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Christmas Break – A Little Bit of Everything, A LOT of Fun!

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The day after Christmas we went to Richmond for the annual extended family Christmas celebration at Rita’s.  I have been going with Justin to these since 2002!  Wow!  The celebration has dramatically changed over the years.  Years ago there were tons of young kids and we all gave presents to everyone.  Fast forward to present and most the cousins are grown.  The young kids are now Avery, Emerson, and Harper and Heather’s kids. Some people show up, others don’t and the celebration is now centered around the meal and not gift giving and is the celebration seems much shorter than in years past (although I think it’s probably the same).

Anyway, the ride to Richmond was miserable….it took us close to 4 hours to get there and Avery threw up about 2 ½ hours into the ride.  Thankfully Justin did a load of laundry when we got to Rita’s and cleaned out the car there so we didn’t have to ride the whole way home with the smell of vomit in the car.  Thankfully the ride home took us just over 2 hours and passed by so quickly….probably because along with the kids I was dozing too, something I don’t generally do when Justin is driving.

Since we got back home in record time, we didn’t have to stop at a fast food place for dinner, which was great, but also I hadn’t planned anything at home and it was still close to 7:00.  I decided it was the perfect night for Popcorn and a movie!  The girls went nuts when I told them we would be having popcorn for dinner.  Justin went the extra mile and while the girls and I got situated on the couch in the den, Justin put on his apron, came up with an accent that ranged from French to British to Indian and was HILARIOUS, and the next thing we knew Pierre the Popcorn guy was at our service for the next half hour.  He brought us popcorn, drinks, and apple slices!  I don’t think we heard the first half hour of the movie since Pierre had us in constant laughter. After about a half hour, Pierre’s shift was over and Justin joined us for the rest of family movie night.

Ludmila’s parents came to visit her for a few days after Christmas and she took the time off and is staying with them and sightseeing. Wednesday Ludmila and her parents came over for dinner. Ludmila requested my famous “chicken balls”.  So I made chicken balls along with penne with a garlic lemon wine sauce topped with roasted heirloom tomatoes and basil accompanied with a mixed greens salad with roasted chickpeas, homemade croutons, and balsamic dressing.  I should have taken a picture as the plating looked AMAZING but I didn’t want to come across as cocky (even though I was doing the cocky dance in my head).  Anyway, dinner tasted as delicious as it looked and I think her parents really enjoyed it. I know her mom especially was nervous about meeting the girls.  She was concerned the girls wouldn’t like her, but all three girls took to Ludmila’s parents and I think her parents really enjoyed getting to experience the bond that Ludmila has with the girls.  We ALL played ring around the rosie together and I think it brought out the inner kid in all of us!  And Maddy style, we posed for a few pictures!

The next night was New Years Eve and our plans were to go to the Brophy’s and spend the night along with the Niday’s.  Well the night prior Harper ended up getting sick…fever of 102 and throwing up mucous….very unusual for her.  She seemed okay the morning of New Year’s Eve but having just had a fever and not really knowing if it would occur the following night we didn’t think it was the smartest thing to spend the night out or expose her to our friends.  I was disappointed but since we see the Brophy’s and the Niday’s fairly regularly I wasn’t entirely disappointed.  My parents ended up coming over to our house around 6:00 and they brought Chinese food.  The food was okay but I didn’t have any dinner plans since we had intended on being out.  The girls went down before 9:00 and other than the half of glass of wine I had at dinner, I didn’t have anything more to drink.  We did stay up and I watched some of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve special from Times Square (a must of mine since I was about age 10 for it to truly feel like New Years Eve).  Justin and I kissed at midnight and were in bed by 12:15…well actually I was in bed with Harper by 12:15 as she woke up a few minutes after midnight and refused to go back down in her room.  So she slept in my bed and Justin slept on the couch.  The girls didn’t wake up until almost 8:30 and as I told Justin I haven’t woken up feeling so good on New Year’s Day in quite some time!  It actually felt wonderful to have had basically no alcohol the night before!  Normally I get kind of bummed when I don’t do something fun for New Year’s but I felt totally content with staying at home and celebrating in my sweatpants!  And by the way, I realized this was the 15 (YES 15th) New Year’s Eve that Justin and I have spent together…CRAZY!!!

