A Hard Worker

So what do you think of the picture above? Any guesses? Well, here's what happened...

As I was putting Mia's clean clothes up this evening, she asked for her cup of milk which I told her was on the counter; she went to get it. A minute later I hear an odd noise and "Uh oh Mommy! I (couldn't understand) it!" I look out her bedroom door and see her standing in the kitchen and she repeats herself. I still don't understand, but I know something isn't quite right, so I walk in to the kitchen. I see Mia holding the barely used bag of slivered almonds which is now empty as they are EVERYWHERE on the floor. I didn't really know what to say other than "Oh Mia." This bag was sitting very close to her cup of milk, so I am guessing in trying to get her cup, she grabbed the bag and it spilled everywhere. It was clearly a total accident, so I didn't get upset. Instead, I thought quickly. I reached for our handheld broom and dustpan and said "Lily would you like to help me by sweeping up the almonds?" Lily immediately jumped at the chance to once again prove her big girl skills. She couldn't wait to start sweeping! Mia sat down near her and said "My turn Lily! I sweep now!" to which Lily replied "No Mia, I will do it because I am a big girl."

She did a really good job too; she is such a hard worker! How long do you think I have before cleaning isn't so much of a game as it is a chore for her? Right now, I am loving it!

A Needed Day

I really needed today. This tax season has been extra demanding thus far (70 new clients and counting means more work, but that's a good thing too!). I have worked late nights a lot over the last few weeks; in fact, I was there until 1:15 this morning. It's very draining - physically, mentally and emotionally. Typically our Sundays are very routine, but we decided today would be a little different. First, we decided we would let our natural alarm clocks (aka Lily and Mia) wake us up. Depending on what time that was, we would decide our church schedule. We usually leave about 7:50 to get there for the 8:30 service and we're there until about 11:30. Lily came in a few minutes after 8:00, and Mia woke up a few minutes later. We all cuddled up in bed to watch cartoons for a little bit, and then the girls started playing. Ryan and I had thought about this possibility last night, and we decided then to forgo church for the morning (even though the girls were really excited about it), so we could have a day of rest and family time.

We all got dressed and went to J. Christopher's for breakfast which was so delicious and filling. After that we went to a nearby playground for about 45 minutes. It was a little overcast outside, but a great day to be out in the fresh air. From there we went to Target because we realized Lily's tennis shoes were literally falling apart; we found her a great pair of shoes that she loves. After this we went back home. Ryan and the girls cleaned up the living room and playroom while I went to take a relaxing shower. Ryan then needed to leave to get to a meeting for his upcoming mission trip, so the girls and I had a small snack (we were still pretty full from breakfast) and played for awhile before nap time. Mia went to sleep at 1:30, and Lily went down at 1:45. They were asleep until about 3:15, so I had some time to rest and unwind. When they woke up, we went to Publix which was actually pretty fun. I tell you what, when we're all rested and well-fed, we always have a ton of fun together! After bringing the groceries in, I started cooking dinner. I am ashamed to admit it, but this is the first meal I have actually cooked in probably a month. It was good too; cheesy chicken, green beans with almonds and jello (okay, Liz actually made the jello but we cut the shapes out!). Nothing gourmet, but it was nice to sit around the dinner table together for a peaceful meal again.

We all played together for awhile and then Ryan headed up to the church. He is in the church's prayer room once a quarter from 8-9. Soon after he left, it was time to put Mia to bed; Lily and I then played for about 30 minutes before her bed time. After that I looked around the house and thought of all the things I could do...laundry namely...but I decided to just relax. It has been an absolutely wonderful day. I needed this.

Happy Birthday to Me

This past Monday was my 32nd birthday, so happy birthday to me! I have tried to take my birthday weekend off from work the last few years, but unfortunately, that couldn't happen this year. I was able to sleep in a bit, but then I had to head in to work for awhile. When I came home, Lily came running up and said "Guess what I bought for a surprise for you today? A surprise party!" She cracks me up! I had a feeling that she and Mia had gone shopping with Bama that morning to pick up a little birthday something for me, but I also knew no one would dare tell Lily a secret like a true surprise party! Secrets aren't exactly her strong point right now. Anyway, Ryan and I got ready for our dinner date out to celebrate. See our picture below:

I also wanted a picture with my sweet girls. I love them so much!

Ryan and I met our friends, Brian and Jill, at my very favorite restaurant, La Grotta in Buckhead. It is always amazing, and it didn't disappoint this time. Neither Ryan or I need to bother with a menu when we go; we will never stray from "our usual" here. For me, I start with their house mixed greens salad, followed by a filet with a mustard and gorgonzola sauce, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables; a nice glass of wine accompanies the entree. Ryan has a prosciutto appetizer with the same filet entree. We then both order the tartufo dessert. Tartufo is basically ice cream dipped in chocolate which I know does not sound special at all, but oh my goodness, it is one of the best food items ever. I absolutely refuse to share this dish with anyone, so Ryan knows if he wants a bite, he better order his own. This is consistently the most fantastic meal which is why we like to go for special occasions. Three particular occasions stand out to me. In time dated order, first my dad took me there a few days before Ryan and I got married which was so special. Second, Ryan and I celebrated there when I passed the CPA exam; what an amazing feeling! Third, he and I went after we learned that I was expecting our sweet Lily. So, it's a special place to us, and to be there with great friends for my birthday made it even more wonderful.

