SIMPLICITY AT ITS BEST.

Ever had one of those perfect summer days where the day was just picture perfect. I've had more than my share when it was just Noah & I alone, during the day, but when you add a sassy sister the days can be a struggle...especially when they nitpick on each other. Today was different though. Different in many ways. 

First of all I woke up determined that in spite of the forecast calling for rain, and the way these two behave when they're cooped up in the house especially in the summer time that I was going to make this day fun for them. The kind of fun that doesn't require money, but my time, and appreciation executed with love and attention.  

Living in my neck of the woods it's real easy to be entertained by theme parks, going to the beach, venturing out to Philly, D.C., and New York City. And as much as I LOVE venturing out to those places, and being entertained by those worldly things, sometimes you need to invent your own entertainment. 

And today we did. 

One that didn't involve any noise from any piece of technology. 

Noah has been showing interest to play the piano for quite some time now, and this morning after breakfast Chelsea began to play the piano. 

While Noah was playing with his Legos, I told Chelsea that it might be easier if we put stickers on the keys so that it would be more easier for him to learn to play, and to keep him interested. She, and Lexie have taught him the basic keys in the past, but like i said...today was different, and those stickers really made a difference! Not only did he last longer than 10 minutes, he actually paid attention, played Mary had a little lamb in its entirety,  and Chelsea's patience has come a long way with him. There was no frustration involved! 

I was in heaven! 

She continued to teach him for about 20 minutes, and got along so well. We had lunch, and then made bottle cap necklaces, and drew a picture for grandpa. Since it didn't rain very much we decided to go to the park. We were figuring out which park to go to that doesn't have wood chips, and decided to go to the one where it's always crowded on the first day of spring. The perks of living in a township where everyone seems to stay in their comfort zone! 

We haven't been to this park in a long while, and we are so glad we came. They installed a new playground set, and it is really nice! I'm not sure when they replaced the old one, but boy am I glad we came. Even in this 100 percent humidity the kids had all kinds of fun. These kids handle the heat, and humidity pretty well. Better than most adults I know!  

They stayed in the newer part of the playground the whole time sliding down the slide, climbing, and messing around with all the gadgets. 

 ^^^ the swings are a favorite! ^^^

He still hasn't mastered the monkey bars. I think he prefers us giving him a helping hand. More like a helping body! 

Today was so simple, and if I could have days like this every day (minus the humidity) I'll take them. Really loved seeing these two getting along so well, and being kind to one another. 

I told them to get used to it because before we know it Lexie will be leaving the nest too, and they are going to be the only two left to entertain each other so they better need to get along! 

And according to these two...piggyback rides are the best! 

Happy 8th of July! 

RAY'S HELL BURGER.

So let me write a little bit about Ray's Hell Burger for a moment. Actually, it's now called Rays To the Third. Why they changed their name I have no idea because these burgers are crazy good! 

First of all the second you walk in there are two huge maps on the walls where one can put a pushpin of where you're from. My neck of the woods was filled with them so I just decided to point to the place where we currently live...Jersey.

We love hamburgers, and unfortunately for Jon he can't eat too much because if he eats a lot of red meat his gout will act up. Probably a good idea (not the gout, eating less red meat), because that keeps us healthy and refrains us from eating too much meat. 

So while we were in DC for the fourth we decided to stop in Arlington to eat at Ray's. I heard that these burgers were huge and really, really good. They have two sizes... a 10, and a 6 oz. burger. There was no way any of us could eat a 10 ounce including Jon ,so we all ordered the 6 ounce burgers with steak wedge fries. And those steak fries were huge!! 

Good thing Lexie and I shared an order because those wedge fries were thick! And delish! 

Noah was not too crazy about his mac and cheese, and it was so not picture worthy. But what a  nice place it was for us to eat away from all the mess of bumper to bumper traffic, and closed roads due to the popping of the fireworks. 

We will definitely be back for more, but I don't think we will ever eat a 10 ounce burger. It definitely is a place where you can leave fully satisfied with a full tummy, or as Noah says, "be full all the way up to your chest, and not your belly button."

