The Beach!

Jonette kidnapped me today and we spent a fantastic afternoon at the beach at Sandy Point.

 The weather was nice, overcast but sometimes sunny, not hot. The girls surprised us by insisting on getting their swimsuits on and swimming! Naomi, Greta and Alice were a cute little trio of craziness today.

My kids love the beach, and it was so fun to hang out with Jonette. 

It was the perfect way to spend the day.

This photo was taken by a budding photographer, 5 year old Alice!

Oh, that face!

Buried Alive!!!

James' Photo Shoot

Yesterday I took James and Naomi to get some pictures taken. The last time I took James to a photo place was last summer. Oops.
He was all smiles until I stepped to the side to let the gal take the pictures. He was a total stinker! The random props were toys that kept him mildly happy. Seriously, a weird, long legged frog?
Naomi was very cooperative, bless her. The finished products were cropped differently and ended up looking pretty good. I'm glad I got it done, but it will be a while until the next round.

It's so hot

We live in an apartment complex where the heat and ac are on one big system that has to be "switched over" at the change of the seasons for use.

It was in the 50's early last week. So our heaters are still on.

It was 90 on Saturday, and yesterday and today and tomorrow.

We live on the ground floor and I don't really feel comfortable about leaving all the windows open all night. Like the kids room. And a busy road makes it really noisy in the early mornings.

We did leave the windows open last night in our room and opened the door to the kids room to help air flow.

We had some fans going too, that helped.

We were pretty comfortable in our room and the kids were warmer but ok.

Then 3:22 this morning a little bird decided it was time to start singing. 

Right outside my window.

I was SO annoyed. I tried to ignore it for about 15 minutes but It was killing me.

I shut that window regretfully.

This morning I opened up all the windows when we were all up- before 7.

By 9 a.m. it was over 70 and rising quickly.

Currently it's 10 a.m. and 81 degrees.

I googled "how to stay cool without air conditioning"

some of the tips are good, like placing ice in front of a fan as an make shift AC. We're doing that one now.

Wear as little as possible, get wet- Naomi is already wet, drink cold water and eat cold food.

We're going to go buy some popsicles later.

Frozen GoGurts for now

***UPDATE***

The AC was turned on last night! Hooray!

We are all nicely chilled.

Naomi

-dumped out most of a box of raisin bran just to eat the raisins.
-somehow manages to get her pants off and a dress on everyday, no matter what we start out in.
-colored on the windows
-cleaned up the windows with wipes:)
-Says "oh my goodness!"
-squirted a gogurt all over the tv
-asks to watch Super Why
-learned how to unlock the deadbolt on our door
-used ice cream as pretend "sun screen"
-locked me out when I took out the garbage
-looooooves gum
-knows most of the alphabet letters
-sings her abc's and counts to 10!
-says" I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!"
-has hot pink toenail

What have you been up to?

Sheesh, I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd posted anything.

Ok, actually I did realize. I just have been busy having fun. And reading in my spare time instead of blogging. 

For a book club I attend I recently read The Age of Innocence. It was just my style. I also just read another wonderful book called The Guernsey Literary and the Potato Peel Pie Society. I loved that one. Now I'm reading The Toss of  a Lemon. It's been pretty interesting so far.

I put Naomi's hair in two pigtails today with darling, bouncy little ringlets on each side. It isadorable. She's adorable. Today at least. And yesterday. She asked, authoritatively, of me and Zach at dinner last night, "Do you have your own money and your own ticket?!" 

I laughed and answered in the affirmative. I had no idea what she was talking about.

We had a fun and very low-key Easter. Naomi thoroughly enjoyed dying eggs and eating jelly beans. James had Cheerios's in his eggs this year. He didn't know the difference and was thrilled when they spilled out all over him.

I taught Zach how to blow out eggs. I just use a pin and poke holes at each end and then blow! Zach was at first impressed, and then showed me up, of course. It seems that's the trend with us. Skiing, (just kidding, I know you already knew how), water skiing, wake boarding (ok, that one too), any recipe of mine. I suppose I still am the household authority on sewing, glitter, blogging. 

DC is just gorgeous this time of year. The cherry blossoms are gone but there are many other flowering trees still just hitting their peak.

And the tulips are amazing. I love tulips.

We have been outside a lot as it's been warming up. James is more sure on his feet and doesn't eat grass and wood chips from the playground too much anymore, things are looking up!

Today we went to the zoo with Cassie and the kids. We lazily made our way through part of the animals as Naomi and Abby zigzagged all over the place. It's so warm this weekend and the zoo was packed with school kids and tourists. It's a strangely satisfying feeling to be a "local" here. I love knowing my way around and not looking like a visitor. You know, with sneakers, ball caps, back packs and cameras around the neck. Maybe a fanny pack and a map too.

That sounds snobby. I guess I am sometimes!

As soon as James wakes up from his nap today I'm going to take the kids outside to blow some bubbles. For Naomi's birthday, 2+ months ago, she got a big bubble bucket, the no-spill kind. We've been waiting for the perfect weather to use it, and it has finally arrived!

Today's a good day, my kids are being sweet and the dishes and laundry are done. Does that make anyone's day like it does mine? 

Happy Spring!

Cherry Blossoms of Course

Yesterday we took a chance on the weather and went downtown to see the Cherry Blossoms. We were in luck, the rain stayed away and it was kind of warm. The wind was crazy sometimes though. It was too windy to rent paddle boats. Too bad because I really wanted to take a ride, I think Naomi would have loved it too.
Naomi splashed through the puddles as much as we would let her. We tried to keep the innocent bystanders dry....
It was a great day to go down, the crowds were thinner compared to the weekends and the rain earlier yesterday morning had scared people away. We took our "jogging" stroller (one of these days I'm going to use it like it was intended!). It was a champ over the muddy grass. James loved almost every second of it, even missing his afternoon nap.
These trees are just so beautiful! DC is fantastic this time of year, I'm really mourning our upcoming move.
By the time we were heading home we had exhausted our snack supply and mom and dad's energy too. We stopped to get hot dog on the corner. They are always so good when you're really hungry.

It's always interesting and tiring to do these kind of outings with the kids. We survived it and overall had a really fun time. I love being able to see so many great things all the time.

Over at the Jefferson Memorial there is live music during the festival. Naomi and James had a grand time dancing.