Memorial Day & Hot, Hot, Hot & Pictures!

I like to set goals for myself.  When the weather starting getting hot in April, I absolutely refused to turn on the air conditioner.  I decided that we would wait until June.  This is the time of year when windows should be open to welcome the soft spring breezes (and, a time when we can even out our electric bill).  Unfortunately, on Friday the temperatures outside reached into the upper 80s and the ones inside weren't far behind.  I hated to do it, but I admitted defeat and turned on the air conditioning.  I set it at 76 and we waited for the house to cool.  And waited.  And waited.  It never happened.  The house got up to 84 degrees and just stayed there.  Optimistically, we let it run Friday night. On Saturday morning, Thomas noticed that there was a lot of moisture on the unit and since the house wasn't cooling, we turned the system off and called a repairman.   Unfortunately, the earliest he could come to check it was Monday (which was better than Tuesday, which is what I was bracing myself for).  Our new weekend goal became to spend as little time at home as possible.

On Saturday morning we went to a Sesame Street show on the base.  They gave the kids these light-up Elmo toys, and they were enthralled.  Jack hardly watched the show, he was so interested in his toy.     We then went to WalMart to buy some water guns. We also decided to buy a pool, something I thought about all last summer.  As we were putting the pool into the car, I noticed some small print indicating that homeowners should check local ordinances before installing.  So, when we got home we did a quick internet search, mainly to confirm that nothing was required for our little 3-foot pool.  Surprisingly, we learned that our county requires any pool with a water depth over 24 inches to have a permit.  It is a "walk-up permit," but still!  We briefly considered just putting the pool up and forgoing the legalities.  Chances are no one would ever know, but we are law-abiding folks and decided to just return it, rather than deal with the permit process.  In the end, it's probably for the best, it would have had to go in our front yard and that means a few drawbacks (away from the deck, playset and toys, less privacy, etc.).  To help the kids cope with the disappointment, we set up our slip and slide, baby pool, and sprinkler and had a water party in the backyard.  Then, we went to Domino's for pizza and had a pizza party complete with movie (Tangled) in the basement.  The basement always seems to be about 10 wonderful degrees cooler than the rest of the house--which hovered around 85 all day.

Sunday we went out to lunch because it was just too hot to cook.  We spent a lot of time in the basement, including a rousing time doing Dance Party Kids.  We were fortunate enough to have a previously scheduled dinner date with some good friends, which meant a fun night of fantastic food and games (although, I lost, so maybe the game wasn't so fantastic--obviously rigged in fact).

The air conditioner repairman came on Monday morning.  Our system was out of coolant.  $442 later we have a cool house!  Since he was done by 9, our whole day opened up.  We decided to cross the bridge and visit Washington's birth place.  It was really nice.  The kids were well-behaved and there was lots to see (especially considering it's free).  Thomas is really interested in history.  He doesn't read fiction, but he will choose a topic or person and immerse himself with books, including cds on tape; documentaries; historical site visits (when possible), etc.  Lately, his topic of choice has been the Revolutionary War, so visiting Washington's birthplace fit right in (other recent topics include the Alamo, President Lincoln and World War I--topics can take anywhere from a few months to years).  We also visited Yorktown a few weeks ago.

After the visit to Pope's Creek, we went to lunch at Horne's Restaurant--a place we have passed by many times on our trips to Norfolk and finally decided to try.  It is an old-school diner/gas station; we enjoyed it.  When we got home Thomas took on the kids in a water gun fight, while I tried to do some sewing.  For some idiotic reason, I got it in my head that I know enough about sewing that I could follow a simple pattern.  Unfortunately, I can't.  I promised Kara a Drizella costume (one of Cinderella's wicked stepsisters) for our trip to Disney and there is no way I can deliver.  I got to the point where it was time to put in sleeves (in other words, not very far) and had to give up.  I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and did some internet research, but I just can't figure it out.  It doesn't help that I didn't properly transfer markings when I cut the fabric.  I am not sure what we are going to do--I really wanted to make it for her and she was really looking forward to it, but it is also really beyond my capability.

It's been a while since I posted pictures (apologies to the grandparents!)--so here are plenty to make up for it.

Waiting for Sesame Street Live to start.

Kara all worn out.  This may be my favorite picture of all time.

Dancing away, there is a lot of space behind them, but they all crowd right in front of the tv.

Walking around the birthplace site.

Resting at the birthplace site.

The girls entertaining themselves during the 14-minute movie

Their favorite part of the birthplace--these phones.  They kept telling us, "hold on, I'm on the phone," even when we weren't talking to them.

Kara and Jack sharing a shake at Horne's.  We thought they'd take turns, but who has time for that?

At that concludes our weekend update.  In other news, Kara is completely potty trained!  She is even in underwear at night.  Thomas's grandmother continues to do well, for which we are very thankful.

My Favorite "Can't Keep a Secret Story" Ever!

We spent a lot of time doing yard work this weekend.  As in pretty much 2 out of 3 complete days (it was  a 3-day weekend for Thomas).  Thomas gave the deck underside a much needed cleaning.  I did more weeds and mowing.  Then Thomas tackled the biggest project of all, the removal of the stump/roots of the fallen tree (a leftover from the Hurricane last year).

