Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt!

Every year Vienna hosts something that I am pretty sure somebody came up with purely for their own amusement. Here's the pitch: Let's hide a bunch of candy-filled eggs in a park. Then, let's wait until it gets really dark. Then, give a hundred small children flashlights, bags, and point them into the sugar-filled darkness. Doesn't that sound like fun?? My kids thought so. And I don't think any children were lost permanently, so I guess it was a huge success.

But before sunset, let's cuddle up with a big scary bunny that can't talk to us but for some reason wants us on his lap.

Pushups,Power Outages, and Countdowns

The countdown to the Disney Cruise begins!!!! (note the black skirt under the pink dress. . evidence of layering love)

Scavenger hunt in the mall. . . and a little goofing off along the way!

Power Outage Fun! We lost power for a few days and had a blast lighting as many candles as possible. You and Isaac have gotten pretty into chess lately--good thing it doesn't take electricity

Working out with Mom---Look at those muscles!

Fun With Ike

Thanks to the flash, this doesn't look as dark as it was. We lost power for several days in another snowstorm, and you and Lucy had a great time playing "Little House on the Prairie." You really loved lighting the candles! And playing chess together has become a new favorite game.

A wonderful trip to the Air and Space Museum. It is so awesome living close to these wonderful (FREE!) museums. You won the paper airplane making contest!!

This one is from Christmas, but it is never too late to remember some wonderful time with your cousins. You were so fun with Hank. He really listened for this entire book! You are a great reader, using great inflection and rhythm. It is impressive.

Helping Dad tear down his office. He is opening up an office for private practice in Vienna, and before he started painting and tearing down, you got to decorate a bit.

Who says dyeing Easter eggs needs to only happen on Easter? You wanted to dye eggs and hunt them, so we did. Then we had yummy egg salad sandwiches for lunch. Great idea my out of the box thinker!!

Free Cone Day!!

Twice a year Ben and Jerry's gives away free ice cream cones all day. We walked to the nearest store and basked in the sweet glory.

Isaac enjoyed his so much he flipped over. Or maybe I'm too lazy to flip the picture over. That is kind of weird face whatever way it is facing

And a sad goodbye to the Hyatt family. There were off to Singapore for six months. They are really a wonderful family!

Lucy Catch Up

This is a new way of recording all the wonderful things about you!!! It is so fun to look through our Memory books, and I love reading the journals I've kept for you, but keeping up with both of them is really a challenge. So, I've tapped into technology and found a way to combine them. So, this will serve as both your journal and memory book, and I'll print it off for you when you turn 8. And then, you'll start helping contribute to it, eventually taking it over yourself, printing a book from it every few years.

So, we had a really wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa in Washington. It was a fantastic Christmas. We played in the snow, you read books with Grandma and gave them both full on knee hugs every time they entered the room. You can really light up someone's day. Every morning as I come home from Seminary, you come squealing with joy and knock me over with a robust hug. I love it! You are a wonderful girl, full of light, sparkle, and love.

You are also full of fashion sense. You love putting together fun outfits! Matching is really important to you, and you often ask me if you look "beautiful." It is really important that you feel beautiful! If you ever have a plain outfit on, you feel pretty mopey. The other day you had on a black ballerina outfit, a purple skirt over that, then another long black skirt on top of the purple one. You asked me if I could count how many skirts you had on--at first glance, I guessed wrong. You often go for the monochromatic black look, because you don't want anybody to see you. You love to hide, and sometimes your hiding involves being sneaky in other ways. I've found you scribbling on walls, sneaking food, or cutting up bits of fabric in my closet. It is hard to be patient, but for whatever reason, you are calling out for attention lately and I am trying to give you most of it when you do good things. And you do lots of good things. You have such enthusiasm. We were trying to trim down our clothes and you were going through your shirts, and just couldn't let go of any of them. Every one: "Mom! I love this shirt! Oh, it is my favorite! Oh, I love it sooo much!"

Your imagination is incredible. You flit around the house in so many different characters and want me to play cat/mouse/fox/horse family all day long. Sometimes you make it simpler for me and say, "Mom, let's play family. You be Mom. Dad will be Dad. Isaac is the brother and Emma is the sister." Then I say, "Okay" and we just go back to whatever we were doing, I just have to say "Daughter" in a funny accent if I want your attention.

