Whoosh!

So today is the last morning of preschool for Kara for this year. Did you hear that whooshing sound? For me, that's the sound of this school year blowing by me in record speed and leaving me feeling a bit windblown and battered. It's been a year of lots of ups and downs and many, many bumps. I must admit that I'm glad to have it over (at least for Kara and soon enough for John too) and am ready for the adventures this summer will bring for us.

Let's do a quick review of the last year: kitchen renovation, summer vacation and lots of time at the pool, 1st grade for John and year 2 of preschool for Kara, fall soccer and finally losing a tooth for John, MAJOR flood in the basement and kitchen leading to all kinds of hurdles and problems and stress for us all, allergy/reflux issues for John and just allergy issues for me and Kara, the unexpected passing of my dear Aunt Martha just a few months after she had retired, Matt's appendicitis surgery and recovery, another flood in the basement (much less dramatic this time, but still water in the basement - not fun), a great spring break trip to Nags Head, NC, me becoming president of the preschool board for next year, and many plans ahead for a fun and adventure filled summer.

This summer will bring: a third trip to Lancaster, PA to go to Dutch Wonderland (a kids' theme park that is fabulous), more wonderful veggies from our CSA, finishing up John's baseball season, finishing up repairs on the basement, yet another renovation project (this time the kids' full bathroom, which needs to be fully gutted and replaced - what fun...), a road trip to Maine to attend a celebratory party in honor of my Aunt, closely followed by a road trip south to Topsail Island, NC for our annual beach week, then football, tennis, sports and arts camps for John, and lots of time at our neighborhood pool with friends, before the school year begins and John will go into 2nd grade (how on earth did that happen so soon??) and Kara will start her final year at our preschool (oh my baby!).

Are you tired yet? I am....I know for sure by the end of this summer I will feel pretty windblown and battered too, but I am looking forward to having less unexpected bumps along the way, less stress, and way more fun.

It's been a tough year for us and for our family for sure. But it has also brought me a new respect for my support network. I have been forced to ask for help more times in the last year than ever before. And for those of you that know me, that does NOT come easily for me. I am always willing to help out my friends and family, but I have a very hard time asking for help myself. But everyone I have asked has been very willing and very supportive and wonderful to us. We have gotten through this year in large part due to the love and energy of those around us. It hasn't been pretty and it hasn't been easy, but I am hoping we have survived, learned a few lessons, and will find the road ahead just a little smoother than the road behind us.

Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed for that. I certainly won't hold my breath for it though. ;-)

Thankful

I spent this morning at Kara's preschool, being a Helping Parent in the classroom. These days that I get to spend with a room full of preschoolers are always exhausting, but also always so rewarding. I appreciate that I get to know my children's friends. I get to see them interact. I get to see them grow, learn, and change as the year goes on. I also get to know the families connected to these children. I have made wonderful and dear friends through our preschool. My children have made strong friendships themselves from preschool classmates. And now in Kara's class this year, her playgroup friends are all together in the class. This playgroup has been going for three years now, longer than any other group we've been involved with. There are five girls, five moms, and five (about to be six) older and younger siblings connected with the group.

After preschool today we had the playgroup girls over for lunch and a birthday celebration for Kara's 4th birthday. It was a very casual, low-key party, I almost wouldn't call it a party, more like just a playdate. But I had so much fun watching the girls, chatting with the moms, and enjoying the fact that we have all established friendships that will last for many years into the future. I value this group and these bonds so much.

I said to a neighbor this morning who is very sick and will be undergoing cancer treatment in the near future, that it truly does take a village. We bond together as moms, parents, neighbors, and friends to help each other in so many ways and for so many different reasons. Then this afternoon I was reminded how strong my village is. I am very very thankful for all the members of my village and couldn't imagine our lives without them. And sometimes it's a really good thing to be reminded of that.

So many changes...

Tis the season of change, I guess. The leaves start turning beautiful fall colors. The kids go back to school. The season of vacations comes to an end. Fall activities start getting going - sports, camping trips, and much more. I generally like change and can roll right through a fair amount of change without much thought. This season has thrown me for a loop and I don't feel like I'm ready for all the changes that have been coming our way.

The change in the house - the kitchen project (which yes, I know, I still need to post final pictures of) is mostly complete at this point. I do catch myself every now and then going, oh my gosh, we really did this to our kitchen! Wow. It's a BIG change in our house and how we function as a family. We do love it, but it's definitely a life changer.

