The Rockets Red Glare

We didn't have big plans for the 4th this year, but things seemed to come together none the less.  Mom & Don invited us over for a delicious international flared cookout with Dad, Nancy & Danny, and Katherine & Lee.  The food was wonderful as always of course, but the real treat were Mom's tasty margaritas and the amazing blueberry strawberry mojitos that Katherine made.  The big excitement for the kids though was going over to Judy's house back on our old block to watch the fireworks from her rooftop deck.  We could see the downtown fireworks off in the distance, but the real show were the fireworks going off all around us in the neighborhood.

Women's Camp

Our college roommate Tracey sent out a notice a few months ago, alerting her fellow former J1 residents (Audra, Cecily, and myself or as Audra refers to us collectively, "the most awesome group on earth") that she was headed to the states (from Thailand) in June in case we wanted to plan a reunion. Since our last one was back in 2010, a flurry of facebook activity soon followed and "Women's Camp" -- derived from a typo in one of our messages that stuck -- was born.

There were complications. Tracey suffered a couple of bouts of strep throat which ultimately resulted in her being hospitalized and having to delay her flight for a few days. Then the first night of camp, Tracey's six year old daughter Satya fell off a slide and broke her arm which meant an overnight hospital stay and a lot of drugs (more so than the doctor intended as Cecily and I decided not to wake Tracey when Satya was complaining of intense pain shortly after I arrived and double dosed her).

Morale was low and exhaustion was high, but it was nothing that some kale & strawberry smoothies and one bedazzled sling (plus a lot of alcohol) couldn't cure. As the sun came out, camp got underway with arts & crafts, a nature hike, cooking, gymnastics, Meijer, and some good-old reminiscing.

We only had a few days together and it's always a little sad when these reunions end, but given we've been doing them fairly regularly for the past 18 years, we shouldn't have to wait too long for the next one...

(I'd like to add a special shout-out to the men that made Women's Camp such a success -- Mike, Colin, Keegan and Kailash. To see all the pics from our reunion, click here.)

While Mommy's Away

While Mommy was away in Michigan with her college friends (a.k.a. Women's Camp), the kids and I had our own little adventure sleeping over at Aunt Katherine & Uncle L's new house.  We had all sorts of adventures, exploring the trails, playing bocce ball around the neighborhood, watching deer, and of course pulling up plenty of pachysandra.  Brad & Marlo came over for a little lunchtime BBQ on Saturday, and the kids all had a blast exploring.  On Saturday night we brought some chairs and a fire-pit out to a little patio area we had cleared of pachysandra that morning and roasted marshmallows for some delicious s'mores.  Sunday morning we braved the threatening rain, and went swimming at Brad & Marlo's pool.  It was a fun weekend, but Mommy was certainly missed, and by Monday everyone was excited to have her back home.

10 Years

Allen and I celebrated our first decade of married life over the weekend at the Inn at Little Washington. Mom Mom graciously agreed to watch the kids (who enthusiastically agreed to be watched as it involved swimming, chocolate chip waffles and even kale and mint salad) allowing Allen and I to have our first overnight trip alone since Mark and Bryan's wedding back in 2011.

It was kind of magical. The Inn had upgraded us to the Jean-Louis Palladin suite and after a cocktail on our private balcony, we had tea in the courtyard before exploring gardens and the town itself (which is primarily comprised of, oddly enough, law offices and Bed & Breakfasts). For a while, we watched as the caretakers errected a birthday greeting for some unnamed patron, but eventually decided to return to the room to rest before the night's festivities.

Dinner involved several courses (the favorites being popcorn with shaved black truffle and lamb carpacio with ceaser salad ice cream), a fair amount of wine, and a late night tour of Chef Patrick O'Connell's kitchen (with the man himself supervising our picture taking).

After a continental breakfast the next morning, we headed out to Skyline Drive to enjoy each other's company, the view, and a little rock climbing, before heading back to the metro area to reclaim our offspring and start our second decade together.

(To see all our pictures, click here).

Father's Day

We had a pretty chill Father's Day this year. After pancakes and sausage for breakfast, we watched a little Princess Bride, played a little tennis, and then headed up to Silver Spring for a little swim time with Brad and Marlo and some Texas Bar-B-Q. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday. (And it only took another week and a half to get his Father's Day present.)

The Dinner Party

We knew we needed to have Nancy, Danny & Christopher over to our new place after we moved in, I was just adament about waiting until everything was "just so" before we did. We needed things on the wall. And covering the windows. And places for people to sit. I probably could have come up with more reasons to delay, but then we were shamed by Katherine and Lee having everyone over to their place 2 days after they'd moved and decided that 3 months of prep time would have to be sufficient.

So we cleaned and prepped and cooked, but in the end all our hard work didn't really matter as a tour and shopping spree at the Green Hat Gin Distillery dulled most of our guests' senses to whatever was lacking in our hospitality. Still everyone had a great time (well, except for Aunt Katherine who spent most of the evening lying on the couch before departing early only to be diagnosed with a kidney infection a few days later) and I think we'll be having the gang over again soon (assuming everyone is in good health).

(To see all the picks, click here).

Nats Park Tour

As our last hurrah for the Knights Spring little league season, the whole team took a tour of Nats Park on Saturday.  Needles to say, Owen and all his teammates were thrilled.  We went up to the press box, down to the luxury suites, into the visitor's locker room, hung out in the dugout, and even threw some pitches in the Nat's bullpen.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning.

