Fun in 'Paradise'

My oh my has it been busy busy! I think Big J is really going quietly insane with all he has to accomplish in the next 6 weeks before he leaves for his Eastern Europe trip. But, I did get him away from it all to head to Washington, D.C. for a couple days. We invited another family and all headed down last Th. during spring break. The trip was fairly uneventful except for a delay at the pharmacy where we had to pick up some Benadryl. Little J had the unfortunate accident of receiving some of B's peanut butter and sandwich rather than his all jelly sandwich and his lip began to swell to at least double it's normal size. He is fine, but obviously P.B. is definitely off-limits for him as we suspected until at least 3-years old. Once in D.C. we took care of our friends' kids while they did a temple session, then we went to the hotel checked in, went to dinner and left the kids to be put to bed by our friends while we went to do a temple session, which of course was fabulous. We got home to a quiet hotel room and decided not to even disturb the kiddos and went and watched NCAA tournament games in the lobby with a baby monitor. Next day was sightseeing and lots of walking. We saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial from afar, the White House--as close as we could get without the guys on top of the W.H. opening fire--the Capitol building, the National Air and Space Museum and a little of the National Natural History Museum--which included the famous and very sparkly Hope Diamond on display.

Us at the White House

We got back late Fr. night, woke up and worked all morning to clean and get ready for B's princess and knight party that afternoon. I tried to avoid the 'princess' theme, but from what I hear every little girl wants one at some point. The party ended up being a royal success and the kids had a blast. B had several of her friends here and I must say the knights definitely outshone the princesses in costume design. I was impressed! Everyone left happy and B had fun the rest of the evening playing with her new things. Now we are looking forward to Big J's parents coming out for Easter!

Our newly 4-yr. old B with new bike, at the capitol building and with her princess cake!

Finding Mr. Ray

Yey! Finally it's been warmer and drier! My spirits are looking up! Now, don't start thinking yet that there's no mud, I think there will be.....until some new grass grows in the spring. Big J has been schooling like crazy lately, which is ok because it'll hopefully land him a job later. But, that means I'm going a little crazy at home alone more. As long as I get some 'me' time I'm ok. B has reinstituted 'quiet time', which I am shocked and grateful for. A half-hour during the day where I don't have someone blowing his nose on his hand or be needing to wipe a bum or be pretending I can still do it all while pregnant with #3. Yippeee! I rejoice!

B with fish tank J with Mr. Ray

We visited the New Jersery Aquarium with some friends yesterday. They have a family pass and we rode the free wave. It was a nice aquarium, though I'm glad we didn't pay through the roof for 5 hours of fun. Little J got such a kick out of the fishies swimming right past him. And B and Friend set up a number of other play dates, so they hit it off quite well for such a long time together.

B on Hummer after aquarium

B has been excited for her birthday since the day we turned the calendar over. We have been planning it for months and will have to fill everyone in once the date has passed. Little J has started voicing his distaste to me for taking away DVD's, CD's (computer and music), reading books with B, and is basically trying to instill chaos in the house. But yet, many times I can still find him quietly in his room reading or cleaning up his toys or quietly unrolling the T.P., hmmm....can you tell today was mostly a chaos day?? I need a vacation. I'm trying to talk big J into a two-day vacation next week to relax from writing papers and reading. I have, once again, been feeling like a emotional roller coaster, ready to crash and burn at any moment only to head upwards again. Seems that's how pregnancies are for me. That would be the one deterrant to less kids--not so much the labor and delivery, but the pre-partum wackiness. Just ask big J. But, we have such cute kiddos that it's worth it!