The change in routines - school, soccer, swimming, gymnastics, squeezing in some exercise, maybe some yoga too, volunteer commitments, and back to a few evening meetings as well. It's all good and in many ways, the kids and I were really ready to get back to having some regular routines in our lives. It's just now that it's all getting going, I'm having a hard time catching my breath in between activities, much less taking a few minutes here and there to plan for the upcoming bigger things on the calendar - Kara's birthday for example, and our trip to Maine in October. I obviously haven't figured out how to squeeze in that downtime for me that I need so badly...maybe once preschool is truly in full swing and I start getting my three mornings a week of peace?

There's been a number of changes in the lives of those around us. I recently had a childhood friend's husband pass away from a battle with leukemia. He was 37 years old and left his wife and two young children behind. I haven't kept in touch with her over the years as well as either one of us would have liked to, but I'm hoping this change in their lives will bring a change in that too. It's a very sad situation, although my friend seems to be dealing with it as well as can be expected. Over the past several weeks I've heard about a number of people dealing with or dying of battles with cancer. It's all downright depressing. But it has resulted in a change in my life too, an appreciation of each day and each moment we have with those around us. My friend's husband, Russ French, was an amazing man, friend and father and inspired many around him over the years. He lived a good full life and I want to aspire to be more thankful and respectful of all that is good in my life. Yet another change.

Then, of course, there is the change of season. Fall brings beautiful colors of changing leaves, of the rich-colored mums on front stairs, and yummy smells of apple cider simmering on the stovetop. Camping trips, fall farm visits, and football are also things we enjoy this time of year. Kara's birthday will come up quickly, then Halloween, and before I know it, Thanksgiving, which I will be hosting this year. I do enjoy the change of weather that comes along with the season as well. This summer was filled with hot hot days at the pool, which certainly was fun, but I could do without quite so much heat. The cooler weather leads to wearing jeans and sweaters as the breeze blows a bit more, and this I just love.

So in this season of change I am also very thankful for all these changes in our lives. Most of them are positive changes and we're ready to continue to roll through them. Maybe I just need to sit down, blog about them a bit, put it all into perspective more often, and that will help my brain wrap itself around all the craziness in my life. The changes come no matter whether we're ready for them or not. It's how we face the change and embrace it that counts.

Final Weeks of Summer

So we're already into the final four weeks of summer. I can't believe it's gone so fast, and at the same time we have four potentially LONG weeks ahead of us. John's in a half-day camp this week, Kara's in a short morning camp next week, and then it's just a lot of together time for the duration. I'm hoping for warm days and lots of pool visits paired with a few bigger outings that will keep the appropriate balance of exhaustion and interest going to minimize the bickering that will ensue if I let boredom set in. Can you tell I'm a little apprehensive about this? I'm trying my best to be optimistic, but I'm not the type of mom who can go, go, go and keep up the energy and manage everything else too. I can handle a fair number of activities, but only if it comes paired with some downtime too. I'm hoping we can manage without too much yelling (me), screaming (them), hitting (them), and time outs (everyone). That's my goal. I know, it's lofty, but we're going to try. I'm going to do my best to be the mom with lots of ideas, some active and some relaxing and even a few productive things squeezed in for good measure. We'll see how it goes.

I'm also hoping to squeeze in a few posts here and there and finally get around to posting pictures of the final kitchen project. It is done at this point and we are loving it! What a difference it has made in our house and in our lives. It will continue to develop as we continue to grow into the space and figure out how to maximize our enjoyment of it. Sometimes hard work does pay off and it's fun to enjoy the grown-up pleasures that we've been looking forward to.

Stay cool...and look for more posts soon!

A Week is a LONG Time

Well, we've come out on the other side of Matt's annual conference trip and we all managed to survive. Matt was in San Jose, CA for a full 8 days (well, 6 days really, with 2 travel days), returning to Virginia on Wednesday of this week. He's still a little jet-lagged and overall exhausted from his trip, but he's here and we were all very happy to see him. The kids and I managed to survive the week with a few minor skirmishes along the way, but nothing too major, which was pleasant. We stayed VERY busy and apparently that was the key.