(click here for all the pictures)

Owen's Essay

Owen had a big 1st Grade end of the year writing project, and of course he decided to write about the Nats. It was a lot of work, but he did a great job. Now to see if he can keep it up this summer :-)

Baysox

Last year, some friends of Brad and Marlo's (and neighbors of Grandpa Don and Mom Mom's) organized a Father's Day outing to the Bowie Baysox which involved the owner's suite (and all you can eat hot dogs hamburgers, and pulled pork sandwiches), a kids park, and minor league ball. We weren't able to make it, but made sure we got on the invite list for this year's outing (which had to be held the week before Father's Day). It was awesome. There was a carousel (which Nora fell off once, but still...), a bouncy castle, a pitch station where they clocked your throws (Owen hit 30 mph), and a batting booth. There were hot dogs, popcorn and ice cream galore. There was a safe place the kids could run around and play hide-and-go-seek while we watched the game, and then we all got to run the bases when it was over (in a brutal 11-9 loss to the New Britain Rock Cats).

Not a bad start to the Father's Day celebrations to come...

Belgian Knights

Spring little league season came to a close this weekend, and the Knights decided to celebrate in style.  Owen's team was sponsored by Belga Cafe (Chef Bart of Top Chef fame's restaurant) and we thought it would be fun to bring the team out for Belgian waffles.  Of course a fancy Belgian restaurant isn't always looking to be invaded by a pack of 6 year-old's during prime Saturday brunch hours, so we made arrangements to have an early brunch at 9 am before our last game.  The kids had fun, the parents all enjoyed some delicious food, and the Belga folks managed to get a few cute pictures of 'their' team, so it all worked out in the end. Best of all, the team had a blast playing baseball all season, and they even got cool bobblehead trophies at the end :-)

When Mommy's Away...

While Allen has had to travel a lot for work, I've somehow managed to go eight years without one business trip. As such, I haven't been away from the kids very much (Owen's had a total of 8 nights away from me; Nora's had three). My lack of professional development finally caught up to me and the government decided to send me to Aurora, CO for five days (and four nights) for Benefits Advisers training (it's still a little unclear, given I'm not a B.A., why the powers that be decided that should be the course that ended my travel-free reign, but as the training was intended for 10 days and I only had to go for four, I'm not arguing with them).

I'm not sure if it was harder on Allen or me. Allen, fortunately, had Grandpa Fawcett to help with drop-off, pick-up, dinner (Nora was particularly nervous about dinner but was pleasantly surprised after Daddy and Grandpa successfully fed everyone the first night and proclaimed, "We don't need Mommy after all.") and bedtime which eased a lot of the parenting burden, though he was still pretty exhausted each night. I had to go days without hugs or kisses, had only glimpses of the kids as the wifi connection at the hotel kept going out, limiting our facetime sessions though it did allow me to fully witness Nora dropping a chair on her toe which resulted in a lot of tears, some blood and no hugs from Mommy.

Despite the remnants of a tropical storm, I managed to make it home Friday night only a little late, with a wonderful greeting and a week's worth of hugs (plus some new furniture and blinds that Allen had installed in my absence). Hopefully this will tide me over when I go to Michigan for a college reunion the end of this month...

Spring Concert

Owen's first grade class worked hard this term on all their songs for the Spring Concert.  Owen's favorite was probably 'Wacky Doh Ray Mi', which after hearing many many times, I have to admit can be quite catchy.  He also got to play the chimes on 'Shine Shine Shine', though we didn't hear that one so much at home.

Love All

Our new house is one block away from the Sherwood Recreation Center which happens to have a track (where the epic "race" took place) and a tennis court. The latter has proved to be a major draw for Owen who has initiated "Family Tennis Day" on Sundays -- I'm not sure if that's a nod to Wimbledon or a ploy to get out of church. We initially planned on making it a doubles affair with Owen and I taking on Allen and Nora, but Nora decided she prefers to be "ball girl" so Allen has had to defend his court alone. It has been interesting, as none of us are very good and the score-keeping has been rather liberal, but we're having a lot of fun and I'm hoping we actually keep this tradition up.

Dancing Queen

In December, Nora had her first dance "recital" -- recital being overly generous as for the little ones this just means that parents and loved ones are allowed to watch the final class from the studio as opposed to being relegated to peeking in the one door with a windon in the hallway. Mom Mom attended as did Allen, Owen and myself, and while the results were adorable, they were not particularly recognizable as a "dance" or "class."

Schedules were a little tighter for the summer recital, which meant that I was the only Nora fan able to attend. She didn't dissapoint. While her "rolling on the ground" skills  may need a little more work, I thought her "frog" and "bird" interpretation were pretty impressive and her "free style" was unparalleled (which technically, was also the case for her rolling on the ground work). Can't wait for the fall when she starts Intro to Ballet/Tap.

Honeybee

Last year, for Owen's big school project he built a model of a personal computer and gave a report on Mark Dean for Black History Month.  For 1st grade, his project was to chose an insect to study, build a 3-D model including a habitat, and give an oral presentation.  Owen chose a honeybee (because it has venom and he likes honey).  We worked together on building his model, and he did a great job researching honeybees.  But don't take my word for it, check out his practice presentation, and learn a thing or two about honeybees!

