Our Day at the Zoo

Today was an unexpectedly balmy 70 degrees and the Moo asked to go to the Zoo. So, we scrapped the plans we had had for tidying up the house and headed out to the National Zoo in DC. The animals were more active than we have ever seen them, and we had two Zoo firsts: we saw Happy the Hippo actually come out of his indoor pool and go outside (he is HUGE) and we saw the Orangutans swinging on their O line! It was an awesome day altogether, but I will let the Moo, Bean, and Dad tell you that in their own words, along with some footage of one impressive hippo (and yes, I promise that soon the novelty of the Flip will wear off and you won't be subjected to all our home movies, although I can't promise to spare you from the continuing adventures of Conga Monkey and Blankie Riding Hood . . . ):

Arachnid Roundtable

Another first: the inaugural episode of the Moo and Bean wild animal show (and no, they are not the wild animals). For those who have not spent too much time with the girls, this is pretty typical backseat conversation for them.

Moo and Bean: The Movie

Dad got a Flip video recorder for Christmas from his girls, and this morning the girls created their first movie. A few caveats: PLEASE ignore the house looking like a ToysRUs exploded in it. We have not yet faced the daunting task of rearranging the house to accommodate the new toys, so they are strewn throughout the house, which looks awful. Also, please forgive the Moo's meltdown at the end -- Mom apparently messed up her script and the Moo was up until almost midnight last night for some reason, so her tolerance for any mistakes was nil. Mom and Dad have not yet figured out how to edit on the Flip, or we would have edited the last part out. Nonetheless, this is the very first original Moo-Bean creation and production, so we wanted to post it in all its glorious weirdness and imperfections in the hopes that it is the first of many. Please try to literally look past the Moo's freak out in the end to see the Bean's spontaneous interpretative dance in the background -- it's awesome.

Christmas at the MooBean House

I am writing this post with my brand new laptop that Dad got me for Christmas. I had confided earlier to a friend that I hoped that Dad was not naive enough, after seven years of marriage, to think that when I said not to get me anything for Christmas that it meant not to get me anything for Christmas. :) I was thinking something small, though, and the laptop was a huge surprise! My favorite gift by far, however, is to the left -- it is the Moo's interpretation of Van Gogh's "Starry Night," painted on canvas. I love it! We made a beef tenderloin with chive and sour cream mashed potatoes and Glouchester Cheese Soup (trying to sneak the veggies past the kids) for dinner. The girls and I baked chocolate wreath cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, fudge and popcorn balls, and made Dad fob most of them off on the neighbors.

The rest of our Christmas was filled with Leapsters, alien makers, tea parties, and decorating and playing with the Calico Critters Manor House, which is now happily inhabited by a family of kitties and a family of mice (plus a bunny that was our first Calico Critter acquisition about a yea ago and who frankly has seen better days). I have included a slide show of roughly a million pictures of the girls opening their gifts (we tried to get shots of them opening all the gifts from relatives). It requires an extremely high tolerance for pictures of the Moo and Bean and their gift in various states of unwrap, and should only be considered required viewing for Grandpas, Grandmas, aunts and uncles (although aunts and uncles might also want to take a pass -- there are over 100 pictures). Below are some of my favorite shots of sisterly love from this Christmas season. We hope that you and yours had a wonderful time celebrating whatever it is you choose to celebrate at this time!! [OH, and Santa brought Dad the Tropic Thunder DVD for Christmas -- not for the faint of heart but laugh out loud funny in parts -- two thumbs up from Dad!

30 Helens agree . ..

. . . the holidays are just not the holidays without a Kids in the Hall marathon! I have been feeling that way ever since Thanksgiving, but maybe it is only because I have been thinking about Tony . . . :)

(dedicated to Aunt T and Aunt B)

Near Brushes with Greatness

Just a quick update on the last week. On Wednesday Mom went to a holiday open house for federal employees at the White House. The decorations were beautiful, and there were several choirs from all over the country singing in the different rooms of the East Wing. We were a bit delayed getting into the function as all entry and exit were blocked but the arrival of Marine One on the lawn -- that was about as close as we got to the President, and it was pretty neat to see the helicopter land right in front of us, although it was kind of a cold day to be milling around outside.

On Thursday, Mom had another near brush with fame when Kevin Bacon and his brother came to HQ! Mom had to leave early that day to help out with the Moo's Holiday Pajama Party at school, but thought she would try to sneak down and get a picture and a handshake. I got there about 30 minutes before the time he was scheduled to arrive and found that there were already 200 people in line! Needless to say I did not get to meet him, and frankly I am bit surprised that that many people had so little going on that they could stand in line that long! Still, my understanding is that the Bacon brothers were very gracious and thanked everyone for the work that they do, which was very nice and not something that we hear a lot from people outside the building!