New Year’s Day we managed to get out of the house by 10:30 and we headed to D.C via the metro!  We actually first drove to Arlington and visited Daddy’s office…something the girls have been excited to do since Justin first told them of his intentions to bring them there over a year ago!  We explored the totally open space concept and then went to lunch next door at the Green Turtle.  Then it was finally time….we packed up the stroller and then walked to the Ballston metro.  The whole car ride to Ballston Avery kept asking questions about the metro being underground and if she would get dirty. She couldn’t quite grasp the concept of something being built underground.  Avery was a little scared at first but quickly overcame that fear.  Harper on the other hand was clenching Justin’s hand the entire time to the Smithsonian stop.  Here we are awaiting for the metro.  

(None of the pictures are the best quality as we were using our iPhones and it was cold outside so not only were Justin and I in a rush to take the pictures, but the girls wouldn’t stay still for any picture…so all these pictures are more about documenting the event than they are good pictures). We got off at the Smithsonian exit and made our way to the Smithsonian.  

We spent some time exploring a few of the exhibits at the Smithsonian museum. 

Then the girls talked us into getting some popcorn.  Emerson kept feeding the pigeons, which was scaring the crap out of Avery. 

This next picture of Harper I took and is such a bad angle that it makes her look like a giant with a pedestrian sign coming out of her head, but it makes me laugh.

We then made our way to the Washington Monument at the girl’s request, where they ran around for a few minutes. 

We headed into the Freer muesuem for a few but only stayed in for a few minutes.  Harper got a kick out of the Buddha’s.  Avery was trying to figure out where the arts and crafts were.  The girls started to get a little cranky in there and it was well after 3:00 so we decided to call it a day and head back to the Metro.  All the girls loved the metro ride back and even moved seats a few times throughout the ride.  Emerson was standing and trying to balance without holding on. 

The girls did great and it was relatively easy to get down there and it was fun!  I’m sure we will be doing it again sometime soon.  The girls were exhausted and it wasn’t long before we got out of the parking lot that all three of them were out in the car.  At dinner, we all said several things about our D.C. Metro trip that we enjoyed most!

Christmas 2015

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Christmas was good this year.  I worked the morning of Christmas Eve and then Justin and I went to the gym just us around lunch time.  During Harper’s afternoon nap, the older girls and I made sugar cookies with the new gingerbread cookie cutters they had given me for Hanukkah.

I went the easy way out this year and had Justin buy readymade Pillsbury dough and while part of me had some heart ache with it, I’m so glad I did because the girls had a blast rolling and pressing the cookie cutters and then rerolling, adding more flour.  There was flour all over; it was a mess but I didn’t care because I hadn’t slaved over making homemade dough and we had a great time making the cookies.  I hadn’t planned on the girls bathing before Christmas Eve service but they had so much flour on them that I didn’t have much of a choice.  I gave them a quick hose down in my shower and by the time they were done, I had not much more than a half hour to get ready for church myself!  Somehow I managed and that included curling my hair! We took family pictures in front of the tree as planned.

We went to the 5:00 p.m. Christmas Eve service that was a kid’s service and as expected Emerson was very into the service and quiet and listened intently the whole time. She is like a little grown up!  As expected Avery was listening to the service, but constantly moving and talking.  And Harper pretty much was the same as Avery in terms of constantly moving and talking….she mostly sat with Ludmila and told Ludmila what she was thinking.  It was a kid’s service though so they weren’t the only kids talking.

After Christmas Eve service, Ludmila went to celebrate Brazilian style with some of her friends and the Justin and I took the girls to P. F. Changs.  As much as I love cooking, it takes time and sometimes that cooking comes at a price of me spending quality time with my girls.  So when I told Justin I wasn’t cooking Christmas Eve, being the good husband that he is, he was fine with that. The girls were well behaved and the food was good.  I’d say it most definitely was a good choice.  We went for a lap around the mall after dinner to “walk off dinner” and the girls had a blast looking at the window displays and posing for pictures on the benches. 

The plan when we got home was for the girls to put on their Christmas pajamas, brush teeth and go to bed.  Harper refused to wear her Christmas pajamas and we didn’t force it.  The girls went to bed fairly easily as they probably did not want to delay Santa coming.

Justin and I had done all the wrapping of presents earlier in the week so literally all that we had to do Christmas Eve was set out Santa’s presents including the stockings.  It was so stress free…it was great.  That left time for me to prep breakfast so that all I had to do was pop everything in the oven in the morning.

