After spending Saturday morning at an early t-ball game and then working in the yard, the kids disappeared for a bit. When James went to track them down, he found them each in their own rooms having some self-imposed quiet time and reading their children's Bibles...
We headed up to DC for our semi-regular trip. Brady has been learning about important people at school, so we took some time this trip to actually visit a few of the monuments.
We went to the Vietnam Wall, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, and the Washington Monument. We didn't plan far enough in advance to get tickets to go up in the monument...next time.
Watching the monument "move," or at least that's what it looked like with the clouds moving above it. (Don't worry, that is a skort I'm wearing and you're not seeing anything indecent!)
We also took a leisurely stroll through the art museum. Here's our very own Thinker:
That night, we went over to Yeoanny and Angie's house for a great dinner. Brady and Rudy loved playing with Abby and Nick, and we got to meet the new baby. Yeoanny was James' best friend growing up and the best man at our wedding. We're so lucky to have friends who have been in our lives so long!
We stayed in a hotel in NoVA that night and hit Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum Sunday morning.
The kids' favorite parts? Brady's was the Lincoln Memorial. Rudys...staying at the hotel. (Actually that was his favorite favorite favorite part, and he decided that before we even visited anything else!)
I can hardly believe it...I have a proven track record of buying clearance plants and seeing their demise in less than a full growing season. These plants are immune to my ineptitude, though, and have gotten huge and beautiful in the past few years. (Full disclosure, though, I think I did pay full price for the clematis plants!)
These evening primroses I did not pay full price for. I think I got two plants for $.10 each on clearance. They've now taken over almost an entire bed, and a I've even had enough to pull a few to pass on to a friend!
Brady had his first tee-ball game this week.
Both the league and this particular team are somewhat lacking in organization, so I was pretty irritated after the first practice. (Really...15 kids on the team and you have them run the bases one at a time?!?) I was all up in my irritation when Brady ran over at the end of practice and said, "Mom, that was awesome!". Um...keeping my mouth shut!
Anyway, at the "game" : Each kid gets to bat until they get a fair hit off the tee. Then that kid runs to first and advances around the bases with each subsequent hit. As you can imagine, it's not exactly a nail-biter of a game. :)
Warming up:
Looking pretty confident...
First time at bat:
Safe at first
and second...
and heading toward third...
Brady got to play shortstop:
And...here's what James has to say about it:
So Sisyphus was the guy who had to roll the rock up the hill, and Tantalus was the guy who couldn't reach the the water or the grapes. What was the name of the guy who had to watch t-ball practice?
So, even though we're not thrilled with the experience so far, we're not coaching so we're going to put on my happy face and thank the coaches for their efforts. And I'll reconsider coaching in the spring (or, better yet, work harder to convince James to coach next spring)! I'm sure Brady is still learning...teamwork? Commitment? One of those important things, I'm sure...
The Melting Pot had a kids-eat free special, so we took the kids as a very special treat. Saying that they loved it might be a bit of an understatement. They liked everything about it...the dipping, the cheesy-goodness, the saucy accompaniments for the main course, and obviously the chocolatey deliciousness!
I love this picture...it looks like James is pretty peeved that Rudy is eating all the chocolate :)
We had a bit of a dry spell for Rudy-isms, but he seems to have had a bit of a comeback lately. He still prefers to wear mismatched socks and he's now usually dressing himself most days, which leads to ensembles such as this:
When he came out of his room, he asked me if he looked like a Navy flier. (Presumably because there are some old school bombers on the button down shirt?!)
Incidentally, Rudy is about the same age now as Brady was when he started picking out his own clothes...apparently, there is a bit of a learning curve for little boys :)
Later in the day, he changed his socks to these "flip flop socks." I found them on clearance last week (gosh, why were they on clearance?!?) and knew he'd love them!
In other funnies from Rudy:
-He's started using the word "age" instead of "measure", as in: Will you age me on the wall? Let's age this car to see how long it is.
-He was playing outside with James yesterday and told him all about the "peanut butter cups", the "wood packer", and the "haircut chompers" (hedge trimmers).
We had to take advantage of 5-cent cone day at a local ice cream shop last week. Rudy insisted on wearing his British-policeman hat. Ben was wearing a hard hat, but wouldn't let me take his picture with it.
James was out of town for a short trip. Brady was caught up on his homework and we had a free evening, so we headed down to our local "river hike" after we got Brady at the bus stop.
These were some filthy kids. Besides splashing in the river shallows, they were rolling down this sandy hill. Yuck!
James finished the final piece in our bedroom set yesterday. Now we have a bed, two nightstands, and a mirror that actually all match. (It only took almost 12 years of marriage!)
How cool is this?!?
I showed the kids the Peeps entries from the recent Washington Post contest. They were inspired to make their own yesterday...