Obviously I had to work on Monday since we're in the heart of tax season right now, but I intentionally blocked off some extra time to make it a little bit of an easier day. My mom came at lunch, and brought food from the Chinese restaurant that we love. I don't have much one-on-one time with her these days, so it was a great treat to hang out with her. I have an amazing mom!

I left work just after 5 (what a treat right now!), and when I got home, what should greet me but a "surprise party" that Ryan and the girls had set up for me. Lily and Mia were so excited, and it was so fun to see their excitement! Bama had taken them shopping on Saturday and they bought decorations, paper products and party horns, and Ryan had helped them decorate earlier in the day. My mom had babysat them that afternoon, so the three of them made a big cookie cake for me. They had put in candles that spelled Happy Birthday, and then written Mommie on the cake; typically you would write Mommy, but they wanted the letters to be even so they went with Mommie instead. Lily found this hilarious! They wanted to dig into the cake, but I told them we had to eat some dinner first (though I would have loved to dig in too!). Liz came in right about then, so we all went to Zucca's and enjoyed a delicious dinner. When we came home, everyone sang happy birthday and then we enjoyed the fabulous cookie cake. What a great way to celebrate!Just as we finished up the cake, we had a delivery man come by and bring me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers sent by David and Jan. I had to have a picture made with the flowers because they were so beautiful. Here we are a week later, and they are still looking great on our kitchen counter, so we get to enjoy them everyday.

This was such a great birthday celebration. Of course, it was so much fun to see all the birthday wishes that rolled in on Facebook too. Many thanks to everyone who made this birthday so special!

Playing Catch Up

Wow, it's been awhile since I have updated our blog! There has been so much going on the last couple of weeks that I haven't found the time to sit down and write about everything. More than anything, work is keeping us very, very busy. I was at the office past midnight three times in the last week alone. I feel like I am so far behind schedule right now, and I just can't keep up with everything. Regardless, here are a few pictures of things going on around the house the last couple of weeks:

We have had the most amazing weather recently, and we have all loved it. The girls always love to go outside to their playground, so here are a few pictures from those fun times. Mia is such a little adventure-seeker. She will try anything that Lily does, and she usually succeeds. We haven't found an ounce of fear in this little one yet!

They really have so much fun playing together!
Grandpops had some work in Atlanta earlier in the month. We were so glad he was able to come spend an evening with us! We all enjoyed a dinner at Figo, and then we just played at the house for a bit. I couldn't convince the girls to take a "formal" picture with Grandpops, but here they are having fun in a tickling game with him!

Lots of laughs!

Hopefully he will be able to come back soon and bring Grandma Jan with him. Jan sent down the sweetest little matching navy Polo dresses for the girls. They are going to look so adorable in them this summer! She also sent pretty hair bows which you know they loved, but most of all, they were THRILLED with the fun band aides she sent! Jan remembered how much the girls loved the cute Halloween band aides she sent in October, and she found adorable Princess and Sesame Street band aids to send this time. My girls have had more "boo boos" than I can count over the last two weeks; Mia has learned "band aide make it better." It's amazing what makes them happy! Once again, Grandma Jan found a hit for a present!

This picture was just too sweet for me not to include it.

On March 5th, Lily's Parent Morning Out class sang at the church's evening service. Here is a picture of Lily and her friend, Sierra, before the show. We hear about Sierra all the time. It is pretty cute to see the friendships Lily is developing with other kids her age.

This is a picture of the whole class onstage with Ms. Mollet directing. Lily is actually all the way over to the right, and you can just barely see her head above Ms. Mollet's shoulder. When we arrived, the kids were sitting in the middle of the auditorium, so Mom and I sat on the left (Ryan stayed home with Mia). When Ms. Mollet told the class to line up, Lily went darting to the front to be the "line leader" (a big to-do with the 4 year old set); she led them up to and across the stage which put her as far away from us as possible! Because of this, I didn't get many good pictures from the performance.

Lily showing off her light during "The Little Light of Mine." They also performed "Jesus Loves Me" and "The B-I-B-L-E" which is one of Lily's favorite songs. This was a cute performance.

This past Thursday was Lily's half-way point in gymnastics, so all the parents (and Bamas!) were invited to watch them to see what they have been working on. I cannot tell you how amazed I am at Lily. The Little Gym has been so good for her over the last year. Her coordination, skills and confidence have shot up as she has gone through these classes. She has so much fun with them too, and it's fun to watch her.

