Our night away

What do you say when Grandma suggests that you leave her with the kids for one night, so that you and your hubby can escape for a mini getaway. Typical response might be, "When can we leave?!" Yeah, my response was more.."Ugh, I don't know about that."   My sweet mom wanted to make sure that I enjoyed my birthday to the fullest, so she insisted that Eric and I went away for one night.  I tried dodging it a couple of times because our kids are a handful during the day and more than a handful at night, but she stood her ground.  I'm glad she did because we had a great time and the kids enjoyed having their grandparents all to themselves.   Eric and I started the evening off with checking into our hotel, the St. Regis in D.C. which is beautifully decorated.  After enjoying some drinks at the bar, we made our way to dinner at Joe's Seafood.  Scrumptious is the only word that I can use to describe our meal.  It really isn't a place for children which made it perfect place for our mini getaway.   Since moving to D.C., I have always wanted to visit the monuments at night, but since my children melt after 8, my chances have been slim.  Eric and I used this opportunity to enjoy the sunset and the night tours of the monuments.  The Lincoln Memorial is my favorite memorial and it is a breathtaking at night as it is during the day.  Even though we had a great time the evening before, sleeping in the next morning was the best part.  Lexie wakes up at a ungodly hour, so sleep is worth more than cash at our house.  Needless to say, I would pay her big bucks to sleep all night and late.  I have even proposed this offer to her, but she just ignores me. Ha!    Oh well, I guess it just makes this little nights away more special.  Thank you Mom and Dad! It was a blessing to have you here.

Waffle sandwich for breakfast! 

Birthday Visit

My parents flew in for a week and helped me celebrate my birthday.  Talk about feeling special! As always, it's quite nice having family visitors and I'm never one to say no to a helping hand.  We did the D.C. tourist bit one day. We went to the East and West Wing of the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial and Union Sation. Barbecued and lounged about for a couple of days, and ended the trip with a drive around Maryland looking at lighthouses.  The week went by super fast, but we had a great time!

I call this our prom pose. Love it!

Life in Between

It's always nice to open a surprise gift from good friends! 

The month of August was pretty busy for Eli! 

Due to his eyes crossing, Eli is now sporting the cutest pair of glasses.  

We also learned that he's allergic to eggs and peanut butter. 

Boo! 

Family bike ride  

"Show me the money!!" 

Lily and Lexie swimming in Lily's pool  

This picture looks strange, but I was able to catch sisterly love in action. 

Gracie was blowing raspberries on Lexie's stomach. Lexie was loving it! 

My good friends, Jenna and Mckenna, invited me along to the Dirty Dancing Musical. 

It was wonderful and we had a blast!! 

 Ethan had to get a tooth pulled out due to over crowding.  

I hear that the tooth fairy gives more money for teeth that the dentist pulls out. ;) 

Gracie ditched those horrible training wheels!

In order to get these two on camera at the same time, 

we realized that we just needed to strap them in. 

Eli and his new gait trainer.  He's all over place and loving it! 

Back to school 2014-2015

Well the new school year has begun, and we are trying to embrace it.  I feel like the summer went by too fast and that we just weren't ready to jump right back in all the craziness.  Of course the kids were happy to see their friends again and with them being my kiddos, they seem to thrive on routines.  

Here's hoping that it's a great school year full of more up's than down's.  

Lexie's school started one week after Ethan and Gracie's school.  

This is her second year there, so she was screaming with happiness when she realized where we were. I know she has really missed it.  She got an excellent report on the first day!

This will be Lexie's last year going half day. 

Next year Lexie will be in Kinder, so the full days will begin. 

 

Teacher gifts and our First Day Rolo Pencil tradition.