life getting in the way...

So my mom has people have been asking me when I was going to post on the ole bloggy-blog again.  Since it had been March since I last posted.  What can I say?  It's been a busy few months around here.  Here's what we've been up to:
Char-baby turned 1!  She is now walking. And, running.  And, talking.  Okay, she says "More" and "All done" and occasionally mimics what we say. She's at the fun age where she understands way more than she can say.  She moved up to the Toddler Room at school.  The teachers are great and they LOVE her.  They all call her Char-baby (our nickname for her) and one teacher even admitted that Char-baby was her favorite.  She still is one of the happiest kids around...but I'm a bit concerned about her terrible two potential.  Occasionally, she will THROW herself on the ground if she doesn't get her way.  Awesome.
Adeline finishes up kindergarten in a few days.  She really did love school.  She joined the Environmental Club and was in Daisy Scouts, too.  She also just got accepted to the gifted program for Math.
Elizabeth will be soon be a third-grader.  Earlier this spring, she got four baby teeth pulled (per the orthodontist.  She was a total bad-ass about it...basically not needing pain killers after it was done (though I certainly needed a stiff drink after watching it all!).
The Girls love being in day care.  I was worried about them after the nanny left...but they love hanging with their friends and have made us leave them there and pick them up later.  They also had a spring recital for ballet.  I'm hoping that we're moving onto another activity other than ballet in the fall...not that ballet isn't fine.  But they don't love it and it's a big pain/time commitment for them not to love it.
John and I celebrated ten (10!) years of marriage in April.  We've been together for 14 years.  To celebrate, we headed to Mexico with our friends, Sean and Autumn.  It wasn't all smooth sailing...apparently John's passport expired in 2009.  We found this out 12 hours before our flight...at 8PM...on a Friday night.  So, we had to push our arrival back a few days.  Luckily, we were able to extend by one day on the end...so we didn't lose much time.

And me? Well, I'm doing pretty well.  I'm working on a project that has kept me fairly busy, and I really do like my job.  Unfortunately, I have yet to lose my pregnancy weight from Char-baby (and I might have added a few pounds as well).  

Hope you are doing well, too!

current obsessions

These are the things (other than my family...and wine) that are currently making me happy!

Pinterest:  Yep...I've become a Pinterest junkie.  My pins relate mainly to recipes (I apparently have an obsession with chocolate chip cookie/sea salt recipes) and organizational tips.  We also made the girls Valentine's based off ones I found on Pinterest.  E & A also like to look at Pinterest for all the amazing kid's rooms (Tree Houses! Castles!) and dresses and such.

Why can't I have a slide in my room, Mama?

FitBit:  I got this from my dad as my Secret Santa gift.  It tracks your steps, mileage, stairs climbed and sleeping habits.  It's eye-opening on how hard it is to get to 10,000 steps a day.  So far I've convinced three people at work to get them, and we have a friendly competition over who is more active.  We're talking exchanging texts talking smack and running up and down the hallways at bedtime to hit goals for the day.

The Hunger Games:  I finally succumbed to the hype of the books and ordered them last week.  So far, I finished The Hunger Games and Catching Fire...and I'm about halfway through Mockingjay.  I keep pestering John to read The Hunger Games so we can see the movie.  Although, I might have to go it alone because I'm dying to see it.

Not getting my 10,000 steps in so I can read.
Team Peeta, all the way.

Draw Something:  It's Pictionary!  On my iPhone!  Please download this app and start a game with me! It is SO much fun!

Cadbury Easter Eggs:  These are NOT those disgusting fake eggs with the fake yolks.  These are like mutant M&Ms that I cannot.stop.eating.  My boss has them in her office and I eat them by the handful.  And then, she made BLONDIES out of them (thanks to a recipe I forwarded her on Pinterest).  OMG...they were AMAZING!

