Just One of Those Days...

On a good day, this slight dusting of flour over every surface of the kitchen would've been enough to make me a very unhappy camper.  Those who know me, know my desire for order doesn't really allow me to see the possible hilarity hiding in these messy situations (my poor kids).  So on a migraine filled, stomach churning kind of day like today, this mess made me want to call it a day and head for my bed.  But Nathan was off doing home teaching at the time, and I'd already gotten out of parenting duty this morning, as Nathan let me sleep through breakfast and then through church because he knew I felt awful.

So what did I do when I just wanted to flip out?!  Well...I pseudo flipped out. "What did you do Lauren?!" I shouted while watching the airborne flour container hit the ground with a mushroom cloud of white dust. How did I let this happen you ask?  Well, I was in the process of making dough when Olivia needed my help in the living room...and Lauren capitalized on my absence.  Or so she thought before she ended up covered in flour dust.

Once Lauren heard me shout, she took off running her first of multiple laps around the kitchen table while crying and drooling everywhere.  Leaving a cloud of flour every step of the way...oh, and her diaper.  She ran right out of it apparently.  On her second lap around the table she stopped and cry yelled at me while rubbing her eyes, "What are you doing mommy?! Why aren't you helping me?!"

And I admittedly wasn't helping her, because I was trying to get my phone to capture this spectacle.  Oh wait, I didn't mention that by this point, Olivia had come into the kitchen and was shouting at Lauren, "No! No! Lauren! Not okay!"  I picked her up and placed her on the counter to keep her out of the mess while I was retrieving my phone.  By the time Lauren stopped to question my actions, Olivia was in a full blown cry-fest, right alongside the now doughy Lauren.  Oh joy.

Lauren was in hysterics now, and the only way I could calm her down was by telling her to stop crying so I could take a picture and show it to her.  No lie. It works every time.  She loves to see pictures of herself, regardless of what she may be feeling at that moment.  So I used it to my advantage here, apparently as a coping mechanism.  I must've worked on me too, because I found myself calming down too.  After seeing her picture Lauren wanted to go and take a bath, of which I was happy to oblige.

Check out how much flour she got in her ear! And this is from the flour dust cloud alone.  No direct ear-to-flour container contact was made here.  Needless to say that the bath water resembled some kind of modge podge mixture by the time she was washed off and hosed down.

Once Lauren was out of the bath and dressed again, she saw the mess in the kitchen and began to cry, "I'm so sorry mom. So sorry".  I gave her a hug and began the clean-up task just in time for Nathan to walk in and save the day (i.e. taking the girls for an afternoon park play session, so I could finish cleaning up and mopping solo).  What a Sunday! And all before dinner...

Nationals vs Rockies

We went to our first game at the Nationals baseball stadium yesterday, to watch them play none-other-than the Colorado Rockies.  We went with our great friends, Luke and Jessica Stumme, whom we usually go to Colorado affiliated sporting events with, as Luke is also a Colorado native.

It was a great game!...for the Rockies' fan that is!  Colorado ended up winning 7-1.  The weather was beautiful for a noon-time game; however, sitting in the plastic seats in the direct sunlight got a bit sweaty and warm by the third inning. Especially since I'm quite apparently an amateur at buying tickets for this ball park and bought tickets in what seemed like the only spot not covered by an overhang to block the sun. Super amateur of me!  But Nate and the Stumme's were good sports about my flawed seating selection and we spent about half the game standing up in the back of our section out of the direct sunlight.  Half the game you say?!  This was actually a super quick game by baseball standards, so we really were only up there standing a little over an hour or so.  And half of this time was spent eating our ballpark lunch at the bar-height ledge overlooking the field, so we were all pretty content.  The fact that the Rockies were leading the entire game too probably helped our jolliness too! ;0P

The Nationals Stadium is located in downtown D.C., with some not too shabby sites to be seen from the gallery level seating.  Yep, great view of the National Capital building from our standing seats.  Though I'll still have to give the St. Louis Cardinals the hands-down best view/ambiance from their Busch Stadium ballpark (picture the St. Louis Arch looming in the background, plus the mighty Mississippi rolling just beyond that...a definite bucket-list item for the avid baseball fans out there!).

