Friday, March 29, 2013

"No more fall down!!!"

So us moms were gathered around a park bench, all of us facing the sand pit and big jungle maze of slides, swings and teeter totter. We were talking away, keeping eyes on our kids as they ran this way and that way. Each mom turned their attention to Taryn as she climbed up to the highest slide there (really....it's way too high for any mom.) Just like I had done 30 times already that hour, I reminded Taryn to "Sit Down" before going down the slide. It is a FAR FAR FAR drop to the bottom (like breaking a bone would be the least of your worries). Every mom has commented on how their heart skips a beat when their child's turn comes up to go down the slide. Clearly- this slide was NOT made by a mother. I used to go down this slide with Taryn when we first moved here. But, like with everything in life, there is a point where you need to let them learn and grow- and not be a helicopter mom.

Taryn sat down and started her decent (remember- this is like the 30th time for her that day). Then a ridiculously placed speed bump in the middle of the slide caught her off balance and sent her flying forward. At this point, all of the moms (and me) vocally declared, "Oh oh oh oh!!!!" 
And bam.
She hit her face. Just above her eye. 
And continued to slide down the rest of the useless slide. 
I ran over and scooped her up in my arms. 
She was shaking and screaming so much. "This is bad." I thought. 
I came to a bench to try and hug her, calm her down, and see the damage. But Taryn isn't really a cuddle bug. She doesn't take to being comforted well. She pushed herself out of my arms and took two steps away from me. With huge tears in her eyes she turned around to look back at me.
And then I saw the big black shiner. 
Already forming.
Another mom gasped and said, "Already! She' already getting a black eye!!!"
I could see the plastic burns (like a rug burn) that the slide gave her.
She looked like the Hutch back of Notre Dame with her eye barely open.
As we left the park (she was still crying at this point) she said, "No fall down! No fall down!"
Ya, Taryn. I hope you don't fall down anymore
It got worse as the days went on. 
A week later, you can still see the brusing. 
Every now and then she will say, "Daddy! Owie- (pointing to her eye) Fall down and go bonk" retelling the story to us again and again and moving her hands in the motion of a slide.


She spent the next hour lying on the couch watching Toy Story after we got home.

Just hours after, her eye was a big puff ball. Luckily, she didn't mind taking medicine to help with the pain.

Anyways. I'm just glad that she didn't let it bother her too much during the next week.

That same week we dealt with the 2nd worst diaper rash Taryn has ever had. It was HORRIBLE!
I am SO done with diapers. Now, I only need to convince Taryn that she's done with them too.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Washington D.C. Temple with my love


Tyson and I were able to go to the Washington D.C. temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the first time last weekend. It meant so much to us that we were able to go. We are also super grateful for my sister and brother in-law who watched Taryn for us so we could go. Round trip, it takes about 5 hours. Phew! But I know there are many church members who have to travel even further in order to attend the nearest temple. I am counting my blessings.  It's been far too long since we were able to go (way back when we were in Arizona during the summer!)
It is a beautiful and unique temple.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Adding to our family :)


"I'm going to be a Big Sister?!!"


Baby #2 due in early October

Woohoo!


Monday, March 25, 2013

Pirates, the Berlin Wall, yummy shakes and some Pandas all in one day

Right outside one of Tyson's school buildings in D.C. is a donated piece of the  Berlin Wall. (On our way to the National Geographic Museum.)

We feared the rain all day long. But it was such a beautiful day, we had a hard time believing we would ever see any rain at all. Just in case, (because D.C. weather reports are kind of a joke...Snowquester....ha!) we stuck with an inside activity and visited the National Geographic Museum and their Pirates exhibit.  

We entered the Birds exhibit, previewed a movie on Meerkats, and toured a "Pirate Ship" which had artifacts from a real sunken pirate ship. The captain of that certain ship was Tyson's age. Crazy to think that instead of years of schooling, he could have just as well been a captain of a pirate ship :)

We ate a yummy lunch at the Shake Shack. I consider it luck that we happened to run into it while searching for a place to eat. We got in around 2pm- missing the infamous lines out the door, and found enough table space for 10 people. We were VERY LUCKY! It's been on my "to eat in D.C." list since moving here and it did not disappoint. I had no idea that I liked Cherry peppers. Just enough kick to give the burger a little extra something. Portion sizes were perfect. You leave filling satisfied, but not totally gross and filled with grease. The majority of us got shakes or custards.Tys & I split the Washingtonian mint truffle-YUM!- with portions of the proceeds going directly to D.C.....ok I hav said way to much about this place. 

