Precious moments

Some cute moments captured this week:

• Julia enjoying dinner and hugging her piece of bread and butter (another food lover thank goodness!)


• Julia picking up any electronic toy and pretending it's a phone (then gets a confused look when it does not ring back at her)


• Emma asking Julia for fish kisses


• Emma saying to Rob "I love my Mommy, my sister, my Daddy, and my cat"


• Julia cuddling her baby doll and giving it kisses

The simple things ... enjoyed.

Turning 32

Just had to share this ... I am turning 32! I know it's not even my birthday MONTH yet but it's on my mind. How come??? 30 and 31 seemed to pass by with out any resonating feelings.

I think it's because I can remember MY Mom and my Grandmother when they were in their 30s. It's so interesting to have a young family. Now when I look back and remember my Mom at 32, I was 14 and she had to run around dropping me off at basketball practice and picking me up, only to drop me off at an AAU game that same night. Mom, how did you do it???!!!! We kept you so busy! So Mom, I want you to know, you are amazing. You worked full time our entire life, you raised us fabulous girls, you cooked dinner and we sat at the table just about every night, you listened when I needed you to and knew when to add your opinions and when to butt out, and most importantly, you still had so much fun with us!!!! So here's a big THANK YOU to my Mom, you are and will always be my role model. (AND ... thank you for my UGG boots, they are amazing and have kept my feet warm through this horrific cold winter! xoxo)

So, as I look ahead to 32, I hope to be able to juggle motherhood as well my Mom -- even if I almost reversed through my garage door yesterday!!!

I was sent a survey on email that asked me to put down 25 random things about me, so here they are:

THINGS THAT MAKE ME SMILE:
1. ROB
2. WATCHING THE GIRLS PLAY ON THE FLOOR TOGETHER
3. SPENDING TIME WITH MOM AND MICHAEL
4. HANGING OUT WITH MY SISTER (and Timmy and Keely)
5. SEEING MY BEST FRIENDS
6. GABBING ON THE PHONE
7. GETTING A CARD IN THE MAIL
8. SEEING PICTURES OF MY FRIENDS ON THEIR WEDDING DAY
9. READING THE BLOGS
10. STEAK FRITES AT AQUITAINE
11. GIRLS NIGHT OUT
12. WHEN ROB CALLS AND SAYS HE'S ON HIS WAY HOME
13. OUR ANNUAL GIRLS WEEKEND
14. DEWEY
15. PLANNING A VACATION
16. A GLASS OR RED WINE (LATELY ZINFADEL OR PINOT NOIR)
17. SEEING MY FAMILY ALL TOGETHER
18. WEARING MY SCARVES THAT MICHELLE HAS MADE FOR ME
19. COFFEE WITH CREAM AND SUGAR
20. WORKING WITH THE KIDS AT SCHOOL
21. WATCHING EMMA MAKE FRIENDS
22. GOING ON A DATE WITH ROB
23. BUBBLE BATHS
24. RUNNING
25. TAKING PICTURES OF OUR FAMILY

**OK, I COULD WRITE TONS MORE BUT THERE'S THE JIST, FEEL FREE TO WRITE YOUR OWN LIST. I WONDER, WOULD IT BE EASY OR HARD??**

Princesses everywhere ...

As a Mom to two little girls it is no surprise that my world is filled with Princesses. It actually makes me chuckle because I am absolutely a girly girl but I can honestly say that when I think back to my childhood I recall it as being filled with dirt, transformers, and basketball. I definitely was more a tomboy until middle school (always feeling more comfortable playing a pick up game with the guys than cheering from the sidelines) so when I watch Emma run around the house playing princess and living in fairytale land I chuckle and think "where did she come from??" but my mother informed me this weekend that Emma is VERY much like me at that age ... Rob is not surprised!
Here's a little snip-it of our almost 3 year old in motion tonight:
Me: "Mommy got the mail, anything in there for Emma?"
Emma: "Give me one Mommy"
Me: "Here's a catalogue for you to look through"
Emma (while looking at the Birthday Wishes party catalogue): "OOOOH, Ariel and Belle, and Cinderella. Mommy I need a Cinderella princess party. Mommy look we need Cinderella cups with baby marshmallows in them like on there (pointing to the extravagantly decorated princess party themed table showcased in the catalogue!). Let's tell Daddy. We need princesses and belle and Cinderella and Ariel. Ariel is my favorite ... (and on and on she went).
Lesson learned ... do not show 3 year old catalogues or you will end up buying a Princess Birthday Party Bonanza!

Girls being girls ...

Even with our family coming down with a touch of a stomach bug, we are in good spirits. We have two cute girls that enjoy being girly girly girly, what could be better than this?

What will you join?

Today has been looked at as, "a day for change", " dawn of a new era" and "a new birth of freedom". With the inauguration of President Barack Obama I can not help but to feel inspired and proud to be an American. I sat and watched and listened to our 44th President with excitement, with hope, with respect for what he stands for. CHANGE HAS COME! I love the idea of his community gatherings ... the Neighborhood Balls, what a wonderful way to bring together a nation that has been torn down. His message that "We have chosen hope over fear" and reminds us that there is work to be done. I also admire his honesty that the change must also be from each of us, individually we must be the difference. So today I ask, what will you join? How will you be involved to help your community and your nation succeed?

We're All in this Together

Today I thought I'd post about work ... since yesterday was a very good and moving day I wanted to share it with you.

I am very happy to report that we had a very successful Tolerance assembly. I feel this is notable news because, as many of you know, I was (to put it mildly) traumatized by the November assembly experience where I had 400 children moshing in the middle of the gym! But with the help of a great support team and guidance of the more experienced administrators/teachers we were successful in having 400 children dance, sing and pledge to be Tolerant of all people. It really was quite moving to see them stand up all togheter and hear them sing "We're All in This Together" from High School Musical (which we adapted to have Cougars in place of Wild Cats) (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7zzbB17Fvo). Now believe me, we did not choreograph a Grammy performance but the message was delivered by the students that THEY are ready to stand up and pledge to be tolerant! On another note, as support staff we were quickly jolted back to reality that maybe it is the adults we need to be educating on tolerance not the students! Unfortunately when you have events like this it stirs up different issues for adults and sometimes they do not behave appropriately (read - they pick apart the minor flaws). So, although the message was wonderful and delivered with out any major chaos, the adults need a bit more time and perhaps education around how to be tolerant.

Christmas 2008 Slideshow

Click on the Slideshow to view the pictures :) Cheers!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sneaky ...

Ok, I have to admit, I am becoming a bit obsessed with this Deceptively Delicious mission. I am sneaking pureed veggies and fruits into EVERYTHING!!! And the family knows no difference! So I ask, is yellow squash in oatmeal over the line? I sampled it and you know what, it worked!!! Plus for an added bonus the cubes cooled down the oatmeal pronto.
On a semi-related note, Julia is eating everything under the sun these days. She only has 2 teeth but eats like she has a mouth full of them. She likes meat, cheese, veggies, grains and fruits. Eats yogurt well but has to space it out or she will end up vomitting. She is down to nursing 2 times per day and seems very content with that. I am done pumping ... Woohoo!!!! And I can not believe she is 10 months old tomorrow. This year has gone by so quickly.
Other Julia notes:

• First Word - mama



• Words that followed - baba, rara, emma, nenene, da (not quite dada yet but she's getting there) and loud (we swear she said this the other day but we'll see if she says it again!)
• Standing all by herself
• Crawling
• Pulling up to things
• Walking holding our hands
• Rolling a ball
• Clapping
• Laughing at her sister
• Recognizes herself in the mirror and gets shy about it
• Loves her kitty

As they say; "All good things must come to an end" Boohoo

Our winter vacation was perfect! I sit here and feel a bit glum, no more lazy mornings. As I type this next sentence, I have my fingers crossed, our girls are great sleepers. All but one day did they sleep until 7:45 a.m. which allowed Rob and I to catch up on some very welcomed ZZZZ's. They also took their naps right on schedule all week, which again allowed us to catch up on our own siestas or random house projects we've been putting off for the past 2 years! I also got cooking this week, making lots of purees (butternut squash, summer squash, carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach, and cauliflower) for the Deceptively Delicious mission. YUP, MY BLOG POST WORKED - Rob picked me up a copy of that fantastic cookbook! He's such a great guy and with a bit of guidance always gets me just what I want :) Which makes me think fondly of the great gifts I was spoiled with over the holiday and makes me want to scream THANK YOU THANK YOU to my loving family and friends, you all rock!!!!!!!!
It is this time of year when you realize that indulgence can be a wonderful thing. But like they say, everything in moderation! I have to admit, I didn't live by the moderation rule this holiday season, but I enjoyed every moment of it. So, January is for getting back on track!

A special welcome ...

Congratulations to Sarah, Paul, and big brother Jack ... Eve Marian was born on December 29th, she is beautiful just like her Mom!!! We are so excited to meet her soon.
xoxoxoxo