Flu Shots and Cupcakes

In honor of my mother's birthday, the kids and I got our flu shots today! How does that honor my mother, you ask. I'll tell you.
The flu shot was the annual battle that took place between my mother and I while I was growing up under her roof. A registered nurse herself, my mom understood the importance of being vaccinated.
"A quick stick is much better than bouts of barfing," she always said... just kidding those weren't her words but they could have been. :) My mom always brought the shot home in hopes that I would happily hand over my arm to her inviting needle. Needless and needle-ess to say she was the one who year after year got shot down by my rejection of her attempts. The poor dear woman!! I would throw such a fit over a prick in the arm that I'm sure she figured I was the real prick! But she never called me that, she could've though, I deserved it! One year I remember her out-witting me. I had cornered myself in my bathroom behind a locked door, she finally told me I could come out and she would leave me alone. When I opened the door she grabbed me, yanked up my sleeve and gave me the shot in one flawless, almost practiced, move! I don't think I was too mad. I was mostly impressed! It was as though she took a self-offense class. Do they have self-offense classes? I think I'm onto something....
"This is going to hurt me a whole lot more than its going to hurt you," was one of her sayings. And you know what? I'm sure it did. She was the most empathetic woman and I got to call her "mom."




This was just 3 months before she passed away.
As beautiful and as happy as ever.

 She would be 70 years old today.

And speaking of birthdays... she was way ahead of the cupcake trend!
Back to my childhood- I grew up eating cupcakes for breakfast. It was the norm. And she was always just happy to see me eat something. She actually would say that!
"Oh, Carolyn," her voice sparkled, "its so good to see you eat!"
Once out of her house whenever we would go to visit her she would pull out a large container of defrosting cupcakes ready to be devoured. She was genius and knew that cupcakes were the best served cold, not room temperature. And her frosting hasn't been surpassed by any trendy cupcake place I've been to yet!
"Mom! You must write that recipe down!" I'd always beg.
"Oh, Carolyn, you just add a little bit of milk and about this much butter."
"How much, mom? I need it in teaspoons, tablespoons, cups! Something!"
"Oh, honey, I don't know, you just kind of guess!"
Frosting-less to say I still haven't been able to match her mix of heavenly perfection. I feel like I get it close every once and a while but not close enough. I'm going to keep trying. But I know now why I ate those for breakfast and why she encouraged it. She wouldn't always be able to greet me with her goodies...and I wouldn't be able to replicate them. Ha! I can taste them now, just thinking about them. Just like I can hear her voice sparkle....

Happy Birthday, Mom! Thanks for happy memories and the happy taste buds, too. I love you and miss you.

At Georgetown Cupcakes (from the show DC Cupcakes),
right before my disappointment that my mother even had them beat!
Easy to see how excited I was that I might get to taste mama's frosting or something like it!
Boo hooo..... :(

Sweet 16X2= turning 32!

 I turned 32 on Monday. Chris was sweet and took the day off to help with the kids while I had and eye appointment in Baltimore. We had hopes of making it to the aquarium there afterward but the appointment took up most of our time. I met with a nice new doctor that I really like and he told me I'll need to have the strabismus surgery redone in about 6 months. It is disappointing news but I am confident in his abilities and hopefully this one will have better results than the one I had done in June.
We ended up taking the family to Benihana for dinner and that was a riot. We were all totally entertained and Ethan thinks he found his future profession! It was a great way to celebrate with the family.
The following night my dear friends took me out for dinner at Sweetwater and then we headed to SweetFrog for dessert. They must know I like sweets! I can't remember the last time I have laughed that much and that loud! They are all so much fun to be around and they are all sweeter than any food... or frog for that matter! My birthday was double the "sweet" of 16 in more ways than one! The Lord has blessed me in so many ways and I am so grateful for the family and friends that I have!

Can you believe our waiter got all of the kids to look at the same time?!

Thanks girls!
Would you believe me if I told you they are even more beautiful on the inside?!

Random Cuteness, Daddy's Girl and Mount Vernon

We headed to Mount Vernon for their festival the weekend after we got back from our big trip.This was my first time there and we had a nice time learning more about George Washington. It is hard to leave Mount Vernon without feelings of awe and appreciation. I couldn't believe how beautiful of a setting it was for our nation's first president to reside. The Potomac was serene and the air was so fresh.

The kids did a type of treasure hunt, (treasure meaning knowledge), while there and they really had a fun time filling out their treasure map. At the end they received a stamped penny as their souvenir and that was treasure enough for them. We enjoyed a boat ride along the Potomac, a great battle demonstration, and short horse rides. There was entertainment and vendors selling items true to Washington's time period. We were there for 6 hours! It was a great experience.

