Avery filled her marble jar less than two weeks after Emerson.  She too was quite excited!  Avery awhile back had decided she wanted to go ice skating for her one-on-one!  I hadn’t been ice skating in almost 25 years and the time before that was probably 30 years ago!  While the idea of the three of us ice skating seems crazy and scary, I knew for certain it would cause a lot of thrills, excitement, and laughs!

We started the evening with dinner at Arties!  Avery said she wanted to go to Sweet Water, but since all the Great American Restaurants are very similar, we opted for Arties since it was close to the ice skating rink. Car selfie of the three of us.

She enjoyed the Ozzie rolls as always!

And she did end up ordering the salmon!  She ate some of it…I don’t think she loved it, BUT she was happy with her decision and she couldn’t stop talking about how much it tasted like bacon!

And on a 90 degree day with tons of humidity, we went indoor ice skating.  It felt funny sweatshirts and gloves  on a summer day, but I’m glad we did as it was chilly in the rink!  When we first got on the ice, Justin and I both thought it was most certainly going to be a long night!  But we all got better as the hour went on including Avery who went from being fearful to even getting on the ice to skating unassisted by the end of the hour. 

It was a great time and surely an experience that we will all remember for years to come.

Here we are June 13, the last day of school!  I’m not sure how that is even possible!  Or how about the fact that I now have two rising third graders and a rising first grader….WHAT!!

And that is a wrap!  Hello sweaty kids and summer!

In February, Justin and I decided to implement a recognition system in our household where the girls would earn marbles.  They could earn marbles for listening the first time, being kind, being helpful, putting forth their best effort, being joyful, and much more!  Once the jar was full, the girls would get to pick something that they wanted to do alone with mom and dad!  We didn’t focus on it 24/7 so there were many instances where the girls could have earned a marble, but we didn’t give them one…not to punish them, but because it wasn’t necessarily the number one thing on our mind daily.  It was June before any of the girls had a full jar!  Emerson was the first to fill her jar this past Saturday!

She chose a mani/pedi date at the salon with me.

Followed by dinner at Sweetwater with daddy and then ice cream for dessert!  

And then to top it all off, she wanted Dairy Queen!

It’s not often these girls get one-on-one time with both Mommy and Daddy at the same time – we all enjoyed the evening and Emerson has already started earning marbles in her jar again for round two!

For two weeks in May my sister and Noah were in Virginia.  The girls and Justin got to meet Noah for the first time! Cousins!

Grandma and Grandpa with all four grandkids!

We spent several weeknight evenings at my parents.

Poor Noah was so sleepy and I just wanted pictures of the cousins in their jammies!

And Justin and I even snuck over after his birthday dinner for a Noah cuddle.

I totally would do this with the girls when they were babies…they wouldn’t wake up and for a few minutes, I would be in pure bliss.

We enjoyed dinner out at Tequila Grande one Friday evening.

We enjoyed a nice meal at home with Lauren and Noah.  Noah and Harper played.  

Justin and Noah grilled.

And we all enjoyed grilled pork with avocado cream sauce.

We enjoyed Mother’s Day together and you can read about it in my prior Mother’s Day Blog!

Then a week plus passed while Lauren and Noah went to New Jersey to visit Russell and Mary and then to New York to visit friends. They brought Gabriel back with them when they came back to Virginia.  Justin and Gabriel enjoyed a night at The Vienna Inn, while I babysat Noah for a few hours.  He apparently wasn’t too happy that his parents were leaving him after about 10 minutes of me being there.

Friday night I picked Noah up and he came to our house for a few hours.  Again, he wasn’t the happiest camper.  We started out at a quick stop at Fresh Market.

We went for a family walk in our neighborhood and I so pretended he was our fourth!  The girls all wanted turns pushing him in the stroller.

And like the previous night, he missed his mommy and daddy and turned into Mr. Cranky Pants…Mr. Justin had the magic touch.

Saturday he spent the evening AND night with us.  It took a few hands and feet to calm him initially, and after a few minutes, he was finally a happy camper with us.

Noah had quite a few little mommies taking care of him. 

We soaked up every baby snuggle and coo. He slept in our room and while he isn’t the best sleeper, I ironically got more sleep that night than I had in weeks. He woke during the middle of the night, but I gladly got up and when he wouldn’t go back to sleep in the pack-and-play by himself at 5:00 a.m, I gladly brought him into bed with me. We had a fun evening and morning in the pit.

Sunday the kids did a little swimming at my parents in the morning.

Followed by an excursion to Viva Vienna.  The 8 of us squeezed in the van!

We also went to Viva Vienna Saturday – a few pictures from Saturday.

Monday was Memorial Day and we hosted a BBQ at our house with the Brophys, Niday’s and my family.

I tried to soak up as much Noah time as possible. Little man turned 6 months old while he was visiting and he’ll be almost 9 months old the next time I see him!  Crazy!  Miss little man and his mommy and daddy already!

