Updates and Conversations...

Sadie:  How do you get to work in the White House, Mom?
Me:  Well, you have to decide that is your goal.  You have to go to college and probably major in something like political science.  Then, you have to work pretty hard to get there.
Sadie:  Mom, I meant like a housekeeper.  I am only interested in that.

We were dyeing Easter eggs.  Upon removing Lily's egg from a mixture of colors,
Lily announced:  That looks like vomit.  I think she didn't like how it looked.

What I learned on our trip to Washington, DC:

Traffic in the city stinks.  Traffic in the city stinks.  Traffic in the city stinks.  We traveled 14 miles for 4 hours.  I wanted to hurt someone. Jay and I decided not to speak to each other at one point as there was nothing pleasant that was coming out and we were so on edge.  It was just terrible and there was no way around it in order to get to the Embassy where we were trying to renew his Dutch passport.

Museums are really cool.  However, Sadie is just as happy playing in the park by the hotel chasing disease infested birds.  Ethan is at the age where he appreciates what he is seeing and doesn't complain.  Lily does not like to walk, often announcing her legs are tired.

Sadie can charm anyone when she so desires.  She learned to haggle on her own for an aquarium at a yard sale this weekend.  Pretty impressive.  She also lasted at a dinner with fairly decent behavior for about 1.5 hours with some friends of mine.  She lost it in the last half hour, however. 

For as long as Lily did not have her front teeth, I expected them to slowly emerge.  However, they pushed forth over our break rather quickly.  She now has "half teeth" showing on top. This makes for a mouth that is scant of any normal looking teeth, gaps and an non-uniform looking smile.  It is the most jumbled mess of teeth, but her smile is still priceless to me.

Ethan loves to hang with me.  He usually takes my side when we are deciding what we are going to do on a given day.  He is trooper on trips like this, always wanting to explore and experience more.  Well, except for the First Ladies of the White House exhibit.  He was not too keen on that one.

My kids are terrible at self-entertaining when they need to sit still and be quiet without the use of personal electronics.  Maybe they aren't different than most kids, but it is quite problematic to me.  Actually, I should clarify.  Lily is pretty decent at descending into her own world.  However, Sadie is horrible at conforming when she does not want to.  I mean, horrible.  I have devised a training program that will begin this summer.  We'll see how it works.

There is nothing that brings me more happiness to my entire self than hearing my children laugh.  Lily has a belly giggle that in unmatched.  Ethan can fall into fits of uncontrollable laughter.  And, Sadie has a sinister, yet lovable laugh that is usually the result of successfully carried out plans.  I heard their laughter many times this past week and it was never tiring.