See a trend?

I came home Monday night to discover this -

Andrew has another head wound....although this one did not bleed as much or leave a goose egg. According to Colin, Andrew was turning on the sprinkler and bumped into a branch from our shrubs that left a big long scratch on his right cheek. Nice, huh?

Thank goodness for friends

Last week, Colin had to travel to Plano, Texas on business. This was payback in a way since I went to Texas for three days in April. He left first thing Tuesday morning and was not due back until Friday evening - my assumption was late Friday night because the flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Dulles is ALWAYS late. So, I was presented with the challenge of being a single parent for 4 days...definitely a bit daunting. I have always had a great respect for single parents - and after his trip last week, I completely appreciate Colin's willingness to step in and help with Andrew in our evening routines.
Fortunately, I have some really great girlfriends. Tuesday night, we had to go over to Nana's house and make sure that the items that we wanted to be moved on Friday were marked appropriately. While Oz and I made sure everything was ready to go, Nana entertained Andrew and made us dinner. Then Andrew must have rode his bicycle up and down their driveway 20 times. He was exhausted by the time we left for home.
Wednesday night, Andrew and I met up with my friend Havalynn and her son Samuel. Samuel showed off his jumping skills - jumping into the pool to Havalynn at least twenty times. Andrew was not as adventurous, but loved climbing the snake and whale floats that are anchored in the pool.
Thursday night I had planned to take Andrew to see Ratatouille, but we ended up going to dinner with Dan, Trace Ann and Olivia. Olivia and Andrew had so much fun throwing coins into the fountain in the restaurant. And when we stopped giving them coins, they started throwing other things into the fountain - specifically the dough they had gotten from one of the guys who worked at the restaurant. What a mess! Dan was nice enough to pick it all out of the fountain as we were leaving.
By the time we hit Friday, Andrew and I were perfectly happy to pick up a pizza (so Colin would have dinner when he finally came home) and watch a movie. Thank goodness Colin's flight was not cancelled...I was exhausted!

Nana and Oz are moving

Last week, my mother-in-law called to inform us that they had a buyer for their house in Oakton - they are downsizing to a condo in Gainesville. They have a split foyer home built in the 1980's that sits off a pipestem and backs to parkland. It's been completely remodeled on the inside, but I still think it takes just the right kind of buyer to want an older house like that. And in the current real estate market where there are a TON of houses on the market, I feel like this is nothing short of a small miracle.
The buyer wants to go to closing on August 17th (next Friday) which means there is a flurry of activity to pack up the house and handle all the items on the buyer punch out list in the next week and half. And since they are downsizing, they have to get rid of some of the things in their house.
Tuesday night, Andrew and I headed over for dinner and to mark the items we want to be moved into our house. When we pulled up to my inlaws house, I noticed that there was a backhoe in the front yard. The house has a septic field which has to be inspected and emptied before the house can be released to the new buyer and Fairfax County had been over on Tuesday digging up the grass and such to inspect. Andrew apparently noticed the backhoe too, because from the back seat came: "Nana is SO cool - she has a BULLDOZER!"

My latest accomplishment

Since last September, I've been taking pole dancing classes at Diva Fit in Ashburn

http://www.divafitonline.com/

When I first started taking the class, I thought it would just be a way to have some girl time - Jen and TAG took the first session and TAG and I have continued on- and get an extra light workout in during the week. Boy, was I wrong. It is a totally great workout. I have a completely new appreciation for the arm/core strength required to complete those spins around that little metal pole and the calf strength to do an entire workout in "stripper" heels. I know that if I miss my run on Monday, I will totally get a workout in Monday night at class.

In Level I and Level II, all the spins that we learned kept us vertical to the pole (and right side up). In our last session (Level III) , we learned a spin called the corkscrew which threw the vertical position spins out the window. Basically the corkscrew is a spin where you spin around the pole horizontally in a crunch position. That was tough - I got the hang of it on one side, but I am still totally struggling going the other direction (my right arm is WAY stronger than my left!)

Two weeks ago we started Level IV session. In the first class, the instructor demos all the spins that you will learn in your session. Lisa, our instructor, started showing us all the spins - the sundial - spinning around the pole vertically with your feet out behind you (toes touching and knees out); the flying body spiral - hold on to the pole with one hand while throwing your body out in front of the pole, then at the last possible second, arch your back, grab the pole with your second hand (which is behind your boday at this point) and swing around the pole vertically and backwards until your knees hit the floor; and the most daunting- going inverted on the pole. This means you have to pull your legs up onto the pole, wrap them around the pole and hang upside down with your legs holding you up on the pole. Then slide down the pole to the ground.

The first 2 sessions we learned the sundial and the flying body spiral. Last night was our first night to go inverted. I was completely perplexed in how I was going to get my big butt over my head and my legs wrapped around the pole and make it look a little diva-ish. Well. I'm happy to report that I managed to get myself inverted on the pole. I don't know how diva-ish it looked, but I got there. Major accomplishment! I'll work on looking good later!

It's not a party until someone gets hurt

All last week I was looking forward to Friday night. Four of my girlfriends and I had planned a night of girl time at TAG's house - complete with working on scrapbooking projects, wine, snacks and girl talk. Now, while we were all at TAG's house, three of the dad's were at my house for a little playgroup of sorts. The deal was that the guys were going to play cards on the porch while the kids watched movies and played in the family room - ha, ha - plans are made to be screwed up!

About an hour and a half into my girl's night, we get a phone call. Apparently, while showing off for Olivia and Alexa, Andrew has fallen off the couch and hit his head on the coffee table - and he's bleeding badly. The boys are divided on whether to take him to the ER but by some small miracle, they get the bleeding stopped and distract Andrew (and the girls) with an ice cream sundae. So, we spared Andrew a trip to the ER (poor little guy spent so many hours there as a baby with his earaches) - he just has a big ugly scrape on his head (and a goose egg) and a new appreciation of "no jumping on the couch"

Thanks Dan and Bran for helping Colin with the injured child and cleanup.