One year ago, we moved away from the comfort and support of my Mom and Dad into the world of the East Coast. Living
in near D.C. has been a treat, and a big adjustment (mostly in good ways). Here are some of the things we've gotten used to:
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| On my mom's birthday last April, we went to a huge garden to look at these tulips! |
- Traffic. Lots of heavy traffic. We've learned to not even hit the roads at certain times of day (works well for a stay at home mom!) I can just park it:
- Community Pools - All the fun with friends at the pool, without the work. It's been wonderful! Feels sort of like vacation with neighbors. Love when Mark is home - an extra pair of hands at the pool is a wonderful thing.
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| Lochlan was so small last summer! |
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| Monocacy Battlefield |
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| Air and Space Museum (this flier's favorite) |
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| Blueberries for Emmy |
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| My funny little fishes in the kiddie side of the big pool, getting better and more comfortable in the water. |
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Lochlan loves getting eating the mail every day |
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| Smaller kitchen, but we can still roll out soft pretzels! Mont's favorite after church treat. |
- Mark's new job in West Virginia. Great pilots, old and young, funny guys. Long drive, but thankfully it's against the city's traffic. Beautiful state! (but we like living in Maryland)
- So many people. A storm is coming? Don't go grocery shopping unless you plan on Black Friday conditions! I make sure my pantry is stocked with our essentials, with about a week of give. Our family hardly gets through the major stuff, so we could live well for a good few weeks before needing to break out the food storage. WIN!
- Neighbors to each side. This has been a good thing. I feel as secure here as I have anywhere else we've lived. I have two doors and a few windows to make sure are locked all the time, but the backyard is ours and ours alone. No passersby could look over or hop over with ease (as long as our garage is closed). Three stories up (where the two oldest sleep) is again like a tree house, like we used to call our home in Alaska - with a tree top view of everything around.
- The smells of delicious exotic restaurants nearby floating into our windows. Making our boring toast and mash look even more boring!
- Kindergarten at a public school - Mont loves his class and teacher, and has so many favorites about his day, it's hard to choose when we talk at dinner time.
- Loosing teeth - what?! Mont freaks out over the smallest things sometimes, some of them being immunizations, dental x-rays, and pulling his teeth out with the least bit of help. I think we need to show him some more mature movies to help toughen him up a bit. Like... Never ending story where Atreyu accomplishes the impossible tasks before him. His horse dies. He faces a scary, night-mare-inducing (in my case) black wolf. You know... scary movies for kids since I'm doing a terrible job at pointing out that some things just aren't a big deal. (ps - this movie has been on Mark's radar for the last week or two, and I'm finally warming up to the idea of showing it to the kids - tears and all)
- Stairs - no gym membership needed over here. ha! Nevermind.. I could still benefit from a gym membership. But at least I travel up and down the stairs a good amount each day. Win!
- Sleep - the last little while, our little man Lochlan has become a much better sleeper. Except currently, because he and Emmy both have double ear infections. When Lochlan is sick and uncomfortable, he becomes a terrible eater and sleeper. I am a wreck after those tough nights! Looking forward to this kid sleeping like a baby again.
- The Kentlands Ward - such accomplished people! I feel that there is an infinite amount of interesting people, and getting to know each person has been such a treat. The ward still has it's needs, and I still try to find where I'm able to help, and try to do it without too many gripes.
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| First Sunday attending our new ward (last April) |
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| Stake Conference solo + three kids! They did GREAT! |
- Smaller living - our kitchen table is currently my old antique painting table. When guests come eat at our home, I introduce it as our "restaurant seating" for better conversation and more intimacy between friends. I'm not sure if they buy it, but at least everyone has been a good sport about it! Helps that the food isn't boring toast and mash when those nights come around. Smaller living has also been fun because while the two older children have a jack-and-jill style bathroom, I have (for the last few months) been showering them in my bathroom since there's a detachable shower head that makes it fun and sort of a novelty (at least it was.. now baths are the novelty - until Emmy screams that Lochlan is splashing her to madness). Family bathroom is on my list of final home hope-fors.
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| our little backyard |
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| Lochlan |
- Everything's at our fingertips, or at least a short drive away. Living near stores, and restaurants, schools, and church, a temple, the beach, the mountains, the history of the East Coast has been a dream. No more 45 minute drives to church, planning for lunch in the car has been marvelous!
