The Great Surprise Part III

One of the best parts of the weekend was having my two nieces fly out to visit. Here is a picture of Evie (age 10) outside the White House and Mae (6 weeks) during intermission at her first opera.

The Great Surprise Part IV

This is the video clip on my family (James, Bry, Aimee, Evie and baby Mae) coming to the door. The table was set and we were ready to eat when I heard a knock at the door and to my surprise they were all standing there!

Halloween Student Recital

A parent just sent me these pictures from our Halloween recital. I grabbed a cello from a student to play for a second, hence the picture of me playing a very tiny cello with finger tapes. I took Sam as Spiderman and it was a great little concert. All of my students did really well.

Haven't sewed in 15 years . . . no problem!

There is a trend going round (in our ward in particular) and it is all about wearing your baby as an accessory. Heaven forbid they be put down and learn to entertain themselves. People have Maya wraps, slings, moby wraps and all other kinds of wrap systems so your child can hang at your hip and make your back tired and still get in your way.

Having said this - I made one today. A friend of mine with a sewing machine showed me how. I haven't sewed since I was about 15 years old, but it was really an easy pattern. I had some cute pink corduroy material and decided to join the trend. I am not a big fan as I mentioned of always holding my kids, but I thought this would be a good solution to Vivian terrorizing the primary room while I am trying to do Sharing Time. So here is my creation. Not a great shot, kind of hard with her eating the camera.

Halloween Part II

Here is an update to yesterdays post. Sam came to me wearing this!

Halloween is every day at our house

I can't really emphasize just how much Sam is into costumes. Let me share this story to illustrate my point . . .

8 pm bedtime. Sam goes to bed in Superman costume.
Midnight - Sam enters Mom's side of bed in Batman costume. (Quick scene change I guess.)
8 am awake - wearing Spiderman costume.

Sam changes clothes several times at night. So Halloween feels like it is everyday. These are a few pictures of his favorite costumes.

One more quick story. Last night Sam snuck off to bed with a pair of my black opaque tights. When I got him in the morning he had ONLY underwear on and some pretty LONG tights. Beside his bed were my knee high boots. Just had to try them on I guess.

Doing D.C. - Photos courtesy of our dear friend Lindsey

Since we have been here for a year now we finally got some great shots of DC thanks to Lindsey. These are a few of our afternoon walking the Mall. We visited the Air and Space Museum (you will see Sam flying his blue airplane) and walked from the Smithsonian to the Lincoln Memorial. I have to remind myself how far apart things are. When I am in the car driving the Mall, things seem really close together. But when I am walking even from one Smithsonian to the other, it feels so like a real distance to cover. We didn't do much more than just one museum and a walk to the Lincoln, but it took all day and our feet were tired! Thanks for making the trip Fred and Lindsey. We never get down to do tourist things unless we have visitors.

Annapolis

A few weeks ago our friends the Johnson's came to stay. It was so great to see our friends from New York. These are some pictures of our visit to Annapolis - Maryland's capital. We ate seafood, took a boat tour of the naval town and enjoyed our visit with good friends. Thanks Lindsey for the great photographs of our family. Annapolis is such a fun place to spend a Saturday. It is like Park City in that it has a Main Street with eclectic shops up and down each side and lots of great seafood restaurants. The pictures of the sailboats and the sun setting as we left are really beautiful.

Updates for Grandma

I took these pictures this afternoon before unloading the car for no reason really. Vivian is such an animated little person these days and she really looks so much like her Dad. I included the fuzzy one as well because I like how she smiles.

The one of Sam at the door is him and his blue blanket. He has loved this thing for so long. We need to find a place where we can get a bigger one. He insists that it needs to be spread out over his whole body before bed, but he is getting too long for it to cover his toes.

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!

Here are 6 interesting habits/facts about me . . .

1. As a kid I truly believed that I could be a foot model. I have always loved my feet and still think that they are well proportioned and beautiful. I guess I am neurotic like George on Seinfeld when he decides that he can make it big as a hand model.

2. I think cookie dough is sick! Eat it from the bowl, put it in ice-cream, I don't care - it is still sick! Warm COOKED cookies are delicious. Why eat them before the final product is finished and ready to be enjoyed.

3. I did not know that I wanted to become a cellist until right before the end of my LDS mission to England. I rented a cello in Kingsford because I had a companion that was a violin performance major from BYU and had brought out her violin. When I walked out of the shop with a cello backpack, I really felt complete. I was so glad to have the label of cellist as I walked around with it. I felt this same way as I walked around in NY on my way to Julliard for night classes. I loved that people saw me with it and assumed I was a student and on my way somewhere to play. I don't like labels, but I could not live without this one.

4. Brian and I met before our missions and waited three years for each other. This is incredible to me. Just before we moved to DC I ran across a box chuck full of letters and pictures that we exchanged from Venezuela to England. They are so cheesy and sappy, but I love that we have a record of love notes to each other.