Christmas morning Emerson woke up first around 7:30.  She was okay waiting to go downstairs until closer to 8:00 as long as I put on a show for her.  Avery and Harper woke up about 15 minutes after Emerson and I managed to keep them content upstairs for a few minutes while Justin made some coffee for the adults and put the breakfast casserole in the oven.  At 8:00 it was time.  The girls slowly made their way downstairs and I think were actually surprised to see Santa had left them something because in talking with them before we went downstairs, I told them that I didn’t hear Santa even though I tried to listen out for him. We agreed if he didn’t come it was because he probably gave gifts to other kids and he would come next year.  They were actually okay with that and thought Santa hadn’t come.  So they were in a little shock when they did see something.  Justin captured it on video.  They slowly made their way to the playroom to see if Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk (which he had) and left them a letter in response to theirs (which he had). 

Then the girls noticed that he had filled our stockings with things and not coal!  Everyone got different things geared towards each person…Santa knew just what to get everyone.  The girls got a kick out of the fact that Santa left Mommy panties in her stocking….five pairs of panties and one piece of chocolate!

After opening our stockings, we made our way to the living room and the girls opened their presents from Santa.  The older girls got IPADS and make up!  Harper got a cash register, a purse, and a Doc McStuffins X-Ray camera.  All three girls got a sled from Santa. 

Avery keeps asking when it is going to snow….none of us could answer!  We then opened some more presents….from Mommy and Daddy, from Ludmila, from the girls.  We opened presents in an organized fashion so that everyone gets a chance to watch each person as they open up their present.  We opened presents for about an hour and then took a break for breakfast.  Breakfast was great.  We had a strata with mushrooms, spinach, onions, cheddar, and parmesan.  We had fresh fruit and REAL bacon that I made in the oven and was the REAL deal!!

After breakfast we opened some more presents, but still not all.  While the girls were having fun playing with their new toys and IPADs, the weather was an unbelievable 72 degrees and we took advantage by going for a family walk in the neighborhood.  It was muggy and felt like 100% humidity.  It felt like a muggy day in the summer after a rain…it certainly did not feel like Christmas day.  After our walk, I made the girls a small little lunch and they iced and decorated with sprinkles the sugar cookies that we made the previous day. Again, the kitchen was a mess but the girls had fun.  Harper was so messy that I asked Justin to give her a bath before her nap but he didn’t hear me say I wanted him to give her a bath so he just put her down.  Later Justin told me that Harper had been very upset with him and kept telling him “Bath”!  While Harper was napping, Avery, Emerson, and I did puffy paints.  I love how personalities shine through with each person’s artwork.  Here is mine (that york terrier eating from the bird feeder is really a bird)!

This was Emersons…she ended up taking hers and placing it against a second piece of paper for a unique look.

This was Avery’s….her’s took a good five days to dry!

My parents and Grandma Adele came over at 4:00 and we opened the last of the presents including presents from Mary, Russell, Michael, and Caroline. 

Those presents were spot on for each of the girls and were a huge hit!

Dinner was Christmas Italian style!  Last year I made an amazing dinner of beef tenderloin with an avocado, garlic, aioli sauce with an arugula salad and mashed potatoes.  While the meal was excellent, Justin, Karolin, and I were really the only ones who truly enjoyed it.  For the price and the effort, it just I decided it just wasn’t worth it to make that again.  I had a whole frozen baked ziti and homemade marinara sauce leftover from a few weekends ago.  So I decided we would have that with chicken parmigiana.  My mom helped me make the cutlets and I made some garlic green beans and dinner was not only delicious, but everyone enjoyed it.  Even Avery ate some plain pasta and plain chicken cutlets! I didn’t do appetizers and I didn’t even make dessert.  I pulled a few things that I had in the house out and called it dessert!  While I do love cooking, it was nice to have an extra few hours spending quality time with the girls.

Overall Christmas was great this year, although it didn’t feel entirely like Christmas.  We certainly didn’t feel all that stressed out with the process of buying gifts….over the years we have mastered that process and with one  full day of shopping Thanksgiving weekend combined with lots of Amazon purchases, we are able to take the stress out of buying gifts.  And certainly the simplified meal added to it.  But truthfully I think the 70 degree weather was the real winner as to why it didn’t feel completely like Christmas this year. My favorite part of Christmas….being able to witness the joy and innocence that the Christmas spirit instills in my three girls.

It’s Not a Party Until Someone Poops on the Floor

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I write this December blog only after taking a break from being outside in (not kidding) 70 degree weather.  As I write this, Avery and Emerson are playing outside with all the neighbors dressed in a T-shirt and a summer dress.  Justin and I decided to skip the gym this morning in part to have extra time…..extra time to recover from last night’s party…extra time to clean up from the party…and extra time for making a gingerbread house.  It’s actually quite ironic that we decided we would go for a walk instead of the gym and enjoy the beautiful warm (actually border line hot) weather only after making a gingerbread house in our pajamas.  Should I mention that the girls were actually still in their pajamas when we went for a walk?

