And I wanted to try and contain her hair at night so it wouldn’t be a tangled mess in the morning…so gave her a buff like I sometimes wear. It didn’t last.
Category Archives: Firsts
Owen had a double play!
Unfortunately, daddy wasn’t there to see it as the garage door broke as we were pulling out of the driveway…so he had to stay and wait for the landlord.
Two of his at-bats (he struck out on his last attempt) and bringing a run in:
And I missed Owen’s best play because it was when he was playing third base and I never record in the outfield… But he caught a pop fly and then tagged a runner out on third! DOUBLE PLAY! The crowd went wild! He was SO excited and so happy!!
Katie was having fun on her scooter—she had never really used it before today and was very tents on it but got progressively better. She’s great about wearing her helmet and puts it on every time!
Loving the dough and crayons.
We ate at UNO Pizzeria and Grill for the first time yesterday—Katie loved playing with the dough. 🙂
Family Fun Night at National Harbor!
We took the kids to National Harbor tonight to ride the Capital Wheel. Neither one was too excited at the thought—they were both scared. And honestly, neither Tom nor I were that excited, either, as neither of us loves heights. But onward and upward, right?!
Here are some pics I found online since I didn’t get good close-up pics:
First, we tried to get a family selfie with the wheel in the background. Between Katie being a stink and me not able to get us all in the photo, the first few attempts were unsuccessful. I’m posting the outtakes so you can see it takes multiple shots to get something postable. 🙂
Then Tom took over photo duty (his arms are longer!) and it still took a few tries.
The best we got!
Looking up as we were waiting in line.
Katie was NOT thrilled.
Owen wasn’t, either, but he was being brave. 🙂 (Truth be told, I was feeling VERY iffy on the first go-round—any little swing of the cabin was disconcerting. I stayed calm, of course, but it wasn’t anything I wanted to ever do again.)
And then after the first rotation, everyone was perfectly happy! And I’d gotten more comfortable as well, so all was well. I still don’t need to do it again, though!
Then it was off to dinner. I chose McCormick & Schmicks and…yeah. Let’s just say the one appetizer we ordered (of two) that we actually received was delicious, but overall the whole experience was just bad—completely unlike past experiences at other locations.
But then it was off to the “beach” — a smallish area with sand and a huge sculpture to play on. It’s called The Awakening and is both cool and creepy. These next two are not my photos.
The night was topped off with ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s. 🙂
Daddy/daughter hike!
She had to make it through the whole 2.2 mile walk with daddy—WITHOUT being carried at all—in order to be able to do the walk with me. And she did it!!! I was so proud of her!!
Stopping to watch the waving grass fields.
My hair is hot!
Katie’s first experience with a curling iron! She LOVED it!
Mohawk!
Owen really needed a haircut so Tom was just going to do it…but Owen wasn’t thrilled with the idea. So I asked if he maybe wanted a mohawk. Oh yes, he liked that. So here it is!
Katie’s first pre-k newsletter!
This was sent home with Katie today!
Katie’s pizza!
This was Katie’s first pre-k art project from her first day—it finally came home Friday and it got hung on the art line today!!
Owen as catcher!
Papa and Gannie took the kids to baseball tonight and Owen had his first attempt as catcher (he’s wanted to but he needed a cup…so we finally bought one!). He said he loved it!! (Thanks to Grannie Lin for the pics!)
Katie’s first field trip!
Katie’s first field trip—to Frying Pan Park (a working farm) in Herndon!
Katie: I’m so excited to take the bus!!
He was taking a dirt bath!
Katie got to pet the sheep but I didn’t get a picture of it!
She was frustrated that the little boy was climbing behind her!
Probably the best pic of the day! She loved the animals but she really liked playing on the tractors!
This little boy in his old-timey cap just cracked me up. I love this pic—they look like an old married couple being forced to sit for a photo. 🙂
Then soon it was snack time…
And time to go home…
She had a great time!
