Cherry Blossoms, Solos, Family Date Night, & a Math Competition

Last week I spent three days in DC for a work-related training. It was a fairly useful 3 days, but I hate being away from home. However, I decided to make the best of my time away and enjoy some of the sites. It happened to be prime cherry blossom blooming time, so my coworkers and I ventured down to the tidal basin and I finally got to see what all the fuss was about. They were very pretty, but I am not sure I would try and fight the crowds with the family. We went on a Wednesday night around 7 pm and there was still a good crowd. Plus, we can see cherry blossoms where we live. My second night away from home, I went to Old Town Alexandria, had a nice dinner and walked down King Street.

Meanwhile, I was missing the Fourth Grade play. It was the first school thing I've missed and I felt bad about it. I felt even worse when Anna was given the opportunity to sing a solo! The play was on Thursday. They held solo auditions on Tuesday, and made the announcement of who was singing on Wednesday. Thomas also couldn't go. He had some meetings at work that could not be moved. We were both very disappointed. We didn't even know the play was taking place until Monday and that just wasn't enough notice to change our plans. Jack had a speaking part, so that made missing it even worse. Fortunately, my neighbor was working at the school that day and she kindly took a great video for us. She also bought Anna flowers. Anna has developed a very nice singing voice and she sounded great! Jack did fantastic with his speaking part, so all was well.

First time trying to embed videos, hopefully it works!

I came home Thursday night, but had to work on Friday. It was the day of the annual Friends of the Library book sale. Thomas and I decided I would take a few hours of leave so that we could get there when they opened. As a special treat, we picked up the older kids from school and took them with us. We all had a great time browsing for books. I was really hoping to get a set of the Narnia Chronicles and I did! We bought two giant bags worth of books--something for everyone. I got a set of the first Bob learn to read books and Luke has been enjoying sounding out basic words.  He is one smart cookie--he can count up to 100 now, which he does proudly and often. The Bob books were something Kara loved. Doing them with Luke has brought back lots of good memories; and served as another reminder of how quickly time goes by.  After the book sale, we went to Harris Teeter and let everyone pick out a treat food.  We got Luke and then played outside until dinner time. To continue the family date, we went out to dinner and when we got home, we went for a walk. By the time we got back inside the house, it was after 7. A long, fun, day spent close to home.

Bags of books? Yes, please!

The girls also got cd's to keep in their room. 12 for $10--can't beat that!

Saturday was Jack and Anna's math competition day. They were both asked to be in the fourth grade math club. Then, the 7 top scoring students from math club comprised the math team. Both Jack and Anna were selected. Twenty-two elementary schools competed and their team came in 4th place! We were very proud. To celebrate, we took them out to lunch to a restaurant of their choosing--Cracker Barrel. Now, we are watching Cars 3. In a couple of hours, we have a birthday party to attend. Another fun, busy day!

the math team with their principal

The Wilson Mathletes

Glasses, Spring Break & Easter 2018

Kara got glasses! Thomas took her to her well visit and during their routine eye check, they realized there was quite an issue. We were both surprised, neither Thomas nor I wear glasses and we thought vision was primarily hereditary (Thomas' vision is actually crazy good, probably like 10/20). But, Kara definitely needs them. So, we made her an eye appointment and a few days later, she was sporting her first pair of eyeglasses! She likes wearing them, although she says it doesn't make a huge difference in her vision.

We kicked off Spring Break by going to Kings Dominion on Saturday. It was opening day, so I was expecting it to be crowded, but the lines were very manageable and everyone had a great time. The kids kept exclaiming that they couldn't believe that after three long years, they were back! The park was clean and the atmosphere was fun (I love how they play different music in different sections). There were a couple of new kids' rides that Luke was happy to try. And, they modified one of the wooden roller coasters, adding metal tracks and some fun elements. Thomas and Jack tried it out and said it was amazing--one of the best roller coasters they've ever ridden. However, the line for that got pretty long (over an hour), so I opted to wait for another day to try it out. Jack and Thomas were fortunate to ride it early before it got crowded. The only downside of the day was the food was not as good as we remembered and our favorite barbecue sandwich was no longer on the menu. But, it was a small price to pay. I am already looking forward to summer when they open up their Cirque Show.

Jack was up there too

Digging in the dino area

Kara's old favorite--the Pumpkin Coaster

This was the first Spring Break since the kids started school that I've had to work. It was a little sad for me to not join in on all the fun, but overall it was a good experience. They are fortunate that their much beloved babysitter agreed to watch them and she had lots of great activities planned. On Monday, they went hiking. On Tuesday, they made sock puppets at the library, Wednesday was the pool and Thursday they did an activity at Sotterley. Thomas was home with them on Friday. I was going to take the day off, but the forecast called for rain seemingly everywhere within a 3-hour radius. So, I went to work and the kids celebrated Major League Baseball's opening day with ballpark themed treats and a viewing party. When I got home, we dyed Easter Eggs with our neighbors.

