Our Very Own "Night at the Museum"

Every once in awhile the Senate and Congress host a Congressional Family Night.

Sometimes at the zoo, sometimes it's an ice cream social, sometimes ...

It's a family night out at the museum!

This was so much fun, to spend a few hours in the American History Museum after hours.

Great food, fun exhibits, activities, etc.

The kids were enamored with R2D2. They spent most of their time following him around!

So while R2D2 was babysitting, the girls headed upstairs to check out the first lady's dresses.

Pretty cool, glad that my dress isn't sitting next to Nancy Reagan, man she was TINY! 

 I came back to this.

I'm thinking of getting one of my own and I may never have to parent again!

(Ryan was also with them, lest you think I abandoned my children)

 Then we got to meet a bunch of past presidents. They had a little dialogue going on between them and then drifted through the crowd in character. I loved that all the boys knew who each president was and what they were known for during their time in office.

I love that history is coming alive for them.

 Connor has decided that being funny in pictures is much more fun than behaving himself. One day I hope he will look back on this and think, "man I'm a bonehead!"

I'm already thinking that about him.

We got to meet Kermit and see Indiana Jones' hat and whip (outside of the case)! I felt like Toy Story when Stinky Pete gets out of his box! Out of the box! Can you believe it. We were allowed to play with stuff as long as we had some great latex gloves on.

It was a fun night and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Luray Caverns - a Labor Day Excursion

We spent Labor Day in Luray, VA.

A tiny little town that draws thousands of visitors each year because of this:

 These caverns are amazing! They were discovered in 1878 by  five local men and a 13 year old boy.

They were simply stunning and open and HUGE!

We went on a tour that lasted an hour and we were walking underground that entire time.

Kind of made the old Nutty Putty caves looks small and scary - which in hind sight, they were!

 I'm not sure Gage saw much of the caverns.

He has other interest it appears.

 I couldn't pry Gage away from his little friend to join our family picture.

 All the kids posing in front of the biggest formation found in the cave.

 There is a "lake" inside the cavern. It is only a 20 inches at it's deepest. But because of the formations around it, it becomes a perfect mirror and it tricks your senses! Unbelievable! 

Gage still staying with those he feels most loved by and comfortable with, girls!

Back to School 2011

Welcome back to school McCoy boys!

The boys were excited to start school this year.

They each got the teachers they wanted - no small miracle considering how many teachers they are!

Connor - Grade 4

Mr. S - apparently he doesn't like or appreciate homework for his students, so he is a natural favorite teacher. Connor is thrilled, he shares the same homework philosophy!

It is also rumored, among the students, that he has a whoopie cushion in his desk.

Very cool for 9 year old boys, not so much for their mothers.  

 Gage - Kindergarten

Mrs. J - very cool because her name rhymes with Kick Buttowski.

I'm praying that is not brought up in the classroom or on the playground!

Thankfully Mrs. J has taught for 20 years and has encountered other fabulous children like Gage.

She will be keeled over laughing one moment and pulling out her hair the next.

Please say a prayer for Mrs. J.

Best part of school so far for Gage - riding the bus home.

Biggest let down - "there are sooooo many rules!"

 Tate - Grade 2

Mrs. D - 

Mrs. D does believe in homework, which bodes well with Tate, since that is his favorite thing about school.

Another plus, she is rumored to be the very nicest teacher in the school. She is kind and has high expectations from her students.

Tate is a great fit! He has high expectations of himself and is quite a kind boy himself.

 Look at these handsome boys.

I'm afraid that we won't be paying out the cash Ryan has promised them this year.

He gives them $$ at the end of the school year if they went all year without being kissed.

So far our pocket books have shelled out money to Connor and Tate.

We will see what this year brings.

 This girl won't know what to do without these 3 boys to spoil her and grant her every wish.

She is in for a few changes.

 First day excitement - they were literally running to school.

But when they got to the front door there was a little hesitation.

But they pulled it off and braved the crowds.

I will miss these boys. I love them to pieces.

Best of luck this year.

Work hard and play plenty.

LOVE YOU!

{Megan & Chris}

This adorable girl ...

 really likes this cute boy ....

I have it on good authority that he loves her to.

 So we had a big party to make the two into one.

And we loved it.

And we love them.

A lot of love going around.

 There was also a lot of lipstick going around - mostly on McCall who kept sneaking into it.

 While the ladies primped and prepped, I ventured downstairs to find this.

The poor groom waiting for his big moment and chumming it up with 8 kids.

Welcome to the family!

 These two thought they would ham it up for the camera.

 These three girls were excited to have flowers and be wearing pink.

McCall ran out of petals shortly into the walk down the aisle.

She paused to ask for a "refill".

