Day in DC

My sister Susanna had never been to Washington DC before so we planned a day trip up there with my Mom.  When I asked her what she wanted to see her list was not what I expected at all.  She wanted to attend a high tea, eat at a french cafe, see the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument and check out Meridian Park which seems to be DC's very small version of Central Park. Once she got here we started talking about sights and she revised her list.  We ended up going to Ford's Theatre, Georgetown for the French Cafe, the Lincoln Memorial/Washington Monument and the Native American Museum.  It was a long fun day.

The drive into the city went really well. I have only driven there once before but felt pretty confident. We dropped my Mom off at the theatre and then found our parking garage. Susanna and I quickly walked to meet her and lined up for the tour.  I had never been to the theatre and enjoyed the visit and  talk given by the park ranger.  Susanna wondered if the park ranger wanted this type of an assignment or if when they went into the field they hoped to be in the forest.  I would prefer a historic spot like this tour but she would for sure want the forest.  Anyway.  I learned more about the events surrounding the assassination and how premeditated it was.  It was really interesting.

This exhibit was across the street and was awesome.  It is made of over 15,000 books.  The idea was to show that among modern Americans, no one has had more books devoted to them than Lincoln.  

After the theatre we hopped on the DC Circulator for the drive over to Georgetown.  The bus lines worked great.  The stops were easy to find and we didn't have to wait long for each stop.  Susanna found a French Cafe she wanted to try so we stopped there first.  The food was good and I was glad she could cross that off the list.  She also found an alley called Blues Alley where one of her favorite performers put on their last show so she was excited to stop there.  Our last stop in Georgetown was the "Old Stone House."  This house happens to be the only pre-Revolutionary war house left in in DC  and it was cool to stop in.

Pauls Cafe 

After Georgetown we rode the bus over to the Lincoln Memorial.  Susanna loved it.  It was a beautiful Fall day and really pleasant to walk around the memorial.  We had a little time left after the Memorial and decided to stop by the Native American Museum another place I had never been to. I knew it would be a sad place to visit as Native American's have never been treated well in the history of this country.  It was more political than I thought it would be but it makes sense that it would be that way. I really loved the beadwork on display.

The Native American Museum has really cool architecture. 

It was a great day in the city and I am so glad we made the trip up.  It was fun to show Susanna around the city especially since she had never been there.  On the drive home we stopped at Moo Thru, a great way to end the day.

Jared's Baptism

Jared had been looking forward to his baptism all year and I think it turned out just how he wanted.  I did my best to do what he wanted (and not what I thought should happen) and think he had a great experience.  I delegated all picture taking to my sister Susanna and it was probably the smartest thing I did that day.  Julie Shaw was super helpful in setting up the primary room and the speakers did a nice job. My favorite part was actually when Mark gave Jared the gift of the Holy Ghost.  He gave Jared a beautiful blessing.  We talked a bit about things we wanted for Jared and what we want the most is for him to have the DESIRE to serve the Lord, to study the scriptures and work on being like Jesus to be obedient. I believe that if people lack the desire to be involved in the church then its not going to happen.  We want him to have a strong desire to have the church in his life.  The service was lovely, Mark did a great job and I think Jared felt really loved, I know I did.

We managed to get to the church by 10:40, set up the table how I wanted and take lots of pictures. Mark opted to preside and conduct the baptism. I'm not really sure why he opted to do that but he was quite busy for that 45 minutes. Earlier in the week Mark typed up the program for me and then I formatted it.  Our family theme for the school year is "hold to the rod" and so I wanted to incorporate that into his baptism.  There are very few pictures of someone holding the iron rod to choose from but I managed to find the one I really wanted.  Julie had asked me how many chairs to set up and I told her around 30 but she ended up needing to set up even more.  We are so grateful for the support we have here in Charlottesville. Susanna played the piano and Sue led the music.  My Mom gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and Jared's former primary teacher Brother Jeremy Walker gave the talk on Baptism.  Jared was really sad that he could not have either of his grandpa's be witness's but decided to have Chris Shaw and his current primary teacher Henry Courier be the witness's which worked out well.  They are both so kind to Jared.  Jared told me later that he felt like he could feel both his Grandpa's there and that he felt the sprit a lot.  That was all I needed. I am proud of Jared and look forward to seeing him develop his testimony.

