Preschool Program

Lots of good news this week! One bit of great news-my brother Aaron in L.A. who works for Deloitte and Touche just got accpeted into Duke's MBA program which he'll start this summer! Aaron has always been so goal oriented and he knew he wanted to go to Duke as a teenager and he's accomplished his goal! GREAT JOB AARON!

Another bit of great news is I had my dear friend Lynn out here in DC this week and we had so much fun playing! Lynn and I originally met in Nairobi. Her husband is going through the State Dept's GSO training and Lynn came out to visit him, but I think she and I spent more time together than her and her husband. We shopped while Duane watched the kiddos (including her sweet baby girl Anna). We also had lunch and dinners together including the infamous "5 Guys". We had a blast together. Get out here soon Lynn!

I was also so touched and emotional at Austin's adorable patriotic preschool graduation on Thursday. He had a speaking part and they sang wonderful patriotic songs. Then at the end they sang a song about how to 'take a look at me now and enjoy me while I'm young because I will be big someday'. That sent me over the edge.
Tears were flowing as Duane is laughing at me. The video camera was shaking as I'm desperately trying to get every move of Austin on camera. I just want to keep both my kids ages 4 and 1 forever! Austin then jumped over a big line to show that he's done with the 3 yr old preschool program and he's heading into the 4's program next year. It was extremely special.


Duane and Austin had a ball this week as they watched Spider Man 3 together. It was "so cool!" Austin said! He's wants to go back to the theater with Daddy everyday. Duane also came back from Russia this week.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to do Entrees Made Easy and I have to say I love it! No chopping, cleaning, etc. Just put your meals together and take them home. Makes sense!
My older brother Christian had his 35th birthday on Thursday. Happy Birthday Chris! Have a great week!

Mother's Day 07'

Happy Mother's Day! This week was a great week and this weekened was even better. Although Duane does travel extensively, I must say that when he is home, he spoils me. My mother's day weekend started Saturday night on a date (sans the kiddos) at Ruth's Chris steakhouse with a dozen roses. Then Duane had to speak in church about mothers and was very publicly thankful for all of my efforts (always nice to hear). Then the mother's day dinner was all made for me. Tuscan chicken, sweet potatos, cinnmon apples, and complete with a mother's day cake. I then took a long nap (I don't remember my last nap) and he cleaned the entire house. I woke up and he was packed for Moscow and left. My mother's day was completely relaxing, spoiling and all about me. I loved it!


Austin made me a very special mother's day gift at his preschool. A little pot he fingerpainted with beans and a little flower candle inside. He was so proud to give me the gift. He then dumped all the beans out and wanted to plant the magic beans in our yard to see if a beanstalk would come up. Austin also started his "advanced beginner" swim lessons this week. He's doing great! Learning strokes, holding his breath, etc. He also has started asking me questions at the ripe old age of 4 that I don't know answers to. Such as, 'how do you make toothpaste?' and 'how do sharks get from the ocean or one aquarium to another?' He's already corrected me a few times.



Ashley is a ham! She's getting so vocal, saying 'love you' and 'thank you' and has increased the demands. Does that sound surprising? She's so much fun. She loves getting her white patent leather shoes out of her drawer every single morning and puts them on and grabs a makeup brush and tots around like she owns the place. She's also the welcoming committee for the gym nursery. As kids come and go, Ash yells "HI!" and "Bye!" She also has noticed when she passes gas-she says "toots!" Austin really likes that. In fact, that might be the coolest thing his sister has ever done up to this point.


Duane is off to Moscow and another location this week. He did a magnificent job for Mother's Day and I so appreciate him! I also love being a mom. My dear friend Abby is a tremendous mother and she sent me the lyrics to the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with revised words to sing to your little ones. Austin loves the song and Ash tries to sing along too. Here they are:
Twinkle, twinkle little Star
What a wonderful child you are!
Big bright eyes and rosy cheeks
A talented person from head to feet
Twinkle, twinkle little Star
What a wonderful child you are!

Have a great Mom's Day.
Love,
Angie

New York City

This week was SO MUCH FUN! First, Grandpa and Grandma from Charleston, SC came up on Monday to stay for a week. Austin and Ash were so excited! They call them the "Myrtle Beach" Grandma and Grandpa. We had a wonderful time together-soccer practices, games, preschool, etc. They saw the routine and did a GREAT job while I went out of town. As you can see, Ashley and Grandpa really connected. We love them and really appreciated them watching the kiddos!




