All in all a good day :)

Being in the final stretches of tax season ... well Rob being in the final stretch of working ... and our household hanging in there until April 15th, when family dinners can begin again and after dinner walks become routine, we have needed to take many "breathers" as they say in my field.

Rob and I recently realized we both get testy this time of year ... why wouldn't we? We are juggling full time work schedules, 2 toddlers, and full social calendars ... all of which bring us joy ... much of the time. But still, some days are just a lot to take in, today however was not one of them.

Today was one of those good days, where really nothing could bother the order of things. It was over 50 degrees for more than 8 hours, work went smoothly and I felt accomplished and invigorating by the Girl Power group working hard and overcoming some obstacles. I picked up the girls at daycare and they both shrieked in excitement to see Mommy. Renee even shared that Julia was babbling all afternoon "maaaaamaaa" and hugging her baby doll and saying it some more "maaammmmaaaa". Julia did her sweet knee hopping all the way toward me and Emma ran in front of her and grabbed my legs and proudly exclaimed "I made you a picture and it has all these wonderful colors, see Mommy pink!". Ahhh, how can you not melt and just not let anything bother you?! So when Emma asked to go to the park I of course obliged and said, "Sure sweetie". We made a quick stop at the baseball field and park and the girls enjoyed swinging together. This is really becoming a fun stage, both Emma and Julia being able to swing and laugh ... together. So sweet. Julia is very motivated to be like her big sister. Emma climbed up the ladder, Julia lunged out of my arms to try and climb the ladder ... now she won't walk independently, but climb a 5 foot ladder after her sister ... SURE!!!!

We stayed for about 30 minutes then Mommy declared, time to head home for dinner and to my surprise the nearly 3 year old did not protest, but simply said, "Ok Mommy. Can you make grilled cheese?" Again, I say SURE!!!!! How easy is that? So it was grilled cheese, raisins and big smiles for dinner with my girls.

After dinner, we got to play and sing and dance, another trait Julia is quickly acquiring, she loves music and has some rhythm already ... she likes to shake her booty! So so so adorable.

Then it was bed time, Emma got to watch a show while I read a book and rocked Julia for her special bed time routine and then Emma got her own Mommy time and she played a new fun game ... do Mommy's hair and put on pretend earrings (these were colored bangle bracelets that Auntie April got for her) ... she hung them on my ears and told me how "magical" I was. This little one is full on in the Disney princess mystique!!!

To wrap up this simple yet good day, I am online at 9 p.m. and have vacuumed, cleaned the dinner dishes and picked up all the toys! To me this is an all in all ... good day. Let's see if this can roll over to tomorrow!

Birthday pictures

Thank you to everyone who celebrated Julia's 1st birthday. We had the best time and she seemed to enjoy ever second ... including the enormous serving of birthday cake!

And thank you to GG for sharing her special day with us. Hope you had a wonderful birthday, we love you.

Been MIA

Hellooo ... we have been busy ... it is tax season and all so I have had very little free time at home. And then when the girls go to bed it's catch up time here and of course there is this inconsistent Internet service crap we've been dealing with too!
So, yes I've been MIA from the blog. But a few big happenings:
Julia took her first solo steps this week!!! She is very content crawling and "knee hopping/walking" across the floor but with some coaxing by Rob and I she has taken a few unassisted steps to us. Soon she may be on her own for good ... definitely a girl who does things on her time.
We had a great weekend at home and Saturday wonderful day visit from Auntie April. Emma was so excited all day to see her Auntie. It was very sweet. We went up to the park and savored the beautiful weather. It was so great because the Sumners were also there and Rob got to meet us too. It was one of those pleasant unexpected surprises kind of day. And topped off with RaRa's ice cream -- yum!!! Julia enjoyed her first ice cream treat -- vanilla soft serve and she loved every bite!
Today we drove to Madison to visit our dear friend Sarah. She lives in Montana but her family is from Madison and she's here for a visit. It is always so refreshing to see her. We can easily catch up and share parenthood stories and both Emma and Jack played so well together. Her parents home is like taking a page out of "Little House on the Prairie" though I am sure my timedating is off to the period of their home it certainly is the oldest most true to nature homes I've ever been to. It's so serene and calm. The kids got to enjoy nature and handpick freshly laid eggs from the chicken coop. We went for a leisurely stroll down the road and indulged in Sarah's homemade chocolate chip cookies. We also got to oooh and ahhhh over little miss Eve. She is just 3 months old and the sweetest little baby. She slept the day away, only waking up to eat and then snuggling back in for some sweet zzzz's. She's absolutely breathtaking. (Pictures to follow shortly).
The girls travelled well back and forth and we came home to Daddy having a healthy and yummy dinner ready for us to enjoy! He rocks!!!!