We had playgroup, a preschool puppet show, t-ball meeting and first practice, lots of time at the neighborhood playground, a barbecue at a neighbor's house, t-ball parade/picnic/and another practice, picnic at Lake Fairfax, a few errands, more playground time, cleaning the house a bit, more playgroup, a vision screening, and even a movie night thrown in for good measure. We had one more t-ball practice cancelled due to rain, so we went with some good friends to hit the kids' night at the local Silver Diner - included a kids' movie and crafts, which my kids loved since they'd never been to Silver Diner before. All in all, the week was good. Kara napped most days, John's usual short-day Monday was extended to a full day as it was a snow make-up day, which I was just fine with this particular week. I even squeezed in a couple of walks and a pedicure! We had all the usual bumps in the road that you have when you're being a single parent for days on end, but we managed to get through it and even enjoyed most of it.

Now I do fully admit to coming out the end of it being completely exhausted, but there's no time now to rest. We are now to the point of needing to get moving on more decisions on the kitchen project. I had no idea how many decisions there would be with this project! Wow! I'm trying not to get too overwhelmed, but my goodness. We've got our basic design down. Have the fridge picked out. Know pretty much what we want for the sink, dishwasher, cooktop, and oven/microwave. I sat down last night and figured out where most of our kitchen stuff will live in the new space, which a good friend of mine (who has a background in kitchen/bathroom design) strongly recommended that I do (thank you Alexandra!). And it was so very helpful to go through that exercise. I now have a much better idea of what pull-out options I need, and what other features make sense for us, and what we just don't have the room for. It made me feel much better about it all. But now we need to move forward on making some appliance purchases (yikes) so we have time to get them ordered, if needed, for our June target date. It's amazing to me that we're actually heading forward with this project, a little overwhelming, a little anxiety-inducing, and A LOT exciting. It's going to be a huge improvement and we're going to love the final product, getting there is another story, but I'm keeping the end result in sight, and we'll get through. ;-)

Just like this last week with Matt gone, we got through that, and we'll get through June and then we'll be able to breathe a sigh of relief...until the next big hurdle! Well, the hurdles hopefully will be a bit smaller than the major kitchen remodel, but you get the point.

To Dream....

We've spent our weekend having some good family fun, being very productive and dreaming, a bit. It snowed here over the weekend, somewhat unexpectedly, so we definitely had some fun snow play time. After all the snow in December, I got myself new snow pants, a new coat, and new snow boots (thanks Mom and Dad for the early birthday gift), and then I was convinced our winter snow season was over. Fortunately, I was wrong. And I got a chance to test out all my new gear before our upcoming snow tubing trip - and it was great! I was dry and warm and happy in my new gear. Happy Mommy, for sure!

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent working indoors on tearing apart and repairing Kara's closet in preparation for her new closet system, which the kids and I are going to pick up on Monday morning. Kara got to take naps in our bed and even slept on our floor one night - which she delighted in and John was very jealous of.

The other event of the weekend was our first meeting with a contractor to talk about the kitchen remodeling project. A close friend of mine gave us a referral for her contractor and we met with him this morning. The meeting went very well and he shared some ideas with us and we are looking forward to seeing the proposal he works up for us. But for now, it is still dreaming. We have some other research-type work to do before we decide exactly which path we're going to take on this HUGE project, so there's still a lot of steps before the dreaming becomes a bit of reality. I'm hoping we can make it happen in the early part of the summer when our schedule is light and we can have lots of picnics and pool-side meals. Time will tell, but there's a lot of dreaming and a lot of optimism.

I did it

So, after posting the other day about trying to make more "in the moment" time with my kids, I managed to actually do it this morning. Kara's now in a swim class that is smack in the middle of the morning. For good and bad, it prevents running bigger errands, but also gives us some time after John's left for school before we have to be heading out to swimming. So this morning, I showered before anyone else was awake so I wouldn't lose my "Kara time" to my basic hygiene needs. Anyway, after we got back from the bus stop, Kara and I picked a project that she's been begging to do - a doll-fairy making kit she got for Christmas from her Aunt Caroline - and sat down to work. It was a bit advanced for her skill level, but I think she enjoyed doing it. I know I loved seeing her face at the completed item. The glue is still drying and we'll have to improvise some different wings for her as the kit's wings had some glue complications. Anyway, she's pleased as punch that we found the time to make the doll and my guess is even if we never get back to finishing the wings part, she'll get some play value out of the doll as it is.

It felt so good to take the time this morning to really be here with her and do the doll project. I'm hopeful it will make me inspired to be better about this with both kids. This afternoon's after school plans involve a bit of homework with John and then breaking into his new crayon maker that he's been begging to do!