Anyway, tonight is the last night of Hanukkah.  The first night was last Sunday and we went to my parents.  My mom made latkes as she normally does, but instead of doing brisket, she got ready made Peruvian chickens.  It was delicious and while I ate too much, I felt so much better than I normally do afterwards when I eat too much brisket. The girls were spoiled by my parents as always and my mom insists of giving them a present every night.  While I know giving a present each night is the norm, I don’t think they need multiple presents each night.  Thus Justin and I give them pretty small things sometimes…(i.e. toothbrushes and toothpaste which they not only requested, but were ecstatic upon unwrapping the present and realizing what it was).

We lit the candles and said the prayer each night after at our home.  The girls definitely know it and sometimes can even say quite a bit of it without much prompting.  Other nights I end up saying it myself especially the nights the girls are also helping light the candles as their level of concentration on lighting the candles appears to take precedence over remembering the prayer.  

Ludmila spent the first night of Hanukkah with us at my parents and then was around for the lighting of the menorah at least several more nights during the week.   One night we brought out the camera. Here is Avery picking out her candles….choosing the right colors is part of the fun. It’s funny how as they take forever, I think to myself, just pick a darn color quickly.  But deep down I’m also recalling doing the same exact thing as a kid and knowing that I would still be selective in my color scheme today. Emerson placing her candles in her menorah.  As you can see, her menorah was one of the ones that fell and broke last year and Justin managed to glue it back together to somewhat salvage it.

Harper with her candles.

Emerson providing some supervision and words of wisdom for Harper.

Ludmila attempting to get the candles to stand up straight.

Avery with her menorah ready to go.

Emerson with her menorah ready to go.

Family picture time…

Cute Harper….has fangs just like her mama!

Blurry picture, but typical Harper face.  Also, I sort of love this picture of Emerson because she always wears her hair and the back and refuses to put it in front…so this look is a rare moment.

Mama and two of her kiddos.

Avery watching as mama lights the first candle.

Harper’s turn to light her menorah.

Last but not least, Eme’s turn.

The girls know Hanukkah means lighting the candles, eating gelt, dreidels, and opening presents.  That’s the gist of it, right?!?! 

The 7th night of Hanukkah coincided with my mom’s birthday…Dec 12.  This year was also the first year that my Grandma would be celebrating her birthday in Virginia (her 88th birthday). Her birthday is December 15th.  A few weeks ago, my cousin Jason who lives in California and who I haven’t seen in over 7 years said he was coming to the DC area.  And while I hadn’t seen him in seven years, my other Virginia cousins hadn’t seen him and 9 years and truth be told that was only their second, maybe third time meeting each other when they saw each other nine years ago!  So I decided I would host a birthday party for my mom and grandma…that way Jason and his new girlfriend Gina (that’s another story for another blog….but not my blog so I’ll refrain) could join us and see everyone at once! 

My mom suggested we order platters, but that’s not my style.  So while we did order two cakes, I did everything else myself….I stuck to an Italian theme….did one baked ziti, one pasta with pesto, peas, squash, prosciutto, and mozzarella.  Then I did a caesar salad with homemade croutons and a kale salad with toasted pine nuts, cranberries, and a lemon mustard vinaigrette.  I also did my famous “chicken balls”….meatballs but with ground chicken.  All was delicious and I definitely saw most everyone go back for seconds. Everything about the night was perfect….we are finally learning to host in our home…i.e. finding the best place to put the drinks, the trashcan, etc….all may seem little but placement is huge in a successful party!  

Both my mom and my grandma thoroughly enjoyed the celebration and were very appreciative of me having the party.  It was nice that they felt that way and recognized the hard work and appreciated the effort that Justin and I made for the celebration.  Grandma Adele laughed and cried while opening cards and gifts.

Mom opened a few cards and presents too, but certainly made the focus my grandma.

The girls had a good time and we had enough family members who they love, that I was able to concentrate on hosting the party and not have to worry about the girls as I did when they were little. Everyone ate in different areas….some the kitchen.

Some the living room.

And some the dining room.

I made people gather for several stage group shots. While this is the better of the following two pictures, my eyes were squinty in the first picture, thus the need to post the second!  This is all the blood cousins with Grandma.

