Monkey See, Monkey Do

We had to share this video of the girls working out with me. They are hilarious. You will notice Emma has no pants on. So, she put on this skirt this particular morning that was too big for her and then she started to jump around and exercise with me it was falling off. So, she asked if she could take it off I said yes, not knowing they were going to be so cute that I would need to call Kenneth in to video the whole thing! Then, of course, Arianna wanted to take her shorts off too! My favorite part is the end when Emma is jumping around. So funny.

Emma really likes to exercise with me and today did the full half hour!! I was very impressed with her. She did ask about 6 times when we were going to be finished, however.

. . .but it's more important to be nice

Recently, this Mormonad keeps popping into my head. I keep thinking about my interactions with my children and how I can improve. This Mormonad has been a great mental exercise for me when I feel my stress level rising and my blood start boiling.

I fill in the blank for the appropriate situation:

It's nice to ____________, but it's more important to be nice.

Some examples of what I might put in that blank are:

be on time
have a clean house
have perfectly dressed children with their hair done nicely

I know that it is the spirit that is trying to teach me how to be a better mom. How grateful I am for that guidance and for Heavenly Father's patience with me as I am a slow learner. I appreciated President Monson's words that Elder Hales shared in his General Conference Address. (Also the words of Joseph Smith as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants):

To a small group of mothers, President Monson recently said, “Sometimes we are too quick to judge the effect of our successes and failures.” May I add, don’t look at today’s trials as eternal. Heavenly Father does His work in the long term. “There is much which lieth in futurity,” the Prophet Joseph Smith said. “Therefore, … let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed” (D&C 123:15, 17).

So, here's to all of us doing "cheerfully all things that lie in our power!"

Trip to D.C.. . .times 3!

Last week we went down into the city 3 times! They kind of all happened spur of the moment, but it has definitely been fun to experience more of this wonderful city (and revisit old favorites, namely, the Zoo)in the short time we have left here. You are now probably thinking I am going to tell you where we are moving after said short time. Well, no. We still don't know exactly where we are going to be in one month from now! We will keep you all posted. (We really do mean it- I know we have been saying that for the last 5 months or so!)
So, 2 Saturdays ago we went to see the National Building Museum. The girls loved it! It is a very large building with an open atrium and plenty of room to run. There is a fountain in the middle and there were even birds who lived inside. The girls had a blast chasing the birds all over the place. There was also a special room for kids where they could build and play. After the building museum we decided to go see the Lincoln Memorial since we hadn't seen that since we had lived here. It was a very hot day and it was a lot of walking, but worth it.
Last week, we finally got a call from our Senator's office saying that we had White House Tour tickets for Thursday. So, Kenneth took a half day and we rode in on the Metro and finally got to see the White House. That was an interesting experience. So, there are all kinds of stipulations as to what is and what is not allowed to come on the White House Tour. Some of the things NOT allowed are: cameras, STROLLERS, food, BAGS, etc. So, we had to figure out how to get all these 3 children into the city and through the tour with no stroller, snacks, diaper bag, etc. We decided we really needed to Metro in because we were afraid of driving all the way down and not being able to find parking. Luckily, we did not have to transfer trains, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We brought the Snugli front carrier for Grant and Kenneth put one diaper in his back pocket and off we went. Luckily, no one needed a diaper change throughout the whole ordeal! The girls actually did quite well listening and holding hands. On the way back to the train we did have to stop and get them a little something to eat to hold them off til dinner time. After the tour we went to the park across the street from the front of the White House and I fed Grant while the girls ran around with the birds and squirrels. There was a lady there feeding the squirrels that had them eating out of her hands! She could even pet them. I was amazed! (So we really don't have any pictures of this day since we weren't allowed to bring a camera. Kenneth has a few on his Blackberry, but I haven't gotten them off. So, you will just have to picture us in the city with 3 kids and no stroller!)
The third visit to the city last week was last Saturday. We went to the Zoo again. I think that makes 4 times since we've lived here. The girls had been begging to go again. They enjoy seeing the animals so much. I think my favorites are the meerkats. They are so darn cute. Arianna cracked me up at one point when we were looking into the Koi pond. She saw some black and white spotted fish and said, "Look! There are some cow fish!"

So, here are the pictures and a video of the girls in the Building Museum:

Kiddos and Dad riding in on the Metro

Enjoying the Artwork in the City

The Law Enforcement Officers Memorial (Building Museum in the Background)

Dad building with Emma

Grant the Builder. Can he fix it? Yes he can!

