Future Engineer

Yesterday, Brian took Ethan to the National Building Museum which is downtown DC to go to the Discover Engineering Family Day.  He was super excited to be able to do hands on activities and build different things.  So glad these "projects" satisfied his left-brain cravings which is more Brian's forte and not mine.

 A car powered by wind

 A land survey using his compass and counting his steps to find the X

I couldn't resist =0)

Then today got up to a glorious 60 degrees so to the park we went!  Our first one this year and can't wait to have more of it.

Just for Laughs

Brian brought home beautiful roses and (strong fragrant) lilies on Valentine's Day and after smelling them Ethan said with such seriousness, "These may smell good to you, but they don't smell good to me."  Haha.

Gavin's Two & Growing Boy

Gavin turned two today and we started our morning with a visit to the doctor.  Here are some new measurements:

Weight: 28 lbs 4 oz

Height: 35-1/4 inches

Look here to see how he compared to Ethan at the same age.  He also got a Polio shot and did great.  Only uttered one "Ow" and that was it.  He's ears are 100% clear =0)

Then tonight we celebrated with cake, balloons and presents...and both sets of grandparents joined in on Skype.

 

Not sure who was more excited

YUM-MY!

Yummy Recipes

Some new and easy crock pot recipes to share:

French Chicken 
3-4 Chicken Breasts
1 can of whole Cranberry Sauce
8 oz of French Dressing
1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
Cook in crockpot on low 4-6 hours
  
Sweet BBQ Chicken
3-4 Chicken Breasts

12 oz bottle of BBQ Sauce

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Vinegar

1/8 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Garlic Powder

Cook in crock pot on low for 4-6 hours

Crockpot Beef Sandwiches
1 beef rump roast or top sirloin, about 4 lbs
1 envelope onion soup mix
1-1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried leaf oregano, crumbled
1/2 tsp dried leaf thyme, crumbled
2 (10-1/2 oz each) cans condensed beef broth
1 can or 1 bottle beer (any kind works)
2 cloves garlic, minced or 1/2 tsp garlic power

Place roast in crock pot.  In a large bowl combine onion soup mix, sugar, oregano, beef broth, beer and garlic; mix.  Pour over roast, cover and cook on low for 9-11 hours.

Remove beef from broth and slice or shred.  Serve warm on buns.  If desired, use broth for dipping.  You can also return shredded beef to the broth and serve directly from crock pot.

Love is in the Air

For this year Valentine's Day celebration, I got a new sitter (from the gym) so Brian and I could go out for the night.  Yummy dinner at Matchbox followed by a movie next door.  A high end movie theater that served wine and beer which felt very classy, but heck for $13/person I don't know if I need the fanciness.  So thankful I was able to go out with My Love, but what a stinking cold/windy night to be out.  We seriously ran everywhere!
------------------------------------------------------

Ethan's V-day cards for his preschool friends which I hope he'll be able to hand out on Tuesday.  The party/celebration got postponed due to snow and school closing.

Pax Day 2

We got an additional 2 inches the next morning so outside we went again.  Gavin is so out of his element in the snow that he doesn't know what to do.  So whatever Ethan does, he just copies him.

Snow angels

King of the hill

Unfortunately, the rest of the day wasn't so good.  Gavin had fluid draining out both of his ears and constantly screaming in pain which could only mean one thing - ear infection again.  Almost exactly a year to the date.  I started panicking because I couldn't get a hold of the ENT or anyone.  Then I remembered the antibiotic drops that could be put directly into his ears because of the tubes.  Thankfully it worked and we didn't have to go into the Dr.

Winter Storm Pax

So much for a mild winter this year (like I had hope).  Instead we've been hit with cold temperatures and multiple snow storms with today being the most accumulation so far.  Woke up to about 13.5 inches of snow so we spent most of the morning playing and digging ourselves out.  I never got around to buying Ethan snow boots so outside he went with rain boots.  He came in with drenched socks and red feet, I felt so bad!  I honestly didn't think we were going to get that much snow this year.  Brian ended up working from home and everyone was excited!  Reminded me of Blizzard 2011.

