Jack O' Lantern

Keely has now lost seven teeth total...the last two recently, one in early August and one on Saturday night.  I still have the voicemail that she left me when she lost the one in August saved on my phone because it was so cute.

"Hi Mommy, it's Keely, I just wanted to let you know that the bottom tooth on the other side - I lost my tooth it today, Bye"

She's beginning to look very appropriate for Halloween because her adult teeth seem pretty stubborn to come in.  She's now missing four teeth, two on top and two on the bottom.  As she says, only one more to go until she's done losing teeth for a while!

The tooth fairy is becoming a little passe in our house as well (not that I mind at all).  Keely told me that if the TF did not come the first night with this last tooth, she would not believe in her anymore.  The TF did deliver though...the only cash we had in the house...$1 and a quarter.  The next morning, I asked Keely if the TF had come and she said she hadn't checked yet.  So obviously it's getting old.  Quinn also asked me point blank on Saturday night if I was the TF.  What was a mom to do with a question like that?!?!  I obviously fibbed (that can't be considered a lie, right?!?!), but without looking at him because I have no poker face.  So I'm pretty sure the fairy days are coming to an end in our house!

The Last Hurrah

We've had an incredibly busy summer.  We kicked it off with a move across the country.  We traveled the globe to Ireland.  We flew to Florida while Quinn went to the opposite end of the East Coast.  We traveled to NJ three times.  Wow, I'm exhausted just typing that.  We weren't done though.  We had long planned a trip to visit Judith and the kids for Labor Day weekend, and nothing was going to stop us from doing that - not even a hurricane :)  It would have been nice to see Tom too, but since he is on deployment that wasn't possible.  He calls quite frequently though and James was able to chat with him for quite a while on Saturday morning.

We headed down there on Thursday directly after the kids' open house at school.  We took Callie with us to avoid boarding costs.  We were a bit worried about how she and Max would get along but it worked out great.  They were very friendly with each other and caused no issues whatsoever.  We arrived there a little after 10 PM, it's about a 6 hour drive and we didn't hit much traffic.  Needless to say, the kids were super excited to see each other and we let them run around for a couple of hours before trying to force them to go to sleep.

We visited the beach on both Friday and Saturday.  Friday we took all the kids so Judith had some time to work or relax.  The beach was pretty torn up from Irene.  The shelf of sand that's usually right when you wade in was gone, and you'd walk a few feet and be up to your chest in water.  The waves were also very rough, not rolling in but crashing.  The shells were incredible too, most likely because the storm stirred up things that are usually at the bottom of the ocean.  We must have taken 25 shells back Friday but more like 100 on Saturday!

Other than that, it was a pretty calm visit.  The kids played and played and no one wanted to leave.  Cassidy and Keely love to play dress up and do the girly stuff and Quinn and Aedan played Wii and trains and boy stuff.  Aedan's broken elbow made for some tough moments when he couldn't do the other things the kids were doing (i.e. swimming in the ocean or pool in their backyard or jumping on the tramp) but I know he was happy to see his cousins and enjoyed his time with Uncle James.

