Life with a Dog

Life with a dog has been an interesting one. Its like having another kid.

Can you find the dog in this picture?

Stella still falls asleep in weird places and in weird ways that look entirely uncomfortable. But she's so cute!

The other day my chair was pulled out from the table. Stella jumped up and joined Jason for lunch.

She still bothers Buddy. last week she went into his crate, stole his bed and ran with it outside. Then she dragged it through the mud. Turkey!

Guilty dog.

Puzzles

This is the first big puzzle we have done as a family. We realized that the kids are finally old enough to both help and not destroy one left out.

We did it in one hour fifteen minutes. We decided that we need to do more puzzles.

A few days later we tried another puzzle. Oh boy! It was the most frustrating puzzle ever! Jason and I stayed up way too late because we had to finish it. Those sky pieces all look alike! And then, at the end, we found out that we were missing a piece! In the morning, Jason drew a smiley face on a blue piece and left it where I could find it. Stinker!

Another Tooth

She lost her other front bottom tooth today. She thinks its super cool to stick her tongue through the hole. :)

He's Gonna Be Famous

George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, is adding to their website. They were asking for local sixth graders to ask experts questions about Washington and film them. Then they would add this video series to the educational portion of their website. Brendan was one of six kids chosen in the county to be in the video series. Students submitted questions and his was picked. So cool!!

Growing Up

A first and a first-last happened this week.

My baby lost her first tooth. I feel old.

And my oldest is at a middle school orientation. I feel even older.

He is excited, nervous and bummed. Some of the classes sound great to him while other parts of middle school seem scary or boring. Sounds about like I remember it.

Life Goes On

I feel like we have had so many big events lately that, now that life has settled a bit, I don't have much to write about. But then I realize that the bog moments in life aren't always the most important. I look back at my pictures and see the little moments that can be memorable.

Last week, Darby came home sick from school. She had a fever, sore throat and cough. So sad. She spent all the next day on the couch in her pajamas, sleeping on and off. Poor baby.

Brendan makes strange gadgets all the time. This time he decided to make device that would catapult dog treats into Stella's crate. When she realized this, she sat inside and waited for delivery.

Jason runs with Stella just about every day now. This pretty pup ran five miles today.

Paige loves to help me with dinner when she can. She is my resident banana slicer for peanut butter banana pancakes.

When Sister Robison knew she was going to be out of town for Darby's baptism, she tried recording her talk in the hopes that we could play it at the baptism. We had technical difficulties and her husband filled in. But we still had the recording. So tonight for FHE we listened to her talk about the Holy Ghost. It was great!

When Aunt Danica was here she taught us an easy and delicious way to make milkshakes. We made some for our FHE treat today.

Magic Anniversary

Today Jason and I celebrated our 14th anniversary on the 14th. That means its our magic anniversary. I am not sure quite what that means but it sure sounds lucky.

He was able to take the day off and we spent it together. We had lunch reservations at a fine Italian restaurant in Old Town Alexandria. We arrived early and walked around a bit before it was time to eat. We found this visitors center and stopped in.  It was very interesting and I'm glad we happened upon it. We saw a video about the early days in Alexandria, which is one of the oldest towns in America. I love where we live.

Then we ate our Italian food. My dish was better than Jason's but I shared.  The appetizers were the best though.

We decided to get dessert at one of the homemade ice creameries downton. Yummy!!

After lunch we went to the Torpedo Factory, an art museum and building of studios. It was so much fun to walk around (slowly and thoughtfully without kids this time) and see all the amazing art that people had made.

We found a few pieces that, were we wealthier, we would have purchased. Even the stairs at the Torpedo Factory are art.

It was lovely spending all day with Jason. He really is my happy place. I love you Babe!

Temple Names

I cannot tell you what joy it brings me that Brendan loves the temple. Today, after school, was another youth temple trip. This time he was able to do some family names sent by Grandma Nancy. What a special experience to be able to be baptized by proxy for your ancestors. I also love how this brings him and his dad closer. I see him progressing in his understanding of the priesthood and his testimony being strengthened. Things are going great this year for Brendan.

