Sweet Tooth!

Sunday was a really fun day! Mom and I got to see the Easter bunny, though the logistics were quite the nightmare and it took forever to actually get my picture. I was one of the few kids there who wasn't terrified of the bunny, though.

After the bunny, we met daddy (he was at a swim clinic) and drove to DC. We had lunch at Graffiato, a delicious restaurant that had wood fired pizzas. Mom and I split one that had ricotta, prosciutto, and honey! It was quite yummy :)

Then we got to walk across the street to the CIRCUS! I was pretty overwhelmed at first and started crying once they turned the lights off. I told mom I was tired, then I started crying because I missed kitty. Mom thinks I was just tired. Daddy took me out to the concourse and had a little talk with me. We took a walk, I calmed down, and we went back in. By that point, I was loving it and dancing in my seat to the music. The lions and tigers were out when we got back and we got to see them do all sorts of tricks. I told mom the guy who was in the cage was crazy to be in there with them!



We saw lots of other really cool things. Funny clowns, crazy people doing acrobatics really high up in the air, and even two crazy women who hung by their hair! There were also horses and elephants and dogs who all did pretty cool tricks. There were 5 or 6 big elephants and a baby elephant. When they came out the second time, the baby elephant wan't there. I told mommy I thought he had grown up and wasn't a baby anymore. There was a cage with a bunch of motorcycles in it too. They got up to 8 motorcycles - I didn't think they would all fit, but somehow they managed! That was pretty scary to watch, but very impressive!

Mom and dad bought me a heart wand that spins. I don't know how else to describe it. You push a button, it spins and lights up. I was totally enamored with it and mom finally broke down and got it for me. She figured it was better than loading me up with loads of sugary cotton candy or a snow cone. I had a lot of fun at the circus and would love to go back again some day!

When we got home, it was almost time for bed, so we had a quick dinner, then got ready for bed. As I was putting on my jammies, mom asked me to brush my teeth. I told her she was silly and that I couldn't do two things at the same time because I only have two hands and am not a robot! Smart girl, huh???

Can you believe that we had snow on Monday morning? We had a few inches by the time I went to school, but it was mostly melted by the afternoon. Pretty crazy for late March!



Daddy had to travel again the beginning of this week, so it's just mom and I for a few days. I had my first Monday swim class last night. My class this time was really small (3 kids instead of the 6 in my class last session). I did a great job and was able to float on my tummy (by myself) with my face underwater for over 10 seconds! My teacher said that if I did as well next week that they want to move me up to the next level!

Tonight, mom and I had a quick dinner at Whole Foods, then did our grocery shopping. We even ran into my friend, Sam, who we haven't seen in a few months! It was really great to see him! I picked out lots of fresh fruit - pineapple, berries, melon, and some oranges. Yum! Mom even let me get a chocolate covered pretzel since I ate a good dinner. Maybe it was just that she wanted one too, but whatever the reason, I'm not complaining!

On our way home, I sat in my carseat, grinned, and asked mom to look at me in the mirror. I oriented at my teeth and asked mom which one was my sweet tooth. Ha ha! Child logic is so literal sometimes!

Good night!

Long Week!

After daddy's marathon on Saturday, we took it easy on Sunday. Poor daddy had to hop on a plane early Sunday afternoon and head to California for work for the week. Needless to say, the marathon was scheduled before he knew when this trip would be, so there wasn't much he could do about it. He had to go for a tradeshow, no less, so he had to stand on hard, concrete floors all week, too. If that's not a true test, I don't know what is.

Mom and I had a pretty good week, though we ate out far more than we should have. Not that I'm complaining! With the marathon on Saturday and being tired on Sunday, we didn't really shop for food for the week and by the time we get home from work and school, it ended up being easier to just go out. So we had a nice week of Pho, Sushi, and Panera (mac and cheese is my favorite - are you surprised???).

Daddy got home really late Thursday night, so he came in and gave me a hug and kiss goodnight. I remembered the next morning and told mommy how happy I was that he was home. But we really didn't get to see him till we got home from swimming on Friday night. Definitely a long week!

I had fun picking out some funny jammies this week. What do you think?



