Easter and Passover

My hand-painted eggs from Austria. Older than Abby and still survived all our moves!

The girls' eggs

In their Easter dresses, that they picked out themselves

And Easter morning:

The girls got a movie, book, fancy toothbrush, new pencils and pens, a chocolate bunny and peeps.

Joel teasing the girls that he was going to eat all their eggs

And then that night, we celebrated the last night of Passover with the local Messianic congregation.

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby and Lily

Hurricane Fun - Mendez Style

Being in a new place does not equal hurricane preparedness.

That being said, both Joel and I have lived through plenty of hurricanes, and the girls and I even did one (though it really ended up being a tropical depression by the time it got to us) in our house in Fairhope last year. Heck, we've even done earthquakes. So we know how to get ready. We just weren't.

(I left all of our hurricane supplies at our place in Fairhope when we packed out, thinking our renters would need it much more than we did. HA!)

Which meant a lot of trips to the brand new Target in our neighborhood.

Here is a picture of the girls entertaining themselves while we waited for Joel to come pick us up. Forget toys, just give them a huge concrete ball cemented to the ground for hours of guaranteed amusement.

One day I'm gonna take them back all dressed up and re-pose this picture. I love this shot.

Now the fun part of parenting during a hurricane is how to keep the kiddos occupied if/when the power goes out and while they are stuck inside with all the rain, and while you're trying to get everything ready. Besides the obvious charging up all the gadgets and gizmos and making sure everything that needed batteries had them, I also don't want them to be afraid of the storm.

Last year in Alabama, we created the ultimate tea party experience. We bought all sorts of treats and goodies and the girls dressed themselves up in their favorite costumes, and we did hair and nails, and we did fancy tea party right in the middle of the living room. Of course, we were Daddy-free at the time, which meant no testosterone in the house to mess with.

The girls piling on Daddy in the bunk bed.

This time I knew we needed new activities. I found several new DVDs and games for their Leapsters at the thrift store, and got the girls new coloring books. I figured at the very least - we don't need electricity to do school, so we could keep right on with that, but I did find several craft projects (Halloween and regular school-related) that I had ignored and pulled those out.

We prepped lots of food to use up what was in our fridge, and I made pumpkin muffins for the girls' breakfast for the next week. (The girls love to cook, so that is always a safe activity.)

I also took a trip into Michaels. (I am not allowed to go to Michaels. It's like crack to a crack addict.) I got Abby this kit to make friendship bracelets and started to teach her how to make them. I totally got flashbacks to sitting in classes in highschool making those things!

And we picked up a bunch of decorative iron-on patches so we could decorate the jeans we got at the thrift store. (We haven't actually gotten to that project yet, though.)

And, as a homeschool- related project, we counted up all the change we have been saving in the banks the girls have. The girls had over $15 in change! There was quite a long discussion over which charity to support with that money, but in the end the girls decided to buy a pair of chickens through a organization in India. (Rabbits are next, but we have to save up for them.)

In the end, I am so very grateful that we didn't get the kind of weather in our area that had been predicted all week, and kind of guilty in that others DID get that weather. I watch those pictures of New York and recognize all the places we used to live and go to, and just hurt for the folks up their STILL in such a mess. I can only imagine what that sort of devastation would look like in the DC area.

What we did this Summer

I love this picture I took randomly this summer. The girls were "playing homeschool." Lily was listening to the Addition Fact songs on the iPod (what Abby is dealing with in math right now), and Abby was playing teacher and beauty parlor at the same time. Yup. This is what homeschooling really looks like!  

So, I flaked out this summer from posting. I am so sorry, I feel like I let myself down as much as you guys. But I have a very good reason.

ROACHES.

So that apartment we moved into? Yeah, apparently the entire building is infested with roaches. Of different varieties. By the millions. I couldn't help but see the irony as I was learning more about roaches than I never wanted to know. I can now tell you exactly the life cycle of roaches, what kills them (nothing) and what doesn't (just about everything), and even what their eggs and poop look like. Homeschooling at its finest. IT WAS GROSS AND NASTY.

