Woodland Antics

A few stories from the last 24 hours worth remembering: 1) This morning I was standing in front of the computer double checking that the temperature for today really was going to be 90. I felt someone tugging at the elastic waist of my pajamas (they're really Ryan's pants, his stuff is so much better). It's Fiona. She looks down my pants and says, "Poop?", "No, no poop mommy!” I now realize how invasive it is when I do this to her, especially in public. The difference is that you rarely find poop in my pants. 2) Yesterday we went to Reed's first tennis lesson. There are two other children in his class. Gabby, 4, is a natural. She serves the ball with accuracy; she flows across the court as though she is dancing. Although I didn't catch how old Megan is, she appears to be too tall for her age, therefore, a little awkward in her movements. Still, she is absolutely involved and gives it her all. Then you have my kids.... After a couple failed a...

Reed’s Spring Break was last week. This gave us extra time to do all of the traditional Easter preparation. We had an Easter Egg Hunt in our backyard with our friend Sammy. Reed ran to find the first egg with such excitement, then he reached for it, and…….. haphazardly tosses it into the air. He immediately moves on to the next one. Not what I had in mind, but fun I suppose. Fiona was more on target; she put eggs into her basket, but was easily distracted by flowers and the like. After all she is my daughter. With one of his competitors not even collecting eggs and the other playing with ants,Sammy, with ease, became the winner of the Woodland Easter Egg Hunt. --Rock On Sam! The past few days Fiona has requested more Egg Hunts. I throw the empty eggs around the yard and she collects them, counts them and tells me their colors. It’s a pretty relaxing game,so, the Egg Hunts will continue until she tire's of them. The traditional tradition of coloring eggs was not fo...

Are you too busy to even use the bathroom? Have I got the solution for you.......

When Ryan and I first moved into our bedroom together in University Park, our first love pad was a love room in a house with 3 other Grad students . A few feet away were tennis courts. We played tennis all the time. This is not to say we were very good at it. We had a blast just running around and laughing. When we moved to southern Maryland and had the babies, activities like this were no longer convenient. Even hikes were not as frequent as they once were. Kayaking changed from a weekend event to an hour event. I have to admit it really bothered me that after children we somehow had lost a very defining part of ourselves. Last year Ryan and I escaped for a rare date which consisted of a six pack on the roof of his lab overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. We discussed this issue in depth. We realized not only are we no longer cool, but maybe even boring. The only thought that kept us from jumping was, One day we will be able to teach the kids the same outdoor activities that ...