Much to everyone's dismay, we decided to leave on Sunday afternoon in lieu of driving back on the holiday.  We figured we would miss some traffic and have Monday to recoup before the big first day of school.  Boy, that couldn't have been a better decision because of what happened on our drive home.  We were doing great, making great time and didn't stop until we came close to Richmond.  As I pulled off the highway, I hear the car make a strange noise and immediately know something is wrong.  We pull off the exit ramp and decide to try and get to McDonald's so we can eat dinner while trying to figure out what is wrong.  The car is leaking some mystery substance at the McD's but we think it's just water, and so we try to forge ahead after dinner.  We get about a mile up I-95 and all hell breaks loose.  The battery light comes on, then another light is flashing and beeping.  The car sounds horrible and we can't imagine what could be wrong.  We seriously thought the car was toast and I'm imagining the worst at this point.  Thank goodness James is driving...he loses power steering and has to manually navigate us off I-95 and onto a side highway and we pull into a closed car dealership.  When we stop, the engine begins overheating and smoke is coming out of the hood.  Meanwhile, I am on the phone with AAA telling them we need immediate assistance and a tow.  The kids are scared, I am shaking and we know the situation is serious. Our top priority is getting home that night, because we know that auto shops are not going to be open on Labor Day.  Also, car rental companies are not open on Sunday nights...but we are lucky, we are near a major airport and that is the only place we could likely rent a car.  I call a cab to take us to the airport, and our tow truck driver takes us and all our stuff to a location right near I-95 so that our cab driver will be able to find us easily.  Remember that us means 4 people, a dog, two hermit crabs (yes, Keely got one in NC) and our luggage.  Crazy!  The tow truck driver was fabulous though, he was there in about 10 minutes and had us dropped off for the cab in about 1/2 hour.  The cab found us and we were at the airport in about 20 minutes.  I had called Hertz and rented a car while we were waiting for the cab.  We did a one day rental, with return to Washington National Airport because we knew we had a car to use at home.  We get in the car and back on the road at about 10 PM.  We were home about 11:30 with no more issues.  So all in all, we made the trip in less than 8 hours even with all the drama of losing our car.  And another thing I am thankful for is smart phones - I seriously don't know how I would have done any of this coordination without that technology!

We found out on Tuesday morning that the issue was the water pump.  It failed and caused a belt to slip off, thus losing the fan for the engine, the battery wasn't charging (causing the battery light to go on) and the power steering to go off (I think that was the other light).  The car was fixed that day, but because it's about 1.5 hours from our house we are going to pick it up tonight.

I'm glad it was not major damage, but all in all the whole night is going to cost us about $1,000.  I guess that's better than a totaled car, or engine trouble, or more transmission trouble - but we were so lucky in so many respects, and so fortunate to be able to make it home that night safely.


Even with all that trouble though, we were happy to visit North Carolina and it was a fantastic end to a very busy summer!

First Day of School

The long awaited day finally arrived.  Keely was super excited, Quinn said he'd rather stay on summer break.  It's a funny juxtaposition because Quinn loves school, Keely not so much - well, I should say Quinn loves learning new things and Keely loves the social aspect.  She was quite eager to make friends.  I was nervous for both of them.  More nervous than them, I am sure.  My favorite comment from James on Monday..."you do know it's not your first day of school, right?" :)

There are so many differences about their new school.  First is the time...they don't start school until 9:15 AM now - over an hour later than they started at BS.  Because of that later start time, school doesn't end until 3:55 PM.  This is public school, so no uniforms.  I miss them.  Not because of Keely's drama about what to wear to school (thank goodness James is handling that most mornings) but because they looked much like any other summer day when they dressed for school yesterday morning.  Aside from the huge backpacks filled with school supplies and sweatshirts because it was cold and damp, they looked pretty normal.  They now take the bus to school.  We are within walking or biking distance but there are buses for all children.  They are on Bus #1 and there are about 8 children at our bus stop.  They've never ridden a bus to school, I have always dropped them off and picked them up.  Again, there were more nerves for me on this front.  I just had to trust that they'd make it to school alright...and they did :)  The bus was really late picking them up and they got to school late but I'm sure it will be more timely after the first day or week passes.  They have much smaller classes than at BS - Keely has 19 in 2nd grade and Quinn has 21 in his class.  We met their teachers on Thursday and they both seem really nice.

I couldn't wait to get home and ask them all about their days.  They both seemed to have good first days, making some new friends and getting adjusted to their new classroom and new schedule.  Keely was much more forthcoming but Quinn answered all of my questions and I think I got most of the details from him as well.

Can't believe another school year has begun.  I'm hoping the good vibes from the first day continue as school goes on.  Life is getting busier too.  Both kids are playing soccer...games are on Saturdays, Keely has practice on Tuesdays and Quinn on Thursdays.  Keely is doing Gymnastics on Monday nights, Quinn is doing a football skills clinic on Tuesday evenings.  Because we are not in Catholic school anymore, they now have to take CCD which is on Sunday mornings.  So there won't be many dull moments as we dive right into a jam packed school year!