I really hope ya'll aren't retching right now and still reading.

We did find a new place to live finally, but in the meantime, we went through weekly full extermination sessions - emptying every single cabinet and closet and leaving the house for a full day, come home and put everything back, only to have them come crawling back out of the walls a few hours later. I am not even kidding. It was really that bad. Really.

We finally got into our new (beautiful, clean, safe neighborhood, and most importantly, insect-free) townhouse almost two weeks ago, and we are feverishly unpacking and trying to get re-settled.

Last week I added it up, and as a family, if you count the month long stays with family, hotels, and temporary apartments, we have moved eight times. In the past two years. To say we are all completely sick of it would be an understatement.

What else did we do this summer? We took advantage of the plethora of summer camp programs in our area, and the girls participated in church camp (VBS) for two weeks, Spanish immersion camp for three weeks, and one week of "ballet camp." (The girls really miss ballet.) And right now Abby is finishing up two weeks of "math camp", where they are working on the dreaded addition math facts. We're hoping this will get us over the hump when we get back to homeschool full-time next week. And we also did a joint birthday party for the girls in July.

 

And I have been working on networking and drumming up more coaching business. My website designer is feverishly (I hope) working on the re-design of my website. So far all I have is my new logo to share.

But, mainly, our hobby this summer has been apartment hunting and the murdering of mutant bugs. God, I am so ever thankful we are done with all of that.

Happy Birthday to Abby and Lily

This year for the first time, I combined the girls' birthday parties. Normally, I really don't like doing this, as I want the girls to have their own birthday celebration. Well, this year, Mama just really needed a break.

I had promised them a pool party for their birthday (the place we were supposed to live in Spain had a pool), which goes to show you my #1 parenting rule still makes sense. Never ever promise what you aren't 100% sure you can deliver. Uggghh. Luckily, someone told me about this great "splashpad" in Alexandria, and we could hold a birthday party there inexpensively. SOLD.

 

Birthday Girl #1

Birthday Girl #2. She was much too busy collecting rocks to pose for a picture.

Our setup: Drinks, food, and balloons. Instant party.

Singing Happy Birthday

And the birthday cake. Thank you, Costco!

Fun on the Splashpad!

That's Lily in the yellow shirt.

You can barely see her, but Abby is in the rainbow shirt, just left of center.

Afterwards, we came back home, napped and opened presents. Much much thanks to all who spoiled our girls for us!

Oh, and here is a picture of the famous Barbie dollhouse! (I found this on an amazing Black Friday deal last Christmas season. But then I realized it would probably get destroyed in our move, so we kept it saved for their birthdays instead.) It literally is almost as tall as I am. The girls should get several, several, years of play out of it!

On their actual birthday, we let the girls pick out what we would have for dinner that day. Abby chose pizza and cupcakes. Lily chose McD's. They thought that was the COOLEST thing ever, hahaha. Takes so little to make a kid happy.

Our Trip to Colonial Williamsburg

(Excuse me while I catch up on my backlog of post drafts!)

When planning our drive up to Washington, DC, a friend sent me a link to a Groupon coupon for a cheap 2 night stay in Williamsburg. Well, we knew we'd need a hotel anyway, so why not stop for an extra day and have some fun? (Plus, we could call it educational and therefore, "home school field trip" HA!)

Little did we know that the closest thing to a cold front we'd have this winter happened THAT WEEKEND. As in, I have no coat (we shipped all of our heavy winter stuff ahead) and it STARTED TO SNOW WHILE WE WERE THERE. Isn't that lovely???

But here is the GREAT, GREAT news about Williamsburg, especially if you are a homeschooler. They have "homeschool weekends!" Usually on an off-season week, and the prices were ridiculously low. As in, Joel and I paid $10 for full admission, and both girls got in FREE because they were under 6.

