The Best Darn Playgroup in Town

No offense to my child-less friends, but soon after having children it is imperative to seek out others who have bred to commiserate and socialize.  It's not that we have nothing left in common with our child-less friends.  It's more that the child-less socialization scheme no longer fits into our current life style.  Staying out past 8:30?  Eating at nice restaurants?  Getting drunk? Wearing nice clothes?  You can forget all about that.  But we seek out others with kids for more than this reason.  It's a hard adjustment to make, living a life that is no longer just about you or your spouse.  Life becomes chaotic and tiring and stressful, and all of sudden no one else (except other parents) seem to understand.  And after the kids reach a certain age you realize they need socialization, too.

For most parents living in major metropolitan areas, this support group is formed via the internets.  Think Craigslist "Casual Encounters-- Parents Edition".  But for a lucky few, their group formation was a bit more spontaneous, catalyzed by a savvy organizer who handpicked a group of diverse and intelligent women who are also great mothers.  I am beyond grateful that this was the case for me. 

Our group meets every week for good conversation and baked goods for the moms, and snacks and socialization for the kids.  While we do talk about the kids, we also touch on everything from science to politics and theater.  And we're not afraid to get silly.

 Kerstin has become an honorary member of the playgroup, volunteering her house from time to time.  Five moms, five toddlers, and three infants is a lot to fit into our small apartment.

When we found out that 3 out of 5 of us got pregnant within the same month, we thought, "Great!  We can keep the same playgroup for the younger siblings!"  All joking aside, it was priceless to have these ladies going through the same experience with me.

 When the babies did finally come, all 3 of them boys, the playgroup threw us a blue themed baby party. 

We had blue soda, blueberries, blue corn chips with bean dip, blueberry scones, chocolate covered strawberries, and more blue goodies.  Outside, there were blue balloons and a sign that said "It's Boys!"  instead of the standard "It's a Boy!"

While it may be rare, we do see each other without the kids.  Here we are out at dinner to celebrate Ann Marie's law school graduation-- except that Ann Marie couldn't make it because she was in labor!

We also hang out outside the playgroup.  We'll frequent local parks, the Smithsonian museums and more.  Here, Linus and Iain play at the Lego exhibit at the National Building Museum.






We couldn't resist going to Cox Farm together this past October-- for many of us it was our second time!  Even though  three of us just had babies, we wouldn't let our older children miss out. 

The hayride and animals are always a hit, but eventually we all needed to stop for food.

We could barely keep them still long enough to snap this picture.

The following weekend we had a little party to carve pumpkins and decorate Halloween cookies.  Linus was thrilled to discover that his necklace was made of candy!

  

He continued to get sugared up while I did the hard work of pumpkin carving.
















Then we got started on the cookies.  Nothing spells "fun" like piling more sugar on some sugar cookies!

Afterwards the munchkins started to play "Ring Around the Rosie" which looked more like a mosh pit.











We've been through so much together, these ladies and their families have become a second family of sorts.  Yes, we still get home sick from time to time.  But are we in a little less of a rush to move back?  I think so.

Halloween Overload

Every year in October Mattias and I debate about what we should be for Halloween.  As long as I remember, we've done a group costume.  One year we were cookies and milk, another year a farmer and a "love ewe".  There were the "Fandango" paper puppet costumes, which were great for keeping warm but horrible for socializing at a party.  And the Netflix costumes I made a few years back were so wide we couldn't sit on the couch together...  Since then I've decided to make my Halloween costumes from hooded sweatshirts, a tradition my brother started a few years back.   This year posed an additional challenge-- how can I make homemade costumes with no time and little sleep?  (I ask Kerstin for help, that's how.)  So with Mattias' artistic direction, Kerstin doing the basting stitch by hand, and me on the machine, we were able to create our dinosaur family costume.

Halloween was a week long celebration this year, starting with "Boo at the Zoo" at the National Zoo.  Below Baby Magnasaurus and Mamma Elleaopteryx getting ready for the big night.  Shortly after this picture was taken Linus went into a full on tantrum screaming "No zoo!  No zoo!" 

We literally had to wrestle his shoes on and strap down in his car seat.  We said, "Linus, there will be lots of candy at the zoo.  We're going to the zoo to get candy."  After 2 minutes of thinking about this Linus said "I love candy." and stopped crying.  Once we got there he was so excited to see hundreds of other kids in costume.

 

When it got dark we strolled around the scary displays.  We thought they were cutesy, but there were scary enough to give Linus nightmares for the next 2 nights.

Then midweek my Wednesday playgroup strolled into town for storytime at a local toy shop. Linus and his friends sat and listened the entire time.  Afterwards he got his dinosaur claws on a few trucks.

On Friday, Linus' daycare did its annual Halloween Parade around Janelia.  This is fun because all the labs have glass walls, and the cute overload reaction from all the employees is priceless.  It's not everyday you see pint-sized Mario and Luigi, dinosaurs, tigers, and princesses.

 

 

 On Saturday we attended the Falloween Festival in Clarendon, which bosted a petting zoo and face painting for the kids.  It was a nice day for a stroll, so we thought "Why not?"  Linus had a great time checking out the mini pig, alpacas, and bunnies.  Afterwards he chased his friends around a fountain and marveled at the person dressed up as a potted plant. 

Finally on Sunday came the main events-- trick or treating followed by Ellyn's birthday party. 

Linus walked from house to house saying "Trick or Treat" with a very quiet "Thank you" afterwards. 

The excitement an energy coming from the kids was electric.  I was pretty excited myself since there was no way I was going to let Linus eat all that candy, and someone (me) would have to eat it.

For dinner, the kids made their own "Mummy Pizza" with string cheese and olives, followed by birthday cupcakes.  The kids partied until they started to crash hard from their sugar highs.

I'm going to have to come up with easier costumes for the family next year, something simple.  Maybe we should all be goths...