U.S. NATIONAL ARBORETUM ON THE 4TH OF JULY.

Since we've never seen the fireworks in DC, taking Lexie, (my photo bombing girl in the background) to attend EFY in Virginia gave us the excuse to spend the day in DC for the 4th, and even though check in time for Lexie was today we decided to spend the whole weekend in Virginia. 

Before camping out near the Potomac to watch the fireworks we ventured out to the U.S. National arboretum to check out the Capitol columns, and if your into history and lots of trees this is the place to go. 

The columns looked like ancient ruins from a foreign country or something. You can read the cool story behind the columns here. We enjoyed the day walking around, and as you will see I captured a few photos of the columns in different angles with some of my favorite people!

 ^^^ and a photo from my snapchat (btw...you can scope out my stories at r_jorgensen) ^^^

The arboretum also has a youth garden where one can take the kids. Chelsea & Noah had so much fun chasing monarch butterflies, and playing in the garden. 

^^^This boy sweats profusely, but that didn't stop him from playing and Noah digging in this crate of soil.^^^ 

^^^...and when he saw this Tonka truck life stopped for him for a moment. ^^^

Since it rained the night before it was a bit muddy, but who cares...I let him be little and he went to town running around in the garden. Good thing I always plan ahead with bringing a change of clothes cause you know...boys.

^^^ Let's holla for sweaty, muddy little boys!^^^

It was so relaxing walking through the garden, and looking at all that was planted. There was Thai basil, mint, thyme, carrots, onions, potatoes, blackberries, and so much more. 

You're allowed to pick with permission, but because there was one carrot that was visible, eyeing and dying for someone to pick it Chelsea asked if she could. There was no one on the premises to ask so I was a rebel mom, and told her to go ahead, and pull it. It was practically leaning off the stem. She washed it, and chowed down on it. 

I dared Lexie to eat this onion, but she was like "not."

Noah saw this teepee and is now determined to build one of his own in the outdoors with sticks when we get home. I said to him,  "if only we lived in the boonies son."

^^^ And check out these succulents! ^^^

...and marbled stepping stones. 

As we left the grounds Jon captured a picture of one of my favorite flowers that are only grown in the south...magnolias. The arboretum is surrounded by them. Sure do miss the trees in my old backyard where I used to live in North Carolina. 

The day ended with celebrating Americas birthday with our fellow man. I was too involved in family time that I didn't capture any photos of the fireworks. We picked a perfect spot, but because the fireworks were hiding behind the clouds we couldn't see them all (darn cloud coverage!) Hopefully next year the weather will be super clear so that we can actually see the fireworks clear up in the sky. 

Overall our fourth was fabulous and we certainly look forward to celebrating it again and again! So thankful to live in a country where we can celebrate our freedoms, and to live in a land of the free, and home of the brave. 

Hope your fourth was fabulous too! 

NOAH-ISMS.

Sundays for us can be a little chaotic sometimes especially when you have a toddler that has become picky with the clothes he wants to wear. He no longer wants me to help him get dressed, or even pick out his wardrobe. Some days I feel that I should just let him pick his own outfits because it will teach him to be more independent. Luckily this mama has good taste in the clothes I get him, and that he coordinates his outfits pretty well. He always wants to wear a white shirt like his dad, and is beginning to prefer ties over bowties. It seems as if lately that's all he wants to wear "white shirt and tie." As I was helping him button up his shirt and putting on his tie I said to him "you like looking like daddy huh? He said, "yes, I want to look like him, not you." "I said "well I certainly hope so. You would look pretty ridiculous wearing a dress!" He chuckled, and I thought his response was pretty funny.

I had mentioned how Noah has become a transformer fanatic lately, and so he'll constantly tell me to buy him a transformer that "transforms". So the other day he said to me emphatically, "mommy, you need to buy me a transformer that transforms because the one you got me is fake. I don't like fake toys. You need to stop buying me fake toys mom."

