More Star Wars fun

Think here's when I'm supposed to say:

Boys, do not play with your food!

But I need to lighten up, and these same kids who wear my patience thin with their whining and crying (it's not just from the baby) are also the ones who remind me to let my hair down...

Star Wars silliness
Jon and his version of Pod Racing, as he dares Ben to see who can toss the shelled edamame pods into the plate the fastest... ready, set, throw!

More Serious Fun
And during the boys' spring break earlier on, because there's only so much "Star Wars The Clone Wars" this mom should let them watch day in day out, and mesa tired alreadyeeee talking like Ja Ja Binks...

you bet I was smiling when they sat down to make movie posters of their favourite scenes =) ... (a bit of motivation helps, not always, but just as well not to make a habit out of it)!

Jon's is a character trait of Obiwan...


And Ben picked the battle between Obiwan and Darth Maul.

Before that: another movie poster Ben jumped at doing, home with Kait and me when Jon was gone for the day for chess...

"I hope I won't take longer than Jon at the tournament", Ben quipped as he coloured away with some help to draw Anakin and Count Dooku, whilst Kait was wriggling in my lap to be up and about. Ben added his own details like popsicle sticks for the lightsabers, and practised writing his ABC's by tracing over the letters for the summary he thought up. Then he presented it, as Jon would rehearse his school book reports with me, standing on the stool and using the fridge as the board. That same day, Jon came back happy also, having done well in chess.

These are the things they enjoy, and at the end of the most tiring day, seeing our children happy doing the things they like without putting up a fight, that's the real reward for us parents. And wouldn't it be great if they can do the same with basic, everyday stuff we should not have to keep reminding them about -- whether or not they are "in the mood"?

And not that the schools here are any less academically oriented, what we asked of Jon for last week's standardized testing (somewhat like year-end exams to gauge the standard of the students and school), was for him to go to bed early so he'd get enough sleep.

Only so much hounding I should and can do -- I tell myself (still). Especially with more to juggle now. If I don't, I'll go crazy.

Later: Drawing it out does for Ben what blogging it out does for me, with some not-so-great days this month.

Bloom, flowers, bloom

Can't say I'm a huge fan of April showers and definitely not the storms...

but to the pretty flowers they bring,

how can you not say Aaaaaaahhh?!!!

But Aaahhh-chooo! and *sniffle* *sniffle* they also make us go =(.

On the bright side...

At our doorstep, and up on our walls also, are these delightful daffodils we grew from bulbs...




More springtime pictures I took during our stay here, and it's with such nature shots I had swopped out our more personal ones for the home staging:
And to make it more interesting and less predictable, here's an instance of how I deliberately split up too similar pictures (like these tulip ones, left) to mix with others (below), for simple decorative touches here and there...

I look for colours and textures, and use them to pull different stuff and accessories in a room together. And isn't using your own pictures and artwork, and especially the children's masterpieces, cost-friendly yet personal ways to add warmth to the home?

Simple spring touches. The duck and tulips, and pavilion, are lovely sights at the botanic garden, and the swans, the zoo. The decorated wine bottles are the only two I doodled on before life got busier and busier, and they have spring themes, too!

I hope the flowers and colours in this post will put a spring in your step... as they do to relieve some of my stress!

Staging

Room by room, we go back to basics --before all the clutter and more clutter took over.

Except it's far from calm and orderly as I am relating it now. We scrambled to put the house together because of competition down the street!

Vern and I worked hard and got little sleep. All the other stuff we have not decluttered, we dumped into boxes first and put out of sight, not out of mind. Super pooped already.

Important thing is, the place looks good (it has to). Now we wait, wait for someone else to think so, too.

First pets

I took the boys to the pet store the other day.

But no, I didn't completely let them have their way. Told Jon and Ben to ask me again when they are 12 and 14, whether they can have a corn-snake and an iguana when they turn 13 and 15!

Here's what we brought home...


Jon called his lil critter "Josh Joe Justin", or "Josh" for short, after his camp counsellors.

And Ben, thinking Jon had chosen "Josh" because it is the first name of their head of school, named his critter after the principal's last name, "Mr C"!

So, there is some truth that children like to name their pets after people they are fond of =).

Quite quickly settled into its new home, Josh scaling this tree one night!


Do you or your child(ren) keep a crabitat, also? Or some pet that's kid-friendly, relatively low-maintenance, but which you are still the primary caregiver? ;p

Back at the store, when we were ready to check out, I saw Ben from the corner of my eye holding precariously onto one of those huge wine glasses of an aquarium he'd swiped off the shelves when I wasn't watching him. And at that moment, I knew that having pets may teach a bit of responsibility to the kids, but not without parental supervision! Who am I kidding, right?

Good thing it's not a dog or a cat that will be the last things we can manage right now. But I was just thinking, if getting two hermit crabs has to wait till I'm on top of my chores, or till the boys are more obedient and not fighting as much, then there will be so many other things we'll have to wait forever to do! Know what I mean?

Still, every day since we've got Josh and Mr C, I've not stopped asking Jon and Ben to go check, "Are your pets still alive?"!!!

It's working for us so far...
Besides storebought powdered food (think fish feed), Josh more than Mr C will eat a bit of peanut butter and apple.

With a little creativity and so that it's easier on the wallet, the trees and other playthings to provide some cover for the hermit crabs to hide in or under, came from our boys' toy stash. And because ordinary play sand works fine as the substrate, we eventually returned the starter-kit to the store as most of the items turned out to be trial-size only.

Maybe you have some advice/suggestions to offer? =)

Ice, sleet, and snow!

