Virginia is for Lovers

Lisa always says that the only vacation a mom takes is to Grandma's House.  This trip to Virginia was definitely a vacation.  My girls were in heaven- lots of attention, so many fun outings, and all the chocolate milk Jilly could ever want.  I also really really enjoyed the relaxing break from normal life.  Bryan was going to a conference in D.C. for a few days so he came out early and spent a weekend with us in Richmond.  The only glitch in our trip was two visits to Patient First in two days- one for each girl (another ear infection and another bladder infection.)  But once the girls were better we had a great time. 

Playing Outside- Spring weather in Virginia is ca-razy.  Temperatures ranged from 30s to 70s in the two weeks we were there and often fluctuated 10+ degrees overnight.  When it was nice enough, we loved to play outside in the backyard and at a nearby park.

Downtown- One Saturday we walked across the bridge to Belle Isle and enjoyed the views of the city. 

BYU friends- We had a great day at the zoo with my friend Anna and her cute boys.

Another day we went to Kangaroo Jac's with Jana and her kids.  Jilly and Lily had a ball playing on all the inflatables together.

Maymont- a park with a petting zoo and beautiful grounds.  

 

Uno- This is Jilly's current favorite and she played no less than 95,000 games while we were there.  She won almost every time because I couldn't convince my softy dad to drop a Draw 4 on her.

Luna- Jilly and Mattie LOVE my parents' dog.  Jilly helped feed her every night which Luna loved because Jilly gave very generous portions.  And Mattie would get so excited when she saw Luna and learned to pet her softly.

Basketball- A friend joked that we came out just for March Madness.  It was fun to make our picks and watch some of the early games with my family.  We also got to see Tyler and Bethany play in their basketball games which was very exciting.

Book Club- I went with my mom to her Book Club.  They discussed Unbroken, and it made me really want to re-read it before the movie comes out at Christmas.

School of Rock Tribute Concert- My piano teacher (who also taught all my siblings) passed away very unexpectedly this past fall.  While I was home there was a tribute concert to benefit his family.  In addition to piano he taught other instruments and voice and would hold "School of Rock" concerts.  The tribute concert was one of these rock concerts and Jillian loved it.  She was dancing and singing along the whole time.  Apparently we need to take her to more concerts!

We also shopped, visited the library, watched movies, and just had a great time.  We're already counting down the days til we get to go back!  

Children's Museum of Richmond

The Children's Museum of Richmond is so, so fun.  Bethany and Tyler had a snow day so they got to come play with us and we had a blast.  Jillian cried the whole way home because she wanted to stay longer (others of us were quite ready to go after 3+ hours.)

 ^^ Jilly's face perfectly shows how skeptical she was of the cave experience

 ^^ little milkmaid

 ^^ she could have pushed this little cart around all.day.long.

five on friday: home again

1.  We flew home from Virginia on Wednesday.  I'll be sure to thrill you with the details of our whole fabulous trip sometime next week, but for now I'm working on adjusting back to normal life.  It wasn't pretty, but we survived all our flights.

2. Bryan has jury duty this week so he wasn't able to pick us up from the airport.  That meant that I had to collect Jilly, Mattie, a backpack, diaper bag, 2 blankies, 2 carseats, stroller, and 2 suitcases and get everything out to the car all by myself.  I was nearly in tears just thinking about it.  But, I did it and my dear, wonderful friend Christina picked us up (even though both of her girls were sick.)

3.  Because he is the greatest human being there ever was, Bryan welcomed me home with a clean house and a fridge stocked with Dr. Pepper and cookie dough (I'm pathetic, I know.)  

4.  I thought that Jilly would be excited to come home and play with her toys, and she was thrilled to be reunited with her dress-up, but I didn't expect Mattie to be so happy to see our toys.  She crawled around all afternoon with a huge smile on her face playing with everything.  She really grew up in 2 weeks, she doesn't seem like a baby anymore.

5a.  I might die from this time change.  Yesterday Jillian woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 3:30am.  Mothering from 3:30am to 7:30pm makes for a looooooong and painful day.  Here's to hoping we adjust much much sooner than later.

5b. California welcomed us home with Spring!  There are blossoms and green grass everywhere and it is so beautiful. 

Snow Day

On St. Patrick's Day morning my mom offered to make green pancakes and Jilly said "Umm, can I have yellow pancakes?"  But my brother requested green eggs, and by sandwiching them in an English muffin (so I couldn't tell they were green) I was able to enjoy them as well.  Other than the eggs and finding something green to wear our celebration of the holiday was minimal.

