Fitness with Everett

Who's ready to be my first personal training client? We work on core stability, agility skills, functional fitness and yoga. I even provide snacks after our yoga sessions. Are you ready to get fit with me?

The Truth

Silly. We're not really moving to Washington, DC! It was an April Fool's Day joke! It was a good one this year, right?

Sorry about the late reveal post. We've been two busy busy boys.

Happy Easter - and BIG news from Washington, DC

Happy (belated) Easter, everyone! Sorry we're so late with our Easter wishes, and apologies as well for our sporadic blogging lately, but there has been a very good reason for that. The reason for the sparse posting is that while Daddy often helps us with our blogging, he has been very busy the past month or so, studying for the Foreign Service Exam.

You see, one of Daddy's best friends has been a Foreign Service Officer for many years, and Daddy has always been intrigued by that career option, lately much more so than before. We think Daddy has been getting a little bit bored with his current job, and was looking for something new and exciting to do. But apparently, you don't just get to work for the State Department - first you have to pass a battery of tests. The initial tests are written, and after studying a lot, Daddy passed with flying colors!

Then, there is a final oral evaluation, which takes place in person at the State Department in Washington, DC - which is exactly where we went this past Friday. It was a really big event - Daddy prepared for a few weeks to get ready. He's been keeping the whole thing a big secret from everyone, since the test and oral evaluation are really hard to pass, and only a fraction of those who apply are selected. Daddy didn't want to disappoint everyone in case he didn't make it.

Of course we knew, and were particularly excited when we heard that we'd get to go to Washington with Daddy and Mommy, too! So, while Daddy spent all day Friday at the State Department taking his oral tests, we hit the town with Mommy. Luckily, it was a beautiful day, so we started out with a visit to the National Zoo.

Then Mommy took us to the National Mall, where the Cherry Blossoms Festival was getting under way. Unfortunately, because of the long winter, the blossoms haven't bloomed yet, but we got to participate in some activities anyway, like making traditional Japanese Torii gates - 

And watching the annual kite festival on the Mall -

We also visited the White House -

Met Mr. Beaver (random, we know...) -

And explored the underground tunnels near our hotel in Crystal City -

Of course, no trip to Washington would be complete without lots of rides on the Metro between all of our various destinations -

But the best part of the trip? Daddy passed his exam!!! Apparently, Daddy's combination of language skills, MBA degree and business experience make him the perfect candidate to be an "Commercial Attaché" in the State Department's Central European Trade and Comercial Affairs Division!

You know what this means, though, don't you? Yes - this is the really big news - we'll be moving to Washington, DC! It won't happen immediately - the US Government provides ample transitional time, so we won't move until the Summer ends and we return from vacation (the move will most likely happen sometime in early September.) That will be just in time for us to start in our new schools (Mommy and Daddy thought that would be perfect timing, since I'll be going into first grade, so it won't be as big a transition as it would be later, and Everett will be able to start Pre-K at his new school.)

Mommy and Daddy have already started some online house-hunting - it looks like Arlington, VA will be where we wind up (that's where Daddy lived for four years after college, so he knows the area, and apparently the schools and transportation are good, and there are also lots of non-profit career and consulting opportunities for Mommy.)

We'll miss New York, of course, but we still have a full Spring and Summer to spend there - and based on our experience in Washington the past couple of days, we think we're going to LOVE living there! 

We just hope everyone comes to visit us there, too, like you do in New York? Pretty please?

s'more monster

Everett: "Mommy. I'm really sticky"

The final touch - Christmas Stockings

Well, we've seen Santa, we've decorated our Christmas tree and put the star on top, and we've bought presents for everyone we love. Only one thing left to do - put up the Christmas stockings.

But, why put them up when you can wear them!

What's that? Santa is going to put extra little presents in them if they're hung nicely? 

In that case, better get them up pronto!

Now we're definitely ready for Santa to visit us! (As soon as Jasper figures out how Santa is going to get into our house in the middle of the night since we don't have a chimney...)

Good monster, bad monster

How we keep ourselves occupied when it's too cold to go outside...

Sleepyhead

It's hard for me to believe, but apparently when I was little (OK, OK, littler than I am now), I wasn't such a great sleeper. Hard to believe for you, too, right? Especially since I've become such a GREAT sleeper as I turned into a big boy.

I really do enjoy my sleep - both a solid night of sleep and a great nap each day. I think my breakthrough may have been when I realized that I sleep much, much better when I have something in my hand - and that something, as often as not, is a ball... Look, don't I look like I'm enjoying my sleep?

And what's that in my hand?

Yep, a bouncy ball!

Every night before I go to sleep I pick some object to hold in my hand, then once I have it, fall right asleep and then sleep right through the night. And of course the benefit of getting a good night's sleep is that I wake up rested and happy in the morning. Here, have a look -

Stir crazy boys

What do you think happens when two little boys are cooped up in the house for too long? I think that Daddy was finally done with all of our antics and obstacle courses. What do you think that we did when we finally got outside?

Mommy put together this cool video on her blog so go over and watch it. We also got some cool Reebok sneakers to test out too!

PS - What's up with the snow??

Happy

MSNBC vs. FOX

Guess we'll find out who wins this water-gun fight tomorrow...

Trick-or-treat!

So you already saw our costumes yesterday - what did you think? We loved them, so of course we had to put them to good use on Halloween, which, as is our annual tradition, started out in our building courtyard with a party for all the neighbor kids. 

Everett and I had lots of fun at the party, showing off our costumes...

Filling our buckets with candy...

And in general running and goofing around...

We also invited some of our friends who don't live in our building to come to the party, like Abby and Henry...

Then, after the party, we headed out to do some trick-or-treating...

And trick-or-treat we did - there were so many people out, all dressed up in costumes, and it seemed that just as many people were giving out candy! 

We all had a blast trick-or-treating!

And best of all, both Everett and I got lots and lots of compliments on our costumes from everyone out on the street, which made Daddy (this year's costume coordinator / maker) very happy. Another successful Halloween!