Quote of the Day

This morning Caleb was reading labels on laundry items as he was sorting and found one that caused this reaction:

Caleb: Oh my! This was made in Egypt!
Joshua: Egypt is near Libya! So, the pants must have been made in Libya since Egypt is near Libya.

I was amazed...I don't know many 3 (almost 4) year olds who know what, much less where Libya is! Good job with the geography lessons, Philip! :)

My Little Cuties

Caleb 5 years 4 month; Joshua 3 years 10 months; Andrew 10 months.

Willimsburg Trip

Last weekend we took a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. We booked for this particular weekend because it was the last weekend of the super cheap rates at the resort where we found a 3 bedroom townhouse/condo for $89/night. We figured it was the middle of March and the average temp this time of year is 60*, which we thought would be quite nice. Well, it probably would have been, but last weekend it was 40*-45* and rainy! Oh well, we have boys. They don't mind the rain or the cold, so we had a great time anyway. And we weren't having to fight the crowds. :)

We spent parts of three days in the town and were able to see most of the buildings and tradesmen. For some reason, Caleb had been really excited about seeing the cooper (barrel-maker). But, when we actually did, he decided it wasn't really that exciting. Both the boys say that their favorite place was the bakery (which was actually a huge disappointment to me. They used to have freshly baked goods there, but now it seems like the baking has been outsourced and all the goodies {or not so goodies, in my opinion} come in the presealed plastic. Soooo sad!). But anyway, since sugar was involved, it was the boys' favorite. LOL. Joshua also says his favorite thing was Lord Dunmore's clock. Lord Dunmore was the last British Governor of Virginia and this clock in the Governor's Palace was actually one of Dunmore's belongings.

I particularly enjoyed this visit because due to all the reading on historical figures and the Revolutionary War that we have been doing lately, I had a much better grasp of Colonial times than I ever have previously.

Andrew was a little cranky from being carried around and cold and missing his naps all weekend, but was still a little trooper.

Governor's Palace in the background

The Capitol Building (I always enjoy this tour!)

The Fife and Drum Parade

The Blacksmith Shop

The Weavers. We got to see lots of demos in this shop. Very cool. Of course the boys loved seeing the spinning wheel. Joshua did tell this nice lady that she had a big nose though. Oops. She took it well. :)

At the Park!

Over the weekend, it warmed up to the 70's! It was great and a reminder that Spring is on its way, despite the fact that we're back in the 40's and 50's for the next 10 days at least. Saturday we took a family outing to the park by our house, picnic lunch and all. The boys all had a blast.

Caleb's favorite part is spinning on the tire swing:

Joshua enjoyed everything, but particularly had fun pushing Andrew on his first swing ride. Andrew really was having a good time, but was making this funny scrunchy face all day:


Here is Andrew swinging. He always excitedly moves his hands and feet like this when he likes something. It's very cute. He's done it since he was a little tiny.


And here's a video that I never got around to posting. Andrew was laughing hysterically at the boys saying "shoo shoo shoo" to a squirrel.

Fun in the snow

We finally got some snow. In March. "In like a lion, out like a lamb." At least that's what they say about March. I sure hope it's true! I am ready for Spring! But anyway, Caleb got his wish for snow last Monday (I won't mention that it was 75 degrees on Friday last week). We got about 4-5" of snow, I think. Caleb was the only one who went out and did much in it. But here he is having a blast.

Clandestinely Crafty

Oh dear. All these years I have tried to maintain that I am *NOT* a crafty (read: craft loving). I am starting to think it may all be a front to convince my kids I wouldn't be good at popsicle stick art. But would you believe what I did last week: I DYED diapers. Who'd a thunk it? Andrew wears prefolds (the kind of cloth diapers our moms used to use) during the day and they were all white. It was getting a little boring, especially if you compare to some of the amazing fluffy eye feasts that some people diaper their children with (like this little guy). So, I decided to color mine. I am very pleased with how they turned out...and love the fact that now Andrew's bottom is draped in color. LOL. I'll have to get a pic of him one of these days sporting the new look, but at the moment, he's sleeping, so none of that.

