Life Around Town

I've discovered a new way to meet other mommies...Meet-Up Alexandria!

I can't take all of the credit for finding this group; a friend of mine told me about it. :) I've found two groups in the area and I've attended a handful of events for each one. It's a good way to meet other moms and kids in the area. We live on the edge of Alexandria so most of these events require me to drive at least 15 minutes, yet it usually takes longer because there is always traffic. :) This has helped me in learning the area though. These meet-ups have been good because it gets the kiddos out and playing with other kids. I'm enjoying meeting other moms, yet this always takes a little longer. ;)

We've have discovered some great parks, libraries and of course museums. We also checked out our first frozen yogurt place, Sweet Frog.

It is a fill-you-own type of place, but it has three different cup sizes. I love this! Why? Well now I don't have to take the HUGE cup and try to only fill enough yogurt for a small and it ends up overflowing. ;) Right after I discover this place, I see a sign in the shopping area right by my house that says, "Menchie's coming soon!" Yay! This was our fro yo place in HI!! So now this shopping center will have Tropical Smoothie, Starbucks, Firehouse Subs, Five Guys, Menchies and a pizza place. It also has a cute ballet studio when Ava gets older. :) Yes...I love food! LOL! The key thing here is that we can take a walk to these places. What a great afternoon outing on a Fall day.

 

Along with getting to know the area, Dylan has also been getting comfy in school. He already loves it! He is making friends and comes home each day singing a new song, rhyme or telling a story. It's nice to see him this way. Like most kids in their first week of school, Dylan was assigned to complete an "All About Me" poster. I've assigned a similar project to my students over the years. :) Here was Dylan's poster...

 

 

Last weekend was the National Book Festival on the Mall. We love free stuff like this! :)

 

This is the poster they gave! I picked one up with intention of getting it framed and hung in the kids' playroom. :)

 

The Mall was full of tents! Even though this event was for all ages, we mainly stayed in the kids area. One of the tents had a lego area that was a big hit!

 

They gave the kids crowns, which Ava seemed more interested in than the legos towards the end of playtime. :)

 

We then went over to the Storytime stage where the "Justin Roberts and The Not Ready For Naptime Players" were performing. They were pretty good. Here is a video of the kids rocking out. I couldn't back up too much because there were a lot of people so it is a little close.

 

 

We then had a picnic on the lawn.

 

 

Dylan wasn't posing for pics during lunch.

 

The plan after lunch was to go to the book tent to buy a couple books for the kids then head to the tent where Choo Choo Soul from Disney Junior was playing. Well, it ended up being more complicated. Argh! Randy went to pay for the books and I thought the I was waiting with the kids outside the tent for him to finish then WE were going to the performance tent. Randy thought we were meeting him at the performace tent. Well, I waited with the kids for about 45 min. outside the book tent without seeing Randy! I ended up letting Ava play in the dirt because they were getting so restless!

 

 

While she was in the dirt, Randy was listening to Choo Choo Soul. Without going into great detail, my group missed the show and found eachother after an hour of waiting. We learned a big lesson on communication that day. Randy and I will be double checking the plan next time. :)

 

A;ong with all of the fun stuff, we have also had other "events" occur. Pest control got rid of the termites in our house...yes, you read that right. Dylan has slipped into his alter ego of the resident dictator. Ava has taken to pooping in the tub during bath and I deal with it all. Yep...just the regular stuff. :)  This weekend is going to be boring stuff around the house...hopefully. ;)

He got promoted!!

Today was promotion day! Randy was selected to be promoted to Lieutenant Commander back in July 2011. Yep...that's right; over a year ago! So, today has been long awaited. :)

One of the aspects I love about the Navy is that they are family oriented. When the hubs is being honored, promoted, celebrated, etc., the Navy invites the family to be apart of it. It's nice to be wanted. :)

I arrived with the kiddos at his office just after 11am and the ceremony was scheduled at 11:30am. I say "scheduled" because something always comes up. :) While we were waiting, the fam met many of Randy's co-workers, the other officer being promoted and his wife then finally the Admiral. We chatted in the Admiral's office and Dylan seemed to steal the show. Of course he wore his pilot outfit including his Naval Aviation t-shirt. We had him take off the flight goggles while inside. :)

When we walked into the room where the promotion took place, there were at least 25 Naval personnel standing around the room. It wasn't even my thing, but I felt like we were the show.

Dylan picked up on it and at one point we needed to remind him to be quiet and listen. That's a 3 year old for you. :)

I guess Dylan did make a good impression on the Admiral because then he gave Dylan a coin. Of course then Ava felt like she should have one too.

