Martin Luther King Jr

Just visited the MLK memorial. It's really a wonderful memorial. I feel lucky to live so close and have such amazing things to do after work.





My favorite





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Crazy Hair Day

Everyone loves a good crazy hair day! Unfortunately with the humidity during the summer mine is everyday 😀



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Take your daughter and sons to work day

Yesterday was "take your daughter and sons to work day". I took Leo.


Aidan actually brought it up on Thursday but when he realized we had activities planned at USDA for the event and there was going to be learning going on he decided to go to school. He really reasoned it out. Apparently half his class was going to be gone, including many of his friends, but then he realized that with all those kids gone he would get his teacher mostly to himself so school won out.

Leo and I had a great time! We took the bus to the metro then got off at metro center to walk to the Starbucks and then across the Mall to my office (I do this on nice days).


We did a little work in my office until 11am and then we went to the activities where we learned healthy eating through the my plate initiative


We planted lettuce. Leo loved that it was planted in a container made from cow manure.


We learned that USDA has beehives on its roof and the honey is collected and transferred to jars by volunteers (maybe me next year!). We saw animal skins and skeletons...


And we got our picture taken with a cow and with milk mustache stickers under a sign that said "got milk?".


We colored masks and got pens, pencils and magnets from the forest service and saw USDA OIG police! We also inspected eggs and learned about the grading of eggs!


After the fair we went to potbellys for lunch and went to meetings in the afternoon. Leo met 20(!) of my work colleagues--we counted them. We left at 5 pm with a full day of work under our belts. He said he had a great day and so did I!!

We met Doris at metro center and road the metro home with her and she got to hear all about our fun day and check out Leo's swag!

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Aidan's Poetry

Kick Me

I am a soccer ball.
I love to be kicked around.
Inside of me is a world of soccer balls.
I am the color of black and white like zebras.
I make the sound of a lion's roar.
I dream of traveling the world.
I wish I had human size feet.
I fear dogs chowing on me.
My home is in a bag.
At night, I want someone to come play with me.
Will you play with me?
--Aidan Holma

Guinea Pig Talk

I wish people in Peru would stop eating my kind.
I wish people would stop mistaking me as a rabbit or an overgrown hamster. Oh no, my cousin is going to Peru.
Well maybe he'll make it back alive. Uh oh. There's a person, he's picking me up, he's putting me in a cage. Good bye cruel world.
We're in a car. This may be my last breath of air. What? I'm in this house.
He gave me food and water. I'm still alive.
Oh what's this fluffy stuff under my feet?
There's toys and brick.
What's that brown thing over there?
It's another guinea pig.
This is better than the wild.
I'm going to eat.
This is a guinea pig paradise.
--Aidan Holma


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Uncle Jack and Aunt Sue's Visit

We were so lucky to have Uncle Jack and Aunt Sue visit Washington DC! We met them for dinner at Clyde's in Reston. Clyde's has great crab cakes.



Uncle Jack and Aunt Sue have been running around strong visiting so many places in DC! It was great to meet them for dinner, hear a little bit about what they've seen and done here, and a little bit about the family at home!

We ended the night with some Gelato from Pintango. Yum!

Safe travels home!


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Aidan's Dance Moves

I'm going on a scrapbooking trip in West Virginia this weekend and Jason was helping me select pictures for me to work on. I'm super far behind on our family chronological album but I'm still focused on making scrapbooks and trying not to think too hard about how far behind I really am.

In looking through photos from 2007 (I'll be working on April and May 2007 -- Boston trip! along with another project), we started to reminisce about the boys when they were very young. We went back to look for one of our favorite videos of Aidan. We found it and we all started laughing so hard we were crying. So we thought we would share it with you, so you could get a good laugh too!

Here it is! (January 2005)

Happy 40th Birthday!!

Jason turned 40 today! (GO HAWKS!) He managed it with grace and poise.

The boys planned this skit for him, "People Older than Dad". Aidan got the idea from an old Cosby episode (when Cliff turns 50: season 3, episode 20). Aidan saw this episode over a year ago and he has wanted to do this for a year. They planned it all themselves but I helped facilitate it.

We had dinner at Clyde's and it was delish. After dinner we came home and had dessert.

This is what happens when you are 40 (or 6)!


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