lately.

i feel like we've been going a thousand miles an hour and my grand plans for blog posts fall to the side. so i'll do a low-expectation catch up post instead. ha.

1. big news for me! backstory: i pinned my st. patrick's day woods shoot with genevieve to pinterest years ago. she was 18 months old. since then, i get 1-5 emails a day saying someone has repinned it. just the photo i put up there has been repinned over 2300+ times. pretty crazy! well, i got an email last week that i heart faces wants to use one from the batch in a st. patrick's day inspiration blog post. i just love i heart faces. i used to be on there constantly when i first became interested in photography so it feels fanfreakingtastic to get something featured!

2. we're getting little waves of snow storms. an inch or two here and there. it hasn't been bad at all. at least there's a reward to the cold! the girls love it and emmy now begs to go "SLED?!" we're waiting for our next wave on thursday for some more snow for our little hill behind the house. it's perfect for sledding littles. i'll have to get a video of it the next time we all go out together.
i remember all of our vacations to go skiing during christmas time and as we'd go to dinner while it snowed and drove by houses blanketed in pretty snow, i always thought "this is some people's real life. they get to live where it snows every couple weeks during the winter. not once a year on a ski trip. how lucky are they?" i craved being somewhere with seasons even then. and if i'm honest, even charlotte didn't give me quite the winter i wanted. baltimore is doing a good job, so it gets points for that.

3. i'm 2 doses (2 weeks) into my vitamin d meds and 4 days into my light therapy. i do really feel a difference. it's small, but it's the difference between staying seated on the couch for an extra 10 minutes or putting away that little pile of laundry during those 10. it's already making a dent in my productivity. i've started in the basement and have a huge load for goodwill from the girls' closet, playroom and basement. i'm still taking naps pretty regularly but i don't feel so drugged and lethargic mid-morning. if you have a problem with fatigue and the normal remedies don't touch it, i would highly suggest getting tested for vitamin d deficiency. it's totally changing my world already. the only con i can find is that with the light therapy, i need to sit in front of it for 45 minutes before noon. so i keep trying to get up at 6:30 and working on my computer and watching the news while i sit with my light. it's HARD. today i sat for only 30 minutes while the kids ate breakfast before school because i did NOT want to get up when my alarm went off. kyle suggested we do yoga together in the morning for an hour while the light shines on me. i don't know if you can really do something like that during light therapy, but why not? and it's a way to keep each other accountable and exercise.

4. genevieve is a few weeks into her dance class at the Y. she's obsessed and pretty good at it. she's a good listener in class and is so excited about it. she remembers the moves and practices a little at home (any excuse to put on the ballet and tap shoes!). i think the end is in another 3 weeks, so we'll for sure have to sign her up for another round. if she's excited about it all the way through another 2 months of it, i think we'll look into summer dance lessons at a real dance studio. right now the Y is just simple and short, just enough for little kids. it's the cutest thing i've ever seen. kyle offered to take her last week but i just didn't want to miss it! i should work out during her lesson, but we're allowed to sit in the room and i'm so addicted to seeing her blossom.

thanksgiving.

thanksgiving is rapidly becoming one of my favorite holidays. it was always kind of a dud holiday growing up. we did a lot, but it was at great uncle's houses and i didn't do any cooking. there was a trip to the movie theater at night but that wasn't insanely out of the ordinary. but now, as a grown-up, it's turning into a pretty BA holiday. i love hosting thanksgiving. not a huge one, but just enough to fill my table and couches up with people. i like being in charge of the menu and researching all the best recipes and tips to get it done. eventually i'd love to get an awesome table setting if we continue to host pretty regularly. and the best part of all, i love that we get to decorate for christmas in the same weekend. 2 of my favorite seasons jam-packed into a long weekend! what's not to love.

this year mom and kara flew up during a freak day of snow. it was such a fun welcome!





emmy was totally mesmerized, saying "is snow! is snow!" and g wanted to build a snowman, of course. we baked pumpkin pie and cookies and deviled eggs and prepped the food for thanksgiving. i love falling into that groove.

thanksgiving was fantastic. we cooked all day in my teeny kitchen, there was snow on the ground and the girls were fascinated with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade for the first time ever. mom and kara and i ended up wearing the same color on accident, as is custom for the women in our family. somebody always ends up wearing identical colors.

  

the food was surprisingly all done at the same time, on time and delicious! i was kind of amazed. i've never cooked that much food at all, let alone in a small kitchen.





every year something happens with the turkey. without fail. last year i pulled the innards out but apparently left a whole head inside. that was the scariest thing i've ever seen before. thing still had its gobbler and everything. this year, i failed to notice that the packaging said turkey breast. so there was no inner cavity to stuff, no thigh for a thermometer, no legs to tie and no wings to tuck under. it was literally just turkey boobs. it wasn't necessarily bad since we don't eat dark meat anyways, but oh my god it was a shock to rip that puppy open on the day. and when it was time to boil the innards for the gravy, i opened the package to find liquid. LIQUID. there were no innards, just a pureed juice in a bag! it was so crazy! the gravy was still good but dang i was definitely feeling stressed after all the surprises.