Here's how they looked before (although this picture is from cottonbabies because I forgot to take one!):
And here's how they look now. I did about 32 of them, so this isn't all of them, but this is all four colors:

So much cuter! :)

Can Ya Tell?

Can ya tell I've been busy? No post in a month?! Yikes! February has passed in a whirl. What's been happening?

1. My exciting news is that between the end of December and mid-Feb, I lost 12 pounds! Yeay! Baby weight gone! I don't have a picture to prove it, but everyone that sees me in person can tell. Woo-hoo! But, as a result, I spent a lot of time running on the treadmill, which left me with less time to blog! Of course, I am also spending a lot time eating, so you'd think they'd balance out or something... :)

2. I have had 5 cake projects in the last month. That's a lot of hours of baking and decorating!

First was this one. My first time making baby booties from fondant:

Then came 50 of these babies. Boy did they take a long time!

Next was this cake. I made almost the same cake for the same little boy last year and he loved it so much they asked me to do it again. Of course, last year I spelled "Pittsburg" correctly.

This past week I got to do something new. This Western themed cake was so fun!
This weekend I made this for a baby shower. They didn't want a "baby-ish" cake, but rather this one, similar to one I made a few years ago, but with much brighter colors:
Lastly, just for fun, we had lots of chocolate cake scraps left from the shower cake, so Philip turned them into Cake Balls...and then I dipped them in more chocolate. NOT a dieting person's best friend, but oh so yummy! We made ameretto, irish cream and raspberry.

I've also been very busy with MOPS. The biggest thing that happened was that this past Friday I was one of the two speakers for out meeting. My friend Jennisse and I did a presentation on "Cost Saving Tips". My portion was on Saving Money on Groceries. I had a GREAT time and the talk was really well received! So much so that I am now on a list of speakers available to speak to all the MOPS groups in Northern VA, so I am hoping to be asked to come to a few groups next year. As I was preparing for the talk last Friday, I heard from a friend who I had spoken to individually about this topic a few months ago and she told me that since our conversation, she has cut their monthly grocery bill by more than 25%! I am now working on expanding my talk so that it can a stand alone workshop. I am so excited though. I have felt for a long time that I was going to be moving into some kind of speaking ministry and this is the first step. Yeay!

So that's my news. The boys are all doing well. Andrew is scooting around some, but not really crawling. He has a new tooth (#5) and #6 is on it's way through. He's figured out how to shriek when he's not happy, so we're trying to put a stop to that! What a noise! Other than that, he's still a wonderfully happy, cute little guy, who I have apparently neglected to take a picture of for the last month...better remedy that!

Caleb and Joshua are learning and growing. Caleb has been learning a lot about historical figures from during the Revolutionary times...Paul Revere, George and Martha Washington, and now Betsy Ross. He loves to read and learn. Because of this, we decided to visit Mt. Vernon last Monday. In honor of President's Day, it was FREE to get in! What a deal! Philip's mom and dad came down and went with us. It was a little cold, but we still had a great visit. It was nice to visit there again, and a special treat to see Martha's wedding shoes, which are only displayed for a few weeks every 10 years because they are so fragile. Caleb was excited about seeing them, but was then disappointed to see that they we're "sparkly."

By the way, if you're looking for an easy way to help kids learn history, I HIGHLY recommend Your Story Hour adventures on CD. We carry them in the car with us everywhere we go and have all enjoyed hearing stories about figures we were familiar with, like Washington, and those were weren't, like Lucretia Mott. We have been listening to the "Great Stories" collection, but also have and love the "Bible Comes Alive" series and several others. Once your children are a little older, I also recommend the Childhood of Famous Americans biography series. These books largely focus on the childhood of the figure, so it's easy for the kids to relate to and follow. Caleb really enjoys these books a lot.

The boys at Mt. Vernon

Our somewhat successful attempt at a family pic. Andrew is sleeping in the carrier on Philip's chest.

On Valentines Day, the boys got to decorate sugar cookies. They had such a blast with this. The cookies were definitely not themeactically decorated, but they tasted good, so that's what counts, right? :)