It's been awhile.....

I'm finally posting after many colds, family adventures and travel!  We've all been slammed by a never-ending  cold/cough/sore throat and in the middle of it I had two back to back work trips.  Leaving Carlos sick with three sick kids was a recipe for disaster, so luckily my mom came down to help. Of course we infected her too...No good deed goes unpunished!

A few weeks ago the kids had 'museum night' at school and it was amazing.   Diego's class had done a walking tour of all their classmates' houses and then created a mural of their rowhouses   Each student  decorated his/her own house and some were identifiable and others less so - like Diego's!  As you can see, he did do black stairs and a purple door...a bit abstract.  Some girls, on the other hand, were using rulers to make perfect lines to represent siding!

Charlie's class did a market place where they "sold" items to parents.  Charlie and his friends did the "healthy stand" with salad and vegetables.  They drew pictures of the vegetables, labelled and priced them!  The purpose of the exercise was to have the kids add up the prices and charge the parents the total.  really cool.

There were other school events like the read-along and character parade. Principal Young was the Cat in the Hat - not the best performance, but the kids were cute.  Diego was the pickle from the Hungry Caterpillar.  Diego loves pickles so it was the perfect role!  I went with Diego on a field trip to Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and he loved the ceramics portion  - he was a natural (less so the dancing part)!

We went on a weekend ski trip with my brothers and it was so fun.  the mountain wasn't much of a mountain, but Charlie was in heaven.  Not only did he get to hang out with Wallis and Eli, but he got loads of attention from his uncles.  He was especially smitten by big Charlie and his girlfriend Alex.  He only wanted to ski with the his uncles and cousins (not his dad) and when we got home he wrote a letter to Alex telling her how much he missed her.  Diego didn't go skiing, but he did go tubing and then he and I broke into a nearby hotel pool to go swimming.  The clientele at the pool were....interesting.  One guy was completely covered in tattoos which amazed Diego.  Diego had a temporary tattoo that he wanted to show the guy so we asked to compare tattoos.  The guy was so sweet and acted excited to see Diego's tattoo.  He did then offer to give Diego a ride on his back across the pool which both Diego and I politely refused (I wasn't entirely sure he was sober).  

We found a great train watching spot behind Union Station.  I loved that it was an activity that all three kids could enjoy!

Enjoying a nice spring day before more winter hit us AGAIN:

The next day looked like this....

Little League! I can't believe my child is old enough (and interested enough) for Little League!!  well, actually I lied about his age so that he could join his friends in Little League.  T-ball was getting too boring for him.  They had a "workout" day in which they actually had numbers placed on there backs and parent coaches walking around taking notes.  no wonder they talk about things getting competitive in Little League! Luckily Charlie just had fun and is excited to start playing next month.

How much do you think the boys enjoyed having tractor next door digging up the neighbor's front yard?  Answer: a lot more than me!!

Sofia hasn't been feeling well and is refusing to eat solid food.  She only wants to nurse.  Is it teething? Is she protesting my last trip? Is it a weird developmental thing?  It's driving me crazy!