My Birthday

I turned 35 this past week. Yes, 35. I see no reason to claim to be younger. I have earned every one of those years and I have a great life to show for it. Jason made me this yummy cake which we ate for lunch. Why not?

And the kids were kind to each other and played well. Brendan was actually sad when his sisters had to go to bed because they were having so much fun. Believe me, this doesn't happen often but I am grateful for this most appreciated present from them.

Summer storm

On Friday I was sitting on the couch with a sister from my ward who was taking over my former calling as Activity Day Girls Leader. I was filling her in on what needed to be done when a storm started. That's not abnormal in the South during summertime. There was thunder and lightning. Suddenly I heard the loudest "zap" I have ever heard. We both looked at each other and she said to me, "That one was close". I figured it had hit close to us but our power was on and it didn't even flicker. I wasn't too concerned.
After she left I noticed that my landline phone and answering machine were without lights. I went to the circuit breaker and flipped the tripped breakers. They still didn't come on so I went to check google but our router didn't have a power light on either. As I investigated the house I found that the outlets don't work in all bathrooms and half the kitchen. The house started to get hot too. The AC was blown. I was able to restore that by flipping the outside breaker (go me!) When we tried to leave, I saw that the garage doors weren't working properly either (Jason's side wont open at all). Major inconvenience but nothing crucial.
I called the rental company but not much could be done until Monday.
The next morning on his run Jason saw that one of the trees near our house has a large scar at the top of it and from there you could see where the lightning jumped to our roof because there is a hole in the roof. Yep lightning blew a hole in my roof! It's crazy! We are so lucky that a few busted outlets and blown appliances are all we got. Regardless, we spent all weekend troubleshooting and now we wait for the technician and electrician and repairmen. I hope we can get this all resolved quickly.

Girly fun

After watching "My Little Pony", Eva and Darby decided that the rocking horse needed a makeover. I can't wait until Paige joins in the fun. I love little girls!

Another Masterpiece from Brendan

Jason here. Lately Brendan has been conducting some R. W. (Robo Worrier) training for his sisters, which is pretty cool if you ask me. He even drew a bad guy for the sisters to practice their newfound ninja skills on.


If the sisters did a good move then Brendan would glue a "blood card" on the bad guy.

Oh, and the bad guy is on fire too.

Nice.

Robo master

If I had known ordering new luggage for the kiddos would have led to an elaborate three day cardboard-box-robot-making and pretend Robo Warrior training for the older three kids, I may have done it sooner.

Note that each kid has a Robo Battle suit similar, made by the one and only Robo Master himself, Brendan. Currently he is conducting "training" for his sisters. I wish you could hear it. Right now he is talking about "earning your robot powers when you have mastered all the weapons". They just want to watch My Little Pony.

Tummy Time

Tummy time is so much more interesting with technology. What a nice big sister to share.

And Paige loves the exersaucer, just like all her sisters. My kids just love to stand up, plus I think it creates an added protective barrier from "over loving" siblings.

Arlington

While in Virginia we visited Arlington National Cemetery. If you don't know about it, the cemetery has a fascinating history. We tried to explain to the kids how important and special a place it was and how they needed to behave respectfully. The cemetery had almost a sacred feeling to it and I felt in awe while we were there.

It was quite a long, hot hike from the visitor's center to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier but we made the trek in time to see the changing of the guard ceremony.

Its not a great shot but you can see the soldier walking the mat. There is a certain routine he will follow.

"There is a meticulous routine which the guard follows when watching over the graves: The soldier walks 21 steps across the Tomb. This alludes to the twenty-one gun salute, which is the highest honor given to any military or foreign dignitary in America. His weapon is always on the shoulder opposite the Tomb. On the 21st step, the soldier turns and faces the Tomb for 21 seconds. The soldier then turns to face the other way across the Tomb and changes his weapon to the outside shoulder. After 21 seconds, the first step is repeated. This is repeated until the soldier is relieved of duty at the Changing of the Guard."

The Changing of the Guard is fairly simple but symbolic. You can read about it in the link above. This is the Ampitheater behind the Tomb.

I would have liked to see more in Arlington but that was asking too much of hot, tired kids, so we returned back to our host's house for a rest. It was a very humbling experience, especially being a military wife.

