great falls park

Cousins weekend is over. Julia, Sean and Patrick went home to Boston with their parents, Mike and Janice. Nora an Tyler went home to Richmond with Uncle Ben and Aunt Jo Ann. Aiden and Sky were both surprised and disappointed to wake up to their cousins leaving first thing on Sunday morning.


Daddy had to think fast and come up with a way to entertain the kids while I attended a photography seminar in DC.


Great Falls Park! What a great idea. Aiden and Sky climbed on the rocks and watched the water roar down the river. Uncle Dullah met them at the park for some added fun.

too much practice!

cool tricks

"Mommy, watch my cool trick," Sky jumps off the couch.

"Mommy, watch this cool trick" Sky jumps off the couch backwards.

"Cool trick, Mommy," Sky jumps off the couch and does a tae kwon do kick, "aah ya!"

"Look at this cool trick, Mommy" Sky jumps from one couch to the next landing on all fours.

"Watch this cool trick" Sky does a somersault and then "taa daa!"

"Okay, watch this cool trick, Mommy!" Sky does a belly flop from one couch to the next.

this pool is so cool

Aiden was over the top happy about getting to "I'm going to slide right into the water! Can you believe it, Mommy?"

This little boy got a really good workout. He didn't slow down one minute the entire time we were there.






Miss Cautious was just that, cautious but super happy to be there.


Go, Sky, Go!!!!


That's all he needed, the ability to control the water flow in to the pool.





All that swimming made both of them ravenously hungry so we stopped for some good Italian food.



After the meal they were both ready for a nice nap... ; ) : ) : )

pottery painting

What can be more relaxing than painting pottery? It really was a lot of fun but I give this pottery shop a "D" review. The entire place was packed and they had two very slow people running the place. Everyone was losing their patience waiting to be seated then waiting for paint, brushes, instruction, etc.


If they think Aiden and Sky are going to sit there with a paint brush at hand for 20 minutes waiting for paint, they were so wrong.

We're definitely going to do this again just not at this store.

super girl sky

Sky went to a play date at her friend Sophia's house. Apparently, Sophia wore a princess costume for the play date. As Sky was leaving Sophia's house, she turned to Sophia and promised, "next time I come over, I'm gonna wear my Spiderman costume." You see, the Spiderman costume actually belongs to Aiden but it's the only complete costume we have so that would be her best bet.

How is she so cool??? So when we saw this Super Girl costume online, we couldn't help but to buy it for her.

nawroz at school

Aiden's school had a table set up for Nawroz (New Years)...the sign up front said Nawroz "Iranian New Year"....Aiden is a little miffed about it...uh, every heard of Afghanistan?

don't mess with us

at grandma's playground

playing frisbee with daddy

saturday is pool day

"Mommy, I want all Saturdays to be pool days."

- Aiden






Goofing around in the locker room.

our # 1 girl

team painting

what do you like, Sky?

The conversation during our walk to the park yesterday.

Aiden: Sky, when you're three, you can go to school with me.

Sky: I don't WANT to go to school.

Aiden: Yes, you do Sky cause then you get jelly beans when you wake up from your nap.

Sky: I don't LIKE jelly beans, Aiden.

Aiden: What do you like?

Sky: I like chocolate chip cookies.

Aiden: Then you can have chocolate chip cookies when you wake up from your nap.

me and my sister on a school bus

This was in Aiden's class art display. He calls it "me and my sister on the school bus".

pool day

Sky in the locker room getting ready. I can just see her years from now getting ready in the locker room as she's being interviewed by Olympic reporters.


There was no way I was going to take my iPhone to the deeper end of the pool so these are my only shots.

Both kids were amazingly comfortable in the water.




"Mommy, I wanna to go to the pool EVERYDAY."


Why does Aiden have that open mouth look in all of these pictures? That's him trying to conceal his smile. He gets that from Daddy...he wouldn't want anyone to know that he's having a great time.

finally a sunny day

Natalie, Sky, and Aiden enjoying the sunshine.

can't be patient

Aiden has a dentist appointment tomorrow morning. He's been looking forward to it for over two weeks.

Aiden: Mommy, I can't sleeeeeeep.

Laila: Yes, you can. Just lay down and relax. You can read one of your books if you like.

Aiden: No, Mommy, that's too long. I can't be patient. It's too long to wait all the way until the morning.

Laila: I know, but you have to get some sleep. Then you'll wake up in the morning, we'll have some breakfast and then we'll go to your dentist appointment, okay?

Aiden: Breakfast?! Oh, that's gonna take too long. I can't wait.

aiden the jock

Aiden wearing jeans, a VT sweatshirt, and athletic shoes...all ready to head to pre-school. Seems like just yesterday he was wearing a onesie, a bib, and a diaper. Where does the time go? [sigh]