I had a fabulous time in Manhattan with my dear friends/bridesmaids from college. We did about everything you could do in New York City. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria on Park and Lexington and enjoyed lots of fine-dining (kid free!), We also had a cameo on the Today show on Friday morning where Amy announced that she's having a girl by holding a banner up and we got on camera! We did a tour of the city on a double decker bus which was phenomenal to ride because we were so tired! We toured Greenwich, Soho, Little Italy and ate outdoors at a cozy little restaurant called Il Pilazzo. We then went to Chinatown and of course did the knockoff shopping on the infamous Canal street where I've never seen more Prada, Gucci and Dolce. Too bad it all looked too fake. Although, we did buy some Coco Chanel sunglasses...


We then saw a Broadway show "Hairspray". It was really cute. The next day we took the subway down to the World Trade Center and that was very sobering. We then went to the Statue of Liberty. To finish out our final day, we had to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by eating at Rosa Mexicano (amazing guacamole!) and that was just the beginning of our night! We then hit a number of clubs. We all laughed the next morning because we were so not used to staying up so late (the ones with kids-we were all feeling it!) but we had a blast being together-reminiscing, joking, etc. Nothing can beat a girls trip!

When I came back (I started missing the rugrats as soon as I got to the airport to depart) I was thankful to be home. The first thing Austin said was, "Mommy, you're on my bad-guy list. You were gone too long!"


Ashley and Austin are starting to play together more. As long as Austin can manipulate his way so that things work out in his favor, he always lets Ashley think she has the upper-hand. She's saying thank-you, bubbles, baby, names lots of animals and is starting short sentenes, "Bye baby!" "Hi woof-woof." She's now 17 months old. Where is the time going?

Earlier this week, Duane tiled another bathroom floor. He's quite the handyman! He got to spend some time at the White House during the Queen's visit here in DC. Lucky Dog.

Enjoy the spring that's finally here!
Love,
Angie

Gravelly Park, Wash DC

Austin got to be the "happy helper" at preschool this week, went to Madeleine's birthday party at Chucky Cheese, and won his little soccer game. Things were good for the lil' man. Austin asked me this week if he could marry his good girlfriend Madeleine. I said sure! Then he said, "I'll marry you both. That would mean a lot of kids mommy!" Didn't mormons do away with polygamy ages ago? Austin is such a great manipulator already. He'll phrase things in such ways to get his way...for food, toys, etc. His favorite songs he likes to hear over and over have now turned to the Beastie Boys: Beverly Hills and Brass Monkey. Oh yeah, and Winnie the Pooh.


Every single morning, Ashley will come from her room with her white patent leather shoes ready for me to put them on her. Then she'll go into my bathroom and dig into my makeup bag. Fingerpainting lipstick on her cheeks, brushing powder on her head, the more the merrier. Such a girly girl! She's also in this feisty stage too. It's funny now, but it won't be when the terrible two's roll around the corner. For example, if Austin takes something from her, or does anything to her she doesn't like, she'll scream like a teradactyl then attack! Fingernails to the eyes, rip your lips off, tries to take the eyebrows off your head! Watch out! You better stay on her good side. Poor Austin takes it. Although there will be the day when he's had enough....oh dear. Do I hear a great Ultimate Fighting Championship match?

Today we all went to Gravelly Park in DC and Austin flew his first kite! It's right next to Reagan airport so all the planes fly overhead as well. The kids loved seeing the planes so close. My ears are resonnating because of the jet engine roars..I probably did some hearing damage to everyone today.

Duane was in Oslo, Norway this week protecting Condi and he said that it was a beautiful country. (He brought back a Dale of Norway sweater for me-50% less expensive in Norway than what they sell them for here in the U.S.!) But my special agent hubby does far more than protecting diplomats or put his life on the line for our country...he's a great handyman! He turned a basement closet with rough-in plumbing, into a bathroom! He tiled the floor, put in the pedestal sink, toilet, lighting fixtures, painted, even decorated it! What a surprise! We also got new tile put into our home and finally got the vinyl out! We also re-carpeted everything. Ahhh! It's like a new home! If I knew he was this good at stuff, I would have put him to work on more stuff a long time ago. His honey-do list is growing....



Spring has sprung here in DC! Enjoy the warmth and outdoors like we are!
Love,
Angie

Florida Spring Break

There are bugs in Florida, but this one is NOT real. We returned on Wednesday from a nice long wonderful spring break visiting Pop and Grandma in sunny Gainesville Florida. It was perfect timing, because it was in the upper 70's, lower 80's there while it was in the 40's and windstorms in the DC area.

