Christmas

We had a great holiday. We were very excited to see how Luke would react. Thomas and I remembered the other kids being overwhelmed when they were his age, so we decided he would do best with fewer presents. We figured he would probably want to play with his presents as he received him. However, we were wrong! He was all about the opening of the gifts.

But, I am getting ahead of myself. Christmas Eve was our typically relaxed day, with one awesome addition--a big dinner. One of my friends mentioned that her family always had their big meal on Christmas Eve and then had leftovers on Christmas Day, which meant a more laid-back day. We decided to give it a try.  We made cookies for Santa, finished our wrapping and enjoyed our turkey dinner. We watched a movie and really enjoyed the day. 

The kids enjoyed eating "family style,"usually we just make up plates for them, so this was a big treat.

We told the kids that they could wake us at 600, but that we wouldn't go downstairs until everyone was awake. Jack knocked on our door to ask if we said 6 or 630, since Thomas was still asleep, I told him to come back at 630 which he did with Kara in tow. Anna came in around 7, so it was just Luke, who woke at his usual time of 715. We went downstairs together and everyone was excited to see the gifts laid out before them. Unfortunately, Kara had a stomachache, which put a bit of a damper on her enjoyment, although, she did keep exclaiming, "I forgot about the stockings."

Taken before the kids woke up (we certainly didn't have the t.v. on Christmas morning)!

I had a really hard time getting a good picture this year. This was the closest.

For "silly faces" Luke wanted to be "backwards," I snapped this shot as he turned to explain. 

After we went through our stockings, we moved on to gifts. We like to open one at a time, so everyone can see what everyone else is getting and, more importantly, see people open the gifts they chose. We took a break after a few presents to enjoy a pancake and sausage breakfast. 

We finished unwrapping our gifts from each other, then moved on to ones from Santa, followed by the joint family gifts. We got tickets to Dutch Wonderland (Luke needs to go at least once while he is at this perfect age) and a WiiU, which has been Jack's dream for years. Nintendo is coming out with a new console this year, so we will remain years behind the current technology. But, for now, they are happy.  

Anna was happy to see that Kara liked the gift she chose for her.

Jack opening his lightsabers

Anna repeatedly checked out this book from the library, she was happy to get her own copy!

Me showing off 3 necklaces, earrings and gloves.

Luke with his big gift from Santa--a hotwheels garage

It was a fun, relaxing day. Everyone enjoyed playing with their new toys. As we like to do, we opened gifts slowly, allowing time to play in between. After the first few presents, Luke lost interest in the contents of the gifts. At that point, he decided he really wanted to rip open presents. If we had known, we could have just wrapped up a few matchbox cars in big boxes, since he didn't really care about the contents, although he did like to "ooohhh and ahhhhh." Once it was all over, Luke kept asking if Santa was going to bring more presents. We were waayyyy off in what we expected from him. After gifts, it was on to the relaxing part of the day and just enjoying each other's company and having fun with our gift. We put a leaf in the dining room table to make additional space for lego building. 

At the lego building table

Which is also the crafting table. Just not the eating table.

For memory's sake, when I asked everyone their favorite gift Jack said the WiiU, Kara said her pogo stick, Anna said the Big Book of Girl Stuff, Luke first said "blue", then changed his answer to "presents"; Thomas said a British newspaper from 1778, and mine was a crossbar necklace with everyone's birthstone.

Pre-Christmas, my thoughts on a variety of irrelevant topics

Leading up to Christmas, we had the kids first strings concert at school. Both Jack and Anna have been playing violin. It is their first semester and they have yet to use the bow. They plucked out "Up on the Housetop" and another song. And, it was surprisingly good! They are going to learn how to use the bow starting in January, so we shall see how that goes. Neither one has ever practiced. Anna told Thomas and me she wanted to switch to the cello and we told her we were going to have to see some serious commitment first. No way are we buying another instrument to gather dust, except for those 2 30-minute classes a week. Speaking of music, I am still teaching myself piano. It is slow-going. I can play super basic songs with lots of practice, but I really enjoy it and try and find time to play every day. I am also trying to show the kids that practice makes a difference and it is okay to find joy in things we aren't necessarily good at. I was really hoping one of them would show an interest and want to learn, but there are no serious takers and I don't want it to be something I have to force them into (although, I am sure they would thank me one day if I did).