I also had my last swimming class for this session on Friday. I passed every skill except for holding my breath under water for 10 seconds. I think I got to 7 or 8, just not *quite* the whole way. I'm starting the next session on Monday and then start soccer in a few weeks as well. Hopefully the weather warms up a bit between now and then!



Today, we're headed to the CIRCUS!!! I can't WAIT! I'm guessing I'll have an update with some cool pictures later...

Daddy's First Marathon!

Daddy ran his first marathon yesterday and totally rocked it! His goal was to beat 4 hours with a stretch goal of 3:56. He finished in 3:55:07. That's no joke! For 26.2 miles (plus a little since you usually end up running a little long due to the layout of the course). I'm so, so, so proud of him!

 http://running.competitor.com/cgiresults?eId=54

I went to bed pretty early on Friday night in preparation of having to get up early on Saturday to spectate. Much to mom's chagrin, I woke up at 3:20 really scared that there was a witch in my room. Darn Miss Viola Swamp book that we read in school - that's caused so many dreams about witches in the past few months :( Mom's alarm was set for 4:45 anyway, so needless to say, we didn't get much sleep on Friday night.

Daddy took Metro to DC and mommy and I drove down and parked near the restaurant where we were planning on having lunch. We had a great spectating plan that called for us seeing daddy at miles 5, 13, 20, and the finish. We had a lot of walking / Metro riding to do, so mom left the stroller at home. I'm kind of too big for the stroller anyway, but it also makes navigating the Metro system much more difficult. I decided I wanted to carry my backpack with me which had some paper, markers, and a few stuffed toys. Mom told me I could take it, but had to carry it all by myself, and I agreed. She carried a bigger backpack with some ponchos, an umbrella, a change of clothes for me, and a portable potty, just in case! The weather was supposed to be kind of cold and rainy, so we were hoping for the best and hoping to not get soaked!

We parked and set out to the first spot - mile 5. We parked in Adams Morgan and walked a little over a mile to Rock Creek Parkway. It was a long walk, but we stopped at Starbucks to go potty, get coffee for mom, and a snack for me (I picked out some cheese, fruit, almonds, and crackers!) I was a trooper and held mom's hand and walked the whole way there. There was a rock ledge there, so we were able to sit for a while and have a snack while we waited for daddy. I wore my Minnie ears and shook my cowbell. We saw daddy and he threw us his arm warmers - it had warmed up significantly between the start and mile 5!

 

 After we saw him at mile 5, we stopped at the "portabella" potties (but I let all the runners go first) and walked back to Dupont Circle Metro to head to Union Station to catch mile 13. We stopped at the bathroom at Union Station again since they were real potties and we had enough time to do that and still get to mile 13. My feet started to get tired walking up the hill, but we had a really pretty walk towards the Capitol.

 

 I got to sit down and eat some of my snack when we got there. I gave the Brie to mom, but I really liked the almonds! Turns out we were close to mile 14 and we saw daddy shortly after we got there. He said he was still feeling pretty good.

We headed back to Union Station to take Metro to Mile 20 in Anacostia. There were Metro delays and we had to wait 15-20 minutes before we could get going. When we got to Anacostia, the race was much farther away from the Metro station than we anticipated. It was pretty warm by that point and we had to pretty much run about a half mile to get to where we needed to be. Based on daddy's GPS, we thought he had already passed us by the time we got there. Turns out we had gotten there just a few minutes before he did, but by the time we saw him, we were already walking in the other direction. Mom tried to catch up to him to let him know we were there, but he didn't see us and I got upset because I thought mom was leaving without me (she was maybe 100 ft in front of me and of course never would have left without me!!!).

We ended up grumpily hiking back to the Metro. I was so tired by then and started crying because my muscles hurt. I powered through, though, and got to sit and rest my legs on the Metro back to the finish line. We made it there before daddy did and were able to find a spot along the fence by the finish chute and were able to yell really loudly for daddy as he came through. He didn't see us because he was so focused on the finish, but that's ok. He was working so hard and looked like he was struggling at that point. We saw Molly not far behind him - she had gone back after finishing the half to help him run in the finish.

