Notice the time stamp of this post: Just after 4am. 🙁
Someone hasn’t been staying in her room until her clock turns green…so she got up at who-knows-what time, turned on the kitchen lights, was up for who-knows-how-long doing who-knows-what…and fell asleep on the couch.
Stinker.
Owen wrote this for Tom before I got up today.
I miss you and Katie misses you too we love you dad. Love Owen & Katie to dad
These are the snowflake ornaments we all painted at Owen’s school before Christmas.
She’s in Owen’s old jersey/pants outfit since her cheerleading outfit is getting very short.
This is what it’s always like trying to get both of them to pose:
I got Owen in one shot:
Everyone in Sparty green, even though you can’t see mine.
Costcos in Virginia (and North Carolina) can’t sell liquor (which you may or may not remember) so we’ve stopped at Costcos in other states (Florida, South Carolina, and Michigan) to replenish our stock. But, we learned that the DC Costco (in Maryland) does have liquor, and today was the first chance we’ve really had to stop (it’s really out of the way and quite inconvenient to get to).
This is a normal replenishment trip, which happens maybe every two years (which is good, because that’s about how long all this lasts…though honestly it’s longer unless we have a few parties).
I completely spaced on it being school break time (duh, that’s why Owen was able to go!) and the aquarium was a nightmare. I have never seen that many people there…and we skipped about 70% of the stuff because we didn’t want to wait or push through the hordes to get to the displays. Ugh. We’ve been super spoiled the past few times we’ve gone and it was (for all purposes) empty.
On the escalator to another level.
Another escalator!
The frog displays were very busy. I didn’t get many pics.
Trying for a desktop wallpaper.
And one my favorites…jellyfish!
More attempts at computer wallpaper!
We had planned on having lunch beforehand at our favorite, Capital Grille, except we were there too early and they weren’t open…so we planned to do it after. But…as we were walking through the last part of the aquarium, we looked out across the water and saw Family Meal, a Bryan Voltaggio (Top Chef contestant) restaurant. I actually remembered I had a coupon for there, so we decided to try it.
We started with chicken pot pie fritters (delish!), Tom ordered biscuits and gravy (I might have been tempted except it came with over easy eggs on it which didn’t sound good to me), Rob got meatloaf, and I ordered fried chicken and this is the dish it came in. 🙂 It was yummy but a little expensive for what it was…but I’m glad we went.
And then this happened on the way home.
We all went to the Pentagon for a quick tour. We couldn’t take pictures inside so took this as we were leaving.
With Uncle Rob
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!
Getting ready to bake cookies for Santa!
Fresh-baked cookies and a Christmas shooter (vanilla egg nog) for Santa!
Owen wanted to put his new Lego creation out for Santa.
Christmas jammies and Santa hats…
Along with lots of outtakes!
One good family picture out of about 15 attempts!
Uncle Grob!
And then a ticklefest ensued.
Not to toot my own horn, LOL, but I thought I looked damn good and I felt amazing in my $20 size 14 dress. 🙂
Everyone I saw at the party that I knew (a small handful of the 40-odd people) told me I looked amazing. I honestly felt like a fairy princess and didn’t want the night to end. I can’t remember a time—EVER—when I’ve felt that good about myself and/or how I looked. Not even at my wedding (though that was an awesome day!).
I see the dress on a hanger and think “Man that looks small. There’s no way I fit into that.” But I obviously did. And I killed it. 🙂 (And I still have about 40-50 more pounds to go! I cannot even FATHOM that.)
Also tonight? Wearing a winter coat I last wore…in high school. Yes, I’ve kept it for 24 years because it was an awesome coat and dammit I was going to fit into it again someday!
