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Jumping in Puddles

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After realizing we didn’t have that busy of a weekend compared to some weekends, we decided to do something on our “spring/summer” list for today.  We woke up this morning and since I had a bad cold and Justin’s ankle had swelled up again after our walk yesterday, we decided to forgo the gym today so that we could get out of the house earlier in the day.  The forecast was calling for a mild day, but a rainy day.  Much of our list includes outdoor activities, and not feeling the indoor activities, we decided to do Old Town Alexandria anyway.  Quickly that turned into watching the planes take off out of National.  I packed some picnic food and for the first time ever the portable potty as with the rain, I didn’t have too many expectations and I decided it was better to be safe than sorry just incase we needed it.  (Turns out the girls used it for a total of five times…and thankfully just numero uno!)
 
Anyway, we headed to Gravelly Park, although I didn’t know that was the name until the area until we got in the car  and I put the address in my phone to navigate. We probably saw at least 10 – 15 planes take off in the time we were there.  Emerson had a great time and thought it was really cool to see the planes. 
I think she had even more fun trying to catch the seagulls with Justin.  
Avery and Harper on the other hand were terrified of the loud sounds of the plane and kept saying they wanted to go home.  While they both cried non-stop, Avery was okay to keep walking covering her ears (still crying) as long as we headed away from the planes.  Harper wouldn’t let me put her down and literally cried for probably 20 minutes straight…. real tears and snot galore.
 
We headed back to the car where we had our picnic inside the car and the girls took turns using the potty! As we were having our picnic, the girls got a kick out of watching the seagulls swarm around our car from some of the passerby’s that were feeding them. And Avery and Harper seemed to be a little more comfortable with hearing the planes from inside the car. 
 
After the picnic, we headed to Old Town.  The drizzle quickly turned into steady rain and the girls had fun using their umbrellas.  They looked super adorable and as always, a lot of heads turned with people thinking how cute they were.
The rain “forced” us to seek cover in an ice cream store where we had some yummy but expensive ice cream.  We then strolled slightly further to the waterfront in the rain and again took cover in the Torpedo Factory.
 
Despite the rain, it was a fun adventure with the kids and as much as I love warm sunny days, jumping in puddles make for some pretty awesome memories too.

Audrey Lee Friedman

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My grandma Audrey passed away Thursday.  A few days shy of her 89th birthday, one could arguably say that death should not come as a surprise, but to some extent it was a surprise…I knew my time with her was limited and each time we saw her, I made sure to get a picture as I wanted to capture each visit as if it may be the last.  And while I knew she was in failing health, she was healthy for being in poor health if that makes any sense at all.  Even as Russell said, she seemed to always bounce back.  While I certainly hadn’t contemplated it in great detail, I really just thought I would have a chance to say my “final” goodbyes to her. We had been planning on visiting her this weekend to celebrate her birthday.  When I spoke to her on Saturday evening, I could tell she was in a lot of pain as she told me every bone in her body hurt when I asked and she cut our conversation short as she was having difficulty talking. By Monday night, she was in the hospital.  Tuesday was when I found out she was in the hospital and from my dad’s voice, I could tell that this time was different than all the other times she had been in the hospital.  She normally didn’t like us to visit her in the hospital as I don’t think she wanted us to “waste” a visit when she wouldn’t enjoy it.  But I knew we were still going to go up this weekend, as I had a feeling that this weekend was going to be out last time seeing her.  As it turns out it was….I did see her for one last time….in her casket…certaintly not what I had been anticipating even a few days earlier.  Thursday morning I got the call from my parents that she wasn’t going to make it through the night.  Within an hour, I received another call that she had passed on.  It’s just weird…she was around for so long, for 36 years of my life, that it just seemed as though she would always be around. 