While mowing the law with Lexie his flip flop accidentally slipped off & got caught in the spikes and Noah says, "I told you to stop mowing, and moving lex! Look what you did to my flip flop! When he came in the house I said to him, "it could have been your toes son." He sighed. 

While on our way home from playing tennis in the hot sun, Noah says, "Chelsea give me some water! Please share with your brother?? Geeze!! 

On talking about the last day of school, and him starting kindergarten in the fall, "you're going to be all alone mom when I start school. I don't want you to be all alone. Let me stay with you." 

On tattling on Chelsea, "Mom, Chelsea said the "b" word. Is "shut up" the "b" word? Me: "no,  not really. Although it's not the "b" word it's not a nice word." Don't ever say the "b" word though! (Guess I better stop watching pg-13 movies with him! Hashtag bad parenting.)

Happy Friday, and hope that you have a fabulous 4th of July weekend! 

CHERRY PICKING.

The other night Lexie taught a family home evening lesson on finding ways to achieve family unity. Nowadays families tend to do their own thing without involving each other as a family. Lack of communication becomes severe as well as bonding. I'm really glad she chose this lesson because she knows kids her age who come from broken families, and single parent families who don't get along who don't participate in family outings. Apparently even those who have two parent families sometimes don't find the time to spend time together due to busy lives. 

I believe she chose this lesson for herself because this past year she had such a busy schedule with school, even on Saturdays when she couldn't come with us to any of our family adventures. She missed out on going strawberry picking with us, and has always wanted to go to the orchards to pick some fruit. She's only done pumpkin, and christmas tree picking with us as a family, but has never done any fruit picking with us during the spring and summer months. 

Well, I took her lesson to heart, and the next morning we ventured out to Lee turkey farm again to go cherry picking this time. She was pretty thrilled, and even though she was a bit tired (darn that summer homework) she still made an effort to go. 

^^^ They were all going to town picking them cherries. I think their favorite part was picking cherries from a ladder feeling like they were in Tuscany. They had a grand time picking, and throwing the cherries in the bucket from the top. ^^^

^^^ I hadn't climbed a ladder in a long time, and it was pretty cool to pick my own cherries! ^^^

^^^ I love this picture of Noah. I captured this as he was in the moment of deciding whether or not he should pick a certain cherry! ^^^

^^^ After a while Noah wanted to walk around the orchard with his bucket. ^^^

^^^ and finding a dandelion to blow. ^^^

^^^ Kids these days can only pick for so long. It doesn't help when there is a park on the grounds. ^^^

^^^ The fruits of our labor. ^^^ 

Even though Jon wasn't with us I'm glad that I was able to get my kids out there to have fun together as a family. It is so important to make the time to spend together as a family even if it's something simple as going to the park to play frisbee, having a picnic, visiting museums, going to the beach (another favorite of ours), and of course...going to the orchard.

Eating dinner together as a family seems so rare these days, and I find that eating together is the one time where we can all catch up about our day and discuss anything that needs to be said. 

Attending church together is crucial in our life, and I'm telling you without that foundation of God in our life things in our household would be a hot mess! So thankful for the gospel that keeps us structured and growing as a family. 

I want my time spent with my children to be precious, and priceless. I want there to be more laughter, and less stress. I want smiles to be exchanged on a daily basis. It doesn't matter if my kids are five years apart there are ways to build family unity no matter the age gap, and to bond as one. 

I've also recognized that family activities don't need to be planned. We are such a spontaneous family that most of the time we do things on a whim, and the end result is a good one. We just go with the flow! 

So thankful for family home evening, and for those simple lessons that teach us about family unity. Going to the orchard has become a tradition for us, and one of my favorite things to do as a family (can you tell), and I'm so glad we make the time to do it! It was so nice to see the kids laughing, throwing rotten cherries at each other, and simply enjoying themselves. 

How about you guys?? What do y'all do as a family for fun, and to achieve family unity?

Pray tell cause I'm always looking for more fun things to do with the kids! 

Happy Wednesday!