Fun at the Air show

The boys went to the Air Show last weekend at Andrews Air Force Base and they had a blast. It's a really fun place to take the kids and it's free. You need to show up early and have ear protection though...

Here are some of the highlights!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I just watched the first episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night on TV and found it to be very inspirational (you can watch a clip of it HERE)! I really think he is doing great things and I personally want to support his initiative. He thinks America's kids need better food at school and better health prospects and I agree.

I like the show. You can tell that Jamie is passionate about this subject and he seems very genuine. The show reminded me that I would really like to get my boys involved with cooking more and choosing the foods that they eat. My oldest son is a very picky eater and I'm hoping that if I get him more involved with the food choices and preparation he will become more interested.

A Day at the Park

On Sunday we decided to take the boys to the park. We asked Charlie which park he wanted to go to and he chose what he calls "Rainbow Park". The real name is Clemyjontri and it's an awesome park. We all ended up having a great time!

This is how our pictures usually turn out...with at least one of the boys running in a different direction. It is so hard to get a good picture with everyone in it looking in the same direction!

February Fun

The boys had a great weekend. On Saturday Mike got them up early and went to Grammy & Pappy's house in PA. The boys played for a bit and then Mike took Charlie skiing to Ski Roundtop, while James stayed with Grammy and played. Later in the day Grammy, Pappy and James drove up to Roundtop to watch Charlie ski. After a while the boys switched places and James skiied for awhile with Mike.

Yesterday we decided to take the boys to the National Museum of Natural History. Charlie and James had watched the movie "Night at the Museum" on Saturday night and we thought they'd have fun going to the museum the next day! It was a wonderful day out. We drove to Vienna and took the Metro into D.C. The boys did great and enjoyed the museum. They expecially liked the Butterfly Exhibit. Mike took some great photos.

Here's the latest video of Charlie skiing the half pipe and the moguls for Grammy and Pappy to see. He was so excited.

What You Can Learn From Boys!!

The following post was one of those forwards that went around a few years ago but I wanted to put it up here because it is funny and scary at the same time. Enjoy.

a) For those with no children, this is totally hysterical!
b) For those who already have children past this age, this is hilarious.
c) For those who have children this age, this is not funny.
d) For those who have children nearing this age, this is a warning.
e) For those who have not yet had children, there is birth control.

The following came from an anonymous Mother in Austin, Texas…
Things I’ve learned from my Boys (honest and not kidding):

1. A king size water bed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3. A 3-year old Boy’s voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20 x 20 ft. room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn’t stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words “uh oh”, it’s already too late.
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9. A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.
10. Certain Lego’s will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.
11. Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can’t walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCR’s do not eject “PB & J” sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.
23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24. 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.
25. Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.

Taking Turns Being Sick

Monday started out promising...The baby slept in (yes, 7:15 is sleeping in), Charlie and James were well behaved in the morning and got ready without incident, the parent/teacher conference at Charlie's school went well (according to his teacher, Charlie is Wicked smart).

It started going downhill around 10pm. Charlie came over to our room and got in bed beside me and told me that he couldn't get to sleep. A couple minutes went by and he was yawning. I asked him if he was alright and could go back to his bed. I took him back to his room and then tried to go back to sleep. Only a few minutes later I heard him crying and ran into his room to witness lots and lots of vomiting all over his bed. I felt so bad for him. I proceeded to change his sheets and clothes, clean him up and put him back to bed. A little bit after 1:00am the baby woke up and stayed up until around 2!! during that time Charlie had thrown up again on his floor. I cleaned him up again and back to bed he went with a little bucket beside the bed. I guess the baby finally went to sleep around 2:30 (it's all a blur) at which time I was finally able to get back to sleep...until around 5am when I heard Mike get up and vomit! In the end Mike and Charlie stayed home while I went to work, James went to daycare and the baby went with Nana and Grandad.

Mike and Charlie stayed home yesterday to recuperate. Today everyone seems to be feeling well again. It must have been one of those 24 hr bugs. I'm glad that the baby and James never got it.

It was a beautiful drive to work this morning. The trees look amazing with the snow on them. I can't wait to see how much more snow we end up getting this weekend.

James skiing

Trick or Treat

The boys really enjoyed trick or treating this year! In the morning they got dressed in their costumes and went trick or treating at the Town Center in our neighborhood. It's great, all of the stores there hand out candy to the kids from 11-1. I wanted to take them to the town center in case it rained later that night. It turns out there were only a few sprinkles and they got to go trick or treating door-to-door later that night. Before they went I was able to quickly get a photo of all 3 them on the couch together.

Charlie wanted to show me how strong he was.
All James cared about were the lollipops.

I couldn't resist putting this little caterpillar costume on Will!

Charlie's Turning 4!!

Charlie is going to be 4 on Sunday!! His preschool does something really cool on the day he chooses to celebrate his birthday. They have him walk around the sun (in the classroom) the amount of times that equals his age. He is also supposed to take in one photograph for each year with a short note of what was special about it. These are the photos that I picked for him to take tomorrow.

This is Charlie making Hershey's kisses at the Hershey's Chocolate Factory. (Age 3)This is the first time he went skiing. (Age 2)

This is the first time he walked on the beach. (Age 1)

This is when he first started standing. (Age 9 months)

I'm also going to be taking in some treats for his preschool class. Since I don't have a lot of time to bake I decided to make brownies in a muffin pan with cupcake liners...I'll let you know how they turn out.

James turns 2!

James just had his 2 year check up at the Doctor's and it turns out that he is "off the charts" for his height. We knew he was pretty tall for his age but didn't realize that he wasn't even on the chart!

Getting a hug from his older cousin.

Having fun and eating pizza at the party!

New things happening in September

Charlie has been talking about going skiing all summer long, he even walks around with his ski pants on.

Look at those blue eyes...

This is James taking the most steps he's taken so far. He is 11 months old now and will be running around with Charlie in no time.