Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Last week

Catching up on some random photos from last week:

We eat almost every breakfast and every dinner together at the kitchen table as a family. It's so, so, very important to Barry and me to have family meals and it has just become habit for us...I can't imagine doing it any other way and I hope the practice sticks as the kids get older.

If you happened to peek in on breakfast at our house you would probably find both kids piled in Barry's lap eating his cereal and fruit. They don't want their own...they prefer to eat his. Shrug.




It is my favorite time of any given day to sit back and watch my beautiful children with their devoted Dad.

Last week the kids had their first popsicle of the season (and Eleanor's first ever!). 




On Memorial Day we decided to host a little BBQ for some family and friends. There were nine adults and six kids and it was absolute chaos. And I loved it! The whole thing was a great success and I can't wait to do it as many times as we can this summer.





Oops! I forgot to take photos of any of the adults! But I did take a shot of this beautiful Blueberry Crumble Pie. It was delish with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.




Sunday, May 27, 2012

Date Night!

Now that the kids are getting older and a bit more flexible, Barry and I have made a renewed commitment to monthly date night. I'm a firm believer that it's good for our marriage and our family for us to get out and enjoy time together as husband and wife without our children in tow. And the kids love having Granny Diane put them to bed!

Tonight we tried a new place, Arnold Myint's PM. Arnold is a Top Chef vet and it's one of our very favorite shows, so we were really looking forward to trying out one of his Nashville restaurants. It didn't disappoint, but it didn't exactly sparkle, either. The cocktails and the sushi were fabulous, but the entrees left something to be desired (at least mine did...Barry was pretty happy with his Pad Thai, but I think it's pretty hard to mess up Pad Thai) . I would certainly go back, but next time I think I'll stick to sushi.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Family



Yesterday was my mom's last day in town before heading back to Florida, so we had Brandon and his family over for dinner (they happened to be in the city for a trip to the zoo to celebrate Tyler's preschool graduation!).

These past few years we have seen too little of them. So many babies, so many sleepless nights, so many days stuck at home while the babies nap. They live only about 1/2 hr drive from us, but it sometimes seems like it might as well be a 1/2 day drive. I really hope that as the kids all get older it will get easier for us to spend more time together, because we truly cherish our time with them and the kids just adore each other. I grew up spending so much time with my cousins, and I want the same thing for my kids. I think Brandon and I are very blessed to have ended up living in the same area.



We had a great little impromptu dinner and the kids could have played all night.

For dessert I made this Maraschino Cherry Cake. It was delish! I tore the recipe out of Ladies Home Journal (disclaimer: I used this icing recipe and added a couple tablespoons of the reserved cherry juice...I didn't use the frosting included with the cake recipe because I didn't have enough butter on hand).



I know my Mom really loves having us all together in one place, but we also miss the other cousins (Ashley, Caroline, Kevin) and wish they lived closer. They would be great babysitters for their baby cousins!

I'm working on a post about our recent trip to Gatlinburg, but I take so gosh darn many photos and it's a real pain to wade through them all. Hoping to get them up soon.

Henry is out of MDO for a couple of weeks before the summer session starts and, while I love having the kids home with me, the days can start to seem pretty long. We are trying to take advantage of the beautiful weather and spend some time outside before real summer hits us.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Saturday



What a perfect day!

We had our favorite blueberry multigrain waffles for breakfast, spent two hours hiking at Radnor Lake, then celebrated Tyler's 5th birthday.

This was my kind of Saturday. There is nothing I love more than spending quality time with my family.

Yesterday, Henry and Eleanor learned the hand-holding chain. I suspect we'll be doing a lot of this in the coming years.



Thursday, May 17, 2012

School's Out for Summer!



And we're quite sad about it, actually.

Today was Henry's last day with Miss Sue, who has been such a special part of his life (our lives) this year. We are going to miss her terribly. I'm praying Eleanor will be placed with her next year.

There is only a two-week break before the summer session starts and then I will have *both* kids in MDO. I really can't believe that in such a short time I will have 10 hours a week to myself. I can taste the freedom already!  (But let's be realistic...by the time all the errands are run and the house is cleaned I'll have about 32 minutes a week to myself.)

In other news, Eleanor has started wearing her sunglasses on top of her head like her mama. Silly girl.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Eleanor at 15 Months!

(Because it's just so darn bright in the waiting room.)


I took E to her 15-month appointment. Sweet baby girl is NOT a little baby girl. Of course we knew that, but it's always shocking to see the numbers.

25 lbs 8 oz (90%)
32 1/4 inches long (90%)

Sister is nowhere near the size of her brother at this age (Henry was 30 lbs at one year!) but she is healthy. And I love it! Love her big head, love her chubby legs, love it all!

What can I say? We make big babies.

Right now she is obsessed with her shoes and her sunglasses. She wore her sunglasses throughout the entire doctor's appointment, except for the 30 seconds our dear pediatrician took them off to check her eyes.

Eleanor blew the pedi away with her vocabulary, which now includes "thank you."

Granny Margaret is visiting right now and the kids are in heaven. I had to wake Henry for school this morning and the first thing out of his mouth was, "Where's my Granny?"

Sure wish she lived closer.

(How big is Eleanor? SO BIG!)