Unfortunately, there were no refills to be had.

What a beautiful day and a beautiful start to a beautiful life together.

Congratulations Megan and Chris!

We love you!

Summer time fun -

I don't know what this little girl is going to do without her constant side kicks around during school hours. She talks big and acts like she is excited to have "girl time" with mom. But when it comes down to it she has spent the last two days asking me every five minutes if it is time to pick up the boys yet. Only to pick them up and she won't let them in the door because it is "girls only"! What a tease!

But on to what this post is supposed to be about.

Our summer has come and gone and I have been absent in the blog-o-sphere.

I guess we were just having to much fun playing and travelling and playing and a little more playing. We just returned from a few weeks in Utah where we ran around like crazy getting everything in. But the best part was a wedding - yep, that's right, I got a new brother-in-law, which is probably good since a few of my old ones were getting, well ... old.  But we will still keep them around to! More on that later.
We loved beautiful weather over the summer and we were lucky enough to enjoy heat and humidity, then heat and dry while we visited Utah. Ahhh, the joys. But for the first time in my life I had a tan - thanks to swim lessons at the pool each day and it being to hot and humid to do anything else. The kids enjoyed their "swimmers" tans, I guess they preferred them over the "farmers" tans that we all usually have.
So now I have some things to catch up, I can't promise that they will be in chronological order, because the truth is I don't think I can remember everything! But rest assured we had plenty of play time this summer and we {I} are looking forward to the "calm" and structure that school brings.
Bring it on!

The Last Seven Days

I don't even know where the past week has gone. If I really think about it, I need to say I don't know where the last seven months have gone. How is time flying so quickly? I guess that is just how it goes, that's how I know I'm getting old!

But this last week has been a crazy, busy - but good, one.

Here is a run down of what we have all been up to this week.

Ryan - I wish I could tell you, only I haven't had a chance to really talk to him or see him this week. He has been involved in a few small political deals recently - he may have played a rather large role in the crafting of the Cut Cap Balance Act on the Senate side - did you hear of it? It turns out it took a lot of his time, only to have it tabled by Harry Reid (insert expletives here). They continue to argue on the debt ceiling so his hours continue to be long. We have seen very little of the guy, and we miss him!

Connor - He has become quite a fish lately. After completing a month of swim lessons he has become quite a good swimmer. He would have been even better, but he spent the majority of his practice time "picking up girls" - as he put it. There was a cute blond who swam just after him, so he spent his time swimming in the lanes just to impress her, only he would stop often to see if she was still watching. Where did that come from? I have since talked to him about age appropriate activities at the pool.

Tate - This boy actually WORKED at swimming! After his lessons, instead of staring at girls and stalking innocent blonds he swam laps. He swam and swam, then swam some more. He only stopped to get a drink and rest his arms. Yesterday he swam 15 laps! He is looking forward to swim team next year, while his brother is probably looking forward to the life guards.  I love that boy and his determination.

I would like to think that both of the boys are somewhat like me. I really liked boys and I was real determined to make them like me. But instead, I think they take after their father, confident and hard working.

Gage - well Gage is up to his same old antics. He keeps me on my toes - I think I've been saying that about him for about 5 years now. Just today I took him out to do errands with me and he gave me an earful. He said, "Mom, did you know that the other kids don't like you very much? I thought you should know, they don't like you as much as I do. Do you think I should ground them from the xBox so only I can play it?"

This was followed up about a half an hour later by this little conversation. I gave him a kiss in the grocery cart, he quickly wiped it off and said, "good thing no one saw that mom or you would be arrested for kissing in public. That's illegal!"

McCall - McCall is busy being spoiled rotten. But during all of her spoiling she managed to be potty trained. I made a deal with her. I told her if she stopped using diapers that she could go to Aunt Megan's wedding and wear a pretty new dress. Apparently that's all that she needed, she will do just about anything to be a big girl. She has not had even one accident since she started, and it's been over a week. There is something about a tiny little bottom wearing little undies that is so stinking cute, add to that a little tan line and I just think she is so darned cute!

Our lives keep spinning madly on, but we are enjoying the ride.

2011 Congressional Baseball Game

We are slowly learning about all the traditions and activities associated with Ryan's new job.

Some of the traditions are just plain old fun!

Like this one -

The Congressional Baseball Game.

Senators and Congressmen play a ball game on the Nationals field.

It's the Democrats vs. Republicans.

 The boys were so excited to be at the baseball game!

They had big plans of catching fly balls and such.

Only those old men can't hit it out of the park :)

 Each politician wears the uniform of their favorite team.

Some were MLB teams, others college teams.

It was fun to see them play.

 We had so much fun with friends, who have become family out here.

We're so grateful for them!