Seven on Sunday

1. Jillian has caught on to "Opposite Day."  So all my dinners are yucky and Mattie is mean and Daddy is not funny.  Hahahahaha.

2. Last Sunday before church my cardigan was wrinkled (I may or may not have pulled it out of the laundry basket) so I said "I'm just going to throw this baby in the dryer for a bit."  Mattie came to me in tears, "no Mommy, you can't put the baby in the dryer!"

3. On Friday we finally had a day when it didn't rain and it actually felt like summer might be coming.  We went with some friends to Rita's to celebrate.

4.  Mattie had a cough today so we didn't send her to nursery.  She spent second hour of church with Bryan but during third hour he had to teach so she sat in a big chair at the back of the primary room with her arms folded and her little legs crossed just watching me do singing time. Such a little lady.

5. Bryan spent most of Saturday taking down the wallpaper in Mattie's room (hooray!)  But before he took it all down we let the girls draw all over the walls with strict instructions that this was ONLY ever allowed on this flowered wallpaper.  This is just the beginning of their drawings, Jilly made a whole amusement park with a roller coaster, carousel, petting zoo, and garden.

6. I swallowed my pride and got out my maternity clothes.  I've never worn maternity jeans this early, but oh they are so much more comfortable than trying to squeeze into my regular jeans.  Also, I'm at the point where random people feel comfortable asking about my pregnancy.  Halfway this week!

7. Last night my old roommate Judi was in town so we met up with her and her husband for ice cream.  It's been 10 years since we lived together and 6 years since we had even seen each other, so it was really fun to catch up. 

First half of May

It's been a very dreary May with lots and lots of rain but at least we have cute umbrellas to brighten the gloom!

I love peeking in at my sleeping girls, Mattie especially is such a funny sleeper.

One morning Bryan and I were trying to buy a little more time in bed but our early birds were begging for breakfast.  I somehow convinced Jilly to get breakfast for us and she did an excellent job toasting waffles and setting the dining room table.  That girl is a gem.

I love this little painting Jilly did- it's an ocean full of fish

I taught Jilly how to vacuum and you better believe I'm going to capitalize on this time when she thinks it's really fun.

Mattie's cute new dress from Gigi for her birthday.  Thanks to hand-me-downs from Jilly and a few new things, Mattie has 12 church dresses and 21 play dresses in her closet.  And she still has a hard time choosing what to wear every day!

Bryan and the girls really spoiled me on Mother's Day.  They made breakfast and gave me cards, let me have a relaxing afternoon after church, and made dinner.  I asked Bryan to make a chocolate cheesecake for dessert, which was not very nice of me because we didn't get home from our trip to Natural Bridge until Saturday evening.  After 3 different trips to the store and a lot of work in the kitchen the cheesecake looked beautiful.  But when we took a bite, it tasted a little different than the last time we had it and Bryan realized he had forgotten to add the sugar!  Haha, better luck next time.

Mattie asked me to take a picture of her and never would I say no to a cute face like that.

This shows A. how many pink/purple/princessy things we own and B. the girls' new favorite activity- to collect all the cozy things in the house then play family, doctor, or just read books.  Oh, the messes they make!

Jilly's half birthday.  Don't worry, I gave her the other half of the donut too!

Ballet picture day

Jilly's ballet recital was last weekend and it was excellent.  She was so brave and went right out on stage and did a great job.  I hadn't been to a dance recital in years and was surprised at how much I enjoyed being back, and Mattie was mesmerized.  Bryan was a great sport, it was a 3+ hour recital and surely not his favorite way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  And my mom and Bethany were so, so nice to come all the way up just to watch Jilly.  She loved having them there.

Mattie turns 3!

Mattie Claire is 3!

+ She's a sassy little thing but also very sweet.  She has major opinions and is not afraid to let you know when she disagrees with you.  But she gives the best squeeze hugs and is always quick to say "thank you so much!"

+ She loves to play with babies; she and Jilly are always playing family where they take turns being the mom and the "sweet pea."