5. I feel tough when I am in the pool. I love this sport. It is the only thing that I can really closely compete with my husband and the men in my life. I feel like a fish in my wetsuit and like the quiet back and forth meditation of lap swimming. (I think I look great in my wetsuit too! That can only add to my good feelings for this sport.)

6. I am not a morning person. I have passed this dreadful trait on to my son Sam.

The Lanyard by Billy Collins

This is a great poem for mothers or anyone who has ever had a mother.

The Nation's Triathlon SWIM 1.5K BIKE 40K RUN 10K

Saturday morning about 7 a.m. before the race. Right on the edge of the Potomac across near the Kennedy Center


Kelly post race. Transition area



Brian and Kelly post race in the transition area.


Yesterday was a beautiful day! The weather was in the low 70's with a slight breeze and the water in the potomac was a warm 74 degrees.

Brian and I did the Olympic distance Nation's Triathlon. I started two heats ahead of Brian and so he was able to catch up with me after the swim and we did the majority of the race together. He may not admit that he enjoyed going so slowly with me, but was just doing his duty and "waiting for his wife."

The course was really beautiful. We started near the Kennedy Center and swam a loop in the Potomac. The bike course wound all through the monuments below the Lincoln, across from the Jefferson in the Tidal Basin and past the Washington Monument. The run spun us around the city to end on Pennsylvania below the Capital. Definitely a great course to see D.C. with all the streets closed off for race participants.

This was a fun triathlon and wonderful to do with Brian.

Vivian's Curly Locks

Vivian Swinging

"I gotta go to school Mom!"

{Kermit the Frog - backpack of choice}

{"How many more pictures Mom?"}
{Sam on his first day - cute kid}

This morning Brian and I dropped off Sam for his first day of preschool. He has seen his Dad go to school every day for a year and has ridden the train with his Dad to visit GW. He knows all about "going to school."

In all the excitement of packing his snack, loading his backpack, and stopping in the parking lot Sam literally leaped out of his seatbelt into the front seat (to avoid his child-lock door) and said,

"I gotta go to school Mom!" in a matter of fact kind of "let me outa her" tone.

Lets just say I think he will thrive at school.

Kensington Nursery School

{Sam outside of KNS}

{Sam with his best friend William}

{Under the stairs in the play house}

Here are some shots we took of Sam at the school this morning after we dropped him off. I must admit I am one proud mamma. I was so weepy and excited to see him start nursery school.

National Zoo Trip

This morning Sam, Vivian and I met our friends the Oswalds at the National Zoo. Besides the weather being VERY hot and VERY humid, it was a lot of fun. They had mist machine spread throughout the Zoo to keep everyone cool. Needless to say we walked past the mist spots several times. The animals seemed hot too. Most stayed indoors and we watched these elephants having a bath from a Zoo Keeper.

It was great to see our friends Amy, Madeline and baby Kenny Oswald. Amy is a violinist and has two kids exactly the same age as mine. Her little Madeline is a beautiful redhead and I always enjoy seeing Sam and her together running around. Thanks Amy for a fun day.

National Zoo

Sam with his friend Madeline at the National Zoo.
People asked us if these two were twins. Gotta love the red-heads.
More of Sam and Madeline
Elephants at the Zoo
The Zoo Crew: Sam, Kenny and Madeline and Vivian

Feels good to be Home (Maryland)

We have been home for about 2 weeks now and I must admit it feels good to get back to our routine. Brian started school at GW and I got a job teaching one day a week in Damascus. (About 11 students that all come to a school on Thursday from 12-6. Brian is home from GW on Thurs and Fri and takes the kids)

It feels good to go to our playground, be in our bed and have the kids in their respective routines. Vivian and Sam are sharing a room more successfully than I could have hoped. She cries in the night and Sam sleeps right through her. He is so good to whisper whenever he walks in at night when she is already sleeping.

On another note . . . Sam is almost exclusively a superhero everyday! Even when I dress him, he changes to his Spiderman or Superman costume. He refers to me as Lois Lane and his Dad as Lex Luther when he is Clark Kent, or I am MJ and Brian is Green Goblin when he is Peter Parker. I love his vivid imagination and his pretend webs all over the house. When I am getting dressed he says to me, "You look pretty Lois Lane." He is a great kid.

peace

Steven Stewart got married last weekend and Julie took this shot of him giving the peace sign. Pretty funny. Since Brian has started law school we have taught Sam to say things like, "I'll see you in court!" and "I want to talk to my lawyer." His family gets a good laugh.

Sam turns 3!

July 16th we celebrated Sam's 3rd birthday. His Aunt Laurel took pictures of his Spiderman party. We had a great time. At the end of his party, he asked his Dad whether he could really take all of his presents home. We love him so much.

SAMMERS

Here is a picture of Sam outside the temple at the wedding. Thanks Johnson's for the bow tie that has lasted us 3 years now!

Stewart Wedding

We enjoyed a great time at Adam and Briana Stewart's wedding last weekend. It is always nice to get beautiful little dresses and suits for your kids for the occasion. Bri's family lives in Hong Kong and had theses outfits made there. They looked great on the wedding day. Here are some of the shots we are ordering of the kids.