Luke also had a performance at school. I got there super early to get a good seat. I was the first one there and had my pick of seats. Of course, I sat in the front row. Actually, it was the fourth row, with the first 3 being reserved for the kids at the preschool. Imagine my annoyance when they decided to open up the row right in front of us at the start of the performance? I made a snide comment and was somewhat clear in my frustration, which I later felt bad about. I think it was reasonable to be annoyed, but I also wish I could just let things just roll off my back a bit more. Back to the performance, it was cute. Luke sang and participated. And, I know I am biased, but he was the best singer amongst the two year-olds. He was the only one I could actually hear (maybe because I know his voice?). They also did a sign language song and Luke actually knew the sign language, I was impressed. He is a smart cookie.

Luke is the cutey sticking his tongue out. No idea why.

Speaking of smart cookies, both Jack and Anna were tested for gifted and talented. Apparently, they do a prescreen and then those kids get additional testing. While I am proud that they made it to the second round, I find the whole thing a little pretentious. First of all, why do they have to call it gifted and talented? What does that say to the other kids? For me, of our three older kids, I hope either 1 makes it, none make it, or all make it. I find it all irrelevant, they are smart enough to do whatever they want, the key to success will be the effort they are willing to put forth.

Back to Christmas, as previously mentioned--we love Christmas in this house! We are not the kind who succumb to strange theories about limiting gifts or holding back. Of course, we try to be reasonable. We don't want our kids to be spoiled or greedy. And, so far they are not. They all had very reasonable and very short wish lists. In fact, Kara only asked for a Shopkins toy, Anna wanted a desk and chair and Jack requested the game Risk. So, I feel as though our kids are rooted in reality. We spend the whole year saying no to their toy requests and it is fun to be extravagant once a year. Thomas and I enjoy the shopping and build-up to Christmas. We like putting a few gifts under the tree and letting the kids wrap and shop with us. They are surprisingly good at keeping surprises. As far as I know, no secrets were revealed. We have the kids draw names and this year, they earned the money that was spent on them with our behavior chart.

Luke wrapping the gift he picked out for Thomas (an over the door basketball hoop)

If I haven't mentioned it, we have a clip chart in our house. It is similar to the concept that many teachers here use. The kids start on green and then clip up or down based on behavior. They earn extra electronics time daily based on their clip up (in 5 minute increments) and they lose time if they clip down. There is also a monetary value that accumulated throughout the year of .25 cents for each clip up, they don't lose money for moving down. They clip up for being nice or helpful and clip down for fighting and speaking rudely. Most days, they are on green or higher. By Christmas, they had between $37-$42 and they had a great time shopping for each other. They all chose thoughtful gifts that they wrapped themselves (with a tiny bit of assistance, mainly cutting paper to size) and put under the tree. We have been using the clip chart for over a year now and it may be losing its effectiveness, but it has served us well.

In other Christmas news, we decorated gingerbread house cakes with our neighbors. It was sooooo much better than trying to make houses.

I didn't think to take pictures of them decorating, but one of the kids asked for a picture before they ate it :)

Thomas and I also attended the Darrow's annual Christmas party. It is one of our favorite events of the season and we always looks forward to it. We played minute to win it games. Despite our valiant efforts, our team did not win. We also played a version of the newlywed game, Thomas and I also did not win this. I could not accurately answer complicated questions like, "what is your husband's favorite ice cream flavor" and "what type of cake did you have at your wedding." The couple who won was actually the couple who had been married the shortest amount of time. Despite these devastating losses, we had a great time. Alecia served Thomas' favorite cookie, a snowball, and he found the one with a hidden chocolate chip, which won us a candle. Thomas has won that particularly prize several times, he just loves those cookies, so the odds are in our favor. We got fun gifts at the white elephant gift exchange and had a great night.

