Summer Time!

I love this time of year when we can be outside - without bugs and without sun stroke!  There are so many fun events and year-end parties.  The Duddington Block party always embodies this start to summer in the best way - pony rides, open fire hydrants, water balloon fights, inflatable pools in the middle of the street and plenty of food and beer....This year a guy showed up with an owl and a falcon.  Owls are Diego's favorite so he was pretty excited.  I think the highlight for Charlie was a middle schooler on the block who had built his own go-cart (and drone!) which he let the boys play with and ride on.  Yes - he actually built a drone and was flying it down the block.  It had a camera attached to it and I guess he uploads the footage to youtube.  I'm not sure who possibly wants to watch hours of neighborhood surveillance footage, but it did get me wondering what the skies will look like in a few years....

water balloon fight

Thanks to Joe and Elizabeth, the boys got to practice batting IN the nationals stadium.  Sadly Big Bill wasn't around, but they did get to hang out with Teddy.  It goes without saying that the boys came back glowing with excitement.

batting at the nats stadium!

last little league game of the season

Charlie had his first piano recital a week ago.  It was scheduled in the middle of Sofia's meltdown hour so only Carlos got to accompany him.  He didn't seem phased at all by the whole experience;  he had soccer class, took off his shin guards and cleats and grabbed his piano book.  Clearly he isn't a perfectionist in his playing, but at least he is better than me!  Check him out: http://youtu.be/tKX7fNYhaLw

Diego is absolutely hooked on kickball.  The other day when we were playing the 100th round of indoor kickball he ran right into the stair post.  It hurt and he was annoyed. So annoyed in fact that he demanded Carlos take all "the corners out of the house."  He was sick of stubbing his toe or smacking into corners.  He just wanted them all out.  He was equally passionate about the chocolate covered bugs that Carlos ordered for his class.  Carlos found chocolate covered worms and scorpions and thought it might round out the bug module in class.  11 out of 15 kids ate them!  so brave!

Diego negotiating kickball teams with the big kids

Here are a few family photos we took after our father's day brunch (which was yummy, but not very relaxing with Sofia around)...

Strawberry picking with the boys!  Charlie was quite diligent, but Diego just trailed behind us eating strawberries.  12 lbs later we headed to the playground section of the farm...

Soccer year end party

Brent spring concert....Diego is far left (because we were late and I had to push him up there).  So pathetic that we are always late!!

Baseball, kickball, baseball, kickball.....

Now that the weather is nice, we've been enjoying lots of outdoor sports and adventures.  Carlos, Charlie and Diego ran in the Capitol Hill Classic race a few weekends ago (time is slipping by).  Diego did the fun run, Charlie ran the 3k and Carlos did the 10k.  We all cheered Carlos on (who did great despite catching a stomach bug on the way back from Colombia and having to do frequent bathroom stops....).  Seeing Carlos run made Charlie excited for his race and he did awesome!  Charlie ran the WHOLE way which blew my mind.  He ran 10:04 mile pace which seems pretty awesome to me.  Diego, on the other hand, didn't enjoy the fun run much.  maybe next year....

Charlie is absolutely hooked on baseball while Diego has the kickball bug.  We have at least one meltdown each day by one of them wanting to play more than the 8,000 innings that we play on a daily basis.   We usually play some version of baseball or kickball before school, on the blacktop after school, at X park on the way home, in the back yard and then upstairs before bed.  Diego likes his kickball pitches "slow and tiny bit bouncy" and, given how small our backyard is, they lose at least one ball a day over the fence.  Two of the three neighbors will throw them back, but our not-very-nice neighbor seems to be collecting children's balls.  The other day Charlie kicked his nice soccer ball over the fence and was heartbroken because he knew she wouldn't throw it back.  He went inside, found my ipad, found the amazon app icon and ordered himself a new soccer ball.  Thanks to "1 click ordering" this all happened within a few minutes and the shipping confirmation email was the first I knew about the order....At least I need to teach him to use prime items only because I just spent $5 on shipping...

Sofia is a total treasure up until about 5pm when she starts melting down.  She still isn't into toys much, but she loves to just cruise around and find random (often lethal) items she can pick up and carry.  She also likes to be picked up by random people.  She seems to test them out for a few seconds to decide if she likes them and, if not, dives out of their arms.  Some moms she really likes - in fact, she prefers to stay with them than come to me!  She also adores Carlos.  Carlos had to take her two days last week when Sandra called in sick and she thoroughly enjoyed herself.  She came back all smiles.  She still doesn't say much at all (Hi and Bye), but she jabbers a lot and still screams to get what she wants.  why talk when you can just scream?!

Here she is in the treehouse, which she LOVES.

She likes to be part of the action - including trying to wrestle with the boys or do body slams on sofa cushions.  Here she is getting tackled by Diego

And of course she likes to brush the boys' teeth....