The place where the kids have swim lessons (and Owen had his summer activity camp) had an Open House today so people could swim and bounce for free to test it out. The kids have been asking to bounce, so we thought it would be a fun thing today. Owen loved it, but Katie was pretty much a mess. There were A TON of kids there (including a lot of rambunctious and NOT well-behaved ones which made everything worse) and she had a fit on every bounce house because there were “too many people” — except it was mostly her fault because unless she was the only one on the ladder, she would stop wherever she was and then as the kids would try to get past her and she’d get upset (and if she’d just have kept going up the ladder, they would have gone up behind her and things would have been just fine). So…we didn’t stay quite as long as we anticipated.
We got these from Santa about a week or so ago. The kids were very excited to watch them! Do you think they both made the naughty or nice list? The kids LOVE these videos SO much and get SO excited about them it’s worth the $12 I pay to make them. 🙂
Owen – Secret Places
Katie – Tour the Post Office
And surprise! Tonight we got these two new videos! Uncle Rob and daddy were able to watch along with us!
Owen – Movie Star
Katie – Elf House
Every week, 10 students help read a poem during Morning Program. This week was finally Owen’s turn! Daddy didn’t think he was going to be able to make it…but he did! And Uncle Rob was there, too!
We couldn’t hear him, of course, but his lips were moving and he wasn’t crying or hiding so it was all good!
I went into Katie’s room and found this. We have blankets and Bs and doll accessories aplenty, but she used tissues. 🙂
12-10-2009
12-10-2011 (I was about two months pregnant with Katie and feeling yucky.)
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. 🙂
The local high school hosted a huge craft fair that I wanted to check out (we missed it last year) and they also had a “Cookies with Santa” portion that we wanted to take the kids to. We got to the North Pole shortly after it opened so we didn’t have to wait too long. While daddy held our place in line, the kids worked on bead candy canes:
Can you guess which was Owen’s and which was Katie’s? 🙂
Santa! (They had someone taking pictures, but it wasn’t anything really posed or official—she was just off to the side snapping so we had NO idea what we would get. I was taking pics the whole time.) Katie wasn’t eager to sit with Santa, but she didn’t turn away…and she talked to him but didn’t get excited about the hug.
Owen’s turn! He’s too big for Santa’s lap!
At the end we had Katie go back up. I snapped about six quick pics and this one actually turned out great!
This was one of the ones the student elf took—I was impressed that it turned out as well:
On the way out, Katie decided she wanted to make antlers:
We signed Owen up for an infielder camp to get him ready for spring baseball. He’s decent enough at batting, but his fielding definitely needed work. We lucked out in that none of the other kids showed up for the first lesson so he had an hour of one-on-one coaching! (It’s a very small class anyway, but any one-on-one time is welcome!) And as it turned out, it was great that it happened because Owen REALLY needed it: after a few minutes of frustration (Owen couldn’t understand how to “mirror” was the coach was doing) Tom stepped in and told him that Owen was only 6 and the coach, as expected, was gobsmacked, saying the kid who just left—who was the same size as Owen—was 12. But Owen had fun and now we have like 9 more weeks of this on Friday nights!
These were the few pics Tom snapped during practice.
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!
Taking Katie bug to bed…
The school posted a slew of pictures on Facebook from the assembly today and I snagged these:
I knew from some of the faces it was Owen’s class but it took me a minute to find…his head. 🙂
Two of the three marines in the audience (they played each branches song while the appropriate members stood up).
And lookie here. 🙂
Of course we were there early, so we waited in the car for a few minutes.
They got to start playing before anyone else got there:
And then it got a little chaotic with 20 kids…but we got to stay out of the crazy and visit with the other parents (and I really hit it off with another mom—which was a bonus!). The end of the party had everyone zip lining which they all loved!
The evening didn’t start off on the right foot—Tom had requested a King room and we didn’t get it, even though we reserved the room way back in June. And no one along the way let us know, either, so it was QUITE the shock walking into a room with two Queen beds. ESPECIALLY at the price we were paying…
We had been planning on going out with friends for a quick bite at a nearby restaurant before the ball since we knew dinner wasn’t going to be until probably 8 or 8:30 (it comes at the end of the program)…but that got nixed when A) both guys realized they forgot their cover (which meant they couldn’t walk outside in their uniform) and B) the other couple was stuck in traffic (it only took us 25 minutes to get there because it was earlier in the day). So…Tom and I just hung out, stewed a bit about the room, and then we started getting ready.