Thomas playing minute to win it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Fall is definitely my favorite season. I love the cooler weather, especially welcome after a hot summer, and all the cheerful spirit in the air. We had a busy first week of December welcoming in the Christmas season. On Friday, Anna's children's chorus had their first performance. If I haven't mentioned it before, she is in a children's chorus. The chorus is affiliated with an overarching Choral Arts program in our community. The adult singers are very talented and recognized a need to give children the opportunity to learn more about music. It is lead by two amazing singers. Practices are held once a week for 90 minutes. It is my favorite of my children's activities for several reasons: 1) it is cheap (I think it was $75 for the semester, which pays for music and building costs, it is non-profit  run by volunteers; 2) it is easy--the practices are held a mile from our house and we can just drop Anna off and return home; and 3) I love music and wish I knew how to read music and sing along to actual notes in harmony, so I'm glad Anna is learning.

Anyway, their first performance was on Friday night at the Calvert Marine Museum. We enjoyed her performance and then did the lantern walk down Solomon's Island. The next day, Saturday, we went to a craft show where the kids made gingerbread men cookies. We enjoyed seeing all the interesting crafts and left impressed by all the talent in our local community. That night, we did the lighted walk at Ann Marie Gardens. Sunday, we were kind of worn out and enjoyed a relaxing day at home watching Elf.

Other fun Christmas things we have done so far: decorate our house. Thomas changed it up a little this year and actually put lights on the roof. I thought I was going to have a heart attack (I am being somewhere between literal and figurative here, I was legitimately terrified). He put the ladder on the second floor landing, which is not a flat surface, and then climbed onto our very steep roof. I was forced to hold the ladder, as thoughts of it slipping and taking both us to the ground pranced through my head. Thomas always says that he is conscious of risk and wouldn't do anything he felt was too risky, so I tried to trust. But, the combination of ladder climbing and roof walking was NOT the highlight of my day. So, why am I listing this under "fun," because the end result is pretty nice. The house looks really good and every time we come home after dark, I really enjoy seeing the fruits of his efforts (not that I want to repeat the experience next year!).

We didn't use the garland outside like we normally do, which opened up an opportunity indoors.

The right corner of the house, our first year adding lights to this area.

We also went to the Six Flags Christmas event. It is not as elaborate as the one at Busch Gardens, but we were impressed. The lights were beautiful and the atmosphere was fun. A lot of rides were open and we saw a couple of shows. Everyone had a great time and almost daily, Luke asks to go back. In fact, yesterday when I told him it was time for school he said, "I not go to school today, I'm going Six Flags!" Wishful thinking at its finest! I hope to go back one or two more times before the season ends. My one regret was not buying the Santa photos. They had a cute Santa area and a very good looking Santa. Speaking of which, when asked what they wanted, Jack said the game Risk; Anna said a desk, chair and boots; Kara said Shopkins and LPS; and Luke said presents!

I only took a couple of pictures, which were terrible, but you can kind of see the lights of the "North Pole" section behind them.

The girls really like making silly faces at the camera lately.

Speaking of presents, we bought Anna a desk, which Fedex delivered right as the kids were getting off the school bus. Kara lingered outside and asked what it was. I replied that it was probably a small bookshelf I ordered for Daddy. The Fedex driver replied, "no, this is a desk," as she pointed at the picture. Ugh! We tried to cover it up by saying that a friend ordered it and had it shipped to our house, but the next day a desk chair appeared in the garage in plain view. I did not notice it until we all went outside. So, one surprise is ruined.

Anna had her second concert on Thursday. This one was just the kids singing all their songs. The Marine Museum was just a few songs and they will sing as one "act" at the Choral Arts concert next week. But, this one was just them. I got there early with Jack and Kara so we could get front row seats. They brought their Kindles and I brought a book and a good time was had by all. And, the concert was really good! My favorite song was probably "Various Themes on Fa-La-La" where a traditional carol was randomly interrupted by "Fa La La" sung to various tunes, like the William Tell Overture. It was a really cute number. They also sand Holiday Road, of National Lampoon's Vacation fame. All the songs were entertaining and fun. Although, for some reason, Luke kept shouting out "three more songs" after each number, which was funny the first time (and for us, continued being funny, but probably not so much for those sitting around us, fortunately, he was quiet during the singing).

Last weekend, we also went to Mount Vernon. We always go between Thanksgiving and New Years because they have the third floor open. Well, they used to have the third floor open. This year it was closed because they said crowds have increased. We were disappointed, but still had a good visit. Aladdin the Christmas camel was present and we enjoyed spending time in the museum. They also had a fun craft where the kids got to make an ornament using a puck from a tree cut down on the property.