We all met afterwards and congratulated daddy. Sof, Angela, Molly, and Wendy had all run the half, so they were all there too (along with Steve, Jay, and Paul who were also there spectating). Daddy knew he finished in 3:55 something, but wasn't sure what the official time was. After stretching and winding down a little, we all made our way back to the restaurant for some post race BBQ (and beer for the adults). Since this was the Rock and Roll National Marathon, there was lots of music at the finish. I really enjoyed dancing and being goofy :)

 

 

 Lunch was yummy, but I didn't eat too much. I had a few glasses of OJ, though, so that was good. Walking back to the car, we saw this goofy car. Weird, huh?

 

We were all pretty tired by the time we got home, so we all took a short nap, but not too long since it was late in the day. Mom figured out that she and I walked about 7.5 miles total during the day, and I was with her the entire time, so that's how far I walked too - that's A LOT for a little girl!!! I was SUCH a trooper and behaved so well the entire day. Mom let me  have mac and cheese for dinner since she and daddy weren't too hungry. Then I got to take a bath in mommy and daddy's tub (it's kind of like swimming - pretty fun!) while mom took a shower. When I had my jammies on, daddy made some jello with me. I picked out raspberry and lime and we made the raspberry last night and will layer the lime on top today. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

After training for the marathon, daddy's going to switch to triathlon training mode. He's got one in May and another in June, with a 10 mile running race in April as well. I'm so proud of daddy and can't wait for the next race to watch!

Taxi

I've learned about bus stops lately and like to point them out whenever we drive anywhere. On our way home from school last night, I also pointed out all of the taxis. I said to mom:

"Some people call a taxi a taxi, some people call it a car, and some people call it a cabbage. No wait, what do some people call it?"

Ha ha! Mom laughed immediately. I knew "cabbage" wasn't right, but couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong about it...

The letter of the week in my class is M. Mom and I were talking about things that I could take for show and share and I immediately piped in with Mars and Mercury! Too bad I don't think we have anything that has Mars and Mercury to take. Maybe I'll take my Minnie Mouse ears! Last time the letter M came up, I took my spinning Minnie Mouse that Grammy bought me at Disney last year.

Tonight I got to do yoga while mom "ran" on the treadmill. She's done a few miles so far and it hurts a lot, but doesn't make her foot any worse, so her doctor said to try it and they'll re-evaluate the first week of April. This has gone on long enough - she's really ready for it to be over!

Wonderful Sunday!

What can I say? An awesome nights sleep (rare in this house), a peaceful morning, and a nice and sunny day made for an awesome, awesome Sunday! I was so tired when we got home from the tailgate last night that mom carried me in and took me to the bathroom, took my shoes off, and put me to bed with my clothes on.

Dad fell asleep reading on the couch and mom woke up at the crack of dawn, WIDE AWAKE, so got up and had a cup of coffee and finished her book before I got up. Because of the time change, she got up around 7 and I didn't get up till almost 9 - that NEVER happens!

I had a granola bar for breakfast - not the healthiest choice, but it's what I wanted. After that, we got dressed and went outside. Mom hung out on the deck in the sun with another cup of coffee and I mowed the lawn with my bubble mower and swung in the hammock. I took my platypus (Platy) out with me and swung her and sang her songs.



I ran up and down the hills a few times, then we went in to make lunch. I had a sunbutter and jelly sandwich that I made all by myself and mom had a bowl of pasta salad. Yum! We played for a while, then went for a family walk at the state park nearby. There's a trail that goes around the lake - we only walked for a little over a half hour because daddy had to be somewhere this afternoon, but we had SO much fun. I got to pet a few doggies along the way - Rosie was a big, pretty Golden Retriever who looked like Jackson. And she had a "sister" named Sadie, whom I also got to pet. I did a lot of running and tuckered myself out. Mom and I tried to stop at the playground on our way home, but there were no parking spaces and I had to go potty, so we went home instead. We ended up taking showers and going out for an early dinner. We went to Dogfish and I got my norm - mac and cheese and lemonade! Mom even let me get dessert - we split a great piece of cheesecake with strawberries!



Check out this huge tree that fell down! They cut out a big section in the middle so people could still walk on the trail.



