NYC

Bryan and I had the best trip to New York.  It was his first time there and my first time as an adult and it was freeeeeezing cold but we had an amazing time!  And my wonderful parents kept the girls for the weekend; we're so lucky that they were willing and that the girls think going to Gigi's house is the ultimate vacation.

Day One- We woke up early to catch the early bus up to New York and arrived in the city around noon then caught our first ever uber ride to our hotel.  Bryan was fantastic and planned pretty much the whole trip; he found a great deal on a hotel in a great location in midtown.  We dropped off our luggage and headed out into the city.  We wandered through Rockefeller Center stopping for a sandwich from Pret and banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery (just as delicious as we'd heard.)  Then we walked down 5th Avenue, stopping in the New York Public Library on our way to the Empire State Building.  We really debated going to the top of the Empire State Building because we'd heard of long lines and it not being worth it but the romantic in me felt like we must go up with it being Valentine's Day weekend.  So we did and it was fantastic.  One of the benefits to visiting NY in February is that it's not terribly crowded at all.  We made it up in no time, and really enjoyed the views and the fascinating audio tour- we especially loved seeing the pictures and videos of the workers in 1931 climbing and shimmying down poles without any safety gear at all!  We walked through Bryant Park on our way to Times Square (I've never regretted more not having a fitbit, we walked miles and miles and miles this weekend.)  We arrived in Times Square just as it was getting dark and it was just so exciting to be there.  This was the warmest of all our days there (a balmy 25 degrees... haha) so we didn't mind wandering around the stores and stopping for some dinner while we waited for our show to start.  We saw Phantom of the Opera and it was really fantastic- definitely a highlight for me and an excellent first Broadway show for Bryan.  Now next time we just have to find a way to get our hands on some Hamilton tickets!

^ NYC Public Library

Day Two- This morning we walked north on 5th Avenue.  We stopped to see St. Patrick's Cathedral (so beautiful!), the Trump Tower, and I chose next year's Valentine's present at Tiffany's.  We eventually made it to Central Park, which was a huge relief because it wasn't as windy as it had been walking between the buildings.  I loved walking through the park, even in its wintery state and couldn't get "That's How You Know" out of my head.  We saw the Manhattan Temple then got lunch at a deli and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was incredible.  I loved the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware; I hadn't realized how enormous and powerful it was.  After the museum we were exhausted from all the walking and took the subway down to Eataly for the most delicious dinner.  By this time it was really quite cold and windy so we headed back to the hotel (it was like 7:30!) to watch a movie and crash in bed.

^ I love that you can see my breath in this picture

^ view of the Empire State Building.  I was hoping they'd light it up for Valentines, but they didn't this night (the 13th.)  They maybe did on actual Valentine's Day but we never had a good view.

Day Three- This was the coldest day.  We took our time getting ready and eating breakfast and didn't leave til after 10am, but it was still one 1 degree.  We rode the subway down to Battery Park and wisely decided it was too cold to take the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty.  We walked all through Wall Street stopping at the Stock Exchange and beautiful Trinity Church.  Then we made our way up to the 9/11 Memorial and One World Trade Center.  By this point I was the coldest I've ever been, and we were so grateful to get inside the warm 9/11 Museum.  It was so well-done and so heart wrenching.  They had recordings of a few of the messages passengers on the hijacked planes had left for their family members that were incredibly sad.  When we left the museum I was shocked that it was 2:40, we'd been inside for over 2 hours and hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast!  After a cold walk to Chinatown we ate the most delicious dumplings at a restaurant recommended by my friend.  Chinatown was so fun because it was Chinese New Year and confetti filled the streets.  We bought some poppers of our own and t-shirts for the girls.  Next we walked on the Brooklyn Bridge, which probably wasn't the best idea given the weather, but still it was amazing.  Bryan wanted to eat at Katz's Deli so we made our way up to the East Village.  Bryan is a great person to travel with because he has an excellent sense of direction and got us all over the city with no problem (okay, some problems, but much fewer than we would have had if I was in charge.)  We shared a sandwich and plate of fries and it really was delicious and worth the long walk in the cold.  We stopped at Magnolia Bakery for some more banana pudding and a cupcake to take back to our hotel.  Later we saw on the news that this was the coldest day in NYC in 100 years.  

