Our 'girls day', and their 'boys day'

I'm sad that the weekend has already come to an end. Weekends seriously go by way to fast, as far as I'm concerned. Because once I get my grocery shopping and errands done, laundry, (All the not so fun stuff that's just necessary), it doesn't usually leave enough play time. Even when I take Fridays off and have a 3 day weekend, I still don't find it long enough. Oh well... I guess I'll just have to deal with it until I retire.

Today the girls had a girls day, and the boys had a boys day!
Andrew and my dad were going to some golf convention thing, and they took Drew man. So, Emma, my mom and I had a girls day! We were very brave, and we took her to the movies. And... She was GREAT! She did really well, she sat through the entire movie, and was quiet (for the most part... she didn't quite understand that there were other people watching the movie with us.) We took her to see Gnomio and Juliet. It was cute, and apparently it entertained her enough to sit through it. Not necessarily a movie that my mom and I were really excited to see, but it was all about her anyway. It was a success. Drew would have never been able to sit through a movie. He's a total boy.... he has to be climbing and running and jumping, etc... He absolutely can not sit in one place and concentrate on a cartoon on tv, let alone a 2 hour movie. Which is really why we have never even considered taking them to a movie. But we thought just having Emma with us by herself today was a good opportunity to give it a shot and see how she did. She loved it!

Yes.... The popcorn was as big as her. The 3 of us shared it, but she definitely enjoyed having it in her lap.

When I left the theater to go buy popcorn, I whispered to Emma that I was going to get popcorn and would be right back... and when she saw me coming back into the theater and up the stairs she yelled "Mommy!! Good job! You did it!! You got popcorn!!" So I'm sure the rest of the movie theater was wondering why I wouldn't be competent enough to get popcorn. But, it was cute. She was proud of me, apparently.

She was all set up with her sippy cup in the cup holder.

Here are the pictures that I received on my phone from 'boys day.' I swear they did go to a golf convention at some point today.

 Don't judge.

Drew was having a little bit of a rough day. I think it might be allergies or something... He had red, watery eyes and had the sneezes. And it made him a little bit grumpy this morning. He definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed. So it was probably a good day for him to spend with Daddy and pop, because he tends to really play it up around me. He's got me pegged. But it looks like he cheered up. =)

So when he sneezes, and he needs a tissue, he asks me for a 'bleshyou.' He thinks that's what tissues are called. Pretty close... I can see where he would have made that connection and gotten it a little confused.

The pipsqueak eating dinner tonight. I tried to get Drew but he's been very against me taking his pictures lately, when he sees the camera he quickly turns his head, so the pictures turns into a big blur.

So, some of you may have seen my facebook status about Emma telling me to 'calm down', but she has a few new things she's been saying a lot to me lately. One, when I was giving her a little lecture the other day about not saying 'gimme that' when she wants something, she told me to calm down. And she has since said it a few times in different scenarios, but the one she likes even more, is "Don't worry." But it's usually when I'm telling her not to do something, or asking her what she's getting in to. Her answer is "Mom, don't worry about it." I heard a crinkling noise when she was in the room next to me this morning and yelled in "Emma... what are you doing?" and her answer was "don't worry bout it mama." Or she was running down the hall at the movie theater today trying to find another movie to go into because she didn't want to go home, and when I told her to stop running from me she said 'no... don't worry...' and mumbled something else as she continued down the hallway.

They crack me up sometimes.

