Washington, D.C. - Happy Birthday Avery!



Happy Birthday! Mon and Dad
are taking you to Washington, D.C. 





Avery turned 9 in November. Cameron and I took her to Washington, D.C. to celebrate and left the boys at home. Since I am attempting to get my blog act together, I really couldn't start the new year of blogs without adding a post about our amazing trip to D.C. We love to travel and have been very fortunate to have traveled all over the world. This trip to Washington, D.C. however, was truly one of my favorite trips EVER. Maybe it was because it was my first trip to D.C., but I suspect it was because it was Avery's dream trip and seeing your child be so excited about everything they see makes you realize that making your kids' dreams come true tops just about anything else you can do. We spent the whole week celebrating Avery's 9th birthday by cramming in as many museums we could. We loved riding the metro, taking pictures and learning new things. Avery's favorite spots were Georgetown University Medical School (she has decided this is her top medical school of choice) and the National Museum of Health and Medicine. We also visited the National Museums of Air and Space, American History, Natural History, African Art, American Indian, the National Zoo, the White House, the Capitol Building and the Library of Congress, which Avery decided after she becomes a medical doctor she will need to get a PhD in something so she can request an assigned desk in the Main Reading Room (she sounds like her Uncle Eddie!). Avery crossed off some major Bucket List items on this trip: seeing live panda bears (at the National Zoo), seeing live seahorses (at the National Aquarium) and holding a hissing Madagascar Cockroach (at the National Museum of Natural History). We also got to visit Ford Theatre and the Petersen House (where Lincoln died). I really thought she was going to pass out when we were at the Natural History Museum Insect Hall looking at different exhibits. An insect specialist brought some insects out in little cages for us to observe. He looked at Avery and asked her if she would like to hold some. Of course she said yes and she held a grasshopper and a millipede. Then he opened a cage and brought out the cockroach. He asked her if she knew what it was and she said a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, and then she got to hold it. It was second on her bucket list behind scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Seriously, dreams were made true on this trip. Here are a ton of pictures you may (or may not) want to take a look at.



The weather was amazing and
we felt so proud to learn so
much about our great country!

China Town

We were in D.C. on Veteran's Day. Very humbling.
We were able to remember how grateful we are for
so many amazing people that keep us safe.



Just arrived on our flight across the country



HUGE moment!
 Holding the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach



Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Daddy and Avery on the Metro

We LOVED the Library of Congress

How's this for a First Family?!?

 



Avery rockin' the Washington Monument

One of our favorites - the Lincoln Memorial





American History Museum-
We became big Amelia Earhart fans on this trip!



The Washington Monument

 

The National Zoo. We weren't allowed to photograph
 the actual pandas.

More Amelia Earhart at the
 Air and Space Museum

A night visit of the Lincoln Memorial



Loved the Metro







Happy New Year

Ringing in the New Year has certainly changed for us over the past few years. Now that the kids are getting bigger, they want to stay up until midnight and watch the ball drop from Times Square on television. And of course, they want to celebrate it with us. This means no more staying out with friends celebrating the new year. This year we were able to have the best of both worlds. We went to dinner with a few other couples and then headed over to one of their homes for games. We played Farkle (a really fun dice game). I came in first place and Cameron came in second place, so that could be why I thought it was so fun (we tend to be a bit competitive around here). After our victory, we were home by 10:30 to celebrate with the kids. We played Farkle with them and then tuned in to watch the ball drop in Times Square. I love starting the new year. It is so fun to be able to start fresh and reevaluate what is working for you and what you can tweak to make work better. I am probably so fond of new beginnings because I am such a great starter and tend to be a poor finisher! Maybe that should be a goal for the new year! 

Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving at the Coast

We headed out to the Coast for Thanksgiving this year. We rented a house with our friends and went out to eat for Thanksgiving dinner. A little nontraditional but it was fun to do something different. The kids had a great time with their friends and it was nice to just relax without all the work the holidays often bring. As you can imagine the weather wasn't the greatest, but we hit the beach anyway. The boys of course went body surfing while the rest of us looked for sand dollars on the beach. We also had a fun time going to the arcade, shopping, feeding the seals and visiting the aquarium.  

Camp 18 where we had Thanksgiving Dinner

Here are the crazy boys (Ethan, Cameron and Jackson) in the ocean that happened to be 48 degrees! Brrr...

Gavin, Avery and Delaney finding sand dollars

The aquarium was so fun!

Set myself up for failure . . . again!

I have had my Christmas cards printed and ready to go for 3 weeks now, and they are still sitting here waiting to be mailed out. The problem? I put my blog address on them to force my hand and make me get my blog updated (which as you can see is 7 months behind). Surely, I would be able to whip out a bunch of posts while trying to get everything done and ready for Christmas, not to mention all the other 100 things I have commited myself to doing. Ugh! Why do I always set myself up like this?!? So please come back in 2013 where maybe I will have learned to say no a little more, stopped volunterring for jobs no one else will do, and as a result have blogged a little more! Merry Christmas!

Halloween

Halloween always sounds good in theory. It is a lot of work for little payout. Regardless, here are some pictures of our spooky night out! They love it so much so I guess we will keep doing it! 

Spooky theme this year. I absolutely love Gavin's smile. He is a sweet Grim Reaper!

