Here are some pictures from the weekend, as promised.
Peep Peep Clickety Clack... Blue train Thomas on the track.
Who cares about the train! There's mulch to play with!
We opted for the "free" Thomas photo.
We're close - one of these days I'll get a clear shot of the two of them.
Let’s hope for a repeat performance this weekend and a repeat smile on my face next Monday!
How often do you wake up smiling on a Monday? For me, it is pretty rare. But this morning, despite the alarm going off at 5am for Jeremy to catch a flight to Seattle, I woke up with a smile. I happily made my way downstairs to work out. I tried a new video by Jillian Michaels, and my butt was happily kicked! The kids woke up, I cycled them through our morning routine, we made it to school and me to work all by 7:45… and all with a smile on my face. How can this happen, you ask? It’s Monday, you aren’t supposed to be smiling on Monday, right?
After a glorious weekend, I couldn’t help but smile. Yes, I am sad this glorious weekend is over, but I take what I can get. It started Saturday morning with a trip to Baltimore’s B&O Railroad Museum for Day Out With Thomas. We had the majority of the family joining us – Kristin, Meema, Nana, and Papa – so it was great to share the fun with them. Honestly, I was nervous that it was going to be this overcrowded mayhem of an event. But it was so well run. The museum has a lot of space, so things were spread out well enough that I never felt overwhelmed or crowded. Mason enjoys Thomas, but isn’t his biggest fan (she just has a few books and a few trains), but she still enjoyed seeing all the trains at the museum and playing with the Thomas stuff they have as part of the exhibit.
After fun with Thomas, we went into Fells Point for lunch on the water. It was a beautiful day, so even though my lunch wasn’t that great, I was glad to be with family enjoying a lovely early summer day.
Sunday started with some gardening (Well, honestly it was weeding. By saying “gardening,” I feel like I am sensationalizing it. It was weeding; it was dirty.) Then we hopped on our bikes, put the kids in the bike trailer, and rode to Bethesda with Kristin. The Georgetown Canal Trail was shaded, so we didn’t get too hot. The kids behaved until the very end when Cooper got a little annoyed with his bike helmet sliding over his eyes constantly.
The rest of the day was just errands, more “gardening,” and a delicious dinner. All pretty simple Sunday stuff, but the kids behaved themselves, and that is what makes it glorious!
After all that, it was easy to wake up with a smile on my face this morning. Over the weekend, I was reminded how great a day can be when the kids are good (good = only 1-2 tantrums a day!) We have a lot of family centered weekends coming up, so I really hope that this trend can continue.
p.s. Jeremy took the camera to Seattle before I could download the pictures from the weekend, so I’ll post them once he’s home.
We did it! We finally got the bike trailer we’ve been talking about for over a year.
And even more exciting is that we actually used it!
Jeremy took on the brunt of the work.
Sad that the ride is over.
“Betch your bottom dollar that tomorrow…. There’ll be sun!”
Yes, I’ve been watching Annie. You guessed it. It’s such a good movie. I think I’ll have to go onto iTunes and get the soundtrack. One, so that I can sing along when I need a pick me up, and two, so that we can have more variety in our “kids music.” Honestly, I feel bad for Cooper sometimes. The poor kid never gets to choose what music we listen to. It’s either Mommy and Daddy music or Mason’s music. With Mason, we were pretty age appropriate with music as she grew up, but Cooper is jumping right into big kid music without so much of a listen to Baby Einstein, The Wheels on the Bus, or barely a Patty Cake or Itsy Bitsy Spider here and there. We have to schedule more Cooper Music time! Anyway, I digress…
So yes, the sun came out yesterday, and it was awesome! And I hope it comes back out tomorrow (hence the title). I haven’t checked the weather report, but I would not be surprised if it was a rainy forecast. While it makes for a longer more dreary work week, I would much rather have sunny weekends than sunny days while I’m stuck at work.
We took great advantage of the sun with soccer practice, birthday parties, trike riding, and some good old fashioned time at the park with old friends. Can’t beat that!
Mason and Chase "hanging" out.
