five fact friday

Mattie: 

1. Current favorites are Elmo, known as "Nemo" around here (she's never seen Sesame Street, but has been choosing lots of Elmo books from the library), and Dora the Explorer, always called "Du Du Du Du Dora."

2. Loves her new bunny slippers that Bryan's grandma sent (Jilly got a pair too!)

3. Sleeping a bit better (hallelujah!!!!)

4. Is way into counting books and will mumble through the numbers til she gets to "fie!" (five)

5. Always wants to be wearing Jillian's clothes.

Jillian:

1. Created the Princess Bunny "just like there's a Princess Cow at Chick-fil-A!"

2. Had a friend over and the two girls played happily down in the basement for 2.5 hours without needing anything from me.  Miracles do happen.

3. Is obsessed with her new innie belly button and loves showing it off.

4.  Loves holidays and is constantly telling me the order of all her favorite days.

5. Told me the other day, "Do you know what my favorite day is?  Summer."  We're dreaming of days on the beach.

A little moment I don't want to forget- after their baths the girls often lay down in front of the heater to warm up.  The other night they were sharing this pillow and Mattie started playing with Jilly's hair.  They fight just as much as any pair of sisters but they're also best friends which makes me so, so happy.

Snow Day 11.0

I'm not really sure how many snow days we've had.  I heard on the news this morning that kids have missed 7 days of school and we've missed 4 Sundays of church this winter (3 full days and one day we only had Sacrament Meeting) so I'm going with 11.  I actually don't mind the snow- it's beautiful and usually fun to play in, but I really am sick of everything being canceled and being stuck in our house for days on end.  

Today we got 8 more inches of snow and Bryan worked from home.  It was great to have him home but also kind of tough because he worked down in the basement and Jilly was certain that he was down there playing and begged me all morning to let her join him.  The girls and I had a lazy morning doing puzzles, coloring, and reading books.  When I looked at the clock I was shocked that it was noon.  Since the girls were still wearing pajamas it made sense to eat cereal for lunch.  

After lunch, getting dressed, and a nap for Mattie we stole Bryan from his basement "office" to go sledding.  While we were getting our snow clothes on Mattie decided she wanted a scarf like Jilly.  I remembered that I had some leftover fleece so in the time it took Bryan to shovel our walkway I whipped up a little scarf for Mattie (this really is not impressive since it only involved a few cuts, but I still felt like supermom.)  The sledding hill was perfect today, but it was very cold and Mattie didn't last long.  Both girls made good use of their mermaid blankets and the heater after coming inside.  We ate dinner then made snow ice cream (10ish cups of snow, a can of sweetened condensed milk, 1 tsp vanilla, and sprinkles- not optional!)  It was a fun day but I loved checking our forecast tonight and finding no snow predicted for 10 whole days- hooray!!

Biscoff spread

When Bryan got home from his trip to Utah he told me about Biscoff spread.  He had some at his brother's house and could not stop talking about how good it was.  I'm not a huge fan of biscoff cookies (you know, the super hard cookies they serve on airplanes that make a huge crumbly mess on your lap table) so I honestly didn't think much of his praises.  Then one day we were walking down the peanut butter aisle and there it was.  I figured we'd give it a try, and now I have eaten a huge slice of humble pie because this stuff is amazing!!  It's creamy and thick like peanut butter and tastes just like biscoff cookies, but without the risk of breaking a tooth.  We've tried it a few ways-

+ Spread on apples.  This is my favorite way to eat biscoff; the cinnamon-y taste perfectly complements the sliced up apples.  I've had this for lunch nearly every day the past week.

+ With strawberries.  I heated some of the spread in the microwave for a few seconds to make it creamier then we dipped strawberries in the biscoff and scooped some whipped cream on top.  It was the best Family Night treat we've had in a while.

+ On waffles.  This is how Bryan initially tasted it at his brother's house.  Bryan and Jilly layered biscoff and maple syrup on their waffles but I just spread some biscoff and then put sliced strawberries on top and it was perfection. 

+ On its own.  The girls have been known to ask for a little spoonful of the "other peanut butter" after lunch and I have been known to give in.

a day in D.C.

I've been wanting to go down to Washington D.C. for weeks and this Saturday we finally were healthy and not planning for another snowpocalypse so we made it happen.  We went to the Museum of Natural History, which is not my favorite Smithsonian, but it was probably best for the girls.  They loved all the animals, though it took a little bit to convince them that none of them were real.  Mattie walked around pointing at everything and kept her mouth in a permanent "oooh" shape.  Jilly loved the Hope Diamond (of course) and the butterflies.

^ I need lessons from Jilly on making a great scared face

After lunch at Chipotle we decided to brave a walk down the National Mall.  It was very very cold but sunny so not too awful.  Mattie fell asleep in the stroller and I really wanted to make it all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial.  Bryan and Jilly were troopers and we did it.  This place is so magical; I just love the history and the remembering of so many great people.  It had been a long time since I'd seen the monuments and I was just so happy to be there.  It didn't hurt that I feel like I've been cooped up for so long this darn winter and it felt amazing to be out and doing something so different and exciting.

We ended the day meeting up with Katie and Neal for dinner.  Jilly was so excited to tell Katie all about the "mewseum" and Mattie sat with Neal (which is so funny because Mattie is not overly friendly, and especially not to men but she has a soft spot for Neal.)  We ate delicious Greek food and only spilled one cup of water all over the table so it was a success.    