Mom and girls in Building Museum

Building Museum Atrium


The girls chasing birds at the Building Museum

Heidi and sleeping Emma at Lincoln Memorial

Heidi at Lincoln looking out on Washington Monument and the Capital

In the Zoo sign

Emma feeding the monkey at the zoo

Mom and the girls and the Lions!

A goat's got to have a good time too!

My favorite little meerkat

The black hole in my closet

I have a black hole in my closet. It is getting larger everyday. Maybe you have one too.

I have a section of my closet where I keep the clothes that need to be ironed. Ironing is one of those things that is always on my TO-DO list and never gets checked off. The items stay there until:
A) I get desperate enough and iron it just before an event
B) Kenneth asks really nicely for a different shirt to wear
C) I remove them because my children outgrow items that were hanging there
D) Kenneth takes shirts on business trips- then he has to iron them himself in his hotel room! (This is my favorite way of things leaving the black hole. . .unfortunately they keep coming back. . .)

If only shirts were actually wrinkle-free. If only. . .

My Adorable Baby

I am so in love with this little guy!!! Here he is playing this afternoon. I just have to share because I think he is so cute.



I love this face. It cracks me up!

Emma wanted to hold him a couple of days ago and asked me to take her picture. Here it is! Grant is getting so big!!!

Look at the difference in his size! This picture was taken 9 months ago:

How could I forget?!

So, in all my postings about our trip to New York, I never did mention one of the main reasons we went up there in the first place!! We attended Kenneth's graduation banquet from the Engineering Leadership Development Program through Lockheed Martin! This has been a grueling 3 year program for him (and for me- trying to parent all these children without him!). I am so proud of him and what he has accomplished.

We are so grateful to Diane and Joseph, (Kenneth's sister and her husband) for watching our 3 children while we went. Really Joseph deserves some major kudos here. He is a champ. Just to properly paint the picture of what a champ he is I will describe the events leading up to the evening: The kids and I hung out at D & J's all day. (Joseph actually watched my 2 girls and his little boy in the morning so Diane and I could go out garage sale-ing. We found GREAT things. Such fun. I even got my girls' Chirstmas present already) Anyway. Kenneth was still at the farm until shortly before we left for the event. We fed the kids dinner and Diane actually had to leave to go to a baptism at the church. Joseph took all the kids out in the backyard to play and swim in their wading pool. They seemed to be having fun. I had already forewarned the girls that we would be leaving to somewhere that evening. So, while they were out there playing I got myself ready and about the time we were supposed to be leaving, Emma had to come in for a bathroom break and so Joseph brought everyone in, so as not to have runaways. We were just about to walk out the door when Emma started to flip out. Bear in mind, she was in her bathing suit and was using the bathroom. So, now she is a naked Emma. There she was screaming, flailing and wailing while we tried to say goodbye. This set off Arianna as well. (Luckily, Grant was happy for the moment playing with toys in a nearby room.) Also to paint the proper picture, Arianna had had a runny nose for the majority of the time we were visiting NY. So, We are all fancied up and have a naked 4 year old clinging to us and a snotty nosed 2 year old also grabbing frantically at us. Kenneth tried desperately and, I believe successfully, to keep her from slimming his best suit with boogers. We pried them off and were able to shut the door and leave. I kind of wanted to cry. We really don't go out very often and leave them with someone else and I just felt bad that they were so upset. And I also felt bad for Joseph dealing with all of that. He calmed them down pretty quickly- toys, books and fudgesicles do that well.

The event was nice. Most of the graduates also finished their masters degrees in conjunction. Kenneth, has one more class left to finish. Most of the other graduates also didn't accomplish the myriad of other things Kenneth did in that 3 years: adding 2 children to his family, selling his first house and moving to D.C. for a corporate rotation and daily dealing with a crazy wife! The final class for his masters isn't offered until next Spring, so in one more year we will be celebrating another graduation. (And in the mean time enjoying having Kenneth around a little more often!)

A walk on the wild side

I was cleaning Grant up from dinner tonight and tousled his hair a little bit and realized what a cool mohawk he could have. By the way, he is nine months old already!!! I can't believe it. Still not crawling. But, he is starting to rotate himself around as he sits, so he can see more. He also got his first 2 teeth on the bottom- 3 months earlier than either of the girls did! I sure love this little guy!