Wine Tasting

One great thing about my office is that we all get along well and everyone likes to socialize.  This of course has gotten a bit harder as the number of kids in the branch has grown, but every once in a while we still manage to pull off a nice CEB gathering.  Eric generously raided his wine cellar and we invited the branch over to our house for a wonderful wine tasting.  Despite staying up past 1 am, we didn't manage to finish all the wine, but rest assured the leftovers did not go to waste.  All the wine that wasn't consumed made a delicious sangria the next day. 

Movers

As frustrating as we found the whole house search, Aunt Katherine had it much, much worse. While we simply needed more room and were looking in the same zip code, Aunt Katherine needed to be in the DC metro area due to a change in work assignment and was looking for houses from Cleveland. Despite expanding her search to the entire state of Maryland and much of Virginia, there seemed to be a dearth of places that met her and Uncle L's (and their 2 dogs' and cat's) needs that didn't already have multiple offers on it for well above the appraised value.

Time was short and Katherine was discouraged, when a house came on the market which had potential. Alas, Katherine was in Miami at a friend's bachelorette party at the time, and since there wasn't an open house scheduled, thought she'd wait a week (and catch up on some sleep) before checking it out. We were insistent, and so despite not having eaten or slept in a while, she capitulated and a few hours later was in love. A contract was in place two days later -- right before three other agents made inquiries. 30 days, two moving vans, and several hours of volunteer labor (with only one accidental fall off said moving van) later, Katherine and Lee were moved in and sitting down to birthday/housewarming celebration.

(editor's note: clearly that last sentence was written by someone who missed out on the long and painful day unloading said two moving vans ;-)


(click here for all the pictures)

Classics

Sunday was the 34th Capitol Hill Classic and our second year participating. It was a family affair: I put up posters at local businesses, Allen helped orgazine t-shirts on Friday, Owen raised $100 in pledges (thanks Mom Mom, Grandma & Grandpa Z and Aunty Ellen), I helped set up the race area in the early hours of Sunday morning, and despite the rain and gloom later that morning, Owen and I participated in the 3K while Nora ran the Fun Run.

Note that I said "participated" with regards to Owen and I, for a faulty education in the metric system led me to misrepresent the length of the race to him (I thought it was closer to one mile than two) and so, despite Owen's participation in the "Running Club" at school, we ended up walking the majority of the course. Nora, however, enthusiastically ran the whole race (except when she was distracted by rain puddles) and earned a medal for her efforts (Owen was informed that medals were only for the Fun Run, though we managed to obtain one for him anyway...).

It was a pretty good showing by the Fawcett Family, though we're hoping next year to finish before the 4 year old running backwards...

Grandma & Grandpa Z

Grandpa Fawcett left for Iowa a couple of weeks ago to help with planting season, shortly afterwhich Mom Mom & Grandpa Don headed off to Italy to celebrate Mom Mom's birthday, leaving us a few grandparents short in the metro area. Fortunately, Grandpa & Grandma Z had planned to come out for my 40th birthday and were able to represent.

We started off big. Aunt Kara's parents, John & Ginny Bigelow, were also in town so we had a lovely, "welcome to our new house" dinner on Thursday night. Friday a furloughed Allen took Grandma & Grandpa Z out to the Arboretum for the day and then we all headed out to National's Park to see the Nat's beat the Cubs (sorry Uncle Steve). Saturday Owen's t-ball game was cancelled due to inclement weather, but we still managed to make Nora's dance class, tour the Capitol with Cousin Molly, and Allen & I got in a lovely dinner at Komi while Grandma & Grandpa Z babysat. Mother's Day involved church, brunch, and a scenic walk of our new neighborhood. Monday Grandma and Nora made rhubarb pie in anticipation of my 40th birthday dinner. Tuesday we just kind of hung out.

It was a lovely visit and the kids really enjoyed the extra attention (as well as getting to stay home from daycare/aftercare). Allen and I enjoyed the extra rest time, which apparently becomes more and more important once you turn 40...

(click here for all the pictures)

One Year for Every Acre

We had big plans for Elaine's big 4-0, but life ended up getting in the way.  Russian River Valley, bicycles, B&B's, wine tours, it was a lovely plan, but when the time rolled around to start booking everything, we were in the midst of house hunting and felt there was too much uncertainty to commit to a big vacation in May.  Nonetheless, we managed to celebrate in style.  With Mom Mom vacationing in Italy and Grandpa Fawcett in Iowa to help out with planting season, we had Grandma and Grandpa Z fly in to babysit so we could have a night out on the town.  We had an amazing dinner at Komi on Saturday night, 16 delicious courses (the duck liver mouse on sourdough amazingly enough was Elaine's favorite).  Elaine's actual birthday fell on Monday, which happened to be the one day we could have Molly over for dinner while Mike & Ginny were in town, and Elaine somehow ended up making what seems more like a birthday dinner for me, crabcakes with a strawberry rhubarb pie from Grandma Z.  It was a lovely evening of course, and with any luck we'll have a blog post about a bicycle tour through the wine country before too long.

Day Late Derby

Due to some calendar confusion, we sadly missed Nancy & Danny's Kentucky Derby party this year (though we probably saved some money since I doubt we would have bet on Orb).  They very kindly invited us over for dinner on Sunday instead. Nora brought over flowers (lilies that matched the wreath :-), and we all had a wonderful time.  Now for future reference, the Kentucky Derby is always on a Saturday...  