Weather Woes

I don't normally write about weather, but the past week has been pretty eventful in that respect.

A week ago today, I was sitting in my cubicle in the project office on the 3rd floor when I started to hear a low rumbling that sounded like a cart was being pushed downed the corridor. It kept getting louder, and the furniture shook. I stood up, thinking it was an earthquake but didn't know what to do. By the time I could think of where to go or what to do, it stopped. We were told to get out of the building and most of the people huddled outside by the trees waiting for instructions. Most people were trying to make calls on their cell phones. Only a few were able to get calls through and those that did spread the information around to others. What we learned in the next few minutes was that a 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered about 80 miles outside of Washington (near Mineral, Va) had shook the earth from Georgia all the way up to Toronto and as far west as Chicago. This was the first earthquake of this magnitude on the East Coast since 1897. So in a word, historic. Another word was scary. Not the actual earthquake but the moments after. The cell service quickly became overloaded and not many people were able to get through to their loved ones. That was most definitely the scariest part. For 45 minutes, I was not able to get through to James to find out that he and the kids were okay. Now damage was minimal so I suspected they were fine, but to not know was frustrating and difficult. I finally was able to get a text back from him but calls were impossible for at least an hour. They were in the house, the kids doing their school preparation workbooks - Quinn in the dining room and Keely in her room. James got them and the dog outside in the front and waited it out. We had no damage to our house, just some items fallen off shelves and pictures crooked from the shaking. Unfortunately some other buildings in the area had structural damage including the Washington Monument and National Cathedral - both are closed for repairs indefinitely and that is upsetting. I can't imagine the damage from anything over a 6.0. The effects would be huge and far reaching. Hopefully though we won't see one like this for another 100 years!

After that excitement, the media was immediately focused on Hurricane Irene. Actually, it had been the focus for a few days but the earthquake sidetracked the news for a day or so. Hurricanes are much different than earthquakes, and the predictions were for Irene to have a major impact on the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine. What actually happened was a powerful storm that did have impacts although they seem to have been greater for those up North in NJ and Vermont. As predicted the storm hit us on Saturday all day and on into Sunday morning. Keely was so funny when she got up on Saturday - she went to the window, saying 'Irene is coming today!' as if we were expecting a house guest :)

On the home front, we had a lot of rain and wind but were lucky not to lose our power (except for a few minutes on Saturday night) and only had a few downed branches and leaf debris throughout our yard. Others weren't so lucky, from our neighborhood to other areas in Virginia and Maryland. Since we had power and an inland location, we became a bit of a refuge. I joke that Hotel Donovan was at capacity :) Grandma and Grandpa arrived back in town on Friday afternoon ahead of Irene. They left North Carolina that morning to miss the brunt of the storm in a coastal location. Good thing they were there to help Judith prepare the house though! They intended to leave Saturday but decided instead to ride out the storm with us. They ended up with basement flooding, power outages, and downed trees at home in New Jersey so I guess it was a good decision. We also got another house guest on Sunday...Kyle's friend Marisa who was without power at the University of Maryland. She spent Sunday night with us and headed back to campus Monday when power was restored. It was fun to have her, the kids love her and Keely had fun playing with her 'big sister'.

So now Hotel Donovan is cleared out and we are back to normal. When we lived in Utah, we never had a major earthquake despite living on a major fault. Living out west we heard about hurricanes but they were so far away that we didn't pay much attention. So these are some of the weather related things we've been dealing with in the last week...and I really hope we are quiet on that front for a while now. Enough natural disasters!

Busy August

After a busy start and middle of the summer, I was hoping August would be fairly calm. But it doesn't seem to have been in the cards. And would I really like it calm? I don't think so.

We began the month with the tail end of our 3rd trip to NJ in 6 weeks. That hasn't happened since I was in college. I intended to stay home for all of August until our long planned trip to NC for Labor Day. But, things changed.