Go Tigers!

Using both traditional method and shaving cream method.

I loved the marbled look the shaving cream/food dye gave!

Saturday, we went to Stratford Hall. They have an annual Easter Egg hunt. They had all the kids go at the same time (in different areas, grouped by age). It was nice not to have to sit around waiting for different age groups. They even provided a lunch--a hot dog and cupcake. Each kid was also given a goody bag. Everything was free and we were able to explore the grounds after. We had a great time walking through the woods and being outside.

Today is Easter and we are relaxing at home. It was a little sad not to spend Spring Break in Florida. We often go this time of year, and, this year, all my siblings were there. But, I do not have enough time saved off from work yet to take a trip like that.

I asked the kids their favorite part of Spring Break and they unanimously agreed--Kings Dominion for the win!

Lukey is 4!

On March 17, our baby turned 4. This is quite a milestone. For me, 4 has always been the separation between toddler and little kid. It is also the age where we first let our kids have a party with friends. Luke chose to have his at the gymnastics center. It was a close call between that and Pump it Up and on the day of his party he tried to change his mind (ummm, I think we should have my party at Pump it Up instead). Fortunately, he understood and was very excited.

But, let me back up a day. On Friday, March 16, they celebrated St Patrick's Day and Luke's birthday at his school. When I picked him up, he ran to me and very excitedly announced, "I turned 4 at school today!" They gave him a birthday hat that he absolutely loved. He wore it all day Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, we told him he could choose anywhere he wanted to go for lunch. We thought we had him talked into Cracker Barrel (which is what the rest of us wanted), but then he insisted on Chick-Fil-A. It was a good lesson for the older kids and we all were good sports. (We like CFA, but had gotten excited about Cracker Barrel pancakes). He wore his hat and lots of people wished him happy birthday. When we got home, the mail truck pulled in behind us and Luke ran out to tell them that he was 4 now. It was fun to see how much the birthday meant to him.

Birthday boy and his big brother. Funnily, the table sitting behind us had 4 kids as well and two of them were named Jack and Anna.

We invited 27 kids to Luke's party and 27 showed up. That has never happened to us before! I guess the gymnastics center is a hot ticket! My kids had a blast running around. It is the perfect place for a winter party!

This was Luke's favorite thing

He also walked the tall balance beam, like a pro

I missed a couple of kids on the ends, but this was the best I could get. They were squirmy!

Party table 1

Party table 2

We ran out of time at the gymnastics center and had to open presents at home. Luke got some great stuff!

On the day after his birthday, he came downstairs in a terrible mood. Thomas asked if he was coming off the birthday high and sad not to get any more presents or be the center of attention. Luke responded, "NO, NO, NO...actually, yes."

Now, all about Luke. He is very smart and sweet. At least to me. He is all about mommy right now. He tells me many times a day how much he loves me and how I am the best mommy ever. I know it won't last long, so I am making sure I enjoy it while it lasts. Although, it will be nice to have a bit of personal space, I wouldn't trade all the loving hugs and kisses. As for being smart, he knows all the letters and their sounds and can (sort of) sound out super basic words. He loves puzzles. He is a great counter, and likes us to give him simple math problems, for example, if you have three cookies and I take two of them away, how many cookies do you have left? Most of our math problems involve cookies.

He also has good fine motor skills. He wrote out all of the Valentines to his classmates (15 of them) and they were legible. He is motivated to do whatever his older siblings are doing, and gets mad if we leave him out. Last night, I was telling the older three to come clear the table before dinner. Luke asked, "what about me." I told him he had things he needed to come put away too. Then, he whined about how he was too little and he didn't want to.

This is impressive for a barely 4-year-old, right?

He is about 40" inches tall and weighs 36 pounds. Now that he has hit the magic 40" mark, I am dying to take him to Disney World. But, he still isn't super brave. I want to wait until he will ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder, so we will see how this summer goes. We have passes to both Kings Dominion and Six Flags so there are lots of opportunities for him to try different rides.

He is a good brother and loves his siblings. He also loves Gus. I think he is still the most excited about having a puppy. He complains about going to school, but I think a lot of it is for show. I told him on my last Friday off that he could stay home with me, but that he had to come grocery shopping and take a nap. He opted for school, so I know it can't be that bad.

All in all, he is one fantastic little 4 year old!

Zoo and Our Dog

I really love the Timehop App, every day I open it up to see what fun things happened in years past. Oftentimes there is nothing very exciting. Other days it is completely full of awesomeness. For example, last year at this time we took a trip to Florida, so there have been lots of fun pictures to reminiscence over.

