dinner party

hosted my other in-laws for dinner (sis-in-law's parents) and planned a simple yet yummy menu ...

• salad
• cornish hens
• asparagus
• steak a la paubre
• homemade apple pie

and this:


thankful for good times with good friends.

girls girls girls

such a fun day. had lunch with one of my fave people in the world at friday's, and caught up on all the fam gossip. tonight, e took both kids so i could go do girls' night at hs bestie's house. on my way home to pick up my contribution for the dessert potluck (bruschetta and pumpkin bread), i saw a shooting star. i ended up wishing that e would have an easy time with the girls while i was away for the evening.

when i got home, wouldn't you know, both girls are sleeping and e said there were no waterworks. when i told him about the shooting star wish, he said i should've wished for a million dollars. what can i say ... me and thinking fast don't necessarily go together.

10-10-10

happy 10-10-10!!

today, we met up with a friend whom i've known since kindergarten. we went to school together for most of our lives (missing only the 3rd grade and 3.5 years of college) and luckily reconnected a couple years ago. she had her first son a little over a week after i gave birth to buliilt. so it's even nicer to see our kids playing together!

since we both needed to get ready for halloween, we found a pumpkin patch somewhat halfway in between us, krop's crops. when we first drove up to it, e was a little hesitant, saying it looked really boring. to be fair, it did... all we could see was the storefront, a small selection of pumpkins and a bunch of flowers and pottery. once we parked and really looked around, we found a few things to keep the kids busy.

it took a while, but belly and bulilit warmed up to the farm animals in the back. belly was even feeding grass to the goats and the donkey (though she definitely favored the goats). this city girl was not excited to feed animals (but i did it anyway!). the girls also got a kick out of the bunny and the insane amount of chickens.

we were waiting around for the hay ride when we discovered the corn bin. oh. my. goodness. best invention ever. it's basically a ball pit with thousands of corn kernels. the kids jumped in and then convinced the adults to get in. we played in there for a long time (and had corn kernels falling out of various places the rest of the day!). we finally had our turn on the hay ride and the kids seemed to enjoy it. to top it all off, the weather was beautiful - sunny and warm! we'll definitely be going back next year!

after the hay ride, kids were starving so we stopped at a little pizza place nearby and had a really good lunch! it was adorable watching the kids run around the empty restaurant.

oh and interesting tidbit... on our way to krop's crops, we passed by gilbert arenas' house. all i have to say is DAMN.

quick post

work's taken over my life so all these draft posts i had sitting in here are just going to get published as is. so scroll on down to read!

today, i was thankful to be in the office and hang out with a good friend. on a conference call in the morning, one of the participants had her kids screaming in the background and it made me SO HAPPY to be in office (not that i usually hear the kids when i work from home, since i'm in the office upstairs and punky has them down in the basement).

getting dressed up and putting on make up is so much fun when you don't have to do it every single day!

exhausting weekend

hmm. i really am not good at this blogging thing, huh?

it's 10:30 and i'm exhausted. e's been away since saturday morning on a well-deserved trip up to NJ/NY to see some friends and hit up the jay-z/eminem concert tonight. being a single parent is no joke! i miss my husband!! even with the help of my parents... i totally salute all you single moms and dads out there. i don't know how you do it.

sunday morning, hs bestie and i took a bikram yoga class. keep in mind that, while i did take ballet classes for about 8 months in the past year, i haven't really stepped inside a gym / worked out in a very. long. time. i figured, hey, it's yoga, it can't be that bad. nevermind that the room is 105 degrees and there are like 50 people in the room with you. talk about body heat. let's just say that i'm thankful i didn't have a stroke or pass out while i was in there for 100 minutes. and i was thankful for the cold, nice-smelling towel they gave us at the end of class.

on saturday, i took the girls to wee play for their drop in open gym. too bad we got there 20 minutes before it was closing. the girls LOVED it and when we left, belly said, "mommy, i want to come back here another time with daddy." awww...

