Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas to all and to Mike a new job


Less than a week and a half into the month of December, Mike had already been on two out-of-state job interviews. Each was for a few days, leaving me with the girls and little space in my brain for much other than what to make for each meal and how to juggle bedtime to get them both asleep while maintaining my sanity. I think it was almost December 20th before I realized I forgot to order Christmas cards or get any presents other than those for the girls. Oops.

But now, we're at my parents' house relaxing for the first time in a long time -- as I'm happy to report that after submitting more than 50 applications and preparing multiple presentations Mike has accepted a {permanent} job as an assistant professor of chemistry in Charleston, South Carolina. Yes, you read that right, we're moving South in the summertime! This has been 13 years in the making for Mike, since he decided that being a professor was his goal when he began college at age 18.

That goal brought him to Wisconsin for 5 years of grad school, and then to Connecticut for 3 years of postdoctoral experience. We cannot be more excited about this {final} move. After 30+ years in COLD (New England or Wisconsin) I welcome nicer weather with open arms. In a few weeks we'll be speaking with a realtor and hopefully determining a timeline for buying our first home down there. I've never been to Charleston and know almost nothing of the area, so now begins quite the new adventure...


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Monday, May 27, 2013

Go-Live or Go Home


We spent a long weekend in Cape Cod with my family. It was relaxing. Well, as relaxing as it can be with 5 kids under 5 running around the house ;)

I've found myself spending less and less time on my personal computer (read: blogging & social media) as I've become more and more attached to my work laptop. Our Go-Live begins on Thursday, which means that one of the hospitals in town will start using our software for the first time. This is the most stressful event I will probably encounter in this job, and it will require me to work 12 shifts of 12+ hours over the course of the next 2.5 weeks. Yikes. And did I mention they are night shifts? Yeah. 6 PM until 6 AM. Even on weekends. But I chose this -- nights over days -- because it means I'll actually see the girls for a few hours each day.

All hell can break loose during Go-Lives. Otherwise polite people might yell at you, possibly throw things, and apparently some have even caused nervous breakdowns. The death stares from users can be never ending when they see your telltale {rather unflattering} brightly colored "I work for/on the computer system" polo shirts. But I'm hopeful that I can help things go more smoothly and that I'll survive it all.

It could never be that bad when I have these sweet (and hilarious) faces to come home to...


So if you see a flurry of Twitter activity from me at like, 3 AM this Saturday night it might mean that things are going better than expected and I've found myself with a few minutes of downtime. Not likely, but a girl can hope.

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Monday, May 13, 2013

On top of the world


I apologize. Cheesiest post title ever, as we were actually on top of a mountain yesterday. Well, not a mountain, but the rather large peak just a few minutes away from our house. We had never been, despite its proximity.


My Mother's Day began with Mike letting me sleep late and making me a lovely breakfast of coffee, eggs, Nutella on toast, and a chocolate chip croissant. Me likey chocolate. After Carina's Noontime nap, we headed out to West Rock State Park. It was beautiful out and Carina had a blast running alongside the stroller (BTW pushing the stroller up the hill was quite the workout). What we didn't realize was that it would take us 45 minutes to reach the top. We were exhausted, but had a nice picnic once we reached the top.

Aurelia was hungry?
Teeth!

For dinner, Mike grilled salmon and shrimp and sauteed 2 lbs. of mussels - 3 of my favorite foods. Dessert was some chocolate fondue and Moscato while we watched Game of Thrones. I couldn't have asked for a better day. My gift was a Garmin GPS -- something I've been wanting for quite some time now. And yes, we used it when we traveled to the park, just 1.5 miles away ;)

How was your Mother's Day?



This week's Toddle Along Tuesday topic is Mother's Day! What did you do? There are no rules here, except that you link up a relevant post (old or new) rather than your whole blog.


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Monday, April 1, 2013

CARINA EATA BIG CHOCOLATE! Or, our Easter


I did it again. I had so much fun on Easter that I forgot to take pictures.

No photos of the girls with their Easter baskets. No picture of Carina ransacking the the communal family basket of candy and chocolate (yes, that happened..."CARINA EATA BIG CHOCOLATE! BIG CHOCOLATE!") No permanent record of the feast my Mother-in-law prepared which included lamb, ham, eggplant parmesan, 5 quiches, cassata, and more...there was so much I'm forgetting it all.

But we did remember to {attempt to} take a few family photos. These never seem to go well for us.

Poor Jasmine is getting strangled
So I shifted my focus to the girls.

No more pictures, Mom!

Carina wouldn't stand still for photos once again, but I did manage to get one of her in her pretty dress. P.S. Does anyone have any advice on how to get her to tolerate a headband, clip, or bow? She used to love them, now she pulls them out after 5 seconds. Maybe it's just time for a haircut...


This girl gives me baby fever {again} on a daily basis. I might need an intervention.


Earlier in the day, my Mother-in-law and I ran out to Mass (Mike had gone the night before to play music), leaving the girls with him, his brother, Dad, and his sister's boyfriend. Right before the Our Father I got this text:
Ha. Glad I missed that one. Apparently after she "EATA BIG CHOCOLATE" she had a major sugar crash.