   The boys help clean off Daddy's car

Haven't brought it out in two years, but the snow blower came through today!

Kaika refused to eat or drink anything all day because he knows what goes in must come out.  And outside into the snow he did NOT want to go.  What a silly dog!

"Twittering" on Blog

Gavin went through the whole month of January without getting sick.  Well, now that it's February - he's sick again.  No church for us yesterday =0(

Olympics

On Thursday night, Ethan started crying as I headed out to small group.  So to make him feel better, I hyped up all the things we're going to do (the next day) to prepare for the Olympics' opening ceremony.  Friday came and we got busy coloring Olympics pages, made the rings & the torch and then we waited.  7:30 pm rolled around, the air mattress and sleeping bags came out, the popcorn were made as we settled down infront of the TV.  As I'm watching it, I realized - the Olympics intro is usually dragged out way too long and we're now in ET which means the actual ceremony itself won't begin for another hour.  Normally I would let him stay up, but unfortunately he started that morning at 5 am and was exhausted.  So to bed he went with tears and all from feeling so disappointed.  And we made it up to him this morning with the online highlights.  Whew, thank goodness for the internet!

Just For Laughs

It has become a battle everyday between Ethan and Gavin and who gets to let Kaika out of his crate.  So I explained to Ethan that I'm giving Gavin a job to do so that he can help out and be a part of our family.  Later that day, I overheard Ethan ushering Gavin into the bathroom.  Apparently, Ethan decided to give Gavin a "job" of flushing the toilet after Ethan's done using it.  Nice.

Brotherly Love

Weekend Fun

Friday
The weather warmed up quite a bit and after being cooped up in the house most of January, we decided to take the kids out for something fun.  Ethan picked Sugar Mama, a new ice cream place we found.  He wanted everyone to go - just like last time.  And order the exact same thing - just like last time.  Unfortunately, we got there and it was closed.  So Brian and I scrambled to come up with plan B and thought we should try Tutti Frutti, a new Fro Yo place.  I guess we had Ethan at LOTS of toppings.  We're not really big yogurt people, but it was really good!  Definitely will have to go back.

Saturday
Last weekend, Ethan got invited to his preschool friend's birthday party.  It was at an indoor pool.  The only info I got was that if your child is over 5, you can watch from the pool deck.  So I assumed the kids would play and splash while the adults stand around and talk.  And so I thought.  We showed up and saw that EVERYONE including all the moms and dads were in their bathing suits...except me.  And this place wasn't the ordinary tiny zero depth pool either.  It was this pretty cool mini indoor waterpark for kids.  Instantly I felt a combo of guilt (because Ethan wanted me to go in and I couldn't) and stupidity (because I didn't even think about bringing my bathing suit...just in case) and embarrassed (to be in my full winter gears).  So there I was standing at the side of the pool by myself for what seemed like the longest 90 minutes of my life.  So much for hoping to get to know the other preschool moms better.  Ugh, it was awful!  Well, at least Ethan had his swim trunks on and warmed up to other parents and kids to have fun.

On Saturday, I thought we can have a "redo" so Brian took Ethan back to the pool.  They were able to play in the lazy river, the toilet bowl and the big slide which are all in the deeper area.  Oh did he have the best time ever!

Sunday
We decided to invite our friends, the Uenumas over last minute for dinner and a Super Bowl get together and I'm so glad we did.  It was fun to catch up outside of church and be able to get the family together.

Monday
Brian came home at noon with my Chick-Fil-A request in hand.  Then he took off the rest of the day (which I don't remember the last time that happened) so that Ethan and I can go to the dentist.  Ethan did great and even let her "scape" this teeth even though originally he said he wouldn't.  I dropped Ethan off and went to get a hair cut.  Nothing amazing happened, but the fact that it was out of the ordinary somehow made it extra refreshing!  A productive but relaxing day all around.