On to The National Zoo! (Of course the weather started to get gloomy.)

 Pandas! They were close to the glass and all eating (ok, this one was napping).


 The otters are so entertaining and make the strangest squeaky noises. Too Cute! -- the real ones...not the statues :)

 Elephants (behind Taryn)





 The red panda



Then it started to rain right about the same time we called it a day. We headed back to our place to eat at Kabab Palace and watch a movie before the Booths had to catch their hotel shuttle for the night.

The week seemed to go by too quickly and I couldn't believe it was already Sunday! We had a quick lunch together and waved goodbye to the Booths as they headed into their taxi's. Taryn cried when they left and I knew it would be a hard transition for her not being able to see her "Cousins!" each day. By mid week she was asking to see "Butter-bee" (Janalee), "Carot" (Caleb) "Andew" (Andrew) and more. We know we won't see them again for a long time but we were happy we were able to spend so much time with them all.
Thank you for coming all the way across the county to visit us, Booths! We love you!




Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Littles and Olders- each having their own adventure

Tyson and the Booths spent the next few days at the  National History Museum, National Archives, eating Pi Pizza and apple pie on 3.14, going to the International Spy Museum (a favorite of everyone's) and getting the last tour of the Old Post Office Clock Tower before it closed for the day (one of the greatest views of D.C. I have found- and it's a free elevator ride to the top- don't know how long that will last now that Donald Trump has purchased it with big plans.)

Tyson and I also got to have a date night with Ken and Janette!!!!! I can tell you when our last real date was (sans our little Tarbear) but I won't- because I think that would be embarrassing- ya- it's been that long. Thanks to amazing nieces and nephews who don't mind eating pizza (over and over again!) and watching movies with our little 2 year old, we were able to go out.  When we got home, Jayden (17 yrs old) said, "Sorry, we made a mess. But we had fun!" I loved that our house was a mess- and that they had fun- and that they still wanted to eat pizza again and again :)

The Cousins table above the Pizzeria

On Friday we started our slow day (oh so needed!) with lunch at We The Pizza (can't get enough of their Colletti's BBQ pizza- YUM!)  From there, we split our group into Olders & Littles. The Olders group went to the Holocaust Museum.

***FYI to anyone traveling to the D.C. area from March to July. Get tickets 5 months in advance for the Holocaust. Otherwise you will have to wait in line at 8:30am (and it doesn't even open til 10am- I am NOT joking around. Tickets are given at a first come first served bases) If you look far enough in advance, you can reserve tickets for $1.00 per ticket. (tickets to the museum are free- but limited) LUCKILY!!!!!!!! Tyson works for the federal government and has passes available to him at all times (PHEW!!!! That saved me!!!!!!) So all the Olders group had to do was wait in the security line- which is long but they were still guaranteed tickets when they got in. SWEET! and saved us a few dollars too :)





The littles- (Janette, me, Taryn, Caleb and Janalee) had ourselves a littles adventure. We visited the National Botanic Gardens where we smelled all sorts of herbs and spices from their gardens and around the world, gazed at beautiful orchids and spent the rest of our time in the imagiNATIONs section of the American Indian Museum.




 The were soaking wet after playing with this little water fall.

imagiNATIONs Children's Exhibit




Building the iglu together was one of my favorite things of the entire week!





It was a beautiful day outside! 
We met the Olders group in the middle of the Mall as herds of people exited the closing museums around us. Good thing we took our time taking pictures, wrapping up important business calls,  calming cranky toddlers who just woke up (me &Tys) and changing diapers (again- me & Tys)  because the Metro's would have been a crazy adventure to get through!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Butterflies and a Contemporary Art Museum

 At the Natural History Museum on Tuesday, they offer free access to the Butterfly exhibit. I had no idea it would be such a hit with everyone in the Booth family. I know that little Taryn and I have loved it each time we had been before, but going this time with the Booths was great! I have never seen so many butterflies land on everyone in the room before. Each child was trying to stand so very still so they wouldn't scare the butterflies and hopefully so the butterflies would come and land on them. The room is not very big but it is filled with the most beautiful butterflies flying everywhere around you.