mommy lowlight of the weekend. i was putting the girls down for a nap and belly was screaming in my face. so i punished her. badly. when i left the room to calm myself down, i heard both girls quiet down and then peeked my head in and bulilit was doing all sorts of silly things to make her big sister laugh. just about broke my heart.

happy XXX birthday, dee!!

happy 30th birthday to my college bestie!!

tonight, e and i went to dave & busters to celebrate my college bestie's 30th birthday. we had such a blast! it was nice to go out, just the 2 of us, for a sort of date night but also to celebrate one of the sweetest people i've ever known. on our way to D&B, e and i realized we couldn't remember the last time we'd gone out without leaving just after the kids go to bed (scratch that, we did remember. it was our anniversary last year, in vegas, with my mom watching the kids. at 9:30 she said, ok, no problem, stay out longer and have a late dinner with your brother and veh. at 9:45 she called back to ask, are you done yet? are you coming home now?)

anyways ... so we did dinner with birthday girl, her husband and her friends then headed to the game area where e and i spent a few hours trying to best each other at various games. it was the most fun i've had with him in a long time. (ahem, i also kicked his ass in tekken. :) )

daaammmnnnn

has it really been this long? we're into a new month? oops. because i have so much to catch up on, welcome to a stream of consiousness post...

ETA (@11:55pm): i'm updating the blog from bed and belly just rolled over to me and says, "mommy. whaaaatcha doin?" (silence) "oh that's fun" (silence) "what's that?" all with her eyes closed. so she sleepwalks AND talks in her sleep. fabulous.

fun things from labor day weekend:

monday: lunch at jason's deli with my hungry girls, scarfing down their mac n cheese... enjoying the last day at the pool (for 30 minutes)... yummy chinese buffet at blue pearl in springfield...

sunday: clemyjontri park... girls entertaining each other in the car on the way over... girls' laughs=best sound ever... dinner at ruby tuesdays with my hungry girls who dance in the aisles, smile at the wait staff and other diners... bulilit waving bye to everyone when we leave

saturday: shopping at dulles town center... buying girls' new shoes... watching the carousel then giving in when belly asks me non-stop if she can ride... sitting on the too-fast carousel with bulilit and belly... ice cream and cookies for dessert, after the girls inhale a pizza

friday, 9/3: lunch with my hs bestie at noodles & co, catching up, making plans to work/study together now that i have a new nanny situation

wednesday, 9/1: hanging out with kim (ha! it's been forever since we used that nickname!!! and her sister was lea, as in lea salonga, and she was kim because that was lea's name in miss saigon), coming downstairs to the basement to see her and e, with buililt in e's arms, computers back to back battleship style. hilarious.

tuesday, 8/31: smarie and her mom over at the house to color my hair, gossip and catch up. i heart them ...

entire week of 8/30 - 9/3: feeling like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders as punky comes back to watch the kids. e coming home from work saying he likes seeing me happy and that i have so much less apparent stress already. and really appreciating my afternoons with both the kids and my husband when i've been away from them all day.

saturday, 8/27: yo gabba gabba live at nissan pavillion. (whatever, jiffy lube live. you will always be nissan pavillion)... running into a hs friend whose daughter is also super into YGG.

for those of you unfamiliar, allow me to introduce them:


pssst, i'd read down a few blog entries. didn't realize i had more than a few in draft mode so i just published them! :)

yeah, i suck at promises

sooooo about a week ago i promised "a flurry of activity" and new blog posts to recap the awesomeness that was the first part of june. ahem. so didn't happen. reminds me of e's witty little comment (*cue eyeroll here*): "You know what else is MIA? Your blog."

anyways, discovered that i had a draft post that never was published because it's woefully incomplete. so here it is, in all its random, jot-things-down-while-i'm-thinking-of-it glory.