Grandma with the cousins plus our significant others….plus Emerson who wanted to join the picture.

And group shot…everyone gathering….

Gathered…and cheese!

And one more since Brett and Jesse both decided to close their eyes at the same time…perhaps that is the reason they haven’t received their wedding pictures yet!

One of the most interesting points of the night occurred when Harper was without a diaper for a short time (my fault as I was changing her and agreed to give her a few minutes out when instead of fighting with her to put it on).  She has been without diapers for a short time for the same reason many of times before and only once has she peed….it’s a risk, but one that has proven to be not too risky with her.  Anyway, the night of the party she decided to poop on the floor!  She got upset after she did and yelled for my attention.  I couldn’t believe it!  Luckily nobody was really in the playroom with her at the time (where she did it).  As Justin said, “It’s not a party until someone poops on the floor”!  

The only “regret” of the night (other than not putting Harper’s diaper on right away) was that I didn’t get to engage in as much conversation with everyone as I would have liked….but that is pretty typical of any gathering I go to in which I know people. Otherwise, it was a great evening!

October Happenings

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Here is the truth…I hate when I am so busy that I don’t have time to blog right after an event.  Ultimately what ends up happening is that I still find it important to include the event in my blog, but it becomes more of a chore as each day passes and brings me further away from the event.  So I sit here on a Tuesday night (granted it will probably be the end of the week before I finish my blog) on my couch, laptop on my lap, under DJ (the name of our comforter that I have had since I was 10, which “happened” to be the same comforter that D.J. Tanner from Full House (who I wanted to be by the way) had) and I attempt to write my blog.  Justin is out of town and Avery and Emerson have come in my room at least six times in the past two hours since I put them to bed so I’ll be lucky if I finish this paragraph before I fall asleep on the couch.

So October….October 5 Justin and I woke up at 3:45 a.m. to make our 6:00 a.m. flight to TURKS and CAICOS!  We had wanted to go away just the two of us for our 5 year anniversary.  Well Harper came along and was 6 weeks old at the time of our 5 year anniversary.  We figured we would do something for our 6 year anniversary instead. That too didn’t happen as we had just moved and were trying to figure out our financial situation with our mortgage and expenses.  Naturally we figured we would do something for our 7 year anniversary instead and when spring came around this year, we actually started planning for it. I had seen pics of Turks and Caicos beaches the past few years and while I knew we wanted to go to the Caribbean for this trip, I thought Turks and Caicos was out of my league.   But once we started planning, we quickly realized that Turks and Caicos was the place for us.  I even bought a skimpy one piece, if there is such a thing.  I’ve reached a point in my life where my time for wearing two pieces is over….the last time I wore I two piece I rocked it…we were in Greece in 2010…I was 30 years old and not once did I think to myself that that would be the last time I would wear a two piece.  Since then I’ve been wearing mom bathing suits…yes, one’s with a little skirt portion at the bottom….cute but certainly a mom bathing suit. I feel great about my body now, with the exception of my stomach and my boobs, which I have a lot of excess skin:(.  Anyway, I didn’t want to wear a mom bathing suit to Turks and Caicos and while I did bring one bikini that I wore once in seclusion, I found a hot one piece that certainly wasn’t your ordinary one piece.  I figured I have many years ahead of me to continue wearing my mom bathing suit.

We spent 5 days/4 nights in pure luxury.  Our upgrade to a 1500 suite was more space than we knew what to do with especially considering we spent most our time outside.  The beaches were breathtaking.  The trip there was actually quite easy and we were at the hotel by 1:00.  Justin and I just looked at each other with the same thought, which was “why don’t we do this more often”?  Literally once we were there it just seemed so easy. 

We spent plenty of time at the beach…

We spent some time at the pool…..there were more kids at the resort that I would have liked and a few of them were being loud and I was trying to relax thus I wrapped the towel around my head (my legs were slightly burned thus the towel around my legs).  Justin thought I looked  like Aunt Jemima!

We went to the Local Fish Fry Thursday night via the beach!  I ate a lot of fish tacos and conch while there. 

We went out to eat three times for dinner…twice to the same restaurant which was just a short walk on the beach….once to a sister restaurant of the hotel where we were staying.

We did a snorkeling excursion and saw some of the most beautiful beach scenery that I have ever seen before.  It was breathtaking.

And of course we had fun just being silly and trying to re-create a picture that we took on our first real trip together to Mexico in 2007.