^ the Survivor Stairs - thousands of people escaped the burning towers by running down this staircase.

Day Four- This was our last morning and we had done pretty much everything on our list so we just kind of wandered (for about 4 miles, ha!)  It was President's Day so it was fun to see all American flags at Rockefeller Center, and we stopped to watch filming for the Today Show for a bit (I'm a huge fan so I loved that.)  We walked down to Levain Bakery for the most delicious cookies then back to our hotel to check out.  We had planned to have lunch at Grand Central Station before taking the subway to our bus stop but the power was out so instead we were interviewed by a local radio station on the power outage.  We found lunch somewhere else then caught the bus home.  We were sad to go but also grateful to finally be out of the cold and off our feet.  We're excited to go back another time when the weather is a little more temperate, but we couldn't have asked for a better first trip together.

^At this point my face was frozen and it was hard to smile

Friday Five

1. The girls had dentist appointments this week and by some miracle they've decided they love the dentist and are extremely cooperative.  Jilly even had her first x-rays, which still make me gag, but she did amazing.  Hip hip hooray

2. We got to babysit this sweet little girl for a night and my girlies were in heaven.

3. We had a talent show at church last weekend and though we didn't share any talents on stage our cookies did win third place.  I used this recipe, which is my new favorite.  

4.  Nana sent the girls a Valentine's package that had stick-on earrings, which were a HUGE hit with the girls.  They love choosing a pair to wear every morning and Mattie says "I look like a mom!"

5. We had a fun Snow Day this week.  We only got a few inches but in Baltimore that means everything shuts down (except Bryan's company, boo.)  But the rest of us had a fun day snuggling at home.  In the afternoon I found the girls surrounded by all their sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets looking at our old photo albums together.  

heard lately

Mattie: (whenever Bryan and I are talking and she isn't following) Slow down, slow down guys

After Jilly got dressed all by herself
R: You look pretty
J: I know, I spent a lot of time looking at myself in the mirror this morning

J: Mom, I have to tell you something really important.  The earth must be really strong to hold up all the people and all the roads and all the buildings.

In the gas station getting a drink for me, but mean mom won't let the girls get anything
M: But mom, there are all the things I like in there!

After explaining to Jilly how to sort laundry-
J: (looking at her un-sorted laundry and then pointing at Bryan's) So are these the pretty colors, and those the not pretty colors?

Every night Jilly tells us a happy thing and a sad thing from that day-
J: (tearing up) My sad thing is that I can't think of a sad thing tonight!

Jilly runs to me crying
R: What happened?
J: I bonked!
R: What did you bonk?
J: I can't remember!

M: I want to take off my socks
R: Why?
M: Because they're angry
R: Why are the angry?
M: Because they're medium
R: Right....

Jilly trying to help Mattie say a prayer but Mattie keeps whispering instead of talking loud enough for us to hear
J: Mom, will you help her?  She is stressing me

Watching tv-
Jennifer Garner: What's in your wallet?
Jilly: I don't have a wallet!

(during Family Night)
Bryan: What are good things to do on Sunday?
Jilly: puppy monkey baby, puppy monkey baby

Just dropped Jilly off at a friend's house-
R: Just Mattie and me, I'm so lucky
M: I'm not lucky

Five on Friday

1. After the blizzard school was canceled for a full week as we sloooooowly shoveled out.  When we couldn't handle being stuck inside one second longer I texted some friends to meet us at Chick-fil-A.  This was the giggliest loudest kids' table and it was fantastic.

2.  I've watched Grease Live twice this week and probably will watch it again soon.  I think Bryan was impressed that I still knew every word to every song.

3.  Like any normal two-year-old Mattie is obsessed with her crib and has zero interest in moving into a bed.  She also insists on sleeping with every book, blanket, stuffed animal, and doll she owns and takes roll call before going to sleep to make sure every one is there.

4.  My friend went into labor so I was suddenly the mother of 5 for a night.  The kids were great and Jilly's greatest dreams came true to have her first friend sleepover.

