Determination

Zachery wanted something sweet in the snack cupboard and I told him no. He was determined to show me that he would get it and I couldn't stop him. I stood back and watched him as he pulled a chair over to the counter and used all his effort to pull himself up and get his desired snack. He was so proud of himself and I just couldn't help but give into his efforts. However, he asked me to get him down and I turned him down. I let him know that he got himself up, he can get himself down. He wasn't too happy and was terrified of his height and wasn't sure how to make it back down. After some tears I showed him how to get his feet back on the chair. I think it frightened him enough and he hasn't attempted the climb again.

Our New Toy

While my parents were out visiting over New Years, my dad had his iPad with him. Jared fell in love with it. He couldn't take his eyes or hands off it and expressed over and over again how absolutely gorgeous it was. I was seriously starting to feel a little jealous. I hadn't been told I was gorgeous in a while and I had never had that statement expressed to me over and over again in a short span of time.
Well, my father decided to be extremely generous towards his only son-in-law and the morning before they flew home he took Jared to Best Buys and bought him his very own iPad. Which was probably good considering Jared probably would have gone through some withdrawals once the iPad was gone. Well, Jared's new iPad became the new obsession in our home. RJ and Savannah were just as bad. RJ was getting pretty addicted to the thing I was worried we were going to have to find some kind of 4 step program for him. Whenever the iPad was turned on RJ was right there. He literally would stopped whatever he was doing and was right by the side of whoever was using the thing. Seriously, it was bad. Once RJ and Savannah were chasing each other around the circle between the living room and kitchen. I sat down to look up a recipe on the iPad and the instant I pressed on, RJ stopped in mid run and darted to my side in a flash. It was like he was a magnet for the thing.
I was beginning to get very flustered over the iPad. It was distracting from family life and making RJ less prepared for school. He would get up at 4 am to play on the thing. And Jared was talking about getting iPad 2!! *Sigh* What's a mother to do. Luckily, 3 months later the excitement has died down. We still enjoy the iPad but no one is glued to the thing. My love hate relationship is starting to dying down and I'm enjoying it more. We have definitely learned the value of balance and moderation.

Daddy Shirts

For about 2 weeks Zachery would only wear shirts that buttoned down.

He called them "Daddy Shirts"

Trip to DC - January 10-12th

Jared had a conference in D.C. and since Christmas break was still going on for us we all went. Free 2 day trip to D.C., why not?? Well, it wasn't as fun as we had hoped. Mainly because it was cold and snowing which limited our day time activities and three kids in a hotel room does not equal fun. But don't get me wrong, it really wasn't all that bad. I just won't be doing it again unless the weather is nicer or the kids are old enough to use the hotel pool with little assistants. Time to explain.
Monday night we drove the 3.5 hours to D.C. We ate at Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner which is always a treat for the kids. Then Jared put Zachery down for bed and I took the other two to the hotel pool.
Pool experience:
No one was in the pool other then a life guard which I was uncertain about at first. He was sitting in a corner playing on a lap top. When we walked into the pool area he got up and moved to a chair facing the pool and watched us. I was feeling a little uncomfortable. I didn't really want to get in the water to begin with and with this strange guy watching us I was a little uneasy about stripping down to my swimsuit. RJ is an OK swimmer and there were a lot of steps leading into the pool so I told Savannah she is to stay on the steps and RJ needed to stay near the steps. I sat in the edge of the pool close by with my feet dangling in. RJ did just fine and was having fun. Savannah on the other hand was being too much of a dare devil and kept jumping off the steps and grabing onto the stair rail and pulling herself back up. I kept telling her over and over to stop it and stay right on the stairs. She of course wasn't listening. Then she jumped a little to far and wasn't able to get her head back above water. I yelled at RJ to grab her, he wasn't fast enough for me and I ended up jumping in with my jammie pants and t-shirt still on. The guy jumped up from his chair as well and ran over to our side of the pool yelling at me and telling me that I really needed to be in the water with the kids. Thanks, I am already in. Now I understood that he was indeed the life guard and was feeling a little more relaxed by his presence. I made Savannah sit on the edge of the pool while I took my wet outer clothes off and I got back in the pool just seconds after Savannah is already jumping back in, and not on the steps. I have a few more words for her. We try to do some mini lessons. However she is resistant to me teaching her and continues to be a little dare devil while RJ is begging to swim in the deep end. I decided this is really just to much for one parent. And we get out and don't return back to the pool the rest of the trip.

Tuesday Jared left early for his meetings and we have the entire day to ourselves. Seriously, the kids are asleep before he gets back. After breakfast we have the hotel shuttle take us to the metro station. Now this is really new for me. I have been on the metro before but never on my own. And I am not just on my own, I am with three kids! I was more nervous about buying ticket then anything else. Jared always did the math and he always seemed so to flustered by it, I wasn't sure if I could do it. So we figured out how much the tickets would cost before hand which made purchasing a little easier once I was there. Luckily, we were there after the morning rush hour was over. So getting on the metro and to our destination: The Smithsonian (The Natural History Building), was really easy. The Smithsonian is free but we arrived at noon and we were hunger by then. We purchased the most expensive lunch I have ever bought once we were inside: $30 for 3 hot dogs, 3 bags of chips, and 3 water bottles. Yikes! We enjoyed out time int he museum. Zachery stayed asleep in the stroller for most of it.
I wanted to try to beat rush hour on the metro, but the kids weren't too happy about the leaving they really wanted to go to another building. I finally won out but we still got stuck in the beginning part of the rush and we had missed calculated our metro tickets, so I needed to buy more. I felt very proud of myself for figuring this out all on my own with little furstrations! I almost felt like a Pro! However I did get confused at the transfer station and I kind older lady showed me which train I needed to get on. Our first metro train was fine but the second one was full and the kids were hungry and cranky. I was also starting to get weird looks and learned later that only two children and no strollers were allowed on the metro during rush hour. Oops. Back at the hotel, we were tired and hungry and had no place to eat except room service. The kids enjoyed that but the only form of entertainment was Cartoon Network or Sponge Bob and I dislike both of those. And there was no way I was going back to the pool with 3 kids. Needless to say I was anxious for bedtime.
Jared still had a meeting in the morning. So we passed the time away by checking out and walking around the near by mall until the early afternoon when Jared returned and we drove the 3.5 hours back home.