The Race

We decided to try and re-introduce Nora to the balance bike (she last tried it in October) via a three-way race at the recreation center a block away from our new house. It didn't take.

Coach Pitch!

For the Knights third game of the season we transitioned from t-ball to coach pitch.  Owen has been playing coach pitch at Home Run Baseball Camp for a few years now, so he was pretty excited to finally be rid of the tee.  The video is much shorter this week (right center is not quite as active as the pitcher spot he played last week, though he did make a couple nice plays out there), but Owen had a couple good hits, including one ripped down the third base line right by my spot coaching third base.

Knights Condensed Game

Owen is playing Single A T-ball this season on the Knights.  For each game the kids on the Knights play one position in order to get used to the flow of the game.  This is generally a good idea, but at least in the first couple weeks, whoever plays the 'pitcher' position ends up fielding at least 80% of the balls.  This was good news for Owen in our second game of the season, and he had a blast playing pitcher.  The above video is the whole "condensed game" (just like the Nats condensed games he watches every morning, but a little more self centered;-)  His best play in the field was snagging a line drive (and making a perfect throw to first just in case).  Looking good out there son!

Cheetah Princess

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Once upon a time there was a Cheetah Princess named Nora. And she had a Cheetah King with her, and they didn't have a Queen or a Knight, so they decided to go on a little walk.  And it was dark on their walk.  So they went to the park, but the park was closed.  So they went back home, but there was a spooky stranger there, so they couldn't get through.  That's why they stayed at the park and looked at the shadows, but then they saw their Queen and their Knight saying, "Why did you take a little walk?" "Because, Nora wanted to go on an adventure."  So they went back to the castle with the Queen and the Knight, and they lived happily ever after.

Family Cuddle

Sometimes everyone just wants to have a little family cuddle time :-)

(Family selfie!)

Radiology Conferences are the Best

We had a special treat this week.  There happend to be a radiology conference in town, so Joe came down to stay with us for the week.  He got to see the house, experience some of the offerings of H Street (including a delicious dinner at Toki Underground), see the kids, and have a great time hanging out if I do say so myself.  Cate and the kids couldn't make it this trip, but hopefully we'll be seeing them all soon :-)

Uncle Dave

Uncle Dave had a conference in Alexandria last week. Fortunately for us, he extended his stay for a day so that we could check out our new digs and get a little bonding time in with his nephew and god-daughter, which included Legos, comic books, and a special gift called, "Basket Head" or as we like to refer to it, "the game Uncle Dave & Aunt Kara gave us which involves 10 mintues of fun and 2 days of looking for errant ping pong balls."

Ben's 4th Birthday

Ben turned 4, super hero themed party at Brad & Marlo's, beautiful weather. Best just to let these pictures speak for themselves...




(click here for all the pictures)

Opening Day

Opening Day finally arrived, brushing aside the painful memories of Game 5 with the hope and optimism of a new season.  Owen and I dutifully took the afternoon off to take in the festivities and cheer on our beloved Washington Nationals, and Owen even kept score for the first time.  Mom Mom and Grandpa Don joined us, and we all jumped for joy when Bryce Harper hit a home run in his first at bat of the season, cheered as Stephen Strasburg retired 19 straight Marlins, and smiled in disbelief at Harper's second home run in as many at bats.  The Nats won (hopefully the first of many) and started out the 2013 baseball season right :-)

(click here for the pictures)

Easter 2013

It's been a crazy month, what with the move (March 8th), putting our old house on the market (March 20), getting that house under contract (March 26th) all while trying to settle into the new place. Due to the madness, we've let certain things slide: there's been a lot of eating out, bedtimes are a moving target and we only have few things on the walls.

We ended the month strongly, however, with our version of a traditional Easter.

We began with an Easter Egg hunt with Owen getting a Lego set we wouldn't let him open until later and Nora consuming a frightening amount of candy in a brief amount of time. This followed by our traditional Easter breakfast at our local bagel place because it's a block from the church that has the 10:30 am service (since we can't seem to make St. Peter's 9:00 am mass and the 11:00 am is too late). We cut out of church a little early and then headed up to Mom Mom and Grandpa Don's with Katherine, Lee, Makayla and Grandpa Fawcett for a second Easter Egg hunt where Owen got another Lego set we wouldn't let him open (so he carried it around most of the afternoon) and Nora ate even more candy. After some confused pipes thinking everything was supposed to rise after three days triggered an emergency visit from the WSSC (which caused Mom Mom a great deal of stress and Grandpa Fawcett a good deal of entertainment), we sat down to an amazing Easter dinner where even Nora put aside her assorted chocolates for seconds of the ham Mom Mom had shipped from Vermont.

It was a pretty awesome day -- so much so that Allen was asleep by 7:30 pm that night. Good thing he was taking off most of Easter Monday for opening day...

(click here for all the pictures)

Baseball is Back!

It's not quite Opening Day yet, but since Owen had a half day at school on Friday, and the Nats were playing the Yankees for an exhibition game, we decided it was time to take in a ballgame.  The Nats lost, but the game doesn't count, and it was fun to be back at a baseball game.  For a special treat, we stopped by the team store and picked up a Nats flag to fly at home.  Can't wait for the season to start!

Someone is a little too cute for her own good

Sunrise

Owen's new room faces East, so he gets to wake up his Mesozoic menagerie silhouetted against the sunrise :-)

This is Spring?