Here she is with the noodle as they pretended to ride their horses as cowboys and cowgirls.

Getting ready to roll down the mat. She can do really good forward somersaults now and is working on backwards somersaults, handstands and cartwheels.

Ms. Maria coaching her through a flip on the low bar. She loves the low bar!

You know Mia wasn't going to be left out even though this class is meant for kids two years older than her! The classes are small, and the teachers are always very gracious to let Mia play during events like this. During regular classes, Mia and Bama go for walks, go to the library or playground, etc; she doesn't go in on every class.

Lily showing off her pirouette skills on the beam. She has really good balance!

So there you have some of the pictures taken over the last couple of weeks. In addition to work, here are a few other things that have been going on:

-Lily and Mia had Pediatric ENT check-ups, and both came through their hearing tests with flying colors - woo-who!!! Dr. Baktha noted that both tubes are coming loose in their left ears, so they may come out soon; this is normal since tubes are meant to last about 12-18 months (it has been 14 months so far). The real test will come when they come out. Neither girl really ever had ear infections, but we noticed drastic differences in their hearing abilities. Hopefully their ear canals have grown now letting the fluid drain out, so their hearing won't be impacted. Only time will tell on this one.

-We have gone to interviews at two different schools. One of the schools has already accepted both girls into next year's program, and we know Mia will attend there next year. The other school starts at Pre-K (meaning Mia is too young to apply). However, we took Lily there last Friday, and went through a 1.5 hour interview. It went very well. They will call this week to schedule a time to come back though for her to take standardized tests. That's right, this is all for Pre-K! A little crazy to do all this for a 4 year old, but we really like this school, and we can see Lily thriving in it's environment. We should know by the end of the month if she has been accepted, and if she has, we have to decide which one of the schools we want her to attend.

-Ryan is taking a fascinating class at church on Wednesday evenings. However, it is considered a seminary graduate level class, so there is a lot of homework and projects involved. He is managing to get all this done along with working and being with our family. I think he is like Superman to get all this done!

-I participated in a consignment sale last week where I sold a lot of the girls 0-12 month clothes and toys. It was fun to go through everything and remember all the fun times we have had so far with them. It just took some time to get everything into inventory, tags safety pinned onto the clothes, clothes hung up and secured to hangers and delivered to the Cobb Fairgrounds for the sale. Their things sold well though, so yea! Oh yeah, I may have bought a few things for them to grow into now too!

-Lily went with my parents last Friday night to see Molly and McKayla in their schools' talent show. McKayla sang with her whole class, and then Molly performed a dance routine with two of her friends about the changing of the seasons. Mom said Lily absolutely loved it. When everything was over for the evening Lily exclaimed "That was great!" Mom said she sat forward the whole time watching everyone and everything. I know she loves to be around Molly and McKayla, so she was thrilled to be there.

-While Lily was with my parents, Ryan, Liz and I spent an evening with Mia. We took her to Steak and Shake for dinner. I tell you what, that little girl cracks me up! She says the funniest things, makes the cutest faces and is just all around adorable. It made me realize just how much of her thunder Lily steals from her. What a precious little angel!

-In saying her prayers tonight, Lily said "Dear Jesus, when I get older, will you make me a hat seller so I can sell the birthday party hats for Mommy's birthday tomorrow? Thank you. Amen." So thoughtful. Yes, my birthday is tomorrow. When I came home from work on Saturday, Lily said "Guess what I got you for a surprise Mommy? A surprise party!" When I said something about that on the way to church this morning, she became very upset and said "Mommy, you aren't supposed to know about the surprise party! Let's call it...dinner instead!" When I asked her later if she was going to give me a present for my birthday, she said she was going to make me a card and give me one of her toys, whichever one I wanted. Such a sweetie!

-Of course, last but not least, today was Daylight Savings Time, so in addition to feeling like I am way behind schedule and don't have enough time in the day, we actually did lose an hour!

She Knows

This time of year is always a little hard on Lily. She hates when I have to work so much. Here are a couple of her recent comments:

Me on Monday: Hey Lily, do you know what today is?
L: Monday!
M: That's right, but you know what else? It's the last day of February. What does that make tomorrow the first day of?
L: April?
M: No, try again. January, February....
L: March!
M: That's right!
L: And then April and that means you can stay home again!

The other day Lily was talking to Bama and Bama asked what season it was. Lily's response was "Tax." We added a 5th season to the year apparently!

About a week ago, I told Lily I needed to go to work that day. She sighed and said "Is it April 15th yet?" I know how she feels.

In case you are wondering, Mia doesn't seem to mind one bit. She just waves, hugs me and says "Bye Mommy!" each day. I guess that's a good thing. I can't win for losing here...I'm sad that it makes Lily upset, but I'm also sad that Mia doesn't seem to care. What's a mom to do?