Life just keeps going around here. Miss Independent is turning 1 next week, and I better get my butt in gear thinking about her birthday party! Pray for good weather! We need it!
My cousins threw a surprise 50th birthday party for Uncle Rich & Auntie Jo at the Clayton on Friday evening. We brought the kids along and just left when they got grumpy. It was lots of fun and the kids were awesome! At the last second I decided to bring Dom's coloring stuff and it was probably one of my more genius ideas.
Coloring "Gambaninis" with Opa
Saturday the church had a $1 sale for kids clothing. I went there with a few things in mind and actually came home with a little more than I planned. Shocker :)
$10!
These overalls fit a little wide, but they are so adorable <3
I may have taken over Dom's Star Wars coloring book for a while. He just wasn't doing it right! Haha
David has been slowly trucking away turning our basement, which is currently his office, into a functional room as well. We picked up a small sectional couch this week and are looking to get rid of our old lazboy recliner couch. Any takers??? Dave and I watched Harry Potter 7b in there on Saturday night and had a nice little date evening. Can't get out to the theatres? Bring the theatres to you! I actually prefer watching movies at home most of the time because I have my own snacks, own furniture and can pause to go pee whenever I want!
Tot Romp was back on this week and I am so grateful! The kids just love it, and Dom still asks constantly when we're going again.
Sunny weather makes it easy to be happy and energetic and grateful. This week I am thankful for... 1. Everything David does for our family. As a follow up to our small group discussion last night, we're trying to practice appreciation and gratitude in our marriage this week. I am so proud of how hard he works. He wakes up at 5 am almost every day so he can get work done and have some "Dave time" so that he can be present for us from dinner time until bedtime. He also just took Dom out for the last hour and a bit while Emilia napped so I could lay down because I have a headache.
No recent pictures of Dave, so here's a cute one of Yaya. Also, thank you to Dave for passing along your beautiful blue eyes and luscious lips haha! And hopefully your straight teeth...
2. Norwex!! The Norwex orders from the party I hosted came! I am a little embarrassed to show how much stuff I got. Not all of it was free, but the vast majority was. If you want to start a Norwex collection, host a party. They're a little awkward to host, but people who have used it before can easily see the value and look forward to purchasing new items. Maybe the honeymoon period will wear off, but I have been doing so much more cleaning lately.
I actually forgot to include two things. A rubber brush and a hair wrap, also called "the husband repeller" haha!
I tested the cleaning paste quickly on one of my elements. Hardly any effort and it got so many of the scuffs off that wouldn't just come off with a cloth and water.
3. Organization. Part of the reason I've been looking forward to receiving the order is that I get to organize all of it! As Natalia so eloquently put it, "Organization is sexy." I couldn't agree more. So pretty and practical and functional.
Oooooohhhh. Aaaahhhh.
4. Catching sleepy moments. We don't often get to see our kids sleeping. They go to sleep independently and stay that way until morning. Sometimes I'll have to wake Em up from a nap, but usually just the sound of me walking in is enough. She's been extra sleepy lately, and this day I got to go in, open her drapes and take pictures before she woke up.
Not enough Dom representation on this one, so here's this big little guy helping me unload the dishwasher.
And snuggling his little sister <3 One of my favorites.
Thursday night Dave and I were discussing ways to be intentional in our marriage (date nights, etc.). Somehow the idea of building these little metal Star Wars models came up, and before we knew it we were sitting down for two hours building these teeny tiny meticulous models using tweezers. They're that small! We both enjoyed it though, and we were hanging out without technology! I am still going strong with no Facebook on my phone, and don't actually miss it. Huh!
We had plans on Friday night that were cancelled, but we already had David's parents coming over to watch the kids from 430 onwards. We went out to Edith & Arthur's with Scott & Ashleigh for happy hour and had some 2 for 1 appetizers. This was also the first day after lent, so we had a few drinks. You know, I don't miss alcohol nearly as much as I thought I did. We'll see though, I'm only a few days back into it being an option. I do, however, still love margaritas. YUM! We went back to my parents' place (they were out of town) and had some margaritas and played games. Typical us.
I decided to be "wild" and ordered a rum and coke. It was super disappointing as I realized that white rum in a R&C is just not the same as spiced rum. It was my first drink after Lent, and I wondered if I'd just lost my taste for alcohol all together! (Spoiler alert: I didn't).
David took out his camera and took some real pictures this weekend, so sorry not sorry for the dozens of pictures of the kids. Too hard to choose!
His eyes used to be so blue! I'm confused. They're more grey/green/blue now. Quite similar to David's actually, but I wonder if Emilia's will change...
Wearing his Darth Vader shirt, building his Kylo Ren potato head
Friday highlight every week: the garbage truck!
Dom refused his nap, so he was miserable in the afternoon. I set him up with some TV so I could get something done, and plunked Emilia down on the other end of the couch. She gradually scooted her way over, grabbed a book, and snuggled up with her big brother. As my mom would say, "Warms a mother's heart."
Saturday we puttered around the house and got some things done. We found a free shelf in our neighborhood that is just what I'd been looking for for Dom's closet. Got to organize his room a bit and get all those boxes off his floor finally! I also got on my hands and knees and scrubbed half our balcony with a brush to get all the green slime off. It looks SO much better. Dom helped, too! We tried to arrange an Easter dinner with all my brothers, but as it turns out, Scott & Ashleigh were the only ones who could make it. They came over and Scott made us a delicious dinner. Pan-fried chicken breasts with demi-glaze, asparagus, colorful carrots and smashed potatoes. Deeeeeeelectable! After the kids went to bed, it was another batch of margaritas and some more games. Somehow we were up past 11pm two days straight. (Yawn)!
"Let's Avocuddle" <3 She has all of a sudden (literally over this weekend) become a little Daddy's girl. She will reach for him and give him the biggest smiles and giggles.
Emilia playing in Dom's firehouse. They both love playing with that thing; every day after Dom's nap they get some play time in.
Dom changing the puppy's diaper
The few stuffed animals saved from my childhood. I had dozens and dozens of them. There are a few I can think of that I wish I'd held on to, but the kids had fun with these, too!
Helping me out with the cleaning
She's a goober
So much giggling
Now Dave has done this with both kids
She's such a little grown-up. Cooking up some toast <3
Sunday morning I contemplated skipping church to go on a family date to IKEA, but as it's Easter and all, we packed up and went to church. I secretly love religious holidays like this because it forces me to get the kids dressed up a little more, and I love their adorable outfits (which we didn't get any pictures of). After church I made a list and tried to go to Costco and the veggie market. I went 0 for 2. They were both closed :(. I made a pit stop at Independent and found that stewing beef was on sale! I was debating making beef bourguignon already, so that made my decision. Little did I know, that takes a long time to make. I was standing in the kitchen cooking for nearly an hour and a half, and then it still went in the oven for 2.5 hours. YEESH! Better be worth it! Newsflash. It was!!
Tastes better than it looks.
Monday we were having David's family over for Easter Dinner. I was in charge of chicken, stoofpeertjes, vegatables and gravy. Somehow throughout the course of the morning I accomplished MANY things: Veggie market/Costco, chopping and prepping all the vegetables, carving the chicken, making stoofpeertjes, making gravy, making chicken stock, doing all the dishes and cleaning the house. I may have felt like a super human. Dinner was delicious and we had the addition of ham, coleslaw, buns, mashed potatoes and apple crisp! I definitely ate way too much food!!