It's Spring, the Snowquester was a bust, and we haven't had two inches of snow in over two years.  Yet somehow we managed to get a little snow storm.  It didn't amount to much, but it was enough to give us our first accumulation in the new house.  Too bad it turned to rain and melted away before we had a chance to play in it...

Pigeon

A few days ago we put up a post with Nora's first real drawing, and a look back at Owen's first as well.  They really never stop amazing you, Owen has entered a really interesting artistic phase.  His latest work that resonated with me was a Pigeon on notebook paper. His drawings these days remind me of a quote form Six Degrees of Separation (though he's a year early ;-)

Why are all your students geniuses? Look at the first grade - blotches of green and black. The third grade - camouflage. But your grade, the second grade, Matisses, every one. You've made my child a Matisse.

Auction Night

Friday night was the Cluster Rocks Auction fundraiser for Owen's school, so Elaine and I dressed up, and walked over to the Atlas theater for a night of drinking, dancing, and bidding all for a good cause.  The auction was actually really cool, everyone got there own iPod Touch with a bidding app to view items and make bids.  We bid on some cool seats in the City Council box for a Nats game, but they quickly became too rich for our blood.  We thought we might have a better shot at the swim lessons that Ronan's dad was offering, but lost out on those at the last minute.  We did manage to win a $100 gift certificate for Joy of Motion, where Nora takes dance classes (and got it for less than face value!), and a nature hike on the Billy Goat Trail in Great Falls for Owen led by his principal and some of the teachers at the Cluster.  In the end, everyone had fun and we raised a lot of money for the school, way to go PTA.

First Drawings

Just a few weeks ago Nora through a full on temper tantrum because she could only draw "scribble scrabble."  She clearly had an idea in her head about what she wanted to draw, but couldn't quite get it on the paper.  Shortly after that something clicked, and she handed me the picture above, a wonderful picture of Nora (in her favorite color purple) and Daddy (in his favorite color blue). It reminded me of the first recognizable picture Owen drew (also of Daddy, but in orange), and when I looked back to see when he drew his picture I found that it was in March of 2010, just after Owen turned 3 1/2, the exact same age Nora is now.  It's neat how these developmental milestones line up sometimes.

Both of these pictures hang on the wall in my office now, to give me a daily reminder about how amazing it is to watch your kids grow, and that my kids see me as a short guy with a big nose ;-)

The New Digs

Back in November, we started looking for a new house that would accommodate the four of us and Allen's dad. We fell in love with an "urban castle" which featured a turret and exposed brick, and put an offer on it right before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, someone with a much bigger bank account also fell in love with it, and beat us out in a heated bidding war.

We kept looking, but finding a three bedroom plus in-law suite house in NE Capitol Hill, preferably on a corner lot (in order to insure the in-law suite had some light) wasn't particularly easy. Our real-estate agent early on suggested a renovation a half block off H street, but I, having lived just off Columbia Road in Adams Morgan back in the nineties, was adamant that that being so close to the bars and restaurants was not conducive to a safe and happy family life.

So we forged on. We went to every 4 bedroom open house on the Hill over the course of two months (that sounds more impressive that it really was, as inventory on the Hill is notoriously low). Nothing seemed to fit the bill and interest rates began creeping up, so I relented. We got into another bidding war with someone with a bigger bank account that us, but this time we managed to outmaneuver them. 30 days later we owned a new house and last Friday we moved in (with a lot of help from Aunt Katherine).

And then Saturday, we had Katherine, John, Uncle Pete, Aunt Jeannine, cousin Molly and her boyfriend Tyler over for dinner.

The kids love their new rooms (Owen in particular who's living space has roughly tripled), Owen's balcony, the back yard, and the wide open spaces (we still need to buy some more furniture...). Allen likes our spacious new kitchen and master bath (though we've been having trouble figuring out the fancy new shower) and parking. Grandpa Fawcett hasn't officially moved in yet, but he seems good with it all.

As for me, I'm still trying to figure out how to sleep in our new room without window treatments to block the city lights and some sort of sound proofing for weekend nights. I'm also feeling a bit sad to have left the house we brought both of our kids home to, but I think we'll eventually be settled and happy here (once everything is fixed, we've sold our other house, and used the proceeds to buy some blackout shades).

And speaking of which, anyone interested in 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bathroom house?

Snowmass - 2013

Two years ago we celebrated my birthday with our first ski trip to Colorado's amazing Snowmass with the Hyatt's, Pearson's and Billy.  We couldn't get the whole gang back together, but we did manage to meet up with Nabeel and Megan for another Snowmass adventure this year.  The kids were all a bit older, so Nora could go to ski school this time (and begged for more by the end); Liam graduated to the Grizzly Bears group, and was taking the lift and everything in class; Owen started taking on Blues (which are a little more challenging in Colorado than they are on the East coast); and Kaden spent his days skiing the blacks and learning moguls (he'll be better than all of us soon).

Some of the many highlights: We woke up on our second day of skiing to find nine inches of fresh powder at the top of the mountain and sunny skies to boot.  We took advantage of the great conditions and rode the High Alpine lift up to near the top of the mountain, and hiked up a little further to try our hand at some amazing powder on Upper Green Cabin.  On our third day we took on an even bigger hike up in order to ski down Longshot, the longest run in North America, then spent the afternoon cruising through the Aspens down around Two Creeks.  We had some amazing meals, a delicious lunch at Lynn Britt Cabin, and a phenomenal sushi dinner out at Matsuhisa in Aspen.  Nabeel broke out his fancy new camera, and took some amazing pictures.