While I missed the kids, I was completely okay with being away from them.  I knew they were in good hands and it was nice to truly be able to relax, get some good sleep, connect with Justin, and not have to worry about work, making dinner or lunches, doing laundry, putting kids to bed, or doing laundry.

The week after we got back, we met with “Bridgette” who two weeks earlier had done a family portrait session of our family.  We had never done family pictures before and while it was pricy, I knew that this was something not only would I not regret, but something I wanted to do periodically to capture our awesome loving family through the years.  We ended up buying 20 digital images in addition to the two canvases we bought. We’ve slowly been blowing them up and putting them around the house…our house is truly becoming a home and I love it. Here are some of the images that we purchased (primarily the ones we haven’t put up around the house…yet)!

We had the photo session on our anniversary actually and it was really special….Justin and I have been together for almost 15 years, married for 7, and we have three beautiful little girls.  I feel so blessed and these pictures capture our love for life and one another.

In mid-October we took the girls to the Reston Pumpkin Patch, where they had fun jumping in the moon bounce, playing on the slide, going for a ride on the train, and doing funny poses for the camera.

The following weekend in October we went to visit GiGi, which I blogged about separately.

Then the last weekend in October was Halloween!  The girls changed their minds on what they wanted to be almost daily, if not more, for weeks leading up to Halloween.  I finally let it stop bothering me as I realized they were having fun with it and I realized that we had quite a few dress up clothes that I could work with to come up with a handful of last minute costume ideas. 

In the end, Avery was a witch…although she didn’t want to wear her hat, or use her broom.  Emerson was Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  And Harper was Anna from Frozen.  My sister and Gabo were visiting from London and they joined in the Halloween celebration.  By the way, they are ENGAGED!!

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year and since we had been so busy the week before, we hadn’t yet had a chance to carve our pumpkins.  My idea was to carve them Saturday with my sister and Gabo.  There was definitely more basketball and soccer playing occurring than there was pumpkin carving.

Justin carved all three of them though….mostly by himself….

Apparently Avery was less than impressed with his pumpkin carving skills….

She carried a pumpkin…

As Emerson played ball in the street with Lauren and Gabo…

Lauren was practicing her mad basketball skills….I must say I was impressed…I think she is a better dribbler at age 33 then she was at age 12!

The girls got dressed and we took a few pictures of everyone including Ludmilla before she went off to her bar crawl.

We failed to get individual pictures of the girls this year….truthfully I was way less stressed about us getting ready then last year so I don’t know if I really forgot as much as I was enjoying going with the flow and was okay not to try to get them to take individual pictures in which I knew they likely wouldn’t want to take.

The evening was fun….Gabo had never experienced Halloween before and we joked that this Halloween experience wasn’t the norm…he was truly experiencing a 5 star Halloween.  It started out with a “dinner” costume party at our neighbors, followed by trick or treating in the neighborhood, where multiple houses were handing out adult beverages, followed by a bonfire in the cul-de-sac.

Here is Joe Dirt himself.

Day after Halloween was November….hard to believe it is November already.  Justin and I went out to dinner Monday night with them to celebrate their engagement before they headed to NY and back to London.  Girls spent the night at my parents which they love!  Tuesday morning Justin left for Nashville and I been playing single parent in the eveningsL.  The weather has been gorgeous the past few days…sunny, 70 degrees, no wind….best fall weather a person could ask for.  I’ve worked from home the past two days so I was able to manage to take a 45 minute walk each day around lunch time and it was glorious.  Being outside in great weather always puts me in a good mood.  While I know the cold darker days are approaching, I’m hopeful that November brings more fall like weather than winter weather. And if winter weather is what November brings, I hope we take advantage by making lots of crock pot recipes and homemade chocolate chip cookies!

Love for My Little Humans

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Today I am in just one of those moods where I am truly in love with these little humans that I have the privilege of raising.  It is so amazing to be able to watch each of my daughter’s personalities blossom.  It’s the little things that have brought such joy to my face the past few days.  Sunday evening I took Harper to her first birthday party where her sisters were not there to accompany her.  We stopped off at Wegman’s on the way home where not only was she my little helper in the cart, but also we were engaged in conversation during the whole hour in a half we were shopping.  We got home at 8:30 and instead of falling asleep on the way home, she was wide awake as Justin and I put away the groceries.  She was full of energy running in circles around the main floor singing ABC’s and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Today I worked from home and I decided to have Ludmila leave Harper at home this afternoon so she could nap while the older girls went to ballet.  I was going to put her down right away but for a moment, I realized that I say too often “I’m about to join a call” or “I have to get to my next meeting” and our discussion (she is now talking in full sentences) was so joyful….she was so precious….we sat in her chair and read five books while we rocked and read.  

