Mother's Day Weekend

We live for weekends when Bryan is home.  On Saturday morning there was a bike demo at Patapsco Park nearby.  We tagged along and while Bryan rode we played on the neat playground and even found a little caterpillar friend.  During Mattie's nap (and mine too!) Bryan and Jilly did some Mother's Day shopping then we all had a backyard dinner picnic and Rita's for dessert.  Jilly kept saying "This is the best day ever!" and I had to agree with her.

On Sunday morning I slept in then Jilly met me on the stairs with a DDP.  She (and Bryan) sure know the way to my heart.  They also made me a delicious breakfast.  We went to church, had a relaxing afternoon, then Bryan made an incredible dinner with dutch oven peach cobbler for dessert.  Jilly loved using the fancy dishes and now asks to use them nightly.  Before bed we walked around a beautiful public garden downtown.  I'm sure lucky to have these sweet girls; being their mom is my greatest dream come true.  

^ I love this picture because you can see the bribery chocolate in Mattie' mouth

five things I've been loving this week

one- This card Jilly made me.  She is giving me a flower while Bryan holds Mattie.

two- this book.  After reading so much nonfiction recently I was ready for a quick and easy YA novel.  This book is a combination of The Bachelor and Hunger Games and it fit the bill perfectly.   It was nothing monumental, and quite unoriginal, but charming nonetheless.

three-  New nail polish I gifted myself for Mother's Day.  I can almost always find Essie polish for $4 at Marshall's and then I always think why do I even bother with any other brand??  Also, the azaleas (insert heart-eyed emoji.)

four- Lots of snuggles from sick Mattie (but I definitely didn't love that she was sick during one of the most beautiful weeks of the year.)

five-  This message from Bryan.  Autocorrect can be a real pain sometimes but this day it had me in stitches.

fiesta

May is kind of one big party around here- birthdays, birthdays, and more birthdays, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, and beautiful weather make it one of my favorite months.  So far our May has been excellent, so I have high hopes for the rest of the month.  

On Saturday evening we took a picnic to a park we hadn't been to.  It was gorgeous with a lake and a really fun playground.  It's lucky that we liked it there so much because as we were leaving we realized that our keys were locked in the car.  So we got to spend an extra hour at the park waiting for AAA to come and break into our car for us.

On Monday I let the girls play with the water table, which quickly turned into a mud table.  The girls were filthy so I gave them a bath at 1:30 in the afternoon and they wore jammies the rest of the day- just the way they like it.

We had some friends over for a Cinco de Mayo dinner.  There are few things cuter than a kids' table full of girls with enormous flowers in their hair.

On Wednesday we drove down to have lunch with Katie.  Jilly had been so excited the day before she kept chanting "Katie! Katie! Katie!"  Our friend asked who Katie was and she said, "my best friend."  I love how much Jilly loves my sisters.  We had lunch at chick-fil-A then Katie had to go back to work, which made us all so sad.  We stopped at the temple on the way home to see the beautiful flowers.

We've been having picnics for as many meals as possible and even busted out the freeze pops.  Hooray for May!

friday five

1. This was a week in Baltimore I won't soon forget.  On Monday I went downtown to have lunch with some friends.  While there I saw on my phone that they were expecting violent protests that afternoon and as we were leaving the city there was a huge police presence.  Later in the day I sat on my couch watching the city I had just driven through turn into chaos and destruction.   We're having a stake-wide fast this Sunday for peace in Baltimore.  The cool thing is that this fast was announced a week ago- before any of the rioting.  I'm grateful for moments of hope and peace amidst the sadness.

2.  Jilly started swimming lessons this week and I had to bribe her with an oreo to go (my mom trick of choice the past few weeks) but after all the drama getting there she loved it!

3. We've been in ultra dress-up mode this week.  Both girls have had a minimum of 5 outfit changes per day which is kind of fun and kind of exhausting.  Jillian often comes into our room in the morning already wearing her first dress-up and Mattie takes me to find a "pitty dess" to wear as soon as she's out of her crib.

