Snow, snow go away!

Over the course of the last 6 months Andrew's work travel has been nonexistent. This is a drastic change from the past 7 years where his trips have been a part of our routine. We thought he was done with traveling, and I can't say that either of us were sad about it. However after the new year Andrew found out he was assigned to another committee, and here we are again. The good news is that the travel will be much lighter- only about 4 trips a year. At this point a trip every so often is no big deal. Except when the day of his departure is the same day they are calling for massive amounts of snow at home. 

In true D.C. fashion, the 8-12" of snow we were originally predicted to get only turned out to be 3-4". Of course anything over 1" warrants school closures, so the kids had a day off. The downer was that it was 4 inches of extremely wet and heavy snow and our resident snow shoveler was enjoying an extra day in Paris. Score for him, not so much for us. 

The kids, of course, were in heaven. After a snow deprived winter, it was fun to see them reveling in the snow and running in and out of the house all day long. Since the snow was icy, it made for great sledding, and the highlight of the day came when we went to our neighbor's house to sled. Watching everyone go down the hill with the biggest smiles on their faces made me realize that at that moment, there was no where else in the world that I would rather be.

Ok kids, you win

Hearing my freshly minted teen slip up and call me "mommy" instead of "mom" makes my heart constrict to the point where I think it might burst.

I honest to goodness think I am becoming softer and more sentimental with age. Last week after hearing Rose play in her crib for two hours (TWO HOURS when she was supposed to be napping!), I realized it was a lost cause and decided to go get her. I think in my previous mom years I would have been upset with the turn of events and tried for another two hours to get her down. Instead I pulled her out and we snuggled and played. Yup, defiantly turning soft. 

 Or maybe Andrew is just starting to rub off on me more...he has always been a softy. 

Random Moments

Lice, Round 2. About a year ago Afton brought lice to our home, and I learned first hand just how horrible it really is.  In fact, while cleaning her head I kept muttering, "This is the WORST" over, and over,  and over. At one point Afton quietly asked, "Is having lice worse than someone dying?" Well, no. No it's not. That question certainly put things into perspective. Fast forward to now, and Afton has it once again! Horray for little girls who like to share hair accessories! The good news is that we caught it really early and miraculously no one else in our home got it either. Since I'm an old hand at dealing with lice now, I was also a lot more calm about it. I also have to say that the 45+ minutes I spend each day cleaning and checking her hair each day has allowed for some sweet bonding moments.

However in the future I hope we can do the bonding minus the lice.
















Spring Takeover. The weather here has been insane. Don't get me wrong, I love the warm temps, but the lack of winter weather has been odd. The kids are LOVING it though, and I'm trying to not think about what this means for our summer. I have a feeling it will be a scorcher.
















Valentines Day. This year's Valentines Day was a doozy. From the moment I woke up, until I went to bed, I was in nonstop "mom mode". On top of my typical daily routine, there were 3 class parties (one I was helping with) and a middle school carpool. Somewhere in between I managed to grab a bite at Taco Bell and give Andrew a quick kiss before racing off to cub scouts. How romantic.

Keepsakes.  I was sorting through the kids papers the other day and I came upon some extremely sweet "Odes" from Luke. One is more me, and one is for Sam. Both made me a little teary. 

Girl Play

The other day I overheard Afton reading a book to Clara in the playroom. Except she wasn't speaking the words, she was singing them. I couldn't stop laughing. I can tell you that in all of my years of parenting Sam and Luke, I've never heard them do such a thing. It is so much fun seeing how differently these sisters interact with one another. 

Our resident 5 year old has also become obsessed with giving "makeovers". I'm not sure where she gets this since she has a mother who owns about two items of makeup and spends 5 minutes on her hair. What little makeup I do own usually ends up in Clara's possession by mid-morning. It is cute to see her give her sisters makeovers though....but not so cute when she tries to give them to her friends. After two bouts of head-lice in a one year period, I'm a strong proponent of not sharing brushes!

And while my two eldest can certainly keep up with the boys as well, this little pipsqueak is 100% ALL GIRL. She walks on her tippy toes, is rarely found without a doll, constantly sings Disney theme songs, and has recently discovered her love of playing dress up. 

Playing Hooky

Years ago when Sam was in kindergarten I decided to keep him home from school so we could go to the zoo. It was a gloriously beautiful day and it just seemed like a wasted opportunity for us not to be outside. Everyone had a great time, until the end when Sam realized that he was missing math and started to cry. It was kind of a buzz kill. 

Flash forward to today. It was an unusually warm winter day with record highs. It would have been a sin to stay indoors. So I did what needed to be done and rounded up my kids early. Luke and Afton were ecstatic when I surprised them at school. Holy cow you would have thought we were headed to Disney World. Sam on the other hand was so perplexed and when I explained why I was pulling him out early he proceeded to give me a lecture! A lecture! "Mom! I was in the middle of a work flow and making a lot of progress!" I really don't know where he gets it from. 

A quick pit stop at Dunkin' Donuts made all thoughts of school disappear and we had the best time basking in the 70 degree weather. No regrets. 

While out today I also came to the realization that I am entering a new phase in motherhood. For 13 years I've either been pregnant or had a baby/young toddler to handle (often I was dealing with both). With Rosie becoming more and more independent and no more pregnancy plans, I'm realizing how much fun it is to explore and play with the kids. I've enjoyed most of the motherhood phases, but I think this is really going to be a lot of fun.

DC Car Show

Once thing I really miss about having little boys are the play phases they go through. Balls, trucks, dinosaurs, outer space....we went through them all and I mourned when they outgrew each one. The cool thing I'm learning now though, is that boys never really outgrow these phases at all! Lately all my boys talk about is cars, and I just know their younger Lightening-McQueen-lovin-selves are cheering on the inside!

When the boys got wind of the Washington DC auto show they begged to go. With nothing else to do on a cold January morning we decided to all head downtown and check it out. It was actually pretty cool, and after watching hundreds of men (Andrew included) get really excited over these cars, I'm realizing this is likely a lifelong passion.

What you don't see in the above picture is the elderly gentleman impatiently waiting for my kids to get out so he could have a turn at the wheel. Nope, not a phase at all.

Pierced Ears

She's been asking for months, saved up her own money to do it, picked a date and wrote it in on the calendar. Really, she gave us no choice. And in typical Afton form, she didn't even flinch when they busted out that piercing gun.

This also brought back memories of when I got my own ears pierces. Except I forged a note giving my mom's permission, headed to the Cape May Mall, and did it behind my mom's back. What a bad daughter I was! Sorry mom!!!