Author Archives: Jen
She loves my tall white shoes.
The dress in 1991 and 2016.
Okay, folks, who wore it better? Yes, here’s a DOOZY of a Then & Now. I first wore this dress to my high school Senior Awards Night and then to my graduation party (as seen in the photo, 1991). I loved the dress and kept it at my mom’s house all these years, wanting to get back into it someday. And that day was today to celebrate our 15th anniversary! And I traded the single-strand pearls for the pearls I wore with my wedding dress!
Sidenote 1: Owen took the picture from tonight.
Sidenote 2: When Owen saw me working on the collage, he said “WAIT. YOU HAD THAT DRESS 25 YEARS AGO?” 😯
When you’re just wandering at Costco on your anniversary.
Do we know how to live the high life or what?
15th Anniversary dinner!
Our local friend Leslie gave us such a great recommendation for our anniversary dinner last year that we went back to her again. And she knocked it out of the park again with this kinda hole-in-the-wall Modern European/German place called Cosmopolitan Grill (Yelp). Unbeknownst to us when we decided to go there, they were recently voted “as one of 100 Best Bargain Restaurants by the Washingtonian Magazine as well as Young and Hungry’s 50 Best Restaurants by Washington City Paper.”
For the appetizer we had Ćevapčići With Ajvar and Onion (little sausages with a red pepper and garlic relish) and since we knew the portions were huge, we split the Stuffed Veal Schnitzel (Breaded veal schnitzel stuffed with cheese and spicy peppers, served with roasted potato). It was all very, very good and even though we split the dinner we still brought home leftovers!
Our official anniversary date night picture, taken by Owen.
Play dough with friends!
Today we had a play dough play date with some new friends…the kids played with homemade play dough…and even MADE play dough!
He wasn’t super cooperative this morning.
Today marks 7,884,000 minutes, 131,400 hours, or 5,475 days.
Otherwise known as 15 years! FIFTEEN YEARS. It’s gone by in a flash and I can’t wait for more!
Me and Owen can be twins, too.
Kidisms 30
Me: Katie, you did a great job. I’m proud of you. And you have pretty clean teeth!
Katie: But I still have crunchy teeth.
At Costco, I wanted to take a picture of this for Tom.
Owen, opening the drawer and posing: On sale 20% off today!
We were at the pool and Owen asked for the handgun. Wait. What?! Oh, Hank gun. 🙂
King of the playground!
We met our new friends at a new playground this morning!
Excited to have daddy home before princess camp
It’s days like this I’m thankful for the pool.
We go to the pool after picking Katie up at 1 and come home around 4 or 5.
Waiting out the pool break.
And then daddy surprised us!
Princess camp pickup
This is what I walked into today. 🙂
Owen’s reward for being bored.
I had a doctor’s appointment at the hospital this morning—plus lab work—and even though I told him to bring something to keep busy, he only brought his Pokémon book and he quickly tired of that. It was a long wait to get my blood drawn (almost an hour) so when we were done, we went Pokémon hunting…and he won the same gym twice! (Well, at least that’s what I’m pretty sure happened and what these pictures mean!)
I don’t suggest letting your military ID expire.
I just tried to get on base and…no longer have an ID. It was confiscated at check-in because it was more than 30 days expired! Yes, we already had an appointment for a new card. Yes, I will put a reminder on my calendar for the next card. But in the meantime, this is the first time in 15 years I haven’t had a military ID!
Thankfully I was still able to get on base and check in to my appointment.
A rarity: post-pool family cuddle time.
The ballerina with her wand.
They do some type of project at camp every day and today was a wand.
Catching up on his summer reading.
Owen isn’t great about keeping up with his Summer Slide reading, so we’ve had to have some days where we read 40-60 pages to try and catch up. (It’s not as bad as it sounds—it’s not like he’s reading full chapter book pages. Some of them are, but some are also books for Katie with one sentence per page. So it averages out.) Notice he had a buddy today, as well.
Special Mommy and Owen Pokémon time.
There are a bunch of pokestops around where we drop Katie off for camp, so as a special treat for Owen, we spent time hunting Pokémon and gathering balls.
And then he won the gym!
Sometimes he doesn’t quite grasp getting dressed for the weather.
It’s been getting into the 100s this week, and even in the morning it’s 75-80. But this is how he got dressed for the day. 🙂
Princess Camp, Take 2
Katie’s princess camp was cut short last week with the announcement of two cases of head lice. They gave us the option of taking the same class the following week, so we did. So, here she is, ready for camp again.
Cirque Kurios
We splurged on a Cirque experience for the whole family: KURIOS—Cabinet of Curiosities! We were worried because it was HOT AS HELL and the last tent experience (last summer) was awful—we were all hot and miserable and uncomfortable because the A/C and fans just didn’t cut it. So this year we prepped with special cooling towels and we took a cooler with drinks…and it ended up just fine—the A/C worked just fine and I was actually chilly. 🙂
The only kinda yucky thing was the seating—we had a decent view of the stage…until people sat in front of us. A smallish girl sat right in front of Katie and there was no way she could see anything. And then a guy about 100# overweight sat next to me so I was cramped. So I actually put Katie on my lap and scooted over to her seat so it was okay—but not great. Then we had to readjust after intermission because the family in front of us all changed seats!
But overall the kids loved it and they couldn’t even decide what their favorite parts were! For me, it was a little expensive for what it was…but then, Tom and I have seen a Cirque show before. But the kids were happy, and that’s what matters, right? 🙂
Pouting and being silly at the pool
Owen’s half birthday pool party!
Once again this year, Owen decided to have his birthday party at the community pool with Costco pizzas and cake (which I forgot to get a picture of)! The trade off is that many of his friends are away on vacations…but even though we had a small turnout and it was about 110°, everyone had fun!
After his party, one of his friends came back to spend a few hours. They had fun playing Xbox and then building Legos.
After he left, Owen opened his gifts and was COMPLETELY GEEKED to get some Ninjago Legos, a bunch of Pokemon cards, a Nerf bow and arrow, a Star Wars board game, and $15 cash. This was my favorite card he got:
And it didn’t take long before Owen and Katie had their noses buried in Pokemon cards.
Upside down Katie
Charlie finally fits in this box.
Olympics 2028?
Katie doing her floor program with Laurie Hernandez. 🙂
Katie performing with Olympians!
Live in our living room!! 🙂
Needless to say she had a blast watching the gymnasts and the floor routines were her favorite because she could dance along with them! She also liked the swimming, which is how the video below starts.
