DC with my Parents

We were so lucky to be able to see my parents in March.  My dad had a work conference in Baltimore so we went up over the weekend & enjoyed 2 days with them.

The first day we just hung out in the hotel room.  Trek & the boys enjoyed playing with my mom's wheelchair.

We ordered room service pizza for the kids & then got Chipotle for the adults.  The kids were in heaven.

We stayed up late playing boardgames like Clue & Racko which has always been a favorite family pastime in my house.  When it was finally time for bed, we split into our two separate rooms.  Trek & I had just gotten the boys to bed when we heard a knock at the door.

"Room Service!"

We opened the door & there were two plates of the most beautiful desserts I had ever seen.  My sweet mom & dad had ordered Trek & I dessert in bed.

Meanwhile, it the other room, my girls enjoyed a late night movie with my mom & dad.  They watched the new Night at the Museum movie together.

For day 2, we woke up & took my mom to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.  My mom was SO excited.  She's wanted to see a space shuttle her entire life & the Explorer is in this museum.  It was great seeing how excited she was.

She also got the treat of seeing the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima to end WW2.  Her brothers are really into war history so she was texting them pics of all the neat war planes the entire morning.

I loved being able to be there when she saw the space shuttle.  My mom has always had a deep love for space exploration.  I remember her teaching me all about the stars & space as a child.  I even remember her waking me up in the middle of the night to see Hailey's Comet when I was super little. I am so happy we got to take her to see the space shuttle.  It meant the world to her.

We also got to see Trek's favorite plane: the blackbird. . . the highest flying stealth bomber we have in the military.  It was MASSIVE.

The kids had fun playing around the gift shop after being good sports as we walked through the museum.

After the museum, my parents promised to take the kiddos to Chuck E Cheese's for some fun.  My kids were in absolute heaven.

We spent about 2 hours playing games with each other.  This also brought back a ton of childhood memories.  I am so grateful my kids were able to make these memories with my mom & dad.

After Chuck E. Cheese's we all went out together to Red Robin as a family before we said our goodbyes.  It was a short, but wonderful trip.

I love my mom & dad so much.  I can't wait to see them in July. 

St. Patrick's Day Fun

Ever since Cadence was a little baby, I've always done a treasure hunt on St. Patrick's Day.  The kids always look forward to it & it's always a lot of fun to put together.  I've had these rainbow pieces for over 12 years now (I use them every time I teach music to kids at church which happens almost everywhere we live.), & so I use them as our treasure hunt pieces.  I hide each piece of the rainbow around the house with a clue to the next one.  The kids love it.

The red rainbow piece was on a box of Lucky Charms & it led them to the laundry room where they found some new GREEN shirts to wear for St. Patrick's Day in the dryer.  I actually found all of these shirts on the clearance rack at Walmart.  PERFECT.

That piece told them to get dressed & to do their chores & by doing their chores, the next piece would reveal itself.  Sure enough, Bladen went into the piano room to practice & the yellow piece was there on the piano.

And when he opened the piano up to practice there were all sorts of goofy green things for the kids to wear for St. Patrick's Day.

The boys got mustaches & bow ties.

and the girls got necklaces & headbands.

That piece led them to school.  When they got home later that afternoon, the next piece was on our front door.  GREEN SNACK TIME!!!!

We had mint-chocolate chip milkshakes.  Yum.

That piece told them to finish homework & report to dinner.  We had green ravioli & green alfredo sauce with green apples & green jello with whipped cream & lucky charms marshmallows.  The rainbow piece at dinner told them to get ready for bed & gave directions to find the St. Patrick's Day treasure.

So, they raced upstairs & got their pjs on, did their dinner chores, & started searching for the treasure.  They found it in the chest in our living room.  It was filled with green candy galore.

I'm so glad I can make such fun memories with my kids.  I seriously considered NOT doing the treasure hunt this year because I've just been so busy & so exhausted from doing things I have to get done, but I'm SO grateful I did it anyway.  These are memories that my kids will have forever & maybe even someday do with their own children.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.

Nothing But Trouble

This kid is nothing but a big mess, but boy do I love him.

Regional Jr. Science Fair

 Since Cadence took first place at her school science fair & did so well at the County Fair, she got accepted to the Regional Science Fair at Old Dominion University.  She was SO excited to get some feedback from some great college professors.

She was excited that some of her friends made it as well.  Their projects were right next to each other during the fair too so the girls could talk to each other in between defending/presenting their projects to the judges.

I was really proud of Cadence.  She held her own during the defending part of the process very well.  She was very poised & very confident in her project & she did really really well.

Cadence wound up placing 4th in the Chemistry Division of the fair.  We were SO proud of her & all she did to get this far.

Cadence's good friend JT took 2nd place in his division.  The two of them were the only kids from Isle of Wight County to place at Regionals.

It's been a crazy, hard, wild, but fun ride for the last 4 months for Cadence.  I'm very happy that all of her extremely hard work, late nights, & several experimentations were well worth it & recognized.  She did an amazing job.

Westside Elementary School Talent Show

The girls auditioned for the school talent show after Christmas break & were thrilled to learn they had made it.  As sisters, they decided they wanted to try a piano duet together & it worked out perfectly. 

They chose the song "You've Got a Friend in Me" from the movie Toy Story.

They practiced for almost 2 months & performed it for everyone at the Talent Show in March.  They did such an amazing job.  I was so pleased with how well they listened to each other & played together.

Great job girls!

They were also asked to perform in the show's finale where they got to dance & since & have a ton of fun.  It was so cute seeing them up there like little movie starts.

I love my girls.

Bladen's Kindergarten Choir Concert

Can I just say that I absolutely LOVE Bladen being in Kindergarten this year.  I had some serious nervous breakdowns about him being old enough for Kindergarten, but it was time for him to go.  He has grown leaps & bounds this school year.

Last month the Kindergartners put on a cute little choir concert that just melted my heart.  He looked so handsome up there & he had a blast.  I love this kid so much.

We always joke about Bladen & his little "tick" that he does when he's nervous.  He throws his head back.  It was really odd at first, but now we're kind of used to it & it makes us laugh.  We actually caught one on camera during the concert.  Cutie pie.

Eventually,  I'll have Trek put the video of his concert on here.  It's darling.  They sang a song called "Tony Chestnut" & it was adorable.

"To (points to toes) ny (points to knees)

Chest (points to chest) nut (points to head)

knows (points to nose)  I love you (points to self, makes heart, & points to audience)"

All the kids were pointing to the music teacher, but Bladen kept turning toward me & would do the "I love you" movements & point to me.  It was SO stinkin cute!!!!!  I love this kid so much.