McDaniels Go Home

It was a sad, sad morning today. Our cousins are going home. When Bostyn came downstairs in the morning she told us that the girls were crying until they fell asleep. "We don't want you to go home!" they were wailing. They will miss her so much.

Even Brendan was sad. When I asked him to give his uncle a hug for a picture he wouldn't. He said, "I don't want to do anything that reminds me that they are leaving." At least I got a smile out of him eventually, even if it is totally fake. Then he left for the bus.

We got one last picture with them before the girls had to go to school. We will miss them so much. Seriously, this was the most fun week ever!

After the kids were gone, they started packing up. Uncle Jason gave Fynn his Army hat but Loch ended up wearing it.

The plan was to pack up and then see Mount Vernon on the way to the Airport. Jason later told me that they loved it and wished they had seen it sooner so they had more time.

After they left I found that Bostyn had written each of her cousins a note and Danica had left each one a little candy present. The letters were so personal, sweet and thoughtful. Bostyn is a great kid. The girls want to Facetime her this weekend.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. I hope we get to see them this summer. Much will depend on our possible move. 

Last Day

The kids had to go back to school on Monday so It was another day of sightseeing. We stayed closer to home with time. Jason took them to the trails behind our house.

We also did a driving tour of Fort Belvoir, making sure to stop at the PX. Danica and I made another trip to Wegmans for some treats and supplies to make tikka masala. She wanted to help me since she needs new recipes. I know what its like to be in a dinner rut. It was nice to have some kitchen help and conversation.

There was another trip to Georgetown cupcakes as well. Danica is a cupcake connoisseur and we were happy to help sample. :)


The cousins joined us for FHE and games afterward. We have loved having them here so much. It will be so sad when they fly out tomorrow. 

Sunday Visitors

It was nice to bring our family to church with us. I enjoy showing our beautiful building and awesome, diverse ward to visitors. We were fasting for Drew as well and it was amazing that all the talks were directly what we needed to hear to help him. Fynn was in Eva's class and Bostyn went with me to YW. Apparently, Loch had a wonderful time in nursery too. Danica really enjoyed our Relief Society. She said it was a nice change from her Utah ward.

We spent the rest of Sunday being lazy and enjoying family time. The kids all decided to "get Daddy!" and Fynn even joined in. No naptime here. :)

At bedtime, Aunt Danica read with Darby. My kids have also shown their cousins the hilarious works of Gary Larsen.

What a lovely Sabbath.

The Thompsons are Here!

After the baptism, we all met back at our house for lunch. Danica fell in love with baby Magnus and it seems the feeling is mutual. Loch loved him too and actually became kind of possessive when Erica wanted him back. It was SO nice to sit and chat with Erica. I've missed her.

The kids played and played. It does my heart good to see these guys back together again.  Side note: Sohvi cut her own bangs. Those two really are two peas in a pod.

We had a Nerf war that the daddies got in on. It lasted almost half an hour. Erica and Nick had to get back to the hotel to check on the dogs and put the baby down. We said we'd keep the kids for a few hours.

Next, someone got out Guitar Hero. It was a hoot. All the adults and big kids played it. It was Bostyn's first time and she got quite good at it.

Paige pretended to play on the spare guitar. That girl can rock out!

There was, of course, Minecraft with the little boys. Fynn and Viktor became buddies.

We didn't see much of the girls as they played upstairs with dolls and dress ups.


We wanted to go to Famous Daves for dinner but the wait was so long that we ended up at Five Guys. Burgers it is! We were such a big group. Paige and Sohvi caused mischief and got stuck in one of the high chairs. Sigh.

We had to say goodbye to them from there. They were going to leave early in the morning to get back to West Point. It was a short visit but we LOVED seeing them! My hope is that someday we can live closer.

Bostyn was very sweet to play Just Dance with Paige after Sohvi left. I'm sure it's not super fun for a twelve-year-old to dance to the ABC song but she did it. What a nice cousin!

Soon enough it was bedtime. Loch settled in with a show on his tablet. Apparently, Uncle Jason liked it too. ;)