How was your Easter?



This week's Toddle Along Tuesday topic is Easter! Photos, recap, whatever you like. Anything Easter (or Spring) related. There are no rules here, except that you link up a relevant post (old or new) rather than your whole blog.


Next week's topic will be Dad Confessions! We did Mom Confessions once, and it was awesome. What could possibly be more awesome? You guessed it, Dad Confessions. Mike will be guest posting for this one! If you can't convince your man to actually write the post, ask him what some of his confessions would be and transcribe! Or? I bet you have a few things you could write about on his behalf, without him even knowing about it ;)

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Monday, March 18, 2013

So I might have gone a little overboard...


This year is the first year we're putting some effort into Easter baskets for the girls. And? I think I may have gone a little overboard.

We had an Easter egg hunt at my parents' last year but neglected to do a basket (I think; I honestly can't remember), and when Carina was teeny we did a small basket with chocolate {that I ate}.

In my crazy excitement {and wanting to do something fun after spending all weekend laid out with Mastitis} I set up the baskets just a bit way too early and whoa, I didn't realize just how many Disney Princess things I got for them. We'll pick up a couple rosaries and maybe some M&M's for Carina before we head down to Philly to be with Mike's family for Easter.

Easter baskets!
Aurelia's basket (below): Nala footie pajamas, little stuffed duckie/chickie?, Jasmine doll, teether, and princess tote bag (behind everything).

For Aurelia
And Carina's basket: Jasmine nightgown, little stuffed bunny, Merida doll, Fancy Nancy book, and Sofia the First tote bag (behind everything).

For Carina
Okay, yeah. I went overboard. Since neither of the girls has on occasion for which we'll buy them gifts for at least another 6 Months (Aurelia's birthday), I guess I'm using this as an excuse to spoil them with a few presents.

And for us? Well, we don't give ourselves Easter baskets but we do usually get a special treat or two to enjoy. Lately, I've been craving chocolate so I was quite excited to receive the Mrs. Fields® Nibblers® & Bites Basket from Berries.com.

Nibblers® & Bites Basket
The Nibblers and Brownie Bites were amazing -- the Butterscotch Blondie was my favorite. They were almost addicting. We had planned to save them for Easter, but they were gone in just a couple days. Oops. So yeah, we ate all this: 72 Assorted Nibblers® Bite Sized Cookies including Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip, Cinnamon Sugar, and White Chocolate Macadamia Nuts & 36 Assorted Brownie Bites.

I also love the wicker basket they all came in...you might recognize it as Aurelia's Easter basket above. But to be honest, I was a little disappointed. While there were as many Nibblers and Bites as stated in the product description, the presentation was a bit lacking. It wasn't nearly as impressive as the photo at right. Also, I wish there had been more of both sweets. Maybe then they would have made it to Easter ;)  Maybe.


Do you do Easter baskets for your kids? If so, what do you put in them?

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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Valentine Photo Fail


It has been a while since I've gotten a good picture of the girls together, so being Valentine's Day, I figured it was as good a day as any to give it a try. And? Well...

I'd rather stick my princesses in the potty
Or try to grab your camera
Look at me! I'm cute!
NOM
Okay no luck so far...I all but held them together on the couch here. Still no dice.


When Mike got home, I scooped up both girls and we made our final attempt. Despite Carina trying to shimmy out of my arm, I think our final result is pretty decent.


Happy Valentine's Day, friends.

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Monday, January 7, 2013

Carina's favorite gift - nuked mermaid, anyone?


Carina has always been intrigued by watching us cook, to the point that Mike is sometimes forced to whip up pancakes one-handed, with Carina in one arm and the spatula (or "patch-a-ta" as she calls it) in the other lest we all suffer through an epic tantrum.

He might kill me for sharing this one
There, that's better
Before she could piece together sentences she would holler, "cook Daddy!" or "cook Mommy!" as soon as we turned on the stove. At the time we hoped that she didn't intend to actually cook us, but rather cook with us. Now she can clearly articulate that she wants to help, and not sauté Mommy or Daddy.

We had a play kitchen on Carina's Christmas List but couldn't afford one this year, so we were quite excited to learn that my parents (Carina's Mimi and Pépère) went all out and not only purchased one for her, but tricked it out with all sorts of food and sundries.

Carina's kitchen in all its glory
Playing with her cousins (left), cooking (top right), and about to refrigerate Snow White (bottom right)
In addition to cooking play food and putting it in the refrigerator and cabinets, she also enjoys placing her Disney princess figurines inside every nook and cranny. Her favorites? The microwave and oven. Every now and then I'll discover that she is cooking up a dozen princesses.

A regular occurrence around these parts

What was your little one's favorite gift?



This week's Toddle Along Tuesday co-host is Heather from Mama Dish and topic is favorite Holiday gift! Now that the Holidays are over, what gift has proven to be your child's favorite? (or yours!) There are no rules here, except that you link up a relevant post (old or new) rather than your whole blog.


Next week's TAT topic will be how you met your significant other! Let's flashback to when it all began.

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