We clean up well!
Going back to watching football. 🙂
Wearing Marsha’s jewelry!
And then our friends arrived! As I said on Facebook: Fourteen years in the Corps, best friends with these guys for 12…FINALLY getting to attend a ball together! Priceless!
The list of events:
The walkway in:
As luck (?) would have it, the National Harbor Tree Lighting ceremony was the same evening right down the street (with many events, booths, live music, movie screenings, etc., on the waterfront). It was bad for us because it created the traffic jam…but we got to watch the fireworks during happy hour! Happy Jenny!
We typically get photos done beforehand (when my makeup is still fresh!) but by the time we made it down to happy hour, the line was CRAZY long. So we were just wandering around, and stopped to take a picture with two of the “olden day” marines.
The event was supposed to officially start at 7:30, but as people were starting to file in to take their seats, they announced that there would be a 45-minute delay. We didn’t get a reason, but we were all pretty sure one of the guests of honor was late due to traffic. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but that also meant dinner was pushed back another 45 minutes. Egads. Remember how we were going to eat but didn’t? Yeah. BUT! Since everyone had started walking in to the ballroom, the photo line was almost empty so we made a beeline! WOOHOO!
Since we don’t really ever display our ball photos (where we’d want just US in the picture) we decided we wanted to take them with our good friends! They thought it was a great idea, too! The bonus is that technology has advanced a lot since our first ball…and we got to pick the two best pictures and then the digital files were emailed and in my inbox before bed! LOVE IT!
So we were discussing how huge the ball was and how we couldn’t believe that we hadn’t seen anyone we knew…and that it was way too crowded for us (we’re guessing about 3000 people—the highest table number I saw was 268 and there were 10 people to a table) but it was the Commandant’s Ball and you never know who you’re going to run into…so while James L. Jones, Jr. (former Commandant of the USMC and United States National Security Advisor) was speaking, he introduced a marine congressman—the Honorable Seth Moulton. WAIT. WHAT?! Tom and I looked at each other. WE KNOW HIM! Tom went to TBS with him! We knew he had become a congressman, but of course we had no idea he was going to be here! And then yep, there he was, right next to the speaker! We knew that as soon as we had the chance, we’d beeline over there to see him!
Later during his speech, he mentioned Kyle Carpenter and I was like HEY! I KNOW THAT NAME, TOO! (He is the youngest living Medal of Honor recipient.) I saw him as we were approaching the congressman, so I surreptitiously snapped a photo.
And Seth (the congressman) and Tom…
And then I had to do this when we got home—if only we had them standing on opposite sides! Then (2002) and now:
And then as we were walking back to our table, I got a text from a neighbor, Christi, saying “I just saw you and Tom walk by! I didn’t know you were going to be here!” So we went back during dinner and chatted for a few minutes!
We finally got to eat dinner around 9:30 (!) so by the time all the courses were done, it was after 10:30! I had wanted to at least dance to one slow song, but there were SO many people and the dance floor was SO small we couldn’t even make it there (people were even dancing between the tables!). 🙁 We had thought we’d have a night of dancing and partying with our friends, but since we were at two different tables half a room apart, we didn’t get to do any of that. At least we got to hang out beforehand and got our pictures taken together!
So overall, while this ball was nice, we agreed that it was NOT worth the cost ($200 room, $200 tickets, $150 sitter, $200 dress/our alterations/hair, and $50 for four stupid drinks)—and while a nice gesture, the token gift we received was not our favorite—a paperweight that didn’t even look like 240 (Owen even looked at it and asked why it said “210”):
We’re currently unsure what we’ll do next year.
Ha! Just kidding! I’m not sleeping!
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. 🙂