Back to the Blog

Alright, so it's been months since I posted here and, to be honest, I've missed it. I think about postings in my head and haven't gotten them down on the computer. I can say we've been busy, which is true, but I also think I just needed to let go of one commitment for a little bit for my sanity and, well, the blog was it. Thus, the message in this post...read on.

Every day every parent doubts their ability to be a good parent. You spend so much energy and thought making parenting your primary focus and yet you still worry that you're not doing enough or not doing it right. It's totally overwhelming and stressful and makes your head spin on a daily basis.

I grapple with this regularly - load up on activities vs. spending quality time at home with my kids. Letting them play independently vs. engaging them in constant play. I love my kids more than anything and they astound me each and every day with their humor, charm, intelligence, sincerity, generosity, and so much more. Many days I feel like I didn't do enough - maybe I didn't do enough arts and crafts with them, or I didn't do enough reading, or I didn't limit their time in front of the tv, or hundreds of other "I didn't"s.

But deep down, I do know that I did. I do spend a lot of time doing all of those things with my kids. I just wish, so hard, that I could wipe away all of the extraneous things in our days - grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry - all the stuff that must get done, but that takes away from my time to "just be" with my kids. If only those things could fade into the background and I could spend all the quality time I want with my kids, for just a day, or two, or three.

But life isn't about "if only"s, any more than it should be about all the "I didn't"s. I am struggling with remembering to appreciate each moment and making the most of the time we do have. I am cleaning through a lot of the clutter, emotional and physical clutter, in our lives to allow me more energy and time to enjoy our life and enjoy the moments as they come.

Wish me luck.

October = Illness

Around here it seems that October cannot get by without bringing the first of the season's many cold bugs into our home. Kara's third birthday was October 3rd and she had a slight cold then. By the next week, it had passed on to John...and then turned into croup. Fortunately the croup part only lasted about two days, but the cold lingered on for him. After missing most of the week of school, we packed up and headed north to Maine for a long weekend, visiting my extended family and enjoying some fall color. During the whirlwind trip, I came down with the cold. I felt okay the day we drove back, thankfully, but have spent the last 3 days being pretty miserable. And finally, not to be left out of anything, Matt woke up this morning declaring his body's submission to the cold as well. I'm truly wondering what it would be like for our family to stay healthy through October. The last few years have consistently resulted in a thorough spread of illness through our household. It's unfortunate, for many reasons, but mostly because we all truly enjoy fall and all the many fun activities there are to do during this season. At this point it looks like we may need to scale down our fall activities we had planned for this weekend so we can just get some rest and recuperate. So tough.

At least we were able to enjoy Kara's birthday and our trip to Maine was great. A lot of good family togetherness and seeing my grandmother for the first time in two years was also good. Her older sister (just turned 90!!) was able to come out from California and that was great too. My grandmother has severe dementia, so may not have known who anyone was specifically, but definitely had some recognition of those around her and certainly was happy to see her sister after many years. It was a very special visit. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and I got to visit with my brother and sister-in-law, which I always enjoy. It was kind of a crazy trip to make for a weekend, but it was well worth it.

Now we're on to finishing off October with a potential camping trip next weekend, soccer games, starting swimming lessons, and of course, Halloween. Kara seems to be changing her mind on her costume choice by the day. She clearly doesn't understand yet that her options might be more limited than she thinks! Working on that....

I'm optimisitic that my blogging will become more frequent again soon. Once my head cold diminishes and I have a clearer brain, I'll get back on top of things...or maybe I'll get better about accepting that I'm always behind and figure out a way to enjoy it all more instead. Hmm, I think I might like that idea better!

So I'm officially crazy!

Well, at least I'm thinking it must be, otherwise I would not manage to totally over-commit myself like I do. One look at the calendar in our kitchen makes it clear to any rational person that we have a few too many things going on. I don't know how to make any of it "go away" and I'm scared to think about how much behind the scenes work has to happen to make it through it all.

I am volunteering my behind off, because I believe in supporting the schools, and of course, also so that when I do eventually go back to work I can show that I was not totally resting on my laurels and eating my yummy bon-bons (which is clearly what all of us stay-at-home moms do, right?). So I managed to get into the position of serving as VP for my daughter's preschool board. This one shouldn't be too big of a deal - not too much work for this position, mostly just meeting attendance and a project or two. Then at the Back-to-School Night for John's kindergarten class I managed to sign myself up to be the class parent. Not entirely sure what I was thinking, I guess mostly that I wanted to enthusiastically support the teacher and the class. yikes.