On the subject of parks, we’re still waiting for our new park down the street. We have the old wooden playground equipment that is falling apart and giving everyone splinters. New equipment has been purchased, and we were told it would be up and running by early April, but nothing yet. I’m tempted to join our community listserv just to ask where it is. Granted Jeremy is a member of the listserv, but he won’t chime in about it. I think he thinks that if you so much as make a peep, you are automatically “volunteered” into running some sub-committee or something. Pretty funny how community groups, school PTA’s, etc. are all the same as student government back in high school. You want some things changed, so you get involved, only to find out that all the “newbies” are basically forced into running the things no one else wants, so that the people who have been there longer can run the fun stuff or use it as an excuse to get out. Because in the end, we all want out eventually. Ok, seriously? I’ve digressed again.
Back to sunshine and summer dresses!
Yay for summer dresses! Boo for wearing dresses and sandals while climbing rocks! (= big tear in said dress)
Today marked our 4th Easter in a week. We did a egg hunt last weekend with friends, which resulted in tons of candy. Mason had an Easter party at school, which also provided candy. We had a surprise Easter basket visit yesterday (Thanks, Nana and Papa!), and then today went out to my mom’s for our official Easter celebration (Thanks for the delicious meal, Mom!). Needless to say, we are overloaded on candy and sugar. There are few days throughout the year when I get sick of sugary sweets. Halloween, the day of my cookie swap, and Easter. But here I sit pondering whether I will go get a peanut butter egg (made at a local chocolate shop with dark chocolate) or another cake pop. What do you think? Are you asking, “What’s a cake pop?” Well, behold… Cake on a stick!
Jeremy and I are trying to figure out how to split up the candy loot to take to our offices for sharing, which we know will upset Mason. The girl is treat-happy right now. More reason for us to get it out of here. Honestly the girl gets addicted. Many times, we have had to rid the house of treats for a couple of weeks to get her past the overload. She eventually forgets about asking for treats, and we feel we can slowly bring them back in to her life. Then something like Easter comes up, and all that effort is thrown out the window. How can you deprive these sweet innocent faces of chocolate?
Don’t let them suck you into their charm! The chocolate must go! (insert devilish laugh)
I just posted a link on the Pictures page to our latest album. When you are in the mood to look at just over 50 pictures of the Lakes, check it out!
I often find that whenever I say something about my kids’ sleeping habits or eating habits, everything changes the next day. So I write this post with trepidation that I might be jinxing it all. (For example, after my post that Mason ate chicken, she has not really eaten it since. She’ll take a bit or two here and there, but still says she doesn’t like it.) But I’m hoping to break this trend because I am really proud of Cooper and how he seemingly will try anything.
Case in point…
Yummm.... Vegetables....
Blue Cheese Dressing… Not something I stock at home, but if it gets him to eat more veggies, I’m all for it. If only he could get his sister to try.
Similarly in their differences… (Does that even make sense?) Cooper seemed to love Jen and Scott’s cats during our visit this past weekend. He was so intrigued by them (and the dogs at the park), while Mason screamed in terror any time Herbie or Zeke walked through the room. Sad. So sad. Are we destined to never have pets? I know Jeremy is still clamoring for a dog, so we’ll see.
It’s a common understanding in my family that I am pretty picky. (Who me?) A staple for me is turkey sandwiches. It’s seems pretty simple, but even with that, I am picky. The turkey can’t be too thick (I usually ask for it shaved at the deli counter); I require a higher bread to turkey ratio than most, etc… I top the turkey with lettuce only. And if it’s a wild day, I’ll venture to put some chips on the sandwich too. (Doritos are the best for that!)
This morning as Jeremy and I packed our lunches, we debated over who would eat a turkey sandwich and who would eat the leftover spaghetti. I think we both wanted the spaghetti. But after dealing with a Mason meltdown, I went back to the kitchen and Jeremy told me I could have the spaghetti. I asked why, and he told me that the turkey he bought at the store was thick and he was sure I wouldn’t like it. I think he even mentioned something about it being slimy – the second worse fate for turkey!
So the good I found today is the selflessness of my hubby. He went to work with slimy turkey on a salad, while I got to enjoy the last bit of spaghetti. That’s love!
Find Good In Every Day 