Oddly enough, just like we did back in St. Louis, we rode the Metro into the stadium (yep, both city's transportation systems are called "The Metro"; though St. Louis' is obviously not as robust as D.C.'s).  It was standing room only on the way back, but well worth the missed traffic, parking fees, and saved time of driving to D.C. ourselves.  Great inaugural trip to the Nationals Stadium...definitely looking forward to going back.  Now we just need to decide whether or not Lauren and Olivia are ready for their inaugural trip!  But with our favorite water-filled Yards Park literally two blocks away from the stadium, sounds like a good possibility they'll both get to go to their first professional baseball game while we're stationed here in D.C.!

Livy LOVES Mascara!

Lauren fell asleep on the way home from the sprayground this afternoon, so I was nearly able to take a shower without worrying about what was happening to the house.  Nearly.  Nearly because this afternoon I had an awake Olivia (whom is usually napping at this time) to keep tabs on.  So in order to take a much needed shower, I brought Olivia into my room with some books and her doll and just closed the bedroom door.  She proceeded to sit down and look at her books with her baby in her lap.  Since Olivia hasn't yet mastered the art of door knob opening yet, I thought I was pretty much safe.  Famous last words.  I had just washed the conditioner out of my hair when I realized I'm not the only one in the bathroom.  There was Olivia.  Standing on the toilet, hoovering over my toiletries basket that I keep on the back basin of the toilet.  I then peak out of the shower, "Oliviaaaaa, what are you doing?"  She is a bit startled, but turns around and flashes a big, proud smile at me...showing me that she has, in traditional Little Olsen girl fashion, begun applying mascara to her face.

If you look closely at her right eye/the reader's left, she has in fact been able to apply mascara to her eyelashes.  And I will admit that this "look" she's given herself is absolutely emphasizing her baby blues. Definitely drawing attention to her eyes. ;0P Guess we just need to work on her precision strokes...or perhaps my make-up hiding skills!

Our Special Harbor Sprayground

The sprayground has finally opened during the week at the Lee Rec Center by our house!

It has been open on weekends since Memorial Day, but now that Fairfax County schools are out for the summer, it's open weekdays too. Woohoo for us!  Even more "woohoo", is that this sprayground is free to the public!  I should also add that we would gladly pay to play in this water wonderland because it's really that good.

The pirate ship! Equipped with sails, water dump buckets, and water shooting cannons!

The water spitting water serpent.

"My Gulls" boat, complete with water pouring mast and back deck fountains.

Olivia's preferred snuggle partner at the sprayground, our friend, Reagan Holmes. As if Reagan, mother to four, didn't have enough to look after at the sprayground already!

So now every morning when Lauren wakes up, she asks to put on her swimsuit and go to the water park to play with her friends.  Most days, I'm able to oblige! ;0)

Olivia's First Biting Incident

Unfortunately we experienced Olivia's first biting incident today.  If there's a bright side, at least it was Lauren that was the bitee, verses another mother's child.  That might sound bad, but as most mothers would agree, it's better to keep these incidents in the family, verses our kids biting their friends or whomever they view as their current nemesis/rival/toy stealer.  Am I right? 

Though it looks like Lauren would be the biter per this picture, but they were actually just poking each other's tongues.  Weird?  Yes.  But it stemmed from an early morning game of "Name that Body Part" that I started between the two of them; hence the tongue poking.  Now where it got out of hand?  I'm not exactly sure.  But it was somewhere between changing diapers and changing their clothes that Lauren began screeching.  I turned around, from my 10 ft trip to the diaper pail, just in time to see Olivia rounding the corner into the dining room and Lauren in tears on the living room floor.  Lauren began to cry scream, "Mooooom, 'Livia bit me!"  Upon inspection, she surely had. :/ Even drug her top teeth down a bit while biting Lauren's shoulder.  My picture doesn't really do the damage justice, but Lauren's skin welted up pretty quickly.