Yeah...so those are two biggies for me for this year. Add to that swimming, soccer, and ballet. Add to that bus stop runs twice a day, trying to squeeze in some walks for me and Kara's playgroup. Before long I'll also be trying to get some more time for doing my website work with my old employer too.

Did I mention that Kara's birthday is in a week, John's follows in December, on top of all the holiday fun. And my mom had major knee surgery this week, so I'll be trying to get in some visits and be helpful to my parents as they work through the recovery/rehab process for her (which is going extremely well so far, so that's great).

Like I said, CRAZY!!! No doubt about it...just crazy....

Aha moment!

So 2 nights ago, during bathtime, I had an Aha! moment and it was just reinforced a few moments ago as Matt is doing bathtime tonight. My kids are, for the moment, still getting bathed together in the tub. But when it comes time to start washing hair we always get resistance. And it can be ugly. Which makes bathtime turn into a miserable time for everyone.

On Friday night, I was doing bathtime with the kids (because in our tiny bathrooms really only one parent can do the washing of the kids at a time, so we try to take turns doing our "chore" of bath duty). It occurred to me that there had to be a better way to get them to be more willing in the process. I first asked for a volunteer to go first with hair washing. No volunteers (surprise, surprise.) I declared (much to their surprise) that I would count to 3, if I had no volunteers by 3 then I would pick who would go first and that everyone would lose books at bedtime. If I did get a volunteer, then that person would get to pick the first book to be read at bedtime. :-))))) Hee heee heeeee! Guess what? I got a volunteer! John picked up on the threat very quickly and volunteered shortly after the "one" sound started coming out of my mouth. Kara was very dismayed that she didn't "win" the right to pick the first bedtime book. But, most importantly, everyone was a willing participant in the hair washing process.

Then comes tonight. A few moments ago...both kids in the tub with Matt at the bathtime helm.... He tells them he's going to use the same process that I started last time and before he even got to the counting, Kara says "Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee first!!!" Cue the AHA!!! moment for Mommy!!

I love it beyond words when a parenting trick pans out just the way you wanted it to!! There's not much sweeter than that. Mark one in the column for Mommy tonight. I love it.

Always Learning

One lesson I've learned during my parenting years is that if you pay attention, you can learn something from your kids every day. Some days I learn multiple things, other days I learn one thing, but maybe it's a big one. Today was a big day for learning around here. Time will tell what the kids came away with after today. All I know right now, tonight, is that my kids taught me two big lessons today.

1. Kara had a horribly cranky, fussy, grumpy day. Starting at the moment I walked into her room this morning to get her out of the crib (she just grunted and didn't want to be touched, but also didn't want me to leave the room...lovely...) and ending at bedtime when she melted down after a tantrum she was throwing resulted in the loss of bedtime books for her. She managed to pull it together enough for a few snuggles before getting into the crib, so at least there was a moment at the end of the day that wasn't filled with her screaming or grunting or crying or making other hysterical noises.

The lessons I learned from Kara today were twofold. First, the quickly approaching age of three is going to challenge every level of patience that I have and I anticipate it being a very very long year ahead for us all. Second, and more important, is that even through the rough spots, there were quite a few moments of her sweet tender side today, and I need to remember to cherish and enjoy each and every one of those every single day.

2. The second lesson was from John. This weekend we went to the pool each day with Matt, who doesn't get to come with us very often. For some reason, I got it stuck in my head that John really needed to work on getting more comfortable with going underwater. The kid has started going down the slide and can swim (doggie-paddle) across the length of the pool, and here I am pushing him to get that face in the water! I realized at the end of the second pool trip that John was getting way more anxious about the whole thing and was never going to be comfortable with the idea, much less be able to do it with me forcing it on him. After he was in bed last night it occurred to me how ridiculous I was being and that I needed to just back off. The summer and the pool should be about having fun and hanging out with friends, which is what we've been doing and loving so far this year. I intend to continue that trend for the next four weeks.

So with that lesson learned yesterday, I started the day off today with John by apologizing to him for my inappropriate behavior at the pool. I told him that there would be no more pushing for the underwater stuff and that he should enjoy the pool and have fun. Go down the slide, swim across the pool, and play games with your friends. And go underwater only if you want to, and only WHEN you want to. It was not exactly easy to give a very sincere and heartfelt apology to my son, but it was so necessary and I felt so much better once I had done it.

