Flat Stanley in DC

Our cousin C sent Buddy a Flat Stanley project from CA, so on March 9th we took him into DC.  Princess Sparkley colored her own Flat Stanley and we took his picture as well.

Buddy's Flat Stanley

Princess Sparkley's Flat Stanley

Us in DC, minus Flat Stanley.



Our first visit to the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

Scenic DC.  We were there about two weeks before the 100th Anniversary of the Cherry Blossom Festival.  We saw buds, that was it.  Two years ago went to see the blossoms and fought the crowds, but not this year.

We took Flat Stanley to the Iwo Jima Memorial and peaked in Arlington National Cemetary.

March 13 we headed with Flat Stanley to Manassas Battlefield.

March Randomness

Little Guy and an X-Wing or some other Star Wars creation from Duplos.

Dr. Seuss Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes

Little Guy requested a book be read to him, PS and Buddy decided they wanted to listen in as well.

B teaching Little Guy to play Minesweeper.

Little Guy's pirate ship.

A monkey pirate ship.

He's ours after all.  Buddy has finally taken an interest in reading.

Buddy: pre-haircut

Buddy: post-haircut

Announcement

Estimated Arrival Date: August 9, 2012

Funny Little Guy

Little Guy has taken on Princess Sparkley's defensiveness if we laugh or smile about anything he says. It's always because it was something cute or genius-like but both he and PS freak out. Tonight, when PS was doing a Mad Lib with him and asked him to name a planet he said, "Mars." B and I laughed because we had no idea he'd come up with that. Then he said, "What!?! It's a red planet where you can't breath air In church, he drew an assortment of popsicles, I think.  They were difference sizes.  When he explained them to me, the smallest one was "teeny", the next smallest was "basically teeny," up to "basically big" and "big."

Princess Sparkley gets a Job

by B

      Every year on her birthday, I tell Princess it's high time she got a job. Well, she's finally listened.
     This all started the last time we visited our cousins. Evidently Girl Cousin (or maybe just Girl Cousin's friends, I'm not sure) works as a "mother's helper," which is sort of like an entry-level babysitter. It's for girls who are too young to be left alone with your kids, but who can watch your kids while you're elsewhere, getting your productivity on. When we came home, Princess Sparkley mentioned to my wife that she wants to be a mother's helper. My wife told her that might not work because we don't know any rich moms.
     PS was offended that my wife thought she was in it for the money. Apparently she just wants an excuse to play with younger children, and her brothers are busy shooting and cutting things. (Example: two days ago Little Guy acted out the Luke v. Darth lightsaber battle from the end of Return of the Jedi while narrating the entire thing for me. "Luke is looking out the window at a 'Tar Destroyer and his lightsaber is just a handle sitting next to the Emperor and then Luke turns and forces it into his hand and turns it on and they start battling, and the Emperor laughs, like this: 'Heh heh heh.'")
     A friend in our ward was interested in a mother's helper, so PS got her first customer. She started work yesterday.
     At dinner I asked her, "How was work?" (It's been a long time since there's been a need to ask anyone that question in our house.) She said it was good. My wife asked, "Did you have to carry [Baby]?" Princess Sparkley excitedly answered, "Yes!" My wife asked, "Did you have to carry [Toddler]?" PS answered, less excitedly, "Yes." My wife jokingly asked, "Did you have to carry [Four-Year-Old]?" PS answered, "Yes, she wanted me to carry her, too."
     Later, she casually mentioned that she would get paid later in the week. This was when it all made sense to Buddy, who is a capitalist pig at heart. He muttered to himself, "I need to get a job," and then was very embarrassed when he realized we'd all heard him.

The Kids

A few weeks ago, we came home from church and Little Guy didn't find any pants to put on, this is how he showed up for dinner.

Some friends had us over for a Valentine's party on Valentine's Day.  Buddy made this balloon.

PS made this balloon.

Little Guy drew his own storm troopers.

We got our 3D shapes out the other day for math and the kids built towers for fun.