Justin and I are closing a chapter of our lives…we are selling our condo….our first home together…the place we moved in together before we said our I do’s…the place he proposed, the place we got married, the place we became parents.   The place that we came home to in the evenings after working a long day in the office building our career path, the place that we ate dinner in front of the T.V, the place we cooked really late dinners after getting home from the gym after 8:00 p.m. on weekdays, the place that we often debated about even going to the gym, the place that we slept in on the weekends (and I legitimately mean sleep in), the place we had lazy weekend mornings and ate brunch on the balcony, the place that we did laundry while literally watching T.V, the place where we had many friends visit, the place we got our first miniature Christmas tree together, the place we walked home to after happy hours at Rio, the place we played scrabble on the balcony, the place we played Nintendo in the den, the place we would binge watch T.V hours on end, the place where we didn’t make a single friend in the condo while we lived there, the place where I spent months on the couch and in bed on bedrest before having Avery and Emerson. The place that when I literally walked into it each and every time, my heart would go into a calm place because I legitimately loved our home so much.

It’s been a time suck and a money pit for the last few years and Justin has had enough being a landlord. So we invested some money in it…did an awesome renovation, and sold it in four days!

Tonight we went over to the condo one last time before going to closing next week.  Avery and Emerson recreated lying in their cribs.

Harper…she never lived in the condo so I think she was feeling left out.  Daddy to the rescue!

Family pic….

Girls goofing around in the living room.

Pics of me and the hubs…my one and only.

And my original “babies”.  One evening after work 7 years ago, I came home to my 6-month old babies.  I took them on the balcony of our condo and Justin captured this photo of me truly living in the moment so excited to see my babies after being away from them all day.

We tried to recreate it…they are slightly heavier now…go mom muscles go!

Saying our goodbyes was bittersweet – its hard to say bye to something that you truly loved so much, but the 12013 Taliesin chapter shall close, and the story continue.

Sleeping in until 8:15 – check

Uninterrupted workout – check

Breakfast in the dining room (made by Justin and the girls) – check

Showered with cards, more cards, chocolate, a spa gift card, a homemade jewelry box, a homemade flower pot, artwork, things I love about my mom, cards, and MORE cards  – check

Brewery plans cancelled due to rain – check

Dinner prep in the kitchen for hours – check

Pictures….the ladies and one gent…

….the original Friedman’s plus kids…

….the whole enchilada minus Gabriel….

….pretend family of four…

….the grandparents and grandkids….

….a few randoms….

….check

A grand slam dinner – check

Baby snuggles – check

Eating an insane amount of chocolate mouse and chocolate – check

Being incredibly grateful for these three girls and equally frustrated with the daily whining and fighting…check

Promise to myself to breathe and count to 10 with regards to my reaction to the latter so that I can be thankful and grateful for these ladies ALL of the time – check!

My baby lost her first tooth this morning during breakfast while eating a strawberry…yes, a strawberry.  It was getting looser than it had been last week and then yesterday, it all of a sudden became significantly looser than it it had been and we knew that the lifespan of that tooth would be nearing an end in the next few days.  It started bleeding last night and she freaked out.  But this morning, she was no longer scared and wanted it to come out.  She asked me to pull it, in which I told her it wasn’t quite ready for me to aid in the process.  So she took matters into her own hand and ate quite the breakfast in order to increase her chances of it falling out.  While we weren’t looking, it came out and she called our attention right away.  There she was tooth in hand with some red coming from it…still not sure if it was blood or the strawberries, but either way no tears on her end, just pure happiness. 

Patiently waiting at the top of the stairs to see what the Easter Bunny brought.

And they are off.  Their excitement for their Easter baskets is my favorite part of the day!

The Easter Bunny was generous this year, although he/she did not bring any chocolate or candy.

Pics before Church.

Pic of Avery during church being creative with the play-do given to the kids.

A gentleman offered to take our family pic…why not!

And just the girls again.

And the recreation of the annual picture!  How many years have we had this same picture?  I think four or five now.  Light was a little off this year….oh well. 

And the hunt begins.  The girls each hunted for their own color scheme this year with eight eggs being up for grabs by anyone.  This years eggs contained mini Swedish fish, jelly beans, and cookies and cream eggs.  The Swedish fish were definitely a welcomed surprise!

And the sugar high for the day continues!  Happy Easter.

We spent Thursday and Friday of Spring Break week visiting the McGranes. They had extended the invitation for us to visit them since they first told us they were building a house almost two years ago. They moved close to a year ago and finally we were able to carve out some time to make the visit. It’s such an easy beautiful short drive and I’m already looking forward to our next visit with them.