This post is pretty sparse on pictures, I will try and remember to take one of the house tonight, but here is a bonus picture of Baby Bear taken by Anna practicing her photography skills.

And, that concludes the first week(ish) of December. Stay tuned to find out what happens next week at Tales From my House!

Thanksgiving and a parental visit

So, this post is obviously delayed. But, my dad and Maggie visited us over Thanksgiving break! My dad won't fly, so they took the train and I picked them up at the cutest little train station in Fredericksburg. The train was a bit late, but Maggie kept me apprised, so I wasn't too early (they got in around 630am, so I didn't want to get up and leave earlier then I had to). The train takes 17 hours (without delays), so I am sure they were relieved to step off. But, it is certainly less stressful than driving and my dad loves talking to strangers and meeting people, so it isn't a bad way for them to travel.

We took it easy on Tuesday morning/afternoon. Thomas was playing in a basketball game after work, so we went up and watched some of the game and I showed them the base. if you're wondering, Thomas played well and his team won. Then, we went to Golden Corral, which the kids love! It was a nice first day. Wednesday, we went to the Farmer's Market, library and out for ice cream with the kids. The adults went to dinner at a local seafood restaurant and it was good to just chat.

Little Lukey with big Lou

Thursday was Thanksgiving! My brother, who recently moved to Northern Virginia, joined us with his family. Well, most of his family, one child is grown and living out of state. We cooked, played games, and watched the parade. We introduced my girls to the game of spoons, which is one of my favorites. I thought they were still a bit young to play, but they held their own! Jack was too busy playing Wii to join us. Dinner was delicious and relaxed. My brother stayed almost all day and we really enjoyed being with everyone.

That night, I went to JC Penney and maneuvered my way into a $0.60 king-sized comforter and a $1.40 shirt. I love combining their coupons with Black Friday deals! The next morning, my dad and Maggie watched the kids while Thomas and I did a bit more shopping. We got some good deals, but well after the crowds had departed, which is how we like it. We are never looking for the big-ticket items, so it is easy to wait for things to die down. While we were gone, the kids played some more spoons and made some Oreo turkeys with Maggie. When we got home, they actually asked us to go back out because they were having so much fun. We had a Karaoke party that night and I can't remember what else we did.

Kara wanted to help cook.

Jack and Anna wanted to help in a different way.

Saturday, we went out for a drive around Solomon's and then to a late lunch. We also picked out our Christmas tree and spent the afternoon decorating. My dad and Maggie left that evening. We were all sad to see them go!

Thanks for Nothing, Facebook! A Good Reminder for Me.

Our neighborhood has a ladies only Facebook page. We use this page to give stuff away, alert each other to concerns (i.e. strange cars afoot, solicitors peddling vacuums, etc.), and lately--to complain. Kids are in yards they shouldn't be in, dogs are barking too much, unknown teenagers are playing basketball, etc. Some of it is valid, and should be addressed to the wide audience, but some of it could be addressed in person privately. I myself was guilty of an infraction last week when I asked if anyone else was being bothered by barking dogs.

Then, yesterday, I became a "victim". Our back yard shares a border with 4 different yards. One of these yards has two puppies that keep escaping. The first time this happened (that we are aware of) we were inside eating breakfast when the kids saw them in our yard. We stopped what we were doing and spent about 40 minutes chasing them down, getting in touch with the owners and making sure they were okay. The next time it happened, we were all outside. My kids were playing with some other kids on our playset. Another neighbor had stopped by to chat with her dog on a leash. None of the kids were interacting with the dogs, and we were not anywhere near the fence, but the excitement was just too much and her dogs worked their way out. Again, we gave chase and returned them. The third time, we weren't even home. The fourth time the kids were in the backyard (again, not interacting in anyway with the dogs). Another neighbor chased them down. 

Yesterday, my kids were in the backyard when the dogs came outside. Kara ran over to their fence and started talking to them. My kids are guilty of occasionally doing this, however, it only began after they spent all that time chasing them and it doesn't happen frequently. Thomas saw what she was doing and remarked that we would need to talk with the kids about leaving the dogs alone, since we don't want to entice them to escape.