Of all the days on the slopes, the most fun might of been our last. Owen and Kaden joined the adults on the slopes, and we spent the day on some challenging Blues, like the boys' favorite Bull Run.  It was really cool to see how Owen has taken to skiing, and pretty amazing that we can already spend the day skiing as a family, and not even feel like he's holding us back too much.  I guess we should enjoy it while it lasts, because it wont be too long before Owen and Kaden start leaving us in the dust (and really making Mommy nervous ;-)

It really was an amazing trip, and we're already starting to think about next time ... Whistler 2015 in British Columbia!

(Click here for all the pictures)

Elephants Cannot Dance!

As read by Nora Atchison Fawcett.

Technical Difficulties

So our laptop has run out of memory, which means we can't upload pictures or videos. We knew this was going to happen, and were simply hoping that it would happen after Apple released its new desktop. Alas, that's not the case and in fact, Apple has delayed the release of their latest product.

So you're going to have to wait until sometime in late January to hear about our Christmas celebration. And New Years. And what the kids have been taking pictures of with their new cameras. And anything else that might occur before we are up and running.

Our apologies. I assure you -- we really are working on this.

2012 - The Year in Facebook Status Updates

When another parent tells you that you're good for their self-esteem, that's not really a compliment is it… ~ What’s the proper disposal method when your child breaks a crèche? It seems a little wrong to just throw away baby Jesus. ~ My co-workers are debating whether DOL is bigger than a cruise ship for reasons I don't understand. It's almost impressive how much time and energy is going into standardizing the units of measure in order to accurately determine which has the larger volume. Almost. ~ Nora made up a song about bacon sung to the tune, "dreidel, dreidel, dreidel." I don't think she fully grasps the irony. ~ So Owen is fully enrolled in summer camps...by January 25th. ~ went a little "tiger mom" over Nora this morning. Not my finest parenting moment, but at least it's now clear that chocolate teddy grahams are only for little girls that can count to four. ~ Owen’s ant farm is finally operational. Can’t wait for harvest. ~ First night sleeping in her big girl bed. ~  Less than 24 hours and we've already had an ant breach. ~ Just found out the pancakes I purchased for Owen’s class party last month have been recalled. Awesome: I’ve become the, "she's trying to kill us" mom. ~ Gone skiin'. ~ Made an evolution reference while dropping off Owen at Sunday school and got a look from his teacher. Apparently not my target audience. ~ Granville Moores' menu touts that the bison burger is made from "local" bison. 'Cause DC is known for its roaming buffalo. ~ I’m really glad that Nora is learning Spanish. I just wish she would stop telling me I’m "grande." ~ Overheard at a 5 year old's birthday party, "girls can marry girls and boys can marry boys." ~ At bedtime this evening, Owen asked that I "entertain [him] to sleep." ~ So Owen officially has a lateral lisp, which is really what one would expect of the progeny of "captain slurry." ~ Someone on the moms on the hill listserve posted an ad on craigslist for a 3 foot sub (valued at $50 but selling for $25) that they didn't need for dinner this evening. Someone bought it within 15 minutes. Really, people? ~ Owen (aka Superman) informed me that he was going to text Batman (to inform him of our location and other relevant details). Ah, kids today. ~ I'm really hoping that the Cluster School Newsletter made a typo, and that in fact it hasn't been a busty week. ~ I wish you could bottle 2 1/2 year olds' giggles. ~ Owen's classmate Cate told someone she wanted to marry Owen. When they asked Owen if he wanted to marry Cate- Owen responded "Kind of." Ah- kindergarten courtships. ~ While attempting to get the kids ready for bed- Owen jumped up naked on the couch and informed us he needed to put on a show while Nora ran to the kitchen and peed on the floor. Thanks Easter bunny. ~ I was just reprimanded for not putting a leave request in the form of a question. Because apparently I work at Jeopardy. ~ Taking a shade break on the Capitol grounds while listening to the strains of Herman Cain speaking at a Tea Party rally. ~ Alas- packing sunscreen is only a necessary and not a sufficient condition. ~ If I'd known she'd decide to serenade me with it at 6:50 on a Saturday morning- I never would have given my 2 year old a harmonica. ~ In honor of cowboy day at Nora’s daycare- the kids have opted to rock out to Thin Lizzie this morning. ~ Let the single parenting commence. ~ In deference to Allen’s belief system in his absence- the kids are rocking out to “Science is Real” prior to Sunday school. ~ My daughter- after passing them in the hallway- described the deputy assistant secretary of EBSA and the director of the office of health plan standards and compliance assistance as "scary people." this could make tomorrow's briefing slightly awkward. ~ Nora went shopping for my mother’s day present today. She picked out a stuffed pig that kisses. I clearly should have slipped her or else her daycare teacher more money. ~ FYI: the North Pole lies in the Arctic Ocean rather than on a land mass. Failure to know this will result in condescension by my husband- despite his best efforts to suppress it. ~ Looking up brownie recipes in some cookbooks I inherited from my grandmother. Apparently- to