"A WINTRY MESS" read yesterday's headlines. And one look at the front page shot of quite the convoy of snowplows working hard to shove aside the slush -- seven in all, hot on the heels of each other on one highway -- and you get the picture, of how not so fun a winter storm can be!

The wallop of ice and sleet started before dawn, Thursday, and surprised schools expecting to deal with it later in the day. And many, like the school our boys go to, announced closings first thing in the morning, if not, early dismissals, and then again the next day, when a second wave hit yesterday.

And while the steady fall of slippery sleet was enough to ground flights, not just imperil driving (and thankfully, road situations improved yesterday), staying home all day also saw Jon and Ben at each other's throats a lot! So much so, their daddy, besides me, had to tell them, enough was enough, no more driving us parents up the wall! Yes, it was that bad, I wished I knew just how to channel their energies to more creative use. But all the talk about driving did drive me to sit them down to a little project that had been on my mind.



Not so fortunately, not that I didn't know how short both their attention span was, the boys' enthusiasm was short-lived. And what could have been easily done, turned out to be nearer to "Mission Impossible", and just another of this mommy's "crazy" ideas! Every time the boys walked away, I thought to myself, maybe I should have just sat down here instead, to do my own online version in the first place!

So here goes the story behind this story, of that belated post -- one of those things I've been meaning to do, to help me make sense of the pictures when I look back next time!

That Martin Luther King weekend last month...


It was not freezing rain nor sleet, but a snowstorm we arrived to in DC, for a long weekend over the Martin Luther King holiday, at the same time Vern was having a conference there.

Whether it's ice, sleet, or snow, if you ask me, winter isn't the best time to travel. So then, you could say making this trip was rather radicial by my standards. If not now, though, it would be awhile more before we could all be able to set foot on those same steps where the famous civil rights leader had delivered his "I have a dream" speech!

At the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Washington monument...


But before I get round to sharing a bit more on the "patriotic" sights in the country's capital, (and looks like it'll have to take another post, another day for that), here are some highlights of what there is to do indoors. My only "research" was based on Fodor's and Frommer's travel guides I went and borrowed from the library the day before we left, and a friend's top picks that went beyond what we managed. But if like us, you aren't looking to do too much, or have kids in tow, these may be the kind of places that'll work for you, too! =)

Must see: Air and Space Museum


Our boys got off to a flying start here, where you can find some amazing treasures of air and space -- from the earliest days of balloon flight, to the current explorations of space.


And that's the Spirit of St Louis, not the replica, and of course it caught our attention -- that first custom-built plane to make a solo, non-stop trans-Atlantic flight.


There are hands-on activities also, to interest children in the physics of flight. Think of that section of the museum as a mini Science Centre!


Most crowded: Natural History Museum


Also one unforgettable moment for Jon, as he came up close with a madagascar cockraoch! Ben went for the dinosaurs instead, always a favourite with him, and he was just thrilled when I told him he could go ahead, "Please touch" that Triceratops! It's his most favourite dinosaur!


Pity The Mammal working on the fossils was off-duty though...


But with so many wonders of the natural world on display -- over 100 million specimens, there are lots to see, although, no, we didn't try to do everything! I do like how the exhibits are arranged, the sections flow rather seamlessly from one to another!


Must try food @: American Indian Museum


With the American History Museum closed for the time being, this was our next best choice! Jon had buffalo burger for the first time, and gave it a thumbs up!


Ben found good old chicken just as finger-licking, lip-smacking, good. Vern liked the tamale (chicken and masa/corn in a corn shuck) a bit more than I did. These, among other native-inspired meals and snacks that the museum food court offers!


Food aside, there are diverse collections of American Indian art and culture objects, as well as interactive displays showcasing the lives of Natives told from their own perspective.


My favourite spot is the Lelawi Theater (not shown), with its tiered bench seating around a canvas of sorts, with a woven blanket hung over it, that served as the screen. The images in the film also got projected on a rock below it, not just the domed ceiling overhead. Making it seem like an omnimax, except this was a much smaller, cozier setting.

You can tell, too, that careful thought has been given to the architecture of the building, that's more than the usual brick and mortar.


Has travel guru Frommer's (and also my!) stamp of approval: Postal Museum


Here's where I took the boys on the day we were on our own. Not top of most tourists' list, however, I picked this place partly because it was recommended by travel guru Frommer, and partly because it was right next to the Union Station! Most of the other places required a lot more walking from the subway station.

This is the place to learn about postal history, and even what role Benjamin Franklin played. And that's Ben, and his namesake, with Jon giving him a hand (a lift!) for a closer look!


The displays of different modes of transportation, and a chance to climb aboard a full-size, big-rig truck, show how moving mail from one place to another, has come a long way.



The interactive displays were pretty cool, too, and the Postal Inspector section ones had Jon and Ben trying to crack some cases!


Make a stop also @: Union Station


It was here that my lovable sons stopped and made monkey faces at me! And in the struggle to see who should have the camera, it fell to the ground! A kind passerby, who saw my hands full, volunteered to take our picture for us instead!


True, I was less up to it, and not as adventurous to hop on and off the subway and buses as much as I did on my own with the boys, in New York over a year ago now -- that one and other time we followed Vern for an out-of-town engagement. But breaking up the day to do a bit at a time, helped. It worked, not to try and pack in too much. I couldn't because of the queasiness, anyway. But this was how it went pretty much for our trip, and the smiles in these pictures remind me of so much there is to be thankful for!

When I can, I'll like to finish the rest of this account with the part about the memorials and monuments. You bet I saved those to do with Vern, so he could be the one to carry Ben when our little boy's feet tired of doing all the walking! Hey, with all those "excess" baggage (additional layers that makes travelling in winter more cumbersome), he does weigh quite a lot, you know! ;p