Udvar-Hazy with the Barhams

In honor of Joseph's birthday we were visited by Aunt Peggy and Uncle Charles. The boys were thrilled and the timing was perfect. John had two days off of school for parent/teacher conferences.

On Thursday, Aunt Peggy, Uncle Charles, John and I went to see the Pompeii exhibit at the National Gallery. Sadly we arrived without any cameras. The exhibit was beautiful but it was all John could do to maintain any sort of interest.

On Friday we pulled James out of school and took John's friend Nicholas with us to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum in Dulles. Airplanes and boys are always a great combination.

Mimi and Aunt Peggy took over Joseph so I could keep up with the three more mobile boys.


Here they all are, looking so sweet and innocent!

While we were there we watched the IMAX movie Blue Planet. The movie was excellent but a bit dry. Mimi and Aunt Peggy did their best to stay awake. I would have fallen victim as well had it not been for a bundle of energy (Joseph) sitting in my lap!

While we waited for the movie Lang gave James spinning rides on the back of his wheelchair. Mom's with kids on steroids (which causes thinning of the bones) just love this sort of thing! Nonetheless I managed to say not a thing and took a picture. Can you see how happy he is?


Joseph and Nicholas are big fans of one another. Here Nicholas is retrieving Joseph from wherever he had escaped to this time.


For the first time, we took the elevator up to the simulated air traffic control tower. It was foggy and rainy so we couldn't see much, but it was still pretty cool. Uncle Charles, Aunt Peggy and Mimi kindly posed for my camera!


Dueling wheels!


There is a fountain in front of the Udvar-Hazy Museum and of course my boys and Nicholas found it. They tried collecting the money inside, not quite getting the point. They were merely damp as a result of this adventure.


John actually stopping long enough for a picture...

James Turns 5 (and Joseph 2) - Family Party

Of course a birthday is never complete without entirely too many celebrations. James received a stomp rocket and John received an air pump rocket from school, both were opened on Saturday. The rockets have been flying red glare. So far I've been targeted by John, James and Lang. I think Joseph would target me if he could figure how to get it to fly more than 12 inches. Somehow this has become and indoor toy...

We used the same cakes at both celebrations. Here is one of them at the Panda Party while still in one piece. Mimi was wonderful and arranged for the cakes, decorations and party favors.


When we arrived home from the Panda Party, James went immediately for the gifts.


Of course I panicked, we needed to track the gifts as they were opened! Thankfully Aunt Barb and Granny took charge!


This gift was for James, but note who can't wait for Daddy to get it out of the packaging!


Hmmm...I wonder what is in this bag?!?!?!


As usual, Joseph settled on a "toy" we already have as his favorite.

James Turns 5 - Panda Party!

This summer James was quite taken by the movie "Kung Fu Panda." He also attended his friend's tae kwon do party in May. The result? James is now referred to as "the Panda" and attends "Panda Class." Not surprisingly, he dressed as Kung Fu Panda for Halloween.

Alarmingly I allowed all of this to occur without having ever seen the movie. James saw it twice and the grandparents gave it the A-OK. I finally saw pieces of the movie on Sunday after James' party.

For his birthday, James had a Kung Fu Panda party at tae kwon do. The staff there are wonderful and James had the time of his life. His eyes shown and I will never forget the smile on his face. It was all a mother could hope for after such a difficult year and having missed his party last year because he was too sick to have one.

This is James in one of his tae kwon do uniforms. They gave him the head band for the party. With his chubby cheeks and loose clothing you can almost see why we call him the Panda!

Getting ready to do some moves. James got to "help" out by recalling the names of the moves and demonstrating. He was quite the little peacock!


John standing at attention, or whatever they call it in the martial arts. This would actually be a good activity for him as well. It is all about the time...


Look at the boy kick! There is another adult holding a target for him.


Preparing to break a board. Is James really that strong, is his technique really that good or is the wood that weak?


My Pizza Panda!

49 Hours

Joseph will be two on Friday. I am holding my breath. Here is what has transpired in the last 49 hours...

• Joseph opened the egg carton while in the grocery cart and chucked eggs onto the floor in the dairy aisle at Safeway. He then missed his Tumbles class because another child has a severe egg allergy and one of our kids had to miss. Joseph chucked the eggs...
  
• Joseph colored with blue non-washable crayon (I didn't even know some of these found their way into the house) on the walls in three rooms.
• Joseph poured out the remains of a water bottle THREE times! James watched the first one, Lang the second (he couldn't do anything, being on crutches and all) and everyone but me watched the third one.
• Joseph has played in the bathroom toilet, twice. Once with a toy (toilet had just been freshly cleaned, thank goodness!) and the other I'm not sure of, but it took a towel and lots of soapy water to finish the job!
  
• I locked myself out of the bathroom because Joseph was playing in the water.
• Joseph sent the high chair careening down the basement stairs.
• Joseph brought me the plunger, twice, even after I "hid" it from him the first time. Gross! It is now even out of my reach!
  
• Joseph pulled a bunch of John's hanging clothes out of the closet and put them in the laundry basket.

I'm sure there's more...but I'm out of time! I just couldn't let these pass without being recorded. That is the only reason why there is not a picture of his "sweet" little face gracing this blog entry!

Friday Adventures: National Mall

I know it has been a long time since I have updated the blog. I have a lot to add from the last two months. We have had many fun adventures, but the time required to accomplish the adventure sucked up my blogging time. Hopefully I will be caught up by Thanksgiving.

Today after school I took the boys to the National Mall. Our goal was to take pictures of the museums and other "attractions." We will then create our own map of the Mall which we will use in deciding which museums to visit.

Upon arrival, I gathered the boys for our first picture - The Capitol!


I often take more than one shot in order to ensure I end up with a good picture (which still doesn't always happen). For my second shot John's camera came out.


And here is the result!


I had trouble getting the boys to move on because of the ducks. John easily took 15 pictures just like this one!

From here we headed over to the Botanical Gardens for a picture. No sooner than we arrived did James announce he needed to go to the bathroom. Thank goodness for all of the free museums! We walked right in, saw some neat plants, I made lots of promises about how we would be coming back, and finally we found the bathrooms!

By the time we got out of the Botanical Gardens the sun was thinking about setting. Note that Joseph is more interested in James than me. James and John kept climbing on the rim of the reflecting pool. I had images of taking wet children home. Worst thing that happened was that James put his hand in duck poop. Yuck!


On the way to the National Gallery of Art the boys decided to sword fight. Yeesh!


However, they gave me a VERY cute picture!


Can you see all of us in this picture? My head is obscured by the large white dot in the middle.


Joseph had a great time with his crazy brothers!


This is as close as we came to the Washington Monument. It was beginning to get dark and I didn't think any of us had it in us to trek the additional two blocks to the base. Isn't the monument beautiful in the sunset?


I think the Capitol looks pretty cool too...


James and Joseph had a great time playing around while John and I tried to figure out what was next.


The boys had all kinds of questions about the Smithsonian Castle. Who built it? Is it real? Was it built in 14 BC? And...it can't be real because it has electricity!