Lunch date with Mimi

Today I took a day off, and stayed home with my kiddos. I love days like that. Spending the day with my munchkins is my favorite thing to do. Even if we just hang around at home... there is nowhere I'd rather be. I will say that some days are more trying than others depending on how it goes, because they are both entering the "I'm 2 and independent, and don't have to do what you tell me to" phase. And when they get in those moods, it can be rough, especially when I'm outnumbered. But some days are just totally fun. I guess it all depends on how well we all sleep the night before!
They are just at a really funny age right now, and one thing we can always count on is laughing. There are times that we don't want them to see us or know we are laughing at what they are doing, because we don't necessarily want to encourage it, but it's hilarious, so we have to turn our heads and try not to laugh. Like a few nights ago when Drew was taking a nap on the couch during dinner (He hadn't taken a nap during the day, so he crashed around dinner time) and we had to keep telling Emma to leave him alone and let him sleep, only to walk in and find her sitting there putting Sesame Street bandaids on his face. Poor kid. But surprisingly he didn't wake up!
Or when they call me Lauren, or ask me where 'Anjew' is? That's how they pronounce Andrew's name. They shouldn't even BE pronouncing Andrews name, I have to remind them that he is 'Daddy' as far as they are concerned. Or when we're walking around the grocery store and they have to point out every woman with gray hair and loudly announce "Look! A grandma!" All of them have a different reaction. Some find it funny, and some... not so much. The other day Andrew was vacuuming in the kitchen, and Emma was watching a movie in the family room. She comes into the kitchen, with a very serious look on her face, waving her finger at Andrew and telling him to stop vacuuming because it's too loud and she's watching a movie. Our nanny was telling us the other day that something was on TV where the people were doing yoga, and had their legs stuck behind their heads. Drew turned to her and said "I hate when that happens." Where do they get this stuff?!?!
And at just 2 years old, Emma feels that she is completely competent enough to order for herself at restaurants. She actually does a pretty good job. We took the kids to Red Robbin last week and when the server came up to introduce himself and probably take a drink order, Emma just stood up and started shouting out her dinner orders at him. It was pretty funny. Once we went through the Walgreens drive through and Emma started ordering nuggets and fries out the window. Apparently she thought we were at a fast food drive thru? When we talk about boys & girls, and teach the kids that mommy & Emma are girls, Daddy and Drew are boys, etc... Drew is always pretty certain that he is a truck. Funny stuff. Every day is an adventure with them, and it seems like every day they do something to make us laugh.
(I'm not going to lie, usually every day they do something to frustrate me also, but at least we have the laughs to balance it out.)
Anyway, back to today.
The kids and I took our time this morning getting out of the house. Just to be clear, that does not mean we slept in... because god knows I was not lucky enough for that. But, once we were up, we hung out, had some waffles and 'na-na's' watched some cartoons, and then got dressed and ready to go. We went to Costco and after shopping met my mom for lunch.

Drew has been very generous with his kisses lately. Before this picture, he wanted to give my mom a kiss, and she wasn't looking at him so he grabbed her by the nose and pulled her face towards him.

Check out the attitude on that face.

They gave the kids some push up italian ice thing

Messy, but happy boy!

This was earlier this morning, when I was getting them ready to leave. They love wearing my sunglasses.... and I keep a few pair on my dresser (My back ups!) and I always find the kids with a pair on their face.

This was earlier this week... I took a pic to show my sister one of the shirts she got for him.

And.... meanwhile, Emma had fallen asleep in her little recliner. She was tuckered out that afternoon.

So this is random, but, I got new rugs for our master bathroom today. We used to have a chocolate brown shaggy (sorta) type rug in there that we took out a few months ago and I've been meaning to put something else in there but I never think about it when I'm out.

These were kind of different....

Sometime last year I added a red bamboo vase to add a little color, so the rugs pull it together. Because when I picked out the paint for the wall when we first bought it and were moving in... I didn't quite realize that I pretty much picked the exact color as the tile in the bathroom and the tub! So it was one big blended beige blah. So I've been trying to add color to pop. Anyway, this is the red vase/bamboo behind the tub that hopefully matches the new rugs.





Bye Bye Cribs!

Lately Emma and Drew have really hated sleeping in their cribs, and it makes our nights pretty long and sleepless. So we decided to convert their cribs into toddler beds, and give it a go. Hopefully they won't have such a problem with it if they aren't 'stuck' in there.
The cribs we have are convertible, so they go from a crib, to a toddler bed, and eventually to a full size bed.

This is a before picture -

and... After :

I need to put Emma's dust ruffle on.

Drew was diggin' his big boy bed.

So we're going to see how it goes tonight. I'm hoping they stay in their beds!!! We're probably going to put a little tv with a dvd player in there so they can watch their 'good night' show.

A night out on the town - Chicago

Friday after work we went downtown to spend the evening and night in the City. We met our friends Serena & Lee, who also got a room to stay for the night. We went to a few bars before dinner (At the Welsh bar, or I think that's where we were, I had 'cider' for the first time and I liked it! It looks just like beer and is cold and on tap, but was sweet.) Apparently, it can lead to a very fun/interesting time if you have multiple, but I only had one. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and were able to visit for a while with good food and wine.
After dinner we went to a piano bar to top off the night. Another plus, was that we were able to catch up on some MUCH needed sleep, and even sleep in a little! Our hotel room was really nice - perfect location, and since they did their big remodel recently, we were the first to stay in the room! Brand new! This is a picture that I took from our window, we were on the 30th floor, among other high rise buildings....

