March Round Up

Hello friends - hope you had great March.  We certainly did. We enjoyed record breaking high temperatures that felt more like summer and we had a phenomenal flower show thanks to it.  Spring is always my favorite time of year in DC thanks to all of the flowering trees around the city.  I don't know if I didn't notice them when I was living in Canada and England as a kid or if they just didn't exist, but the blossoms here are on another level and every year I walk around with a big dumb grin on my face at the sight of them.  Gorge gorge gorge!

The beautiful weeping cherry (I think) in front of our house

The best shot I could get holding both babies and trying to make sure Gus didn't fall out of the tree

Cherry blossoms in Kenwood

The month kicked with some weekend trips.  Matt took Hank skiing for the weekend in Park City for a Dad and me weekend sponsored by his company. They had fun on the slopes and hanging out at the house with all of the other dads and kids.  Hank is getting close to doing parallel turns and really seems to love skiing.  We are looking forward to the day that we can all ski together - shouldn't be long now.

The Kelly ski team

That same weekend I took Gus with me to LA to visit with Chanel's family and meet our new little lady cousin Henley.  Gus was a star traveling companion and compared to being with all four kids, it was almost like being on my own :) He is a just an easy going and content little dude.  Gus hung with Hayes and Greyson over the weekend and even showed some interest in the new baby.  She is a doll, of course, and I was so excited to hold a little newborn again.  Just love those little curled up peanuts.

Waiting for the bags after our long flight. He wouldn't take the free headphones off. 

The boys enjoying breakfast.  Chanel and family had moved into their brand new house only 10 days before the baby arrived - yikes! 

Henley

Being sweet with his cousin

Being groped by her cousin...

The following week that we took off for a fantastic week-long family vacation in the Dominican Republic.  Naturally, I approached the whole thing with great trepidation and anxiety.  Packing for 5 people, planning for every kind of worse case scenario under the sun and worrying about the goddamned Zika virus will do that to you.  So in addition to the regular stuff one would pack, we had about 100 pounds of sunscreen, bug spray and medicine along with with us.

All the worries melted away once we arrived at our beautiful house.  A gorgeous view, a lovely pool, lots of little spots to relax into and read or play cards.  Did I mention that it came with a full blown staff who catered to our every need?  It was heavenly.  I literally did nothing for 7 days straight but lie by the pool and read some books.  The girls traveled well and our nanny, Rohini, came along for the ride so that we were able to get some real rest in on the trip.  Oh, and Dylan really started walking this week.  With a vengeance. The boys had a blast playing with their friends Johnny and Devon who joined us along with their parents for the week.  The pool was used from sun up to sun down, as were the golf carts, which became the boys' first practice cars for driving.  By the end of the week Hank was chauffeuring us all around the resort entirely by himself.

Dylan

June

Dylan walking, modeling her Lily Pulitzer suit, natch

Gus in the entry way to the house

Beach boys

Casually climbing a palm tree

Me and the girls

The kids on their ride

Sun downers on the beach

Dad and Dylan (I think)

Gusser

The Easter bunny came to our house with lots of treats for the boys.  The greedy little candy monsters asked "What is the next holiday and when is it?" to which I answered "Mother's Day!" and cackled like a witch.

Boys and their baskets

"Are you kidding me with these outfits?"

This was not a month for cooking. It was a month for eating. I am pleased to report that I barely cooked at all and that I loved every minute of it. Sometimes you need to take a break even from the things you enjoy doing and just do nothing at all.

Last but not least, good progress is being made on the new house build and I am pleased to report that the cabin is 99% finished.  Expect separate posts on those little projects soon!

Much love and happy spring,

Maman
xoxo

February Round Up

February, here and gone in a flash, even with that extra day!  Here's what we were busy doing:

Hank's "feast"

Celebrating birthdays! Hank turned 6 and I turned 38.  Both mind blowing events "WTF!?" events.  Not sure how we got here but...here we are.  Since I've already covered Hank's 6th birthday celebration in excruciating detail, let's talk about mine here.  Normally, I don't take much notice of my birthday and don't really care to do much to celebrate it. A nice dinner out with Matt is good enough for me (which is, by the way, what we did).  This year, for whatever reason though, it kind of hit me.  It's not so much that I was upset to be turning 38, that doesn't really bother me, but rather that I was upset to be turning 38 without having the thriving and fulfilling career that I had imagined, and more disturbing, without a plan to achieve that goal. Turns out, taking care of 4 kids, while building a house and renovating another at the same leaves little time for soul searching, career coaching, "finding yourself" kind of stuff.  Shouldn't really be a surprise and yet, it was.  So after a good cry, I assessed the situation and came to the conclusion that a) I am in no way ready or able to take on a "real" job at this point in time so I need to stop feeling guilty about that.  In the next year or so, when Gus is in school full time and these houses are done, I can focus in on that.  And b) I need to make time to do some planning/research so that when I am ready, I have an idea of what I actually want to do.  And I'll throw in a c) here - bonus points if I can find a place to volunteer/contribute a few hours a week so that I have something other than my own kids and home going on in my world. I'm not normally one to indulge in sharing my innermost thoughts on a blog, but I feel like I just needed to put that out in the universe as a way of helping make it happen. Moving right along...

