bean catalogue. They are a size too big but she insisted on wearing them because they were the same blue as the ice creams on her dress. I'm glad she could walk in them, they really were huge on her.


I don't really know what Trevor is doing with this fake boy. But it looks like he's dancing with him.


Checking out this exhibit about velocity and pressure. You turned a wheel and this box went up and down this pole. Really, not a thrillfest of an exhibit, but you would have thought the kids made fireworks by turning that wheel the way they argued over whose turn it was to turn the wheel! The guy in the background was "sleeping" but when the kids would argue, he would open his eyes a bit and peek at them arguing until they worked it out, then he would go back to "sleep". Weird. If you want an argue-free nap, mister, you have to go home, or at least not be in the kids area of the museum.


Sharon doing the gyroscope exhibit. The wheel would turn, and the chair would turn in the opposite direction as the wheel. Pretty cool.

All in all, we had a great day at the museum. We rode the metro in, which I actually really like doing. The kids are old enough to walk with me, sit nicely and be a pleasure to be in DC with. I really like taking them into DC. The trip home on the metro is always a little trying, though. The kids got super silly and Rachael, who is a decent reader now (she's reading on a Henry and Mudge level) saw the Foggy Bottom metro stop and sounded it out as Froggy bottom. All the kids thought this was hilarious and spent the rest of the trip home say froggy bottom to each other and giggling. That tried my patience a bit, but I made the mistake of laughing because they all thought it was so funny and so inadvertently encouraged them. Oh well! We all had a great day, though it was bitter sweet to say goodbye to Sharon for at least a year.