Calvin Reading to His Little Sis

Calvin has become a great reader during his kindergarten year, which makes him very proud (us too!). And while we initially thought it would make our lives trickier because we could no longer use the age-old parent trick of spelling-things-out-we-didn't-want-him-to-understand, it actually has been a giant plus for our whole family. We love reading to him, and it is even more fun to have him read to us. Sometimes, he'll even sit and read books quietly in his room. Once, on our way back from the beach and after he had complained that we didn't bring enough books for him to read, we pulled over to a used bookstore and stocked up. I mean, when your kid asks for more books, what are you going to do?

But perhaps the best part is that he loves to read books to Violet, and she loves it, too. It's a fun thing for them to do together, which can be hard to come by many days. Plus, some weekend mornings after they've both woken up earlier than they do on weekdays (why, oh why does that always happen?), he'll sit and read to her in our bed and we get a few extra minutes to snooze. That can really start our weekend off just right.

More Fourth!

These are not the best photos from our Fourth of July adventures. I guess we were too hot and busy to focus on documentation. But here are some cute shots from the Palisades parade. It's right down the road from our house and a fun mix of small-town Americana and crazy big-city D.C.

Noah and kids watching the extravaganza:

Photobucket" border="0">


V and me:

Photobucket" border="0">

Calvin in front of patriotic bug:



Sweet Violet, starting to wilt from the heat:

Photobucket" border="0">

Maybe I haven't been paying attention the last few years, but when did parades turn into giant lootfests? I remember floats and parade marchers throwing out candy from years past, and yes, the occasional beads, too. But this year, it seemed like a deluge of freebies. Maybe it's because of the hot mayoral race in D.C., but we got pelted with towels and stickers and signs and flags and little hand-held fans. Kids were scrambling for mushed up candy all over the ground. And there was almost a riot when the truck passing by ran out of the Capri-suns they had been handing out. I was a little overwhelmed, but Calvin and Noah were totally game. Here they are, waiting for the handouts:

Photobucket" border="0">

Calvin showing off some of his loot. That's the little fan hanging around his neck. I have to admit, that one did come in handy:

Photobucket" border="0">


It is really hard to get a shot of fireworks from inside of a hotel room, through a glass window, especially for these novice photographers. So this is the best we've got. Yes, that's Calvin in there somewhere:

Photobucket" border="0">

Happy 7th of July!

Yes, we are a little late, per usual. But Grammy is in town to help with the kids, so I am determined to catch up on the blog this week. Stay tuned for more....

In the meantime, here are a couple of shots from our July 4th weekend. I am in a remote location (ooh, mysterious!), so these are the best I could do, some pictures from this cool new app on my iPhone. I like the look of these, like a throwback to my childhood when we took pictures on film and just had to live with whatever turned out, weeks or months after you took the pictures. But I also like the fact that the design of these blurs the flaws or makes them look intentional, like I was going for this particular effect. Or maybe I was.

Regardless, here is Calvin waiting for the fireworks from the view of our Arlington hotel room, and getting a little patriotic while he does so:




The hotel room was a last-minute plan of Noah's, and a very good one. Earlier in the day, we went to a long, hot (but fun) parade in the Palisades and a cookout with friends. We wanted to see the fireworks, but didn't want to schlep all the way downtown, especially since it would be hot and late, two things Violet really doesn't like. So we got to watch from our air-conditioned room, after we had a dip in the pool and room service! I never felt so pampered on the Fourth of July.

More to come soon....