I took this one at home. A little bright and blurry. :)

Notice that her hand is out ready to collect. :) I was whispering in her ear that we were only getting one coin and she could hold it later. Apparently Randy's office thought this whole exchange was pretty funny.

Now...on to the oath...

After the oath, it is time to pin the LCDR pins to the collar. I got to help with this. Randy gave me an instructional session the night before. :)

I was a little slower than the Admiral. I think it was because I had to move the old pins away from Ava because she went right after them on the table. Of course...I wouldn't expect anything else. LOL!

After the other officer was promoted, everyone in the room came over to say congratulations. It was like a receiving line.

We celebrated with a lunch out and the kids were honestly awesome the whole time. We had a good time!

Congratulations to the new Lieutenant Commander Krekeler!

Fired Up!

It's naptime for the kiddos! Woohoo! I love this part of the day because I can do whatever I want without having to worry about dirty diapers, hungry kids, cleaning up messess and whether they are getting along or I need to intervene. As many of you moms know, we don't get hit with just one "emergency", but at least two at a time if we're lucky. :)

This has been a great week not only for the kids, but me as well. I always chuckle when I think about the process of meeting new friends when I move to a new place. I feel like I'm stalking these could be friends. LOL! I've done this enough to have this inner feeling of who I would really get along with. So...the main place for stalking, I mean making new friends is at the Little Gym.;) For the last four weeks, we've had a class or practice three days out of the week. Well, this week I got two numbers! It sounds like I'm picking up guys in a bar huh? :)

One of these moms is a Director for Mary Kay. She had a "Night of Glamour" party last week and I got an invite. I hadn't been to a Mary Kay party before and I have to say that it was fun! This was the first time I was able to go out with just girls and I got to play with make-up. Fun right?! If only there was wine too, but I guess you have to be careful with tipsy ladies putting on make-up. :) I ended up buying a few items.

Bronzer because I was out. This one doesn't have the shimmer that I'm use to. :(

Eye primer to keep my make-up on ALL day.

Firming eye cream because at 35 I need that. :)

 The eye make-up remover and mascara were a part of a free gift!

Plus I won a foot scrub in a raffle and got a lotion just for coming! Great girls night!

Their Ultimate Mascara is awesome!!!  My eyelashes looked so great! I actually looked like I belong with the rest of my fam. For those that don't know, Randy, Dylan and Ava all have beautiful ridiculously long eyelashes! 

This a good pic of Dylan's eyelashes!

Frankly, I kind of like the idea of emailing her what I want and we make the exchange at Little Gym or a playdate. Very convenient!

The day after Mary Kay night I had a Celebrate & Connect meeting for Thirty-One.

I had arranged for a new neighbor friend to come watch the kids while I went. Unfortunately, she no-showed!! Yikes! Thankfully, the host had said her house was kid-friendly because I showed up with mine! I also agreed to drive another consultant, who I hadn't met before, to the meeting so we were a group when we arrived.

As I was chatting with the host, we quickly came to realize we had a lot in common. Her hubby flies the same helo that Randy flew in the Navy.

We were in Norfolk at the same time, they lived in Hawaii too (not at the same time as us) and they are heading to San Diego in September. Our kids are about the same age and she is a Director for Thirty-One. Crazy huh?! Well, I'm not a director yet, but that is where I'm headed!

This meeting got me so excited about really kick starting Thiry-One out here that as some of you may know, I've already made some changes. :) So...now I have a Thirty-One blog, email and work phone number. I'm working on a facebook page. Thirty-One doesn't allow consultants to have their name in an email or domain name so I had to choose one. Meet The Sassy Purse Lady! :) I'm excited at where my business is going to go!

If this isn't enough...I also lost 2 pounds! I have to give a shout-out to my friend Roselyn. I firmly believe that the HIIT workout you sent me is what helped those pounds run away!

So...new friends, a recharge in the business, getting healthy; all these make for a great week. Can we do two in a row? I'm crossing my fingers!  :)

Waking Up the Runner

I've discovered that we moved into a neighborhood where the residents like to be outside. This is  completely opposite from Goodyear, AZ, but let's face it...who wants to be outside when it is over 100 degrees? ;)  Even though the mosquitos LOVE me,

I take the kiddos out everyday which makes for a great nap in the afternoon.

This outdoor option also creates a window of opportunity for the runner in me to resurface. I've missed her.

Just finished running a local 10K in March

We have a path that goes around the perimeter of our area creating a 2.5 mile run. The path takes a break halfway through the run, but it is on a quiet street so not too bad. Let me just say now, this is NOT an easy just-get-back-into-running run. There is a serious hill not to mention a series of smaller hills! This morning I wiped the dust of my shoes

and tackled this run. When I say tackled, I mean I finished it...not that it was one of my best runs. ;) My legs were a bit stiff and my face was the color of my fushia shirt, but I finished. For anybody driving by, I'm sure I looked like I was struggling. LOL!