Reading on your own is just around the corner. You can recognize so many letters and are writing better and better. You are so bright. It will be good for you when Isaac goes back to school. You need some extra attention right now. I love you so much Lucy. Sometimes you are really hard on yourself, and say some very sad things. I hope and pray that I can help you believe that you are good, smart, and wonderful, that I love you and God loves you and everything you offer is good enough. I am trying to learn that myself.

Isaac Updates

Isaac, you love your memory books. You often flip through them, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and happy that I did it. But, it is tough to find time to make memories, much less preserve them. So, I'm tapping into technology and hopefully harnessing it in a way that will put all your wonderful memories (or at least a good chunk of them) in one place and give you a way to do it yourself as well. This is now your memory book/journal/blog, and when you are 8, I will print it off and you'll get it as a book for your birthday. Then, I'll hand it over to you and we'll work on it together. It will be a way you can journal and remember what matters most to you. It will be easier to tote around, and won't require a night on the living room floor cutting and pasting pictures. Doesn't that sound nice? So, first. . a journal recap of the last couple of months:

We had a really wonderful time at Christmas in Washington. That is recapped in our family blog, but I'll put a few pictures here. You got wonderful alone time with Papa and Kiki--a special date with just them that started with McDonald's and ended with a movie. You proclaimed it, "the best day of your life." You are easy to please. Back in our little apartment, it took some time for us all to adjust to cramped quarters again. But, we make the best of it. We discovered a love for Shakira's music and have jiggled, wiggled, and jived with joy to her "Waka Waka Africa" many times. We started our own Boy's club here, since the one in Vienna was too much of a drive. The first one was a huge success, because Dad was home and so he took all the boys out back and built a big fire and roasted marshmallows. Not sure if any of our other meetings have measured it. We've made lego movies and marshmallow sculptures. It is mostly Jonathan and Aaron Hyatt, they are really fun boys.

A new favorite food of yours is quiche. You love it. You love it so much you didn't want cake for your birthday, you wanted quiche instead. I was happy to oblige. A quiche is way easier. So, for your birthday party, we had a space theme, with quiche and muffins for the celebration. I could tell some of your guests were disappointed, but you were happy, and that was the point. The party was a real success. We played moon rock relay, carried balls of tin foil with our robot "tongs" to the "moon station" in your room. Then we tried to keep the "asteroid" balloons from hitting earth. And Dad was the star again when he made a rocket and launched it in the backyard. That was awesome. I can't believe you are seven years old. Crazy!

We can't get books fast enough for you these days. You tear through 100-200 page books in a day. You love all the Ramona books and are now starting to read every other Beverly Cleary book, she is a great writer. You love to just sit and read and when Harley comes and cuddles up by you, you are in pure bliss.

We had a fun Valentine's Homeschool Party. You are really great at meeting new people. I am so impressed with how confident you are socially. I think homeschooling has been great for that. You feel comfortable and confident, and that was the whole point. We've decided that next year you will be going back to school. I think it will be great for you, and for Lucy. You need some more friends your age, and there just aren't any nearby. There will definitely be some things we'll miss alot, but you are excited, and it will be good. We went to Fairfax Villa the other day for Davesh's concert and so many of your friends remembered you! You were really excited about that, and it made you even more excited about returning there next year.

Your imagination is incredible. The other day, you put rubber bands around the wrists and ankles of some barbie dolls and hung them upside down on the coat hooks in the hall. Then you came and told me to come and see what happens "to people who don't believe in fairies." It was hilarious. I couldn't find the camera unfortunately to record the warning for any potential non-believers out there.

You are a really great kid, Isaac. You are bright, happy, and energetic. And noisy. You have such a hard time being still and not making noise. You are constantly drumming, kicking, or bouncing. What a busy boy! You are finally riding the bike that Miss Eliana got you last summer at Cape Cod. Hooray! You take a while to warm up to stuff sometimes, but when you decide to give it your best shot, you are always glad. That is how we all are I guess. We love you Isaac!!