Whew...busy couple of days

I've had a busy couple of days around here. Thursday morning after Michelle and I finished our morning run I got it in my head that I wanted to paint the master bedroom. And Marc had already left for work....which means I moved all the furniture either out of the bedroom or into the middle of the room by myself.

I got paint everywhere!


Even in my hair....not sure how that happened.


Here is the finished product...the picture doesn't show it too well and some of the blue tape is still up. (Disregard the mess....we were still moving stuff back in the room.)

It was a dirty eggshell color before. I'm so happy just to have fresh paint! I would have been pleased with a fresh coat of plain old white.

Thursday night I went to the Nationals vs. Red Sox game with Michelle. And the Nats won! Whoo hoo!

Friday morning I finished painting our bedroom. I had extra paint leftover so Sofie's table got a coat of paint too.

Here is the princess on her way to school Friday morning. She loves her sunglasses.


Yesterday and this morning was full of running.

We also had Empire Floors out here yesterday for a price quote on having the floors replaced from Jack's incident. We have also looked at Home Depot and Lumber Liquidators. Empire's price includes everything...moving furniture, putting it back, ripping up the old stuff, disposing of the old stuff, laying the new floor, the cost of the new floor, laying the quarter round, everything! Home Depot and Lumber Liquidators had the same prices as each other (and were cheaper than Empire), but the nickle and dime you on moving the furniture, laying the quarter round, all the extras. It will end up costing the same or more as Empire with the extras. And they can't do it next day. It'll be at least a week and their product isn't as nice.

Sofie playing Rock Band with Daddy this afternoon.

Water Play

This week started summer camp activities at daycare and Mondays are always water play days. Of course, I forgot and didn't have any of the appropriate clothing for her. Yesterday I went out and got her a surf top and some board shorts, all meant for getting wet. And some cute new shoes for Sofie came home with me, too. What can I say, LL Bean was having a sale.

Doesn't she look tall in this picture?


Can you believe this little out fit is a size 4?! I bought it expecting that it would be too big but it was the smallest they had. I figured with the adjustable waist band it would work. It fits perfectly. (I think its supposed to be very fitted.)



Since Sofie was already dressed, we decided to throw on our swim suits too and we all headed over to the pool. Sofie had a blast. She's getting more and more daring. While she and Marc played, I practiced some laps (I'm thinking of doing a triathlon).

This little outfit is so much easier than a normal swim suit. It's easier to get on and off and easier to change her diaper. And it gives her more coverage from the sun.

Happy Father's Day

We went to the Museum of Natural History on Saturday with Kevin and Hollie and their two daughters. It was so great to see them! Kevin was my big brother in Kappa Kappa Psi and I can't remember the last time I saw them. Plus, it was nice to interact with people. I'm going a little stir crazy waiting to get on with my client.

This is the only picture I got of the kids together, and it's still lacking Ella Grace. Sofia and Alle Marie.


Sofie waiting on lunch


Alle Marie snacking on goldfish.


After we had lunch, we went back to the museum. But Sofie was tired and ready for a nap. She started screaming and laying on the floor in the middle of the museum, so we had to jet out of there pretty quickly. I really wanted to get a picture of all 3 kids together. And perhaps some of the adults too. But it just didn't happen.

It was so humid and stagnant out, we were all sweaty messes by the time we got back to the metro. I tried, and succeded in getting Sofie's hair into pig tails. I suppose they are actually tri-tails since the one on top and in the front is still in too.





We love visitors! Anytime y'all are in the Washington DC area just let us know.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

Finally!

Just wanted to let you know that today is the first day in 5.5 months, that my bangs have stayed out of my face without bobby pins, barretts, headbands, Bondi Bands, hats, hairspray, etc. I'm very, very happy about this!

Strawberry Picking

Coda thinks the new bookcases were put up just for her.




Saturday we took Sofie strawberry picking. I remember having so much fun doing this as a kid and thought she would enjoy it too. I think she would have enjoyed it, but we picked a bad day (hot, humid, stifling) and a bad farm (no clear cut rows to walk between, lots of weeds mixed in with berry plants, plus it's the end of the season so we had to hunt for choice berries). Marc ended up picking berries, while Sofia and I played in the dirt road away from the scratchy plants.

It started out good.














Then she had to be up and it had to be now!




Sitting in Mommy's lap waiting on Daddy to get all our berries.


Sofie finally reached her limit. She could not be made happy...so we rounded Marc up, hitched a ride on the tractor, and went back to the store with 4 quarts of strawberries. As much as this field wasn't ideal for picking, this farm did have lots of other stuff to do which was great. They had a petting zoo (we just looked), a putt-putt course, a playground, a giant chess board, a "corn" box, a maze, and much more.

After a wardrobe change (tried to drink Gatorade out of a bottle all by herself), we wandered around to see the other stuff and found this great wooden tractor.






Then we "played" in a giant mud puddle.


