easter 2011 ~ part 1

(the problem with writing about this in september is i can't remember all the details- believe it or not- but i'll give it my best shot : ) my parents live in a great neighborhood that had a fun easter celebration and egg hunt at their clubhouse. there was a bubble machine which you can see from the pictures, one little brunette THOROUGHLY enjoyed... then inside there were yummy easter goodies and crafts which marni seemed to enjoy the most with her LOVE for all things scrapbooking, etc : ) afterwards, we enjoyed going back to my parents' home for a wonderful meal together where my mom outdid herself with beautiful decorations and personalized candies for each of us!

ava's baby dedication

ava was dedicated at buckhead church in the same format as bella, which i love!! we had (2) tables that were assigned to us and we were able to invite family and friends to come celebrate with us. jason and i were asked by the church to prepare some thoughts, comments, etc to share with our guests. in addition the church shared blessings with each of us, pictures of the children and sweet treats.

-ariel & me

-jason's aunt lou ann from ct was able to join us!

-loved that marni & pepere were able to be there!

-this is the picture we chose to have on the slideshow during the dedication

it's about time

is what i keep saying to my self as i type this entry... where have i been you ask??
-working MORE than full-time in our business
-taking care of (2) VERY busy but sweeter than pie baby girls
-caring for my wonderful husband who is still very dedicated to training for triathlons
**Have to brag on him for a minute-- he's LOST 40+lbs since he's been training-- go baby!!
-attempting to get our dining room back in order after jason & alfonso finished building our new table
-spending time (not as much as i'd like) with family & friends
-going on trips (dominican republic just J & me, SSI w/ our family & my in-laws, & our staycation)
-trying to get my home organization notebook organized : ) (includes family budget, weekly meal calendar, party/design ideas, etc)
-cleaning out closets and the girls' playroom
-preparing to lead our small group
-our first time volunteering in waumba land at buckhead church
-and i am sure much else that i am forgetting...

so, no i am going to try to do a few posts w/ pics and more specific details.

2 thought provoking...

and VERY wise posts that i read this week:

1. http://infoforfamilies.typepad.com/blog/2011/01/one-mothers-powerful-and-insightful-observations.html
2. http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-dont-want-my-children-to-be-happy.html

i am looking forward to wrestling w/ these some more both in my own heart and mind, as well as w/ some friends. i hope to come back to them as well, so i wanted to make sure i posted about them

where to start?!?!

i feel like i won't ever be able to get caught up, so i might as well not even try... but i am trying to fight those feelings and remember that while i definitely don't need to put additional stress on myself, it will be so fun years from now to read what was going on!

so because i am tired and a lot is going on, i think bullet points will serve me well right now.

-deedee is officially keeping the girls on a consistent schedule week to week and i am working full-time. our usual routine is the following: monday- school & then deedee picks them up, brings them home and hangs out. tuesday- deedee has them all day. wednesday- the girls and i go to CBS and then deedee picks them up from Bible study and takes them home and hangs out. thursday- school & then deedee picks them up, brings them home and hangs out. friday- we have time just the three of us girls either at the house, running errands or playdates. so far the girls are adjusting great! deedee watched them a good bit previously and they L-O-V-E her so it's not too much of an adjustment.
-jason & i are staying very busy with work and are so thankful
-we are now leading our small group thru our church. we so enjoy each of the couples in our small group. we just finished "The 5 Love Languages" and are getting ready to start "Radical"
-jason just signed up for a half iron man in september so he is starting to train for it
-i love CBS still and am getting ready to join/start a monthly book club with some of my favorite girls
-bella is as sweet as she can be... every once in a while, just like all of us, we have some melt downs... but she is constantly making us laugh and amazing us with what she is learning. she is officially potty-trained. only wearing pull-ups at night time and bed time. she is also officially done with pacis (praise God!). both changes happened over the holidays. christmas eve she put her paci on the plate w/ the cookies for santa to take it to baby Jesus... we talked about how baby Jesus needed it more than she did. for the first (3) nights or so there was some adjusting but after that she did fabulous and now it is just a memory. as far as potty training- we just picked a day at home and switched to panties... we had a few accidents... but picked up the concept pretty quickly. i believe we are now on our 3rd week and she didn't have any accidents, even at school, church, CBS, etc. (except one little one at home while watching Dora-- who doesn't forget everything around them while under Dora's Spanish influence?!?!).
-bella LOVES dressing up in her princess outfits... heels, crown, wand, dress w/ tutu underneath and all... the outfit is simply not complete w/out each component. if she is not dressed as a princess, she is dressed as minnie (her halloween costume this year). she has the minnie shoes, ears and dress... jason and i just laugh when we hear her prancing around in her minnie heels... she loves puzzles, books, singing, her sister and is now really developing quite the imagination. so fun to see!
-ava is our sweet babe who keeps growing so quickly. she has no desire to have baby food but would rather go straight to "big girl food" like her sister. she gets so happy when sissy shares her goldfish. she is sitting up by herself really well and attempting to kind of army crawl/scoot... but not crawl quite yet... she is still toothless, but i think her bottom (2) are getting close to coming in. she loves being tickled and playing w/ big girl toys. she's a great sleeper both at night and at nap time. she is one of her teachers favorites- both at school and at church in waumba land.
-we are so blessed and even though we have had some pretty big challenges in our lives lately, we know GOD is so faithful and praise HIM for bringing us through, one day at a time.

my bella... such a little mama

so i am recording this now so i remember for later... sweet bella in her 2 and 3/4 yrs of life never fails to crack me up... yesterday was more of the same. she & i went to do some errands/shopping and had a great time. we went to tuesday morning where she quickly found multiple "treasures" she wanted to buy. some of those treasures includes bright pink flip flops w/ polka dots for her and a "lovely" bright yellow pair of flip flops at least 2 sizes too small w/ 2 in. heels that she insisted were for mommy... when checking out i snuck the yellow ones to the cashier and he tucked them away so as not to let her know that mommy wasn't a huge fan of her fashion choice... bless her heart : )

then later while en route to pick up sissy's cake for her dedication the next day, i began hearing her making this sweet little noise with her mouth... i kind of looked in the rearview mirror and couldn't figure out what she was doing... well after about a minute of this noise, i finally turned around and asked what she was doing... she quickly proceeded "feeding my baby my booby... she hungry, mama"... sure enough her shirt was up (she had managed to pull it up under her carseat straps) and she had assumed the position w/ her baby doll. after running in to grab the cake and getting back in the car, she proceeded to tell me "she all done... her night-night"... and pulled down her shirt, patted baby doll's back and acted quite sleepy herself. HA! i couldn't contain my laughter and had to call jason to share the sweet story... my sweet girl... such a little mama : )

nani's birthday part 2

then on saturday we all headed up to nani's residence in buckhead- atria... we brought cake, flowers, balloons and celebrated with her and some of her friends from atria. side note on the balloons- bella & i went to pick out the balloons earlier in the day and bella insisted on getting nani the princess balloon... needless to say we selected it for her and then decided on some others for nani : )

bella thoroughly enjoyed the festivities- esp. helping nani blow out her candles and then eating the cake. afterwards bella spotted a georgia bulldog statue in one of the courtyards and made a beeline to give it kisses and hugs : ) go dawgs!