junk it 2010

i was motivated today by this post on mrs moneysaver, a website i frequent for grocery deals. if you count every room (counting bathrooms separately) in our house, it totals 10 areas to be de-junked! i would love nothing more than to have this project completed in 10 weeks...but between work, being a mom, and my new running schedule (of which i am halfway through week 2 - thanks robyn!), i am going to allow myself a little more than one week per room/area in need of de-junktification...is that even a word???

my plan is to complete all 10 areas in 12 weeks!!!

i'm going to keep a positive attitude about it and make it a good experience. i hope to involve all members of the family in this activity (well, maybe not jacob!). i imagine some of the things i will find...say crazy old photos in the basement and nasty old makeup under my bathroom sink, may make for some funny stories. i would love for you to join me in this project...we can keep each other motivated and share stories of what we find.

here's to clearing our homes...which according to motivational speaker, valorie burton, should help clear our minds in 2010!!!

junk it 2010

assignment 1 : kitchen (to include all cabinets, drawers & pantry!)

start date: friday, january 8

due date: friday, january 15

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winter wonderland

highlights from our adventures in 18 inches of snow...

jacob wasn't so sure about it at first. can't really blame him, since he was knee deep in the white stuff and couldn't manage to even walk around

this will give you an idea of how high the snow was...at our back door

andrew and derek built a snow fort/igloo

andrew enjoyed sledding for the first time...and even tried it by himself (which he loved!)

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treat...just treat

had to share the spooky cake i made for our BLOCKtoberfest party!

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in full bloom

yesterday turned out to be a gorgeous day here in the nation's capital, so we headed down to meet some friends at the cherry blossom festival. when we left the house at 11:30am, i had no idea we wouldn't return home until close to 6pm! it was quite a day...andTONS of fun! for those of you planning to visit the blossoms, here's what i suggest...we drove to hains point (exit 2 off 395) and parked there (free parking). supposedly there are 800 spots available, but it didn't seem that way as i was driving around the large circle with an anxious 4 year old asking "are we at the park yet" every 30 seconds! we eventually found a spot and made our way to the shuttle bus line. the shuttle (also free) takes you right to the tidal basin. we hiked about halfway around to where all of the festivities/vendors were...and a nice large grassy area :) after a picnic lunch, the kids ran around...playing soccer, tag, red light green light, and other fun games. around 2:30 we decided to head back around to the shuttle. by the time we got to the car it was almost 4...yes, it was quite crowded and difficult to maneuver strollers and preschoolers all at the same time! as we approached the end of the shuttle ride, jacob was really crabby. i figured he was pretty tired, since he usually naps around 2pm. as his crying got louder, i had a realization...we were having so much fun i skipped his afternoon nursing...oops mommy! so...when we got to the car, andrew sat in his car seat while i attempted to nurse jacob in the car...not while moving, of course! i say attempted, because he was quite distracted by andrew's voice saying "is it time for ice cream now" over and over again. you see...my friend and i had bribed the boys earlier by telling them they could have ice cream if they took pictures with us...i know, i know...we're not supposed to bribe our kids, but hey...you look at the pics and tell me it wasn't worth it! around 4pm we headed to georgetown, had ice cream, picked derek up from work and headed home!

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nothing to show for it

despite the cloudy, somewhat chilly weather, we are having a great time here in florida with nanny & papa. i'm not complaining about the "cold" temps though, considering it's still a good 50 degrees warmer than it is in va and we aren't wearing our winter gear! today we went to Sugar Sand Science Explorium & Playground...VERY COOL place! jacob slept in the stroller through a good portion of it, which meant andrew & i were able to spend some much needed time together...just the two of us! as cool as it was, you KNOW i took lots of pictures (as did my mom)...however, i don't have the cord to download the pics, so you'll have to wait!
derek is coming here tomorrow...and hopefully he'll bring some sun with him on the plane! i think it might be 70 tomorrow, which would be great :) i'm hoping we at least get to spend an hour or so at the beach or pool while we're here.

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puzzled

CHECK OUT THE PUZZLE ANDREW PUT TOGETHER!!! 51 PIECES IN ALL!