It was really nice to have a night away, with uninterrupted sleep, and being able to have a drink without knowing I would be awakened at 5:30 am by my little alarm clocks; but I must say I was so excited to get home and see my babies! Aunt Shauna stayed at our house with Emma and Drew for the night, until we got back on Saturday. Emma kept telling me the next morning that they had a "Sleepover!!!" She was pretty excited about it. And, aunt Shauna (Or Cha-cha as the twins call her) tends to give in a little easier when they ask for cookies and treats, I think. Andrew would probably say that I'm not that much better about it either, but I'm working on that. I'm a softy sometimes when it comes to them.

 Andrew and I

 Serena & Lee

 * Cheers! *  To mommy's night out!

 Lee was reserved, I guess.

Serena & I

Saturday we had some things to get done, so we bounced around town most of the afternoon.

 Drew and daddy went for their haircuts also.

My baby boy taking a quick nap on our way to the store.

I just wanted to post a pic of these roses from Valentines Day - check out how big they got! My roses never open that much!

Pancakes and sledding

This morning we made blueberry pancakes (with a blueberry syrup and fruit on top) YUM.
Andrew was feelin' like pancakes this morning, so I made them! I also made mini pancakes for the kids.

Today Emma came with me to Ulta. I just had to grab one thing really quick, but she obviously had other plans. She wanted to check everything out. I was looking at the  bare mineral powders to find my color, and turned around to find this

Rock Star!

So, before we left she had to try on some more sunglasses, check out the lipsticks and lotions, and smell a few perfumes. And she still threw a total fit when I made her leave. She would have cruised around that place all day if I let her.

Later we went to a friends to go sledding. We told the kids earlier in the day that we were going to go sled, and they were all about it. However... when we got there, they decided that they wanted nothing to do with it today. Emma has always been a little hesitant, but Drew usually loves it... so I'm not sure what their deal was today. But, they still had fun playing in the snow and hanging out, getting some fresh air. It was actually a beautiful day today, it was sunny, warm(er) and comfortable out. I actually had the sunroof open in the car today.

She had a little bit of an attitude today. She was very bossy. But, she skipped her nap, which I believe is definitely to blame for the 'tude we were blessed with the remainder of the day.

She went over and made friends with these girls (She is definitely not shy) and they kept making her these miniature snowmen, and she would just turn around and throw them. I think after about the 5th snowman she destroyed they stopped making them.

My Drew boy giving me a little push. I still couldn't convince him to go down the hill with me. Oh well....

Drew and Dad, walking back to the house from the hill.

So all in all, we had a good weekend. My munchkins are crashed out, and I think I may have just lost Andrew a few minutes ago as well. We were sitting in bed watching the Grammy's. Looks like I'm the last one standing (or.. sitting, whatever.)

I love watching my kids sleep. I could honestly just stare at them forever when they are sleeping. That was a random thought, but they are sleeping next to me right now so I've been watching them ;-) . 

Now it's time for me to try and carefully move them into their cribs.... the goal is not to wake them up,

Goodnight

                                                                                                                                                                       

Sickies

We're just getting over the sickies in our house.... Emma and Drew were pretty sick all week. It turns out they had Croup. I took them to the doctor on Tuesday, after a long weekend of high fevers, bad little coughs and runny noses. So, there wasn't much we could do for them that we hadn't already been doing... It just has to run it's course. I felt so bad for them though... I was almost wishing when I brought them in that they would say it was something that could be treated with medicine. But to hear that you can't do anything (Other than the vaporizer, honey, etc..) was a little frustrating. So we're doing much better now. Still a little bit congested, but the fevers are gone and the cough has subsided. They don't sleep very well when they are sick, so I have been running on very little sleep this week.

Last night the munchkins got this yummy Valentine package from 'Marney & Popp" (My grandparents), their great grands. You've probably never heard of 'marney' as a grandma term have you?! That would be their version of 'Nanny' a year or so ago, and it just sort of stuck...

These cookies were amazing. (Yeah... they shared a little bit with mommy)

As I'm typing this right now, they are both snoozin'

I took Drew to the store with me this morning, and agreed to let him pick out one toy if he was good. So after spending 25 minutes in the 'truck and car' toy aisle, and he couldn't make up his mind, I agreed to 2 (which was still difficult for him to choose) but, eventually we were able to agree on 2 and leave. So, he's napping with the school bus and motorcycle that he got. He refused to take a nap without them.

She is crashed on the couch.

Before she fell asleep, watching TV. I'm pretty sure it was E news or something...

That's about it. We've been laying low, trying to get these kiddos better. I think we're about there. They've been doing much better the last few days.