Quinn was invited to join Nana, Papa, Annie and the Wolter clan in Maine for a week. We wanted to take Keely somewhere as a special treat (i.e. consolation). We also wanted to see Aunt Lois, Uncle Ryan and Adelia in their new house in Florida. So we took the opportunity of only having to purchase 3 airfares and planned a trip for a long weekend with about 10 days notice.

Quinn left on a Friday and did not return until this past Saturday. It is the longest he has ever been away from us. He was fine...I took it a bit harder. We all missed him, but it was made worse because of his lack of telephone skills. He promised to call every day, but that turned out to be an empty promise and when we did speak to him, it was mostly 'one word' answers. He'll be getting better at this because we will now be forcing him to speak on the phone, I won't deal well if this is what it will be like when he goes to college! Of course, he'll have a cell then so I guess I can always text him. In any event, we all survived the separation and Quinn had a fabulous time. He made up for his lack of phone conversation by telling us all about his trip upon his return. He went fishing twice, sailing on a schooner, candlestick bowling, puffin cruising and much more. He came home with a gift for himself...a new hermit crab he has dubbed 'Jaws' because of its shell. He also brought something for everyone else. For James, a coffee mug filled with salt water taffy. For Keely, a stuffed puffin bird and a 'mermaid tear' (a hand blown crystal heart with red stripes). For me, a pair of earrings and a paper weight (again, hand blown crystal). His gifts were all well thought out and showed a lot of love and consideration. Even if he wouldn't talk on the phone, I know he was thinking of us while deciding what to purchase!

Back to our time without Quinn. It's really easy to have just one child :)

We were in Florida from Friday until Monday night. We soaked up the Florida sun, and our time with Adelia. She is just such a cutie and we loved being able to see her twice in one month! Keely loved the one on one time with her, and us. We hit the beach at least once a day, if not twice. We even saw a dolphin swimming along the shore on Monday! It was really relaxing and fun. We always enjoy our time with L&R, we have great conversations and it was good to see their home and surroundings. And evident from the pictures, Adelia was enthralled with Keely's DSi. Don't worry, that's not the only thing they "played" together while we were there :)

The rest of the week went pretty quickly. We met up with Mark, Liz and Matthew on Wednesday night for dinner in Arlington. It was fun to see them and catch up a bit while they were on vacation in DC/Virginia.

Nana and Papa spent the night on Saturday after dropping Quinn off. They left, and about 4 hours later Grandma and Grandpa arrived on their way down to NC. They spent two nights with us. We took them downtown to see the World War II memorial since they had never been. It's one of my favorites, especially at night. So it's a busy time. I think things will calm down once school starts. But the crazy is really what we were craving. The increased time with family...the ability to see them more...it's quickly come to fruition and the impetus for our move back East is most definitely confirmed. It may be crazy busy, but I really wouldn't want it any other way!

The Mall

Saturday, we decided to venture down to "The Mall", and by that I don't mean a group of stores with anchors and a food court :) What is even cooler about this decision is that we did our usual Saturday morning routine of breakfast and the gym...then ventured by Metro into the District and visited a bit, and were home to make dinner in our own house! I don't know when the awe factor will wear off, but I still think it's so cool that we are so close to these mostly free amenities and the historical National Capital city.

We took the Metro from East Falls Church. This was the first time we have taken the Metro together as a family since we moved here. The kids love that part, it adds to the experience. I honestly love it too, as an option. It's gotten more expensive than when I rode it often as a college student but it's still a wonderful system and so clean and user friendly. If we didn't want to Metro in though, we could be there in about 20 minutes. But then you have to find parking and perhaps walk longer to see the sights. So anyways, this day we decided to use the good ol' Orange Line.