Two big lessons learned today. All in all, I love my kids and all the lessons they have to teach me about love and patience and life.

The Games We Play

We are a game playing family. And by that I do not mean electronic, video games, I mean board games. Before the kids came along, Matt and I would often spend a Friday or Saturday night playing games, just the two of us. We don't do that so much anymore, but we have recently started to pick it up again a bit. But the neat thing is now that the kids are a little older, there are a lot of board games we can play with them. Even Kara is getting into the gaming action. We've got a few that are just her speed, a few more that John can play on his own and we have to help Kara with, and a few that are just beyond Kara for now but that John loves.

The last few nights after dinner there has been enough time before bed to squeeze in a game or two. Monday night it was all of us playing a game called Bendominos. Then last night Matt and I were still finishing dinner and chatting, while the kids started to play checkers. I keep a careful ear out when the kids are playing a game by themselves to make sure all parties are being involved and no one is taking over or getting upset. Last night I heard John saying that Kara was winning and he was clearly going to lose this game. But it said it in sort of an awestruck kind of way, not like he was upset about it at all. Then on her next turn, he was still helping her out and suggesting moves for her to make. It was so great to listen to him willing to try to help her win the game, knowing that would result in his loss. I know that won't last much longer before his "help" becomes sabotage instead, so I really enjoyed hearing him being very sincere and trying to teach her the skills of checkers. By the way, he ended up winning the game anyway, but it was all amicable in the end. :-)

A Couple of Noteworthy Items Today

1. Yesterday while we were at the pool celebrating a good friend's birthday with super yummy cupcakes (thanks Heather!), John actually swam the entire length of the pool on his own. We've been practicing the swimming in shorter lengths, but this time I kept moving back and he kept going. Pretty soon we were almost the entire way across and so we kept going and he made it - no swim vest, no help from me - all on his own. I was so proud of him. I think he surprised himself even! Now if he can just start swimming with his face in the water he will be all set! Each time we go to the pool lately he's been trying new things and doing great, so I have every confidence that by the end of the summer he'll be more comfortable with the underwater aspect too. For now I'm perfectly happy to celebrate his big doggie paddling successes!! Yay John!!!

2. Today we pick up our first bag of summer vegetables from our CSA. We split our share with a neighbor again this year, so they actually picked up the first bag last week and now it's our turn. I'm very excited to see what yummy veggies will be in our bag. The kids always get excited too, even if it's not always stuff they're going to eat. But they are often willing to try things that come in the bags, more so than if it's something I just pick out at the store. Ohhh goody!

3. The last notable item for today is that Kara will be having her first haircut. That's right, her first EVER haircut. Yes, I do realize that the poor girl is approaching three, and she's got a seriously crazy mane of hair. But it is beautiful hair and until now I haven't been able to bring myself to have any bit of it cut off. Finally now though, it is time. She's got a ton of dead ends that are only continuing to get worse and tangle more and more. And with our beach trip next week, the wind will not add good things to her hair situation. So I made her an appointment with my hairdresser for her very first haircut. I have been going to my hairdresser for over twenty years now and she also cut John's hair for his first haircut (of course, he was 5 months old, and had a full head of hair). We talked a little bit at dinner last night about what the haircut experience would be like for her. Kara asked if it would hurt. :-) I told her no, that other than a little bit of combing her hair out, the cutting part would not hurt at all. I'm excited to watch her go through this rite of passage, but the reality is this truly will only be a trim. I'm not quite ready to cut it short or anything so dramatic, but hopefully it will make the brushing process easier for us and maybe we'll even get some more of her lovely curls as a result. My baby is really growing up.

The Sun Shines Again

The first part of this summer has been so rainy here many people we know started talking about building an ark. Which was very hard on the kids and I, to spend so many days cooped up indoors and not drive each other nuts. Finally, this week the sun has decided to grace us with it's wonderful light! And I couldn't be happier about it. We've been getting outside each day so far - to a big park, the pool, and the playground all in just two days. We even walked over to our playgroup location yesterday, which was a lot of fun too. The kids have been sleeping better, as have I, after all of our outdoor activities. We have also just been having fun getting to spend so much time with our friends. It has really been great. And it's just now Wednesday morning! The next few days is only going to bring more warm weather, which means more time at the pool and more time with friends! Yahooo! I feel like summer just finally got here and now we can run around and truly enjoy it. Bring on the sunshine and warm weather!

