Today we took the kids to the USA Science & Engineering Festival at the D.C. Convention Center, or as Harper very quickly named it, the “Science Circus.” This was our first time at the Science Circus and we were not sure what to expect. It was HUGE and we had a hard time figuring out where the little kid exhibits were, but once we found our way around, we had a fun time. We got there early, thankfully, because it very quickly became crowded. We ended up splitting up, and I took the big kids to a few things each on their own, while Daddy kept track of the Ada monster.

We learned a few things on this outing, one being that we probably don’t need to bring a stroller for Ada anymore. She flat out refused to ride in it, and sprinted her way through the day. The big kids argued over who got to ride in Ada’s stroller, so lesson learned: leave it in the van! I’ve never understood why parents need those kiddie-leashes… but now I have Ada. I’m seriously considering one! She is fearless and independent, and the only one of our hands that she will hold is Harper’s, so one of us has to either hold her (screaming) in a straight-jacket position while we walk on the sidewalk, or sprint next to her and make sure she doesn’t run into the street!

We decided to take Metro and make it a doubly-exciting day for the kids since they love to ride the train. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say… I think this was baby’s first Metro ride! I Metro’d with Harper and Roman all the time as babies, but now I hardly ever go into the city by myself with all three of them, and if I do I drive. Ada loved the ride, and of course the only photo I have is of her looking bored and tired. Most of the time she was shrieking with excitement.

Roman loved the lungs exhibit at the National Children’s Museum booth. He is obsessed with a body book that we have, and studies all of the body parts (organs and all). Roman and I stayed at the lungs for a good 10 minutes while the poor guy manning the booth pumped them for him. He kept his hands on them the whole time!

Big surprise here… Harper loved all of the “projects.” She made a “healthy eating hat” and a “friendship card” for her BFF Ava. And yes, she attended the festival wearing full-on princess attire.

The highlight for Roman was the Northrop Grumman poster that he scored on the way out. It shows every air & space project that Northrop has ever worked on – from satellites to shuttles. He spent the rest of the afternoon studying it, and it is now taped to the wall in his room. I love that he is so into “nerdy” science stuff!

We capped off the day with Chipotle in Chinatown. Chipotle is our go-to meal with the kids – it’s healthy, they always clean their plates, and we don’t have to worry about making a scene! They worked up an appetite at the Science Circus and we didn’t have a single leftover to bring home.

We’ve had a busy weekend, which I’ll have to break into a few posts. Friday afternoon was gorgeous, ending a bought of nasty, cold weather up here. We celebrated the sunshine by heading down to the Southwest Waterfront to eat some fish! Daddy was able to take off early, so we left with plenty of time to wander around. I told the kids we were going to see crabs, and Harper immediately remembered our trip to Cantler’s after the Pirate Cruise last summer. That was a less-than-stellar dining experience for our family, but she remembered it nonetheless.

Southwest Waterfront is literally a big floating fish market – very different from Cantler’s.The kids unanimously loved it. They were so excited to see the piles and piles of crabs, fish, and other sea creatures. The vendors were so nice to them and taught them about flounder with both eyes on the same side of the head, among other things. The guy who showed them the flounder barely spoke English, so he acted out the dead flounder swimming next to a regular fish (also dead). Harper and Roman thought that was pretty funny! We bought fresh shrimp, watched the guy steam it, then watched the kids devour it. They also enjoyed fresh corn and fried halibut. They didn’t refuse anything we put in front of them, and were upset that we didn’t buy crabs for them to try! With no tables or tools to eat them, it just didn’t seem like the best idea. Overall, an A+ way to end the week. I only wish we had called it a day there, and not attempted to have drinks with a friend (kids in tow). Sometimes I think we will never learn!

Ada is evidently getting over her fear of anyone-but-mom-and-dad. She had so much fun playing silly games with Peter, then moved on to “Peekaboo!” under the table. 

We sat them on a standing-only table to eat. Let’s just say that this was a less-than-clean surface! I’m not a hand sanitizer freak, but we definitely doused them in it after this meal.

