DC Metro Moms

Sometimes it is the Little Things

Summer has been a little rough around my house so far. My 5 year old twins cannot seem to get along. They maintained their cool on the 13 hour drive to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Florida and most of the way back, but ever since we have been home there has been constant fighting.

She took my chair!

He twisted my arm!

She was mean to me!

He smells!

All. Day. Long.

Trying to work from home has been a real challenge. I find myself doing a lot of writing between the hours of 9:00pm and 1:00am. It isn't that great for my sleep schedule but at least I can get something done without having to play referee.

The Class of 2022

My twins turned five this week. Between all of the preschool birthday celebrations and the birthday party (you know the one where I invited every child in both of their classes? Can you even imagine 32 four and five year olds in one room... after eating chocolate cake?) I didn't have time to think much about kindergarten orientation.

Okay fine. I didn't know about it until a week before so I didn't have much time to obsess about it.

I came prepared the way any good blogger would. I had my camera and my iPhone. I figured I could twitter during the boring parts.

The tweeting never happened. First of all, I got stuck in the front row and second of all as soon as the principal started talking I was riveted.

She walked out and said "Welcome to the class of 2022."

The class of 2022! Let's pretend for just a second it doesn't sound like something in a science fiction book. I remember thinking 1984 was futuristic. 2022.

DC Metro Moms Party at Good Stuff

On Monday night a bunch of the DC Metro Mom Bloggers (and some friends) got together for dinner and drinks at Good Stuff Eatery on Pennsylvania Avenue.

I think there were almost 30 DC Metro Moms and friends there. We had a lovely time thanks to Devra, The Quaker Go Project and great food thanks to Chef Spike and Micheline the good people at Good Stuff.

Yes, I know my name was on the invitation too, but I am here to tell you that Devra did all of the hard work. 

If you ever want a fantastic burger and some of the best shakes I've ever tasted I highly recommend checking out Good Stuff Eatery. I especially suggest the Colletti’s Smokehouse burger. It has onion rings on it. Right on the burger! Add some bacon, cheddar cheese and chipotle barbecue sauce to that sucker and you've got heaven on a bun.

And I am not just saying that to be nice. I don't pander when it comes to bacon, people. You should know that about me by now.

You can read more about and see pictures from the evening here:

Mom's Night Out - Toddler Planet

Good Stuff! - Wife and Mommy

Less Cowbell - Sarah and the Goon Squad

Moms' Night Out Is Good Stuff- Parentopia Devra

Oink - Amalah

DC Metro Moms Party with ‘Top Chef’ Spike at his ‘Good Stuff Eatery’ - Banana Blueberry

The One Where Spike Takes Off His Shirt - Passion and Art

Who Takes a Vegetarian to a Burger Joint? - Jodifur

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Stuff - Smiling Mama

There are Perks to this Blogging Gig: Friends and Food - Stimeyland

Top Chef's Spike Serves Great Stuff to DC Metro Moms at Good Stuff Eatery- Tech Savvy Mama

Moms and Food - My Life As It Is

Good Stuff… Chef Spike Mendelsohn, DC Metro Moms Bloggers and Quaker - Caffeine and a Prayer

Good Food and Great Company - Urban Mama

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Stuff! - Smiling Mama

this post had me singing that B-52's song in my head the whole time i wrote - Caffeinated 

Good Burger - My Party of 6

Good Stuff Eatery On Capital Hill: Kick Ass, Kid Friendly - A Parent In Silver Spring

If I missed yours just leave it for me in the comments and you will be added.

And a very special thank you to the Quaker Go Program for making a donation to the Capital Area Food Bank in honor of the D.C. Metro Moms Blog.

 

Here is the video:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sarah can also be found raving about bacon or some other nonsense on Sarah and the Goon Squad, Draft Day Suit, MamaPop, BlogHer and Loser Moms.

The pictures in this post were blatantly stolen from Sarah's friends posts. Suckers!

Not Quite Ready

I committed a total parenting faux pas last night. I woke up my son who was soundly snoozing in his own bed to see if he wanted to come sleep with me.

I'm not sure why I did it.

I knew that he had some trouble falling asleep but clearly that problem had already rectified itself.