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mother's Day!

I had the very best of Mother's Days!

Woken at 6a by sweet Eleanor.

Waffles, scrambled eggs, maple sausage made by my dear husband.



Lots and lots and lots of indoor family time due to a steady all-day rain.

(What could be more fun than an empty toy bin?)

A nice, long bath followed by my favorite soup/sandwich takeout and then a nice, long nap.

Capped off by a fabulous dinner made by my sweet mother-in-law.

(Granny's curtains provide endless entertainment)

Oh, and there was a beautiful bracelet and a nail salon gift card, also!

I couldn't have asked for a better day with my beautiful family.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Tea & Planes




Just finishing up a busy Saturday. Henry and Barry had a great time at the Great Tennessee Air Show with Puck, Calvin, Brandon & Tyler...a great time, that is, until the noise of the Blue Angels scared Henry and it was time to leave. Barry assures me they had a great time and Henry collapsed at bedtime, so it must be true. It's so fun that he's getting old enough to enjoy days like this.

While the boys were at the air show Eleanor and I attended a Mother's Day tea with Nikki and my mom at Nikki and Brandon's church. It was a very nice event and Anna and Eleanor had a great time together.

It was a great day and we're always thankful to be able to spend some time with family. The only damper was that Eleanor and I are feeling a bit under the weather. Hoping we perk up by tomorrow so we can enjoy a relaxing Mother's Day!

Friday, May 11, 2012

The Great Outdoors





Recently, Barry and I have been discussing our commitment to making sure our family maintains a healthy, active lifestyle. We both grew up spending lots of time outdoors, playing sports and enjoying nature, and it's important to us that our kids do also. This is part of the reason we (a bit impulsively) bought a camper last fall...so far we've been on only two camping trips with the kids, but they were two of the most memorable weekends we've had as a family and I'm looking forward to many more in the years to come.

It's hard, though, to find ways to spend time outdoors on a day-to-day basis when you live in the city. It's always a struggle. We do walk our neighborhood a lot, but, well, we pretty much live in an office park, and the route gets old...so we're always looking for other options. Last week, it occurred to me that we haven't been to one of our favorite Nashville spots since Eleanor was born. Radnor Lake is a state-owned and run natural area and wildlife refuge, and it is a treasure. Barry and I used to go there some before the kids were born, but I think we had been a grand total of twice since Henry joined the family. Until this week. The kids and I loaded up after breakfast on Monday and spent an hour and a half walking the main road...we went back today and spent two hours and even branched out onto one of the trails. The kids LOVE it, and I am really looking forward to spending more time there this spring and summer.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Catching up

Hard to believe, but our baby girl is 15 months old. And walking! And talking! Among the words she uses regularly: ball, "bubba," milk, dog, shoe, mama, dada, "gaga" (granny), thank you, cookie. Some of these can probably be understood only by Barry and me, but she definitely knows what she's saying. She's way ahead of the verbal game compared to Henry, and we thought he was a pretty early talker. She started walking at about 14 months and hasn't slowed down since. She's very active, loves to play with her toys and bullies her big brother. She is definitely our feisty one. Not as good an eater as Henry was at this age, she is not a fan of fruit and veggies. A carb lover, like her mom and dad. Neither one of my kids eats cheese. Crazy. Overall she is just not a big eater and most of her food ends up on the floor, a picnic for Lucy. She does, however, LOVE her millk and drinks about 20-25 oz a day. She has six teeth. She weighs 25 lbs. She has no hair, much to my chagrin...I am DYING to put a bow on her. She's not really into tv, but has recently shown an interest in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but ONLY the intro. She's a fairly good sleeper in general, but we have had our rough patches. She is incrediby attached to her "bun-bun," the Jellycat bunny she got in her Christmas stocking. Crazy obsessed with that thing, which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. Overall, she is a happy and healthy little girl, although a bit opinionated. :)

Henry is such a little boy now. No baby left, really. Sad. But exciting, at the same time. He is really into cars, trucks, trains, pretty much anything that moves, but particularly construction equipment: diggers, graders, cement trucks...he knows and loves them all! He has requested a dinosaur party for his 3rd birthday. His best friends are his classmates at MDO: Teague, Maggie, Logan, Lane. He is good buddies with Cecilia, our neighbor's daughter, and, of course, Calvin, Evelyn, Anna and Tyler. He carries on very thoughtful conversations with us, and is both affectionate and aggressive with his little sister. His favorite tv shows are Caillou and Chuggington.He is not at all interested in potty training. He can count to 10 and identify most colors easily. His favorite song is "Jesus Loves the Little Children." My favorite moments with him are at bedtime, after stories have been read and teeth have been brushed and he says, "Sing to me, mama"...and we sit in the old rocking chair in his room and I sing at his request. He would sit there all night if I let him...and some nights it seems that we will, but I eventually stop, say prayers and put him in his crib. Where he goes to sleep surrounded by 5,235 of his favorite stuffed animals.

I'm really hoping to keep this blog more up to date. The last year has passed in a blur of illnesses, sleepless nights, diaper changes, endless refills of sippy cups and walks around the neighborhood. But this is such a great way to record the ins and outs of our family life for us to look back on later, so I'm going to make it a priority!