Day Out With Thomas 2012

Here's a ton more pictures of today's fun that we couldn't add below.  Peep peep!

Day Out With Thomas 2012

We spent today at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore for Day Out With Thomas.  Will was over the moon when, like last year, Thomas pulled out of the station right in front of our car when we pulled in.  We took a train ride in one of Thomas' coaches, Will rode another train or two, he enjoyed a "big boy" ride all by himself, and he jumped around like a crazy boy in the moonbounce.

Mommy made the day extra special by making yummy train-shaped rice krispie treats, by serving cheese popcorn out of little top hats, and by making us a delicious lunch that we snuck into the picnic area.  

Maggie and Stella are cruising now!

Date night with Will

On Friday night, we took Will out for dinner and a movie.  He was a very happy little boy to have dinner alone with his Mommy and Daddy.  Then it was off for his very first movie in a theater:  Chimpanzee.

Will was so cute.  Will and Patrick found their seats first and Patti came in a moment later.  Will loudly called out to Patti:  Mom, we're over here Mom!  He talked a lot through the movie, too, but so did most of the other kids.  He sat with his little popcorn snack tray.  When the couple of scary parts came on, Will sat on Patrick's lap and pulled Patrick hand over his eyes. He was SO worried about the little chimpanzee.

All in all, there were no accidents, no crying and Will sat through the entire movie.  Success.

So long Discovery

The Space Shuttle Discovery made a final flyover of Washington, DC today, en route to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Virginia. Patti, Bonnie, Bill and the kids metro'ed down to the Capital to get a great view of the many flyovers this morning. Patrick zipped down to the Washington Monument from work and caught this video. Patrick and Will "saw" the Discovery fly over the house the evening it last undocked from the International Space Station so it was pretty neat to see it in the air for the last time.

While they were there, everyone took the opportunity to enjoy the Capital steps and gorgeous weather.


Maggie slept through lunch and part of the trip home on the Metro with Mimi.

Pop and Will got to see all of the construction on either side of the tracks on the way home. Will kept saying it was his "lucky day." That alone makes all of the work worthwhile.

Proof of life

It's 4:45 am and we've been up since 2:00. Aren't we cute?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

It was a gorgeous Easter day today. The kids helped us decorate eggs yesterday and Will especially got into it.

Will got us all up at 6:55 AM asking if the Easter Bunny had come to the house. So down we trekked to find out that, yes, he had come with lots of candy and small presents.


After breakfast, we all headed outside for an Easter egg hunt. Will may have found the most eggs, but Stella and Maggie won the best-dressed category.

Three walkers

Maggie took her first steps on Wednesday - hooray! She walked toward Patti with three brave little steps. Now all three kids are mobile (um, yikes?).

In other good news, Stella and Maggie are trying to feed themselves with spoons. They do pretty good, but it's still a messy job in progress.

Will has shown an industrious streak lately, especially with his megablocks. Check out his latest creation - "supa dupa huge big rig."

Two walkers now

Stella took her first steps on Friday night. She'd taken one small side shuffle a few weeks ago, but this was her first real attempt to walk. She took two good steps toward Patrick and then Maggie, Will, Mom and Dad erupted into applause. Stella just smiled and sat down like she'd done it all before.

On Saturday, she took four steps in a row. On Sunday, she took five steps and today she took a short stroll. Check it out here, and please see the two new videos on the left.

On Saturday, Will helped Daddy plant the new azaleas next to the new fence. We've been trying our hardest to keep him busy and burning off energy because he's been a real handful the last few days. If it's doing something he really likes, then all the better.

Check out Daddy's little helper...