Once we got downtown, we got off at Federal Triangle and walked to the Old Post Office. James and I went up the elevator in this tower when we were in college and it's quite a view, so we wanted to (a) see if it was still free and (b) show the kids this unique view of the city. We were delighted to find out it's still free (!) so we waited about 15 minutes to ride up. I love looking out each of the four sides to the sights below and beyond...including my old campus and the gorgeous Basilica. The Old Post Office is the 3rd highest building in DC, behind the Washington Monument and (we presume) the Basilica.After venturing down the elevator, we bought some shakes from Ben & Jerry's and walked down to the Mall. Quinn begged to go to Air & Space...or even Natural History (we need to finish that one up one of these days, there is just so much to see in there!)...but we made an adult executive decision and toured the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art. I love the circular building and it's quirky art. I loved the view from one of the floors out onto the Mall and the comfy seats and large tables where you can read or relax. The kids enjoyed it too. Although Keely did find the nude sculptures "inappropriate" :) It was great to expose them to modern art...I think next time we will have to do the National Gallery of Art, because Keely wanted to see what she called "real art".
It is so nice to be able to see a museum, and not feel bad that we didn't get to the many other museums. We have the option of seeing them at our pace, and as many times as we like. Again, the awe factor is still in high gear here :) All in all, a lovely Saturday afternoon!

Potter Mania

I am sure we are not alone, but we are a bit Harry Potter crazed in our house right now. Up until the end of May though, we were completely out of the loop. Quinn had zero interest in the books or movies and neither did I. Keely's a bit young to read the volume of books so I didn't expect her to be into it. People have always told me to read the books saying that I would enjoy them. There's plenty else to read though so I figured that when Quinn showed an interest in reading them is the time I would read them too. We've never read anything together before so I figured that would be neat. Anyways, I still thought that time was a ways off.

But at the end of May, when the movers were packing up our house Quinn and Keely hung out with our neighbor, Mark. We also had dinner with them the night before and that's when Quinn discovered that Mark had some of the HP movies. The kids watched one movie that night and another couple of movies the next day. Now that's not my MO - I'd watch the movies after I read the books but watching the movies sparked Quinn's interest. Flash forward to our first weekend visit to NJ in early June. Quinn discovers that Grandma has a few of the books in her house, including the first 2. So into a bag they go with us back to Virginia and the rest is history.

Quinn read all 7 books from the beginning of June to finishing up on our trip to Ireland. That's just over a month of reading, and I've had to add up all the pages because I was curious - 4,176 pages! Crazy. He is a voracious reader. He loves to read and obviously has a lot of time over the summer to do just that. He is almost lost when he doesn't have a book to read. Someone recently asked me how I get him to read. I don't get him to read, he just loves it. I suppose James and I being readers is a help, but Keely just doesn't seem to have that same love of reading. He also reads so quickly that I used to wonder if he 'gets' everything...but the level of detail that he remembers is astounding so I'm not wondering that anymore.

So as promised, I am now reading the books - although at a much slower pace :( Unfortunately I just don't have the time to read like he does. I've just finished up Book 3. They are getting better with each book, and I'm curious to read the rest. It is my goal to finish up the 7th before the latest movie comes out on DVD. That's likely to be before Christmas and then I hope they will release all 7 movies in a box set. I haven't seen any of the movies...I'm not sure if I want to watch them as I read or wait until the end to watch any of them.

James took the kids to see the last movie on the big screen. Quinn loved it. Keely is now a fan by default. James has whittled wands for them, and they both have spell books with all the spells from the books and movies written down. It has taken over our house...Quinn loves to pick up whatever book I am in and start reading from wherever I am. He asks me what just happened while I am actually reading, and will tease me when I act like I know what has just happened (are you sure?!?! he will say lol) . It has given us something more in common and I am glad that I'm sharing this series with him.

This week, the mania is at a height because the kids are attending Vacation Bible School - Harry Potter style. I signed them up for this back in June - I knew Quinn would love it - and it was free so I figured even if it was bad, it didn't cost anything. It's been fun for them though. They have Transformations class, today they are making Potions, they have meetings in the Great Hall and got sorted on the first day (Keely into Hufflepuff - a huge travesty - and Quinn into Gryffindor - a huge coup). They've each made some new friends - kids that go to their school and live in our neighborhood. So far, it's a success in my books!