the Iowa church going community of the 70s- oleo and Crisco were compliments rather than substitutes. ~ Some days I think Joan Crawford might have had a point. ~ That's ok- Nora. I don't mind being awoken from a deep sleep at 3 in the morning right as I was about to apprehend Jason Segal and Kate Hudson in some nefarious plot I don't recall but that involved golf carts by your scream only to be told as I ran to comfort you to "go away" because that's what mommies are here for. ~ Dear fb and fb friends: I am never going to play bubble safari. Ever. So let's just save ourselves the hassle and embarrassment and stop inviting me to play. ~ Nora just informed us she- "has too many guys." Happy Father's Day Eve Allen Fawcett ~ to paraphrase Kenny Rogers- you picked a fine time to leave [us] AC. ~ and now we've lost power. Oh freon gods- why have you forsaken us? ~ nine years -- most of which successfully involved artificial temperature control. Happy anniversary- Allen Fawcett. ~ Finally get the air conditioning fixed and Nora responds by wrapping herself in a blanket and announcing she's cold. ~ There is cat food on the floor of the women's restroom at DOL. sigh. So many things wrong with that sentence. ~ will be using an alternative route to work this morning to avoid the scotus madness at 1st and constitution. ~ Home. Which would be awesome if it wasn't 105 degrees. ~ File under the law of unintended consequences: Owen now loves Katy Perry's "Fireworks" b/c it's Ryan Mattheus's walk-up song. ~ opened a door onto a woman in a wheelchair this afternoon so I guess we know where I'll be spending eternity. ~ I'm drinking a corn milkshake. The things I do for love... ~ so the good news is that our wedding rings have appreciated significantly since we got married; the bad news is that Allen's is now at the bottom of the pond. ~ was feeling pretty good about myself when- after a 10 day tour of the Midwest- my scale read "Lo" until I realize it was referring to the battery. ~ Narrowly avoided this morning: becoming the middle-aged lady who swallowed a fly. ~ filling out school forms while drinking white wine -- the duality of it all. ~ Just enrolled Nora in dance class and Owen in baseball camp for the fall. Also just lost all credibility regarding any discussion of gender roles in society. ~ My son forgot his pants at camp. ~ Nora had a playdate this afternoon. The mom asked me if Nora could have a b-r-o-w-n-I-e. She spelled it multiple times and I still couldn't figure out what she meant. I'm not certain we'll be invited back. ~ My baby is wearing underwear. ~ Why does my GPS hate me? ~ Listening to "Relax" by FGTH while driving the kids to Sunday School. #subversivesundays ~ the one silver lining regarding global warming is that in the future- I won't have to spend 40 minutes arguing with a screaming 3 year old about seasonally appropriate clothing. ~ You know what's worse than bringing your kids to a bar? Bringing them to one frequented by Heritage Foundation interns. ~ Nora broke into "The More We Work Together" in front of the Capitol. From the mouths of babes... ~ so I'm sure that I heard wrong- but I swear Dora just said that the Spanish word for "prince" was "fancy pants." ~ I'm not sure that I'm emotionally mature enough to handle a division series. ~ Shattered my iphone while playing kickball with Owen this evening and learned two important lessons: 1) playing kickball during a national's playoff game warrants a karmic reprimand and; 2) Allen’s decision to buy an iphone 5 despite having a perfectly good iphone 4 was in fact prescient and not- as previously believed- self-indulgent. ~ Nora got stuck in a glue trap in my office this morning. Awe, Wednesdays. ~ Oh- nationals. If only you could have pulled it off then the fact that my 6 year old is out past midnight wouldn't seem like such bad parenting.  ~ The tv is broken and Allen is out of town which means I actually have to interact with my children for the next two days. ~ While listening to our Nationals Walk-up Mix- I asked Owen who's song was "Howlin' for You." He replied "Strasburg." I responded "Really? I thought his walk-up song was by the White Stripes." Owen replied, "Mom, do you even know what the White Stripes sound like?"   No- and apparently neither does Owen since we were actually listening to the Black Keyes. ~ My 6 and 3 year olds have been getting a little James Haven/Angelina Jolie-ish. Is this a normal development brother/sister thing or something icky we need to nip in the bud? ~ Playing scrabble with Allen. It's probably best for our marriage that we don't encounter hurricanes too often. ~ Learned 2 important lessons about my son this morning: 1) he has an extremely loose tooth; and 2) he is terrified of losing his baby teeth. ~ I pulled my child out of a car window in order to make the bus this morning- which is a pretty good measure of how the day's been going. ~ On the walk home- I referenced a question asked at Allen Fawcett's conference over whether the proceeds of a carbon tax should go to the government or the people. Owen chimed in "government" (because it's better than people") while Nora shouted "people." After 3 blocks of yelling their differing views, Owen finally got Nora to say "government" and proclaimed himself the winner. DC childhoods are weird. ~ It is a really unfortunate thing when the "very cherry" jelly bellies get mixed up with the "cinnamon" jelly bellies. ~ Owen asked me in church tonight if the "Our Father" was the 30 minute mark. ~ Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. ~ Turns out I can't make jello.