+ Six months ago Mattie wore a nightgown all.the.time and then suddenly around Christmas she switched and started never wearing pajamas.  Instead she'll choose a dress-up or dress to wear to bed.  She loves to choose her own clothes and can almost dress herself. 

+ Mattie still sleeps in her crib (and loves it!) but no more pacifier!  The night before her birthday Mattie said "Will Katie give me back my paci's for my birthday?" (We put them in a bag to give to Baby Joe.)  I told her no and that she was a big girl and Mattie said "I wish I could grow little again."  Poor girl, sometimes growing up stinks.  

+ Speaking of bed, when Mattie goes to sleep she always asks for her "lantern" to be turned on.  She means a little lamp on her dresser, but it cracks me up that she calls it a lantern and I'll never ever correct her. 

+ Mattie is very observant as we're driving around in the car.  She knows when we're going "daddy's way" toward his office, she always points out my doctor's office, and she pays close attention to the lights to tell me when to stop or go.  She also always always always wants to listen to Elsa in the car.

+ I'm not sure if it happened by default, or if we were just lucky but Mattie LOVES the color purple and Jillian loves pink.  Mattie will only eat off a purple plate with a purple fork so I finally broke down and bought another set to get an extra purple.  

We had so much fun celebrating Mattie on her special day.  We started out with purple pancakes and then got ready and went to church.  In the car she said "It's a church day and a birthday, hooray!"  After church Mattie opened a few presents and spent the afternoon playing with her new dollhouse toys.  That night we had friends over for dinner and cake.  Mattie loved having everyone sing happy birthday to her.  We finished the night skyping with Nana and Papa and opening a few more presents, then facetime-ing with Gigi and Papa and tucking the birthday girl into bed.  We're so lucky to have Mattie in our family.

Mountain Getaway

Bryan started a new job last week which is really, really great news for us.  He's spent the past month at the old job working early mornings, late nights, and weekends to finish up all his projects.  So when he had a few days off between jobs we jumped at the opportunity to take a little family trip.

The plan was to go camping in Southern Virginia for a couple nights, but the weather was looking lousy (lots of rain and chilly) and hardcore campers we are not so just a few days before the trip Bryan found an Airbnb that was absolutely perfect.  It was a little two bedroom cottage (with a kitchen and family room!) that was on a beautiful property.  

We got there late Thursday afternoon and drove around Buena Vista.  We died laughing when we realized it was 5:00, so we were experiencing "rush hour" traffic in this little town.  The few trucks on the road were a far cry from the Baltimore traffic we're used to.  When we got to the cottage we were all excited to walk around and explore- there was an old structure as well as a barn full of animals.  

Back inside, we found Twister, which the girls had never played before.  It was a hit, and I don't mean to brag, but I dominated.  It was Cinco de Mayo so we had brought along everything we needed for tacos (we made carnitas the night before and these were some delicious tacos!) 

In the morning we walked back over to the barn to see the animals and collect some fresh eggs.  I scrambled them and we all scarfed them down- delicious!

We went to the Natural Bridge Caverns and lucked out- we were the only ones in our tour, which was very convenient and fun.  Then we went to the Natural Bridge.  Part of the hike was blocked off because of flooding from all the rain but we walked under the bridge and to the Indian exhibit.

The girls were exhausted from all the walking (and not enough sleep the night before!) so they napped while we drove around Lexington.  It's a town full of historical sites (Stonewall Jackson's home, Robert E. Lee chapel, and a few others.)  We also drove through VMI Campus which has some really cool architecture.  Back at the cottage we had dinner (leftover tacos) and hung out with Duke the cat.  When it got dark we drove back to Natural Bridge to watch the light show.  They've been doing the same show since 1927 and it was a little old-fashioned but fun to see.  

On Saturday morning we had more fresh eggs (I usually scramble 6 eggs for our family but I got 9 and we ate every bite.) Then we packed up and left the cottage.  My parents and Tyler met us for a little more hiking (and when I say hiking I mean baby hikes, I think the longest we did was a mile.)  Jilly was a little billy goat scrambling over all the rocks and crashed when we got back in the car to drive home.  It was such a fun weekend all together and away from regular life.  And I'm not a bit sad that we didn't end up camping. ;)