Here they are carving pumpkins. Definitely a Halloween tradition I could do without.

Here are the trick or treat bags I made each of them this year.

Here is my mantle. Best part of Halloween - the decorating!

Family Fun Night

On Friday nights, we have family fun night. Usually we rent a movie and make homemade pizzas, but tonight we went bowling! We had such a great time. Ethan has some crazy backwards flick throw, Gavin just runs and throws while hoping for  the best and Avery kept on trying until she finally hit her first pin in the eighth frame. It was a great night that reminded me why I love being mom to this crazy bunch and wife to my sweet hubby (even if he did beat me in both games)!

Dear Blog

Dear Blog,
I think of you often and just wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten about you. I have lots of pictures and great post ideas in my head. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get my act together and actually get them posted. Please be patient with me, I really do want to spend time with you . . . it just seems that everyday life has a way of getting all my attention these days!
Fondly,
Sloane

The Sign of Too Much Laundry!!

You know you haven't kept up on the laundry when the kids can climb in the laundry chute and they poke out the top. I have got to get a better laundry system going - like maybe doing it more than once a week!

Science Fair

The past month we have been involved in Science Fair. Ethan and Avery were both participating this year. Ethan took three identical plants and fed them three different liquids (water, 7up and orange juice) and measured their success and growth. As you can see, Ethan defied scientific data and ALL three of his plants grew beautifully. Avery's project was on the pupil and how it reacts to light. She made these awesome models of the eye out of stryfoam balls. They both presented their projects to the judges and both did awesome!

Girls' Weekend

Avery and I headed down to California for a little girl time. Avery is an amazing student and has done great on her report cards, so she got to miss a couple days of school and we headed down for some sunshine and fun with Grandma and Grandpa Edwards. We went to the Museum of Art and History, the San Buenaventura Mission, shopping and hunting for antiques. Grandpa took Avery on a special date to breakfast, shopping and feeding the ducks at the duck park. The weather was AMAZING and it was hard not to go house shopping as well!

On the Airplane

At the Mall

At the Mission

Mommy and Avery at the Museum

Grandma, Avery and Sloane at the Mission

Pinewood Derby

Ethan participated in his last Pinewood Derby. His car this year was "The Jailbird". The leaders really stressed this year that the boys build their own cars, and cars from years past could not be used. Ethan made this great car all by himself. It wasn't the fastest on the track, but it sure looked cool and we had a great time. Cameron has a program on our laptop that sets up a rotation for all the cars to compete randomly and race them all in different heats. He even hooked up an amp to the computer so that there were different noises (like cars revving, crashing and it even played the National Anthem at the beginning!) playing during the races.

Lost Tooth = Big Boy

 My baby lost his first tooth. It seems like the minute they lose their first tooth, they become big kids for real. I don't like pulling their teeth, but apparently that didn't matter to Gavin. He pulled out his first tooth all by himself and earned himself $5 from the tooth fairy. Two days later, he pulled out the one next door and raked in another $4. What a big brave boy!

Our Special Day

On President's Day, Ethan and I went skiing. We had such a great time together. Cameron still hasn't been cleared for skiing on his knee, so Ethan and I got to share a special day with just the two of us on the slopes. I am so proud of what a great skier Ethan has become. You can certainly tell his Daddy has been his ski instructor because he loves to go fast! We spent most of the day on jumps at the terrain park or taking on the black diamond slopes. Crazy Boy! Here are some pics and a video that does Ethan no justice . . . his first try on the jump where he didn't get enough speed. My phone died so I couldn't get any other videos of him getting some air after a few practice runs! 

Ethan and Sloane on the ski lift

Ethan ready to get going

Recess Entrepreneur

Today I got a call from the Principal's office. Nice. Every parent loves to see the school's number on their caller id. She starts off with "I have Ethan here in my office", and I start imagining all sorts of awful things Ethan must have done to land himself in the office. Here was the culprit:

Bey Blades! Ethan and his friends take these little spinner things to school to trade with each other. They come apart and you can switch out the pieces to make the best bey ever! 

A boy named Daniel saw one of Ethan's that he liked at recess and offered him $50 for it. Ethan happily said yes and pocketed the $50 bill. Apparently when back in class a classmate said "Ethan made $50 at recess". The teacher intervened and thus the trip the the Principal's office. To Ethan's credit, he didn't go to school with the intent to sell. The opportunity just fell into his lap (isn't that what all white collar criminals say?). I tried to explain to Ethan that receiving $50 for something that costs $8.99 in stores is shady. He didn't agree - he thought it made good business sense. So I went with the "It is against school rules to buy and sell items at school" route and he said ok. I guess being sent to the Principal's office doesn't always mean what it did in the olden days!

Crabby Boys

We went to this really yummy seafood restaurant for dinner. Ethan wanted to pick a crab out of the tank for dinner. The crabs were huge so Ethan and Cameron decided to share one. The chef came out and got Ethan, let him pick a crab out of the tank, and he even had him pet it before taking it off the kitchen! It was so funny watching Ethan wrestle with his crab trying to get the meat out. By the end of dinner he was a pro at using the cracker and the crab fork. He could even get his crab dipped in the clarified butter and in his mouth before the meat fell off the fork!



Here they are getting ready to dig in!



Working hard for his dinner



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