It took Thomas' hours to get the tree done.  And, Anna stayed by his side the whole time.  She brought her little shovel over and kept up a continual conversation while "helping."  It was very sweet.  Jack tried to pick up a mouse that came running out, and they also saw a black widow spider.  It was a very eventful exercise.

So, what is this story you may ask?  After the stump and roots were removed, I started to throw some of the dirt into the large hole.  Jack stopped me.  Thomas said to just leave it and then Jack mentioned there was a secret.  Being the kind of person I am, I immediately began to press my 4-year-olds for details (Kara was playing on the swingset).  Anna immediately told Jack to not say anything, reminding him that it was a suprise.  I jokingly asked if it was a secret or a suprise?  Here is the conversation that followed:

Anna to Thomas: Can I whisper something in your ear?
Thomas: Sure
Anna whispering: Can I tell her it's for Mother's Day.
Thomas: If you really want to
Anna matter-of-factly: It's for Mother's Day
Me:  Okay, well if it's for Mother's Day, I won't ruin the surprise by asking for...
Anna interrupting:  IT'S A TREE!
Jack: ANNA!!!  You weren't supposed to tell.
Kori and Thomas: hysterical laughter

Let me just say it again--I love my family!  It was absolutely hilarious to me that Anna interrupted my acquiescene to the keeping of the secret by revealing the surprise, especially after she chastised Jack for saying too much!  And, I am excited for a new tree.  Maybe an apple or a pear tree?

And, as a soccer update, the kids did infinitely better on Saturday.  In fact, Jack almost scored a goal!  They both ran hard after the ball and got into the thick of things.  It was so fun to watch.

Gender Divisiveness

Lately, there has been a disturbing trend in the Wilson house.  The trio of children is suddenly morphing into a duo/solo.

When we found out we were having twins, both Thomas and I were incredibly excited.  And, when we found out we were having a boy and a girl, we couldn't imagine anything more perfect.  When Kara decided to make an appearance a mere 16 months later, we didn't even bother to find out the sex.  It was completely irrelevant--we had lots of supplies for either gender and figured the surprise would make the experience even more special, which it did, except for an ultrasound tech who kind of blew it for us by referring to the baby as "she" (which we pretended not to hear).   Anyway, the one thing I was truly thankful for was that Kara was going to be a single baby.  I literally had nightmares that I was at the doctor and he suddenly announced another heartbeat.  In one dream, I jumped off a bridge after finding out I was carrying twins.  It wasn't because I didn't love the twins, but rather the thought of having 3 under the age of 18 months was pretty overwhelming.  The thought of 4 was downright terrifying!

Now, I am wishing there had been twins.  Specifically, a boy and a girl.  Why, you may ask?  Because I feel bad for Jack.  Lately, the girls have been excluding him.  Sometimes purposefully, and sometimes they are just playing games he has no interest in.  He doesn't want to pretend to be a princess and they are getting less willing to allow Iron Man (or Larry Boy, or Spiderman, or ...) to intrude upon the castle.  Several times over the past 2 weeks the 3 of them have been playing outside when Anna and Kara will suddenly decide to come in and play something else.  Shortly thereafer, Jack will follow with a sorrowful, "I need a friend."  He will ask them to come back out, but it is of no use; they have donned their princess gowns (or started some other "girly" game) and he knows he is going to be left to his own devices.  If Thomas is home, he will go outside and play with Jack.  I don't like to leave the kids in the house unsupervised, so I generally just offer to read books or play with play-doh.  But, I can see that Jack is just sad, at least when Thomas isn't there to be his "friend".  He feels abandoned.  He is very loyal to Anna and while he absolultely loves Kara, I think it hurts most when he perceives Anna is rejecting him.  He sees them as Anna and Jack... and Kara..  The few times the girls have closed him out of their room, I have intervened.  But, we can see the writing on the wall.  A pattern is emerging and as parents, we feel powerless (we can't make Jack be a princess anymore than we can make Anna and Kara not).

Of course, things may change.  I recognize that they are only 3 and 4, but trios are often problematic and I forsee that there will be many, many times when someone is left out.  It is difficult to watch.  Kara used to be very independent, but lately she has turned into Anna's shadow.  I can't imagine that lasting forever, but for now, it is very clearly girls' versus boy in our house.  We have never limited our kids to gender-specific roles, but at least in our case, it is very innate.  Nature has definitely won out in the gender portion of the nature/nuture debate.

Speaking of gender roles, my dad called the other day while Anna was at dance class.  He asked where Thomas was and I replied, "he lost the coin toss and had to take Anna to dance."  My dad then asked what kind of dance and I said, "it's a combo tap and ballet class."  There was a long pause, and in a strange voice, my Dad asked, "does he enjoy that?"  Slightly bewildered I responded, "not really, she is going to finish out the year, but probably won't sign up again."  Dad:  "Wait, who is taking the class?"  Me:  "Anna."  Seemingly, relieved he stated, "Oh!  I thought you said Thomas lost a coin toss and was taking ballet lessons."  It was very funny.  All I could picture was Thomas taking his first ballet class at the ripe age of 35 (in my head, he was wearing Anna's pink tutu and tights).