A Week's Recap

Life has been a bit crazy recently to write anything particularly thoughtful or profound. The combination of a beach trip, packing a house and Brian out of town this week has more than occupied me. So you'll just have to settle for a recap.

Our beach trip this past week, was supposed to go the full week, but didn't...never-the-less, we had a great time. Last Saturday we headed out to Ocean City , MD where my aunt and uncle graciously let us use their beach condo. Our good friends Jenn and Barrett Kirwan joined us with their two kids, Ella and Sam. (Yes, that is correct, our children have the same names...theirs are older so I guess we were the unoriginal ones. The Kirwans were also the first to bring to our attention that it's important to refer to the kids as "Ella and Sam" rather than "Sam and Ella" since the latter sounds too much like a common bacteria. Important point.) As far as I’m concerned, the beach with friends is the way to do it. The kids entertain each other, and evenings consist of quality adult time that doesn’t require the use of a babysitter. My parents also came and joined us for a day with my nephew, Josiah, who was visiting from Spokane, WA . We had terrific weather and managed not to get too sunburned. This was also Samantha's debut at the beach...she was intrigued by the ocean and decided that sand didn't taste very good. Some images from the beach:

Ella has officially fallen in love with the beach. Last year, she was rather tentative…afraid of the ocean and the sand was a huge nuisance. But this year she fully embraced it. We couldn’t keep her out of the ocean and she played freely in the sand. Since she’s not strong enough to brave the waves by herself, an adult had to be with her—and she outlasted us all.

Brian and I kept remarking all the things we had to do at home in preparing for the move—had we known we would be moving the end of this month we probably would not have planned the beach trip. But I’m so glad we did. Sometimes you need some forced relaxation or it will never happen. For our mental health, we needed the time away from the house. However, Brian found out last week that he was again getting sent off to Idaho for more depositions. So he took off on Tuesday. The Kirwans were headed off to Utah for the summer and they left Tuesday evening. The girls and I stayed put at the beach another night and then made our way back on Wednesday. Although I would have loved for Ella to have more time at the beach, I did feel the pressure of getting the house packed and wasn’t quite sure how to balance Ella, who was always wanting to be in the ocean with an infant, who enjoyed the beach for about 15 minutes at a time. So we loaded up and headed home.

Friday, Ella and I had a mommy-daughter date to see a Washington Mystics (WNBA) basketball game. We took the metro downtown, which is always a hit with Ella, mostly because she gets to “take the train like Daddy”.

Although I am in full support of a professional womens’ basketball league, and love and applaud women's athletics, I have my doubts about it's sustainability. I would guess only about a third of the arena was full...people just don’t come to watch them. Probably a combination of the fact that it's women's sports and because basketball games aren't really a traditional summer activity. There's also this weird combination of trying to masculinize the game, but still keeping a feminine touch on things. For example, the players congratulate each other by spanking butts and bumping chests (seems painful). But yet, they handed out picture frames to everyone as door prizes. What male sporting event have they ever handed out picture frames? Anyway, it was still fun, and furthered my goal of getting Ella interested in basketball.

We cheered, ate ice cream, danced and tried to get on the big TV. In the last few minutes of the game, when it was apparent the Mystics would win the game, Ella asked if they would get a prize for winning. I mean to a four-year-old, what's the fun if no prize is involved?

My task-master was calling for me to keep packing, but I guess he gave up and went to bed. I guess I'll join him.

Moving On...

Given our history, I didn't want to jinx it... so I didn't post it until it was a sure thing.

I suppose it can't totally be a sure thing until closing next week, but everything is in line...contract is signed, home inspection, appraisal, everything is done. This whole process didn't go as swimmingly as the first time in February, but given the current market, we are grateful that the house is sold and we can move on.

So the Bowcuts are off to Bethesda, only a 8 mile journey. We look forward to a new neighborhood, new parks, a new ward (church congregation), and hopefully (with both my fingers and toes crossed) lots of little girls to play with in our neighborhood. And we're close enough that we can still frequent our favorite Silver Spring spots with our favorite Silver Spring/College Park people.

Given that we've been in such limbo over the past few months, it's been difficult to get excited or to start planning for our new house. But now that the weight has been lifted of selling our house, we are eager to roll up our sleeves and get to work. There will be much to tell regarding our decorating debacles, but in the meantime, here are some pictures to give you a sense of what we'll be working with.

My Real Simple arrived just in the nick of time--they have a section devoted to making outdated bathrooms livable without major renovation.

This is the future playroom in the basement--also sporting that gold-foil, Santa Fe inspired wallpaper. As an added bonus, apparently there are several more layers of equally attractive wallpaper hidden underneath!

Most of the house is actually mercifully neutral, but these are definitely the rooms that make our house unique. It might not be for awhile, but we'll post some pictures of the transformation in the future.