Florida is so nice! We always do the same things while we're visiting Pop and Grandma and we never get sick of it. These things include playing in the plastic pool, having water fights with the hose and the poor souls that get the broken squirt guns, feeding the ducks, playing in the park/playground, visiting the University of Florida-sometimes going by Lake Alice to see if any alligators are out sunning themselves, going shopping, playing with our big wheels and all of our outdoors toys which are different than the ones the kids play with at home, playing with "Happy Dog" (Pop and Grandma's miniature schnauzer), going to the local library, a weekend trip to West Palm Beach, playing at Gainesville Health and Fitness center where Pop referees the mens league (we always watch a game or two.) Basically, its time to just kick back and relax!

Chicago/Oprah Trip

I had a blast on our Chicago trip last week! I left my kids in Florida with the grandparents and set off to the Windy City kid-free, for a fun girls vacation!



We ate at Giardano's deep dish Chicago pizza twice in my 3 days there. We also had the famous Chicago stuffed hot dog at the Wiener Circle which weighed at least 1 lb. Thank goodness I brought my R-O-L-A-I-D-S. But we walked it all off as we walked around downtown for hours.




We did lots of shopping at the Water Tower and many other places downtown.





And we went to the Oprah show! The topic was on Dogs and is aired April 25th. Kendra and I were chosen to sit in the front and we were so excited!




Before the show started, I participated in a dance contest to win an Oprah T-shirt! They played "Who Let the Dogs Out" and I shaked around the Oprah stage and I deserved my hot pink O T-shirt I received! It was so much fun being up there!
After the show, Oprah did an after-show and then we got a tour of Harpo studios backstage pass because Kendra's daughter Kari is the webmaster for Oprah. It was so cool seeing where she receives all her mail, and all the back-stage type stuff! What a cool experience.

It was a great weekend full of fun, food, shopping and girlfriends. I'm already looking forward to next year's trip!

Easter

Easter came and went with a chill in the air and a light dusting of snow here in Northern VA!








Ashley eagerly followed Austin around with her Easter basket and didn't really know what to do, but quickly got the hang of picking up the eggs and dropping them in her basket.



There has always been a good rabbit that will come on Easter if we've been good and there's the "black hairy rabbit" that can come and leave rotten eggs. Thank goodness for Austin this year, the good rabbit came.

Happy Easter!

Baltimore Aquarium

This week Duane was in town and we maximized our time we all had together and had a ball!




This weekend we went to the Aquarium in Baltimore and really enjoyed it! Although after Austin had already seen Sea World and the Aquarium in Charleston, SC (which is truly the BEST aquarium ever!) we were a bit spoiled. But we had a lot of fun and Austin ran from exhibit to exhibit yelling, "Check this out!" Ashley also was thrilled and loved seeing the sea life! She's such a pipsqueak that we luckily can still fit her in the Baby Bjorn so it was easy to get around the very packed aquarium.
We then went to the Inner Harbor and walked around and got Marble Slab ice cream and of course the boys had to go into ESPN Zone.




Austin had many comical moments this week. Here are just a couple. He tattled on mommy as he threw his old piece of gum out the window and Duane yelled at him about littering and Austin retorted with, "mommy throws apples and banana peels outside her window all the time!" Busted. Also, he said his stomach hurt when we were in the car (you never know what might happen when a child says that) and we had just gotten Dunkin Donuts. You could tell he really wanted to eat the sweet powederd donuts he was staring at and licking his lips for as we were driving. Duane asked him, "Austin, if I give you a donut, are you going to be sick?" And Austin quickly grabbed the donuts and said, 'There's only one way to find out" and dug in. Finally, I told Austin to wash his hands before he eats dinner probably 4 times but he kept tuning me out and talking to himself and playing with his toys. Finally, the 5th or 6th time I said it again this time with a much more obvious crescendo in my voice. Austin looked up at me and said, "You're making me crazy in the head woman when you talk like that!"




Ashley is starting to dance. She taps her little feet-something that resembles the penguins in Happy Feet. She taps around and spins-sort of. She loves to follow Austin around and play with his toys. She is now imitating more and more animal sounds including dogs, cows, fish (we perfected that at the aquarium) and some commands. She is perfecting kisses and loves to give them out freely anytime, anywhere. It just warms our hearts!





I started jogging outside again this week enjoying the warm weather with the double stroller (its getting heavier as the kids are getting older....ugh!) We're getting ready to travel to Florida on Tuesday to spend some time with Pop and Grandma for a few days then go to Chicago with my buddy Kendra and see an Oprah show and enjoy Chicago with her daughter Kari.

I looked out the window this morning and screamed at Duane that his truck had been vandalized! It's horrible! Then I said, "April Fool's!" He didn't take that too lightly. He's never enjoyed any of my April Fool's Day jokes. You would just think that he would remember one of these years!

Happy April Fool's Day!
Angie