I'm not sure if she didn't see the puddle or went in it on purpose. Either way, she slipped, fell, and hated every minute of being dirty.
Daddy, my hand, its dirty, you need to clean it now.


The puddle


Another wardrobe change and we decided it was time to go home. Everyone was hot and tired.

Digital TV Transition

Anyone have any issues with the digital transition last night?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Wine and Food Festival

Last Saturday we went to the Wine and Food Festival at the National Harbor. We were going to go with some friends we haven't seen in awhile, but things came up, as the always do. We were bummed we didn't get to spend time with Jen and Steve, but we enjoyed ourselves none the less. And while we enjoyed ourselves, we are very glad that we got discounted tickets and did not pay full price. Between all the samples of food, wine tastings, and the 2 free beers each**, we got our monies worth. However, I'm not so sure that it would have been worth $70 each had we paid full price.

**Really? Go to a Wine Festival and get tickets for 2 free beers? Why can't I get tickets for 2 free glasses of wine. You know, have a taste test at all the vendors and then decide which one I want to drink a whole glass of? Yeah, didn't make sense to us either....but we sure drank them!





The Awakening Sculpture...used to be at Haines Point. This is the first time we've seen it in it's new location. I'm kind of partial...I liked it better at Haines Point.


Marc and Sofie in the beer line.


Sofie and I sitting in the shade. Marc had gone to get another sample. The entire time he was gone Sofie kept scanning the crowd trying to find him.

My baby got her first bike today! Guess she's not much of a baby anymore. :) She can actually reach the peddles, peddle them backwards to break, but hasn't quite got the hang of peddling forwards. But she loves to hang on and be pushed.

What happes when...

What happens when you go from working out of the house part time for the last 18 months (and usually home the days you aren't working) to working full time outside the home??

You're dog has an anxiety attack, abandonment issues (we think he was ditched previously so this is understandable), and rips up the carpet trying to get into a closed bedroom door.




At least it lays back down.

(Not to mention the things I didn't get pictures of.....a chewed up diaper and some snacks he stole out of the diaper bag....all over the living room. He also tried to chew his way into a bottle of children's Tylenol.)

And then your daughter crawls in your lap while you are trying to take pictures and is all cuddly, so your anger eases much quicker than expected.

(Notice dog sulking in the background after being scolded.)



Then she goes and gets her new hat and puts it on without any coaching (from the girl who hates hats).

Another Race Weekend

Two weeks ago Michelle and I ran the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon. And this weekend, Beth joined us to run the Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon.

Beth's flight was severely delayed Friday night (we had some pretty bad thunderstorms up here). We had plans to go celebrate my 30th birthday, but it was all we could do to chit chat for about 30 minutes before everyone wanted to go to bed.

Saturday, we all woke up early. Marc took Sofie with him for a run so that Beth and I could sleep in, but neither of us could. Once Marc and Sofie got back, we all got breakfast, then the girls went shopping and Marc had a day to himself. Beth ended up with a Garmin (I think she's hooked on running!), I got more wick away undies and new work shoes, and Sofie got a new water bottle and I puppy dog. Everyone was happy! Then we went birthday shopping for Marc...his birthday was Sunday. If anyone is in the market for a new blender, I highly recommend this one! Not one single ice chunk! It was like drinking the frozen drinks out of the fancy machines at the Mexican restaurant.

Pics from Saturday.....

Sunday started with a 4am wake up call. We wanted to be on the road by 4:45. Of course we were moving in slow motion and were late getting out the door. Good thing the beltway is fairly empty at 5:30am on a Sunday! We made it to Annapolis in perfect time for Beth's first half marathon! So proud of her. Race report here.

Michelle, her daughter Lolly, Beth, me, and Sofie at mile marker 13. We look pretty darn good for just running 13.1 miles!

On our way back to the car, we saw this painted in the parking lot at the Naval Academy football stadium. Beth and I thought of Eric Zaiser! Anyone know how to get in touch with him to share the picture?

We went to Old Town/downtown Annapolis after the race. It was Marc's birthday and he wanted crab cakes and we were definitely in crab cake territory. Sofie and Marc were playing peek-a-boo across the table.

Michelle and Lolly had a mean game of hangman going on.

And I finally made it in a picture (instead of always being the one behind the camera).

After lunch, we went in search of this cupcake place that was supposed to be at the post race party. They were there, they just left their booth before us back-of-the-packers made it. We found the place but the cupcakes didn't look nearly as good as we had built them up in our minds. We opted for ice cream instead.

Beth and I went to the pool and hot tub Sunday afternoon. We couldn't win. The pool was fairly comfortable temperature wise, except for the wind. And the hot tub was way too hot (not to mention the annoying teeny-bopper couples). We left and got Mexican. Everyone was in bed by 9:30!

Sadly, Sofie and I dropped Beth at the airport at 7am this morning. Beth is already looking for the next race for us to run!

This pic is not from this weekend, but it was too cute not to share. Sofie looooves her new swim suit!

And, finally, promised pictures of our new bookcases.