Sunday, April 30, 2017

Our every days from the past few months


Tyson, in his natural habitat :)
We've been taking to nature a lot lately to observe birds and all the beautiful lands around us. We are so fortunate to live where there is much to see and do wherever you. 


These girls love being outdoors and find ways to play and explore together. This walk we took around the backside of Huntley Meadows was a long one but the girls did great. Here they were finding rocks to chuck over or at the green fence. 


Bed time stories are 99.9% by Tyson. It's his chance to spend time with the girls after a long day at work. Tyson is a wonderful Dad. 



Though it's blurry, I love how this photo captures a perfect moment of a 3 year old. Carrying a toy, noticing the world around her while sporting a twirly skirt. 



Walks to school can be quite the affair. Haddie loves to pull this suitcase along with her and fill it with the most important toys for the journey. She even brings the suitcase up around the play equipment at Taryn's school, never wanting to let it go. 


These sassy but adorable girls :) 



Mornings you will find the girls with their breakfast, staring out the windows and looking at the bird feeders and what birds have come for the morning seeds. 
Taryn is reading our National Geographic's guide to birds, the same one our friends sent us a few months ago. I love that the girls have really taken to our bird watching family hobby. 


Tyson and the girls love using our Budda Board to sketch birds. Taryn is really good at coping the pictures from the book and practices writing their names.


Working on her bird sketches. 




Those princess shoes!!!!







Family Home Evening:
Trying to teach love in our family (playing nicely with our sisters!!) and treating others kindly. 






We've figured out how to FaceTime with family and not have the girls bouncing around like crazy!
If we distract them with a board game, everyone can join in with the discussions but they are also calm and focused, meaning Tyson and I can enjoy our conversations with family! 




Another round of Gymnastics complete!
I was sad when this session ended for Taryn. I knew that she would be taking a break from gymnastics and that made me a little anxious- should i push her to continue through another round (like I had the previous terms?) or let her choose a different sport and move on!? I loved gymnastics and how it gave her the body strength, courage and so much more!

In the middle of class, Taryn hurt her foot. I was a little surprised that she was trying to stay off it so much. That was my first tip that this was not just another tweek of her ankle. She was supposed to do her final performance and she hobbled through the whole thing, totally unlike herself. Then I really started worrying. I carried her out to the car on the back because she couldn't walk. 

We waited for the morning to see how her foot was doing and it was definitely bruised and she still wouldn't put pressure on it. So off to the doctors we went, per her Gymnastics instructors request. 


No fracture, said the X-Ray, but a really bad sprain. Her doctor was surprised how much Taryn was affected by the sprain, that's why she wanted to do an x-ray to be sure. I'm happy it was more than a really bad sprain but it was so so so hard to keep Taryn down for a few days. She cried when the doctor told her she couldn't run on it and had to just rest. Taryn doesn't let things hold her back so this was very hard for her. 


But she made it through and it took weeks until she was able to run on her foot again and get back to full activity. I was surprised to see how much she limped on it, telling me this was the first of MANY sport injuries in her life. 



Taryn was a cutest little performer in her school's, "A Night to Remember." The kids sang the songs they have been learning in Music and after she showed us the art she made in Art class. Such a fun night. This is where I learned that Taryn is a performer! She was smiling the whole time, doing the actions, and loving it all. I was surprised and totally excited about her confidence on stage. 


The wildflower bouquet Taryn made for me after her performance. I hope to remember these simply beautiful moments. 




And sisters. What better way to help each other out than to give one another a good all massage :)
Love these girls. 

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

My 29th birthday




My 29th birthday was great! I love having my birthday on March 1st. It gives me something to look forward to while we are all between winter and spring. 
Tyson is armament about me having a special birthday "cake" of some sort. In years past he has made something, I think I made my birthday cake one year, and this year we thought it would be fun to sample from special treats from Whole Foods. Tyson carefully picked out what he thought I would enjoy most (with a phone call to me while he was staring in front of the pastry case just to be sure :)



S'mores cupcake
We both thought that there was WAY to much frosting and not enough cake to balance it out but it was really fun to try. 



Tyson was brilliant and got me a selfie stick for my birthday present. Though we may all think they are a little funny, they are so practical when you are trying to take a family picture and no one else is around you. It has been great to use on our family adventures.