My legs were tired, so we took a little break.



Yummy cheesecake!



All in all, a superb day! We were all in a great mood - the sun has a way of making that happen!

DC United!

I woke up at 5:20 this morning and was terrified that Sher Khan (sp?) was going to get me. The tiger from the Jungle Book. I must have been dreaming. Mom got up to help me, but wasn't so thrilled about getting up so early. After she got me to calm down, I went back to sleep and got up around 7 for the day. Mom still wasn't ready to get up, but she did so reluctantly. I only wanted raisins for breakfast, so that's what I had, even though she told me that wasn't really enough.

Mom put on the rest of Mary Poppins for me, so I finally got to finish watching it. I liked the movie a lot and kept singing "Spoonful of Sugar" the rest of the day. When we had lunch, I told mom it was most delightful :)

After lunch, we got our stuff ready for the soccer game tonight. As we were packing my backpack for the DC United tailgate and game, I was gathering the snacks I wanted and I got really excited and asked mom if we could pack some junk, lol. Though I'm a really great eater, I do have a terrible sweet tooth! I ended up packing some dried fruit, some colored gold fish, and a bottle of water, so I guess that's not too bad. I also put in some markers, crayons, bubbles, a tablet of paper so I could draw, and Squeaky, the penguin mom bought me at the aquarium. She is aptly named Squeaky because, you guessed it, she squeaks!

After we ate, mom showered and we went out to ride my bike for a bit. After going back and forth in front of the house a few times, we decided to walk down the hill and ride through the rest of the neighborhood which is a lot flatter. I did GREAT and rode all by my self! When we got down the street, there were no kids at the playground, so mom let me stop and play for a bit. I'm learning to pump my legs to keep me going, but I don't really pump them hard enough to make enough of a difference.

Do you like the outfit I chose? Even the socks are mismatched.



I think mom and dad need to raise my seat this year. I'm slightly taller than last season!



Swinging was fun!



When daddy came home from his run (the last "long" one before the marathon next Saturday!), we drove to the tailgate. I had a blast there, but was the only kid there since Arabelle didn't come and Gabriel moved to Texas :( I missed my friends, but had a great time. Mom even let me have a green cupcake! I played with my soccer ball with some of mom and dad's friends, so that was fun. Now I can't wait for my soccer class to start again!



This awesome van pulled up partway through the tailgate. I thought it was pretty cool.



All bundled up and ready to head in to the stadium!



The game was awesome and DC beat Real Salt Lake 1-0! Woo hoo! I told mom and dad I wasn't tired, but what do you think???



I'm hoping the weather is nice tomorrow (it's supposed to be) so we can go to a new park! Mom says we might even take her bike and the bike trailer. We'll see!

Slow Driver

Kids are far more observant than adults give them credit for. This morning on our way to school, we got behind a really slow driver through the neighborhood. I told mom that he was driving like a snail and she agreed :) Then he started driving on the left side of the road. I told her that he was on the wrong side of the road and she agreed again. Then I told her that if he couldn't drive the right way, he should just park his car and ride the bus. Ha ha!

I had swimming tonight. Mom got stuck on the Metro, so dad had to take me. Mom met us there and we went out for Chinese food. So much for the workouts mom and dad had planned! I did really well at swimming tonight and was able to float on my stomach and back for 10 seconds each. I think I'll probably pass on to the next level when this session is over. Swimming at the beach this summer ought to be a ton of fun! My confidence in the water is much improved over last summer.

I got to take a nice long shower when we got home, then I read a book to mom, she read a book to me, and we all snuggled for a bit. Kitty even had a hilarious session of playing "bed monster" with me while we read. Everytime I'd move my feet even just a little under the covers, she'd attack and jump. It went on for a good 10 minutes and made mom and I laugh a lot.

The weather's supposed to be gorgeous this weekend - hopefully we can get outside for a bit!

Happy Friday everyone!

Kindergarten Bound :)

I was officially accepted into the Kindergarten program at my school for the fall! Huzzah! I'm almost a week in to the pre-K class and am loving it so far. I love the teachers and have made a lot of new friends. Today we learned about art and got to tour the "Goddard Museum" (i.e. the art that the kids have made that is hanging up on the walls around school).