 

I will say, that cold nasty weather made that particular visit not so much fun. Not many "outside" events were happening, and being off-season, not as many shops/events were open as normal. Joel and I loved it, and it probably went over the girls' heads mostly, since we really hadn't started studying any sort of real history at the time.

Our three favorite stops:

1) The Jailer's house. Abby was fascinated by the jail, and the shackles on their feet. She was also particularly interested in the "throne" (ie. the potty you had to climb up to). She wanted to know that if their feet were shackled (the shackles were bolted to the floor to keep them from being stolen) how did they climb up there to the potty? Thank goodness the guide seemed to have answered that question before, as frankly I didn't have a clue what to say!

2) The dress shop. I love this, being right in line with my costumed background. And since my mom used to sew, I really could appreciate the craftsmanship. The girls weren't so interested, which was unfortunate as this was one of the few shops with heat and I would have preferred to stay a bit longer!

3). Lunch. Lunch at the tavern (sorry, can't remember which one) was AWESOME. We loved it. Super pricey, but since we cheaped out on everything else, it seemed fair to pay a "Goodness gracious!" amount for lunch! 

Yeay for heat! We love modern conveniences like that!

As the day went on, and the weather got worse and worse, and little girl attitudes got worse and worse, we jumped on the bus back to the visitor center, stopped at the gift shop (I have an addiction to gift shops and can't ever seem to pass them up), and headed back to our hotel.

Doesn't she look like she's having fun?

And here is our little ham!

Where we ended up with over three inches of snow on the ground by morning. And that was the only snow we saw all winter! I am already trying to plan our trip back to Williamsburg this fall during their next homeschool week, since we're going to be in the area, and hopefully we'll see more and the girls will "get it" more, since we're starting to read/study a little bit of American history (American Girl books, Little House on the Prairie, etc.).

Here are some resources, if you would like to build Colonial Williamsburg into your homeschool experience (or not!):

Colonial Williamsburg Education Link and Info: http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/discover/educate/

Colonial Williamsburg Homeschoolers Link and Info: http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/plan/groups/homeschoolers/ (PS. This fall's homeschool experience is from September 8-22, 2012!)

Lesson Plans, Worksheets, Teacher Resources, Kids Zone, etc.: http://www.history.org/History/teaching/groupTours/SchoolandYouth/plan.cfm

Sorry I've been MIA

So, yeah, our move here threw me for a loop.

I really apologize if you guys have sent me emails and I haven't responded. I've tried to keep up, but in my personal email box alone there are over 100 emails still sitting there, and that's after I cleaned out 40+ this morning. And that's just one email account (I ummm, have quite a few.) So yeah, I have not been a good email buddy.

This week the girls are at "church camp" so I am trying to dig in and make a huge dent in all of the "paperwork stuff" that I've let slide while I've been dealing with everything. I made a lot of progress this morning, which I'm sure was completely fueled by the coffee I had while sitting at Starbucks. Still, since my hole is so deep, it's gonna take me much too long to catch up.

So, what have we been up to? Well, we moved in that first weekend in May, and then unpacked like crazy people for three straight weeks. It took that long to even get close enough to come up for air! We had to get a storage unit in our complex to hold the stuff we can't keep (stay tuned for a bunch of Craig's List ads!) and I have become extremely creative at storage tricks. I have had to go through every single bin and box we have ever had and purge, reorganize, purge some more, and store things the most efficient way possible. By the way, you can fit A LOT of stuff under beds. And thank goodness for the good closet storage we do have. Mostly this step is done. Mostly. I've still got one bin left that needs to be organized and put away, but I keep putting it off to do other things. Like scrub bathrooms, throw food at kids, do laundry, etc. I will get to it.One day.

Joel was sent "off" again for a few weeks almost immediately, and this has not improved my attitude toward the Foreign Service at all. I will come around. . . . eventually. I wouldn't be expecting them to be on my Christmas list, though. Joel was not the happiest about it either, but hey, we live at the mercy of the US Govt and that's all that there is to be said about that. Out loud, at least. In my head, I say a lot of things. In very colorful language. (He should be back in July.)