In addition to the Florida pictures, something else has been showing up with frequency. Apparently, this is the time of year we visit the zoo. After seeing pictures over several days this week I decided it was time to continue the tradition and make a 2018 visit. Last year, we had to go to see the new baby panda. And I was anxious to see how he had grown. So, on Saturday morning, we hired a dog sitter and set out for DC. Much to Luke's annoyance, we opted to drive rather than take the train. It was very hard for him to have a good time after that major disappointment.

This has been the rainiest winter I think I've ever experienced. We often have a lot of rain in early Spring, but this is the first year I can recall so much rain this time of year. Our yard is a mud pit and we are extremely tired of it. However, the day at the zoo was the first weekend day in a while with nice weather and it was wonderful to be outside. And, of course, the pandas did not disappointment. I love them so much! It makes me happy just thinking about it. Kara's favorite area is small mammals, Jack loves the Ape House and no trip is complete for Anna without a stop in Amazonia. We made sure to hit everyone's favorites (except Luke, who only wanted to see the metro train and did not understand why we couldn't ride it home). Regardless, we had a great time! We packed a lunch and enjoyed walking around outside seeing all the animals. It wasn't very crowded and with the exception of the Asia Trail, the animals were active.

Isn't he adorable?

Kara spotted the creature in the tree

This bird flew right next to Kara, caught her a bit off guard, but she recovered enough for a picture.

Other than our zoo trip, it has been a quiet time in our house. Between the new puppy and the near constant rain, we haven't really done much. We have made a new tradition to visit Café Rio on Friday nights, which has been fun. Of course, the tradition is only two weeks old, but so far so good. Although, we may switch it up to Tuesdays because that is cheap burrito/salad day. We certainly love having it so close by, hopefully nobody gets sick of it anytime soon!

As I have mentioned the adjustment to life with a dog has been difficult. I didn't quite grasp the idea that a puppy is a lot like a toddler. And, I knew it would be a lot of work, but I guess I didn't realize just how much. As anyone who knows me knows, I have never wanted a dog. I LOVE traveling and going away on the weekends, or at least leaving early in the day and coming home late at night. We have 4 kids and full-time jobs. Adding a dog into our mix was pure insanity. And, I decide to undo it. I found a rehoming group and posted an ad. Within hours I had many, many interested people. After all, who, other than me, wouldn't want such an adorable puppy? I had the kids on board and Thomas was willing. We convinced ourselves it would be better for everyone, including Gus. He is young and would adapt easily. But, when push came to shove, it just didn't feel right. We have grown attached to our little fluff ball. So, we have decided to keep him. It's only about 12 years of our lives. Ugh!

Kara's Birthday

Kara turns 9 today! For her birthday, she asked for a Harry Potter themed party. We told her she could invite 5 friends. When you have 3 siblings, adding in even 5 kids makes for a pretty big party, at least in my opinion. She tried to be very methodical in choosing her guests. Naturally, there were more than 5 she could think of, so she tried to choose those who she knew enjoyed Harry Potter and to reciprocate with friends whose parties she had recently attended. It was as good a system as any to narrow the guest list. One of her invitees had a brother tag along, so we ended up with 10 kids. Which worked out, because that was precisely how many our "great hall" could comfortably handle.

This was our first party at home since Kara turned 4. She wanted to have a feast, play Harry Potter Scene It and watch one of the movies. For all that fun, we figured we needed about 5 hours. Thomas was in charge of decorating the Great Hall and the wand/owl sort. I was in charge of supplies, food and the other activities. The division of labor worked out well.

The Great Hall complete with floating candles.

Our entryway

The guests arrived at 11 and were seated in the dining room. There, they met Professor Rumblewindow, who was very similar in mannerism to Professor Snape. The kids loved him! He introduced them to the wandmaker who asked each child a series of questions to determine their perfect wand. Once that was done, they looked under their chairs to find the name of their owl taped to the bottom. After they found the matching owls, we gave them a few minutes to practice their spells before the feast.

This party was brought to you courtesy of  Professor Rumblewindow and Professor Wilson.

Luke really liked this part.

Kara chose the food: salisbury steak, broccoli with cheese sauce, Kraft macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and rolls. We also had strawberries and Polyjuice Potion (green Hawaiian Punch). We figured there was enough variety that the kids would be happy and they were. After the food, everyone chose a "sorting cookie". It was a chocolate chip cookie topped with an ice cream cone that contained m&m's in the color of their house. That determined our teams for Scene It. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teamed up and beat Gryffindor and Slytherin. I'd like to say it was close, because I was on the losing team, but it was a pretty big victory for R & H. Fortunately, most of the kids had fun. A couple of the younger ones (Luke and one other) abandoned the game to play in the basement, which was fine.