Last Friday our baby girl celebrated her second birthday! The past two years have gone shockingly quickly for me. I still think of Ada as my baby, and I know I still treat her that way! She adds so much sparkle and excitement to all of our days, and we all love her so much.

At two Ada is a handful, handful, handful. She is a climber, an escape artist, stubborn as ever, and determined to keep up, nay best the big kids. She wakes up running and doesn’t stop until she sleeps. We recently had to put the baby gates back up, even though she does stairs perfectly, just to contain her! We also had to hide the water cooler because she liked to flood the floor, and I’ve started making all of the kids eat at the counter in the kitchen because Ada can’t get off of the stools by herself, so she is, at least temporarily, contained during meal times.

Ada can get on, off, into or out of just about anything. Just this past Monday I reached my breaking point with the crib and converted it to a toddler bed. She had been climbing out of the crib for several weeks, but the problem was that she couldn’t climb back into it! She would get out for whatever reason (to get a book, usually), then scream in frustration because she couldn’t quite reach her foot over to get back in. She has done amazingly well in the toddler bed, and I regret not moving her earlier. Now I don’t have to worry about securing a crib for the new baby. Despite her climbing abilities, she’s a good sleeper and still takes a nice long nap, then is in bed for the night by 7.

Ada likes to disrobe, and we often find her wandering around naked. She came back from her vacation at Yaya’s house refusing to wear cloth diapers (she had been wearing “Pooh” and “Elmo” diapers at the Ya’s house). The problem is that she can very easily remove a disposable diaper. I’ve finally had to start either forcing her (literally, sitting on her while I diaper her) or tricking her into wearing cloth. I can tell we are close to potty training, so hopefully this will be a short battle. My biggest daily issue is that she refuses to keep her shoes and socks on, so as soon as we get in the car she takes them off. We’ve already lost one Croc and come close to losing other shoes. I’m on the hunt for shoes she can’t get off!

She is starting to talk a lot more and says things like “cool move!” when she trips and falls, “dat MY pie-pad!” to the big kids when she wants the iPad, and she is very opinionated about which movie they will all watch. Yesterday she said “no Soop, watch Dorda moomoo!” Translation: no Super Why, watch Dora movie! She was on a big TV kick for a while, which worried us tremendously, but now (much like her sister), she watches it for 5 minutes then gets bored and finds something else to play with. She does insist that the DVD player in the car be on at all times, but since her TV habit in the house is waning, I don’t have a problem with that.

Ada is finally big enough to really play with her siblings, and man does she idolize them. On the days that Harper is in school but Roman is home, she follows him around like a puppy. He is very sweet with her, but prefers to play on his own. Harper, on the other hand, mothers Ada like crazy, and Ada just can’t get enough of her sister. Ada sprints up to her to hug her at preschool pick-up, she climbs into her bed every morning when she wakes up, and she honestly just loves Harper so much. Harper loves her right back and is an amazing big sister. She is helpful, makes sure to hold Ada’s hand when we are out, and watches over her like a mommy. I’m so thankful that Harper is the oldest and embraces her role with such enthusiasm!

Last week I took her in for her 2-year checkup. She remains teeny-tiny for her age, but there is no concern since she has been this way since six months. She measured 34 inches tall (39th percentile) and weighed just under 23 pounds (10th percentile). Her head measured the largest at the 48th percentile! She’s small enough for me to carry around like a baby without hurting myself – something I couldn’t do with Roman at that age! She actually isn’t a picky eater at all, she just never stops to eat a full meal. She grazes a lot, so I just have to make sure her snacks are more like meals broken into smaller pieces.

Grandpa and Grammy Anderson sent Ada a Dora Power Wheels car for her birthday, and it was a huge, huge hit. The big kids have been good about staying off of it when she is around (she fights them for it!), and she quickly learned how steer it around the house.

We had planned to get together with our old dinner group the Saturday after Ada’s birthday, so I made a birthday cake for her and had all the kids sing to her (we didn’t plan any other birthday party, sorry baby girl!) It was really windy out and I had to basically hold the flame over the candles to keep them lit! She thoroughly enjoyed her ice cream cake, as did the rest of the kids.

Ada is an awesome toddler, and we are excited to see her really grow up over the next year!