Changes Looming Ahead

I have been feeling a little funny lately and couldn't quite put my finger on why, until yesterday. As I was walking with a neighbor in the early morning hours and we were talking, I realized that there are a lot of big changes coming in the not-too-distant future for my kids. John will go to kindergarten (that's probably the biggest change coming at us), but is also working hard on getting better at riding his bike and thus will be ready to take off the training wheels before long, and is progressing with his swimming skills too. Kara has a bunch of pretty big things herself - preschool starting in the fall, which forces the issue of potty training this summer (yikes), and another biggie - moving out of the crib and into a big girl bed (which pushes me into doing a complete redesign on her room - ugga). All of these life changes are coming within the next couple of months and I'm not sure I'm totally ready for them! Some days I wish I could just press the pause button and stop so I can better appreciate things now before the changes start coming at us. But truly, I know that can't happen so I do try to take a breath now and again so that I can be more in the moment for myself and for the kids. Most of the time it works. ;-)

By the way, just had to share an awesome dinner I made last night for Matt and I. Felt like the ultimate nutritionist meal, but it was quite tasty! Brown rice, with salmon with yogurt dill sauce, and steamed broccoli on the side. The broccoli and dill were both from my parents' garden. The salmon dish was so easy - just grill or broil the salmon, however you prefer. The sauce was just blending up 1/4 c. dill with 1 clove of garlic. Then blend in 1 tsp. lemon juice and 1 c. plain yogurt. Drizzle it over the salmon. That's it! So easy and so tasty! I used some of the sauce on the broccoli too for good measure. I've been trying hard lately to find good healthy meals for us and definitely felt like I accomplished that last night. Score 1 for Mom!

Dutch Wonderland

For those that live anywhere near us and have preschool aged kids, you have GOT to take your family to Dutch Wonderland! It's in Lancaster, PA, which is about 2 hours and 45 minutes away from Reston. We went last week for a couple of days and had a great time. Dutch Wonderland is a theme/amusement park geared totally for kids aged 2-7. It had all the traditional rides, games, shows, and park-style food options, only it was all kid friendly. There was nothing there that John couldn't ride! Some things he needed to do with a grown-up, but he was riding roller coasters, swings, boats, bumper cars, slides, trains, and so much more. And he loved it all! There was also plenty that Kara could ride, by herself and with an adult. It was fun for all - no child was left behind! There was also a water-play area that we didn't go into, but it looked like fun as well. We went for a few hours on a Sunday evening, and then went back on Monday for the day. It was not crowded, since it was early in the season, which allowed us to ride everything we wanted with very few waits. The kids had a great time, the adults were exhausted just trying to keep up with the kids! Clearly we will need to build in an annual theme park trip into our budget for the future.

We spent two nights in Lancaster, which allowed us to relax and enjoy the trip without feeling rushed. The last morning before we headed back we stopped in a nearby Amish "village"/shopping area to browse some stores, have a snack, and see some animals. There is so much to do in the area, we had a very hard time deciding what to do!

This trip was a birthday present for me from my parents and it was a great gift and enjoyed by all! Thanks again Mom and Dad! :-)

Great Start to the Weekend

We are in the midst of a holiday weekend and boy, is it a good thing there is an extra day this weekend. We'll need it to recover from the first two days of the weekend!

Friday afternoon we had John's preschool graduation, which was wonderful and sentimental (more for me than for him I think) and exhausting. Then that evening we went to Friday Night Live in Herndon, Va for an outdoor concert, picnic dinner, and hanging out with some good friends. We met up with a neighbor family there and just had a great time. It was fun for the kids and the adults and the weather was perfect for it. All in all, it was a great day!

Then Saturday (after I went to the farmers market in the morning) we went down to my in-laws' marina and spent the afternoon on their boat. We opted not to take the boat out due to wind conditions and the crowds reported to be out on the river. But instead we went for a great swim in the marina's pool, where John was thrilled to show off his new swimming skills, and then just relaxed on the boat to enjoy the fabulous day. Afterwards we went back to their house to have a big traditional cookout. A great day all around. The kids did well, staying up late for a second night in a row and Kara only had a short nap in the car. I'm expecting to see some behavior issues today from both of them, but that's certainly understandable. Today I think we'll try to stick closer to a normal schedule for them.

The great thing about a holiday weekend is that even though it already feels like we've had a very full weekend, we still have 2 more full days to enjoy! Yahooo!!!!