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what a day....fun "at play"

today marked the final day of andrew's 15 day winter break from school. yes, you heard me...15 days! the 2 weeks actually seemed to go by much faster than i had anticipated, with half of it being spent in st louis. while i complained a lot over the past 2 weeks that andrew would not be returning to school on monday along with the rest of the world, i must admit, it was kind of nice to have the 2 extra days of lazying around in the morning. tomorrow will be a rude awakening for all of us!

anyway...the point of my post tonight, is not to gripe about andrew's school calendar, but rather to tell you about the super fun day we had today at At Play Cafe in reston. since this was our first visit to at play cafe, i wasn't quite sure what to expect. a mom of one of andrew's classmates emailed me to see if we wanted to meet there and after looking at the website, i said sure. after all, just a snippet from their home page is quite appealing to any stay at home mom...especially on the 15th day of winter break...

Have you ever imagined a place where ...
~ you and a friend can have a conversation over lunch while our staff plays with your children nearby?

boy am i glad we went! andrew and his friend had an absolute blast!!! the staff was extremely friendly to both children and adults. the facility was very clean and provided a great layout for the kids to have fun with their moms close by, but not right in the action. the play area included a variety of different activities, including dress-up (and not just princesses!), a kitchen, climbing equipment, a slide and much more! a second room had play mats lining the floor, balls aplenty, a basketball hoop and ride-on toys. there was also a story time, which was included with our admission. speaking of admission, it is only $8 per child...what a bargain!!! the food was also a great deal...and quite tasty too! adults (and kids, i suppose) can enjoy a wonderful lunch for under $6. kid's meals include a 1/2 sandwich, side of applesauce and a drink all for only $3! as a money conscious mama, i was thrilled by these prices! oh, and they also offer a variety of classes. check it out on their website!

before leaving, i spoke briefly with one of the owners and she mentioned that they may be opening additional locations. hopefully one will be a bit closer to alexandria, but if not, i would most definitely travel to reston to visit at play cafe again! anyone up for lunch???

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winter wonderland this is NOT

apparently the weather understands how much i miss my parents, because we have been blessed with some "florida-like" weather! today was sunny and 60 degrees...not too shabby for the final days of 2008! after spending the morning playing in the house, i figured this was a great time to take andrew outside to ride his new bike around and burn off some of the energy he had stored up! here are some pics of the boys playing and of andrew riding his bike...

when we came inside, andrew said, "we need to make it cold outside so it can snow!"

i'm working on posting an entry about our wonderful trip to st louis....hopefully it will be up in the next days or two!

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thoughts from a 4 year old (well, almost!)

much to my disbelief, andrew will be turning 4 tomorrow! it is absolutely crazy to me how quickly time goes by and i honestly cannot comprehend that he is almost old enough to go to kindergarten! this morning, while andrew and i were playing, i grabbed him into my arms and said "andrew, i can't believe you're going to be 4 tomorrow!" from there, our conversation went something like this...

me: "how is it possible that my baby is turning 4?"
andrew: "oh, i don't know mom."
me: "you're getting so big. can't you just stay a kid forever?"
andrew: "i don't think so. the people inside me just make me grow and grow and grow until i'm a fearless giant!"

at this point, i began laughing out loud! andrew sure does know how to keep me laughing! he just cracks me up!!!

we have a fun weekend planned for his birthday. tomorrow after school, a few friends from his class will be coming over for a playdate. on sunday, we are having a "race car" birthday party with friends and family. it should be lots of fun and pictures will be posted next week!

i'll leave you with 2 pictures of andrew and his amazing imagination...in case you can't tell, in the first pic he's directing airplanes on the runway (yes, those are train tracks he's using!)...in the second he is flying the airplane (he said the train bridges on his feet, are the rudder pedals)!!!