Anyway, yesterday was the celebration of her life and I here is the eulogy that I shared.  I am so proud of what I wrote…

Audrey Lee Friedman, January 31, 1927 – January 28, 2016

Life…I’ve been contemplating it a lot lately.  Everyone knows the saying “Life is short”.  We hear it all the time, but it is so true.  Just earlier this week, I began a project of organizing old photographs of Grandmas.  The process is slow as I find myself just staring at these black and white photos of a young simply glamorous Audrey whose smile is beaming right back at me.  As I go through the pictures, I am discovering all stages of her life, from her as a young kid, to that as a young adult, then of a happily married newlywed, then a radiant young mom, then a more established mom of two growing teenage boys, then a few years later a doting grandma and in more recent years a very proud great grandma.  There is something that is just so powerful staring at these pictures of my grandmothers late youth and early adulthood. Perhaps it was the carefree spirit from that smile and the way she held that cigarette…but looking at that picture I see a beautiful woman with her whole life ahead of her.

As I look through these pictures, it is evident that she had a good life, a great life.  Audrey and Mac were so proud of the family they created.  While I would often joke with my dad, that it was crazy that he grew up in a one bedroom apartment where the access to his bedroom that he shared with his brother Russell was through Audrey and Mac’s bedroom, the truth is Audrey and Mac provided for their family.  And provided for them in a way that allowed them to spend summers at the bungalow and send both my dad and my uncle off to College at The University of Maryland.  My dad and Russell created great lives for themselves because of the foundation that my grandparents made for them.  The last few years my grandma would often tear up at family gatherings or birthday celebrations and although they were happy tears, I could never understand why.  I get it now…while they were indeed happy tears, she was reflecting on her life….while it was great and wonderful, all those decades happened in a blink of an eye.  That beautiful young woman who I see in the pictures is the same woman who had been in her heart all these years.  A true reminder that “Life is short”

I will certainly miss you as I know we all will, but now you can be with Papa.  You’ll also be reunited with your parents.  Your mom, Fritzi, my great grandma, who I was fortunate to know and you had a very special relationship…you two beauties who looked more like sisters than mother and daughter are together again. I will miss talking to you on the phone.  And I know you will miss hearing the girl’s (your great granddaughter’s) voices –knowing what they were up to brought you so much joy.  When I told you I was pregnant, one of the first things you told me was that you wanted to be called “Gigi”.  Obviously, you had been looking forward to that moment because clearly you had already given this some thought.

The girls loved their Gigi and would often talk about her….they loved going to visit her and staying in the “hotelo” as they would call it.  Gigi adored the girls and was always buying them gifts, something that I thought wasn’t necessary, but a memory that my girls will always have of their Gigi. Gigi loved talking to them and loved it even more when she got to see them in person.  She would talk to them and her face would just light up as she was so intrigued in hearing what they had to say.

 I was your first born grandkid, a fact that neither you nor Papa made it hard to forget.  You were such a proud grandparent. Growing up, you would come visit….in the early years it was when we were living in the Rotunda and the story of how you were able to pick me out of the hospital nursery because of my full head of dark hair (a trait I inherited from my dad, your son Jeffrey) never got old.  Nor did the story of you and Papa visiting me at the Rotunda and me running down the hallway to greet you. As a young kid, once my own memories started to form, I remembered the visits.  You and Papa would visit several times a year at least, always to and from your winters spent in Florida, and we would go to visit you and Papa.  Until I was 10, we would visit you in the apartment that my dad and Russell grew up in and to this day I am still amazed that the four of you lived in such tight quarters. But again from looking at pictures recently and seeing how many people you managed to fit around your kitchen table, this was simply your norm.  I remember the bridges and the tunnels on the car rides to and from our Brooklyn visits. When I was 10, our New York visits turned into Concordia visits.  You and Papa were so proud of your home and for the next 25 years (hard to believe it was that long), Concordia was your home, the place where you made many new friendships over the years, kept in touch with many old friends over the phone, and took great care of Papa in his last ten years. In between our visits, we spoke weekly on the phone and every conversation ended with the both of us saying “I love you.” I too just like my girls have nothing but happy memories of you being a part of my childhood….and yes, just like my girls…I too associate gifts and food with each of our visits. But more than gifts and food, you constantly told me how proud you were of the beautiful young woman that I had become and the family that Justin and I had created. 