Summer Kick-off

The month of June is in full swing. Despite the fact it has been hot as blazes here in DC, we are enjoying the onset of summer. In contrast to the fairly uneventful summer we had last year while we were awaiting the arrival of Samantha, we have jammed as much as possible into these summer months. They consist of moving, summer camps, vacations, business trips and family reunions. This past weekend we held our first (and maybe our last) ever yard sale. Once a year our neighborhood organizes a yard sale weekend—we had never participated, but given that we’re packing up our house, we had a number of items to get rid of. My Grandma, Mom and friend Miriam, all decided they wanted to unload some junk as well. It was quite the shopping extravaganza here in Silver Spring.

I was pleased to see all my baby clothes and small appliances go, but why oh why didn’t anyone want my pink ceramic basket or personalized graduation picture frame? My Mom even got to part with her foot spa and cuckoo clock. We scoffed at my Grandma’s selling of several pairs of (new) pantyhose, but lo and behold, she sold them. I guess they were quite a deal if the color and size suited you. What I realized is that you need lots of different kinds of people for your yard sale to be a success. For the mélange of stuff you pick up throughout your lifetime through various travels and experiences, you need a diversity of people to fully appreciate your treasures. Unfortunately, we didn’t have anyone colorful enough to buy my stepdad’s eclectic collection of foreign art (particularly the one of topless African women) or Miriam’s bright red lacey lingerie (I think a gag gift to her).

Ella did the best business—that little entrepreneur sold lemonade. She was set up in the shade at the end of the driveway, and with the temperatures in the high 90’s, she was a success. For $.25 a cup, she raked in close to $10. (Of course I didn’t charge her the cost of materials, so it was all profit to her). She's still not totally sure what the big deal is about having money, but she still felt pretty proud of herself.

Another hallmark of June is the end of school. Today was Ella’s last day of pre-school for the year. We still have yet to decide whether she’ll return next year or head off to Kindergarten, but overall she had a good year. I’ve seen her blossom socially and take off academically. She is a smart cookie and we're so proud of her. She will miss her teacher, Ms. Soma and her class of friends. Fortunately, she'll see many of them at summer camp this summer.

Because today was a short school day, we took off to the park with some friends from class to enjoy a picnic lunch. Heat doesn't phase kids nearly as much as the adults--I think they could have gone all day running around.

We're already a third of the way through June and I look at all we have going on this month--

Saturday, we take off for a week at the beach, and lose Brian for several days as he heads off to take more depositions. I'll stick Ella in camp, pack up our house and we'll be off to Bethesda (more on that later). Phew...makes me tired just thinking about it.

What I've Been Waiting For...

Having our girls four years apart has had many perks: Ella is in pre-school most mornings, she is old enough to be helpful and attentive to Samantha, and because Samantha is not a threat to her space and toys (yet) she hasn’t had the adjustment that comes with having a younger sibling. However, I have worried about whether they will truly play together. Will their interests and attention spans be too far apart? Will Ella spurn Samantha as the pesky , follower, little sister? I suspect we will have periods where both of these will ring true, but over the past week, they have started to play together. And not five minutes of playing where Ella waves a toy in front of Samantha’s face, but rather down-on-the-floor playing with toys for as long as 30 minutes. Sometimes Ella plays directly with Samantha—building her towers and so forth, and sometimes they both play with their own things, but are occupied longer because they’re content there is another person in the room keeping them company. Ah…serenity.

Perhaps it’s our own fault, but Ella has always been a very attention-needy child—I suspect common in most first-born children. We have gone through long stretches where Ella has no interest in her toys. She wants another human to read with, go outside, do puzzles or play a game with. I of course can accommodate her some of the time, but when I can’t, I have a bored child at my heels. Recently, Ella has turned a corner in this regard. I think partly because she is reading, which is a new-found interest and also because her imagination has taken a recent leap. Her stories and make-believe are much more intricate. In addition, having Ella’s friends over is a much more enjoyable experience. When we have friends over after school, I don’t have to think of things to keep them happy and entertained. The girls prefer to go off and play by themselves and appear once in awhile to ask for help with a dress-up outfit or to stick their fingers in the cookie dough.

Don’t get me wrong…I still spend a huge portion of my time being the entertainment, but it feels good to get a break every now and then. I’ve decided my new favorite game is re-enacting Cinderella. Ella is obviously Cinderella and I float between roles of a mouse, the mean stepmother and fairy godmother. I lingered in the stepmother role this evening—Cinder”Ella” mopped my kitchen floor, dusted the main floor furniture, and put away the toys of her stepsister (Samantha) while Prince Charming (Brian) did the dishes. Now that’s a fairy-tale I can live with.