Country smells

Ok, I only have a minute because we are getting ready for our mini date ... Rob is making his drink of choice (whiskey and coke) as I type this ... but I just had to share a country woe ...
Yesterday we enjoyed the first glimpse of Spring here in the Northeast and with that, apparently comes, some extremely offensive country smells.
Yes, we have been here for 3 years, however we do not live with in a mile proximity of a livestock farm. We have many little farms on our road, but with in my little "neighborhood" we do not have these ... I am sorry but I have to write it, repulsive nasty disgusting MANURE producing farms.
Unfortunately, my work is directly in front of a very LARGE livestock farm and I was fortunate to be on maternity leave last year so I missed this spectacular, or should I say spectacle, last year (Thank you very much Julia ... and as Rob said ... maybe I will have to be on maternity leave every Spring ... seriously I might consider this an option to avoid the raunchy nasty cow dung).
My co-workers thought it was hysterical that the city girl was unfamiliar with Manure. Now I am not unfamiliar with manure, I am unfamiliar with the scent of manure that literally makes you think you are walking inside a cow's butthole all day!!!!!!! Seriously, it is perhaps the most disgusting scent ever. So much so I have been compelled to begin research to see whether or not we are inhaling gases that are hazardous to our health (my research has been limited but found that there could be some concerns). Now I know that you all now that I can tolerate a great deal and try to be a trooper but this Manure issue has me really thinking I may be boycotting work and using up the last of my sick days until this clears. My coworkers say this is just the beginning ... many of them have sarcastically replied to me "oh this is nothing wait until the flies come". What the F people, how can this possibly be acceptable??????? Rob tells me that this issue has been going on since he was at school there!!!! I might just have to employ the everyone wheres a gas mask at school policy until this sh*t clears!
Ok, I am sorry to go off on a tangent and to expose this subject to those who may never have to deal with this kind of issue but I am in a Manure explosion at work and I had to share!!!

Now I've Had the Time of My Life ...

... Yes I swear, it's the truth and I owe it all to ...

my wonderful husband, sister and best friend. Rob spoiled me for my birthday (Yes, I know this post is late - but it's still MY birthday month so I can write about it as long as I want to!). He colluded with April and Danielle and organized a girls night out in Boston. How fantastic is that?!! I would have been in birthday heaven with just a meet up for a drink but they went all out and made reservations at a very chic and yummy downtown restaurant (http://www.ivyrestaurantgroup.com/). We enjoyed a delicious assortment of Italian plates ... my favorite being the Arrancini. We also finished off a bottle of Cabernet in a little under an hour, so I was feeling quite sassy when we headed off for our big girls night. And big it was!!! Rob treated us all to Dirty Dancing LIVE! It was like watching the movie right there. The songs, the dancing, the story line, all just wonderful. We did all agree that NO ONE will ever replace Patrick Swayze as Johnny ... it just can't be done. I mean, come on, to get a guy dancing and singing and still irresistibly hot that is a rare talent and unfortunately this poor dancer/actor did not meet those guidelines. But we didn't let that deter us from boogie and singing along. We had a blast and were a marketers dream ... we bought the Dirty Dancing coffee mugs and the 20th Anniversary DVD -- yup can you believe it has been 20 years since this classic debuted??!!! Danielle came over the next night and we somehow managed to rope our men into watching the movie into the wee hours of the night, I think I saw their legs tapping a few times as if they were about to jump off the couch and go all Johnny on us! he he he.

Not only that, but Rob found my Dirty Dancing CD and that has been in my kitchen entertainment repertoire ever since!!! Rob's a bit hesitant since he feels it's not quite appropriate to teach the girls all this Dirty Dancing business yet ... but who doesn't love to dance while prepping dinner. So far the girls both love it when Mommy busts out the spatula "microphone" and twirls them around to "Now I've Had the Time of My Life".

So, in short, my birthday was amazing ... loved every minute and love my husband, sis, Mom and Michael, my girls, and my wonderful friends and family so much. Thank you all for sending your birthday wishes!!!

First sweet!

We had a wonderful day on Tuesday, celebrating the birthday of little Julia. Even with a touch of yet another bug, Emma was a great big sister and wanted to join in on the birthday outing to Daddy's work and lunch with Daddy.

Here are the girls sitting at a table at Nancy's Fancies in Providence, waiting patiently for their cupcakes!



The baker made the cupcakes fresh to order!

Julia and Daddy enjoying her birthday lunch date.

Emma was all smiles and so proud that her sister turned 1.

Julia was a little confused that we were all singing and actually gave her something squishy, messy and sweet!

Here is some footage of Julia's first taste of the good stuff -- a vanilla cupcake with pink frosting! We were super excited and you can hear that in our singing to Julia (maybe I will just mute that out! LOL).

Here is Jules mushing her frosting and sharing with all of us, she's so sweet! She seemed to like the cake part and was not certain about the frosting. She's got lots of time to acquire that love! xoxoxo

Julia is 1!

Happy Birthday to Julia Frances!

We can not believe a year has come, little Julia is now a toddler. Not a baby ... well to us she will always be our baby. I took her birthday off to give her lots of special attention. We plan to drive into Providence to meet Daddy for a birthday lunch and get her first sweet at Nancy's Fancies ... a great cupcake shop on Atwell's Ave.

Julia is so much her own character, it's so adorable. She's persistent and a free spirit. She likes to figure out all of our gadgets and then clap for herself afterwards. She's great at pushing around the furniture and cruising right along. She gets super excited when she sees her Daddy, she does a whole body jiggle! She picks up the phone and says hiiiiiiii and she hugs her toys and baby dolls. She seems to be a Pisces through and through -- she is sweet, cuddly, a thinker and motivated. She gives the best hugs and big open mouthed kisses. We love her so much and are so happy to celebrate her 1st year during her "birthday week".

Part-time everything.

I saw the title of a blog today and it made me pause, it was called "part-time everything". It resonated in me. Lately that is how I feel. I am a full time working mother, therefore I am a part timer to everything else. What a weird place to be. Especially for someone who always gave 100% to everything. It's been quite the balancing act. How do you give your children your undivided attention when you have thoughts of unfinished issues with the children at school today? How do you make sure your husband knows how important he is, even if you only see him for a kiss and a hug on your way in from work and his way out to class? How do you let your family and friends know you are thinking of them, even if you can't actually get to see them any time this week or month? Well I guess as we get older and attain more responsibilities we have to accept we are part-time to everything ... even if we are committed to full-time roles. Although I work full-time I hope my girls feel that I give everything I can when I am there with them and that even when I am not with them, while I am at work I am most certainly thinking of how their day is going ... and that Rob knows and feels that our mini-chats and our new "date hour" is a way to show how important and loved he is. I don't really know how to do things part-time, it doesn't work that way for me, but in a world where we are all so busy taking care of things I guess I have to find ways to stay grounded ...
Anyone else feel torn?
What do you do to balance it?
For now I will ponder and let you all know later :)

Spanish tapas galoure!

Last night I got to try (yup keyword is try) to have a fun night out at my sister's. She put together an amazing Spanish tapas menu, it was amazing. From pomegranate sangria to Spanish chorizo and blue cheese puffed pastry tarts. It was all so delicious. And it was fun to hang out with her girl friends and catch up ... but ... little miss Julia seems to have her mother's personality and always wants to be part of the party! My attempts to put her to sleep on schedule were met with raging cries and her nearly throwing herself out of the pack n play. But as soon as I stepped into the kitchen, where the rest of the girls were, she was as happy as a clam. Smiling, laughing, flirting away! She is undoubtedly becoming a social butterfly. Well this Mom wanted some quiet time so I continued to attempt to settle her in for bed and until 11 p.m. she vehemently fought it. So at that point I decided to cut my losses and just head back home. That is the thing ... parenthood makes you have to assess and reevaluate all of the time. Do I stay and let her be ... and risk having a maniac child all day Sunday ... and a miserable Mom from lack of sleep too! Well I am happy to say I did make the right decision ... we arrived home at 12:30 and she was glassy eyed and gave Daddy a hug and feel peacefully asleep as soon as she hit her crib. She slept until 8:30 a.m. So I've decided not only is Julia a party animal, she also very much likes to sleep in her own bed.
Sorry to my sister that I had to leave, I was looking forward to hanging out this morning. But I had a great time and really loved all of the yummy treats and the girl time!

First haircut!

So a trip to snip-its for Emma inspired me to just go for it and get Julia's hair trimmed too! I am a big fan of snip-its because it is entirely kid focused and they really know how to entertain the little ones and entice them into good behavior -- they start them off with their own snip-it pass which is handed in at the end of the visit for a prize! Then they move them over to the colorful salon which is equipped with a TV at each station and they have games and/or movies for the kids to pick while they get their locks trimmed. Emma loves it! She also loves that at the end they ask her if she'd like ribbons and ponytails and as you would expect she screams "yes two pony's". And Miss Julia was perfect!!!! She sat right down and smiled and chewed on her snip-its pass the entire time. She actually really loves her hair being brushed so this was a great treat for her.

These are the before and after pics of the girls -- they definitely needed some sprucing up and now look so cute!