Happy 4th of July

I was supposed to be home packing on July 4th, and I was, but that evening I ended up down at the Washington Monument for fireworks. I had a couple of friends over when the idea that we all hop in the car and drive down to see the fireworks was presented. Considering I am two weeks from moving out of the country, it seemed like the perfect DC patriotic activity, especially when I realized that I have never been to the Mall to see the fireworks in the eleven years I have lived here. How on Earth is that possible? It was fantastic! I am so glad we went!


We lucked out and found a very close parking space right downtown, Almi was on her best behavior and the display was spectacular! We got terrific seats right front and center. It felt like the fireworks were exploding right above us the entire time and towards the end we even got rained on with fireworks debris! The weather was perfect (again!) and it was really nice to spend time with old friends. We put down our blanket and Almi got right to dancing. It drizzled for a few minutes, just enough to bring the humidity down a bit, and stopped in time for the show. Almi was prepped about what she was going to see but she was certainly taken off guard at first.


She wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first but when I pulled her on my lap to reassure her she said to me, "It not scary, Mama." She ended up loving it and when it ended asked me, "Where the light go?" I told her they were all done and she asked, "Why?" :-D We all had a great time!!

Look my foot, Mama!

Mother's Day

First, can I just say that I can't believe this is my second Mother's Day already!! Time is flying! I couldn't remember what were we doing last year so I had to go search for some photos to see.
Oh yes, that's right. We spent it with my own mother.

My poor Pumpkin was just getting over croup. And I had only been a parent for a couple of months. Both of us were exhausted and out of sorts.



This year was so different! I am in a groove. My girl is healthy and happy. Although I didn't get up to visit my mom this year, it was still very enjoyable. Love you, Mom!! You are the best! You stay with us in our hearts, always. Your love and guidance and affection for me make it so easy to love my girl the right way so thank you!

Mother's Day 2011 was nice and low key. Becoming a mother was such a long time coming and it's such a joy to be included! I loved all the kind words expressed to me today, even from strangers. So nice to be recognized for simply being a mom! When Almi woke up this morning she wanted to get in bed with me and watch movies. While she was there we had our first real adoption conversation. She has heard about Ethiopia before because we include it in our prayers at night and I have told her before that she has a mommy in Ethiopia but I figured today was a good day to bring it up again. While she was lying next to me I reminded her that she has two mommies, one in Ethiopia and one here. She said, "Two mommies. One, two, three, four. One mommy!" I said, "Well, you have the mommy in Ethiopia who carried you in her belly but she couldn't take care of you anymore so I took a long plane ride to go get you so I could be your mommy." (I am not sure if that was the right thing to say so I may not use that phrase next time--she couldn't take care of you--I don't want to upset her with that fact. Note to self: read up on how to broach the adoption conversation with a toddler before bringing it up next time..). She made an airplane with her hand and some airplane sounds and asked me to join her. We flew airplanes around above us as we laid next to each other for the next minute or so. Then I continued, "So then I got on the airplane and I went to Ethiopia to get you so I could be your mommy!" What she did next astounded me. She said, "Look, Mommy! Diamond," and she showed me how she could make a diamond shape with her two hands together. Her birth name is Almaz, which means diamond! I don't know how she went from making an airplane to making a diamond but what an incredible thing to happen at that particular moment!

Later on we met my neighbor downtown at an outdoor Italian festival. The weather was gorgeous and Almi had a ton of fun playing and dancing with her friend, T. A low key, fun day, just spending time with my special girl.

Easter 2011

I wasn't sure I was going to have time to get home for Easter with my mammoth to do list but I decided at the eleventh hour that I could fit it in and knew how happy it would make everyone. I am so glad I made the trip. I got to see some old friends, eat great food and spend time with my family. Here's our weekend in (waaaay too many) pictures:


The finished basket.


The Easter Bunny arrived a day early at our house so Almi could enjoy her basket in her own room. I knew family was going to spoil her when we arrived (and they did.. candy, stuffed rabbit, books, clothes, etc.) so I thought it made sense to split up the candy and gifts over two days. She had so much fun seeing what was inside it. She loved the candy (of course) and ate almost all of it before breakfast but she happily shared some with me when I asked. Sweet girl.


After opening her basket we had to hop in the shower and get dressed so we could get on the road to Grandma's house. She refused to put her egg down for the shower so she took a shower with it in her hands. Silly girl.

