I'm Not Sure What To Say

I'm not sure what to say.  I took a much needed break from the blog, unintentional at first and then deliberately.  While I have always said that this is a place for the girls in the future, it is also my place and the burden was pushed off my plate after a busy winter in a new, demanding (but loved) job, a renewed focus on my health and well-being and a general apathy towards picture taking of any kind.  We were certainly busy but it was a lot of rinse, wash, repeat around here in January/February and it sort of burned me out for March and then I intentionally let it run into April.  I started taking pictures again and I have been downloading them but the bug still hasn't come to put them out here.  Having said that, it has been on my weighing on my mind because truth be told, I actually need the blog.  I love being able to click back through time to see what we were doing this time last year.  To quickly have at my fingertips a reminder of 'last February Emery was still a baby!'  And that makes me sad for poor March and April of 2012.  Nothing at my fingertips to document two whole months.  What I will do about this, I do not know.  Perhaps I will go back and log short entries of our adventures during that time, perhaps I will do one big post for each month and perhaps I will do nothing at all and that time will live as a mystery in our past.  But, I do know that I owe it to myself even more than the girls to keep this little journal going, even in its smallest form.  I sit these days and wonder if I will remember that right now, in this very moment, Emery smiles up at me as we sit in the dark rocking before bedtime and she sweetly asks me 'Sunshine?'.  We quietly sing more rounds than we should of 'You Are My Sunshine' because I know my days are numbered and two is banging on the door louder every day and three will be right behind it.  And my big girl?  She is so full of life and vigor these days she can easily wear me out.  But when we are crossing the parking lot at school or Hannaford and she squeezes my hand in a special three beat handshake that is our secret way of saying 'I love you' to each other, it makes my heart skip a beat.  I am so deeply sad that the days keep going and yet that's just the way it is and of course, the way it is meant to be.  And perhaps this is all just my way of saying, I'm working on it.  As always, I'm working on it. 

To May, here's hoping my inspiration comes back.
 

Outdoor Adventure

We finally got some snow.  Unfortunately it was a truly pathetic amount at our house but there is a decent amount in some of the surrounding areas.

My dear friend Heather sent me a last minute Sunday morning text inviting us for an Indian Brook walk and I couldn't have asked for a better invitation.  We ditched the very preliminary plans we were cobbling together minutes before and started gathering winter gear.

Heather, Adeline and Yazzy (her dog) and Emery and I would walk around the lake and Scott and Addison would have some snow adventures in the park area.

The perfect situation for Miss A.  She gets to throw the ball but there is little direct doggie contact.

Heather, Adeline, myself and Emery

I had such a great time.  I miss being outdoors, especially in the winter, as I always loved it in the past.  I have not been great about figuring out how to make it happen more regularly with the girls so it was really fun to have this unexpected opportunity.  Fresh air, great exercise (hello 30lbs extra on my back while walking up some nice hills), awesome conversation...how could I not miss such things?  I want my girls to love being outside as much I do and a big part of making that happen is giving them the chance to experience the coolness of being outside having adventures.  Future goal for sure.

Is this not the best snowsuit ever?  Looks almost Vera Bradleyish right?

As I was putting together the girls snow stuff I discovered that Emery's snow pants had been left at school.  Luckily she has a big sister that can help out with that.  She wore a pair of Addison's old pants that were too big and Addison's current/last year's jacket that was also a little too big.  She looked like a giant puffball and we essentially stuffed her in her car seat due to all that clothing.  And once again she picked out her own mittens. 

I don't care if neither of these mittens has a match anymore!  I'll wear them together then.

We enjoyed our walk and Daddy and Addison had a blast walking through some of the trail and checking out a bridge, jumping off big rocks into snow piles and they even saw a gopher (?? not actually sure what it was) trying to climb up a frozen waterfall with little success.  In other words, the whole thing was a big hit.

Mama loving

So glad that some last minute plans came together.  Sometimes I just need to take the leap to overcome inertia and realize we can make these things happen.  Hopefully we'll have more of these outdoor adventures in the future with our girls.

Hiding

Instantly reminds me of this.

My bathroom on Saturday morning.  Emery and Addison were hanging out with me as I got ready since Daddy was gone. 

At some point I notice that the noise level had reduced by half and I look around the bathroom and Little E is doing her best to hide.  Those moments just really kill me.  The intention is so sincere and I can almost see the thought bubble above her head saying 'I'm so crafty!'  And let's face it, seeing a tiny pair of pink Converse sticking out of your bath towels is pretty darn cute.

