Vapiano Pizza-Makin' for Kids

A few weeks ago a friend of mine happened to be walking by Vapiano (pizza and pasta restaurant) on a Saturday morning and noticed that they had a little pizza class going on for kids. She stopped in, there was room in the class for her son, and so they spent the next hour or so making mini pizzas. It turns out that Vapiano at Reston Town Center does these free pizza-making classes every other Saturday morning! I signed the boys up and last weekend we had a wonderful time with the manager in charge of the class, the other employees who helped, the kids, and the boys' little friend Sonja.

Rene is the manager and he has this whole experience down. From the moment you walk in the door, you are welcomed, the kids are given (real, cloth) aprons, a paper chef hat, crayons, drinks, and parents are also given complementary drinks. The tour starts with a well-advised trip to the restrooms for the kids to wash their hands before they get to squish down the pizza dough. After the pizzas are all put together and baking, Renee brought out dough for the kids to practice tossing into the air. That was probably Cal's favorite part.

Without further text, here are the pictures. I highly recommend this fun morning (allow a good hour and a half or two hours) for anyone in the area. I'd say ideal ages are probably 3-6. Call ahead to reserve a space in the class, but it's all free! (Reston Town Center location: 571-281-2893)

The marketing worked on us...I'm sure we'll go eat dinner there at some point soon because they were so great to deal with- and the pizza was delicious!

Sonja and the boys get set for baking!

Everyone meets the manager and introduces themselves.

Clean hands are ready to press the dough!

How does my hat look?

Smashing the dough down

Decorating...

While the pizzas are baking...let's throw dough!

Chef Cal catches good air!

And the dough catches the floor a few times...

Everyone gets turns.

Cal does it again...

Yum, Batman: A bunny pizza and a normal little pizza for each kid

Thank you, Rene! 

We're Celebrating the Museum!

Today we visited the National Air and Space Museum- the Udvar-Hazy location. It was the first time we'd gone during their storytime, and I was pleased with it. They do storytimes more often at the downtown location, but it looks like most Fridays this month they have storytimes at the Udvar-Hazy museum.

Before we left to go the museum with my friend Susan and her kids, the boys put on their flight suits and begged to wear them. "Mom, we need to wear them because we're celebrating the museum!" they explained to me. All I could think of at first was that flight suits would mean another layer, but I let them wear the suits, hoping there wouldn't be an issue with needing to shed four layers including a one-piece flight suit in a second's time in the museum bathroom.

The story we heard was a cute one about a Mousetronaut and they did little art projects with popsicle sticks and space shapes. Afterward they got to hold astronaut food, touch an astronaut suit, try on a glove, and see an astronaut's diaper. The kids all enjoyed it.

They've always liked the museum, but today they were the most excited they've ever been about being there. They ran around showing their friend Philip the candy cane airplane and Space Shuttle Discovery. Clark pointed out that it looks like Discovery has ears when you see it from a distance.The glass elevator was a space shuttle blasting off. Oftentimes they were Jack and Jim, Apollo 13 astronauts, getting ready for space.  They talked the ear off a volunteer who showed them pictures from when a Buzz Lightyear toy went into space. One of the tour guides pointed out to his group as we walked by that today we were fortunate to have two real astronauts here. The tourists were delighted, and snapped pictures of the boys as they walked by, oblivious to the fact that what they were wearing was a little unusual (and about a size too small).

I love so much that embarrassment is something they haven't experienced yet. I wish it could be that way forever.

A flight suit just like ours!

I'm not really sure what's happening here...

Story!

Astronaut glove!

Clark and Philip check out the astronaut gear.

Push the buttons...

We love airplanes!

The Apollo 13 astronauts are blasting off on their mission!

Here is my review of the museum from last year.    

Thursday Thesicle

Little kids would make terrifying coaches.

A Nesty Day

I've been nesting today. Yesterday we went over to my in-law's house and got all the newborn things down from their attic. Maybe we're a little early, but oh well. We've had the closet at our house nearly empty and ready for a baby for months.

Now...it is full.

closet, above wardrobe

wardrobe

I have one, stuffed-full drawer that contains only bibs and burp cloths. I assure you this was necessary for the twins, but if Peapod himself needs this much fabric to soak up just his upper body juices, we have a huge problem.

upper body juices drawer

I set aside the onesies with the cute little twinsy-saying on them. Like Thing 1 and Thing 2 and My Twin Did It and I'm with Yin, I'm with Yang, etc. We will most likely not need two mobiles or two exersaucers or two newborn boppy loungers or 35 bottles, or numerous sets of identical newborn-size shoes, and I would really love it if I never have to use that breast pump ever again, but other than that, we'll probably be able to use it all! This dude will be the cheapest kid ever.