Fifteen minutes later, my phone starts going off with text messages asking what was going on and telling me to check Facebook. The owner of the dogs posted a message on the page stating that the reason her dogs keep getting out is that the kids in our yard are calling them and pulling on the fence. She asked that parents talk to the children who play in that yard and stated she had "picture evidence." I was livid! I immediately responded that I would talk with my kids, but I pointed out that there are holes in the fence where the kids don't go (we all border a little pond and one area of her fence borders a very tall weed line adjacent to the pond where no kids play); that the dogs have escaped when no kids are present; and that I have personally seen the dogs get out when the kids were not interacting with them in any way. I didn't mention this, but Thomas also pointed out that all the houses we border have dogs and none of them escape. The previous owner of her house had dogs, they never got out. We both felt it was very unfair of her to blame their behavior on our children.

I spent the evening fuming. How dare she publicly shame my family? Why couldn't she just knock on my door and talk to me? Or, why not talk to the kids instead of taking pictures? She could have even sent a text, she had my number from the times I tracked her down to let her know her dogs were out. The kids were also mad, they promised that they have never "pulled on her fence." I believe them, because we are generally with them and Thomas had witnessed the same incident they saw that led to the post (an assumption based on the timing). However, they were guilty of talking to the dogs, which was a valid point to be addressed. 

After I was done fuming, I thought about it from her perspective. They are stressed because their dogs keep getting out. Another neighbor told her that people were threatening to call animal control. She sees my kid standing at the fence talking to the dog. It is a fair assumption. But, we have been friendly with this neighbor, their daughter (who is only 3 or 4) occasionally comes into our yard to play. There was no reason she couldn't have addressed it to me personally. Facebook and other electronic conveniences have made it easy to avoid human interaction, and this has lead to hurt feelings and anger (on both sides, I am guessing).

After an evening of reflection, I recognized the times I have been guilty of something similar, like my passive aggressive post about barking dogs. And, this was a reminder for me to personally do better. At one point in my younger years I was the victim of a vicious rumor. Like most gossip, there was a kernel of truth, but the story that got told eventually far exceeded the actual offense. At that point, I swore that I would never take part in gossip. I would actively avoid hearing it and I would never spread it. My further reflection showed that I am not as vigilant as I once was and that I need to do better. I understand where my neighbor was coming from and I am hoping the matter is resolved. I wish I had taken a higher road by simply knocking on her door and addressing it personally. With time, cooler heads will generally prevail and I should have waited. Hopefully, there will not be a next time, but if there is, perhaps I will be reminded of this and handle things better.

So, this is my public posting of frustration and realization. ;)

The Election of 2016

This post will probably be a little bit unusual for me. I tend to write about our every day lives as a way to memorialize moments for our family. However, I think one day my kids (and maybe an older me) will enjoy reading how I felt about other topics,so occasionally I branch out. Like today.

My mom was a pretty political person. In her college years, she was a staunch Democrat who campaigned for JFK. She grew a bit more conservative as she got older, but always enjoyed a good debate. I remember my first Presidential election in 1996, I was the only kid still at home and my parents and I were a house divided. The three of us cancelled each other out when one of us voted for Clinton, one for Dole and another for Perot. I enjoyed our spirited dinner conversations and the excitement of voting in my first election.

I haven't missed a Presidential election since. Some of my votes have been mailed in, thanks to military service. And, I didn't always vote in the the "lessor" elections, mainly because I felt out of touch being a resident of one state while living and working in another. This most recent election was the only one that (literally) kept me awake at night. I honestly could not fathom supporting either candidate. I wanted to like Donald Trump, I did like that he wasn't a career politician (although, some political experience would have been nice). But, I felt like he was also a misogynistic, despicable person. He lost me sometime in the summer after one too many awful comments. In my opinion, Hillary Clinton was only slightly better. I did not believe she was a good Secretary of State, I found the e-mail scandal horrendous (I knew people taken to NJP for less serious infractions involving classified material) and found many of the dealings of the Clinton Foundation morally questionable. So, what's a person to do? In the end, I voted for neither. However, I was hoping Clinton would win. To me, she was the lessor of two evils. I thought a Clinton Presidency would mean 4 more years of an administration similar to President Obama, which I could live with and then we could try again with two new, better candidates in 2020.