And you know how this goes...not much happens for one without the other quickly joining in.

Surprise!  Not a bad way to start the day.

Office Visit

On President's Day morning I was feeling a little sorry for myself as my new company does not celebrate the holiday and I found myself heading off to work while Scott and the girls were still enjoying breakfast at a leisurely pace.

My day vastly improved when I got a text mid-morning saying that I had visitors and I was greeted in the lobby by my little family coming to see where Mommy works.  

Not surprisingly the girls loved the 'playground' facility in the building the most (a big tennis court/open gym space that is used for tennis, basketball, ping pong and fitness classes).  Addison's eyes got big and she begged to run around in the large empty space.  I let her have it with strict instructions to keep her voice down.  As you can imagine, that places echos something fierce and there are about 200 people working outside the main doors to the space.

The girls were also kind enough to leave me some A&E original artwork on my whiteboard much to the delight of some of my co-workers.

Miss A's people drawing skills have really emerged in the last few weeks and she was kind enough to give me not just a belly button and hair but ears and shoes as well.  Upgrade.  And yes, that green guy is Mommy.

It's Really February?

If you didn't see the puffy jackets and hats, it certainly might look like April in this pictures.  Although to be fair, we have certainly had our fair share of puffy jackets and hats in April.  

My point being that we have been enjoying some unexpected time outside lately as the snow just never really arrived this winter.  There's always March though...

Emery had her first real crack at walking the stroller up and down the same sidewalk Miss A broke it in on.  She was in heaven, doing her bossy little march up and down and back and forth from end to end in front of our house and the neighbors.

Of course Miss A had to give her a few pointers now and then.

Addison quickly picked up her habit from Fall of finding small rocks to throw in the street drain.  It makes a cool plunking sound you know.

As much as snow can be a pain and it is nice to push the stroller around on a February weekend, I am a little sad about our missed opportunities to build snowmen, make snow angels, go sledding and drink hot cocoa. 

And now it will snow 10 feet in March because I just said that. 

You're welcome locals.

First Cut

The real 'errand' we wanted to accomplish by heading to the mall on Sunday.

My girl's first haircut.  Yup, numero uno.  She was exactly three years and five months old.  That seems weird but it's just how it has worked out.

She didn't have hair for a long time (barely any on her first birthday even) and then we just hung in through all the crazy stages in between with multiple layers and a mullet, all to get to the day when we could just put it back.  Ponytails, two braids, one big braid, one side braid, headbands...it goes on and on.

But lately it's been looking somewhat ragged on the ends.  And really, really long in the tub when we wash it.  I wasn't even sure the best place to go and get it cut as the only two places that came to mind as super kid friendly are both barbers.  That wouldn't work out so well I suspect.  So off to the mall we went.

Emery was definitely intrigued by it all.  (and this girl also knows a thing or two about having a mullet)

It took all of about 10 minutes and I think she lost about one inch max.  But, it cleaned up her ends, gave her a great first cut experience and she certainly was one happy lady when it was all done.

There was lots of hair flipping and rapid head shaking as we wandered through the mall for another 30 minutes or so.  Guess she just wanted to take her new 'do for a test drive.
 

Mall Madness

The Sunday after our waterpark adventure started off as a little bit of a mess.  The girls were both a little crabby/hyped up and I was struggling with my desire to take them straight to Family Gym and let them run wild or take them and get some much needed errands done.  

Scott and I bit the bullet and off we went to cross some errands off our list.  After accomplishing one somewhat minor task that we barely escaped with our lives, we decided to forge ahead against all odds and go to the mall.  The place we virtually never go in almost any circumstance and yet, off we went.

We decided to have an early lunch at Applebee's which Scott conveniently told Addison was Chili's just so she would stop asking to go to Chili's and come inside the restaurant with us.  Good times.

The most sure sign of how our day was starting off?  The giant beer Scott ordered right when we sat down.  It was a Switchback.  It was the 20 ouncer.  It was 11:30am.  All highly out of character.

And much needed.
 

The best part of Sunday before noon.

This one was trying to charm me after she split almost her entire milk on my jeans (that smelled good when it dried two hours later) and ate virtually no bites of her entire meal.  Good thing she's so cute. 
 

After a quick, fake spin in the mall stroller things, we headed off for the real reason we brought our cranky crew to the mall.  You'll just have to wait and see what that reason was...