I was hard at work trying to get our cabin completed in time for us to use it over President's Day weekend. Alas, it wasn't quite ready in time so we decide to take the opportunity to visit Matt's mother in Florida that weekend.  The boys came along and we had a nice visit with Mary.  She was happy to see the kids and we were happy to see her looking well.  We even managed to fit in a few hours at the beach and pool.

Matt showing Granny MAK some pics of the girls

Sigh, the boys. 

Hank is following the primary races VERY closely and it is the funniest thing in the world to see them through his eyes.  He ran into our bedroom on March 1st like it was Christmas morning shouting "it's Super Tuesday! it's Super Tuesday!" He runs around the house singing "Donald Trump is a liar liar pants on fire," loves to call him Donald Trump-et and has his whole class at school chatting about their candidates of choice.  He and Gus watch George Stephanopolus on Sundays with Matt and have about million questions about all of the different people in the race.  They know the candidates better than I do at this point.

"Doneld Trump is in Ferest Plasa" Translation, Donald Trump is in First Place

Hank was also in his first school play, How the Elephant Got Its Trunk, playing the infamous role of Lion #2.  It was very cute and all the kids did a great job of delivering their lines, seemingly without any stage fright.

The Kindergarten Class 

Gus has been enjoying having his very first best friend, a young man by the name of Walter.  Gus and Walter have been running in the same circles for some time now, having attended the same playgroup when they were just babies.  They are in the same class at school now and have really hit it off.  Walter comes to our house every week for playdates (his mother just had twin boys so she has her hands full at the moment) and has become a bit of a fixture around here.

Gus and Walter having fun at school

The girls continue to be the biggest babies ever.  They are 14 months old and wearing 18-24 month clothes, sometime 2T.  And yet, they take after their mother and have tiny tiny feet.  This may explain the delayed walking.  Their poor little feet can't handle their gargantuan bodies!  Dylan took her first steps earlier this month and was very pleased with herself. She now takes about 5 before tumbling forward.  June still isn't there on the walking front, but not to be outdone, she has taught herself how to climb up on the coffee table and couch, making is so that we can't leave them alone in a room for even 2 minutes.  Most exciting of all, their hair is starting to come in!  It is the most gorgeous red color you ever saw and there is now enough of it to have one little curl at the nape of their necks.  Deliciousness!

June

Raiding the pantry

Dylan

Bath time fun

And it was with much excitement that we welcomed a new little cousin into the fold this month when Chanel, Grant, Hayes and Greyson welcomed a little girl, Henley James.  Her gender was a surprise and we were all thrilled that she is a she.  Gus and I are heading to LA to meet her this weekend and we cannot wait!

Henley

Last but not least, recipes for February included:

- Pumpkin Enchiladas, from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. A nice twist on the classic and great way to use up any extra canned pumpkin you have lying around.

Pumpkin Enchiladas

- One Pot Mexican Chicken and Rice from Recipe Tin Eats.  This is a winner people.  Can't recommend highly enough.

Mexican Chicken and Rice

- Chicken Chasseur from Jacques Pepin.  This was a little too Pepin for even my tastes...super old school 1950's French, not in a good way.


- Skillet Lasagna from Keepers.  Great way to enjoy all the things you love about lasagna without all the things you hate (the mess, the lengthy prep time, etc).

Skillet Lasagna

- Vegetarian Black Bean Chili with Ancho and Orange from Food and Wine.  Very tasty veggie/vegan meal.  Would be nice over rice or a baked potato.

Black Bean Chili

Happy birthday Hank!

As hard as it is for me to believe, Hank turned 6 yesterday!  Wow did those 6 years fly by!  

It is not, however, hard to see how Hank is growing into his new big kid role.  He has matured so much in the last year, showing increased independence, controlling his emotions and being a great big brother to all of his younger siblings.  Hank has earned the nickname "helpful Hank" for his assistance around the house and he is thriving at school, making great progress with his reading abilities and really loving math and numbers.  I couldn't be more proud of him.  In terms of what Hank thinks is cool at this stage in his life, they are as follows, in no particular order:  Legos, remote controlled vehicles, fans, anything having to do with bodily functions, Blaze, Paw Patrol, Wild Kratts, and Roald Dahl books. 