Thomas and I watched the news reports on election night together until about 10pm, when I went to bed. It looked as though Trump was going to win Florida and I just knew that was going to be the beginning of the end. Thomas was 100% certain that Clinton was going to win. He came up to bed at 2am and I awoke to ask the outcome. He told me, in a rather incredulous manner, that Donald Trump was to be our 45th President. I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. I laid awake and thought about what this meant for our country. Although I am a registered Republican, there are some issues where I definitely lean Democratic--climate change probably being the biggest. I thought about what this meant for the Earth. I thought about what this meant for the United States internationally, and of course I thought about how it would effect the everyday lives of Americans here in our own country. None of my thoughts were pleasant.

In the following days, when I read who Trump was considering for the leaders in his Presidency, it read like a veritable Who's Who of the (Republican) Politicians I least admire--Rudy Guiliani, Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich. I told Thomas the only way it could be worse was if we threw in Sarah Palin, which they did the next day. Of course, nothing is set in stone, as the cabinet is still to be determined.

However, now that we are almost a week removed, I am choosing to be positive. It is beyond my control and I refuse to wallow in misery for the next four years. I obviously do not wish for President Elect Trump to fail. Rather, I hope that somehow he will miraculously unite our country and bring us 4 good years. Although many would say I am being foolish, I can't believe it is any more foolish than if you had told me, or anyone else for that matter, a year ago that he would actually be elected.

On a lighter note, the older kids were really invested in the election. We took them with us to vote and they wanted to hear about all the issues, they were very interested in people's different political stances and we had a hard time getting Jack to understand that it wasn't polite to ask people who they were voting for. We tried to lay out the positions of each side and play devil's advocate with a variety of positions. We also tried not to talk about it too much, although I think we failed in this regard. Luke could actually recognize Donald Trump on t.v and would say, "it's DonalShrump" when he saw an ad. He also said it when seeing the weatherman, newscasters, and others, so thankfully, his recognition isn't 100%.

In conclusion, this is not meant in a derogatory way to those who think differently than I do. I respect the opinions of my friends and families and accept that reasonable minds can differ.

Halloween

We had a lot of fun on Halloween. Luke had his party at school and enjoyed going trick-or-treating at Dean Lumber. He made an incredibly cute lion (I had forgotten he was also a lion for his first Halloween--whoops!).

When the kids got home from school, they put on their costumes and we went to a neighbor's house for another Halloween party. They had some fun games set up and lots and lots of good food. It was nice to do a potluck and not have to worry about dinner, particularly trying to make a creative Halloween dinner. I made deviled eggs with spooky olive spiders on them. They were good, but definitely not the highlight. My Australian neighbor made some delicious pavlova, which I had never had before. There was also pulled pork, corn dogs, chick-fil-a nuggets, chips and guacamole, and so much other food. One neighbor made amazing spooky chocolate covered pretzels. They actually had different colors worked in and I can't imagine the time involved. You can see where my head is at that I feel the need to list out the food and not specifically discuss anything else.

We left there just before 6 to prepare for trick-or-treating. As per tradition, Jennifer, Chris and Jacob joined us. We set out our candy bowl and walked the neighborhood. We brought Luke's umbrella stroller so he could easily climb in and out. However, he was not interested! He walked the entire neighborhood (just over a mile) without ever complaining or appearing the least bit tired. He loved going to each house and holding out his bag. He would proudly say, trick-or-treat, thank you and Happy Halloween to everyone who put something in his bag. He was adorable. After we finished at the last house, which was right next door to ours, he saw our house and said, "I'm ready to go home," which was good, because we had gone to every house! After eating a few pieces of candy, he enjoyed handing out candy to the people who rang our doorbell until we finally turned our light off at 8.  Let me say that trick-or-treaters get a bit more sketchy as the evening goes on. Right before I turned off our light, there were a few adults who didn't even bother with costumes. Not even teenagers. It was a little bizarre.

So Halloween was a massive success. It was the funnest Halloween I can remember. We did a lot of great activities and all our kids were totally into it. Kara was the only one who wanted to make her costume and she and I had a good time coming up with a plan and executing her "gumball machine" vision. We all had an afternoon of fun making haunted houses for our "Halloween Village" and we  carved some awesome pumpkins. Halloween may find itself rising close to the top of my favorite holidays list if we can roll this momentum into next year. Of course, Halloween has a short shelf-life, once the kids outgrow the activities, it will fall right back down the rung.

