Recent Happenings

Easter has come and gone and Spring is here! My Mom was in town for her Spring Break and that was nice. Mark and I celebrated 8 years of marriage and since Mom was in town, we spent the evening downtown Memphis. I've always wanted to stay at The Peabody, so I booked a room there and we went to dinner downtown and had a nice evening. It's hard to believe we've been married for 8 years and have 2 kids!

The kids have been busy playing outside and just enjoying this nice weather. Ethan and Nina both keep talking about the beach though - we're all looking forward to that! Nina is almost 3 and has been potty training....it was so much easier with a boy! She's been doing well though. When my Mom came a couple of weeks ago, she brought my old "big girl bed" (I called it "antique old bed") and we're having it fixed for Nina. Today, I got the big idea to go ahead and put her in the toddler bed. So Ethan and I moved it into her room and she loves it. Now, we're only one day into it, but so far she took a great nap in it this afternoon and tonight she went to bed just fine. There are lots of changes going on for her....panties, big girl bed, about to get rid of pappy (just has it at nap and bed)....and she's finally down to 1 nap a day. Yes, my child is almost 3 and would still take 2 naps a day if I would let her. I love this child!

Ethan is down to his last 4 weeks of preschool and I'm a little upset about it. We've made some great friends and it's just hard to believe that his 2 years of preschool are over and in August he'll be going every day, all day. We're all looking forward to the summer break!

Enjoy the pictures! Ethan and Nina on Easter morning

I thought this was funny - Nina is just a ham in front of the camera sometimes!

The EB brought MORE stuffed animals....just what we needed....

Miss Drama Queen....loving my sunglasses!

It's just hard to believe this one will be leaving me everyday next year! He's so sweet (when he wants to be!) And I should brag on him here....I took him for his 5 year old check up 2 weeks ago. I had been dreading this one - shots, finger pricked, peeing in a cup, eye and hearing test...it just wasn't going to be pretty. And I knew it. So I told him I scheduled the appointment and sure enough he started getting antsy....he said that if he didn't cry at all during shots I would take him to the toy store and get him a toy. "Absolutely, yes, Ethan!"...was my response. He said, "2 toys" ....."Yes, Ethan!" ....he said, "3 BIG toys"...."of course, Ethan!"....Mark was ticked at me for doing this. But I KNEW that there was NO WAY Ethan wouldn't cry at his shots. Well, we went to the dr. He was a little apprehensive, but no tears. The nurse came and pricked his finger. He did everything they needed him to do. The dr. came and went and all was fine. Oh, he's over 97% in height and weight and was perfect in everything else. The nurse came in with 4 shots and he started getting squirmy.....she asked him to lie down and he didn't want to. So he sat UP and NEVER flinched during all 4 shots. Not only was I impressed, but the nurse said she had never had a 5 year old sit up for kindergarten shots. Sooooooooo, we had to go shopping......I followed through on my word and I learned a valuable lesson.

Here's our little drama queen!!

After the storms came through this past weekend, it was like a completely different day. The kids loved jumping in the puddles in the cul de sac.

A rare moment when they weren't fighting or screaming at each other....

You know how when you put your kid's pacifier in their mouths for the first time and they are HUGE...and then all of a sudden they grow into it? Well, same thing with their Big Wheels, or as Nina calls it, her "wheel." Both my kids looked hilarious when they got their Big Wheels. My Daddy bought Ethan his 2 years ago at Christmas - Ethan was almost 3. He looked ridiculous riding it. Well, now he looks even more ridiculous. But he still loves it. And last year my Mom bought Nina her "wheel" for her birthday. I would keep telling Nina to say "where's the beef?" because she would look like the Wendy's lady in her big car at the drive through asking "where's the beef?". She was hilarious. Now they've both grown into (or out of) their Big Wheels and it kind of makes me sad. They both love riding their Big Wheels down our drive way into the cul de sac. I'm quite positive that our neighbors hate us because the one thing that Nina has seemed to inherit from me is my BIG mouth!

These eyes make me want to have another one......

Nina loves the toddler bed!