We had a birthday party for Hank-a-potamus on Saturday and invited the boys from his class to our house.  Hank wanted to "party in his bedroom, have a treasure hunt, a piñata, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and build legos".  We settled on a pirate themed party with a treasure hunt pin-the-tail on the donkey and a treasure chest piñata. Good times had by all the little mateys.

On his actual birthday, I asked if he wanted to go to a restaurant for dinner, or if there was some special food I could make for him?  He answered that he wanted to have a "feast" with beef tenderloin for dinner.  So feast we did! 

The mind of the 6 year old boy is a wonderful thing - can't wait to see what Hank comes up with next! 

January round up

January has come and gone just like that!  So what do we have to show for it?  This:

• Resolutions - doing okay on these if I do say so myself.  I've made a new recipe every week (see below for details).  I have been exercising almost every day and have been drinking more water.  I still struggle to floss but a recent visit to the dentist indicates that this is not the end of the world.  I have completely failed with the "whole take more pictures and be in them" thing.  Room to improve there for sure...

Here's one! 

• We started a Memory Jar.  I stole this idea from my friend Catherine Farquharson,  photographer extraordinaire. We have a nice big glass jar in the kitchen and every time we have a memory we want to keep, we jot it down on a piece of paper and put it in the jar.  At the end of the year you get to open the jar and read all of your memories, ideally over a nice bottle of wine. 

Under attack 

• A quick trip to NY for me and Matt to see about a fancy french stove for the new house and to have dinner with his dad who was in town for a work conference.  It was a nice getaway for us and a good opportunity to catch up with Bill. We also got to grab breakfast with my old friend Ali and her husband Hugh who are expecting their first child any day now...

• Hank gave his first presentation at school on the Arctic Hare and I'm proud to say that he did all of the work on his report by himself (it is so hard not to jump in there and help out!)

• The girls are doing all of kinds of scary things like almost walking and climbing the stairs.  We have ramped up the baby proofing and are constantly pushing them over whenever they try to stand up and take a step on their own.  Just kidding - sort of. 

Dylan on her way up...

At the top.  She knows how to get up but not how to get down which is just great.  

Awww

Yes, this is a cabbage patch wig for a baby.  Yes, it is the most amazing thing in the whole world. 

And yes, we have one in a red pony too. Boom. 

• SNOWZILLA - the blizzard that kept on giving, dumping 2 feet of snow in our front yard and keeping the kids out of school for 4 days.  We are now 10 days post storm and the traffic is still a daily nightmare as this city struggles to deal with the removing the snow.  

Snowy gooseman 

I'm walking down Connecticut Avenue with no cars in sight

• Matt and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on the 27th (this is our "real" wedding date, the one when had a super small civil ceremony so that I could get going on my green card application).  We had a reservation at the hottest restaurant in town but had to cancel because blizzard aftermath was causing monumental traffic problems even 5 days after the storm!  We walked to a local joint instead and still had a great time. Turns out when you get to 9 years you don't really care where you are, just that you are alone together and that someone else is doing the cooking! 

• I spent a lot of time managing our other big project - renovating our cabin in Shenandoah.  We realized we needed to add a bedroom and do some other work to the place and decided we would just do it now since we are in the construction mode anyway with the other house.  The jury is still out as to whether that was sound judgement but its too late now.  The house is *this close* to being done but feels like it will never get there.  Look for a dedicated post on that transformation once it is complete, hopefully in the next month (fingers crossed). 

• Recipes for this month included:

1.  Vinegar Glossed Chicken from Mad Hungry - this turned out meh.  Not sure if I did something wrong but it was not the delicious sweet and sour chicken that I expected...this fail was almost enough to have me throw the whole new recipe resolution out the window but I prevailed.

2.  Chocolate Swirl Ginger Bread from Martha Stewart Living's  Everyday Food - this was a delightful surprise.  A spicy twist on the classic brownie.

3. Chicken Piccata from Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian - delicious, easy winner.

4. Braised Short Ribs in a Luscious Sauce also from Mad Hungry - super easy way to make delicious short ribs.  Will have your whole house smelling like heaven.

Okay, these may have been in the oven a wee bit too long but they were still delish.

5. Chickpea and Kale Curry from goop - really delicious vegan meal for when you are feeling virtuous/guilty for the whole short rib thing (see #4).

Chickpea Kale Curry