Tonight we are going to Lightfoot -- where we have all our major family celebrations -- to celebrate Dad's newly conferred degree and the Bean's birthday. Maybe we will see someone there!!

Happy Birthday Bean!!

The Bean is officially four years old today! Happy birthday little bug! Thanks to all who called or sent birthday greetings; the Bean loved hearing from every one of you and she now has quite an unexpected stash of loot to spend at the toy store this week. We will keep you posted on what she gets!

The Bean has this to say about being four: "Now that I am four I can have a bigger birthday and I will go to a different swimming class with a different coach when I am four. I will show my friends that I am four. I will say "I am four, I am four!" and they will say "no, way" and I will say "yes, way!" I don't know what the greatest thing about four is. I think it's when you go in a different class when I am four."

We love you Bean! Happy Birthday!!

Merry Early Christmas!

Finally, a tree!

Things have been so hectic this Christmas that we have not had an opportunity to get our tree until today! The girls have been very upset; the Bean told me the other day that the other houses in the neighborhood were all prettier than ours because they had trees and lights! So, this morning we went out and purchased a six foot noble pine because the Moo wanted a tree that was "small and fat" and the Bean wanted the noble because "it smells jolly." We have it up but will have to wait to for this evening to decorate it, as the Bean has back to back birthday parties to attend starting at one.

We got feedback on both of the girls' school progression this week, as we had a parent teacher conference with the Bean's teacher on Wed, and the Moo's report card came home on Friday. The Bean's teacher opened our conference by saying "If I had a class full of [Beans] I would be a very happy teacher," which was nice to hear. The distressing part of the conference came when she pretty much admitted that, with ten kids in her class and with the Bean being shy and not being a behavioral problem, the Bean can get overlooked at times. This just reinforced our belief that LCDS is the right place for the girls, given the low ratios and the screening process involved in admissions. The Bean has her DIAL test with the lower school director on 13 January, and her activity session with other applicants on 16 January.

The Moo had an excellent report card that emphasized her enthusiasm toward learning and noted her advanced social skills. A bit too advanced on some occasions, apparently, as her teacher noted that Molly has been working on her "self control" to not chat with her friends in class. Her teacher is frankly a bit more of a stickler that I think is necessary with five and six year children, but it does not hurt her to learn proper classroom behavior sooner rather than later, I guess! She did a fantastic job on all the academic aspects of her report card, and we are very proud of her.

Not much else to report. I have been feeling a bit "blue" lately, but I think having a jolly smelling tree in the house will go a long ways toward cheering me up.

Pictures from Summer and Halloween

The same friends who were kind enough to lend us their camera for the birthday party gave us some pictures from this past summer at their pool and from trick or treating in our neighborhood! Hope you enjoy!

As promised, pictures from the Bean's party are here!

Parties!

This weekend has been a weekend of parties for the Moo-Be an family. Yesterday evening Mom and Dad ventured out for Dad's office party (thanks, Grandpa S., for watching the girls!). Dad neglected to mention to Mom that the office party was this Friday until Wednesday night, so Mom was actually not looking forward to it. She rushed over the Nordstrom on Thursday to get a dress (believe it or not, Dad actually did ask, "Why can't you just wear the one you wore last year?") and ended up with this one, in silver and dark grey, and shoes similar to these, but for for a much more reasonable price. Despite Mom's bad attitude, we actually had a great time, in part because Dad works with some genuinely nice people. Mostly, though, we had a great time because this year Dad's company decided to institute a new practice of giving an award for the person who most embodies the spirit of the corporation, and they gave this very first one to . . . DAD! Another co-worker was recognized from the IT side of the house, but I can't remember his name as I was too busy being ridiculously proud of Dad! The award also came with a nice check attached, which was very much appreciated.

Mom and Dad immediately regretted celebrating Dad's recognition until 1 in the morning when we had to wake up early to get to the Bean's birthday party at 10am! The Bean had 24 friends show up to party with her at Pump It Up, and had a wonderful time despite Mom and Dad dragging a bit. For anyone considering a 4 year old party, I can not recommend Pump It Up highly enough! They did EVERYTHING, including ordering and picking up the cake, and getting the drinks and pizza. The Bean wanted the Lilo and Stitch cake with chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake, and m&ms mixed in the middle -- YUM! Then we hauled the ridiculous amount of gifts from her very generous friends home; the Bean barely finished opening them when it was time to head out to her friend Colin's party at the JW Tumbles Gym for more running around and cake. Tomorrow both the Moo and Bean have birthday parties to attend at the same time, so Dad and I will each be grabbing a child and heading off in different directions.

We borrowed a friend's camera to take pictures of the Bean's party as ours continues to be MIA, so we will post those pictures are soon as we get them! Stay tuned for pics and more news from the Ashburn party animals . . .