Welcome Laila & Olivia

Jaime and Jared welcomed their little girls Laila and Olivia on April 11!  We visited them a couple weeks later and I gotta say they really seemed to have this whole "having three children, two of whom are newborns" thing down.  They didn't even look tired.  Amazing.  It was great to see them, meet the girls, and visit with the rest of the family while we were in town. 

 

I Spy

Looks like any old picture doesn't it?

Look a little closer...

Closer....

Get out your magnifying glass...

(*see the bottom of this post for a closer look)

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This weekend the boys and I went to the beach for a couple days with some friends. It was even beach weather one of the days. The frigid ocean temperatures didn't deter Jacob, he was ready to put on his swimsuit and jump in. Unfortunately, I had to tell him that the ocean is closed until summer.

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*Okay, here's a close up for the three people out there who might read this post and didn't see it for themselves in person and actually take their own (better) picture where you can actually see it in its entirety without power lines in the way, or perhaps took a video of it actually landing at Dulles Airport (ahem, Nancy).

It's the space shuttle Discovery! Owen and I got to see it fly by the National Cathedral and it was quite a sight seeing the shuttle on top of a 747 (I must admit I thought the space shuttle would be a little bigger, in comparison to a 747 at least). Amazing to see!

Archives

I often take pictures with my phone and then never think to download them and then they are lost in the "archives" until I remember to put them on the computer and then they finally see the light of day. That's the case with the pics on this post.

First, a few from a visit to a cluster of cherry blossom trees near us (didn't have to go all the way to the Mall, how nice!) the weekend they peaked (people were actually TOURING this neighborhood to see the trees, from far away lands even). Apparently NOT a hidden gem, except to me.

Next, a nice little Friday evening play date with Lylie Poo.

Then, I believe I mentioned Jacob recently gave himself a bit of a haircut when I wasn't looking. Here's how much he cut off from his bangs! Crazy it's not even noticeable when you look at him.


Next a fun visit to Cabin John Park and a ride on the train with friends and a sip from the hippo water fountain.

And finally, these are some oldies but goodies of Jacob and some of his buddies and teacher from his old daycare. I don't think I posted them before, but we had a little reunion of sorts at the College Park Aviation Museum in December, which he loved.



Miss Angel was Jacob's teacher from the time he was 7 months to 3 years old. She is the best!

Spring Break & Easter

The rest of Spring Break worked out quite nicely. After visiting an art museum with Nancy the first day, we ventured to the great outdoors at the National Arboretum the next day with Jacob and Owen's friends Eliza and Max. This vast space of green, gardens, and beauty (which is at most 2 miles from where I used to work for any of you who are still working there and might want a nice, quiet place to have lunch one day and can't think anywhere to go), is fantastic! I only wish it was 2 miles from where I live. You will see more pictures of us from here in the future, though. The kids got to run around a big, grassy, open field, roll down hills, play in a children's garden, and climb trees, something Jacob has been eager to do ever since he first heard The Giving Tree. Highly recommended.

And then it was Easter. Here is our annual Sherman Family Easter Day, "no one's ever looking at the camera and/or smiling at the same time" picture.

The boys came downstairs this morning and Jacob excitedly looked through his basket and then said that there wasn't very much. I told him I could probably call the Easter Bunny and have him take it all back. He promptly changed his tune.

Then Lyle and family came over for an Easter egg hunt!

Grandma Jackie and the boys.

Best Week Ever

Remember that show "Best Week Ever"? Might even still be on, but I don't know what channel VH1 is on anymore. While last week had all the promise of being the best week ever -- lots planned, lunch with the famous Rachel, a walk with Anne Van (these were and remain the two highlights) among other things -- it did not live up to the hype. A couple memorable moments include walking into Jacob's room at the end of rest time seeing a large clump of hair in his hand and a smile on his face while telling me he'd cut his hair and maybe we should hide it before daddy gets home. Fortunately he has enough that you can't tell unless you look real close. Then after our fun visit with Anne Van, leaving lights on in the car and discovering a dead battery 10 minutes before I had to pick Jacob up for school. What to do? Completely panic and be thankful I have a bike, trailer, and we live close to the school. I looked like a crazy woman pulling in there in my regular clothes, out of breath, with my bike and an annoyed Owen who was angry and uncooperative because he had wanted to ride HIS bike, but whatever. The rest I've put into the dark recesses of my brain but trust me, there were more.

This week should be average. I've got things planned but I'm not going in with high expectations. You see where that got me last week. This morning we went to the Hirshorn Museum with Sam, Anderson and Aunt Nancy for an exhibit we thought they'd like (you could touch some things, it played with light, and there was a part you had to wear covers over your shoes). They did. It was fine. So far, low expectations are working for me.

That Sam and Anderson give me such hope for what my boys may be like in the future. And Jacob and Owen ADORE them so.

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On another high note, this weekend Aunt Rochelle and Lou came to visit! It was so good to see them and Jacob and Owen keep talking about their "Aunt Shell". What a nice time.

J

Jacob can write the letter "J" really well now, which he kindly showed me when he painted it on the side of our house (with washable paint, but still). The rest of our painting session was me chasing after Owen to stop him from painting our whole house.

We went to Richmond for the weekend and the boys discovered and loved playing in the creek down the street from Memaw's house (look familiar Anne Van?). Pics not taken include them "accidentally" falling in the water a few times. I just sigh and sorta look away as if it's not happening when these kinds of things occur and fortunately I happened to have packed lots of extra clothes this visit.

Then to Maymont Park where Jacob played followed the leader.

If you can't beat them...

...join them.

Yet again we found ourselves in the infamous public restroom with the ill-placed foam soap dispenser. This time before we walked in I asked myself, do I avert disaster or do I document this and laugh about it later? I chose document ... and paid for it later. Laughing will come in a few years probably (I hope).

at least it missed his hair this time.

I just thought it was cute them playing in this tiny little spot together.