 Here we are on January 31, celebrating your life.  There are 365 days in the year and yet today is your birthday.  Is it a coincidence?  I don’t think so.  This celebration of life has truly come full circle.  And while life is short indeed, let this be a reminder that we shall live life to its fullest each and every day….Audrey wouldn’t want us to dwell for too long…just as Audrey used to say in each card she signed and each message she left, “many more happy and healthy”!

Snowzilla 2016

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We made it all the way through December without winter like weather.  It was amazing actually…we had MANY days in December that were over 60 degrees…a few even close to 70!  We were beginning to think that we would have no snow at all this year.  We were wrong though! Early in the week, the forecasts was indicating that snow, and a lot of it was on it’s way. And by a lot, I mean 1- 2 feet in the D.C area. As the week went on, the forecast was actually stating it was going to be a blizzard with the heavy winds. The forecasters were so focused on the weekends blizzard, that Wednesday night’s snow of one to two inches sort of fell under the radar but wrecked havoc on the cities rush hour.  Trips that should have taken 20 to 30 minutes took folks four to five hours!  Justin even went out in it to Target in Reston in preparation for the blizzard and said that the roads were bad and he was sliding in our neighborhood.   Everyone heeded the warnings and grocery stores were insane and shelves quite empty already by Wednesday night.

Thursday morning there was still snow on the ground and schools were cancelled.  The girls and Ludmila went outside for a few minutes.  This was Ludmila’s first time in snow!  Pretty puny in comparison for what was to come!

Thursday afternoon I went to Whole Foods to get the last of what we needed for the next few days.  Granted, it wasn’t like we would starve with what we had; however, knowing that we were going to be stranded for at least a few days, I would much rather be stranded eating delicious foods than crap. 

The snow started about 1:00 Friday.  By 6:00 p.m, there was already a decent amount on the ground as we walked to the Fosters for dinner and drinks with the neighbors and walking was already proving difficult.  In fact, Justin fell as he was holding Avery just before we got to the Fosters house and really hurt his ankle. Despite his being in extreme pain all night, we had a fun time and by the time we left to come home after 10:00, there was probably already a good eight inches on the ground.

 Saturday morning we woke up to snow, lots of it….and it snowed all day until close to 10:00 p.m! The day was actually fun and we didn’t get the least bit stir crazy.  The whole house slept in until 9:00 a.m. and while the girls did watch two shows before breakfast and watched one show before bed, there was no T.V watching or IPAD playing during the day.  We spent a lot of family time centered around delicious meals and spent some time outside shoveling and playing.  At first all the girls were kind of hesitant to go out, especially since the snow was still coming down hard and in their faces.  However, they ended up having fun playing while Justin and I were shoveling the driveway.  Avery eventually went in because she was too cold, but Emerson and Harper just kept on playing.  They were having a great time despite their cheeks being ridiculously red and their hands and feet and hair frozen.  

Harper in fact was having so much fun that she decided to take her buggy for a spin!
 
Here is what Justin spent much of the weekend doing, despite badly injuring his ankle.  He said that after he was out there, it got to the point that he couldn’t feel his foot.  When he came in though, it was a different story.  When inside he tried to elevate it some as he sat on the couch in front of the fire (yes, we, okay Justin), built our first fire at this home…but it was me who insisted Justin buy the firewood.  So, once again a team effort!
Ludmila joined us for a little while! This was her first time experiencing snow (other than Wednesday night)….and what a first time it was! 
 
Sunday morning we woke up to the storm’s aftermath…beautiful sunny skies with snow glistening!  Sunday was spent doing much of the same as Saturday…eating more delicious food, baking chocolate chip cookies, shoveling, playing in the snow and sledding down the pipestem with the neighbors. Harper was tired and ended up taking two naps in her “cave” while we were outside playing….thus why there are no pictures of her on Sunday.
And more shoveling…..hahaha….Justin’s face says it all!
 
Even the adults were sledding….it was SO much fun and fun to be a kid again!  
Ludmila even joined in on the sledding shenanigans!  
 