I then go around the corner to find that Olivia had put herself in time-out in the dining room corner (we usually do time-out in the corner of our living room).  I will admit I was pretty hot at this point because Lauren was howling and this was the first time any of my kids has bitten anyone.  Looking back, I should've handled it better, especially when it came to dealing with Olivia.  I loudly/sternly asked Olivia what happened and Olivia said, "I bite", then pointed to her teeth.  "Why Olivia?!"  To which she responded with an outburst of crying and a heart-tearing lip quiver.  I felt awful I made her cry, but tried to keep on track with helping her understand that she cannot bite.  I picked her up and brought her into the living room to have her say sorry to Lauren and give her a hug.  Lauren was willing to accept a hug and apology, but Olivia was not ready to give one just yet.  I find it amazing that both my girls already seem to be able to feel the emotion of embarrassment (or at least that's what it looks like to my untrained eye).  After a couple minutes of buried heads and large tears, Olivia finally did give Lauren a "arry 'Livia" (remember, she calls Lauren "Olivia") and a hug.  And magically they were friends again.  I sure hope the process of saying sorry will get easier, because the process for these two is currently a tiresome 10 minute escapade!

...and here's a shot of the bite mark about 10 hours post-bite.  Olivia left her mark alright.  *sigh*  I hope this biting stuff doesn't stick around, or I need to get WAY better at dealing with the bitee. :0(  On a side-note, Lauren still has not ever bit anyone (knock on wood); however, she has been the bitee on numerous occasions (church, home, playground).  Should I be worried?  Sounds like she's great at taunting other's perhaps?  While wielding a great amount of self-control not to bite back?  Hmmmmm...food for thought...

Father's Day Escapades

Since Sunday was the only day that Jose really had to tour D.C., an area he has never before visited, we had to pack some sight-seeing into this Father's Day.  So after going to Sacrament Meeting, we all changed into our adventure clothes (girls in their swimsuits), and set-off to the National Mall.  We parked near the Vietnam Memorial and planned to make a loop of about four memorials, as we knew we had a limited amount of time before the girls would be ready to move on.

So we headed to the Vietnam Memorial, but not before Jose realized he forgot his camera at our house.  Nate and I had our phone cameras, but I think Jose wanted the assurance and experience of capturing this experience himself, so he went to find a camera.  No less than five minutes later, he returned, disposable camera in hand.  Nate and I were both a bit astonished. Nate even saying half laughing, "I didn't even know they still made those things anymore!"  What a techie world we live in when my "Mr. Adverse to Change/Technology" Nathan says something like this!  But now we know for future visitors! :)

After a short walk, we reached the Vietnam Memorial, where it was interesting to hear mom and Jose remember those boys/men they went to high school with that were lost during this war.  Very sobering.  I never stopped to think that it was my parents' generation that sacrificed the most lives for the Vietnam war.  I got a bit choked up at this, but was able to walk it off while we headed to the Lincoln Memorial.

Lauren loved holding Nana's hand...

Jose really seemed to love the Lincoln Memorial.  And I'll admit I love getting to see the expressions of those people that have never been to the National Mall before. A kind of awe-struck.  It's a bucket list item for sure, one I'm checking of monthly it seems.  There's just so much history to see, be it the monuments, museums, buildings, etc.  I'm appreciative that we have the chance to see it all...

Olivia is being held captive by Nate, after she tried to escape into the memorial's juniper bushes and granite paths.

A picture of the highly polished black granite wall with photographic images of military men and women who fought in the Korean War sandblasted into it's surface.

Mom and Jose with the soldier "V" formation in the background.

Lauren kept wanting to hold this soldier's hand, asking "Who is he mom?" Sadly, I have no answer.