I think the thing is this - my twins are almost five years old. Five is a momentous birthday. Five year olds are big. Five year olds go to Kindergarten.

I am Addicted to Blogging

Hi. My name is Sarah and I am addicted to blogging.

As I type this I am 3500 feet in the air (okay, I completely made up that number. 3500 feet could the 34th floor or it could be outer space for all I know) and I have no access to the internet. There is no way I could possibly post this for another four hours because that is how long it will take until we land in Las Vegas and the flight attendants and the FCC frown upon me trying to connect to the world wide web from here.

Something about navigational systems… whatever.

The thing is that I have become incapable of having a thought, unique or otherwise, without telling the internet.

I post on Sarah and the Goon Squad almost every day. I post on MamaPop twice a week. I post on BlogHer on Fridays, I post on DC Metro Moms Blog twice a month and since this isn’t enough for me I also created a sports blog, a weight loss blog and a review site. If what I have to say is brief (for example, The flight attendant just gave me cookies. Woo Hoo!) I have Twitter. If Twitter is broken there is Plurk, or Plinky or if all of this fails I can always IM somebody. Or Facebook! How could I forget Facebook?

Preschool Senioritis

There is a severe case of preschool senioritis going on in my house. I have twin four year olds and we are in our third and final year at a cooperative preschool.

You remember that last couple of months your senior year of high school? You knew where you were going to college. You knew you were accepted. You knew you just had to go through the motions, but they felt like torture. You were just -done.

My kids are still into school. I am the one with the problem. My body is driving The Goon Squad to preschool, my mind is in full day Kindergarten.

After two and a half years of co-opping about once a week and serving on committees and holding a board position I think I snapped.

I'm not kidding. I totally blanked the other day when I was supposed to be the parent in my son's classroom. I didn't even realize that I was supposed to be at school until I was already 20 minutes late.

The schedule is hanging on my refrigerator.

Voting was Fantastic

We came prepared. I had my camera. I had my iPhone. I had snacks and toys for my daughter. I even brought my video camera to capture some voting footage for BlogHer. I was ready to spend all day at our polling place.

There was nobody in line.

Well, there was one guy in front of me, but that hardly seems like a line.

It took me less than 10 minutes to vote.

I am actually giddy. I thought this would be grueling. I knew I had to vote. I was happy to vote. For the first time since 1992 I was voting for  a candidate instead of against one. It was wonderful.

What I Love and Hate About Driving Around D.C.

I'm closing in on my third year of living in the D.C. Metro Area and I have learned some things about the richness of our area and the poorness of my patience.

Anyone who has ever driven in the district knows how difficult it is to navigate.  I get lost on a regular basis in Washington D.C. even with a G.P.S. This is problematic since I work out in D.C. twice a week.

Last week I got lost on the way home from the gym. I have no idea how this happened. I think I was trying to be tricky and take 395 back to the preschool to pick up my children.  In any case I made a wrong turn. The bad news was that there was only one way out of where I had gotten myself. The good news is that the only way to go was right by Arlington National Cemetery.

School Started But Not For Me

I have been reading blog posts all over the place about the first day of school.

So why doesn't my school start for two more weeks?

Seriously, Fairfax County schools never start until after labor day. (My neighbor who grew up here calls it "The Kings Dominion Law". School doesn't begin until after Kings Dominion closes down for the summer.) I know that is much later than most counties, but Fairfax Public Schools start on September 3rd.

But my kids aren't old enough to go to public school yet. We're still in preschool and my preschool doesn't start until September 11th.

And I am going crazy.

Parenting Makes Me Paranoid

Yesterday I decided not to take the kids to the pool (no, that is NOT a euphemism) because the weather report said there was going to be rain. Instead we were watching a movie. Well - The Goon Squad was watching a movie, I was writing a post for one of my sites.

So I was deep in thought when I hear this terrible noise. I looked up from the monitor and glanced out the window.

It was raining sideways.

The trees were going crazy and it was loud. Not just rain loud, but scary noise loud.

I don’t know if I have been watching too much news or if The Wizard of Oz scarred me for life, but I immediately thought tornado.