Beside the fact that Le Anne is one of my best friends, and I adore her kids, the times we all spend together mean a great deal to me. It is these times more than any other, among these friends, that Owen feels free to talk about being born in Kazakhstan, about his birth mother, about having been adopted. Thanks to Le Anne and Marc, Rhys and Elloree have a wonderful confidence about their stories, and I see some of Owen's reticence dissolve around them. It does my heart so much good to see my son being proud of the incredible miracle and blessing of his life.
So, we kicked off the festivities with a birthday cake for Le; one great thing about our age, lots of candles make for a very flattering glow!
We celebrated Valentine's Day too, with little treats and chocolate mustaches.
As their visit fell over President's Day, we decided to take the kids to DC. It was a cold, snowy day but it turned out to be a great day to visit - plenty of parking and less crowds. At one point it felt like we had the city all to ourselves as we skipped down the sidewalk, dancing in snowflakes.
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| All Hail to the Chief |
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| Dreaming of being the future POTUS? Sadly, only if the law changes |
After seeing the White House, we headed to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural Science. Since it's the one in the "Night at the Museum" movie series, we thought the kids might enjoy it most.
We managed to see most of the exhibits although we absolutely could have spent more time there; in fact I could have spent a whole day just in the gem and mineral rooms.
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| My birthstone - perfect birthday gift |
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| The kids had fun looking for rocks from Kaz. Here is one of the prettier examples |
The Smithsonian is such an amazing place, and it's all free! I am resolved to get into DC more and take advantage of all the history and culture we have in our backyard.
Yep, we took the city by storm!
What else did we do? Took the kids bowling, out to eat, and the trampoline park. And oh yeah, redecorated my house! Le Anne is a brilliant interior designer with an amazing sense of color and design. She owns a business in Charlotte called Halycon Hive, and I got all her talents for free!!
Her specialty is working with furnishings and collectibles her clients already own, then rearranging and adding where needed to create a space that looks as if it was pulled together over time in the most appealing way. It can be a little tough to let things you really like be put into the basement but I knew my family room wasn't great and I was thrilled to have Le Anne here to help. I discovered early on it's best to just let her do her work!
For example, on one shopping trip to Home Goods, Le Anne kept returning to a pillow she thought would work perfectly on a brown leather club chair she had pulled into the room from the living room. I wasn't so sure; in fact, I didn't the like the pillow at all. And I wasn't budging. At some point before we checked out, she just threw the pillow in one of our two carts, saying, "If you don't like it at home, just return it". At home, she plopped it on the chair ... and I loved it.
After that I just trailed behind her as she made selections (or in one instance stayed in the car with the kids while she popped into Lowe's and came out 15 minutes later with three shades and a new lamp that I adore). There were a few things we did end up returning, but 99% of what she picked worked.
These pictures aren't the greatest but you get the idea. I can't wait to finish up the family room (she's picking new curtains) and implement the plans she has for the rest of the first floor!
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| Before |
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| After |