As a birthday present to myself, I booked 4 tickets to the Hirsshorn Museum's "infinity mirrors" exhibit. Tickets were free and had to be booked over a week in advance. It was a miracle I got tickets and apparently the week after I signed up, it became virtually impossible to get tickets. I was so thankful I had this on my radar! 
It was a wonderful birthday present to myself and Haddie was gracious enough to go along with my plans. Lynne and Carson joined too, which I was so pleased about! I got to chat with Lynne while we waited in line, double bonus! Friend time and seeing a great exhibit. 
I snuck in candy to keep the kiddos occupied and made sure my phone was fully charged (thanks to a friends recommendation who had gone a few days before me) 



It worked so well. When Haddie didn't want to sit still in the longest, hottest line ever, I gave her my phone and giving the kids a few M&M's at a time. Brilliant! 
I really love these shots I got with us all. 



We had 20 seconds (timed with a stop watch by the docent) in each room one they shut the door. It was crazy fast! 
I wish we had more time. Haddie was in awe with it all. I loved seeing her take it all in. That made it more magical for me. 


You can see in some of the pictures that we tried so hard to get photos before they opened that door but I tell you what, it was so hard! 
Lots of rooms I didn't even bother taking out my phone because I just wanted to soak it all in and enjoy it real time. 


This was my panicked/ I can't believe this face while trying to get another picture but our time had already run out. And they push you right along to the next room. 






The last room, Obliteration, was the best. You could spend all the time you wanted in there and place these colorful stickers the docents handed you anywhere you wanted. 
Haddie LOVED this part. She explored that room from head to toe. 














On the National Mall

We made it back to are parking spot in time which had me anxious. Phew! A few weeks prior I had a mommy/daughter date with Haddie and I was going to take her to a carousel. Well, after talking it up, we showed up to nothing. They had removed the carousel- what??!! Haddie handled the disappointment so well and I promised her we would get to ride a carousel soon. While finding parking on my birthday, Haddie spotted the National Mall carousel and I told her if I could find another good parking spot quickly (which is hard in the Spring tourist season) we would go. 


Luckily we found one and we got to ride the carousel. That's one happy Haddie right there! I felt like she definitely deserved a little treat since she was such a great kid in the museum exhibit. 





I loved my birthday and all the texts, calls and Facebook messages. 
The people in my life are great! 

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Our one and only snow storm of the season 2017




The poor girl hates being cold and wet. Though you might not know it because getting her to put on a sweater, snow pants or anything remotely warm and sensible is the hardest challenge.
We were out in the snow for about 10 minutes before she declared (through crying) that she was spent and wanted to go back inside the warm house. 


Taryn on the other hand, was so sad that we had to start shoveling the snow to make a clear path for our cars and the walkways. She was even crying at one point. That girl could live in the snow every single day and never get tired of it. 

The snow was pretty wet but that didn't stop us from having a snow ball fight with our neighbors (Charlie and her mom) and trying to build a snowman and do snow angels. 
Taryn was even trying to jump on the snow that had formed into ice over night. 
I have a cute video of her dancing while slipping down the side walk covered with snow. I will post it to our YouTube channel. (which I need to badly update!)






Blue Jays, wood peckers, cardinals, sparrows and robins live near our home and visit our bird feeder often. This little blue jay was hanging out and just as I was writing this, a cardinal landed on our window sill and watched me type away. Pretty cool! 


I realize it's hard to tell from this picture but the tree in our backyard was white and full of black crows. It was a beautiful sight!



During the 5 minutes she actually enjoyed being outside in the snow ;)




For the times we were inside during our snow day, I happen to catch them quietly reading, writing and playing with stickers. I LOVE those moments .



What better day to have pie than on Pi Day 3.14
We made a banana cream pie from scratch per Tyson's request. it was super yummy and perfect for a cold snowy day. 




Her love of snow will never die!







The best way to get out the "snow day" wiggles is to walk to get daddy as he headed home from work. Though schools were cancelled, Tyson still had to go to work but because we can't drive our car on snowy roads, he had to walk there and back (which really isn't unusual for him but the snow makes it hard) I think Tyson's work ended up giving everyone pizza who actually made it to the office. Hahah! 


Pie day with my sweetie pies!





Even though the snow had iced over , the girls had the best time playing in it during our walk to school the next day. 







Park play date the next day after the snow had stopped. We slipped everywhere but Haddie still had fun. 


St.Patricks day was shortly after and I have to tell you that Taryn hates whole wheat pancakes. Nay brand she has had she hates and can detect them within the first bite. That morning she slowly ate her whole wheat pancakes (we tried a different recipe on Valentine's day too- total torture for her) and as she ate she had tears rolling down her cheeks. We decided that it's ok if the girls eat normal buttermilk pancakes (truly the best kind) while we eat Whole wheat pancakes. Because an occasional non- whole wheat food item will not hurt her. 





Taryn came home from school with St. Patrick's Day tattoo's to share with Haddie. They looked pretty cool :)