The Building Museum

We've had it on our bucket list for months now to get to this museum but it's hard to get tickets during the winter months. Last Sunday was a GORGEOUS day and we knew the city would be outside so it was a perfect chance to go. And we are SO glad we went! The kids had a great time in the 2 main rooms building everything and anything in site. Drew is seriously spectacular at building and absolutely loves it. We might have to head back again before we move this summer!

Drew's Valentine's Day Party

Because the winter months here in DC are my down time from shooting, I'm able to do more with my little ones. I've been able to take Ady to tumbling weekly, spend time with her at her favorite store (Target of course) often, and volunteer in Drew's classroom. Last week I got to spend a while at his Valentine's Party and it was so cute watching them all make valentine's for the nursing home and open each of their bags of treats!

Big Brothers Room

It's like a sacred shrine. One that she's not allowed to enter often and is shut out of frequently. It's magical to her filled with amazing toys that are much better than anything she has. When we sneak it while he's at school, she's careful with toys. Like she knows she needs to not move them much or he might realize what's going on. But her happiness is why I let her do it. She loves every second.

Also caught a little curl which made me smile...

My Birthday Celebration

Another fun staycation date with the hubs for my birthday this year! We stayed in downtown DC again and packed a lot into about 18 hours!

Derek got off early and arrived home with my 14th annual cookie cake for my birthday!  I LOVE this tradition and this year he got a delicious one from a local bakery!

 
Then, we headed downtown to start off the staycation with a visit of Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was shot. It was absolutely surreal standing near such a historical location, one that changed the country and the world! They had original clothing, pillows with blood stains, the actual gun and so much more.

Then we went back to the hotel room, had a snack and took a nap. Yes, a nap. It was glorious.

After our nap we grabbed a bit to eat and freshened up for our cooking class at Sur La Table. Despite not having any drinks to sip while we cooked, it was a great class and the food tasted delicious!

We then took the Metro back over to the Willard and had drinks in their bar called The Round Robin. It's always rated among the top bars in DC and the drinks were very unique but yummy!

After that, we walked back to the hotel and hit the hay. The next morning we enjoyed conversation over yet another meal without kiddos before doing a bit of shopping and heading home. Couldn't have done it without the in-laws but it was a wonderful time!

Running

I've run for around 12 years now and haven't always loved running, rather loved the feeling afterward. What started as a way to kick a few pounds, quickly developed into running smaller races and loving the competition with myself. Now, I've grown so much as a runner and NEED it. Like, I genuinely feel terrible if I haven't run for a couple of days. It makes me feel SO much better as a mom / friend / business owner. Thanks to an amazing running group that I'm in here in DC, I've made so many fun running friends, ran a marathon, participated in monument runs at night and learned so much about myself and running. It truly is such a big part of my life and while I might not always be running 15-20ish miles a week, for now, I need it. Mentally, physically, emotionally. It clears my head and keeps me sane. And we can all agree that if we find something that good, it must continue!

Oh, and it allows me to eat cupcakes. :)

Lego Kid

If there was a college you could attend to be a Lego master builder ensuring you'd work for Lego forever, I'd send this kid. He is SO fast at building new sets and absolutely loves it.

Puddle Jumping

Sometimes you just have to put on some boots and find a good puddle.

Potty Training

We are officially a diaper-less household! (Pullups at night are a different story but little momma loves to chug water and sleeps 11 hours so you can't expect her to hold it that long!)

Anyway, rewind to a couple of months ago when my friend was talking about the success she had with a book called Oh Crap. I decided to listen to the audio version while I edited and took down notes and mark 3 days on the calendar where I could be 100% attentive to try the entire process out. That was about 12 days ago and here we are with 7 accident-free days in a row! I'm now a huge supporter of that method despite day 1 almost dying of boredom and thinking this child would never pick it up.

By days 2 and 3 it was clicking and she was really getting it. We had an accident on day 4 but that was to be expected as it was the first day wearing pants. Then we had 2 little accidents on day 5 but since then nothing. She's gone #1 and #2 every time on the potty and we're now introducing her to the big potty as well. She even got out of the pool yesterday to go tinkle and has gone while we were out eating dinner! So glad to be done with diapers in this household but, on the flip side, it's still another milestone that my baby has passed. :(