Our 1 year old

duking it out with frosting

                                                                      Daddy's Girl

                                                (photos snapped while waiting in line)

                                      

She must know something about playing hard to get!

Mount Vernon

Worth the Wait

Just when our kids started thinking the airport was a place we just went to hang out for fun- we finally made it on a flight out of the country!After 5 attempts to leave on space-available our family of six flew to Europe! Let me just say it was worth the collective 25 hours of spare time spent at the USO eating ice cream, crackers and top ramen while we prayed for our name to be on "the list."

Chris had a wonderful, ambitious plan with hotels booked throughout 9 European cities that he had to call and reschedule for every possible flight. So 5 times he had to redo our itinerary and somehow it still worked out. Not only that but Deidre, Chris's mom was there at the exact same time and came along with us which was so fun to have her company and her help with the kids. She was also there to snap photos of our family and I can't wait to see what ended up on her camera.
We started out in Germany, got to see Rothenburg before going to Munich to see Chris's brother, Curt, wife Angie, and darling little boys, Hudson and Max, and we grabbed grammy and headed to Prague. From Prague we went to Vienna for a stay then through Slovakia then onto Budapest for the night. (There is so much to say about each place but I'm not going to elaborate on the blog because then it will never get done!) I can say though that we really LOVED Prague and Budapest! Then we hit Ljubljana, Slovenia for an afternoon and evening of fun. This was a city full of unexpected bits of excitement. Then we headed to Venice. We spent one day there and that felt like enough! It was beautiful but so crowded. From Venice we went to beautiful Florence where we, and by we I mean Chris and the kids, feasted on octopus. Deidre and I enjoyed our pizza and ravioli. I love my time in the kitchen and spent some time upon my return giving a shot at recreating this Tuscan dish tha't included sun dried tomatoes and pistachios. From there we headed to Rome and Vatican City for 3 days and loved every moment of it... Well, I didn't really enjoy doing laundry in the tub but I did enjoy being somewhere long enough for our clothes to air dry. Deidre was brilliant and we ordered a few irons and ironed some dryness into our clothes! Our rooms were both fully draped in our travel clothes and it was a sight to behold. I do recommend the sights of Rome to what was in our hotel room, though. Rome was fascinating! From Rome to Pisa which was more than just a leaning tower and then to Milan. We celebrated Channing turning one while in Pisa and Milan! He is such a great addition to our family and we are all delighted by his never-ending nonsense! For the record he says "Mama," Papa," and liberally uses the word "ball." Learned "dog" while in Munich and wouldn't leave poor Preacher alone, he was so happy to crawl after him. He makes other great noises and sounds and is quick to laugh. I remember I laughed a lot more even when I was pregnant with him. He has been walking since we've been home and it closely resembles Martin Short's walk in his chaps and boots in the Three Amigos! Back to the trip- We enjoyed the beautiful drive through Switzerland, stopping in Lucerne and staying in Zurich then back to Munich for a week. The drive up through Bavaria was breathtaking as was nearly every other place we drove through. Curt and Angie were very hospitable to accomodate our family for so long. It was a blessing to spend time with them and the boys. The trip didn't quench my desire to travel at all, instead, along the way I must have pick up a few hitch hiking ants that crawled in my pants that have made me even more restless! Now each day I am at home I wonder what wonderful things I am missing out on! I do know however that nothing can compare with being able to stay at home with my little rascals!

I have never appreciated our double stroller more (the one Chris rescued out of a neighbor's garbage load and cleaned up/duct taped 10 years ago!). It a life saver. As was the $3 potty chair Aunt Angie picked up for Faith that fit into "Glorious Stroller" that we would throw on the ground anywhere and Faith would happily perform!

The kids were a dream and this was such a neat adventure to be able to share with them. Thanks Chris for your ambitious ways! I am blessed to reap the benefits... Here are a few of my favorite photos from my camera.

Rothenburg

Prague

Vienna

Budapest

Venice



Florence





Faith didn't want to feel left out....


poor Channing, he was a helpless victim



Rome

no, Chan, they didn't play football here

Laundry



Did I mention how woozy I felt at the top of the tower?
And by the time we got to the bottom I thought I'd surely be sick but luckily the kids were there to distract me!
That "lean" made me feel like I was at an amusement park!! How ridiculous is that?!!

textbook Ethan

Milan







These are to illustrate how difficult it is to get a decent photo of four kids!
I kinda think they are more entertaining anyway! At least thats what I tell myself...





 

Lucerne

Zurich

Bavaria

Munich

Possibly the happiest baby alive, Max, and his mama, Angie

Salzburg, Austria
We took a day trip there. It was marvelous!

Garmish

Kids with cousin Hudon. He and Faith are the same age.

Loved the scruff! This is a definite perk to vacation!

We even got to play dress up! Ha!

And this is how we did it!