All About the Moms

As usual I started off this Monday morning with a severe energy shortage. We had a very busy and full weekend. But I wouldn't have traded a minute of it.

Friday night I got the chance to hang out with a few of my mom friends (without the kids) and had a great time. We so rarely get to see each other without the little ones around, but when we do get together we laugh, share, dance, drink, and enjoy the time to be adults!

Then Saturday morning I took Kara to the Reston Farmer's Market and was amazed at how many vendors were there with so many yummy things to eat. It was impressive and made me yearn for the summer veggies that I know are in our future. How wonderful. With only limited cash in my pocket I purchased asparagus, strawberries, spinach, a head of romaine, and a bag of mixed baby greens. I also ran into both of John's preschool teachers and relished sharing the experience with Kara on such a gorgeous day.

Kara and I headed home (after a run to the regular grocery store for our staple items) to prepare some food for the evening's meal for which my parents were coming over. We took a break after her nap and all four of us went over to a neighborhood playground social event. The weather was wonderful and many neighbors came out to the meet and greet. The kids enjoyed the time to run and play after all the MANY days of rain we've had lately. Then we headed back home just in time to meet my parents as they arrived to celebrate my dad's birthday (last week) and Mother's Day (a day early). We had a great evening with them - yummy food and great wine and a very nice visit.

Sunday morning I took the chance to sleep in just a bit before we were back at the entertaining thing again. I was up and cooking and preparing for a visit from Matt's parents for brunch/lunch for Mother's Day. Matt and the kids went and got flowers and bagels for our own breakfast while I worked on getting lunch together. Then we had a very enjoyable visit with the Rankins. They even took the kids out on a big walk while Matt and I cleaned up after lunch and had a few moments to rest a bit. After they left, Kara took her nap and I changed clothes and took the opportunity, on another gorgeous day, to take a long walk by myself. It was so nice! When I got home, Matt and John went off to the pet store and I even got a little snooze in. What a Mother's Day! After Kara woke up, we took the kids' bikes outside and spent the rest of the afternoon riding bikes and hanging out with neighbors. Later Matt prepared dinner (cheese fondue - YUMMM!!) and we were all so wiped out. The kids got into bed and we were not far behind them. I think I could have slept all day today I was so tired.

This morning was a little hard to get going, but it was worth the fun and good times we had all weekend long. I am not sure I could handle another weekend like this anytime soon, but I am thankful for all the family and friends I was able to share time with this weekend.

Happy Mother's Day!

Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!!!

It's been raining here for many, many days straight. I'm starting to wonder if the sun will ever come back out. Well, I guess I know that it will, but it's been hard with two young kids to be trapped indoors all this time. Keeping the kids entertained and getting them enough exercise has been a challenge of epic proportions. This afternoon we're supposed to get a bit of a break in the rain and I'm hoping that we'll get out for awhile, for a walk at least. This has made me start thinking about what I'll do this summer when I don't even have preschool time to myself during a rainy day.

The summer has all of a sudden filled up. We now have four weeks of various camps (sports, nature, tennis, oh my!) scheduled and a week at the beach. Starting at the end of June through July and into the start of August we are going to be busy. Well, at least John is going to be busy. I hope he does okay through it all and maintains the excitement he has right now about these camps. Kara and I will have to find ways to get her some activities too. And then I'm hoping to add swim lessons in to the mix as well. We'll see.

And then I'm looking forward to having some free time in early June and in August to just play around and enjoy some lazy summer days before John starts kindergarten. My goal is to make as much of these days as I can. I feel like a chapter is going to come to a close in September and while I'm so ready for school to start, I'm also sad to see our flexible, less scheduled days come to an end. John's been an amazing kid to watch grow and learn. He's funny, curious, loving, and so very enjoyable (well, most of the time).

I had someone recently tell me they thought my kids were so even-tempered all the time. I was surprised, since I see the intensity of their tempers regularly. But I also realized that clearly, while they feel comfortable expressing things with me (which is great), they also know that in the classroom or other public places, other expectations apply. That's a hard thing to learn, even for adults. And it's something that is hard to know whether your kid has learned or not, since they'll always behave differently around their parents. I am crazy for my kids, while they sometimes do make me crazy, but they are mine and I am so proud of them both.

Most summers have come with a sense of dread as to how I was going to fill all those many summer days. This year I'm looking forward to finding new things to learn with John and Kara and the many days of fun with family and friends.