Krista and cute little Eliza
The rest of the kids
By the way, that little door in the picture below Elise and Watson is totally fake, but Owen convinced Elise that he had seen it open before, and that there was treasure inside. (So fun to have older boy cousins so she can experience this kind of big brother teasing. Reminds me of Dave.) Elise began crying on the way home that we needed to go back because she never got to see inside.
Sometimes for work, Mike has to travel to Virginia, Rhode Island, or Connecticut, either for meetings that can't be conducted long distance, or to test his projects. We've always thought it would be fun if I could go along sometime, and I finally got the chance a couple weeks ago. We used a $99 companion airfare thing, and the company paid for car and hotel, plus a little of the food, so it was pretty affordable. Mike's mom and stepdad were wonderful about taking the girls for the 4 days.The Washington Monument, on my first morning there. That day Mary and I also went to the National Art Gallery, the Native American History Museum, the cafeteria in the Department of Agriculture (a real find), and the Air and Space Museum.
After the Arboretum, we went back to the Air and Space Museum to see a few more things (like the Wright Brothers exhibit - amazing stuff!), had lunch at that cafeteria again, and then went on a tour of the U.S. Capitol Building. Senator Hatch's office was kind enough to let us come on the private tour, on very short notice. As we were waiting for the tour to begin, the Senator himself came down the hallway and greeted us all. He doesn't shake hands, because he hurt his wrist, so he does "bones". How cool is that? Even if his wrist was not injured, it's an awesome idea for avoiding germs.
On the tour (which was on Pioneer Day, incidentally) I got my picture taken with Brother Brigham.
I also got to stand in the exact center of Washington DC!
After the tour, Mary and I went to the National Museum of Natural History, where we saw the Hope Diamond. I tried to take a picture of it, but that darn glass case made it difficult!
That evening, our husbands joined us and we saw a few more sights with them. Mary and I had already walked our feet off, but we decided to walk down the mall and see the Washington Monument, World War II memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Korean War Memorial.
Mike and I in front of the Smithsonian "Castle"
Mary and I with President Lincoln
The monuments were so beautiful after dark.
On our last day, before our flight, we visited Arlington National Cemetery.
The tomb of the Unknown Soldier is one of the things I remembered from when I was 7. It was neat to come back and learn about it from an adult perspective.
Here is Mike in front of the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial (aka Iwo Jima Memorial). If he looks a little grumpy it's because I was trying to squeeze in this one last thing before heading to the airport, and he was sure I'd make us miss our flight. :)
Elise got to have 2 parties this year, a family party and a friend party. This is the first year I have done both. She had definite ideas about what her parties would be like. My pictures from the family party didn't turn out great, but it was really fun and it was great to have our families over. I took a lot of pics of the friend party so I will tell you all about it (or you can skip my long-winded descriptions and just see the cute pictures).
Elise is so girly. She loves pretending she is a princess. And since most every princess story ends with a wedding, she always wants to pretend she is getting married. Her concept of "getting married" is a little confused, it's pretty much just dancing with a prince, and maybe holding some flowers. She often laments that she doesn't have a prince to "get married" with. When it came time to plan her birthday party, I tried to steer her away from a Princess theme, because unlike the 2 all-girl princess parties she had attended this summer, she would have boys at her party. This was no problem in her mind, because the boys could be the princes, of course, and everyone would come in costume, and they could all pretend to get married! Doesn't that sound like the ultimate fun for a four-year-old boy? :)
We did end up with a princess themed party, and all the kids had the option of coming dressed like a princess, prince, or knight, if they wanted to. The only boy that dressed up was my nephew, Watson, but he wouldn't stay because all the frilly-dressed girls made him nervous.
Obviously, I vetoed the pretend wedding idea, but included a freeze dance game, which made her just as happy.
In our neighborhood there are a lot of 3-4 year olds, plus Elise has a couple same-aged cousins, so we invited about 12 kids to the party. I planned the party to be 2 hours long, then sent out the invites before I really thought about how I would fill those 2 hours. I had the idea of making a big cardboard castle for them to play in for some of the time. It turned out really cool, but took a bit more time to make than I had hoped. I didn't actually finish it all, but at least it had 4 walls.
Here is Elise in the castle, in her new Cinderella dress and crown that she got for her birthday. 
The party turned out great, I thought. My little brother Chris and his girlfriend(?) Luciana came to be extra helping hands. For the first few minutes, while everyone was arriving, the kids got their foam crowns, played in the castle and colored pictures. Here is Elise with her 2 cousins, Watson and McKenna. Too bad Watson wouldn't stay, his knight tunic was so cool.