My school pictures are tomorrow and I'm really excited to wear a fancy dress to school. I would wear a dress, tights, and dress shoes every day if mom would let me. But for some reason she thinks that's not a great idea on a daily basis. Something about the playground, gym, paints, and other art materials.

The weather today was beautiful, but we didn't get to go outside because the playground was a little too wet. But we got to do yoga in my classroom, so that was fun. But it was almost 50 degrees and of course there was no snow (or slush as the case may be) left on the ground. Hopefully tomorrow! And I have swimming tomorrow - last week I was able to float on my stomach by myself, so I'll keep working on that tomorrow night and see if I can float on my back this time.

TGI Almost Friday!

Snowquestration!

What a bust! I was all excited to get snow and go outside to play in it, but alas, it was really just a bunch of slush that didn't even stick to the roads or sidewalks. The grass was white, but looked really gross and heavy. The federal government was closed, which meant that mom's office was closed (meaning she had to work from home). My school closed at noon, so mom decided to just keep me home rather than running out and going back to get me a few hours later.

I had a fun day and was generally really well behaved. Mom had a bunch of conference calls, so I had to find quiet toys and play in a different room, but it all worked out. Mom even gave me a lollipop after breakfast to keep me quiet. I win! I did lots of puzzles, played with my dollhouse, played with my stuffed animals and pretended that I was their veterinarian, painted a few pictures, played with my iPod, built some things with legos, sang some karaoke with my Cinderella microphone, and ate tons and tons of snacks. I must be growing because I think I was on my third breakfast by 9am, ha ha. I ate an entire bowl (adult size) of oatmeal with peanut butter, that same size bowl full of honeydew and cantaloupe, and wheat pretzels with hummus. And that was all before lunch. Crazy.

My FAVORITE part of my day was that daddy painted my toe nails! The toes on one foot are green and the toes on the other are purple. I was so excited to tell mommy and even told her that now I could live happily ever after with daddy :)

None of us felt like cooking dinner, so we ordered a pizza - my favorite is with ham and pineapple and garlic sauce for the crust - yum!

Mom and I curled up on the couch after dinner and watched half of Mary Poppins. I laughed and laughed, but was really upset that the movie was too long to watch the whole thing before bedtime. I cried when we had to turn it off, but mom and dad tell me I can finish watching it another night.

Anyway, I'm kind of glad the "storm" turned out to be nothing. It was nice to have a day at home and it shouldn't be too bad out tomorrow!

Kitty read books with us at bedtime tonight, so I wanted my picture taken with her and my buddies, Horton and Cookie Monster :)

Clean Up!

I really know how to say the right thing to get what I want (or get out of doing what I don't want to do). I was really slow to get ready for school this morning and nearly made mom late for work. She'd have to ask me to do things repeatedly and I even got annoyed at her repeating herself. We had a chat about it and I think I'll do a better job listening tomorrow!

One of the things I didn't do this morning was clean up my toys like she asked. I promised her I'd do it when we got home tonight. Well, on the way home, we were talking about the need to clean up tonight and here's how the conversation went:

Mom: "We're going to go home, have dinner, and clean up before bed, right?"

Me: "Well, mom. I was thinking I'd clean up on the weekend. I'd rather spend time with you tonight."

Sigh. Mom didn't appreciate that too much. I think I'm still going to have to clean up tonight...but maybe I'll get some extra books or snuggle time at bedtime!

Pre-K!

My first day in Pre-K was AWESOME! I made lots of new friends and got to make a constellation out of marshmallows and toothpicks. I named mine "Star." Another friend named theirs "Marshmallow." How original.

It really hit mom when she picked up my daily sheet and it said "Pre-Kindergarten" instead of "Preschool!"



I'm also still very fiercely independent, especially when it comes to choosing my clothes. Here's my choice for today...what do you think?



I was having some trouble listening today when mom and I went out for lunch, so we took a little nap when we got home. Mom had only intended on laying down for a few minutes, but we both fell asleep and woke up an hour later. Guess we needed that!

Happy weekend everyone!