Sorting hat cookies

After Scene It, the kids played a game with Jelly Beans, just like Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, they didn't know what they were going to get. The game had matching Jelly Beans, one was a good flavor, the other gross.  For example white could be either spoiled milk or coconut. The kids loved it! They played for quite a while. Then, we took pictures with our photo opportunity, which I made with templates found at:  http://www.papertraildesign.com/harry-potter-party-photobooth-easy-diy/

Bertie Botts mystery beans.

Kayce was game to give it a try!

This one was my favorite :)

Next, it was time for cake pops. Normally, I would have made them. In fact, I had a plan in place and the supplies to make them designed after the golden snitch. But, there just wasn't time. I had Friday off from work, but as mentioned in the previous blog, I was volunteering at the kids' school. Friday night was time to cash in on one of my Christmas presents--tickets to see Adam Corolla. It was a fun date night, we had dinner at Chevy's and then went to the Kennedy Center. The comedy was funny and the company was fantastic. But, we left at 4:30 and didn't get home until after 11, so there wasn't much time on Friday. Something had to give and we decided it would be the cake pops. I was very glad I ordered them; they came out super cute and the baking pro did a nice Harry Potter assortment in two flavors chosen by Kara. Of course, I forgot to get a picture, but it was money well spent.

You can see them a bit in the box here.

So, the kids had their cake pops and Kara opened her presents. By now it was a bit after 2 and time to start the movie. Kara had chosen The Chamber of Secrets. We let the kids munch on chips, cookies, pretzel wands, little cakes and the rest of the leftover food. I thought we had a ton of food, but by about 3, most of it was gone. Those kids could eat!

Most of the kids watched the movie, but again, a couple decided to play in the basement instead. By the time 4 rolled around, I was exhausted and happy to see the arriving parents. Overall, I would call the party a success. I definitely prefer the ease of simply going to Great Wolf Lodge or a local party place, but it was fun to do. Now, Anna and Jack are saying they want to have parties at home too. Fortunately, October is a long way off and I am guessing they will change their minds between now and then!

Today is Kara's actual birthday. I am home with a "sick" Luke. He did throw up last night, but it appears he just has my weak stomach, because he is completely fine today. Jack threw up Saturday night. Also, not sick. His instance was not surprising. Pretty much anytime he drinks more than a cup of something other than water, he throws up a few hours later. Luke we weren't sure on, so I kept him home. The sick day has been nice, Thomas is going to come home for his lunch break, so that I can bring Kara lunch at school (which I had planned on anyway). Tonight, she has chosen Potbelly for her birthday dinner and a super easy cake, modeled after the one Hagrid made Harry. Should be a fun night. To close us out, a picture of the birthday girl, showing off her wand and owl party favors. (Every wand and every owl were different.)

Report Cards, Dentist, International Day

The kids and I had dentist appointments on the same day, but at different times and different places. It was a day dedicated to oral hygiene. I was relieved to find that none of us had cavities. We try and stress the importance of taking good care of your teeth, but I think our pleas often fall on deaf ears. Kara is really good at brushing, flossing, and using mouth wash. Jack and Anna are hit or miss. Thomas and I still brush Luke's teeth, so we figured he would be fine. Regardless, I always hold my breath a bit. We walk a fine line between trying to terrify our kids of the consequences of a cavity and making sure they aren't scared of the dentist. But, I figure if they ever do have cavities, I will have some major backpedaling to do. So, I am glad to put that off for at least another 6 months.

The older kids got their second report card of the year last week. Kara got straight As and Jack and Anna made the A/B honor roll. We are mostly proud. Jack and Anna could have easily had straight A's with slightly more work. We don't care as much about the grade as the effort and we feel not all our kids are putting forth their best effort. We really want them to establish good habits now.

On Friday, I attended my 3rd International Day at the kids' school. It is held every two years and is a definite highlight for everyone. There are six areas in the school and each is a designated country. The kids walk through and learn about the country through different activities, crafts, foods, etc. This year's theme was the Winter Olympics, which was smart and well-timed (purposefully, I am sure) to get the kids excited about this year's games. I walked around with Jack's class. Since Anna is also a fourth grader, she was on the same rotation. But, since she is in a different class, she had a different chaperone and was usually in a different spot. But, I still got to see her a bit. And, when we went to Kara's classroom, she gave the speech for her class (which she had memorized). It was about a treat found in Russian bakeries, then her classmates passed out donut holes (half the students give the lesson to the travelers in the morning and half in the afternoon, the kids not remaining in the class are traveling). It really is a super fun event and it takes a ton of work on the teachers' parts. The classroom decorations are generally very elaborate. Some of the teacher's dress up and all plan a good activity. My first year, I went with Anna's class. Two years ago, I was with Kara, and this year was Jack. I feel fortunate that my kids get to go to such a nice school and that I am still able to participate in some of their activities. And, with Luke starting in two years, I still have three more International Days to go before they all graduate from Elementary School.

One hallway

Kara and some classmates.

Anna practicing the luge

Jack "ice skating"