I've been hitting the Pottery Barn outlet consistently recently and found this duvet cover to go in our guest room for $22! I love it!

I've wanted a back splash in our kitchen since we moved in, so I finally went and bought the supplies and made Mark install it. It took him 3 days because he's so precise - but it's perfect and I love it! Spring projects are in full effect here!

Happy Spring!

Trip to Maryland

For Ethan's Spring Break we flew to Maryland. The weather was perfect - warm and sunny and Spring was in the air! We had such a great week and did a lot of fun things! We have a friend here at church that is a Secret Service agent and a few months ago he sent of request for us for a White House tour and a Capitol tour. It's great to have some connections! Our Capitol tour was with our Senator Bob Corker's office. One of his assistants gave us the tour. His office building is across the street from the Capitol, so we actually got to ride the underground subway from the Senate office building into the Capitol. It was neat and there was a lot of positive and negative buzz around the buildings with the health care vote about to happen. We did get to meet our Senator and he was very nice. The new visitor's center inside the Capitol was very nice! Ethan, of course, just wanted to go back to the Air and Space Museum....

Friday was our White House tour. We were all really excited! I hadn't been inside since the 3rd grade. Of course the kids were thrilled and kept their eyes out for the First Dog, Bo. Once inside, Ethan asked one of the agents in the Green Room where Bo was....she told him that we had just missed seeing him outside for his walk. The kids were so heartbroken! It was really gorgeous inside and was just neat to be in the house where so many important people had also been. We walked down the hall and stood in the exact spot that the President and Vice President stood just 2 days later speaking about the health care bill. We really enjoyed seeing people coming in and out of the White House again and we were thrilled to have that experience ourselves. After leaving The White House, we walked over to the American History Museum - my favorite. It has recently been overhauled and the changes were very nice. It was a perfect day to be in the city!

Enjoy the pictures of our wonderful visit! Nina and RoRo at the Science Center in Baltimore, MD

Ethan and Mark playing at the Science Center

Astronauts RoRo and Ethan

Mark and the kids at The Inner Harbor in Baltimore

Air and Space Museum

We were a week early for the Cherry Blossom festival....but there were several that were already in full bloom in the city and they were gorgeous. This is one through a window at Air and Space

Making our way to the Capitol

Ethan outside Senator Bob Corker's office

Standing in the heart of DC for good luck - inside the crypt room in the Capitol.

The Rotunda

Outside The White House

RoRo didn't plan on matching us....but of course, I planned it! I had asked Mark to wear his pink shirt...but didn't tell him what we were wearing. He didn't put it together until we were already in the city, thank goodness! I thought it made for a good picture and that's what mattered!

Having lunch at The White House

Yes, they still fight in front of The White House

After our tour - we couldn't take cameras inside, so this is from my phone

Reward for behaving inside The White House - they were both so well behaved!

This is not my picture - taken from the American History website. This is the new Star Spangled Banner exhibit. It was very moving! It's very dark and all that is lit are the lights on the floor. The flag has been in renovation for almost 7 years and last year was placed in this display. Worth going to see!

As soon as we started walking to the museum, Nina passed out

First Lady Obama's inaugural gown - my favorite exhibit at the museum!

I don't know if I had a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes, if I would have given them up - although I'm sure this isn't her only pair!

Ethan had gotten a few new airplanes at the Air and Space, so I took Nina into the gift shop at American History to pick something out. Of course she spotted a stuffed animal that was First Dog Bo and wanted it immediately. Well, Ethan wandered in and found us and of course HAD to have one too. I said no. RoRo bought them both Bo dogs - they LOVE them!

On the way back to the car, we were almost back to The White House and heard the motorcycles coming and soon realized "someone" was heading our way....so we stood by to watch who it was -Vice President Biden was heading home. It was neat to see his motorcade.

Ethan took this picture of Nina

Ethan took this picture of his new A380

The kids with Uncle Carl and Aunt Jaime

On the way home, we got in First Class. This is how Ethan enjoyed his first First Class ride

This is how Nina enjoyed First Class!