Day 392 | Another Day, Another Playground

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Where's Waldo? Can you find both my boys in the photo?
We ventured across the city today for a play date with a friend (this friend) and her daughter. Stead Park near Dupont is amazing! Recently redone and perfect for my boys' ages. Everyone had a blast, despite the heat creeping upon us.

I love that there are so many nice playgrounds in this city. Can't complain about that!

Day 391 | Splish Splash

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Look what's open for the summer! Our super nice neighborhood splash park. Woohoo!

Chris took the boys over the weekend for this season's inaugural trip but today's calmer atmosphere put both boys in the water-loving spirit. And the warm temps made the outing just perfect. I see this as a weekly outing for us this summer but I'll try not to post too many photos of it. :)

Day 389 | The New New Look of Lunch

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Remember this post? That seating arrangement lasted eight and a half months before someone (Robbe) got a little too comfortable sitting close to someone else's (Chase's) food. He's a hungry guy, no question about it, but he can't possibly need more food than we're already feeding him (can you tell by the amount of food on his plate in this photo?).

The solution? Give them a bit more space. The seating arrangement has been this way for a couple of weeks now and I think I can say, for now at least, problem solved. 

Day 388 | Deck Drama

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What happens when you don't make any plans for a glorious four day weekend? You feel compelled to complete something on your home owner to do list. This weekend's project for us? Painting the deck.

For the record, we did not expect the task to take anywhere near as long as it did. I mean, it's a small deck. When Chris did his last round of touch ups today, we had invested 13 hours of (mostly Chris's) manual labor in this endeavor. And that didn't include any prep work (cleaning, taping, procuring supplies, etc). Whoa. 

I think the thing that shocks me the most is that we actually managed to squeeze that many hours out of two days to dedicate to the project. And that's without any childcare help. 

There's a very good chance we will pay to have this done next time. Remind me of that. 

Day 385 | A Little Self Care

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Chris is home today so I took advantage of the chance to break out of the house sans-babies for some self care time.

First on the list, a follow up appointment at the chiropractor. I know this is a bit of a touchy subject but I am incredibly grateful to have stumbled into this woman's healing hands. I've had pretty serious back problems three different times in my life and she was a miracle worker each and every time. I'm still working out some tweaking but I'm 100% improved. Thank goodness!

Second, a haircut. I realized it's been 9 months since my last cut. Oops. It was definitely needed. Nothing like getting five inches off to kick off the summer. Sorry, no photo but I'm sure you'll see it eventually.

Day 384 | The Last Day

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Chase and his teachers, Mrs. Bruce and Mrs. Olsson
Chase had his first last day of school today. I know everyone says it, but I can't believe the school year is over (perhaps that's in part due to the fact that they ended so early!).

A few notes about the school year:
  • Chase loved every second of school and never cried when I left or hesitated to walk in the door. Such a proud mommy.
  • Robbe managed to successfully nap every Tuesday and Thursday from 10am-11am (ish) while Chase was at school. Amazing, right? I'm totally fine with having both boys home every day but boy, oh boy, am I going to miss the two hours a week of quiet in the morning. It'll be a year and a half before I see that again.
  • The community at Saint Luke Christian Day School has been exactly what we would have wanted for Chase's first school experience. I would recommend this place to anyone.

Day 382 | Walking

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Big walking day for me. I almost made it to 15,000 steps on my Fitbit. I'll say that I normally get around 7,500 so today was a big, big deal. I guess that's what happens when you take three long walks (one with the boys, one solo on an errand, and one with a friend). I'm sure I'll end up with 2,000 steps tomorrow now.

Chase caught the walking bug today, too. Halfway home from our long walk, he decided he wanted out of his sweet ride and joined me for the stroll (which never happens). I was so proud of the little guy for using up all his energy in a decent amount of heat. Nice work, little man. I snapped the above photo during the walk to celebrate the accomplishment. 

Day 380 | Artsy Action

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Chase and I got to explore our neighborhood's newest addition this morning: the Little Loft. This was a Capitol Hill gem that we just never got around to visiting (the age just wasn't right) and now they opened a new location right up the road from us. Another walking destination...yay!

It took a little coercing, but Chase enjoyed hunting for toys in the rice table, touching (but just barely) the sculpting sand, reading books (of course he found the only non-art offering), and making a fun bookmark. 

I think the chances are good we'll be back but probably still not with little brother in tow. Sorry, Robbe. 

Day 379 | Never Grow Up

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Can you guess what we did today? Yep, that's our new minivan. Ahhhh! I own a minivan (bottom right). I can honestly say that speaking those words rank right up there with "I'm a stay at home mom" as phrases I thought I'd never say.

The process today was not easy in any sense of the word. I might suggest that it was one of the most stressful mornings we've had in awhile. Here's why:
  1. Missing document: Chris and I are obsessive when it comes to paperwork so when we couldn't find our car title this morning we both were stressed out. Luckily, you can trade your car in without a title. Who knew? Now we just need to get to the DMV to remedy that. 
  2. Major injury: Ok, maybe not that major, but it felt like that at the time. Without going into the sad details, Robbe took quite a fall at the dealership and ended up with a pretty substantial war wound to show for it. Not stress-free to deal with a hysterical baby mid-car buying. 
  3. Spending money: this goes without saying for us. Chris and I aren't great at spending money. We deliberate and deliberate and then deliberate some more. And a car purchase is definitely no joke when it comes to spending money. 
  4. Messing with our schedule: the car buying endeavor took 3 hours. Three! That's an hour more than they quoted us and an hour past when we needed to leave to make it home before nap. I just feel so sad when my babies are blatantly exhausted and we're schlepping them around. The boys were champions, though, and they handled the whole experience better than Chris and me.
So, there it is. Even though I'm a proud, but slightly hesitant, owner of a new minivan, I refuse to admit I've grown up that much. And farewell, Tiguan. You were a great car and our time together was far too short.


Day 377 | Pork Carnitas

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I think you realize by now how deep my love for the crock pot runs. If there's anything that makes me a *teeny bit* sad about cold weather disappearing, it's the fact that so many of my slow cooker recipes seem more suited to the fall and winter months.

However, I found this yummy

pork carnitas (pork tacos) recipe

that is a total summer dish.

Three notes before you try it out:

1. Use the full amount of chipotle peppers. I only used one because I'm a total spice wimp and really regretted it. The tacos need the extra flavor and I'm convinced it still wouldn't be anywhere close to too spicey. 

2. Add an onion to the crock to cook with the pork. The recipe calls for raw onion on the taco at the end but I find raw onion too overpowering. This way, I still got my onion but not only onion. 

3. Add shredded cabbage when you're fixing them to eat. The tacos need the extra texture and crunch. 

Enjoy!