After breakfast we headed out to my parent's house. When we arrived the weather was lovely so I took her to this really great park I discovered. It had all kinds of cool play equipment. She played for over an hour and tired herself out.




On Easter morning we went to church. She was quite good. She lasted about 2o minutes before announcing very loudly that she had to "peepee". We didn't make it back in after that but I took her in to hear the recessional hymn with all the pomp and circumstance and she enjoyed that a lot. Here we are outside of the church. The rain let up just enough for us not have to put up our umbrellas. My mom got her that adorable Easter dress with matching headband.



I love having pics of us together and I have gotten pretty good at getting cute shots without anyone's help. The picture above I took by stretching out my arm and the picture below I did with the self-timer.


After church we went back to my mom's house for brunch, nap and dinner before driving back home. For brunch she ate all the candy in the Easter basket my sister got for her, 3 bowls of dry cereal, a container of yogurt, a banana, a glass of orange juice, half a slice of toast, half of a fried egg, a few bites of a hot cross bun, some cheese, some raisins and a large chocolate chip cookie! That girl can put it away!



We hit a lot of traffic coming home which added two hours to our trip home but my little traveler was a great sport. And to top it off she even requested to hear Coldplay! She's awesome. :-D Hope you had a great Easter!

Easter Basket Fun

I had fun putting together Almi's Easter basket. Next year I will focus on more of the meaning of Easter but for now it is just an excuse to buy some fun things for her. I was going to get some of the usual Eastery candy that is sold this time of year but then I read the nutritional labels. Ugh. I couldn't do it. Too much added junk! Do you know how difficult it is to find candy without artificial colors and dyes and high fructose corn syrup?! Darn near impossible. After reading that tartrazine (yellow dye #5 and I don't know why the Wikipedia link isn't working) can cause anxiety, depression, blurred vision, hyperactivity and even cancer and is outright banned in some countries there is NO WAY I am going to allow my daughter to consume anything with that added! And other dyes and additives aren't much better. Let's just say there go the Peeps and the jelly beans. But there are so many alternatives that she can still enjoy. She can have chocolate and Whole Foods sells candy without added colors and dyes. I bought her some bunny-shaped fruit snacks from there. I can fill these plastic eggs I bought. The white ones were from the thrift store. $.40. For the whole bag. The colored ones were only $.79 so they were cheap, too! I can decorate the white ones with these stickers or put them inside for her to use. Yeah, I'll probably put them inside for her even though I find stickers stuck all over the house and darn if they aren't hard to get up.
I decided to get her some other fun things to go along with the chocolate eggs and the fruit snacks. Mmmm... chocolate! (what?! ?I had to open the bag to sample them to make sure they were ok for her to eat!) But who says Easter baskets have to be all about candy anyways?! I have some other fun ideas. She likes wearing headbands but she snaps the plastic ones in half so I bought a pack of fabric ones to put in the basket. I also found this cute Elmo shirt at the consignment shop for $3.50 when I was dropping off the things I was donating. How cute is this shirt?! I mean seriously! I love it! (By the way, I've made almost $100 at the consignment shop. Sweet!) She also loves Play Doh so this will be fun to have in the basket. And bubbles? She will be thrilled!!

Here she is with her Easter basket last year. Awwww, she was so tiny!





What's in your child's Easter basket?

Valentine's Day

I ♡ Valentine's Day. It's my favorite holiday.

I guess because I am a huge sucker for romance. I love reading stories of how people met and fell in love. I love reading about creative proposals. I love reading about (and attending) weddings. I love thinking about how wonderful it must be to spend hours alone with the love of your life on a honeymoon in a gorgeous tropical location. I love diamond rings. And chocolate. And love letters. And bubble baths. Basically all things romantic.

So Valentine's Day, even when single, is still fun for me. What's not to love about a day focused on love?! I think it's great and when you teach Kindergarten it's even better! Valentine's Day in Kindergarten is a day of art projects and exchanging cards and parties. And my students and colleagues made it extra special. Look at these awesome things I came home with today (and this didn't include all the chocolate and cards!)





Since Naomi's daycare planned to exchange cards, it was the was the perfect opportunity to do a craft project together over the weekend. I thought she'd enjoy painting and I figured I could cut the paper into hearts for her classmates' cards. She had a ball and it cost me nothing to create them; I had all supplies on hand. Fun times. We will be painting again soon.






Hope you had a great Valentine's Day!