School was cancelled already for Monday and Tuesday and I wouldn’t be surprised if they have no school the entire week. Our streets still haven’t been plowed and their is literally no way past the driveway.  The girls went outside today with Ludmila after lunch.  Harper ended  up coming in a few minutes later as she had to go peepee and was tired and wanted to sleep in her cave.  After I put her down, I went to take a few more pictures of Ludmila and Avery and Emerson having fun in the snow. 
 
By the way, can I just talk about Harper for a second.  Excuse my language, but she is so fucking cute AND she knows it.  The things she says, the things she does, her facial expressions, her voices….ALL of it….it’s like she can drive me nuts sometimes but it is absolutely impossible not to laugh, think she is so cute, or literally eat her up because she is so freaking cute and hilarious and awesome all at once.  Seriously, I don’t know how a kid can be so darn cute but somehow she manages quite well.  Oh and by the way, besides the massive dump she took in her cave (as she now takes her naps in her window cutout behind her chair (a.k.a. her cave) and in her panties (yes, I decided to take a chance), she is potty trained!  Really, in all seriousness, she is doing awesome.  She is still wearing pull ups and nights and for naps (most the time) but they are generally pretty dry when she wakes up.   She is so darn proud of herself…..which also is so ridiculously cute!
P.S. Total snowfall was about 28 inches!
 

Potty Training AGAIN!!

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I’ve been anticipating, dreading, and looking forward to this weekend for quite some time.  With Avery and Emerson, they both wanted to try the potty for months and months prior to me being ready and at first I let them try it, but I quickly realized that sitting on it somehow turned into just a place to read or hang out.  With Harper I knew that the weekend long potty training method was the one that would work for us so while I occasionally let Harper sit on the potty at her request, I didn’t really bother to waste any effort or time potty training before the weekend long event began.  And while Harper may have wanted it to start several months ago, committing a whole weekend in itself is hard enough as it is for two working parents so selfishly (but also for Harper’s benefit) we waited until January when I had a three day weekend and we were able to clear our entire weekend schedule. 

The official kick off to the weekend began Friday night when we all headed to Giant to pick up our M&M’s, salty treats, and juice. We went to the Giant in Vienna so that Harper could have the “Customer in Training” cart that Avery and Emerson used for the same event two years prior.  Unfortunately, they no longer had the carts so the girls opted to carry baskets before they got to heavy.  
While the girls all regularly go to the grocery store without having to use the bathroom, for whatever reason Avery and Emerson both had to use the bathroom while we were in Giant…by the third bathroom request when we were checking out, I thought I too was going to lose my “shit”…no pun intended…lol.Anyway, so morning started off slow but good.  Harper doesn’t normally drink juice so she actually doesn’t like it that much and she was very slow to drink the liquids, which certainly felt like the process was watching paint dry.  We started official kick off at 9:00 and Harper was pretty quick to pick up on the process of staying “dry and clean” and teaching her baby to stay “dry and clean”. By 10:30 no accidents, but no pee either!  Finally a little before 11:00 Harper had her first accident but she knew right away and it wasn’t that bad.  We quickly sat on the potty; however, there wasn’t much more to come out.  Twenty minutes later Harper went pee pee and poo poo in the potty, and she was very upset and scared about it.  I told her she did awesome and she certainly didn’t refuse the M&M rewards. The rest of the day was good, but just slow…Harper took a two in a half hour nap in which she was wearing a pull up and while she had no accidents yesterday evening, she only had one pee pee after her nap. 

Sunday was very similar to Saturday.  Harper had one accident but similar to Saturday she knew right away and it wasn’t that bad.  She went pee pee in the potty a total of three times during the day, no poops, and no accidents after the first one in the morning. 
 
We can’t complain….all in all it was a very successful weekend with Harper staying “dry and clean”. It just felt very different from the weekend of potty training the girls a few years ago.  Justin said to me it felt like they were constantly peeing….so I thought about it did some quick math.  Avery and Emerson were drinking juice excessively their potty training weekend so realistically they were probably peeing twice as much as Harper is.  There were also two of them and one of Harper. So Harper’s four pees a day feels like nothing compared to the 16 daily pees we were cleaning up with Avery and Emerson two years ago. 
 
Anyway, it was an excellent start with a lot of help from everyone! Great job Harpee!

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!