Me: "Maddy, Who's that?" (Pointing to Ami).
Maddy (clear as a bell): "I don't know"

More fun things that I'm thankful for / still need to blog about:

• belly's THIRD birthday!!
• dinner with ana
• patron
• sitting on the beach (not so much the burning and peeling)
• drunk on the airplane
• family gatherings - baptisms and birthdays
  
• belly randomly shouting around the house, "I'm the Queen!"
• belly's birthday wishlist: a mic, a tray, a new puzzle and an iphone

love being in the office, hate sitting in traffic

i went into the office today for the first time in over 2 months. one of my good friends from work (who telecommutes from charlottesville most days) was going to be in the office so i made plans to meet up. it was fabulous working and not hearing the squeals and screams of toddlers. i actually got to get dressed up, put on heels (ok, maybe they were super cute ballet flats instead) and feel like a grown-up for once.

and while we're on the subject of grown-up clothes, i am totally in love with this dress:

now if only i could figure out what occasion i could wear it for...

old friends, sunny days and time alone with e

here's a story i forgot to write about. the other night, we were eating dinner. bulilit, being her usual self -- there's a reason she's nicknamed "destroyer") -- got herself into trouble with daddy. e threatened her, "no. stop doing that. do you want to go to the corner?" and wouldn't you know it, she starts walking herself right to corner. she sits down and looks at e, and you could practically feel her eyes rolling. it was hilarious.

anyways, today was the couples shower for one of my college friends. it was a beautiful day and the shower was very nice - small but it seemed like everyone there really cared about the couple. to my surprise, another friend from college (and grad school) showed up. i hadn't seen her in literally 6 years, so it was nice to catch up.

after it was over, e and i took advantage of my parents watching the kids and ran a few errands. it's so nice to be able to have some quiet, alone time with my husband, giving us the opportunity to reconnect.

Old friends

Today I had lunch with my best friend from high school. We were inseparable thru h.s. But kind of lost touch in/post college. Luckily we reconnected and things are pretty much back to normal. I am thankful to have her in my life -- to have someone who knew me when, during the days of awkwardness, braces, those odd preteen years when your body is changing as quickly as your maturity level. So her insights into my life are especially valuable. And while I'm thankful she validated my feelings, I know she wouldn't hold back if she really did think I was wrong. So thank you, G$ (or were you k-funk? I can never remember), for continuing to be there for me. I appreciate it more than you know.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch

missed another day

E comes into the bedroom last night and first thing he says is, 'you didn't post a blog today.' oops.
so in honor of him and the kids, my thing to be thankful for yesterday is family time during yo gabba gabba. after the nanny left, we made dinner for the kids, sat down in the living room and turned on nick jr. within the first few minutes of the show, both belly and bulilit were bouncing, dancing and singing along. mommy and daddy had HUGE smiles on our faces.

(it's funny to me to watch the progression of shows that belly watches... we went from disney channel -- admittedly because E and i LOVE disney -- to PBS sprout, and now we're on Nick Jr. i think i'm kind of fearing when belly tells me she's 'too old' for nick jr and wants to watch something like degrassi. ack.)

(side commentary #2: i also realize, watching these shows, how different they are from the shows i watched when i was young. i mean, sure, i watched mr. rogers and sesame street, on occassion, but i mostly remember heathcliff, rainbow brite, snorks and smurfs. i can pretty much guarantee there was no 'learning' associated with those shows. whereas belly will sing, 'keep trying, keep trying, don't give up, don't give up!' and 'i'm so, i'm so sorry' from YGG episodes.)

i was also thankful last night for catching up with my best friend from high school and my cousin (like i said, it's the little things!). i don't usually answer calls in the evening, but HSBFF called as i was gathering the kids' clothes for bedtime so i had a few minutes to myself and cousin called after belly was asleep. makes me realize how much i miss the outside world. hahaha.

this morning, i was thankful that the kids -- and ergo, mommy -- slept in until 8:30! (was also AWESOME that mommy fell asleep at 10, and bulilit had very few middle-of-the-night wakings!)