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so little time

this morning, after derek left for work, i decided to get up and have some time to myself. even though my eyes burned, i thought it would be nice to start of the day with a little "me" time, before my time would be captured by the little ones. i headed downstairs around 6:40am, brewed some coffee and then couldn't decide what to do first. i told myself this WAS NOT the time to do things around the house...this was time for ME. my head immediately filled with a million things i could do...catch up on emails, enjoy my coffee on the deck with a good book, veg out on the couch watching oprah on tivo...you get the point....mindless "me" things! well, i can't believe it is now 7:15 and any minute now i could be surrounded with the sweet sound of "mommy" cries...and i really didn't do much in the past 35 minutes. i did NOT stick to my original idea of "me" time...the first thing i did while the coffee brewed, was the laundry! that was the only "house" thing i did though :) i checked a few emails, logged in to the addicting world of facebook, read comments on my blog, and now i'm typing this entry...that's about it! is it woman-nature to always have a list of 100 things we could be doing? why are we wired this way? why can we not just enjoy 30 minutes of "me" time? i wonder...if a man woke up 30 minutes early...what would he do with his time? in this house...the man would probably pour a bowl of cereal and veg out in front of espn, watching replays from games he watched the night before. not that there's anything wrong with that?!?!
ok...i have now blown the final minutes of "me" time. it's time to head upstairs and start getting ready for the day ahead. TGIF!!!

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good clean fun

once again, i am avoiding being the "dairy queen" by blogging. i'm trying to convince myself that i'll be fine if i skip pumping tonight, but i know that i'll be regretting that decision come 4am when i can't roll over in bed because my balloons might pop! so...instead, i'll make this quick and then do my duties.

andrew and i had a blast making crayons for the bathtub (another activity in his highlights magazine). this activity was done at a perfect time, since andrew's class at school learned about the color wheel and mixing colors last week. he had so much fun mixing the food coloring to make orange, green and purple. we were disappointed to find out that after our hard work, the crayons didn't work too well. if you'd like to give it a try, here ya go...

1 - spray an ice cube tray with vegetable oil spray


2 - grate a bar of ivory soap (we used 3 bars total!) using the smallest holes on a cheese grater

3 - add 10-15 drops of food coloring and about 2 tablespoons of warm water to the grated soap

4 - add more warm water as needed, and stir until it looks like thick dough

5 - press the mixture into sections of the ice cube tray
6 - freeze for 30 minutes
7 - pop crayons out of tray and let them dry for a day or two before using

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Going BANANAS

ok...so i totally shouldn't be blogging right now! i should be performing my seemingly never ending duties as the "dairy queen", as i am days behind on pumping & storing milk for my girl's trip next weekend. and after that, i should be sleeping...huh, sleep, before 11pm!?!? but, instead, here i sit, typing away...i find that blogging is a way to relax at the end of a stressful day...so much more so than pumping, storing, sterilizing, etc...

anyway...enough about me and my milk mountains...

thanks to papa & gg, andrew receives a highlights (high five) magazine every month. he loves the stories and hidden pictures. everyday, when we get the mail he says, "mom, see if there's a highlights for me" and when there is, we read it over and over for days on end. each magazine always has cute activities in it too. this month...an icy treat...frozen bananas covered in chocolate.

(pay no attention to the pumping accessories on the countertop)

after one bite andrew looked up at me and said, "but mommy, i don't like bananas!" we had extra chocolate left over, so we decided to make some chocolate covered pretzels too...YUMMY!



stay tuned for more "good clean fun" from this month's highlights magazine...

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Derek takes a STAYcation

While we had a fun week with Derek home, I've never seen him so ready to head to work on a Monday morning! Our week was filled up with outings, errands, and numerous meltdowns and timeouts. Here are some highlights from Derek's STAYcation...for more photos check out this album.

Saturday, August 30...after an hour long battle with Andrew to brush his teeth and get dressed, we enjoyed a nice breakfast (brunch actually, it was 11:30 by then!) at Silver Diner and then all headed to the LEGO exhibit presented by AFOL (adult fans of LEGOs). I thought this might be as much fun as picking a hangnail, but it proved to be quite entertaining. Actually, I'd even say it was amazing! The things these people created...ALL with LEGOs...truly blew my mind! Mark your calendars for August 22-23...BrickFair 2009!



Tuesday, September 2...family trip to the National Zoo and then a lunch stop at Chipotle. C'mon...you didn't think Derek would go a week without it...did you???



Wednesday, September 3...Derek joined us for Playgroup at the Playground. Afterward, we went to Murphy's for a much needed and deserved beer (yes, it was only lunchtime!)




It was really nice having Derek home for a whole week. As Andrew says, "Daddy was home for a lots of DADurdays!"

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