Katie’s first day of school!
She was very excited! And even though she was perfectly happy to use Owen’s old Minion backpack, I will be looking for a different one because I don’t actually like that backpack (it zips through the middle and it’s hard to fit the lunch bag in it).
First bumper cars!
We went to a birthday party today and both kids LOVED the bumper cars!
Katie’s eventful walk in the woods.
We all went out for a walk since it was such a nice day. It was also a test for Katie—she always wants to go with me/Owen but it’s two miles and I know she’d want me to carry her…and that ain’t happening. (Daddy usually ends up carrying her so she’s spoiled…but I can’t do it.) So…off we went. Some days she likes to be the Line Leader. Today she wanted to be pokey and hold daddy’s hand.
And before we even completed the first mile, her legs were tired and she wanted to be carried. See?! I knew it! So Tom carried her off and on. And then…she had to go potty. So off they went for her first potty in the woods! Which didn’t go very well and she peed on her pants (but we were almost finished by that point so no biggie).
Katie’s taking gymnastics!
I got a deal on a 12-week (12 session) class and knew she’d love it. Thankfully it’s pretty close to home.
Warming up and stretching.
A few stills from the videos.
As predicted, she LOVED it and can’t wait to go back. She keeps asking about her “shimnashtics” class and would probably go daily. Yay!
Early New Year’s Eve
We went to our friends’ house for dinner and a football game. The kids watched an early NYE countdown and had some sparkling grape juice (which none of them liked).
Our first trip to the ER!
Why not have it be Christmas Day? 🙂
So last night, Owen was being Owen and dove into the big beanbag in the living room, but then…rolled off? fell off?…and somehow landed wrong on his arm. Tom missed it, I missed it, and Uncle Rob barely saw it so we’re not entire sure what happened. All we know is that he was complaining that it really hurt. Tom looked at it and moved it around and there wasn’t any screaming so we were pretty sure it wasn’t broken. So we iced it and gave him some Advil. Of course, Owen being Owen, he continued playing around and bumping it and saying it hurt, so we made him sit still in the chair. He seemed to be fine overall and making cookies for Santa took his mind off it so we didn’t think much else about it.
So this morning we opened presents and he still hadn’t mentioned it. I had honestly forgotten about it. But then he was trying to put some Legos together—and was complaining that he couldn’t because his hand hurt. Hoo boy. Tom tried to move it around some and it seemed more painful than it had last night, so we figured since he has a high threshold for pain it must REALLY hurt, so we decided to have Tom take him to the ER.
Thankfully they were the only ones there and the whole thing went very quickly. But he had taken his new Minecraft characters just in case. 🙂
Apparently when you visit the ER on Christmas you get to pick a toy!
He picked this for Katie! Awww!
And??? It wasn’t broken. Just a sprain with some bruising that Motrin should help. PHEW!
So I haven’t done this in…ever.
She fell asleep on the way home from Woodbridge (and didn’t wake up when we got home!) so I’m sitting in the driveway enjoying the gorgeous day while she naps. This is apparently what happens when she gets up to pee twice at night.
Katie’s first hibachi!
We had errands to run after swim lessons then we were hungry so we found a coupon for a hibachi place. Owen had been to one years ago but this was Katie’s first time.
She liked the chop sticks.
She was freaked out by the first big shot of flames (which of course they START with) but overall she thought it was cool.
Of course she didn’t like ANYTHING on her plate.
He liked all the showy stuff; tried the soup, salad, shrimp, and scallops (the soup and salad were okay, he didn’t like the others); and actually ate quite a bit of his chicken and rice. He decided he liked Tom’s filet better than his chicken so he wants that next time. 🙂
Nutcracker!
I saw a link on Facebook for VetTix so went to check it out—and ended up getting free tickets for the Nutcracker! (If you are Currently Serving or a Veteran use my link to sign up and earn 15 coins!)