4.  It is so magical to have our first spring in Baltimore.  All year long I had no clue that we had a dogwood tree in our front yard or azalea bushes.  I love all the beautiful surprises popping up and the girls are giddy about pointing out all the colors they see.

5.  I kind of can't believe I'm sharing this but this website tells you how old you look and I'm peeved that not only does it think I am 7 years older but it thinks that Bryan is only 27!!!  I'll have you know that I have yet to find a gray hair and Bryan got his first when he was 14, so take that 27!  I also find solace that the website thought Jillian was 4 and Mattie was 5- clearly completely inaccurate.

Happy Weekend!

Ain't no party like a Paulsen Party

In our last few years at BYU the Paulsen's lived a few doors down from us.  They were the awesome kind of neighbors that we'd drop in and end up staying for hours because we just really liked them a lot.  Now they live about an hour away so not only do we get to hang out with them again but we also get to watch our kids become friends.  

This past weekend they came to check out some Baltimore sites and spend the night with us.  Unfortunately there were protests in the city on Saturday so we didn't dare go down to the harbor liked we'd planned, but we did go to Fort McHenry (the location of the battle that Francis Scott Key witnessed which led him to write The Star Spangled Banner.)  It was a perfect place to learn some history but also had plenty of room for the kids to run around.  Other highlights of the weekend were burgers at Gino's, a shopping trip for Anna and me while all the kids stayed with the dads, church, a picnic in our backyard, and a Sunday walk at the park.  We were so, so lucky to have a full weekend with the Paulsen's.  

^ Cutest jailbirds I ever did see; during the Civil War Fort McHenry was used as a prison

^ these two were the cutest little frog watchers

As I type this our city has gone crazy.  We've been glued to the tv for 5 hours now and it's not getting better fast.  We're far enough out of the city to be perfectly safe, but it's so, so sad to watch.  Please say a prayer for Baltimore.

five

one- We've had a nice, slow week and I've really enjoyed a break from the rush rush rush.  I spent an afternoon sitting in the sunshine reading while my girls played in the van (I guess the fact that they're always buckled in makes it seem like the most fun place to play ever.)  Another day our neighbors had a shed delivered and we spent nearly an hour watching them take it off the trailer.  It's an exciting life we live.

two- Mattie is such a Daddy's girl.  She can hardly contain her excitement when he comes home from work, and saves her biggest hugs and kisses for him.  I snuck this picture of them playing together during church- real men have hands covered in Minnie Mouse stickers.

three- A few things I've been loving this week:  This miniseries is fantastic, we're on Episode 5 (of 7) and I'm already sad to be done.  I think I'm the very last person to use this app (I've actually had it on my phone for months but never actually did a workout til last week) but I really like it, and after the first day I was so sore I could barely move so I've got lots of work ahead of me.  This recipe is quick and easy, and everyone in my family gobbles it up.  I have to restrain myself from making it every single night.

four- My sister and Bryan's brother and sister-in-law are graduating from BYU today.  I wouldn't give up my life now for anything, but oh those were such fun and exciting times.  BYU will always be one of my very very favorite places.  Hooray for Jenn and Chad and Kylie, we wish we were in Provo celebrating with you!

five- Jilly's favorite thing these days is to play in the basement without adult supervision.  And you will never ever hear me complain about it because what else are basement playrooms for?  Jilly had a friend over and they played for hours down there.  But when they were done the basement looked like a hurricane + a tornado + a herd of elephants had gone through.  Luckily Jilly's a pretty good cleaner (when she has a little motivation in the form of a show when she's done.)

^ Yes, that is a bar with a fishbowl full of corks (with no contributions from us.)  We think our landlord was quite the partier when he lived here but now the bar is excellent toy storage for us.

here comes the sun

With the advent of nice weather (yay yay YAY!!) we've been spending every possible moment outside.  I had forgotten how good it feels to spend hours in the sunshine, how messy little girls can get, and how nice it is when they crash in bed at 7pm.

^ Mattie loves to push Jilly but she always steps too close to push then gets whacked when the swing comes back

^ Pretending she's a kitty cat while I try not to think of all the germs she's accumulating as she crawls on the playground.