Strawberry Cheesecake Dip

Strawberry Cheesecake Dip - with graham cracker sticks & apple slice dippers

When I started my blog, I said that I was going to post recipes also, because I love trying new recipes (well, the one's that turn out well!) But lately we have been really busy, so I've just been sticking to my traditional, tried and true recipes. No time for error.
But I do want to share some of those with you guys... because I have a few good ones, that I can guarantee will turn out well.

But anyway, I tried a new appetizer/dessert/dip thing to bring to a Super Bowl party today. (I'm not really quite sure what it's classified as.) I wanted to do something different, because all of the traditional game day food is covered already.

So I made it this morning, because it needs time to chill, and it came out well!
And it's super easy. I used my magic bullet, but you can use a blender also.
I 'healthified' it by using all low fat, no fat, sugar free, etc. ingredients, so that's also an option.

Throw everything in, blend until smooth, and chill. Then serve with whatever you want - I'm doing graham crackers and apple slices. 

16 oz - softened cream cheese (I used fat free cream cheese)
1/2 cup of strawberries, fresh or frozen. (I used a few cups of frozen strawberries. The more the better, right?)
1/4 cup of Sugar
1/4 cup Sour Cream (I used no fat sour cream)
1 teaspoon - orange liquor
1 teaspoon vanilla (I always tend to do an extra splash or so of vanilla in whatever I make that calls for it. That's a tip from my mom!)
I also put a small scoop of marshmallow fluff in it.

Blend it really well, and chill until you serve it. I cut up red and green apples into slices and broke graham crackers into the quarters for the dippers, but you can use cake bites, strawberries, other fruits, etc....

Weekend Days...

Our kids basically spend every waking moment together (and sleeping I guess for that matter...) If one of them wakes up, and the other is still asleep, they are determined to wake them up one way or another. And, they play together, eat together, watch movies together, take trips to mimi & pops together, etc....
So lately we felt that it might be a good idea to separate them every once in a while, to be able to give them their own time, without the other. I actually really like doing this, because they are at a stage right now where they both want constant mommy or daddy attention, and they don't quite understand that they have to share. That's tough sometimes. I like to be able to have one-on-one time with each of them.
They are both coming down with little colds, so we're taking it easy this weekend. (back to my earlier point, they even get sick together!!)
This morning, Emma and I went grocery shopping, and Drew and daddy stayed home and did their boy stuff.
She always tries to steal my list when I'm shopping, and then it ends up getting scribbled all over, and ripped up. She was absolutely insisting that she needed her list, so I gave her a piece of paper and pen to make her own list. This was after she helped me put the apples into the produce baggie, one at a time, counting them. She then proceeded to wander through the produce and bakery section convincing me that I needed everything. That's how she wound up back in the cart.
Emma busy writing her 'list':

Shopping can be so exhausting....

 She took a quick snooze after our first stop, on our way to Costco. I think she may have fallen asleep mid-singing. This child is musically amazing! Seriously, she can hear a song once, and sing it back to you with the exact pitch, tune, words, everything. Including songs on the top 20 stations on XM. Not really on her level... I mean I would understand if she could sing along to Sesame Street or Blues Clues, which she can, but when she knows all of the words to songs that I don't even remember hearing all that often on the radio, that amazes me.

Later in the afternoon Drew and I decided to take a walk and play around in the snow. I haven't really let them out to play in the snow since the infamous blizzard, not only because the snow was so deep that they would probably completely sink into it and I would lose them, but the temperatures have been sooooo cold, I wanted to wait until the conditions were a little better. So, I bundled him up really good and off we went. It was actually a really pretty day today, the sun was shining on the snow and it wasn't unbearably cold or windy.

 The snow drifts and plowed piles aren't nearly as bad as they were earlier this week, but as you can see in that picture, it still comes up pretty high on each side of him.

~ My little Buddy ~

These are just a few pics from earlier this week, that I put on facebook, but again, for all of my non facebookers -

I think this was one of the days we were either snowed in, or chose to be snowed in ; )

Emma loungin', catching up on the Chipmunks

So what's everyone doing for the Super Bowl?! We're going to a friends super bowl party that we've gone to the last few years. I'm trying a new recipe to bring, it's called 'strawberry cheesecake supreme dip' - it's a dip that has strawberries, cream cheese, vanilla, orange liquor, sugar, sour cream, (a few other things that I can't think of off the top of my head) all blended together and chilled, and I'm going to serve it with apple slices and graham cracker sticks, maybe some cinnamon pita chips - as the dippers. I will let you guys know how it turns out! Sounds pretty good though!