For those on Facebook, you may have seen that I'm on the hunt for a jogger stroller. Everyone who has given me advice has recommended the BOB.

Thankfully I'm only looking for a single because these strollers can get pricey. I was thinking of buying a less expensive one, but the reviews weren't really selling me so I guess I'm saving for the BOB. :) Dylan starts school on Sept. 11th so I have almost a month to rally some money together for my stroller! It's worth it! Once I master the hilly neighborhood run with Ava in a stoller, I will be buff! I don't think I will be running the entire path the first couple of times. :)

Even though I love going to the gym, it will be home workouts for me over the next three years. Between the stroller, my plethora of videos including P90X and all of the great trails in the area, I'm excited to get transformed! I want to go from a mom in decent shape after two kids to a kickass mom that doesn't look like she had two kids. Here we go!

We're Chugging Along

It has been almost three weeks since we pulled into our driveway. A lot has happened in just a few weeks! I did take a few shots of our house for those that are interested. :)

It's a cul-de-sac!

The first five days of moving boxes, our energy was up and we were cranking out the unpacking. We've slowed down a bit. :) The only room that has boxes is the office/guest room and most of those are filled with my teaching stuff.

The plan is to go through it and reorganize so it makes sense and can easily be stored. I've gone through one rolling cart only because I wanted to use it in the playroom. LOL! As I'm writing this I'm thinking this should be a weekend project, but it didn't happen this weekend. :) This is what happens when I'm trying to leave a classroom as fast as possible because the baby girl came early. ;)

For those that are familiar with the moving process, especially with kids, there are a few things that are important once you get to the new home.
* How will I keep the kids occupied?
* Where will the kid(s) be going to school?
* Where are the nearest Target, Costco, grocery store and other necessary shopping places. :)

Occupying the kids is very important otherwise everyone feels the pain! Here are some pics of what we've been doing.

Homemade popsicles!

Tutu Time! She is such a girl!!

We have a safe place to ride bikes or cars. :)

We tried out the local ice rink! This is wear the Washington Capitals practice!

We had to watch from the second floor because Ava loves the ice! She gets upset when she can't join the boys.

We did go down to say hi during a break. Ava threw a fit and we decided we needed to look for double blade skates for her. She is a joiner!

Dylan did such a great job!! He is barely holding Randy's hand while skating now. The boys have decided that they will be going on their own most Saturdays.

Back at the house, Randy put together the swing set this weekend! Yay! Thank you Billie and family! We love it!

Can you tell it's a bit humid? LOL!

 

The kids "helped" Randy put it together. We even formed a search party for the last tool that he needed because Ava stored it in the sandbox. They have so much fun helping, but it doesn't necessarily make the project easier. I thought the whole thing was amusing, but I was the management side of the project not the execution side.

I really like our outdoor space. We can trap the kiddos on the deck and there is a nice shady space.

The grass area is not fenced, but there is enough space that Ava isn't dashing for the street...right now anyway. :) Between tee ball, golf, horseshoes, soccer and the play set, I think I can keep them busy on the grass.

Ava even falls asleep in the swing. Love it!

I have looked into Little Gym, Gymboree and My Gym. We're lucky because we live near many locations. We are doing our free introductory classes this week at Little Gym in Falls Church. I was going to see if I could work out intro classes at My Gym in Alexandria too, but Dylan wants a sports class and My Gym doesn't off that. That means LG it is; as long as we all love it, which I'm sure we will. This way I'll have activities three days a week; one class for each kid and open gym. Maybe I'll even meet some nice mommies.:) Little Gym is where I met my AZ crew!

A huge check mark off the to-do list was finding Dylan a preschool. He will be attending the 3yr old program at Annadale Methodist Chuch preschool.

We were really impressed with their program and Dylan loved the place! He even invited the Asst. Director over to our house to play. LOL! School doesn't start here until after Labor Day so we have a month to keep them occupied.

As for the last important item on the list, we're lucky because I can say that Target, Costco, Joanne's and all other important shopping are less than 10 min. away! We have three Targets within a six mile radius, which is the most important. ;) Even though they all look close on the map, between traffic and all of the crazy roads, not everything is as convenient as it looks.

Look at this crazy thing!

We went to our third Target this evening though and I think we found our home Target. ;)  In AZ in literally took me 5 minutes to get to my home Target; one light where I made a right turn. It was awesome and dangerous at the same time. ;)

The hubs goes back to work tomorrow so I think our "regular" schedule will start to materialize over the next couple of weeks. This is why I was so focused on kiddo activities; I'm on my own during the day. We'll make it...we always do! :)