My mom was able to come visit for several days and the girls loved having their Nana here. There was lots of reading of books and more books and more books, and a trip to the pool (kinda too chilly still, though. What is up with this weather?), and generally just hung out. We did get together with family up here which was fun, and we also went over to Colvin Run Mill. If you're local, you really should go. We got to go to a "general store" and then watched them grind corn into cornmeal in a working mill that has been around since the 1700's. The day we went they also had a blacksmith and wood carving. We got the girls sunbonnets just like "Little House on the Prairie, which the girls L-O-V-E (the bonnets and the books!).

We finally got "home school" started up again, but have been having difficulty getting our rhythm and consistency back. I hope that by the end of all these summer camp things we're doing, I'll have gotten everything more settled and will be able to stick to a routine. We are very blessed that this apartment has a "breakfast dining" and a "formal dining" area, so we turned the "breakfast dining" space into our class room. As soon as I can get it cleaned up enough, I'll take some pictures for you guys - it is starting to look really cute! Abby is currently working through "1st grade" and Lily will be joining us next fall with a more formal "preK4" program. Addition and subtraction facts have been kicking our hineys for a few months now, BUT at the Virginia home school convention a few weeks ago, I was able to get a couple cool math fact CD's and with a bit of bribery (a chart that she gets to mark off for doing her math work without complaining and then get a prize), Abby is very motivated and has decided math is fun again.

Lily is now fully potty-trained, even at night. She regressed quite a bit with the stress of the move, but after a break of a week, she was so completely insulted by the idea of wearing pull-ups again that she just made up her mind that she was done with them. I swear, that little girl is the funniest thing ever, but she is going to drive me to distraction!

Taking advantage of all the COOL summer stuff going on around here, we have both girls in "Church camp" for two weeks, then one week of a ballet camp (really just a week of ballet lessons with an Angelina Ballerina theme), and three weeks of Spanish immersion camp.We are right around the corner from the Annandale Boys and Girls Club and they are doing soccer camp this summer, and I was able to get Abby in that for one week as well, and both girls are signed up to do soccer next fall, and Abby will continue with cheerleading through the ABGC. So yeah, we're keeping as busy as we possibly can be!

Work has been picking up for me as well, which is very nice. I am looking forward to clearing out a few business projects that have been on the back burner for quite a while this summer. I'm redesigning my business website and branding, and looking into networking and volunteer opportunities.

So, that is us in a nutshell.

I will get some pictures up soon.

Easter Pictures

Here are pictures from Easter.

Columbia Baptist Church Easter Party:

 

 Easter Sunday:

Our Visit to the DC Cherry Blossom Festival

Yeay! We finally were in DC at the right time and were able to visit the Cherry Blossom Festival!

Too bad the weather didn't cooperate, though. I thought we could beat it, but the rain started about halfway through our visit.

If you have kids and get a chance to visit the Cherry Blossom Festival, be sure to see if the Park Rangers are doing a kids activity tent again! Our girls had a blast, and there were about twelve different activities to choose from.

First, we colored pictures of the four stages of the cherry blossom blossoming.

Then, because my girls love anything have to do with glue, we created our own "cherry blossoms." This is easy to replicate at home, you just need glue and pink tissue paper!

We also did a leaf rubbing and colored pictures on a "friendship mural."

My girls' ultimate favorite part? Once you completed four different activities, you could find a park ranger, who would then administer an "oath" (which consisted of promising not to pick the cherry blossoms, really), and then give them Junior Park Ranger Badges! You should have seen them; their eyes got so huge, and you could tell that they were taking their oath very seriously! They wore their badges with pride for the rest of the day!

If you would like more information about the Cherry Blossoms trees in DC or the Cherry Blossom Festival, be sure to visit the National Park Service's website. And if you're a homeschooler, and want to see more activities so you can have your own Cherry Blossom Festival to celebrate Spring at home, feel free to visit my personal website.