  Taryn wanted to have a butterfly on her but she would get too scared when they came even a little close to her. There was a kind worker man who came over to let Taryn hold a butterfly on a paint brush- just close enough not to scare her and still get a good look at it. (Can you see her pink checks? It's incredibly humid in that room and we were there for a long time!)

There is so much to see in the Natural History Museum- it's one of my favorite "kid friendly" museums. 


We visited the Contemporary Art section of the National Art Gallery (East Building). My favorite exhibit was the Calder Room. I loved all the beautiful shadows that his mobiles created on the walls. My least favorite part was how upset the Security guards were at us. We were either too close, too loud, or too something for them and they couldn't handle it ( a big group of 9- mostly children is overwhelming for D.C. security guards). And when my daughter is two hours late for the afternoon nap, she was no match for them. To try and keep her within my reach (because at that point- the stroller was a joke, really.) I put Taryn up on my shoulders. The security guard instantly got on me for it and I will admit, I vocally declared, "You have got to be kidding me!" That was the point that I had reached my max. Thankfully, Taryn hit her tired wall, asked to go in the stroller, and fell asleep. JOY!

Through the week, my sister-in-law and I would joke about how D.C. isn't used to kids - let alone 5 kids from one set of parents. They said they got the strangest looks on the Metro, in museums, and basically anywhere they went. (The max number of kids I have EVER seen from one family in D.C. is 3- maybe!)
But don't let our stories deter you from coming to D.C. It really is a fun place and I learn more and more about the area as I explore it. So don't let me scare you away from ever visiting because that would just be sad.

When family comes to visit you

 Taryn was so happy to have a ton of playmates around for the week! Several companions to jump on the bed with, run around in museums with, and play play play! Tyson's sister, Janette and her family came to visit us for a week during their kids Spring Break. It was perfect timing! Tyson was able to take an easier week of school work (except for one mid-term that took up two days) and his internship. The days that Tyson was busy at school/work- I was able to be with the family. The other days I had to work, Tyson took a role was D.C. extraordinaire and lead the Booth family around. 


 Andrew & Taryn
Caleb and Taryn ( they are only 1.5 years apart!)



We took Monday very easy after the Booth's arrived at midnight on Sunday. We spent time at Fort Scott Park and they caught up with the time change, and became accustom to the Metro. What visit to the D.C. area is complete without a visit to Good Stuff Eatery? Tyson and I drool over it (Shakes, burgers, and fries with mango mayo dipping sauce etc...) It is a must stop for everyone who visits and luckily, we live right down the street from one location. And that started a great week of must- eats in the D.C. area- yum!
It was a great, easy first day.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Her little baby


Taryn loves her little baby so much. She changes her diaper, asking me to give her a wipe and diaper. Once she is done eating, she gets down from her high chair and feeds "Baby." She puts her to sleep and after will come over and whisper to me that "Baby sleeping" and she tells me to "shhh.." For whatever reason, she prefers to be inside her crib when playing with her "baby." One day, she asked to play with her doll inside her crib, so I put her in, kept the two doors to her room open, and finished things around the house. Taryn was playing with her doll for an hour! She has repeated this several times since!

Now here is a little sad story. I NEVER let Taryn take toys out of the house (to the park, to church, ANYWHERE!) but on Monday we were going to meet our cousins who had just arrived in town at the nearby metro (10 min. walk from my house) Taryn was clutching the doll previously and she came along for the stroller ride. I thought, "oh well, it will be a really short trip." And by the time we got home, the doll was gone. My BIL even retraced our steps several times. I was crushed. Tyson was crushed. And once Taryn realized that "baby" was missing, she was crushed. I actually started crying this morning as she cried too, telling me, "Mommy, I be right back" and tried to go find it outside in the backyard. It took a lot of distracting to get her (and me!) back together again. It's just one of the items you know that you can't replace. So I am super sad that "baby" is no longer apart of our lives. I even told Tyson I had a dream about making posters for a "Missing Doll." So sad!

