Gingerbread House...

Will worked hard this year and stuck with the activity all the way till the end!

Charlie kept eating our candy so the only solution seemed to be to stick him in high chair with a lollipop at 8 am. 

The finished product!

Ellipse 2012...

The National Tree 2012...

Will waiting to cross Independence Ave...

A bad picture of the boys technically, but this is probably the only time I have had them both smiling at me near each other, EVER!

Checking out the trains that run around the tree...

Will and Santa.  Charlie wasn't interested in sitting on the lap.

After Santa, we headed over to the Sculpture Garden for Will to try ice skating...

I sat out with a charming little companion,  we ended up watching Octonauts on my phone while waiting for Daddy and Will to finish. 

Will was a brave little skater.  He didn't leave the wall of course, but I was proud of him for trying! Jason did great for not having skated in more than a decade!

I feel very lucky at times like this to live so close to the Nation's Capital.  I love seeing the White House, and the tree and look over and see the Washington Monument right there!  The mall is such a nice wide open space for kids and I just love looking up and seeing the Capitol all lit up at night.  I always feel just a little bit prouder to be an American when I am down there.... As for the Santa visit, Jason and I both knew Charlie wasn't going to sit, so that was fine.  Will decided though that he was going to ask Santa for his phone number and talk to him about a variety of other things.  I reminded him that he needed to tell him what he wanted for Christmas and to tell him that he had been a good boy.  Instead, William got up there and told Santa all about the naughty little boy in his class who is very mean.  Then he was upset when he had to leave and give the next kid a turn.  I told William that he shouldn't have wasted the time ratting out the other kid, but I reassured him that Santa would know what he wanted.  He didn't seem very sure about that.  We walked up to the Nativity and he started talking to these two women standing there and they asked me about seeing Santa and I told them it was free, etc. and William said " I am William and can you tell him that I want toys that are fighting?"  They laughed and I explained that he had run out of time.  They assured him that they would pass on the message.  He seemed to relax after that.  We walked over the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden Ice Rink and Will and Daddy went skating.  Will was pretty good at walking on skates and considering that this was his first time on ice skates, I was very impressed.  He and Daddy  made it two laps around, which took about an hour and then we went home.  It was a nice evening out and one I will never forget after all that Santa craziness!

Winter Wonderland...

Yes, those are my children, sighting GUNS...

And my baby is overjoyed!

The boys were clearly having a BALL!

William loves these things...

He's good to go!

Charlie was still on his learner's permit so needed a back seat driver...

Charlie was totally into the carousel this time...He threw a huge fit when it was time to get off!

These bears had a button the kids could push to make a horrible buzzing noise.  I wanted to find the person who made that and punch them...

Will went up on the Fun Slide all by himself!  He waited in line and followed the directions of the man at the top.  I felt like finally, all my hard work may be sinking in!



Lancaster PA has an amusement park that is made for children less than 10 years old.  It has been around for 50 years and now I see why.  It was perfect for that demographic.  Not too big, stroller friendly,  none of the rides were too scary, and almost all of them Charlie could go on too! It was great.  They open part of it in December for Christmas and have it all lit up at night with tons of lights and lots of cute characters.  It was a 2 and 1/2 hour drive, but in the end it was worth it.  The kids had a great time, though Charlie was so overstimulated and tired by the end he was delirious.  I would make the trip again next year for sure! 

Charlie Catch Up...

Charlie loves to take things back behind the rocker in his room and play quietly.  At first we couldn't figure out where he was dissapearing to!

Jason left his enchiladas unattended one evening and came back to this!  This kid can eat!

Charlie is now 19 months old.  I have no idea how time is running away from us so quickly.  He is doing great these days.  Very busy, and active, very interested in the world.  He loves William but he is getting more and more independent and it is becoming more and more clear that Charlie is going to be a very different boy than his brother.  He loves putting people in cars and boats, and loves fitting any item into another item.  He enjoys holding two similar items, one in each hand.  He adores my iphone and wants to have it every time he sees me with it.  He likes to color and to throw the crayons on the ground as soon as he is done.  He knows all his body parts and loves to "tickle tickle" people, and even himself!  He thinks sneezing is hilarious, and loves faking one and will laugh and laugh.  He still loves reading and will sit on his own for a long time paging through books.  He eats really, really well.  He adores meat, and cheese, and loves cereal.  He brought me the entire Costco box of Miniwheats halfway up the stairs the other day so I could open it!  He still wakes up EVERY SINGLE night, which is truly, slowly killing us.  I hope every night that by some miracle he will stay asleep all night and it never happens.  Jason is bearing the brunt of this since I have to work, and I have no idea what I would do without him.  Aside from that, Charlie is a sweet little boy, and though he seems to be entering the terrible twos early, I can't imagine life without him!

Christmas Tree 2012...

Off to the tree farm in search of the perfect tree...

William thinks he found it!  But, so did Mommy and Grandma, and Daddy too!

Charlie preferred the Charlie sized trees...

Daddy prepares to cut it down...

William was hoping to position himself so the tree could fall on him, as we have done before...

Home and decorated...

William brought home this ornament from preschool.  It is so cute, but I think the picture looks like it belongs on a driver's license!

Building Museum...

In Judiciary Square there is a large memorial to fallen officers, and apparently a very intriguing lion...

Charlie checks out the very first Lego set...

The Building Museum is really one of the best places in DC to bring kids.   They always have a variety of hands on activities for the kids... William stayed at this place a LONG time...

The kids playroom is run by a harsh group on Nazi like women who time the children and kick them out after 45 minutes!  Quit Having Fun Kids and GET OUT! 

This area was great, it is filled with large blue foam blocks and parts to attach them.  They had these at the Boston Children's Museum too, and Will still loved them just as much!

Will could have spent all day in this room!

Jason took the boys in to the city while I was at work one day.  I try and tamper down my feelings of jealousy by remembering all the times I have done really fun things with the boys while Jason was at work.  ( :   The boys had a ball and now we have plans to go together soon on one of my days off. 

Scratch That...

Blogger apparently is determined to get money out of us, so I just payed it.  I figure I have gotten it for free all these years, I might as well pay a little.  So stay tuned.  Sorry the posts are so infrequent, I just am completely overwhelmed working 6 days a week!