{this moment}

Joining SouleMama for this Friday tradition...one picture, no words, a moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. Please leave a link to yours below if you wish!

#1 on my Almost-Autumn to-do list

Last night, after a (rare) long day at work/away from the boys, I made my daily visit to SouleMama. I was inspired by her suggestion to make a summer FUN to-do list. But first, a caveat: given where I live, summer is my least favorite time of year because it's so hot and humid for 6-8 weeks on end that you really can't go outside - not with babies and toddlers, anyway. No matter what you do, they get dehydrated and overheated within 20 minutes.

But about two weeks ago, I felt IT. The Moment when the Wind Changed from summer to fall. It was another hot hot summer day, probably in the mid to upper 90's, but that's when it happened. Ever since then I've been noticing the subtle shift in the weather - it's getting less humid and a little cooler as the days go by. The past two days have been absolutely gorgeous - blue skies, fluffy clouds, slight breeze, windows open, and more time spent on the front porch than inside the house. I've begun my fall knitting.

We have now officially entered Kate's Most Favorite Time of the Year.

So, I guess I should call my list the "Now I can do all the things I've been wanting to do all summer but haven't been able to because it's been so f-ing hot" list.

#1: Pick fresh fruit at a local farm.

{setting off toward the apple orchard at Larriland Farm this morning to pick my favorite variety, Gala!}

{heading over to the peaches with 2 full bags of apples}

{blackberries!}

{we decided Breakfast for Dinner was in order so I made peach compote}

{which paired perfectly with the blackberries over the pancakes!}

{Felix's first experience with blackberries}

{he made this sour face every time, but kept eating them! It was hilerious.}

After dinner, the chinese checkers set arrived in the mail!

{Henry's first game of Chinese Checkers. He loves it, of course. Have I mentioned that the only thing he wants to do these days besides draw in his sketchbook is play games?}

It was such a perfect day. I almost forgot that there was an earthquake this afternoon! Ha!

#2: Day trip to the beach! (not tomorrow, but someday soon!)

The Children's Garden

We spent a glorious morning last week at the Botanic Garden. This is easily my new favorite destination, as it engages all three boys simultaneously! They walked in, surveyed the scene, and chose what to do with themselves without needing any direction from me. I would have been able to sit down and drink some coffee or do a little knitting if I hadn't been so busy snapping photos (still with my iphone, as I haven't gotten around to getting a new "real" camera yet).

Felix, of course, enjoyed crawling around and splashing his hands in the water that Henry and Jude spilled. He managed to sample several plants throughout our visit before I caught him and fished the leaves out of his mouth. I assumed they wouldn't put any poisonous plants in the children's garden and I appear to be correct, as it is now Monday, and he is still alive and well.


Jude's favorite activity was sweeping with the broom (he loves sweeping and vacuuming at home, so much that he has his own little broom and a vacuum that actually sucks up dirt), but he also enjoyed the little house as well as watering the plants.


Henry spent most of his time watering the Lantana tree in the middle (did I mention before that Lantana is my new favorite flower?), but also enjoyed working the water pump that spits water out of the fish's mouth.



We were fortunate to have the children's garden to ourselves for about half an hour, but it soon got crowded so we moved on. Here they are inspecting a little fountain in one of the other rooms:
We ended our visit by walking around outside, and found ourselves at the First Ladies' Water Garden, where of course they got soaking wet. My policy on fountains in DC is go on in until someone stops you. Why not?

{this moment}

Technically, {this moment} is supposed to be one image, but this is still a moment I want to pause, savor and remember, even though it is a short series of images. So I'm cheating just a little, but you will see why...






Happy Friday, everyone!

{this moment}

joining SouleMama for this Friday tradition. Please leave a link to your moment below, if you wish!

Delilah the Guard Dog

I have noticed a curious thing over the past few weeks: Delilah has been guarding Felix. She never used to do this when he was laying on his playmat or a blanket on the floor as an infant, but now that he can sit up, she often will lay down next to him when I put him down and go attend to something/someone else. This is what I found one day last week when I came down the stairs from putting Jude down for his nap:






(Sorry for the blurry photos. Obviously I still haven't found my camera. We are starting to wonder whether Jude maybe threw it away. That's how I lost my car keys when Henry was that age.)

Stories in Art: Everyday Life

Whew! We had quite a week. There is so much I want to share, as we've still been doing a lot lately; I just haven't had time to stop and report on it here. Let's begin catching up with last Sunday's trip to the National Gallery, shall we?

{waiting for the doors to open at 11 am}

I'd been looking forward to this particular session all summer because the book was one of my current favorites:

The theme was "Everyday Life," so the children looked at a painting of a village fair, read this book, and then were asked to draw an ordinary day of their own.

It was Henry's first experience with oil pastels. He loved them.

We stopped off at the cafe to get some gelato before going home.

{the view of the fountain from where we were sitting}

Since we had attended three of the sessions in the summer series, Henry received a "prize" - a sketchbook, stickers, and a set of colored pencils - in a canvas drawstring bag. (Your tax dollars at work, folks!)