Washington, Part 3

One fun mother-daughter outing we took was to the US Botanic Garden which is right next to the Capitol. It was great! 

Gorgeous.That's all I will say.

Noelle pretends to be this flower.

They had a fun exhibit where you could smell all these different kinds of herbs, grouped by cuisine.

The Botanic Garden is next to the Museum of the American Indian, where we popped in for a very interesting story time that featured some touchable items such as porcupine quills.

Donald Duck, by Joel.

Washington, Part 2

Joel surprised me with his handwriting abilities when he managed to pull out VANILLA WAFERS.

In the Dr. Seuss book, Oh Say Can You Say, one of our favorite lines is that you should never get your father a walrus. Naturally, we wanted to get him this one.

There's a very large dollhouse in the basement/ground floor level of the American History Museum.

Noelle's been devouring the Laura Ingalls Wilder books this year, so seeing an actual Conestoga wagon was a treat for us all.

These guys are from Captain Kangaroo.

Joel enjoys his Christmas present from his cousin, and tells everyone that they shall not pass.

Did I mention that he likes to make things? Like a guy out of oranges and pretzels?

Hands-on Amethyst at the Natural History Museum.

Noelle tries to blend in with the transportation history exhibit.

This is one of my favorite pictures. This is Squidgy. Squidgy is much loved, so much so that Joel persuaded his Amma to knit Squidgy a scarf and boots. Alas, Squidgy is now lost. He was last seen in Cahokia, Illinois. If you see Squidgy, please let us know. Seriously.

Art Museum outing...

Puddle stomping...

In a moment of clarity I remembered a favorite childhood snack--pizza toast. Yes!

Marky will copy anything his brother does. Anything, and he will do it within seconds.

More Shenaningans

Snowflakes!

The boys and their cork boat.

Saving Capitol Hill from Evil-Doers.

February Side Trip to Ohio

In February, the kids and I took a side trip (in what world can 7+ hours in the car be a side trip?!) to my parents' house. We took advantage of the snow, even though there aren't many hills to speak of.  This particular snow was a layer of ice, with a couple inches of snow, topped with additional ice.

 Once I crunched a course out, the track ran pretty well. It was better with a double-person ride. Joel had the most stamina for the sledding. After I went back inside to warm up, Joel kept playing. Grandpa found him crying in the hard some time later, barefoot. He had lost a boot at the top of a run, gone on down the hill anyway, and then found himself cold and without resources at the bottom. I didn't expect to see Grandpa carrying Joel into the house, but he did. Grandpa to the rescue.

I love this kid so much. So much vitality, so much energy. He makes me laugh every day. 

 I tried to help Mom and Dad out with some of the chores while I was there, so I got to wear the Carhartt coat and Orange Hat of Honor. Okay, it's not really called that, but the one who is wearing it has been Out Doing Something, so now that I'm a grown-up I'm happy to be putting it on. The chores this time consisted of feeding/water the chickens and the brood of turkeys, and climbing up into the hay loft to throw some hay down to the larger herbivores. The funny thing about the turkeys was the way that they would *GOBBLEGOBBLEGOBBLE* all together, in response to any provocation. A squeaky swing, for instance.

 We *ahem* borrowed one of my sister's old Barbies and made a dress out of an old sock--because my hand sewing skills are about enough to do a running stitch around the cuff and call it good. I'm glad my daughter's standards in these things aren't very high yet.  

Thanks to generous babysitting from Grandma and Grandpa, I got to head over to Ohio University for Sibs' Weekend with my sister! I had a good time being with her, and being on campus again. So much has changed there for the fancier, but there's still ice cream. :) 

In my spare time, I am a fairy princess.