Yes, I realize it’s nearly the end of April! I am cleaning photos off my desktop and came across a ton from March. Here are some of the things we missed.

“Sean Sean the Leprechaun” visits the kids’ preschool every year. He leaves funny notes and pranks their classrooms. For example, they will come back from playground to find all of the chairs overturned and something spilled on the floor. He also leaves teeny tiny green footprints throughout the school! It’s something the kids look forward to every year, and they are still  talking about him, even now at the end of April. This year Harper asked if Sean Sean would be visiting our house, so one morning he did. He made a mess of his breakfast, which included green milk!

Harper frequently asks me to take a picture of her while she poses. Like, several times a day. She posed in front of the fish tank (yes, they are still alive and well!)

Our yard is just stunning this time of year. The previous owners took such good care of it, and we’ve tried to do the same. Everything has been in full bloom for a few weeks, and it’s just gorgeous! The pear tree in the front of the house shed its blooms early, and it was like snow on the front walkway.

Our neighbor and friend, Grayson, spent the morning with us when his mommy had to go to the dentist. We had a pancake breakfast and romped. Roman and Grayson are exactly a year apart, but they get along so well. They jump right into wrestling and boy games, and they look just like brothers! Grayson is almost always in costume, and he is totally awesome.

Ada loves to play with the choo-choos, which are the only toy that we keep on the main level of the house. She lines up as many engines as she can on the track, and gets so frustrated when they are derailed!

The big kids love to get their Highlights magazine in the mail every month (thanks, great grandma Abie!) They do a good job of working on it together.

The slide has now become a permanent entry-way into the kids’ “school,” a little grove of trees in our yard. They named it the school almost as soon as we moved in, and it has remained that way since. They usually keep a little table and chairs in there, and the neighborhood kids have grown to love playing in there too!

This is a cute one of Ada and Grayson cuddling on the couch, clearly not long before passing out!

I’m a few weeks late, but here’s what we did for Easter! This year Easter fell on the last Sunday of spring break, which was the week the kids spent in Charlottesville with Yaya and Pop Pop (and the week that I spent in bed with the stomach flu). On Saturday afternoon, Portman and I drove down to Cville to spend the holiday with the kids. We had been away from them for 4 whole days, so we were all missing each other. Harper and I bunked together that night, and Roman and Daddy shared a very cozy full-size bed in the playroom!

We woke up to a beautiful Easter morning, and the kids were patient enough to wait for everyone to wake up before rushing down to their Easter baskets. The Bunny brought the big kids each a Lego set that they have been pining for, as well as matching dresses for the girls and a Darth Vader t-shirt for Roman, some silly Easter glasses and a little bit of candy. They didn’t get much candy, but honestly weren’t that interested in it. Well, the big kids were not interested in it. Ada devoured hers in one sitting, while the big kids had a few bites and then lost interest. Mommy later tossed it out, and they didn’t seem to care. They were much more interested in the Legos and got right on it!

After a long Lego session, Yaya and Pop Pop hid Easter eggs and the kids had a big hunt in the yard. This was followed by 3 or 4 subsequent hunts, in which Harper and Roman took turns hiding eggs and the others would find them. Ada knew exactly how this worked and excitedly yelled “more egg!” when she found hers. Interestingly enough, none of the kids cared if there was anything in the eggs, they just loved the hide-and-seek element!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know most of these pictures are of Ada! The big kids were too busy running around, and she actually sat still to examine her eggs. Plus she’s so darn cute, who can resist!

We drove home late afternoon on Easter Sunday and didn’t pay attention to the timing. We found ourselves somewhere near Warrenton well past the kids’ dinner time, with Ada screaming and the other two whining that they were hungry. Guess what’s open for dinner on Easter Sunday? Yup, Chinese food. That’s literally all we could find (I was on my phone calling fast-food places, believe it or not). The kids were very happy with a take-out container of fried rice and an egg roll, but Daddy had to spend a good 40 minutes vacuuming out the minivan when we finally got home!