More Virginia fun

On Saturday morning we went with the Danko family to the Reston Petting Zoo. It was a lot of fun. Eva got to pet a baby goat, which she loved. Brendan kept throwing feed behind him and wondering why the geese were following so closely. Darby chased whatever small animal she could find. Typical Darbs.

Now this petting zoo doesn't just have farm animals but also exotic animals. We took a wagon ride and the kids got to feed an ostrich, a camel and a watusi. Most of the other animals stayed in the shade (zebra, buffalo, etc).

But the best part was the bird habitat. We ended up staying inside that for almost half an hour while the kids fed the parakeets. They LOVED it!

In the after noon, after naps (see, we did listen to our new "rule") we went over to the Air and Space Museum. It was big and AWESOME!

The Enola Gay was there, as well as the SR71 Blackbird (Jason's favorite).

The airplanes were cool but what was most impressive was the space portion. The space shuttle Discovery was there.

I could've stood there for a while fawning over it. I mean, this thing has been to space! So cool!!!

Trip to DC

This past weekend we drove up to Virginia to see Washington DC and other local sights. The drive was 5.5 hours and even with stops, by the end of it I was ready to give away three of the four children. The baby cried for over an hour, Brendan was cranky and Darby even gagged herself so that she threw up. Sigh.

We finally made it to Jason's friends' house, the Dankos, around 9pm. They were such great hosts. We got tips on what and how to see DC the next day. The kids didn't fall asleep until after ten. Mental note: Darby needs her own room.

The next morning we rode the Metro into town. The kids thought that was cool and I thought it was pretty easy.

The day was sweltering so we decided to do our inside sightseeing first - the Smithsonian. Well actually the Smithsonian is a collection of a few museums and we chose the Museum of Natural History since the kids would like it best. It was crowded but very cool.

There were dinosaur bones, an ocean exhibit, mammals, a gem exhibit (which we skipped because the kids wouldn't care) and our favorite, a butterfly habitat. Darby was confined to the stroller due to lack of listening but we let her out to walk through the butterflies. The butterflies landed on each kid at some point but they were too wiggly for the butterflies to stay on.

I wore Paige in the carrier all day, and most of the trip, which made me hot and my back hurt but she fell asleep often and I had two hands free. That was good planning. However, our poor planning was scheduling too much in one day and having late bedtimers miss naps. The day spiraled downward in a hurry. Our new rule will be two hours out maximum until all the kids are older.

After that it was around lunchtime, the kids were crazy and it was still hot so we opted to eat lunch at the museum cafe, even though it was super expensive. We decided that a bus tour would be the best way to see the rest of the sights so we climbed on a double decker bus. The problem was that the open top was the best view but the inner cab was cooler. Oh well. We reached the end of the tour after four stops (we got on near the end) and would have hopped on another to go on the entire tour but the kiddos were WAY past tired and Jason and I were going a little insane. So we decided to take the Metro back and return another time to see DC. Like I really want to see the Lincoln Memorial, which we didn't get to do. It was a trip to whet our appetite, so to speak.

At this point Jason had the camera and diaper bag and I had the stroller. In the clamor of everyone getting off (read: having to grab Darby because she refused to listen), the camera got left on the bus. We traveled down the escalator and I asked Jason about the camera, noticing he didn't have it. He ran back up. In those five minutes, someone had stolen our camera. Sigh. It had some great pictures on it too, which is why this post is so sparse with them.

We arrived back at the Dankos earlier than expected and they weren't hoe so we drove to see some Civil War sites. We ended up at Manassas Battlefield, where the Battle of Bull Run was fought. It was interesting to see the area and imagine what it was like 150+ years ago. History major Jason was in heaven.

The evening was spent playing with friends and eating god grub. Darby was IN LOVE with their dogs. She followed them around endlessly. Brendan loved their basement full of toys and Eva made new friends with their twin boys.

Day two was to be the petting zoo and Air and Space Museum.

Eva's klutzy weekend

She got gum in her hair Friday night and Daddy had to use oil and a comb to get it out. On Saturday morning she slipped and fell face first while running around the house. She broke her glasses and gouged her forehead.
Poor girl.

Five months

Paige Stats
Height: 26 3/4 inches
Weight: 17 lbs

She wears nine month onesies. She's huge. She can also roll over and wants to sit up so badly, but can't balance just yet. She recognizes family members and smiles at them. The exersaucer is her new favorite thing. She drools like a faucet and must be getting teeth. And she still doesn't nap well during the day. Sigh.