We actually had 6 carved pumpkins, one for each of us.

Fall, This and That

Fall weather has arrived and it is so wonderful. I love when we can turn off the air conditioning and open our windows. The kids have been anxious to get outside after school and have had fun playing with their neighborhood friends. We have been encouraging as much outside time as possible, knowing that the end of daylight savings is rapidly approaching and it will be dark super early soon.

We have engaged in some Fall festivities. Luke had his first "field trip" to Forest Hall Farms. I use the term loosely, because parents had to attend. But, we had a good time. Luke was his normal chatterbox self and his teacher remarked that she's never heard him speak so much, apparently he is very "quiet and cuddly" at school. Give him time, ladies... Now, he refers to all farms as pumpkin farms, which I love (especially since he has stopped calling all spiders "spider-man" and anything with Mickey Mouse "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse").

One really fun activity we did was trick-or-treating on the Dove at St. Mary's City. We got there about 30 minutes after the event started and the line was loooonng. We waited close to an hour. The kids made good use of the time, going to the craft tables and having fortunes told. Thomas and I were getting a bit frustrated at the long wait (particularly with trying to keep Luke entertained), but it was totally worth it! The good thing about being in line so long was it was dark by the time it was our turn and it definitely added to the fun. The decorations on the Dove were awesome and everyone was so friendly. You can tell they are history people, because they all recognized that Jack was a Union soldier. He had his spiel ready for anyone who asked about his costume and would proudly recite his regiment and offer a salute. They also had some games on the dock and we had a great time. One of the people asked Luke what he should say and Luke looked at him blankly, so the man prompted, "say trick-or-treat, Lion" and Luke responded with (you guessed it, I'm sure): "trick-or-treat Lion." After the experience Luke is sold on trick-or-treating and loves Halloween!

On Sunday, we went to Fall fun days at Mount Vernon. It was really nice, they were demonstrating all kinds of stuff, from weaving to boat building. They also had an amazing living history interpreter at the slave cabin. She never broke character! Someone asked about what happened after George Washington died and she yelled at him, "what do you mean died? He's walking down there by the river, just came and bought some eggs from me." It was very interesting (and sad) to learn more about the day to day lives of the slaves. No one wanted to leave and we enjoyed several hours outside in the farm area.

NPS was out in honor of their 100th Anniversary. The girls completed an activity and received small trophies. They also added their thumbprints to the NPS board.

Luke ran through their maze dozens of time, he'd run through, come out, yell "do it again" and go back. Meanwhile, the girls explored a nearby tent where they heard all about cooking in the 1700s.

After Mount Vernon, we headed to Six Flags. It was a beautiful day and we were really enjoying being outside. They had some fun fall activities, including a small hay bail maze and a spooky trick-or-treat trail. They gave the kids tons of candy, about 5x what they were given when they did the trail at the Six Flags in New Jersey. Everyone had a good time, but we didn't stay too long. It was a busy day!

Bugs wandered over to be in their picture. I loved that the characters were in costume.

Today (Friday) the kids celebrated the last day of Red Ribbon Week with a book character parade. It is quite the charade. Even the teachers drop the pretense and come dressed as things like M&Ms. Of course, there are many who are actually book characters. Among the many princesses and Darth Vaders, we saw some Pete the Cats, Fancy Nancys, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (don't know his name), Alice in Wonderlands, etc. Anna and Jack dressed in their Halloween costumes, but their costumes are actually represented in their favorite books. Anna was a veterinarian, her favorite books are Puppy Place and feature a vet. Jack was a Union Civil War soldier and brought along his favorite book--A Savage Thunder, which is about the Civil War. Kara wore a legit book costume, Anna's book character from last year--Little Miss Chatterbox. Of course, we have lost the Little Miss Chatterbox book, so she brought in a copy of Little Miss Neat. Luke's preschool is doing their Halloween activities on Monday, so stay tuned!

