6 months old!

and he's got his mama's hair...

Flooded.

Amelia's good friend Rhiana (who is in her class) had a birthday party Friday night at Riverbend Park near Great Falls. We all went along and had a great time. There was a campfire program put on by the park service which had to be moved to higher ground due to major flooding of the river. It was a really beautiful park and the kids had fun playing in the overflowing river. At the campfire program they showed the kids frogs, tadpoles, and different bugs. Then they had marshmallows for everyone to make smores.

Outside.

We have been spending a lot of time outside, trying to take advantage of the great weather.

A walk across the Wilson Bridge/I-495:







A picnic at the park:



A trip to the park and the Dairy Godmother:



Falling asleep on a run with Ben:

Family Night

We're still enjoying great weather around here. A bit of rain but perfect temperatures. We went to a party the other night and I made this caprese salad from Smitten Kitchen to bring along. I guess it wasn't really a fresh mozzarella and tomato kind of crowd because I ended up bringing most of it back home. Which meant we got to enjoy awesome grilled pizzas Monday night with the leftovers.





We also had a fun Family Home Evening. Elsa and I were in charge of the activity and set up an awesome obstacle course in the backyard. Just as we were getting ready to head outside for it, we heard thunder and it started pouring. So we set up a new course inside. And just as we finished that one, the rain stopped. So we headed outside with our rainboots and did the outdoor course.










(The girls were fascinated watching Ben do the course.)

Mother and Daughter Tea

I was able to go to Amelia's class the Friday before Mother's Day for a special party. The kids had written short essays about why they love their moms. They each got to introduce their moms to the class and then they gave us a necklace and card they had made. The teachers gave us all flowers and then we had cake and ice cream. The kids also sang a few songs. I was too busy juggling Elsa and Oliver and didn't get any photos. Amelia was mostly excited that she was allowed to wear a fancy dress that day instead of her school uniform.

The Friday after Mother's Day they had a special Mother and Daughter Tea for the whole school in the evening. Amelia and I got dressed up and had a fun date night. They had the older girls serve tea and punch and cookies. They had a really nice program. A girl from each grade was selected to read her essay about her mom. One of the teachers gave a really nice speech about mothers and daughters. After the program we went out to dinner.










(Amelia with friends from her class.)

Night Rider

Last Tuesday we did a late night bike ride around D.C. for our date night. We love biking around the monuments at night. Unfortunately, I forget how many tourists start to show up at this time of year. Yikes! The crowds finally disappeared after we fought our way past the Jefferson, FDR, Lincoln, and WWII Memorials. We were pretty much alone at the Washington Monument and the ride through the mall up to the Capitol which was nice. We rode over to Pitango (thankfully open until 11 p.m.!) and enjoyed some gelato and sorbet. We sampled pretty much every flavor before deciding. The fruit sorbets were SO refreshing. Ben's chocolate assortment was also fantastic.

I'm a winner!

Ben and I recently finished up a 12-week weight loss contest. A big shout-out to my sister-in-law Julie who put together the "Lettuce Eat Cake" contest.

I just received my cash prize* in the mail and Ben and I each got some awesome t-shirts. I ended up in first place, losing 30 pounds (up to 35 now) and Ben came in third place, losing 13 pounds (would have been more but traveling all the time made things difficult).

I had to eliminate all desserts for the first 6 weeks which helped a lot. And I avoided eating after dinner. And I walked about 90 miles during the first 8 weeks (kind of fizzled out the last 4 weeks but I've gotten back to walking regularly). If you haven't noticed, we go on a lot of walks around here.

Hooray for being healthy! Thanks Julie.

*I may or may not have just used a good chunk of my winnings to pay my library fine.

Nest.

While Ben was trimming a bush on Saturday, he came across a nest...at the exact moment that a baby robin was emerging from its egg. We all gathered around and watched two of the birds break out of their shells. Then we felt bad that we had probably scared the mom away. So we kept a distance for awhile and noticed that the mother did return to feed the birds. Phew. We have had fun checking on the birds the last few days. They are starting to look a little less alien-like and a little more fluffy.