I had never seen the Nutcracker before, so it was going to be a new experience for me, as well (Tom had seen it many, many years ago). Once we told the kids and told Katie she was going to see ballerinas, she was ALL IN. Of course, she wanted to wear a ballerina-esque dress. I didn’t bring out any of her actual ballerina outfits because I am 100% sure she would have chosen that. As it was, this was a brand new dress so she was VERY excited.
I’m thankful I read the synopsis beforehand because otherwise I would have been completely lost. As it was, I was still a little confused, and was surprised there wasn’t more actual ballet. Both kids did very, very well considering the first act was an hour long. After Katie took a bathroom break, she said she wanted to dance, so I told her to go right ahead…and then daddy and Owen came back from their bathroom break and she danced in the aisle!
The second half had MUCH more ballet than the first and was more impressive…and Katie was entranced, sitting on the edge of her seat for almost the whole thing. I, on the other hand, learned that ballet is really not my thing. But overall it was a nice afternoon out yet away from any hustle and bustle of Black Friday!
Someone has his first Chuck Taylors!
So now he can be twins with daddy.
Katie learned to swing!
I’ve been trying to reach Katie how to pump for awhile, but she just got it today. Yay!
And some climbimg and sliding.
Katie’s first haircut!
Though I’d recently been thinking about getting Katie’s hair trimmed, I hadn’t yet gone through with it. But, when we ended up across the way from a kids’ cut place (Cartoon Cuts) at the mall, we asked if she wanted to get her hair cut and she said yes!
And she did amazing! It helped, I’m sure, that she got to watch cartoons the whole time! 🙂
He blow-dried it which made it look completely unlike her normal self, and of course, we couldn’t get her to pose for a decent pic.
The neat thing about an actual kids’ place? I got this automatically. 🙂
Then it was off to the bouncy place—her treat for being a good girl during the haircut.
This was the photo attempt at home:
So I’ll have to get a better one tomorrow. 🙂
Halloween in Grayling
The kids were super excited about treak-or-treating at Gramma’s house…and we were, too…until the Michigan weather happened. Yeah, it was 38° and rainy. Egads. If you look closely enough you can see Katie’s polka-dot long johns under her white tights (and she also had on pink tights!).
On the front porch where my Halloween picture was taken every year…
Everyone (including Uncle Rob) ready to head out!
There weren’t many houses lit up but the ones that were were handing out TONS of candy! You see how full their bags look? We had only hit maybe six houses at this point!
After about 15 minutes they gave up on the umbrellas and just ran from house to house while we waited at the road. Soon enough we were back at Gramma’s door!!
Home after an hour of being out in the rain—they were soaked but happy!!
Tom gave the kids a hot shower and put them in PJs while I made them hot cocoa!
Eating Mallow cups from daddy and Uncle Rob—they were Grandma Marsha’s favorite treat and someone brought a bag of them for the boys.
LOOKS AT THEIR HAUL!! The weather sure stunk but it was great for quick candy accumulation. They got 9# of candy from less than 20 houses!
Katie’s first text!
So I look over and Katie had the Messages app open on their iPad and she was enjoying looking at and touching all the emojis.
I heard stuff like “Cupcake…heart…pumpkin…flower giggle giggle cat…dog…bunny!”
I couldn’t figure out how she managed to find and open that app since I’ve buried it inside a folder. Then I realized that Tom had texted me and I obviously have the settings configured badly so that my texts appear on their iPad as well…so when he texted me, it popped up on the screen while she was playing her game, she touched it, and it opened the app. Of course, it was all her own curiosity that figured out how to then open the keyboard and emoji screens. 🙂
Anyway, I just sat and watched her…and then watched as she managed to hit send. 🙂
My boy is growing up. Sniff.
Owen decided that he wanted to walk to the bus stop by himself. I’m perfectly fine with that as he’s a good kid, he needs the responsibility, and there are lots of other parents down there. 🙂
Katie wasn’t happy—she wanted to go so she could play with the kids. (We’ll go sometimes but not every day.)