So damn good!

bullet points

• The nanny did leave us for a new job.  We tried to find a new nanny, but being in the far reaches of the suburbs is not a hotbed for nannies.  So, we're sending the girls back to the hoity-toity daycare that E and A used to attend!
• So far, the new situation is going well.  The girls have asked me to pick them up later because they have fun and they haven't complained about getting up and out the door earlier than usual. 
• Char-baby also seems to like her new classroom.  One of Char-baby's teachers actually was A's teacher back in the day.  She talks about how similar they are...in that they are both happy and easy going and they love to eat.  
• What I miss most about the nanny the fact that she did the girls laundry and unloaded the dishwasher.  
• Also the fact that Char-baby made it a whopping 6 days at daycare before getting her first ear infection.  And the amount of snot that continuously pours out of her nose is DISGUSTING.
• Char-baby has started to walk.  She still has to pull up on something to get to standing, but she can go fairly long distances on her own two feet.  
• I still have 15 pounds of baby weight to lose.  At first, I was hoping to lose it by 9 months (you know...9 months on, 9 months off)...then I figured it would be gone by the time Char-baby turned 1.  Seeing as she turns 1 on Sunday, that's not going to happen.  
• John and I are going on an 10th anniversary trip at the end of April/beginning of May.  I actually need to get cracking on those last 15 pounds.
• E asked me if the Easter Bunny was real.  Apparently, Emily H.'s sister told her that the Easter Bunny was really her parents.  I stammered through a response and she seemed convinced...but we shall see.  
• E needs 4 baby teeth pulled now (and probably 4 more in June) by order of the orthodontist.  He has described her adult teeth as "a log jam" in that 2 adult teeth have come back and filled the space where she lost 3 baby teeth.  
• A's teeth seem to be even more of a concern than E's.  When I described them to the orthodontist at E's last appointment, he told her to bring them BOTH in for June appointments.
• My dental insurance covers 50% of all orthodontia.  This is worth putting up with the 45 minute - 1 hour commute alone.
• I still love me some Instagram.  Here are some pictures I've taken since the last time I posted.

Top Row: E watching B-ball with Daddy; Dinner out; 1st day of daycare; A checking out Pinterest

Bottom Row: St. Patty's Day; Dancing at the Irish bar; Wearing SMU shirts for Uncle Dave; My Char-baby

two weeks

We've been very busy in the two weeks since I last posted. It started out with Char-baby getting a stomach bug that would.not.go.away. Seriously, she would puke...then be fine for a day (or two or three) and then puke again. Poor thing survived for a week on Pedialyte, toast, saltines and applesauce. John actually went to Dallas to visit his brother. We thought Char was out of the woods puke-wise, but then she puked that Friday night. Thankfully, my parents came over to help out...taking E to her basketball game and watching the girls while I ran out and re-supplied myself with the aforementioned Pedialyte. Luckily, she remained in good spirits and we had a successful girls weekend...

that included finishing up our Valentine's...

...picking up and getting Girl Scout cookies ready for delivery....

...and braving the coldest day this winter to deliver the cookies!

For Valentine's Day, we just headed to a local hamburger place for dinner...

but not before giving the girls the BEST!GIFT!EVER! (Seriously, yo...all three girls LOVED the balloons!)

We were supposed to head up north this weekend to go to NYC on Saturday and then out to visit John's other brother, SIL and our nephew...but we ended up bagging that. John was travelling a lot this week for work and then on Friday, we were blindsided by our nanny giving us her 2-weeks' notice. The thought of having to scramble to find a workable solution seems incredibly daunting...but (FINGERS CROSSED!) we might have it figured out! We'll see. However, not going up to New York City did allow us to have our usual Federal Holiday playdate with my friend, Liz, and her three boys that are each ~6 months younger than my girls. It was amazing how well they all get along, even though they are the boy-est boys I know, and my girls are such girlie-girls. The fact that we had some Lost Dog made it even better!

photo a day challenge: week 1 results

So, I actually stuck to the Photo-a-day Challenge...here are the results!

1. My View -- 2. Words -- 3. Hands -- 4. A Stranger --

5. 10 AM -- 6. Dinner -- 7. Button

I took a few other pictures during the week as well, that I thought I would share:

A rare shot of all 5 of us together!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Sea Salt

Amazon Delivers Cuteness to your Doorstep!

E was 2nd Quarter Wildcat Mathematician!