Last night when I got home from work and wasn’t in the best mood, Avery and Emerson were each singing their own made up songs as the circled around the first floor as I cooked dinner.  My mood immediately changed as I was listening to and watching these awesome little humans.  

Don’t get me wrong…they often push my buttons…in fact, this is almost a daily occurrence but they bring me so much joy…I literally have so much love for them that I have to remind myself not to squeeze them so tight…I just like to get every last inch of love!

Visit to GiGi’s

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This past Friday Justin and I took the girls to go visit GiGi.  It’s our first time visiting her since she moved into her new “home” in June.  She has actually been in and out of the hospital quite a bit since she moved in and had actually just come home from the hospital yet again the previous night. 

Anyway, she is doing okay….I know the girls time with her is limited and I know she knows that as well.  I know every time she sees them she is thinking about the cycle of life and she is happy and sad all at the same time….happy to see her offspring thriving but sad  that the wonderful life she had felt like it literally happened just overnight.  

She still found a way to spoil the girls….letting them have chocolate, popcorn, juice, muffins, and chips!  While I could have stopped it, I know that the older girls are at an age now where they just might remember GiGi and if their memories of her are visiting her at her “home” and eating fun snacks in the bistro, I will be grateful that they have that memory.  

Harper’s First Dentist Visit

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Today marked Harper’s first dentist visit!  Lucky for her, she has been visiting the dentist with her sisters the last few years so the concept wasn’t foreign to her.  I took all three girls by myself and they did awesome.

 The girls playing in the fun playing room before being called in for their turn.  

Justin had come up with a plan the previous night for the order in which the girls would get their teeth cleaned.  Avery was supposed to go first, followed by Harper, and then Emerson.  That plan quickly changed as Avery decided she no longer wanted to go first.  It took some coaxing but finally the promise of an extra ring, swayed Emerson to hop on into the chair.  Okay so maybe hopping is a little bit of an exaggeration…I just may have had to pick her up and physically place her on the chair, but once she was on, she was pretty excited.  She had a smirk but was trying very hard not to smile.  She sat so still and did exactly as the dental hygienist said.  She even got to wear some cool shades! 

Harper and Avery watched in anticipation.

While I had still planned on Harper going second, Avery was so excited to go after having watched Eme….although, she did insist that I hold her hand the entire time.  

She was very excited to get her pictures taken as well.  Look at that smile! 

 

Avery and Emerson love the dentist…largely in part to the treasure chest!

After each cleaning, the girls get to pick out their own treasure…something that they frequently talk about at home each night while brushing their teeth. 

Finally it was Harper’s turn.  She kept saying that she didn’t want to get her teeth cleaned, but she got in the chair without much hesitation.  I had to hold her hand the majority of the time.  She was playing games with the dental hygienist and kept turning the opposite direction of the hygienist.  In the end, they counted her teeth (20 in total….the bottom molars are all the way in and the top molars are halfway through).  She too did great!

Avery and Emerson both have a lot of spacing overall which is good for the permanent teeth.  Emerson’s molars are very tight together and she had two pre-cavities.  I generally shrug off the dentist’s recommendation to eliminate fruit snacks as I feel like you have to take it in stride.  The dentist recommends cookies and ice cream over fruit snacks and gummies.  Every time they say that to me, I can’t help but chuckle because different doctors all have different priorities Would a cardioologist’s recommend th same?!?! Point being, I have always felt that fruit snacks here and there are fine until the dentist said that Emerson  had two pre-cavities!  I head the warning!  I’ve already told the girls no more and they were fine with it. Avery’s teeth showed a little bit of grinding but nothing that needs to be done to address it now.  I don’t notice it during the day, so she must do it at night. Harper teeth are very tight on the bottom but the dentist didn’t seem that concerned about it.  My guess is she will need braces in time to make space.  Her top teeth are starting to form to the shape of her thumb, which I already knew.  They said she needs to stop sucking her thumb but she is still fairly young to really understand, especially if she is doing it mostly at night.  She only does it during the day when she is tired, but I’ll make an effort to do what I can to help get her to stop.  On another positive note, the results of the girls initial X-rays which showed the top and bottom front four teeth, indicated that those eight permanent teeth do exist.  Emerson’s permanent teeth were definitely further developed than Avery’s and I could clearly see them.  Avery’s weren’t as far along but the dentist said that they were there.  We’ll continue to keep our fingers crossed that they have all their permanent teeth and if not, we will address it when the time comes.  But for now I am so happy to report that they all did great today….they were patient, well behaved, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more!