Apparently B approved this, I just wandered upon it in their bathtub although from the picture they took here, it looks like it was once a tub of water on our toilet.

On the way home from the temple last weekend, B was a nice dad and stopped at the Tyson's Corner mall where there is a Lego Store and an American Girl store.  Last time I took them, PS posed with Kanani's shaved ice stand, so this time she did gymnastics with McKenna.

B and PS are currently doing a daddy/daughter book club (just the two of them).  B is reading Gilgamesh, by Stephen Mitchell, and PS's reading Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean.  Not sure if she likes it or if it's more like an assignment for her. He has to remind her to do her reading, but she used math manipulatives to build a model of Uruk. (Uruk is the city at the top of the picture. The triangular prism is Shamhat, hiding behind a bush next to a river, and across the river is Enkidu.)

DC Temple

Last Saturday we rode up to the temple with Brandon and while he did a session, we explored the Visitor's Center, saw the movie The Testaments, and walked around the temple grounds.

Valentines

Our LDS Homeschool group had a Valentine's party the Friday before Valentine's Day.  Little Guy gave out Darth Vader cookies, which everyone loved.  PS gave out the googley eyes ones and Buddy gave out Swedish Fish.  This is what B wanted Buddy to do for the Swedish Fish Valentines... we made one for him with the leftover Swedish Fish.

We decorated cookies.

We decorated bags and then put them in a big circle and broke into groups by age to deliver our Valentines.  There was a HUGE turn out this year.

We checked out our look when we got home.

When they woke up on Valentine's morning, this note was on the table with a box of donut holes.  

Stonewall Jackson and other Civil War sites

Stonewall Jackson is a big deal where we live.  On the drive home from Richmond, since we left Monday morning, we stopped on the way home and saw some historic sites.

Stonewall Jackson Shrine.  This is the house he was taken too after he was injured, where he died.

 Then we went to the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor's Center so the kids could get stamps in their National Park Passport books and we walked along the Sunken Road.

This stone wall is very old.

Virginia Capitol

A few weekends ago we went to Richmond to visit Mollie Doodle (and the cousins/aunt/uncle).  We have been studying Virginia history this year for Princess Sparkley's 4th grade curriculum, and just read about the capital moving from Jamestown to Williamsburg and finally to Richmond, so we decided to head to the capitol in between our cousins' basketball games. 

Little Guy didn't want me to take his picture, but he was laughing and being so cute as I tried to capture him.

And of course we saw Mollie Doodle.

Lego Madness

The boys' room has run out of flat surfaces on which to store Lego creations so we had them go through some the other day and took pictures of them before we dismantled them.  These are things that Little Guy or Buddy have built.

President's Day Book Club

We belong to a little homeschool book club that changes location and topic each month, meeting at a different family's home.  In early February we had a President's Day book club and talked about Lincoln and Washington.  They made hats, and they had a log cabin building contest.  One of the other moms took pictures.

Dogs

After Little Guy's dog themed birthday party, we were sitting around, not doing much, wondering how many stuffed dogs our family owned. So we gathered them up for a family picture.

Back Row (L to R): Barkers (B), Heart Doggy (B/LG*), Donut (B), M&M (LG), UPS (B), Bubble (LG), Grem (LG), Snoopy (LG), Santa Fe (B), Porkchop (PS/B**), Cuddles Jr. (LG), Finn (LG), Lavender (PS).
Front Row (L to R): Cuddles (N), Caramel (B), Mint (B), Fido (B), Sundae (PS), Spot (B), Spunky (PS), Curly (PS), Chocolate (LG), Candy (LG), Cupcake (PS).
The answer is 24.

* Heart Doggy was bought for baby Buddy who never cared much for it.  We got it back out for baby Little Guy and it's been part of his dog pack for awhile, but Buddy tends to try to steal the dogs that Little Guy owns that he thinks are cute, and Heart Doggy isn't one of Little Guy's favorites, so it changes allegiances frequently.

** We bought Porkchop when I was pregnant with Princess Sparkley but really, Buddy's the one who loves that dog and it lives in his bed.