Gobble Gobble!

Patrick and I hosted Thanksgiving at our home for the first time this year.  With Patrick's work schedule being pretty crazy, we decided it would not really work for us to travel for the holiday this year, so Patrick's family decided to come to us!  I was a little sad about not being with my family, but the girls and I were able to take a quick trip to visit with my family the week before Thanksgiving, and I was very thankful to have had that time with them.  

We had a very busy and fun weekend with our family.  They came on Thursday afternoon and left last night.  

We fried a turkey, and our lives were changed forever - So delicious!

Naomi and Evelyn sure enjoyed hanging out with their aunts and uncles and of course their Grammy and Pep-Pep this weekend!

I should have added something for perspective here, but these were the girls plates for the big meal.  They were actually on salad plates, and looked so adorable next to all the adult plates.  They tried everything, but I think it may have been a few too many new things all at one time.  Evelyn enjoyed eating off her Aunt Amanda's fork more than she did her own spoon, and Naomi mostly spit everything out when I'd get a bite in her mouth.  She did have a fun time making eyes across the table at her Pep-Pep!

I bought the girls these turkey headbands for their first Thanksgiving last year.  I was so excited that they still fit this year.  We had to be pretty creative to keep their little hands busy so they wouldn't pull the headbands off before we could snap a picture!

The girls were so helpful to their Daddy in doing up the dinner dishes!!

Some other things we enjoyed this weekend were going out for a birthday lunch for Patrick's Mom, going shopping at the mall on black Friday, and doing a family photo shoot on Saturday afternoon at Runnymede Plantation.  We are pooped to say the least, but are so thankful that our family came to us for this special weekend!

A Day in the Life

I've noticed on some of the blogs that I read that people are posting their daily schedules.  I thought it would be fun to post ours, and I know it will be fun to go back and read this some day, so, here goes!


6:30 a.m.  Get up, shower, and partially get myself ready.
7:00 a.m.  Patrick gets up to get ready for work.
7:30 a.m.  Let dog out, feed pets, heat up bottles (the girls have been up for a while at this point usually talking and playing in their cribs - if they're not so happy, I go in and change diapers and put them back in their cribs with books or other toys until I am ready with their bottles).  Patrick goes in and says good morning to the ladies and then heads out to work.
8:00 a.m.  Get girls up, change diapers, and give them their bottles - after the bottles, we play in their room for a bit, or on tired mommy mornings, I lay on the floor of their room with one eye open watching them play until I can motivate myself to get up and get their breakfast ready!
8:30 a.m.  Feed the girls breakfast which consists of oatmeal mixed with fruit and a half a jar of pureed squash and lots of puffs!  I usually try and eat while feeding them.
9:00 a.m.  I do ABC or animal sound flashcards with the girls and then I move their highchairs to the living room to watch Sesame Street or Eebee's Adventures.  At this point I usually eat if I wasn't able to while feeding them and unload the dishwasher.  
9:45 a.m.  We head back to the nursery and I get the girls changed and dressed and they play while I stock up the changing table, change crib sheets, or put away their laundry.
10:30 a.m.  Morning Nap!  I usually finish getting ready at this point and then work on laundry or dishes.  Sometimes I am lucky at this point and am able to talk to my BFF who lives in Seattle while she's on her way to work.  Sometimes I have to take a shower at this point because I didn't get up early enough or the girls woke up earlier than normal, it just depends on the day.
12:00 p.m.  I get the babies up from their nap if they haven't woken on their own yet and give them their bottles.  I change their diapers and take them to the kitchen for lunch which is usually a PB&J, a jar of pureed peas, cut up cheese, yogurt, and puffs or baby mum mums.  Sometimes I get to talk on the phone to my BFF who is in my same time zone while I feed the girls lunch and she is on her lunch break from work!
1:30 p.m.  I put the girls in their stroller and go for a walk and then to our neighborhood playground to let them swing in the baby swings - they love this, and it is a good point in the day for me to get out and get some fresh air!
2:30 p.m.  Afternoon Nap!  I usually eat lunch and check email/facebook at this point or talk on the phone with my Mom or sister - I don't do as much housework at this point just because the evening is long and there is a lot to do with getting dinner, baths, and bedtime.  I do usually make sure the dishes are squared away and do any meal preparation that I can.
4:00 - 4:30 p.m.  I get the girls up if they haven't gotten up on their own and give them bottles and then we play in their room for a bit.  
5:00 p.m.  I give the girls dinner (pasta or soup or some of our leftovers, green beans and fruit and maybe a pumpkin muffin or teething cookie).  Usually Patrick comes home halfway through the girls' dinner.
6:15 p.m.  Patrick plays with the girls while I clean up from their dinner and sometimes get our dinner started.
7:00 p.m.  Bath Time!  Sometimes I do the baths and sometimes Patrick does them. Either way, it takes both of us to get the job done.
7:30 p.m.  The girls get their last bottle and we brush their teeth and say goodnight!
8:00 p.m.  The girls are down and we either start dinner or finish what I got started earlier in the evening.  
8:30 p.m.  We eat dinner and usually watch something on Hulu or Netflix - right now, we're completely obsessed with Mad Men!
9:30 - 11:00 p.m.  We clean up from dinner and either continue watching TV or we do our own thing until we go to bed.


So, there you have it!  This is of course a normal day where I don't have any errands to run and Patrick doesn't have to work late.  We are currently transitioning from bottles to sippy cups (NOT an easy task!), so eventually the girls will go straight from waking up to their highchairs with their cups of milk.  It's amazing how much the schedule changes based on the girls development!  Hopefully I can do this more often to compare how far we've come.  

Sickity Sick Sick

Patrick and I both had a 48 hour stomach flu this week...sickity.  The girls were due for re-check for their ears tomorrow morning, but we had to go in today because Evelyn had a fever last night.  She has another ear infection, and Naomi has fluid in her one ear, but it's not infected...sick sick!  We will get through this, right?!  Oh, and this all has happened on an election week which is one of the worst times for Patrick to miss work.  Looking forward to a long weekend relaxing with my husband and babies!

Educational Priorities: Star Wars

Not In My Favorites

I went to open a new tab online today, and my own blog wasn't listed as one of my recent or favorite places visited...maybe the blog should have been called "80 Or So Days Of Wonderful"!  Well, the blog, as with all the other things in my life, need my attention and my discipline in order to work.  I have always struggled to be disciplined with my time, and I find that I get distracted and discouraged pretty easily.  Distracted + Discouraged = Recipe For Disaster!  I will not beat myself up over this, I will give myself a break, and I will try harder.  This blog is important to me.  It is a creative outlet and a way for me to chronicle the good things that happen each day.  Our lives get busy and hectic, things happen that hurt us, we hurt each other, we lose sight of what's important.  We get sick, our pets seem like a burden, there are worries about money, work, and household tasks.  These difficult things are a part of our day to day lives, and sometimes they seem to outshine what is important.  Sometimes I feel so bogged down by them, I don't want to do anything.  I become idle.  It is important for me to write about this because I need to remember that this is all part of our story.  All of the difficult things and all of the wonderful things are in cahoots to make us see how very much God cares.  All of it is such an important process of building character and making us stronger.  So, today, a Monday, I purpose in my heart to push through my tendency toward being undisciplined, distracted, and discouraged in order to love myself, my husband, and my children, and to allow God to be our constant reminder of the wonderful that is in each moment we have together.