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| DC Temple after Stake Conference (crooked.. sorry, I took it in the car!) |
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| Colonial Williamsburg, VA |
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| Carolina Beach with the Lundbergs (Heavenly!) I've really got to stop moving while I snap a picture! |
- Beautiful, unexpected moody weather. Growing up in the desert, I wished it to rain just about every single day. Waking up the cloudy overhang meant that no matter what happened, it was going to be an exciting day, and nothing could derail my happy mood. Watching the rain drops hit the massive puddles and watching their little crowns of water dance and spark still is vivid in my memory. I knew it was impractical to have rain there every day in the desert, so I used to negotiate in prayers that it would rain just a couple days every week. Never happened. But here?? Prayers were answered... just for me? haha Probably not, but I'll take it. It rains a couple days, then sunshine blasts through the skies into our windows and onto our faces. Then it's cloudy and windy, then perhaps a day of sunshine, then a thunderstorm with gusty wind and slapping rain. Never know what to expect. I've gotten used to looking at my phone's weather report every morning before I suggest what to wear for the older two. It's so nice that we have technology at our fingertips like that. Weather? let me see..
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| We love walking through the Kentlands' bricked sidewalks |
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| Catching a little sun on the buns at Flag Ponds Beach on the Chesapeake (looking for shark teeth) |
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| Rain storm after an art museum visit |
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| Flag Ponds + a picnic lunch |
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| Wore the hat to give this little guy a bit of shade - then forgot about myself. My back was a little burned.. |
- Parks - Something I nearly always tried to avoid before. Rude kids? germs? dirty slides? rainy wet muddy swings? weeds? In North Dakota, my dad was my hero and set up a swingset with Mark one week while visiting, and the kids never had to go far to play on swings, slides, and monkey bars. I didn't know what I would think of being in this new home with no personal swing set. The parks here have been wonderful for my kids. My top rule, besides being kind to everyone, is "Don't be the loudest at the park." Screaming can be tolerated... if it's not my children. ha! The kids at the park all play relatively well together, and the age groups and gender groups usually play against each other (usually they're pleasant about it), and/or with each other. It's been fun to see how Mont and Emmy can always have each other, and together they can meet so many new little friends to play with (even just for a few minutes) at the park.
- Walks - While staying with my parents through the 2014/2015 Autumn and Winter, we became accustomed to daily walks to the sound and around the neighborhood, pushing a stroller, and riding scooters. The kids have kept up this routine as well as I could hope. We walk every day, sometimes small walks, but it's every day. Our long walks are lovely. Especially when everyone is fed and happy; when the energy levels remain high for an extended time.
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| Scouting out the bus stop location for the school year (not really, but this is the bus-stop) |
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| dad on the run! |
- Bike Rides - Add to the list, bike rides! Mont is almost ready to go with us this summer on the paths we take through the neighborhood. Last summer involved a lot of hop-falling off his bike (a little too big for him, so we kept training wheels on until the end of summer), this year he'll do great!
- Beaches - I've sprinkled some beach pictures throughout this post, for weather, for fun, for any reason... beaches reign supreme for places to be. I could only ever dream of living near-ish a beach where we could visit during warm months. While living in Alaska, I never dreamed of getting in that frigid, whale inhabited water! But here? It's a short trip away. Maryland never crossed my mind when I would think of ideal places to live, but here I am saying I'm glad we found it. It is a nice fit for our family, and I only wish I could tie this world to our parents' worlds in West. I miss family, terribly - it's a dream when they come to visit and we GO to the beach. Heaven on earth!
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| I'm just realizing Mom always hides behind people in photos. HA! MOM! |
- Work & Hobbies - My work, I love.. is first and foremost, our children. I love being a mom, and I love the fun we have while we grow. I learn so much from these funny little ones, and I hope I can teach them what they need to thrive. We do so many things together that we enjoy, and some things we don't enjoy as much, but somehow we still smile through most of the day. In my quiet moments, when I still have some energy left, I have begun to paint again. Lochlan is getting a big older now, and as he can have play time, or sleep during certain hours of the day, Emmy and I enjoy getting down our brushes and filling a jar of water. We let loose, and it's been a wonderful hobby to share with her. My painting has branched off into a small little shop online, where I sell some of my pieces. It's been exciting, and I've felt blessed to have the right amount of work that I can handle without taking over my time with my kids.
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| Mont, summer 2015 |
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| Emmy, summer 2015 |
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| Lochlan, summer 2015 |
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| Flamingo for Abby |
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| Seagull for Shauna |
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| dessert for me. |
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| Hummingbird - loved and listed. |
-Can't believe it's been a year.