She watched for him from the back steps. When all the leaves are gone she should be able to see them, if barely. We can hear them now because they run around playing and screeching.
This is what she kept saying. Poor kid.
Our first homemade ice cream!
I’ve had a simple/inexpensive Cuisinart ice cream maker on my Amazon watchlist for awhile now, and it hit it’s lowest price ever the other day, so I finally bought it. I figure we don’t eat that much ice cream anymore, so why not be able to make whatever flavors we want in much smaller quantities when we want it?
So we made peanut butter Oreo tonight. The kids helped me get the mix ready (no pics of that because I was too busy helping hold the mixer) and they were EXCITED.
She would have spent the entire 15 minutes like this if we let her. 🙂
I didn’t get any pics of the end product or of us eating it because we snarfed it down pretty quickly. (Also, we all had very small portions—maybe 3-4 spoonsful—with the rest going in the freezer.) It was quite tasty—and a soft-serve consistency which I really really like (similar to a DQ Blizzard!). So it was a success!
Katie finally got a bank!
Seeing Katie play with Owen’s bank, we realized she didn’t have one of her own so we’ve been on the lookout for one. We finally found one last night so we had her move all her money to it.
Owen’s first day of 1st grade!
We bought a bunch of new lunchbags for Owen in various patterns—red owls, multi-colored dark stripes, pirate treasure map, etc…and what one did he want to use for his first day? The pink multi-colored hearts!
I figured I should prepare him for kids teasing him about it (I didn’t actually expect it, but better safe than sorry).
Me: Owen, what would you say if some kid made fun of you for bringing a “girl-colored” pink heart lunch bag.
Owen: [You could see his heart sink.] I would say that was mean.
Me: Yes, it would be mean. You just tell them you like pink and it’s a cool color.
Owen: [Getting sassier.] And if they ask me if it’s because I love anyone? I’ll tell them NO!
Me: You don’t love me? Or daddy? Or your sister?
Owen: Well yes. 🙂
And then it was time for pictures! I did Katie while Owen got his shoes on. She had to sit on the very top step.
“Mama, take a picture of me upside down!”
The same questions I asked him last year. The funny thing is that he usually just spouts something off the top of his head! Like I can’t remember the last time he asked for an orange—it’s always strawberries. And I can’t tell you the last time we watched Incredibles–it’s usually Lego Movie or Wreck It Ralph. And it was the very first time I heard anything about wanting to be a policeman. Kids are silly. Oh! And the favorite book? I think we’ve read it maybe twice that I can remember, so I asked why that book and he said “Because it shows how you take care of me and love me.” Awwww.
And then it was off to the bus stop…where it was hotter than hell. Holy wah. It was horribly hot and the kids were sweating from running around. I love the first day of school, though, because there were more parents there than kids! 🙂
I was really excited about his new backpack—it’s from Costco and is much more well-made than the Minion one he had last year…but it’s really overkill for him (it has a laptop pocket, room for lots of pens and pencils, a phone, etc.). We’ll see how it works, but we may end up getting a bit smaller one.
Our first metro ride!
We were headed into the city to have lunch with friends…and since it was semi close to a subway stop, we decided to make a fun trip out of it! We had to drive north about 15 minutes to catch the metro where it starts.
The kids were super excited about riding a train!
At the restaurant, Kabob Palace.
We wan into a bit of a snafu on the way home—long story short we weren’t paying attention and ended up on the wrong train (headed north instead of south) so we had a 20-minute wait for the next (correct) train.
And the car was a bit more crowded than our first trip so the boys had to stand for one stop.
They both loved it and wanted to do it again immediately. 🙂 I’m sure we’ll go somewhere again, but I’m also sure it won’t be a regular thing because this simple, short trip cost us about $22 in fares (it’s about $3.50pp each direction)!