I stayed up later than I intended to the night before trying to get as much done beforehand so our morning could run smoothly and am happy I did it.  I feel like while it was busy with one thing after another it went smoothly and turned out how we hoped.

Mini Photo Shoot:  It was a lot of pictures and Jared was a trooper.

Marmee (Sheri Fieth, my mom ) Jared and Grandma Sue (Spencer, Mark's mom)

Marmee, Aunt Susanna, April, Mark, Lydia and Jared

Jared and Aunt Susanna

We are so grateful to be Jared's parents and love him more than we could ever say. 

I knew for a long time I wanted to have the Kit Kats (with the KAT baptismal covenant saying) on a table but then I saw the idea to have Skittles and the "I like to look for Rainbows" baptism song and fell in love with that idea so we did both. It was just how I pictured it. The program turned out just how I wanted to. What's great is now that I have done it once I have it ready for Lydia in 2 years!

Goofy kid felt the need to sign his own mat to put in the frame of his baptism picture. 

In case he forgets he was there?

Susanna took some secret pictures which are pretty fun to have. 

Even though I thought some people may have frowned on this I really wanted a group shot of all the people who came so we went for it. I am so glad we did.  Brother Walker, (back row in the blue shirt) surprised Jared with a gift of 8 dollars.  After the baptism he talked to Jared outside asking him casually how old he was. Jared replied 8 and he reached into his pocket and pulled out 8 dollars rolled up and passed it to Jared.  It was really kind and generous.  Given Jared's love for money it was really awesome to Jared.  In the back row is Jared's friend from school Marcus's parents Eric and Annelle.   They are not members of the church and it was really kind of them to come support Jared.

Grovers, Whites, Brother Courier, Brother Miller, Jessie Charles, DeSimmones,Shaws, Brother Walker, Farnsworths.

 We cleaned up the RS room and then headed over to our house for a get together, just snacks and visiting.

Jared and Marcus

We made CTR cookies and the number 8 out of donuts to be all theme like and had chips and salsa, apples and crackers and cheese. It was fun to visit with people but sort of weird when you are the host as you feel like you  need to try to visit with everyone so you don't have very much quality time with anyone but I am so grateful for so many good friends. I know it was a busy day for lots of people and was so touched that they made time to support Jared.  I hope Jared can remember how he felt this day and how many people care for him and are cheering for him.

Jared the 8 year old

Birthday Crepes 

Birthday Crepes 

Handsome new 8 year old

Jared is a great kid.  He can be very helpful and sweet and more often than not he is. He is smart and silly and very dramatic.  He is especially dramatic when he is asked to do something he does not want to do and it admittedly drives me crazy.  For example he has to read for 15 minutes each night and do a reading log. Jared enjoys reading but when I tell him to do his reading he acts like it is the worst punishment in the world.  He complains and whines and then starts reading and after the timer goes off he keeps reading because he really does enjoy it. Drives me insane.  Just the complaining part before he starts.  He is still working on controlling his emotions.  It is hard for him to deal with conflict head on.  Which I completely relate to. When he is upset he goes into his room, locks the door and does not want to be disturbed.  Last week we had friends over and after a disagreement outside he stormed inside vowing to not play with them the rest of the day, shut the door to his room, closed the blinds and played by himself.  We had a little chat where I pointed out how much he wanted this play date and how it was not polite to ignore his friends.  Fortunately he does not hold grudges.  A short while later one of the friends came in and asked to play and he was quick to let them play Legos with him.  

Popsicles in school for his birthday treat

He seems to be doing well in school. It is harder than previous years but not too hard where he struggles. We have conferences on Tuesday and I am looking forward to hearing from his teacher.  He has really nice friends for which I am really grateful. He is quick to figure things out and he wants to succeed and be the best at things. He is a big fan of awards and recgonition.  He loves his trophies and medals and often gives himself A+ or 100% on school assignments or even just pictures he drew.  He loves nerf guns, most sports such as football, baseball, soccer and swim team and money is still a big interest to him.  He is a fun kid and we are so glad he is in our family. 

There was a lot of celebrating of Jared this month!  With his birthday party with friends, baptism on his actual birthday and get together after the baptism it feels like there has been some celebration happening or being planned the whole month. It was nice to have them and its nice to have them over. 

Admittedly having Jared's baptism on his birthday, something he was really excited about and had looked forward to for most of the year was slightly more busy than I would have liked but I feel like we did manage to get in all our birthday traditions which individually really don't seem like that much but with a baptism and get together thrown in it was a lot. I already looked at Lydia's 8th birthday and it does not fall on a Saturday so I feel pretty confident it will not be happening again.

Since we had Sue and my Mom and sister here Jared was actually sleeping in Lydia's room so that is where we put all his birthday balloons.  He requested crepes for breakfast and meat rolls with ham, potato and broccoli soup to go with it. Even though I made him a cake for his birthday party I still felt like we should have a cake for his actual birthday so I decided to make him a number 8 cake.  It was fun since for his 1st birthday I made him a number 1.  I was really happy with how it turned out. We had cake and presents before dinner which worked out great.  When I look back on that day/week I feel tired.  Crepes and meat rolls are not super hard but they do take more time than other meals.

Here is the schedule of that Saturday.

Breakfast: Crepes (started cooking them at 7:00)
*Soccer at 9:00
10:00 soccer ends, rush home to shower and get to church
Baptism pictures at 10:40
Baptism at 11:00
Baptism get together at 12:20 or so
Get together over around 2:30
Birthday Scavenger hunt from Grandma Sue
Cake and presents 3:45
Birthday interview after
Mark dinner, eat by 5:30.

It was non-stop.  I do feel that Jared felt really happy and special and that makes me really glad.  More often than not my life is pretty straight forward.  We plan things to do but never that many in a day.  It was kind of overwhelming but fun and special too.  I will admit that it felt pretty great when we finished his birthday interview.

2017 birthday interview

1. What is your favorite color? Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Star Wars Legos

3. What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries 

4. What is your favorite movie? Free Willy

5. What do you do well? Build with Legos

6. What do you like to do with Daddy? Play Ticket to Ride

7. What makes you happy? Mommy and Daddy

8. What is your favorite scripture story? Moroni and the Title of Liberty

9. What is your favorite song? Shake it Off

10. What is your favorite animal? Killer Whale

11. What is your favorite book? "I Survived" series

12. Who is your best friend? Tyler and Marcus

13. Where is your favorite place to go? An Ice cream store

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play baseball

15. What is your favorite drink? Root Beet

16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

17. What do you like to do with Mommy? Play games but not Nerf Wars because she doesn't like them

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Crepes

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Ham Potato Soup and Meat Rolls

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Navy Seal

Presents and Cake

Grandma Sue asked Jared if he wanted her to give him his birthday money or go on a scavenger hunt to find it.  He of course chose the scavenger hunt and she planned a great search for him.  He loved it.

It was a fun busy day and a week later I may be recovered from the first 2 weeks of the month.

*I was totally set to skip soccer because there were so many other things going on but Lydia's coach asked Mark if he would mind filling in since he was unavailable and Mark said sure.  I was less than pleased with this situation.  It all worked out fine and it was nice of Mark but it made everything so much more rushed.

Minute to Win it

Jared is turning 8 this year which means it is an official party with friends and everything year.  After much theme discussing he settled on having a minute to win it theme.  We had the party last Saturday the 07th and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Minute to win it games are silly and fast and he loves the ones we do at New Years. We figured out a  cake theme, picked a few games and Mark planned a fun scavenger hunt.   Scavenger hunts are always a favorite for Jared and Lydia. Mark made it more fun by scrambling the words of where they needed to go for the next clue; i.e. bikes = ikbes.  It made it a little more challenging since they are older kids.

I do enjoy throwing these parties for Jared and Lydia but as I've said before I think I am able to enjoy it more because it is not every year.  Mark commented on how happy he was that it is not every year. I do get a little stressed mostly just about the cake, not really anything else.  I can't even remember how many stores I went to last Monday to get ready bit it all worked out. Jared invited 5 friends who were all very nice boys. I'm grateful he has nice good friends.  The games played were:  Cookie face, scoop it up, M&M Suck, Thats a wrap, Post it, Puddle jumper, and Thats corny. I would not play puddle jumper or wrap it up again but the others were quick and fun.  I told the kids they could eat snacks whenever they wanted and it worked fine.  After the games we went on the scavenger hunt.  At the end of the hint they each got a treat bag that had a glow stick, kit kat bar and a stopwatch timer.  They were a hit. I knew the stopwatches would be a big hit.  I actually ordered them online from eBay and was quite nervous that they wouldn't arrive on time. I ordered them the first week of September and they arrived on Wednesday so 3 days before the party!  I had ordered some bak up ones from Amazon just in case but was really glad the others arrived.

Snacks and game supplies.  These were about the extent of the decorations.  We had balloons around the front room for them to play with as we waited for everyone to arrive.

Cheeseballs, Fruit by the Foot (the favorite), M&M's and Go Gurts. 

Cookie Face, so hilarious to watch.

Puddle Jumper

M&M Suck

Post it

Scoreboard 

Beginning of scavenger hunt, the first clue was in that balloon.

Finding the prize

Party Bag

I was really happy with how the cake turned out. I have never worked with fondant before and didn't really want to but I wanted my buttercream frosting to look like fondant. I watched quite a few videos online on cake making and even bought some cake decorating tools.  I found this great set on Amazon for 13.99 that had a rotating cake platter, an off-set spatula and an icing smoother.  They all worked great. I sadly did not get the top cake quite level, but it turned out fine.  The frosting I made was the most involved frosting I have ever attempted. It had 5 2/3 cups powder sugar and it had to be added one spoonful at a time and the butter had to be whipped for 8 minutes before I was even supposed to start adding the spoonfuls of powder sugar. I was very grateful for my standing mixer, a kitchen appliance I don't even use once a month. It took a good while but it worked great.  I did use fondant for the numbers and cookie cutters and it was so easy.  I loved it and would be happy to "decorate" a cake with it again, as long as its super basic like this. I had the cake all finished with an hour to spare and then as I was putting some salsa back in the fridge it dipped onto the cake, I was so mad!  It left a dent on my wonderfully smoothed out top layer.  So I had to try to re-frost that spot and level it out. I was so glad I had some leftover frosting.

We ate cake and ice cream (hardly any cake was eaten since they ate so many snacks, oh well) and then opened presents. Afterwards we went outside to play while we waited for parents to pick up their boys.  I am so glad we could celebrate Jared. I am also so glad that his next party is in 4 years.

Tyler, Eli, Marcus, Jared, Joseph, and Peter

This Saturday is his actual birthday and we are celebrating again, only this time with his baptism.  He is so happy he can be baptized on his actual birthday. I'm happy for him too.  My mom, sister Susanna and Mark's mom are all arriving tomorrow.  It will be great to celebrate him again on his actual birthday.  Even if it means making 2 cakes.  Parties always throw me off because if its not on their actual birthday because I really feel like there should be some special treat with candles in it the day of.  This cake will not involve buttercream frosting or leveling of layers! I think I normally just add candles to their breakfast but he wanted crepes and why not make more cake?