Christmas 2011

I just downloaded pictures from my camera and realized that I still had Christmas pictures on there. So, in better late than never news, here's our Christmas!

january in photos

At the beginning of the year, I jumped on the photo-a-day bandwagon, and decided to try to take an Instagram photo a day. It didn't last for long, because let's face it...my life is pretty repetitive/boring AND I get pretty busy and forget to take pictures. But, I did find a Photo a Day Challenge that gives you a theme for each day, so I'm going to try that for February.

Anyway, here's what I have for January...

Week 1

Week 2

Weeks 3-4

I actually took a lot more pictures, but I just didn't convert

them to Instagram.

hitting the books

While the Big Girls were doing their homework last night...

 

Someone else was perusing my cookbooks. She loves her some table food...perhaps she was finding ideas for her next meal?

 

philly!

We were long overdue for a trip up to Philly, seeing as Char-baby had never been there. We headed up on Friday evening after school, and (THANKFULLY!) had a relatively ride up traffic-wise.

After Maura and Maggie's indoor soccer game, we all headed back to the Please Touch museum. The Girls and I had gone before, but it was Char-baby and John's first trip. Good times were had by all.

the end of an era

I am pretty upfront with the fact that I'm not a fan of the newborn phase. At all. The crying, the lack of sleep or schedule, the fact that they don't really *do* anything...BLECH.

But a six-to-nine month old? HEAVEN. If babies were born as six-month-olds, I could easily be a Duggar. Kiki and I call them the glory months...the babies are happy and interactive, they can sit up and entertain themselves, but they aren't mobile and therefore can't get into things. It's perfect!

Unfortunately, we've left the glory era round these parts. At first there was the scoot-scoots, which was cute, but not effective in total mobility. But now she has mastered speed-scooting. And crawling.


So, now C spends her days ignoring the thousands of age-appropriate toys that she has and crawling/scooting from bookcase to bookcase to diaper bag...and pulling everything out. It constantly looks like a bomb went off on the main floor.

But, more than anything...Char-baby just lies in wait until you open the dishwasher. It's like Disney to her...the happiest place on Earth!

Unfortunately for us, most of the baby-proofing around these parts has been dismantled. So...we've got a fun few weeks of getting things back up to speed.

toothless

A lost her tooth yesterday! Unlike her big sister, whose loose tooth was the bane of my existence, she pulled it out without much hoopla.

E helped her carry on the tradition of writing notes to the Tooth Fairy. When it came to prize money, they decided that $20.50 was an appropriate amount to ask for. The Tooth Fairy, however, only brought her $5.50...which is more than the regular tooth rate in our house.

Just like her sister, the tooth next door is also kind of wiggly...so I assume that it will come out in short order. And, just like her sister, there's not much room for the adult teeth to grow in. Since E has already been to the orthodontist, and A's mouth seems even more crowded than E's, I see us become a favorite family of the local orthodontist.

scoot-scoots

C-baby is now mobile! She'll occasionally crawl on her hands and knees, and is really starting to cruise more now that she can pull herself up to standing. But, her primary mode of transportation is the scoot-scoot.

I love how she has her own unique way of doing something. It reminds me of A's mouth nod. And, I know it's bound to happen, but I will be so sad when the scoot-scoot goes away.

tap...tap...tap...is this thing on?

A fan my mom was complaining that I never update the blog anymore. She had a point, seeing as Thanksgiving, Christmas AND New Year's have passed since I last posted.

Truth be told, I've been busy. Life with three girls is crazy hectic. The girls are immersed in activities and C-baby is mobile. My job is great, but it's full time and is one helluva commute. I've been going to the gym early in the morning, so I've been going to bed earlier. Add to that the hub-bub around the holidays, and finding time to blog has been impossible.

My New Year's Resolution goal is to try blog a few times a week. I want to remember all of the little things that are happening in this crazy life we are leading. Even if it's just a quick post that (horrors!) doesn't contain pictures.

Luckily, this is not one of those posts. Without further adieu...here's what we've been up to the last few months.

Thanksgiving in Ashland

Performing in the Nutcracker

Start of Basketball Season

Figuring out Christmas Lists

Christmas Break at Home

Visits from Nonna and Pop-pop...

...and also from the Cousins!