Next we went to the World War II Memorial, but our visit there unraveled so fast I didn't have any time to get pictures.  Lauren was hot and didn't understand why she couldn't go play in the Memorial's fountains.  And without the ability to reason with her yet, we had to strap her kicking and screaming into the stroller and walk quickly back to the car.  Unfortunately this meant that Jose missed the Washington Monument all together; but we've promised him he can come stay with us anytime he wants to come back and see more sights.  Though after Lauren's melt-down, he may be convinced he's seen enough! ;0P

Since the Yards Park is minutes away from the National Mall, we took there girls there to cool off ASAP.  Here they had Nate in the water, holding buckets, and splashing around with them.  We also had a picnic there on the grass, and Papa Jose even managed to catch a cat-nap.

  

 
Then to top off this Father's Day, Papa Jose and Nana Barbie took everyone out for dinner in Old Town Alexandria.  After a bite to eat at Hard Times Cafe and a couple ice cream cones from The Creamery, we were having a blast at Waterfront Park.  Lauren was jumping off cannons and Olivia was making new doggie friends!

Daddy and his girls - Father's Day 2013

Papa Jose and the cannon crew sisters!

What a beautiful picture of Nana and Lauren

We discovered Olivia has a nervous twitch, pulling up her dress and showing off her belly.  Really.

Old Town Alexandria was hopping on Sunday Evening/Father's Day

Alexandria City Hall fountains, where we go to year-round Saturday morning Farmer's Market.

Then to end the marathon of Father's Day activities, Lauren took a victory lap around the fountains...much to daddy's dismay. She was picked up and carried off after these antics!  Ahhhhh, what a wonderful day!

Grandparents and Carousels

Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center

My mom and step-dad, Jose, came to town this past Thursday for a conference being held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center located at the National Harbor, just a 5 minute drive from our house.

Jose was attending a two-day counseling conference on marriage and families Friday and Saturday, so my mom came along to spend time with us Olsen's!  Little did she know we were going to be decorating and building a teepee, as well as going to see trucks (see previous posts); but she was a trooper, and said she was just happy to be spending time with us.  Good answer mom, I owe you one for tolerating our planned adventures!

So after Jose was done on Saturday evening, we all went to pick him up before heading to dinner.  Once we got near the National Harbor, we saw there was some sort of carnival/event happening down by the water.  So we parked the car to go check it out.  We met Jose in the grandiose lobby of the Gaylord and then headed towards the water.

It's a big shopping area, so of course mom and I stopped a time or two on our way down to check out the festivities.  Upon arriving down by the pier, we realized it was some sort of Beer fest, not exactly our type of fair.  But Jose and mom had yet to see this area, so we walked around and showed them The Awakening Sculpture (large man coming out of the sand play area), as well as the carousel play area.  But before we went to play on the carousel, we stopped into Potbelly's really quick and had dinner. 

The Awakening Sculpture at National Harbor

I should mention that Lauren has been sleeping the whole time up to this point.  She fell asleep in the car on the drive to get Jose, and continued to deep-sleep in the stroller all the way up to getting dinner (large crowds, warm weather, up and down sidewalks--nothing woke her!).  So we had to wake her up in Potbelly's because we knew she'd be hungry and we were going to the carousel area next!  She was very shy and reserved after Nate woke her, very uncharacteristic of her.  But she began to liven up after eating a bit, and really livened up when we walked over to the carousel.  Olivia and Lauren rode the carousel until their fake horse's shoes were coming off!  Okay, not really, but they rode it about 5 times each (good thing Military families get a discount on the all-day carousel rides!).  

 Lauren with Papa Jose and Nana Barbie on the way to the carousel.

They also have a playground attached to the carousel area, so the girls played their little hearts out on the slide and bouncy riders.  After about 40 minutes in the carousel/playground area, we realized we were wiped and had been out in the sun pretty much all day (minus Papa Jose-he was the studious one of the day). 

Olivia lounging on Papa Jose while waiting to go to the car.

So we headed back to the car, stopping once along the way to look at a sports equipment/attire store.  But there was too much fluorescent in their shoes and clothing for Nate's taste...so we headed home...all worn out from our day's adventures (Truck Touch, final teepee construction, and National Harbor activities).  What a day!