^ I can't resist a good side-by-side.  Here we are 9 years ago when we were dating- that day was a whole lot hotter and we were a whole lot younger

friday five

one. Ever since Mattie's ear infection last week she hasn't been sleeping well at all.  She wakes up multiple times a night and cries unless I hold her.  It always takes her a while to fall back asleep which means I've spent hours rocking her in the night.  It's hard to make her just cry it out because she screams so loud and our walls are super thin- I get so anxious that she's keeping our neighbors up all night long as well.  It's a darn good thing she's cute!

two.  Because I've been up so much in the night Bryan has let me sleep in every morning.  He'll get the girls breakfast and set them up watching a show when he leaves for work so I can sleep for a bit longer.  A few mornings I've woken up before the girls came up to get me and it's fun to hear them downstairs by themselves.  Jilly turns into such a little mommy taking care of Mattie.  Also, how great is this outfit she came up with?  Bryan calls it "polka dots on polka dots on polka hearts."

three. I hardly ever buy cereal because it's just not our favorite breakfast.  We usually have frozen waffles, eggs, or oatmeal.  This week I did buy cereal and it turns out Mattie is a big fan.  She ate her cereal, drank all her milk, then grabbed my bowl to finish off my milk- something I normally would think is disgusting but when you have day-old piggies and rainbow jammies you can get away with anything.

four. Jillian is taking a ballet class at the Y and this week they had a little recital.  They danced the Cupid Shuffle which was hilarious because how many four-year-olds do you know that can tell their left from their right?  There were lots of colliding dancers.  Her sweet teacher, Miss Abril, has only boys so she always says "these are my girls!" and she made them each a little tutu for the show.  Jilly loves hers so much she insisted on wearing it to bed.

five. We went to Old Navy this week which is just about my girls' favorite store because they get to play with their best friend, the dog.  All of the summer clothes and swimsuits were out so when we got home I let them try on their swimsuits and then they pretended my bed was a beach.  If only... 

Happy Weekend!!

a snowy weekend

We had yet another weekend full of winter weather.  But this snow was so, so much better because Bryan was home and we were all healthy!  It started snowing around noon on Saturday and it came down and down- we got about 6 inches that afternoon, which was more than they had predicted.  Later in the afternoon we headed out to the hill at the end of our street armed with a sled and the fun parent.  

It was really hard to walk because the snow was so deep (six new inches on top of the 3ish inches from earlier in the week) so Bryan rigged up this sleigh for Jilly.  It looked kind of painful to me, but she loved it.  The hill was perfect- not too big and not too small and right next to a set of stairs so there was no struggling up the hill.  Mattie went down once with Bryan but she wasn't really into the cold so she and I didn't last too long.  But Jilly and Bryan had a great time sledding down the hill; and I was so happy to see how brave she was becoming.

Through the night it warmed up a bit so the snow turned to freezing rain which turned into ice everywhere.  Our church was canceled for the second week in a row.  They didn't make the decision until later in the morning so I had the girls in their dresses ready to go- of course!  But my girls love getting dressed up for church so they probably would have wanted to wear their dresses all day anyway.  Sunday was the most beautiful day- it was sunny and got up to the 40s!  Bryan and Jilly went outside and stayed for hours- Bryan shoveling our cars out and Jilly having a ball playing in the snow.  I went outside for a bit and it felt so, so, so nice; it made me feel hopeful and excited for spring.  I had to return a redbox movie so I finally became a true Baltimorean and left a sled in my shoveled out parking spot so no one would take it.

^ it doesn't look bad because Bryan did a great job shoveling all the snow out, but there was A LOT of snow in the streets- plows had come through and pushed tons of snow toward the cars so I was not going to risk not getting my spot back!

We had a great weekend in the snow, but would be totally 100% fine if we didn't get any more snow this year.  Pretty please?!?!

five fact friday

1. After our long, sick weekend we were excited to get out and play in the snow on Tuesday.  It would have been much more fun if Bryan had been home to play with us (dumb job) but it felt so good to be outside in the sunshine for a little while.  

2. Mattie has started saying "Oh man" a la Swiper the Fox.  It's the best thing ever, and she knows it because she really turns on the charm and starts repeating it right around bedtime.  Mattie also decided she was old enough to walk down stairs by herself (gives me a heart attack every time) and she's been taking very good care of all her babies.  

3. Jillian is turning into a sweet and thoughtful girl.  One day I woke up to find all the blinds open in our bedroom.  I asked Jilly if she had opened them and she said, "Yes, I didn't want to wake you up with my loud voice, but I wanted you to see that the sky had woken up."  Then while I was at the doctor with Mattie Jilly told Bryan, "let's say a prayer for Mattie so she won't be scared at the doctor."

  

4. I know you're sick of me complaining about the weather but it has been COLD this week.  We bought a space heater last week and it turns out that was just in the nick of time.  It is my best friend and constant companion- we carry it around the house with us to whatever room we're in and then all huddle around. 

5.  Bryan downloaded an app that may save our marriage.  The if this then that app let him program his phone so when he leaves a certain location (his office) it sends me a text that he's on his way.  Bryan leaves work anytime between 4 and 7pm and I was always bugging him to let me know when he left so I could get dinner ready but he was constantly forgetting (which I understand but still drove me crazy.)  So, now the problem's solved!  He also used the app to program his phone so he sends me an "I love you!" text every day at 10:04am  which seems like it would be annoying but I've actually enjoyed.  Smart phones- saving one marriage at a time.  

(totally unrelated picture but I had to include it)