The boys were on their own all morning while I got nesty. At first they loved playing with the rattles and puffy toys with weird sounds and pretending the mobiles were spiders (whose bites can only be cured with chocolate medicine). They "tried on" the microscopic socks and undid most everything I did. After awhile they started playing Mommy and Baby and pretending to feed and care for each other. Their real mom didn't care, after all. I didn't notice where they went after that. I'm not really sure if Cal ever got dressed today, now that I think about it.

I knew by the loud giggles and belly laughter that they were enjoying taking pictures with my camera, but I didn't realize until now how many pictures they took, and of what stunning quality. Observe their best art:

Anyway, I'm all nested up. Now I only have...oh, that's right, until July before we get to hold little Mr. Peapod. He has a lot of growing left.

Tonight Cal said, "Sometimes I just like to peek in Peapod's closet."

Me too, Cal.
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Addendum: I decided to put my name in the Circle of Mom's contest for the Top 25 Funny Mom Blogs. I'm under no delusion that I will even place, (I think I'm currently hovering around #165) but they do an up-and-coming blog version of the award, from what I've gathered, that maybe I have a shot for, because I don't know how they determine it. Who knows. You can vote for Whispers & Shouts once every 24 hours until next Thursday-- Valentine's Day. Or not, if you think I'm stupid. Geez.

Thursday Thesicle

Beware: just when you think you've defeated SpiderCal, 

he will reveal his backup supply of slinky-webs.

Baby Peapod is...

Okay, this is kind of weird, but I wanted a fun/unusual way to blog-reveal our little Peapod's sex. Here it is. Pretend it's normal?

Meet Boy and Girl

Boy and Girl- FIGHT!  Whoever wins represents Peapod.

Boy takes out girl...

Oh, but now Girl goes in for the kill!

AH! I don't even know what's happening!

Who's going to win?

Here they go again...

And the winner is...

BOY!

I foresee a lot more football, baseball, and hockey games, astronauts, cars, and a whole lot more poop and throw-up discussions. Bring it on?

The Mighty BFFs Demolish Candy Canes and Return to Earth Safely

It's been two full months since Alexandra's grandma moved to the area and started watching her, which means two full months since I've watched her. She had been coming to our house at least a couple days a week since she was three months old, and she's now two years and three months old. Man, have we missed that little girl at our house. And from what her parents say, she misses her boys and her Dawnee too.

Her mom and I had been trying to get together for the past few weeks but we were all sick and then she and her family were sick, so finally after a long time apart, we got together again. The kids had such a blast (and Jamie I did okay too) that we decided Alex should come over again soon while her mom got some work done. Today was the day!

Alex's very first day at our house. She was three months old,
the boys were 20 months old. I think it was love at first sight.
Back then they called her "Baby Akiss"

The boys were surprised and excited to see Alex when her dad dropped her off this morning, and we had a busy day. She seems to be getting back at the boys for all the time they spent bossing her around. She can now tell them exactly what she wants them to do and vividly display her displeasure when they do not do what she wants. They totally deserve every bit of that.

Aside for a stubborn standoff or two, they all got along perfectly. I'm sure we'll do it again soon. She cried and cried when she had to leave and she called Cal and Clark "her boys," which made me want to cry a little. I'm so glad that she remembers us...seems like at her age it would be easy to forget.

I wanted to do something special for her visit. I had candy canes sitting around from Christmas, and had noticed online that a friend of mine had made some cookies with crushed candy canes. I know how much my boys like to crush/break/damage/smash/demolish/destroy/obliterate things so thought I'd try that. They all three smashed up the candy canes with rolling pins and we used them like sprinkles on our sugar cookies.

Three little chipmunks helping with cookie dough

Crushing candy canes!

Cutting...

Placing...

Sprinkling with candy cane sprinkles

Maybe they ate a few chunks too...

They were surprisingly picky about getting
all the chunks in place.

Pretty

Of course, once the boys realized that having Alex over meant there were three kids here, they immediately assigned  flight suits and set up their Apollo 13 mission. They are always Jack and Jim from Apollo 13, and spend a fair amount of time talking about how one day Peapod can be Fred, to complete the Apollo 13 team. Well, today Alexandra got to be Fred. I'm happy to report that despite the explosion in the oxygen tank, the Apollo 13 astronauts survived and returned home to my Mission Control Center's wild applause.

Apollo 13 astronauts: Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise are ready to take off!

Houston, we have a problem.

Okay, Houston, we figured it out.
It was the blue and purple buttons.

Made it back safely! Thanks, Mommy Houston

Alex explains to the boys The Way to jump.

I'm so happy they have each other as friends. Being together for those few years was such a blessing for everyone involved.

And if you think that day didn't wear me out, you're wrong. I'm not sure how I did it for so long.