we followed the pioneer woman's directions for cooking the turkey, but we did the sage/rosemary butter rub variation instead of citrus. and this recipe for southern green beans that were divine! we also had mom's famous bread stuffing, kara's famous deviled eggs, kyle's family's corn casserole, turkey gravy and rolls. i was trying to make ree's no-knead rolls but everything wasn't meshing right so i chucked it (partially of sheer exhaustion) and did pillsbury homestyle biscuits. ha! we totally forgot to make mashed potatoes until about 30 minutes out so we also nixed those and i'll make them later. it's funny, none of it went as planned but it was still very enjoyable and i didn't get overwhelmed or cry or anything. this is a big deal for me!

later we braved the cold for a few family photos. it's always nice to update our photos, especially when it's so hard to get one with all of us these days!







all in all it was a really really great weekend. it was kind of magical. i'll blog the ice skating pictures later. for now it's laundry laundry laundry. ;)

emmy turns 2!!

since we're still settling in with baltimore, we didn't have a big party for either of the girls. luckily we have awesome family so mom, jerry and susan flew up for a little mini party weekend for the big girl.

TWO. she's two!!

turning two, emmy loves ketchup, fruit and chocolate. she hates vegetables, pizza and casseroles that mommy makes. she loves elmo and likes mickey mouse, daniel tiger, tinkerbell and the disney princesses. she's just started getting interested in coloring and painting, she's getting really into blocks and loves carrying around little people and similarly sized character toys. she always takes her shoes off in the car, loves the bath, blows bubbles in her drinks and regularly rubs her food in her hair. she's so fun!



she was so excited when we brought the cake out and started singing! big big smiles all around. and now that we've been singing happy birthday all weekend she's trying to sing it to herself haha.







emmy's party was sweet and simple. and genevieve took so much pride in picking out her present and wrapping it and making the card. i was getting worried about jealous feelings but it was all for nothing. genevieve loved celebrating her sister, and who can complain when there's cake??

we picked up an emmy-sized elmo balloon for her birthday and girlfriend is hanging out with it like it's her boyfriend. she kisses it and carries it around. she even knocks it to the ground and gets on top of it hahaha. so now i know all that she needs for christmas is a balloon friend. ;)



we took emmy to her 2 year checkup the next day and she's growing very much like her sister. slightly above average weight and height and a huge head. the doctor said she was going to ask if this was abnormal for her except that i started laughing about the fact that they're always at 90-100% with their heads. gotta hold those big brains! what got me was that in weight and height she's not too far from genevieve. genevieve was 3 ft at 3 years old and is just barely over that now. and emmy is just barely under 3 ft currently. they're going to be wearing the same sizes sooner than i expected, i think!

the only thing she didn't pass perfectly at the doctors was speech. i'm not worried because our previous doctor said that 2nd kids hold it in and observe for longer and then the speech explodes out of them all at once. that's certainly happening with emmy since she went from 0-75 words in a matter of weeks! she scored poorly on 2 word phrases because i couldn't think of any that she had. but kyle reminded me this week that she does have a few! "ready set go" and "i love you" and she tries to sing whole songs, too. happy birthday, elmo's world and twinkle twinkle little star! so i'm officially NOT WORRIED. the doctor mentioned getting her evaluated in 2-3 months if her speech doesn't pick up but it's no sweat off my back. my kid is talking a ton and i'm sure it'll double and triple in no time.

fall sweeties.

we finally made it out to get some photos of the girls before the weather turns too cold and the leaves are all off the trees. the day actually ended up being super beautiful. cool enough for long sleeves but warm enough to run around outside at the end of the day. and we certainly got warm! kyle and i were both a mess after the pictures. i was rolling around on the ground and he was jumping like a maniac to get the girls to laugh and smile. there was definitely ice cream at the end of the night haha.

i hope a few of these work for christmas cards. that'll be what i'm up late doing all week -- trying out photos on every card layout i can find. a time suck i enjoy way too much. after it was over and the sun was gone, i realized we may have too many pumpkin pictures and absolutely no falling leaves pictures. i was very irritated with myself over not getting those.

but the girls are way too cute for their own good no matter what pictures there are. beautiful babies.

halloween flashback.

i always get mushy on holidays because i like to look back at what the babes looked like on past holidays. it's a really good way to get a nice flow of tears going at 3pm. real nice.

2010: here lies sad sad genevieve on her first halloween. she was colicky and we were still bumping along on our breastfeeding disaster so she was not a happy camper. plus it was 80 degrees out and that outfit was fleece. but it's just so sad funny i can't help but laugh.

2011: sweet genevieve at one. she was a kitty and didn't do any trick or treating, but she did go to a costume playdate with her fellow baby buddies. it was a cute fest overload. i made her little ears and a tail out of felt. easiest costume ever. i don't think i'll ever be that lucky again haha.

2012: another dress up playdate this year. but they did walk down the street to clara's grandparents' house to trick or treat once haha. they were just so excited to be dressed up with their little candy totes! emmy went as a fetus seeing as how she was 2 days from being born. 

2013: emmy's first halloween and genevieve's first year trick or treating. this year was the most fun to date. emmy was good tempered and hung out in the wagon while G trick or treated with friends. genevieve ran up to all the houses to ring doorbells and  by the end wanted to do it by herself. gah so cute.

and now we're gearing up for this year! genevieve and emmy are coordinating outfits -- kill me now it's going to be so cute. and ever since we moved in, all the neighbors talk about is how great halloween is on our street. i'm just about a believer since a lot of houses are already decked out, lit up with orange and purple lights. i can't wait. genevieve has been asking when it's time to go trick or treating again since november 1st of last year. ha!