This morning we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to take the kids into DC to watch the Space Shuttle Discovery make its last flight before landing permanently at the Udvar-Hazy museum. We are so glad that we decided to do this as a family, and what a treat it was! We scrambled to pack the kids’ school lunches, get dressed and feed everyone by 8:30am (this was a huge feat considering I woke up at 7:45 and Harper woke up at 8:20), and we were parked on the grass at Gravelly Point with over 3,000 of our closest friends by 9:15. We were worried about the parking situation, but this being such a special event, the park police were just letting people park wherever they could. We saw hundreds of people just parked on the median of the GW Parkway, and many more pulled over on the side of 395! It was particularly neat to see truckers and service workers (sanitation dept, etc), pulled over on the side of the highway to watch the fly-overs – everyone got to share in the fun.

We found a spot on the grass nestled between a German TV crew and a Japanese TV crew, with lots of other families letting their kids skip school to witness this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The kids were restless and ran around on the grass, but we brought snacks, caught a few take-offs from National Airport and managed to contain their excitement for 45 minutes.

At precisely 10am, the Shuttle flew directly over us riding firmly on the back of a 747 and flanked by two NASA T-38′s. It was absolutely breathtaking, and afterwards Harper told me “is it okay that I almost cried because I was so excited?” We were all just giddy, as was everyone around us. It was truly spectacular! The first photo is when it broke the tree line and we saw it for the first time, the second is when it was directly over us:

Two reactions: (1) it is much smaller than a 747!, and (2) it is dirty and has obviously been through a LOT! After it passed over us, it flew down to National Harbor, then circled back up the Potomac in front of us. It then did 3 or 4 victory laps (literally!) up and down the National Mall, over all of the monuments and the Capital. Everyone was clapping, cheering and waving at the Shuttle. It was so neat to be in the “crowd” watching it!

After the first fly-over (where we saw it for the first time), the German TV station grabbed me for an interview. I’m sure I sounded like a blubbering idiot and I know I was wearing an s-eating grin the whole time! I think I said “that was amazing” about 6 times, and I know I didn’t answer whatever question they asked me. Afterwards I thought of all the things I should have said, such as “private satellite launches are not as exciting for my kids as dreaming of being astronauts,” blah blah. Also, I did NOT dress for the occasion, and it was really windy! At least it was German TV and not local.

We loaded up the car after the 2nd pass over the Mall, and that turned out to be perfect timing. We still saw it flying from our car as we were exiting the parking lot, and the last fly-over was right when we finally got out, so we definitely dodged the mass-exodus. On the way home we saw it doing some passes over Fairfax and Burke on its way to Dulles! We dropped the kids off at school 45 minutes late, and they both got to stand in front of their classes and tell their friends about what they had seen. Harper was so excited and said “that was my first time that I got to stand up with my teacher and tell my class something by myself!”

I printed off a picture of the shuttle for each of the kids, and Roman clutched his all afternoon. This was such a memorable event for all of us, and I just hope the big kids are old enough to remember it. The hardest part was explaining to them that they will never get to see this again. Preschoolers have a hard time understanding “once-in-a-lifetime!”

I had to write about Ada’s crib habits because they are just getting funnier by the day. I’ve said before that she is very attached to her crib. She LOVES it. She is also very particular about how it is arranged and where she will sleep. She sleeps with a dozen small stuffed animals, a plush Thomas the Tank Engine blanket (stolen from Roman) and stuffs herself into a corner on a “sheet saver” pad. Here’s how it goes:

At nap time and bed time, she first lines up all her friends. There is a particular order and precedence. Elmo and “Nunny” (a small bunny) always go together, as do Dora and Boots. “Nunny mommy” (a big identical bunny) usually goes with Winnie the Pooh. After that comes a bunny blanket and a stuffed Thomas. Her sippy cups (“Dora cup!”) go in one corner on the sheet saver, and she goes in the other corner. If you make the mistake of putting the cups in the wrong corner, she angrily throws them into the right corner shouting “no, dat MY night night!” After she lies down, you have to cover her with the Thomas blanket (“MY choo-choo nee-nee”) She then holds Elmo and Nunny while she falls asleep. It is all very orchestrated and cracks me up every time! Luckily, if you follow her system she goes to bed very easily. Just don’t mess with her stuff!

Here she is getting her stuff lined up for nap time this morning: