Frozen Hot Chocolate on a Hot Day.

I always forget that we are just around the corner from DC. I’m not a city/crowds/late night kinda girl (call me boring if you want,but I probably get more done by 9 am than many do all day), so we don’t venture downtown all that much anymore, but it’s fun to hop on the Metro, or drive through all those crazy streets now and then. When planning a double date with some friends, they mentioned that there is now a Serendipity in Georgetown! I was all over that. Who doesn’t want to try the famous Frozen Hot Chocolate?! So last night, after about four reschedulings, we finally made a plan to meet up.

We made the quick drive (okay, with lights, it’s not as quick as I would like, but still) to Georgetown. That place is just crawling with young hipsters. It’s amazing that even on a Monday night, there were so many people enjoying all that M Street has to offer. I love people watching downtown. It’s such a different life than I’ll ever know. People carrying their few bags of groceries for several blocks to their city apartment, meeting up with friends every single night for drinks, most wearing significantly less than I would--you know, things like that. I used to work on M street, so being there brought back some fond memories of my time spent there. I like being the suburban type, but love living so near to a big city that I can soak in a little of the lifestyle now and then.

Serendipity was charming. Very quirky, as is the style with most things these days. The menus were bigger than the tiny tables, and full of amazing looking dishes. We all loved our choice of entree, and couldn’t resist getting more than one dessert, as full as were were with rich food. I opted for the Peanut Butter Frozen Hot Chocolate, and KC for the Jackpot Sundae. We stuffed ourselves, and still didn’t make it to the bottom of our bowls. I was very pleased, and glad I was finally able to check this place off my list.

We felt the need to walk after our large meals, so we explored a little of our surroundings. Urban Outfitters was across the street, which I was thrilled about, and then we walked along the waterfront. The Kennedy Center looked so beautiful reflecting on the Potomac. An evening well spent with some great friends.

It's nearly 10:00 pm

Take note of what it says it feels like because of the humidity. Seriously? At this hour? Can't wait to see what it feels like tomorrow during the day. That just isn't working for me. I had to buy a bunch of new toys today to get us through this. Fall can't come soon enough.

Pudding Painting

It’s always a bit of a challenge finding things to keep these kids happy all day. I’m not the best at coming up with ideas myself, but luckily there is an insane amount of blogs to refer to when I’m at a loss. I remembered a great idea my cousin Sharla put on her blog (along with dozens of other great ideas for keeping tots happy at home-check her out!) to use pudding as finger paint. I just made vanilla instant pudding, added a little food coloring, and Voila! Happy, happy kids. 

We started out with simple designs, and my kids didn’t hesitate to find out how it tasted.

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Penny on the other hand, wasn’t as enthusiastic about this messy idea.

Pretty soon there were colors flying everywhere, and artists were born. We added whipped cream for texture, and used licorice as “paint brushes”. Talk about baby heaven.

Penny eventually came around, but was still her dainty little self.

It’s going to be fun to research for more playtime ideas. Hopefully they’re not all as messy as this one.

The Fourth

We enjoyed a low key Independence day this year. I did a lot of thinking about this great country and how very thankful I am to be living here. We unfortunately didn’t attend any events where we saluted the colors, but I did keep my patriotism in my heart throughout the day. And my little flag-wearing babies served as a constant reminder as well.

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So like I said, pretty low key. Just went to the store, and played at the tennis courts during the day.

Then tried to cool down after playing outside in the crazy heat.

And popsicles helped with that.

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Not pictured are the amazing , thick steaks we grilled for dinner, and the homemade strawberry banana ice cream we had for dessert, and the great friends that joined us. It was warm, delicious, entertaining, and most importantly FREE summer day.

This ever happen to you?

Do you ever finally decide to tackle the several loads of laundry that you’ve been staring at for a couple days, and another two or so loads of dirty laundry are created as the morning goes on? Well, that’s what’s been happening around here today, along with many other monstrous messes and to-do lists. How can one possibly keep up?! (I think some serious movie watching is in order while I fold the mountain of laundry tonight.) Chatting with my parents after the cruise about the craziness that three one year olds can be, my mom told me that there is one thing that would make my life much easier: Someone to come clean the bathroom, kitchen, and floors once a week. Sounds like a plan to me! Then I might have time to do the other million things my life demands. It only takes but a few hours for everything that I’ve used all my extra energy to clean and organize to be undone, and possibly look worse than it did before. Really, there is never a dull moment in this little home of ours. But I LOVE my kids and my life, messes and all.

Anyway, that is probably the reason that blogging has been the last things on my plate lately. It’s just not like me to go so long between posts. We’ve been busy getting back into our groove I guess. The kids have provided us with good mixture of chaos and hilariousness lately (thank goodness it isn’t all chaos, cause those times drive me to the brink of insanity). I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of things for my crew to do during this hot summer, and there just really aren’t a lot of places I can take them alone, or even for KC and me to take them together. The novelty of riding in the stroller or a cart is definitely wearing off. Yikes! But we do manage to stay entertained/sane somehow despite this tricky stage we are in. I’ll show you:

We hit some great sales while shopping with Mom and Dad before they left.

Dad was kind enough to be on baby-duty in the play place while we shopped.

My parents also gave us the idea to take the kiddos to the tennis courts down the street to play. Why hadn’t I thought of that?! They are contained, and safe, and they love it! It does get hot, so we try to go in the morning when a bit of it is shaded, and the temperature hasn’t peaked yet. We just brings squirt bottles and spray them down now and then. They love that too.

Ruby, just being her cute little self.

Bennett loves the camera, and the camera loves his bed-head.

Alex likes to push the boundaries. Instead of climbing into his seat, he thought Ruby’s tray was a much better idea.

Their favorite new eating game is “dip-it”. I can get them to eat things they normally might not care for if they can dip it into something. Ketchup is a favorite, but we have also had broccoli with ranch dressing, and French toast sticks with syrup. Of course, they eat a lot of the dip alone, but that’s part of the fun.

Who wouldn’t be happy with smoothies, and blue chairs to play on? These kids are pretty easy to please (most of the time--don’t even talk to me about the boys after their nap. Can we say CRANKY?!)

And Lili is always a great playmate, eh Alex?

See, we try our best to stay busy. Things are pretty much ho-hum over here. Well, as ho-hum as they can be with triplets+cousin Penny yanking on your clothes, making messes, and running around like crazies all days long.