Hi, My Name is Kristen, vol. 6

...And I'm the Birthday Girl because today I turn 36!!!

Random Things that Make me Happy:  Anything Turquoise, Stripes, Painted Toenails, Tinsel in my Hair, My Silver Hoops, Black Tank Tops, My UGGS (I only take them off to shower and sleep), Flip Flops, Coke, York Peppermint Patties, Our Home - our great paint colors - our new kitchen - our awesome kitchen table - our hutch - the great sun we get in our house - our closets with stripes - our turquoise bookshelf in the basement, Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea (with sugar and milk), Our Neighborhood and the Tree in our Front Yard. 

TV shows I've enjoyed this year:  New Girl, Call the Midwife, Sherlock, How I Met your Mother, Hart of Dixie, Downton Abbey, Restaurant Impossible, The Sing Off, Treehouse Masters and The Americans.

Meals Currently in Rotation:  Chili, Stir-fried chicken - veggies and rice, Grammy Casserole, Chicken with Broccoli Oriental, Maple Chili Chicken (recipe here), Crack Broccoli (recipe here), Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Roasted Okra (olive oil and salt - baked at 425F for 15 minutes or so until wilted), Shrimp and Grits, Lasagna, BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and Sloppy Joes.

 Me and My Tweeter

Me and my Kiddos

Our Family

Hi, My Name is Dan, vol. 6

...And I'm the Birthday Boy because today I turn 38!!!

Favorite TV shows/Movies:  How I Met Your Mother, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Treehouse Masters,
The Americans, The Sing Off.

Hobbies:  Beard growing and twirling, Cigar smoking, xBox, Home Renovation, IT Gadgets.

 XBox Games I've played recently:  Minecraft, Lego themed games, Call of Duty, Castle Storm and Terraria.

Favorite Foods:  Pizza, Ham, Peeps, Grilled Stuft Nacho from Taco Bell, Mandarian Kung Pao from Pei Wei, Lasagna.  

Favorite Sayings:  "I'm a bargain."  "It's a Win-Win-Win."  "Supe sent me another email about a motorcycle."  "Let's take the truck!"  "Let's play some Minecraft."  During our renovation "I'm just gonna run up to Home Depot" and to Kristen "Can you lift this?" (the answer was almost always - no.)

Things I did while I was 37:  Got my 5 years in overseas, Moved back to America, Swam in the Persian/Arabian Gulf, Renovated our house, Bought a truck, Enjoyed playing music with buddies from work in Kuwait - RTO Speedwagon Forever!, Completed my dream of owning a truck to go chop down and get our Christmas Tree, Started teaching and working in the 4th grade class at church, got furloughed.

Hardest project I've done on our house:  Pulling out 10,000 staples out of the floor from the subflooring that was laid down.

My favorite project I've done on our house:  Knocking out the wall between our kitchen and the dining room.

What I like about living in 'Merica:  It's America, do I really need a reason?

Why my Tweeter loves me:  Because you are an amazing man of God and you love me and our kids so well!  You are so much fun to be around, you love our extended families so well, you wrestle us and know how to tease each of us well - so we're not grumpy but think it's funny, too!  You know soooo much about so many things and do a great job teaching us how to do things - electrical work, how to saw, how to use the drill and how to level things, to name a few.  We are so thankful to God for you and we love you so much!  Happy 38th Birthday Daniel Scott!!!  We love you!!!

Me and my Tweeter

 Daddy and Jack at lunch at school

Daddy and Kylie in Colonial Williamsburg

Megan and Daddy at Myriah's birthday party

Uncle Matt and Dan at the Crab Feast

 Leading worship in Kuwait with Brad

Rocking out with his buddies in Kuwait

And our family going to get our Christmas Tree in the truck!

Megan's 12th Birthday - Part 3

 After the Museum of Natural History, we ventured into the Museum of American History!  My goals were to see the First Ladies dresses, the Star Spangled Banner and more!  The kids are posing here in front of Edith Roosevelt's gown.

 I just loved this sign to the Hall of Presidents!  I made Dan pose under it :)

 Megan wanted to go in here - it was fascinating!

 Me and Jack

 Watching Julia Childs - and captivated!  Kylie's not putting her hand over her ears - she is twirling her hair while watching :)

 They loved it!

 Hall of Transportation - Selfie with a train passenger!

 Girlies

 Kylie wanted a picture of the girls' ringlets

 Me and Kylie

 Megan looking pensive with a statue

 Us posing in front of a street car!

 Waiting on a bench with a statue

 Slightly less serious :)

 And hanging out with another one!

We had fun walking through and seeing the Star Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore, seeing the Food section on food in America, the First Ladies gowns, letters from a lady who survived the Holocaust and much more!

Then we headed to REI - since it is on the way home for us :)  We joked that between 3 birthdays this next week in our family, none of us purchased anything - but Kylie did!  She got new flip flops for the summer!

 Then, we knew that Smashburger - one of our favorite restaurants from Kuwait - was now in 3 locations in NoVa - Fairfax, Falls Church and Tysons Corner!  We went to the one in Falls Church!  Dan and the little kids got burgers and fries and LOVED them!  Megan decided to go with a Cobb Salad with mixed greens, tomato, red onion, blue cheese, cheddar, smokehouse bacon, grilled chicken, a fried egg and ranch!  

 It was HUGE!!!

And she LOVED it!!!  It was a hit for her Birthday meal!  (Dan, Kylie and Jack all ate some of it - because it was pretty large)!  All in all, it was a great day!

Megan's 12th Birthday - Part 2

 We hopped in the car after breakfast to head down to Washington DC to visit some museums!  Our goal was to go see the Dinosaur Exhibit at the Museum of Natural History before it closes in April for 5 years for a restoration project - and to see the Museum of American History because they've never been there!

Cute kiddos in the fun park we parked near and walked through to the museums

 Our Family - LOVE this picture!

 The Birthday Girl in front of a magnolia tree - even if you can't see it well :)

 Standing in front of Harry - the large African Elephant in the rotunda

 The ladies

 The gentlemen

 Dan and kiddos in front of Diplodacus

 Me and my Moopert

 Her face for the majority of the time around skeletons - not her favorite thing

 Getting hugged by her Daddy after he was teasing her for a bit

 Kiddos and the Hope Diamond that Megan desperately wanted to see!  A split second before she saw it, I said to Dan, "It's really underwhelming to see it - let's see what she says."  And Megan said the same thing :) Fun to see, but you expect something much larger and different!

 Looking out over the Smithsonian

With her favorite cat - a Caracal!  We have pics of her with the live ones at the Aquarium in Kuwait, too!

 Megan wanted her special meal out to be dinner, so we bought them lunch at a street vendor as our choice!  The big kids and Dan got a hot dog while Kylie and I got a soft pretzel!  

 We're not generally fans of him, but a fun Spongebob Post Box!

 Jack liked a guy playing "drums" on plastic buckets outside

 My crew walking to the next museum

 Dan and I before heading into the next museum!