 

Nags Head 2015

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This blog is hard to write as I didn’t do it right away.  But we literally have at least 500 pictures and we had a good vacation (overall), so while it will be an abbreviated version of what I would have written a month ago, at least it is something.  On a related note, Justin got me a personal laptop for my birthday, which I still need to actually pick out.  My main purposes are using it for email and internet, which I can easily do from the couch at night and it will be easier to blog without feeling so cut off from Justin at night on the home computer.

We left Saturday August 22 for Nags Head to vacation with the Brophy’s for one week.  The girls had a blast and LOVE Erin, Brian, Hannah, and Quinn.  They feel just as comfortable around them as they do with family. It’s awesome.

The house we stayed particularly the room we stayed in smelled of mildew.  Justin and I are “see the flowers” type people so we tried not to focus on it.  Justin’s body though felt differently and by day two his asthma symptoms started to kick in.  He was a trooper and tried to keep up but by mid-week he was really feeling lousy and at 4:30 a.m. Thursday he drove himself to the ER, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia.  Again, he tried to still do some stuff but he really was sick.  We ended up leaving a day early when Justin developed a rash from the antibiotic he was prescribed, which landed us in the Reston ER the following morning, where again the diagnosis was pneumonia. 

While the vacation certainly was disappointing in that aspect, we still managed to have a good time. We spent several mornings at the beach.  Playing in the sand….

Taking a dip in the water….Harper that is…Avery and Emerson are scared of the water and don’t want anything to do with it.

Looking for shells….

We also spent one late afternoon at the beach going for a walk….

We went out to dinner twice…once the 10 of us and the second time the four grown-ups.  We cooked several yummy dinners at home.  We made cookies with the girls. 

The girls did a lot of playing and running around the house. We went to two Piers.  First Jeanette’s pier where we attempted all kinds of pictures…

Had some fun playing ring around the rosie with Erin…

We went to Hatteras Light House on a cooler windy day as evidenced by some of these lovely “do’s”…

We went to Nags Head Pier and took a day time stroll!

And before we knew it, our vacation had come to an end.  The girls were quite sad especially considering we abruptly left Friday instead of Saturday.  Fortunately, Ludmilla had a great idea to bring sand and shells home so that the girls could recreate the beach at home!

A Kid On A Carousel

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Saturday morning on our way to the gym, Avery and Emerson started talking about parks. A few different ones were discussed as well as the fact that we hadn’t visited a few of them in some time.  Anyway, Justin and I decided to fit going to Frying Pan Park into our day Sunday.  Here is Ms. Independent walking ahead of the gang.

And here is the slower of the gang.  Avery who decided to dress herself that this morning in a bathing suit, wanted us to be chickens.  So here we are saying “bok bok”.  

And yes that is Harper wearing a tutu.  Once we agreed to let Avery wear a bathing suit and a mismatched skirt, Harper too wanted her pick at her outfit.

Just Harper and me strolling along.  I’ve been bringing back the bun lately (sorry Justin)….but it’s a low side bun so that isn’t really a bun right?!?!?

While Avery took a little break in the stroller…..

And Emerson took in the sights of the goat…

Joined by Harper who wanted to do exactly as Eme was doing….

Followed by a stop riding the stationary tractors…..

They were having fun until the boy in the green shirt came along.  He was actually very nice and asked the girls if he could join them.  I said yes and he was trying to teach them about the tractor parts and then play a game with them.  Emerson and Harper wanted nothing to do with him as can be evidenced by their facial expressions.  I later tried to tell Emerson that he was just a nice boy wanting to play….I think a stranger being so nice was a little bit uncomfortable for her. 

We then headed towards the carousel.  As many times as we have been to Frying Pan Park previously, we have never ridden the carousel.  It only runs a few times an hour at most and today was the first time the timing worked out well.  The girls ALL had a blast as we rode it.  They were giggling and smiling and it was contagious.  

As we were riding it, I felt carefree and just loved the fact that at this moment in time, my girls were loving life and had no other cares in the world.  To be a kid on a carousel….that’s how we should all live life.

The girls then played on the playground for a little while. 

Ms. Independent who didn’t eat that much of her picnic lunch got hungry while she was playing on the playground and decided to go help herself to the remaining crackers in the stroller bag. Apparently she was eating and meditating at the same time. 

To be a kid on a carousel….