Last week was science night at school and Diego's class studied bugs.

Diego was super into the bug module at school.  They had so many cool bugs in the classroom, including luna moths which we learned only live for 1 week because they have no mouth!  He's been collecting bugs everywhere and insists on keeping them in cups around the house.  I'm pretty sure a few rolly-pollies have escaped into our house....

Carlos gets the good sport award for coming to my 15th college reunion last weekend.  It was fun and nice to have a weekend to ourselves.  I like seeing people, but I also love to see what is new on campus.  The renovated art gallery is phenomenal and the addition of a one acre farm on the edge of campus thanks to Alice Waters is so awesome.  The farm has a brick oven and every friday night they serve pizza with toppings from the garden.  That pretty much sums up my dream meal.  We tasted the pizza and it was so good that it might rivals uncle buddy's pizza.

Mother's Day!

Mother's Day tea! 

 

 It's been awhile!  Spring is here and so is the pollen.  The weather is perfect and poor Carlos can barely stand to be outside. The sad thing is that once the pollen subsides, the mosquitoes and heat are likely to appear and torment Carlos.  Despite his aversions to being outside, we've been enjoying spring with little league games, dining outdoors, birthday parties and pick-up kickball games.


Charlie loves playing in little league.  They have graduated to coach pitching which is fun, though not always successful.  Here is Charlie hitting the ball and then watching his hit, not the base....We have a slight issue with Charlie's ability to end a game of catch - meaning once you start playing catch he will not end it.  "2 more catches....no, that wasn't enough....I didn't like that throw, one more....just one more..."  And on it goes....Almost every session of catch ends in tears because he doesn't want to stop.  Diego, on the other hand, is more than willing to put down his mitt and say he is tired!

This past weekend I left Carlos with kids at little league so I could play soccer.  Based on the pictures it appears that he left Diego to handle Sofia while he sat in the tiny patch of shade....you tell me...

The picture below is for my grandmother who might appreciate that all  three kids are enjoying tennis these days....though Sofia seems to enjoying eating the racket more than hitting the ball with it.  And you can probably guess that their record rally was 2 or 3 hits.  Another picture for my dad who would appreciate the kids' love of tracks.  We found an indoor track and finally got Diego to run an entire lap.  The kids are running a race this weekend so we'll see how it goes.  Sofia set up an obstacle course for the boys with the cones.

Sofia is in a screaming phase which isn't always pleasant.  She knows what she wants, but can't communicate it so just screams at the top of her lungs until we do something about it.  It's highly effective because it is so loud that we hurry around trying to find out what she needs to get her to be quiet! I do appreciate that she is assertive, even if it is ear piercing.  She seems to love random objects and balls more than any of the billions of toys we have for her.  She actually seems to dribble the ball.  ok, yes, I'm probably  imposing my values on her, but she definitely has some good soccer thunder thighs right now so she might be my soccer star :).

Sofia also likes to accompany everyone to the bathroom.  It drives me crazy how she likes to hang out in the bathroom - on more than one occasion she has stuck her hand in the toilet.  The silver lining of that seems to be that, in a house full of boys, I've finally convinced everyone to put the seat down!  Here she is getting in Diego's business!

Easter and Spring Break

I guess they have outgrown me in the last 2 years....

The kids have had a fun few weeks - Spring break, Easter, cousin time and good weather!  I forgot how magical Easter can seem to kids.  We went to Philadelphia to spend Easter with my mom and the cousins. Soogy, my mom and I filled well over 100+ eggs with random things and Nathan made clues for each of the kids to lead them to their Easter basket.  The loved it.  Diego ran in circles with excitement finding the eggs around the yard.  They also got to decorate eggs and t-shirts.

We stayed an extra day and the kids had fun sifting through my mom's wood scrap pile and making a sculpture.  They opted for glue and clamps though I was trying to be open to hammer and nails in hopes of pretending not to be an over zealous parent (http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/).  It did get me thinking that they should start doing more wood working.

For spring break Charlie did the DC United camp and Diego got to hang out with Sandra's daughter Leslie.  In the afternoon Coach David did a few soccer clinics which Diego got to join and he loved it!  I was so happy to see him playing with the big kids and happy about it.  He has been dragged to so many classes for Charlie that I'm excited for him to finally start playing.  When he saw me, he ran off the field and beamed "I kicked the ball!"  Clearly he wasn't touching the ball much, but it didn't matter.  The coach said he can do soccer camp this summer.

Charlie got to enjoy two more Nationals games this week.  He and Carlos went with Cici to an evening game and then we all went this past weekend.  It was a gorgeous day for a Nats game, but Sofia only lasted through the 4th inning before I had to take her home.  Maybe in a few more years...

Sofia mainly liked the bobblehead...