thx

Another fun visit with my folks to welcome fall! Thanks for everything as always! Especially after a rough day where I got in a little car accident (sideswiped by feisty old ladies who don't know where they are turning), I feel so lucky to have their support and good humor to keep us smiling.

who is who

Which is KC and which is Mommy?!

books!

We made it to the National Book Festival today, and it was crowded for a reason: it's awesome! A very manageable crowd to navigate and explore the awesome activities. Aiden and Keaton loved the duplo book exhibit, complete with crowns. Aiden just came off a tv marathon week since he was recovering from being sick, so he was up on all his PBS kids shows! We got some one on one time in with Buddy from Dinosaur Train (one of the many characters lined up for visits). The boys scored a new horsey stuffed animal which Aiden named Tony the Pony (he even made up his own song). The storytelling stage had a fun lounge setup back stage full of books and games. My favorite is the book Aiden created which I will have to snap some photos of to share. We cruised up to Capitol Hill for some early dinner at Ted's, where I delighted in a peanut butter bacon burger which disgusted my husband. Ahh, a yummy day...

bubbles

TGIF! Take a bubble bath to reeeelax!

art

The biggest buddy spent a bunch of the summer burning through our huge paper supply.  There were many lions with what look like flower manes....many pokey looking grassy hills...many monsters with many teeth...many flags to count the medals... and a Village named Podunk that has many birds...  Many times Aiden wouldn't stop drawing on top and over what he'd already drawn, so the drawings were eventually kinda garbled.  But here are a few of the doodles from Mr. Scribble Scrabble (who is feeling mostly better and has his markers cooking right now)

poor bub

Poor bub home from school for a second day. Likes to sleep hanging like a bat off his couch nest. This bat boy does everything with gusto, even being sick...

eatin well

We ate out at some of our favorite spots that we realized were very Portland-esque for my former Portland resident friend.  The current list of favorites are Cheestique, Ted's Bulletin, and Comet Ping Pong.  The pre dinner, low blood sugar ping pong tournament pictured below:

capitol

We took the long way into the city due to a Sunday morning bridge closure, but we were able to cruise around and find a good spot to park right near the Botanical Garden and the Capitol Building.  Aiden took charge of my iphone camera and took some fun portraits ;)  The Children's Garden was a hit! Great to see you K and C!  Hope to see you again soon!

zoo

The zoo was the second adventure of the day and it was a beautiful day so there were plenty of people there enjoying it...Luckily we found a path that wasn't too crowded and it was all new to us.  We explored the Amazon followed by the all new American trail they just opened.  The zoo always delivers with more to see and enjoy with friends...

breezy

On this perfect sunny day, we breezed through the arboretum (after a very filling yummy visit to Ted's for cinnamon buns bigger than your head!) with some fun visitors from Ohio Kate and Chris! Woot Ohio represents! We are off on another adventure right after Aiden gets back from his first official soccer game of the season and KC gets his good nap. I'm off for more fun conversation - as soon as KC decides the nap is a good idea ;). Here are some pictures of the pretty:

waldo

TGIF - Where is Waldo!? He left his glasses at our house!

first official practice

Aiden had an orientation and his first official practice with his new choir. There are about 15 kids in his group, the Da Capos.  The weekly program seems like a great match for Aiden and his imagination.  Last week he came home talking about the song he made up with his teacher about a man whose head was made out of cream cheese and his legs were tacos.  I think they were playing games to enunciate funny words ;)

marble race

Aiden teaches KC how the marble race works:

whoville

We went up to Bethesda to visit the kid's theater we've been to a few times for their Imagi fest... A really fun day to preview all their shows and classes! I picked a Family Song Circle and a Sing Disney movement class from the huge list of class options. Good choices for our little singing dancing dudes! The day was hosted by a bunch of Whos and the tour had us visiting the James and the Giant Peach and a few other shows.  They added a dance party P Nokio style to the graffiti wall to keep you busy between classes.  KC even got his first face paint with a monkey, which he quickly smeared off. We also caught a preview of the Mouse on the Move show we've seen there. It is such a well run place with such a great batch of places... makes me want to move a little bit closer for an easy commute there.

scoops

Thanks to the DC Scoop it was all smiles after we worked our way through a little bit of DC traffic to the new Union Market.  There were ice cream trucks set up all around with a contest to win the DC Golden Scoop.  The samples were awesome with a ticket to vote for your favorite.  Mine was a tie between the honey graham cracker ice cream and pumpkin pie custard - can you tell I like some spice in my cream?  The various exotic flavors, like ginger lime and salted watermelon, sometimes can't compete with a really good chocolate, and there were a bunch of those.  The highlight though came when Aiden was selected as lucky number 7 to compete in the kid's ice cream eating contest for 8 and unders.  A big 8 year old won, but Aiden sure did hold his own as you will see in the video below.  I know I'm his mom, but I think he won Most Enthusiastic ;)   He was pretty excited to keep his shirt, with ice cream dribbles and all.

great grands

Happy Grandparents Day!  I've celebrated all the boys grandparents before and they sure are lucky ducks to have such a loving crew.  Those apples didn't fall far from their trees, so I thought today I'd send out a Happy Great Grandparent Day too!

I wish I had a photo of all of the great grand parents to share - but here are a few:

Baby Lauren:

brothers

These troublemakers sure do love each other!

spiffed

Thanks to my folks and J for birthday art I feel like we spiffed up our home. This time last year we had just moved here and sorta plopped everything down and hung things on existing nail holes. Now I feel like we have a more lived in spot with some art that makes me smile when I pass by. My mom helped me pick the photo of the white flowers which was actually from a trip to Portland many moons ago. I also have a love affair with Charley Harper and my folks brought the Penitentiary Glen poster from Ohio. I paired it with some cutouts from his book, another birthday gift. The little painted birds on the mantle are also Charley from a kid craft kit Aiden and I painted together. In our bedroom, there is a new set of five canvas which is a split of a large photograph the artist painted over a bit. My sentimental addition to one of the bedroom shelves is a collection of outgrown shoes from my big boys.  I also finally hung up my YES letters in my craft room wrapping around the corner.  We also got the outside spiffed up recently and I can't believe what a difference it made!  The wirey bushes are a little less wirey... See the before and after over to the left.