Day 5 - Washington D.C.

The last day of our trip began by visiting Arlington Cemetery and watching the changing of the guard.

President John and Jacqueline Kennedy's grave with the eternal flame.

US Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Monument)

Holocaust Memorial Museum

Smithsonian: American History Museum

Dorothy's Red Slippers!

Abraham Lincoln's hat that was worn when he was assassinated

Jacqueline Kennedy's Inaugural ball gown

(She is my favorite)

Melissa with the Obama's

We finished the day by walking through Georgetown. It is a beautiful, quaint town with so much charm (and cupcakes). It was the perfect end to a perfect get away.

9 Months

Ava turned 9 months old yesterday.

Why is it that THIS 9 months went by

so.much.faster

than the 9 months that I was pregnant with her???

She has 4 teeth. She crawls and pulls herself up onto everything. She hooos like an owl. She loves to scream when she is happy (does that make sense? It's a cute scream)...She still sucks her thumb. She L.O.V.E.S. to snuggle. We love her.

A Little Cousin Time

I love cousins. My kids love cousins. We had such a fun time with cousins last weekend.

A little beach. A zoo. An aquarium. Legoland.

Who could ask for anything more?

Oh...dressing up in Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating together.

Yep.

That topped off the trip perfectly.

Smashing Pumpkins

It is Halloween time and so we started off the month with our Halloween PJ's. This year's jammies glow in the dark...not that that feature gets used very often because I have passed along my fear of the dark to my children. Soooo...we tried it out once and that was enough for them. This is the first year that the kids helped me dig out the Halloween decorations from the garage and designed our house the way that they wanted. Chloe couldn't stop and actually went into the Easter box and decided that we should combine Easter and Halloween together. (We still have a few bunny wreaths hanging here and there...)

We picked up some pumpkins and decided this was the year we would attempt to actually carve them. It was funny. It took about .32 seconds after Jon cut open the pumpkins for the kids to be completely grossed out with the idea of scooping out the guts and seeds. They insisted on gloves. Pansies.

After the scooping, the kids drew the faces that they wanted and Jon obliged.

We added some candles and placed them on the porch. They lasted for about 10 days and then they were so rotten that they had to be thrown away.

We were disappointed. It's like when a fresh Christmas tree is all decked out and then dies and is so dry that you have to take it down even before Christmas has come.

I think next year I may just have to find artificial pumpkins.

I love Halloween.

Beck wondering if he really has to dig out the insides

Chloe surveying the guts. Gotta be honest...there was a little bit of dry heaving involved.

Chloe has figured out that every face looks better with eyelashes

Practicing for Thanksgiving

Ava was sad that her pumpkin didn't get carved.

She changed her mind when she realized her pumpkin was the only one that didn't rot.

Teeth

Ava turned 8 months old last week. Do you know what she got?

Her first tooth!

So cute.

That same day, her Aunt Elizabeth spent the night at our house and just before bed, she lost a tooth.

So gross.

My parents were out of town and so I tried to nonchalantly ask her how much the tooth fairy left her for her last tooth...not that I really needed to know...I was just curious, of course.

She told me that the fairy left her $8 for her last tooth.

Ummmm...$8???

Is that really the going rate?

When she woke up in the morning, she did not find $8 under her pillow. Much less.

I may need to have a talk with this said fairy before my kids start loosing their teeth.

Paying for their education? Yes.

Dance lessons? Yes.

Sports? Yes.

A mouth full of $8 teeth?

No.