In other news, Kara's cheernastics class ended and she has not signed up for anything else. It has made our schedule more relaxed and we are enjoying the reprieve. She liked doing floor gymnastics at our local dance studio, but they moved about 25 minutes away from our house and Kara did not want to be in the car that long. The gymnastics center just wasn't as fun for her. Anna is doing a children's chorus. They rehearse very close to our house, so it is easy to simply drop her off and pick her up once a week. She has indicated that she wants to try soccer again. I think she has forgotten how unhappy she was playing, but if she is still interested in the Spring, soccer may be in our future again. Jack is doing another round of machine pitch baseball and says he plans on playing baseball forever!

Great Wolf Lodge

On Thursday we told our kids there was a two-hour delay. We had a leisurely breakfast and around 9 we gathered the kids and asked, "how about instead of going to school today, we go to...Great Wolf Lodge?!?!?!" They were thrilled! They jumped up and down and squealed and raced to get their car bags packed. We threw our suitcases in the van and headed off (discussing on the way the difference between a lie and a surprise).

We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and checked in. Our room was ready, so we quickly dropped off our bags, changed and went to the water park. The other surprise for the kids was that several of our neighbors were joining us. Jack was thrilled when he saw Kolten, who lives across the street from us. He is only in PreK, but he and Jack love to have lightsaber battles and rough-house. Unfortunately, none of their school-aged friends joined us (one family was supposed to, but their son got stitches a few days before departure and was told he couldn't get them wet for 10 days). They enjoyed playing with the other kids. We rode all the slides and even took Luke on the family water raft. Unfortunately, he did not like it. He actually grew more timid as our time there went on. He loves the slides attached to the giant kid structure, but hated the water bucket dropping on him. They also have a water feature that lets people drop a trough of water on you on your way to the slides. I don't know why people thought it was funny to scare a 2-year old, but they did. So, Luke eventually decided it wasn't worth the risk and gave up all slides except the ones in the baby pool.

The birthday kids

All the kids!

Back to Thursday, for dinner we went to Cracker Barrel, which was good. Then, we stopped at Walmart to pick up food for Friday's breakfast and lunch. When we returned to GWL, we met up with our friends and did the trick-or-treat trail (really short, but good candy), and looked for all the hidden peeps. Then, we saw the clock tower show in the lobby, followed by the bedtime story. Luke took one look at the clock tower and decided he wasn't interested, so Thomas put him to bed and I stayed with the older three. Finally, it was time for bed.

With a few of our friends.

Friday, we went back to the water park in the morning. Then, we decided to visit the Virginia Air and Space Museum. It was really cool. It had lots of interactive exhibits that were fun for all of us, including an AirTran DC-9 that you could climb around in and attempt to "fly". The kids loved the children's area, where they could design and build a rocket, see video of the sun, dress-up in astronaut suits and experience lots of other exhibits. We had a great time. In fact, they were working on a new exhibit that had lots of fun looking "games" and the kids all want to go back when it opens.

Flying the DC-9

Kara drew out her plan on paper and then executed this design.

Cutouts!

We drove to the Yankee Candle Flagship store, a must-visit place anytime we go to Williamsburg. Then, it was Olive Garden for dinner and back to GWL for some more pool time. We put the kids to bed around 8:30. Thomas stayed with the kids and I went and relaxed in the hottub with one of my friends until the park closed, then we met up with our other friends and chatted for an hour or so. It was really nice.

Santa was hanging out in the Christmas area at Yankee Candle. The kids had to write down if they were naughty, nice or in-between. J & K put "nice" and A wrote her name in the "in-between" column.

Saturday, we went to the waterpark in the morning and then headed to Jack's favorite place--Yorktown. First, we had lunch at one of our favorite places--The Carrot Tree. Although, it no longer has the historic atmosphere since it switched locations, it now has an outdoor eating area that makes it easy to take the kids. Luckily, they were having a children's festival in the town area, so the kids got to make crafts while we waited for our food. We walked around the festival a bit more after lunch and everyone had a good time.

It was a beautiful day!

Then, it was off to the battlefield. We watched the orientation film (one of the better ones we've seen, so we enjoy watching it when we visit) and then looked around the visitor's center and gift shop. It was getting late, so we decided to forgo walking the battlefield. We were there on October 16th and the famous storming of the redoubts took place on the evening of October 15th, so it was fun to see everything how it would have looked when we won that very important battle (thanks France!).

This picture represents from our car forward. In just this one half of one row, 14 different states were represented! We love it when others love history:)

I will conclude with one last picture of a sweet, sleeping Jack: