Trip to see YaYa

Both Lytle and I were single ladies this last week so I decided to pack up the car and the girls and we headed to D.C. The girls were great in the car (helped that it was Olivia's nap time) and we had such a blast hanging out with YaYa. As soon as we walked into Lytle's apartment Isabella looked around and said, "Wow, this is so cute!" I think she's been watching too much HGTV lately. Olivia got her fill of girlie magazines and they had a blast in the kids playroom upstairs. Olivia spent the whole time sliding down the slide by herself, she also thought that climbing up the slide was a lot of fun too. We enjoyed the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and Isabella saw her first IMAX 3D movie.

In case you haven't heard....

Isabella and Olivia are going to welcome a baby brother in July!! Yep, we're having a boy! I still can't quite wrap my mind around it. I'm excited but do feel a little out of my league. Boys...I really don't know where to begin. I'm pretty good at the girl thing. I hope I'm a quick learner.
I really am excited that the girls will have a younger brother. It'll be fun to mix things up and I know Jason is just thrilled to have a little guy to watch college football with.

Open house

Even though I have two kids and one in the oven, tonight I finally felt like a real parent. I attended an open house at the local school where I want Isabella to attend preschool next Fall. It's based upon a lottery system so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that her number will be drawn. For the first time in my life, being a PTA mom actually interested me. Wow, I'll be the minivan driving PTA president in no time. What I've aspired for my entire life. A dream come true.

The tent

One of Olivia's Bday gifts was this tent and the girls absolutely love it. Isabella calls it her house and she loves to play tea party in it. Olivia just loves crawling in and out. It's the perfect toy for this time of year.

Olivia's 13 mos and 2 weeks old

Olivia's Birthday Party was a lot of fun! It was a much needed celebration in the middle of winter. Yes, I know she turned one almost two months ago, but who's counting. Lytle and I had such a fun time cooking and baking. Olivia also loved being the center of attention.

I don't usually think that all of the food I serve at a party is delicious, but this party was an exception. I've put the links below to a few of the favorite dishes so that you can add these to your party repertoire.

Three Layer Chocolate Cake

Coconut Cupcakes

Sugar Cookies and Icing

Fruit Punch

The Chili, incredible flavor.

Digging out

It feels like we've been digging ourselves out of the snow since this weekend. This is the largest snowfall ever recorded. It's actually beautiful and the girls and I had fun this morning on our walk. I need to track down a pair of snow pants so that I can take Isabella sledding this weekend.

A therapeutic environment

While driving home from work today I came to the conclusion that work is just downright depressing. Today it seemed like every patient in the unit had no chance for survival and was just actively dying. Of course, not without every medical expert giving his/her opinion on what should be done to prolong their already tortuous and miserable existence.
My work environment is so incredibly different from my home environment. I like home. It's a nice, happy, healthy place to be (most of the time). So, I can think of no better way to end the day than by browsing a few superficial blogs about home decor and enjoying a couple of thin mints, or 20.

Olivia's first steps

Another winter wonderland

I think we've had almost 2 feet of snow since late last night. It's still coming down strong and they think it's going to last until late tonight. Who knows how much we'll get before it's all over. Jason made a grocery store run last night so we're set. We've already worked on a lot of indoor projects and it's definitely a perfect day for doing about 6 loads of laundry. There's something kind of nice about knowing that you have no choice but to stay home. No pressure to run errands, make an appointment for this or that, etc. It's just a day or a couple of days in this case to hang out at home with the family.
Isabella and I are already making preparations for Olivia's 1st Bday party next Saturday and started making
these this morning.

Jinx

I think Jason definitely jinxed me the other morning when he said, "Babe, you have the greatest job ever (referring to staying at home w/the girls). These girls are so incredibly cute and you get to hang out with them all day." Typically, that is the way I feel about my girls, but not so on the day he made this statement. For the rest of the day I was putting Isabella in time-out, dealing with an emotional crisis or holding Olivia b/c that's all that would make her happy. Of course then Jason gets home just in time to grab a bite to eat and then heads to campus until midnight. Nice.
The photo above is the moment of the day when Isabella was actually happy because she was loving her new Dora sunglasses. She wore them the entire day, even when I put her down for her nap. So funny. She just kept saying, "I look like mommy now." Although, my Dora glasses are a lot cuter.