Monday, March 4, 2013

A French Themed 25th birthday



  I love Tyson's card to me with "Madame" written on it.

       Tyson planned my 25th birthday around a French theme, including Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", "My life in France" by Julia Child and a reservation at a French Bistro in Georgetown. Most of what he had planned was a complete surprise to me. All I knew was that he had made reservations way in advance for this French Bistro and I was excited.  Tyson brought the book "My life in France" (on my to-read this for YEARS!) home from the library. I fell in love with just the foreword....and couldn't put it down. Being the awesome person that Tyson is, he got an amazing deal on the cookbook from Half.com. So great!
     I really felt spoiled by all the love of family & friends on my special day. It was a wonderful day :) A security guard also called me "Madame" as he held open a door for me and I laughed to myself. Did he know I was celebrating a French birthday?
 The Capitol
Taryn and I headed out to D.C. early in the morning to catch Story time at the Library of Congress. It was freezing! And I didn't feel warm enough with my tights, jeans, sweater, jacket, scarf and gloves on. Bone chilling!!! I had Taryn wrapped in two big blankets, plus her weather guard, hat and big winter jacket. She fell asleep so fast after lunch- I wish I could have been in that stroller with her too- all nice and bundled. We met Tyson after work (about 2pm) and headed to Dolcezza, a gelato shop. After moving back from Italy, we have been disappointed with any gelato we've tried. And out here in D.C. there is a serious lack of good frozen yogurt places. Come on now, D.C- you should know better. But Dolcezza was pretty good and we devoured our gelato. We shared an alfajore (Argentinian cookie) because their shop had an Argentinian influence in their baked goods and home sale items.
 Dulce de Leche & Coconut


 Yum...and look at that curl!



      My fingers were frozen without my gloves, but it was worth it!


Can you tell? This weekend was COLD!!!

       On Saturday before getting ready for our date, our babysitter that we had lined up told us her child had pink eye. We were so happy she told us! But when thinking of a possible sitter on such short notice we started to get sad realizing that EVERYONE we knew who could take Taryn was sick. EVERYONE! I even scrolled through my contacts- not one person. Tyson assured me that children would not be welcome at this small bistro.
      So! Onto plan B! We scarped the idea of the French Bistro, vowing to go later, and decided to visit the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria. But then the metro's were closed for repair from our stop- and Taryn had just fallen asleep in her nice cozy & warm stroller- and because D.C. is dumb and not like Bologna, you have to fold up your stroller on a bus (even when there is no one in it!!!!!!!!!). 
      So! On to plan C! We walked around a bit outside (it was cold & snowed later on but it was just so peaceful to be walking together outside- we didn't mind), got lunch and ate ice cream again because we are crazy like that :)


         I know it started off as a sad day when our plans fell through but we tried to remain calm and happy through it all. We came up with a plan that meant we would be able to spend all day together as a family which made me so happy because getting time with Tyson is super rare and I treasure anything I can get these days! I know it is going to sound cheesy, but all I really wanted was to spend time together- all 3 of us. Simple & sweet.  The weekend was a good pace for us all and Sunday was one of the best Sabbath's we have ever had. We spent time with family (my sis & BIL) to celebrate 3 birthdays (Seth's, Taryn's & mine), all 3 of us took long naps after church, and we had a great walk outside as a family (again, it was cold, but we kept it short.)

Turning 25 on Friday 
I'm going to tell you that I have been struggling with turning 25 for a whole year (or longer). Because 25 to me, has always been the age I started classifiying people as "old." I know, it's funny. But when I was little, my college going/full time working/ married siblings were 25 for years in my head because that's what you do when you are old and 25.
     Flash forward to now and I worried I was going to suddenly be different at 25. I would openly tell everyone that I was scared of turning 25. Not 30, 40, 50 or 60. I could care less about them. A birthday is a fun time and to grow old is ok- more life experiences await me. Why worry about age? Bleh... so why was 25 so hard?!?!
      25 came and I suddenly didn't care anymore. I still felt young. I am completely happy with my life and I am proud of what I have done with my 25 years (1/4 of a century) on this earth. So Mrs. 25, I am taking it and running with it. Don't try to hold me back!!!