Sidewalk Chalk

Last night was beautiful - warm and not that humid. Aidan and Emmy got to go outside after dinner and ride bikes on our tiny driveway. It is their favorite thing to do and I can't wait to see how much fun they'll have at our house in England - it's on a cul-de-sac so they'll have tons of room to ride around. Aidan wanted to draw on the driveway so we got the sidewalk chalk out and had a blast. I had to trace everyone - including Emmy's baby doll and taggie - I guess they're part of the gang! The kids are doing OK without Brendan although they miss him - today was worse than yesterday as far as behavior goes but that could be due to lots of things!!

Sunday

2 days down!

1 Month

Aoife was 1 month on Thursday. The month has flown by and I can hardly believe that in another month we will be out of our house and on our way to England - via Massachusetts. Aoife is still an easy baby for the most part. She eats well and sleeps well at night - getting up twice but going right back to sleep after she eats. She is awake for longer periods during the day now which is fun for Aidan and Emmy since they really like to interact with her - well Emmy likes to "share" her things with Aoife and Aidan likes to talk to her. He tells her about Star Wars - I think he's trying to brainwash her already! She tolerates all the "love" well and seems to enjoy the attention - we'll see if that continues!
Brendan left this morning for a week in Japan and Korea. I really hope that the weather stays nice - at least until my parents get here on Tuesday to give me a hand!!

Vacation School

Aidan has been at "vacation school" all this week. It was at his preschool and the teachers got together and planned this for the kids for the time between school and Nature Camp. Each day they "visited" a different country, learned about the culture, did art projects and activities related to the country and had a snack from that country. It was pretty cool - Aidan has LOVED it! They visited Hawaii, Japan, Canada and Italy. Today they even stomped on grapes today when they were studying Italy - Aidan said it was cold but fun! Emmy, Aoife and I have been able to have a few relaxing mornings. Today we ran errands and Emmy practiced holding hands with me in the parking lot. She's been having trouble following directions - mostly my directions! She responds well to rewards so we walked around the little shopping center by our house and ended at the bakery where she got a cookie for being so good. I really think she understood - it feels good to finally get through to her!

Air and Space Museum

We went to the Air and Space museum out by Dulles airport today. It is a really great place to go with kids because there is tons of space to run around and the ceilings are really high so crying doesn't echo so badly!!! It's also inside - so it's really great for HOT Virginia days. Here are a few pictures - enjoy!Emmy was intrigued by the child-sized space suit:Aidan liked the vintage Star Wars toys:

Aoife at 3 1/2 weeks

Aoife is almost 4 weeks old! She is getting huge - I don't know how much she weighs but I would bet that she has gained almost 2 lbs in the past 2 weeks! She is sleeping well at night - getting up twice but going right back to sleep. You can't ask for much better than that!

Frying Pan Park

We all went to Frying Pan Park out in Herndon today. It was a gorgeous day - sunny and warm - we have to enjoy every minute before it decides to rain on us again!! Frying Pan Park is rn by Fairfax County and it is a farm that shows 1940's methods and "technology". The best part is that there are lots of animals and they all seemed to just have had babies. We saw sheep, cows, horses, pigs, ducks, chickens, turkeys and even a peacock! The kids loved it. I didn't get too many pictures of Aidan - he seems to be in an anti-picture phase - probably the result of having me as a mom! Emmy still indulges me - so here are a few pictures...
Looking at the cows:There are sheep just on the other side of this fence in the shadow - Emmy was enjoying patting them:Lots of baby pigs:In the pig barn - the least smelly one I have ever been in!