These are the other 2 princes who came to the party:
After everyone had arrived, we had a little "adventure" to find the hidden crown jewels. It was kinda like an improvised obstacle course that everyone did together. I was trying really hard to make up non-competitive games that would appeal to that age group. We swam across a lake (big oval made with the hose), then we crossed a bridge (wooden window well cover), then each kid had to throw 3 dragon eggs (balls) into a pit (hula hoop on the ground). Then we climbed a mountain (slide) and jumped over a pit of snakes (trampoline with a pile of rope next to it). Finally we found the hidden jewels (stickers and plastic jewels in a little box) to decorate our foam crowns.
After we had decorated our crowns, we played Fairy Godmother Freeze Dance. I was in charge of stopping the music, and I had a little wand. When the music stopped, everyone froze and I chose someone who was holding really still or had a cool pose, and unfroze them with the magic words "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" of course. Then that person could re-start the music to unfreeze everyone else. This game was the biggest hit, they all asked to play again after the cake. The boys even danced holding hands with the girls, which Elise was thrilled about, lol.
Other games we played were Pass the Poison Apple (like hot potato but when you get caught with the apple you just pretend to sleep), and Pumpkin Pumpkin Coach (Duck Duck Goose).
I made a pinata in the shape of a castle, but I made it a little too strong. That seems to be the trend with all the pinatas I have made. Chris had to break it open for the kids.
The cake was made with a castle pan I borrowed from my neighbor. We didn't want to cut it up until the family party that night, so I made cupcakes for the kids party.
Overall it was a good party. A lot of kids couldn't come who were invited, and I don't know how it would have gone if there actually had been a dozen kids, but it turned out great and will be a fun memory for Elise.
Lydia turned 2 this month, and she's such a cute 2 year old. She has just started making great sentences with her words - "It's mine!" "I want juice please, Mommy!" "I don't want to!" "Watch me, Mommy!" "I want that" "I'll do it... self!" "I did it!". It's so cute to hear these thoughts come out of her mouth.
She is also becoming a great peacemaker. If anybody is grumpy she walks over to give a hug or try to distract them. She is never reluctant to say "sorry" and give the requisite hug if she hurts Elise or breaks a rule ("Only color on paper" is our biggest rule lately).
She seems very naturally resilient. When she gets hurt, falling down or bumping into walls mostly, she is very good at just brushing it off and moving on. If she's coughing or crying or anything like that and we ask "Are you okay?" the answer is always a nodded "Yes" even if she's clearly not ok. She almost never specifies the site of an owie or how it happened, she just wants to be comforted for a minute and forget about it.
Lydia's favorite things to do are read books, color, dance, and sing songs. She loves stuffed animals, baby dolls, and blankies. Most mornings when she wakes up, she gathers up every blanket and stuffed animal in her bed and, with her arms full, tries to come climb up into my bed. It's so cute.
Anyway, for her second birthday party we had a ducky theme (because she just loves her duck!).
The invitation (inspired by one I saw online):
Here is the cake I made (again, not my original design):
Duck cupcakes (say that 10x fast):
Getting ready to blow out the candles:
Roaaar, I'm the frosting monster!
Elise and her scooter all decked out.
Lydia with a pinwheel that we made at the craft table.
Elise and Lydia eating a pancake/waffle breakfast. My parents were in charge of the waffles - their famous homemade whole wheat recipe.
Later that day we went to Mike's dad's for his famous BBQ ribs. We have a lot of famous cooks in our families!
In the evening we met at Eric and Marianne's to set off some fireworks.
The girls stomping on Pop-its, or whatever they're called.
Thinking back, giving them these popsicles in their white outfits was one of my less brilliant ideas (see Lydia's outfit in the next picture). But it was so fun and the popsicles were perfect for the occasion.
Our little fireworks show was one of the most entertaining in my recent memory, thanks to my little brother Alan. He set up tank battles, lit the small fireworks in quick succession to make a more impressive show, and announced each fountain as he lit it, reading the names printed on them - "Jade Flower", "Peach Flowers in Spring", "Mother Nature", etc. Elise and Lydia were the only small children there, so the adults had to make up for it with extra oohing and aahing - "Wow, that really does look like, uh, Peach Flowers in Spring!!"
I think Elise and Lydia's favorite part of the night was when I broke out the glow bracelets. I got a canister of 50 of them for $3! Talk about awesome cheap thrills!
Here, Lydia is trying to make a "happy face" like she had seen Mike and I doing. She's such a cute little copycat these days!