Christmas 2012

Christmas in DC is always carried off in stages. Christmas Eve we hosted Mom Mom, Grandpa Fawcett, Katherine & Lee and Nancy, Danny and Christopher for dinner and a non-santioned present opening session. The dinner went well, but the unwrapping part of the evening descended into bedlam. Aunt Katherine has always been reluctant to open any presents in a timely fashion, and had to be pressed to finally agree to the night's entertainment. But then Allen allowed Owen to distribute the presents without regard to their contents, resulting in Mom Mom getting an iPad cover prior to receiving her new iPad. Mom Mom was confused; Aunt Katherine was horrified; and Allen (and all Christmas Eve present opening) is now banned from future holiday celebrations.

We opened Santa's presents quickly at our house on Christmas morn before heading to Mom Mom & Grandpa Don's for even more presents and a lot more food. Owen and Nora snapped pictures with their new cameras, Owen carried around his new Lego Ninjago's Destiny Bounty from Mom Mom (we decided it best for him to not start assembling the 642 pieces that day), and Nora just enjoyed all the goodies Mom Mom had to offer.

When Nancy, Danny & Christopher arrived, we sat down to a delicious Christmas dinner (and discovered that Nora really loves Yorkshire Pudding) and then opened even more presents before dessert and a final "Merry Christmas" for 2012.

(To see all the Christmas pictures, please click here.)

'Twas the Day before Christmas

Thanks to the President (and the federal employees lobby), we found ourselves with Christmas Eve day off, and only a minimal amount of preparation required for hosting duties that night. So we decided to meet up with Aunt Katherine, Uncle L and Makayla as well as Grandpa Fawcett and head to the Botanical Garden (or as it's known to Owen, whose never been to any of the Disney complexes, "The Most Magical Place on Earth").

The Garden is pretty popular this time of year, due to its impressive annual train display. Being hearty and having seen most of the other exhibits multiple times (again, due to Owen's love of all things botanical), Allen was kind enough to save our place in the outdoor queu for 45 minutes while we took in the other sights. Once he made it inside the building, we joined him and eventually got to see fairies, and mermaids, and lots and lots of trains. It was nice alternative to working and a great way to ring in the holidays.

If our child falls alseep in a forest...

We are quirky parents. We buried our son's umbilical cord in our front yard. We made stop motion animation books about our daughter rolling over. We forced our son to pose for pictures while suffering from a head trauma. And for nearly six and a half years, we've recorded every nap, diaper change and nursing episode that our children encountered.

But that is about to change.

With Owen going off the books long ago (back when he started at Peabody and we stopped getting information about if and for how long he napped during the day) and Nora now being completely potty-trained, there's not a lot to track. We agreed a while ago that when our subscription for the Trixie Tracker came up next, we would let it lapse. That day is today (which means that in at least one sense, the Mayans were right).

We've gotten a lot of grief over the years regarding our OCD tendencies concerning our children's more basic functions, but knowing that information was extremely helpful early on, and, well, later it just didn't seem like something really happened unless we recorded it for posterity. Personally, I'm going to miss it. And so it is with a somewhat heavy heart, I report the final stats as this phase of our lives ends:

Diapers Changed
Owen: 7,465
Nora: 7,139

Minutes Nursing/Bottle Equivalent
Owen: 31,824*
Nora: 24,292

Longest Single Sleep
Owen: 11 hours, 54 minutes (December 26, 2009)
Nora: 12 hours, 50 minutes (November 4, 2012)

Awake Longest During the Day
Owen: 16 hours, 33 minutes (July 3, 2010)
Nora: 15 hours, 24 minutes (August 24, 2012)

Awake the Least During the Day
Owen: 7 hours, 49 minutes (March 17, 2007)
Nora: 7 hours, 23 minutes (September 12, 2009)



(Please note: Owen's nursing stats are artificially high due to our attempts to convert bottle feedings to nursing equivalents. The underlying assumptions were revised downwards when Nora began nursing. However, we made no attempts to update Owen's nursing stats with the revised assumptions.)

Holiday Cheer

It's been a rough week for everyone. It's also been a week that coincided with Owen's Holiday party at school. I spent Wednesday morning with 21 first graders doing what all six and seven years olds should be doing this week before Winter Break. If only they all could.

Tiny Dancer

Nora started taking dance lessons this fall on Saturday mornings, a few blocks from our house. We thought Nora, who's still too young for soccer or t-ball, would enjoy twirling around with other kids her age while Owen was at baseball camp. Plus we figured we'd get some adorable photos to share with friends and family.

Alas, we found out the first day that not only does her studio discourage parents from being in the room during class, but bans filming and photography of any sort. Moreover, unlike the other classrooms, Nora's class was conducted in a windowless space.

So for months, I took Nora to class, waited in the hallway in case she needed a potty break, and occassionaly craned my neck to peek in on her progress through the small window on the door until she was released. Until Monday. At a make-up class, parents were finally allowed to view their progeny's progress and immortalize it for posterity. I wouldn't call it a recital per se, but it was certainly an exhibition and well worth the wait.

Range & Waffles

Elaine and I manged to score reservations for the preview night at Bryan Voltaggio's new restaurant Range, and Mom Mom & Grandpa Don agreed to let the kids sleep over, so we had a lovely date night.  The meal was delicious (especially the bone marrow, you may feel your arteries hardening, but it's totally worth it!), and to top things off, the next morning Nora and Mom Mom made waffles for everyone :-)  

My baby girl

Sometimes you just want to cuddle :-)

Father Christmas

The kids got  a special treat today, a visit with Father Christmas!  They were a bit nervous at first, but once they figured out Father Christmas was really our good friend Danny, everyone was all smiles.