Thursday morning our 9:30 departure time, really turned into an almost 11:00 departure time! One day we (okay I) will be early for something….one day!! Despite getting up early, working out, and even finishing Lift 4, an 8 week-program, I was moody! Moodier than I have been in a month….the girls were not listening all morning and I let it get the best of me for some reason. The drive was quiet as we all had our IPADs and earphones. Yet the second we arrived in Charlottesville and at South Street Brewery, a flight of 12 beers seemed like just the thing I needed to turn my frown upside down.

And this girl no longer wants to order off the kid menu.

After lunch we headed to Monticello, where we had tickets for a tour at 3:45. The day was gorgeous and the view of the grounds absolutely breathtaking. I’m not a huge history buff; however, I certainty appreciate the history and enjoy imagining life two-hundred years ago. `The girls really enjoyed Mt. Vernon last year so we thought they would love Monticello. Honestly, they whined more than I cared for….and again I found myself beyond frustrated with much of our time there.  But we did have some good moments.

The girls had fun taking turns using the camera to capture some pictures.

A passer buyer saw the commotion and offered to take our picture.

A little fun writing with feather pens.

A stop at Jefferson’s gravesite followed before we headed back to the car.

After Monticello, we made our way to the McGranes, where we enjoyed an evening with them and got to tour their beautiful home.

Sam and Zabby worked Friday, while their kids were in school. The weather was calling for thunderstorms later in the day with cloudy skies throughout. We were out of the house by 10:00 and headed straight to Bodo’s as the girls were starving. Bodo’s must have an exceptional bagel because not only did all three girls finish their bagels, but each asked for another!

And this girl lost her 8th tooth at breakfast. Okay, I may have pulled it…but it was bothering the heck out of her and she begged me to get it out.

Next stop was UVA. The afternoon thunderstorms came earlier than expected…one minute it was sunny, the next torrential downpour. I still don’t know how, but every time the skies opened up, we managed to sneak under cover within seconds.

The grounds….

The Rotunda….

When it appeared that the rain wasn’t going to let up anytime soon, we visited the UVA Bookstore and then went to lunch at Sultan Kabob, a Turkish restaurant that was excellent. We ate lunch slowly as we watched the heavy rain from inside.

After lunch when the rain has slowed down, we decided to go to Pippin Hill Winery. I’m so glad we did because the scenery was beautiful and the atmosphere right up my alley.

Justin and I did a wine tasting while the girls sat and ate their cookies that we bought at a bakery right after lunch.

We met the McGranes for dinner at Three Notch’d Brewery…delicious food, beer, atmosphere…all at a reasonable price!  

Sunday morning we went on a hike through a trail on their 5 acres of property and then went to downtown Charlottesville and walked around for a bit. The McGranes met us for lunch at The Whiskey Tavern after Joey’s soccer game. Food was good, service so-so at best.

We had a great weekend visiting the McGranes and can’t wait to do it again!

Justin and I took off today to have a family day with the girls on Day 1 of spring break.  Karolin left to go back to Germany this morning and with Larissa on vacation for the week, the house almost seemed quiet with just the five of us…almost!

We ate an early lunch and then headed for a quick visit at Grandma Adele’s.  I had not seen her since her birthday in December…yikes….so the visit was long overdue.  Bowling was next on the agenda, which has apparently turned into an annual spring break tradition. Emerson bowled the “real way” this year. Avery was encouraging everyone each frame.  Harper was her natural goofy self and even bowled backwards one frame. 

Despite Harper’s expression, we all had a good time! 

I made a point to say several times that it isn’t whether you win or lose the game, but its how you play the game….with that being said, check out the score!

A quick stop at our condo was next.  We had a little snafu with the paint color and I’m still struggling some with it…the staging looks good, but what looks real good, could have looked amazing in my opinion and I’m going through my own grief process right now….trying to let it go though because it very well may not affect a buyer’s decision or the selling price, but I honestly have no way of knowing so it’s still a little tough to swallow.  Anyway, took a few pics of the place…Avery and Emerson in their first bedroom.

Me in our first bedroom as a couple!  I actually got teary eyed thinking that this place wasn’t going to be ours much longer. 

A quick stop at the bank and for soccer cleats was next.  It was on the way and Justin and I can’t resist tossing in some quick errands whenever we can!

And then finally dinner (early bird special time) at Founding Farmers.  I hadn’t been there in YEARS and I loved the vibe and the menu was equally enticing.  I ate a delicious salad.  We sat by the window…a perfect spot for “pupil” watching as Avery was calling it.

I caved in and let the girls get dessert because I thought them having dessert there versus at home would keep me from eating it.  WELL…the ice cream cones that they got were MASSIVE…and there was no way I could let them eat it alone.  The chocolate ice cream was delish and I made them give me some of theirs!   Emerson got the donut and I think she wished she had gone for the ice-cream….next time! 

Kids being kids….I love it.  Next time I’m getting ice cream on my nose with them!