5. We canceled our YMCA membership for the Summer/Fall since it was nice enough to exercise outside but we reinstated it this January (cliché much?)  And it's soooooo good to be back, especially now that we live only 4 minutes away.  And just like the rest of the country I'm obsessing over Hamilton and super motivated to run while I listen.

Bubba

Jillian's preschool has a class "pet" named Bubba that goes home with a different student each weekend.  Jilly knew that she and another boy were the last kids who hadn't had Bubba yet so we were expecting him soon.  A couple Fridays ago while Jilly was at school I was talking to my mom and I told her that Bryan was going camping that weekend and I was crossing my fingers and toes that we didn't get Bubba because then I'd have to think of some fun things to do.  But sure enough, when Jilly walked out of her classroom she was holding Bubba.  But, it turned out to be a long weekend because of MLK Day so it wasn't so hard to take Bubba on some adventures.   

Bubba came to church with us and as we left it was snowing for the first time!  It didn't stick (and none of us knew we would be getting the biggest snowfall in Baltimore history later that week!) but it was still exciting.

On Monday my sister and sweet baby Joey came to visit.  Bubba helped Jilly hold the baby.  We're so happy to have an Anderson cousin now, and especially that he lives so close!

Jilly's friend Jude is in the morning class at her same school and happened to have the morning class Bubba that weekend also!  So we had a meeting of the Bubbas and a fun day at the Aquarium together.

Bubba went back to school on Wednesday and on Thursday Jilly, who is usually very obedient and kind to her sister, was having an off day.  I asked her why she was in a bad mood and not behaving very well and she said through tears, "I think I'd be nicer if Bubba were still here, I miss him."  So we are definitely feeling a void with Bubba gone.

Baltimore Blizzard 2016

Well, we survived the Blizzard of 2016.  And actually it was one of my favorite weekends ever.  The week before the blizzard was full of excitement, the snow was all anyone could talk about.  We ran around getting stocked up on food, books, and movies and spending as much time outside of our house as possible knowing we'd be cooped up for a few days.  They canceled school on Friday which was kind of silly since the snow wasn't even forecasted to start until late Friday afternoon, but I suppose it was good to be safe.  We had a fun morning with friends then came home to make cookies and wait for the snow.  It was fun to text my mom and my sister who live further south and hear about the storm making its way up to us.  Finally around 4:30pm it started snowing.  

When we went to bed at midnight we had gotten a few inches and the snow was really coming down. 

By the next morning we'd gotten 8 or 9 inches, and the girls thought that we were in Arendelle!  

It snowed hard all day long and was super windy.  The roof above our porch is flat and the snow was really piling up so Bryan had to climb out on the roof a few times to shovel the snow off.  We went outside for a little while, but it was really a miserable day.  It was much more fun to stay inside eating soup, cookies and snow cream while reading, watching movies, and playing games.  I also spent part of the afternoon painting the trim in our hallway.  

This is the last picture I took at 4:30 Saturday afternoon, exactly 24 hours after the storm started.  It was hard to measure exactly how much snow we got since it was so windy and the snow blew all over, but at BWI Airport they measured 29 inches, the most ever recorded from one storm in Baltimore.

Sunday morning was sunny and beautiful.  They plowed our street which created a huge snow drift we had to shovel away from our driveway.  Bryan did a vast majority of the shoveling but that doesn't mean I'm not incredibly sore from the little bit of shoveling I did.  The girls had a ball running and climbing and sliding in the snow, and when Mattie got tired of the running she just sat and held a little snow baby.  

We came in to snuggle for a bit and have lunch then later in the afternoon went back out to play.  Mattie gets cold pretty quickly but Jilly can stay out there sledding for hours.

Bryan went back to work on Monday, but I wasn't quite ready to brave the only half-plowed streets.  We lounged around the house and played outside a bit too.  By Tuesday afternoon we were big time stir crazy so the girls and I escaped our house to go to the library.  There is still a ton of snow around and school and church activities are still canceled (they haven't been able to plow all the parking lots yet.)  Right now it feels like we'll never get back to normal life, but maybe one day all this snow will melt away.