But, it also snowed an inch (maaaaybe 1.5") on Monday and that was definitely something worth celebrating.  We woke up to find that there would be no school so Jilly dragged her Uncle Tyler out to build a snowman.

 They got some help from Luna

 and Gigi

Jilly is quite the snow bunny so she was in heaven and could have stayed outside the whole day; the rest of us- not so much.

Mattie: ten months

This month Mattie became a dancer; she does the cutest little wiggle.  Music-making toys are her favorites (besides babies.)

In addition to being sick for almost the entire month Mattie got two more teeth on top.

She's this close to walking on her own; she loves to push strollers and chairs around.

Mattie loves to give high fives.  She'll often hold her hand out in a nazi salute until someone claps it.

I can't imagine our life without this sweet girl.

Ouch!

On Monday after dinner we went for a walk to enjoy our new evening hours of daylight.  Jilly was riding her bike and we passed by a landscaped area that had a few little cactus plants.  Bryan said, "Don't fall into the cactus!"  Famous last words.  Of course she fell, and this is what her poor little hand looked like.  

Jilly was freaking out.  I'm sure it hurt, but it also was itchy and scared her to death.  We put her in the bath and turned on a show to help her calm down and Bryan got to work with the tweezers.  After a while the bath got cold so she got out and sat on a blanket.  It took over an hour to get every little prickly out.  I worked on it for a little while, but Bryan was much better at pulling them out so I assisted and comforted.  

By the time we were done Jilly was exhausted so she fell asleep quickly and easily.  In the morning she told me her hand hurt so I put some lotion on it.  Then we spent the rest of the day flying to Virginia and she didn't mention it at all.  By the time we arrived and my mom asked her about it she couldn't even remember which hand it had been.  So, we survived our first cactus experience after all.

A Day in the Life

Around this time in 2013 and 2012 I did a "Day in the Life" post.  So here is the two child version, a day of my life in 2014.  This time I took a picture every hour to document.

My day kind of began at 5:15 when Jilly woke up (ack!)  I brought a variety of books and toys to her in her bed and threatened her NOT to wake up anybody else until we came to get her (at 6.)  Ten minutes later Jilly yelled for me and said she was hungry.  No and more threats.  Ten more minutes later Jilly yelled for me and said she didn't have enough books.  Major threats.  I go back to sleep.  Bryan gets up with both girls at 6 (saint!)

I wake up to find this happy girl, another happy girl getting her daily fix of Dora, and a supervising Dad.  I nurse Mattie, make lunch for Bryan, and check on the world according to facebook, my email, and instagram.

Bowls of cereal + Tap the Magic Tree

Girls play Potato Head together while I clean the kitchen, then the usual routine- Jilly runs upstairs to hide (either in her bed, her tent, or her closet), Mattie and I go up a couple minutes later to search for her, everyone giggles at such a ridiculously fun game.  Girls get dressed, Mattie goes down for a nap.

While I shower and get ready, Jilly does some pages in her alphabet workbook (it will be a sad day when Jilly decides her workbook isn't the coolest thing ever.)  I clean the upstairs bathrooms while Jilly debates what color she wants her nails painted.

Rainbow nails.  Five minutes later I do touch-ups.  Two minutes later Jilly decides she wants all-blue nails so we remove and re-paint.  Mattie wakes up, and I talk to my mom while packing a picnic lunch.

Folsom Zoo with our friends the Shurtz's - so, so fun

Standing up at the park, Not pictured- Jilly's massive tantrum when she stopped to look at something and the rest of us got ahead of her (you're welcome.)

A very rare and much appreciated nap, I carry sleeping Mattie in and lay her in bed, lunch + scriptures for me.

You thought you'd have some quiet time mom?  Haha.  I send a few emails and make some calls in preparation for our next Relief Society activity.

"I ate all my lunch can I have chocolate milk?" are the first words out of her mouth when she wakes up.  We all play together, Jilly begs and begs and begs and begs to watch a show (no!)  Mattie goes down for a nap and stays asleep this time.

A few rounds of Uno, then Jilly helps me make dinner, Bryan gets home, we eat dinner, Mattie wakes up, clean up the kitchen. (No picture during the busy busy 5:00 hour.)

Double riders at the warehouse where all cool families go on Friday night

Big fan of chocolate ice cream

Medicine, jammies, books, prayers, sleepover lasts .25 seconds.  Finally both girls are peacefully sleeping in their own beds.

Somehow this ended up in our cart at Costco so Bryan and I get a good start on the bag and some guacamole while watching a movie.