Thanksgiving 2018

Posted on February 28, 2019 by playinghousewi

It should be noted that Thanksgiving 2018 was a lovely affair. Obviously I’ve neglected this special little blogging place of mine over the past two years, but wanted to make sure this got in the record books.

We’ve always done Thanksgiving at my mom’s house, which is lovely. I legit love Thanksgiving. This year, everyone had something going on. Bro was going to his wife’s turkey day, sis was headed to Door County. SO… we decided to head to California to see my favorite people on this earth. AKA my other “sister.” AND of course, my aunt & uncle and my cousin’s lovely manfriend.

The trip was magical and Thanksgiving was AHHHMAZING. It’s ridiculous how easy Thanksgiving is when you show up as a total guest. Normally, at mom’s, I am planning menus leading up to Turkey Day, helping cook and setting up the day prior, and there early that day to cook some more.

This Thanksgiving, all slaving was done by my incredible Aunt and my mom’s cousin, Melissa. And oh my did they go above and beyond. Not to mention the fact that Melissa lives in a little California dream of a house. It was FANTASTIC. We brought some wine and a centerpiece (made by the kiddos) and then boom. Done.

00100dPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20181122161914543_COVER

00100dPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20181122161927821_COVER

While poor Melissa and Aunt Helaine probably needed a week of sleep to recover, the whole thing felt wildly easy, relaxed and just perfect to me.

00100dPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20181122161938429_COVER

00100dPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20181122171914337_COVER

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It should also be mentioned that little C spiced things up when Mark forced her to taste the sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are her nemesis. She showed him when she instantly barfed right there at the Turkey Day table. Lesson learned.

The rest of the trip was equally magical. My cousin’s boyfriend’s brother & his gf were there visiting, too! They are absolutely adorable and all four of them crashed at our airbnb one night. It was just so much fun.

Photos from the travel to Cali…

From our trip…

Highlights: Exploring neighborhood parks, venturing to the Grove & taking the Trolley, swimming at our AirBNB pool, picking oranges every morning from our AirBNB’s orange tree, Asian Day Spa-ing with Stef & Mom, Henry’s first time sleeping in a big boy (racecar) bed!!!, dipping our toes in the ocean, & of course, excessive time with my favorites.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

And, what’s a trip to Cali without some Disney magic, right???

All in all, A+ trip.

The Bubble Burst…

Posted on February 28, 2019 by playinghousewi

Charlotte & Henry have often shared their future plans of getting married. Now, we all know that this is not possible in the wonderful US of A, but Mark and I have not found it necessary to clarify such restrictions. One can assume that by the time they are facing marriage decisions, they will have moved past their uninformed (and precious) childhood ideas of marrying each other.

Well, apparently, some chick named Abby (who is likely 4 years old or younger) was not so confident that they’d realize this on their own and decided to shut it down.

C: Mommy, Abby told us that Hemery and I could not get married.

H: Yeah. That not weally, weally kind of her.

C: Yeah! And my teacher said we couldn’t either.

Me: Hmmm. I see…

H: I’m gonna put her in jail!! (JK… he didn’t say that. BUT since it’s his response to everything, one could assume he might have been thinking of saying that…)

Me: While I’m sure that was surprising to hear, they weren’t wrong…

C: Huh?

Me: Well, you cannot actually marry your brother or sister. BUT, it doesn’t really matter. You two should focus on being best friends because through everything, you’ll always have each other and will always be the very best of friends.

C: I might want to marry someone else.

H: Yeah, me, too! Like Connor. He’s so cute and nice. He smiles when I smile!

C: Yeah. Because a boy can marry a boy or a girl can marry a boy or a girl can marry a girl or a boy can marry a girl.

Me: Woah. Yes. You’re exactly right, Charlotte! (I was mind-blown impressed with her statement, which Mark later told me stemmed from a conversation they had earlier. Go Marky!)

H: Yeah. I’m gonna marry Connor and Beau.

Me: Well, you can’t actually marry two people in the United States.

H: I’M GOING TO MARRY CONNOR AND BEAU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: Well alright then! (turns the radio up)

My sweet boy

Posted on February 28, 2019 by playinghousewi

The other day while Henry was eating breakfast and I was running around trying to do 8 billion things, this simple & sweet conversation stopped me in my multi-tasking tracks:

H: Mommy, you’re cute and I love you.

Me: Awww buddy! You’re cute and I love you.

H: I love you super hooper super hooper!

Me: I’m buying you a pony.

Mini Chats

Posted on February 22, 2019 by playinghousewi

This morning while I was in my bathroom getting ready, I overheard Charlotte & Henry chatting over the baby monitor…

Charlotte: What did you dream about last night?

Henry: Mommy, Daddy, You, Char… I dreamed about you, too, Charlotte!

Charlotte: Did you dream about yourself, too?

Henry: Yes!

Charlotte: What a good little buddy. Such a good buddy…

Henry: I love you, Charlotte!

Charlotte: I love you, too, buddy. You little buddy…

Henry: But look what I can do with my car!!

***

Meanwhile, I’m trying to scrape myself up off the floor from the puddle I became…

I just love those little lovies.

Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 21, 2019 by playinghousewi

2019 shaped up to be quite the little Valentine’s Day with my loves. From homemade valentine’s for the kids to hand out in class to our own little celebration at home, it was definitely one for the books.

While I recognize the exploited nature of days like Valentine’s Day, I still absolutely love the day. Why wouldn’t one embrace a day that literally exists as a reminder to spread love and kindness to the special people in our lives? Really, who doesn’t need a reminder?

So of course, I have to go over the top.

On Valentine’s Day, I woke up VERY early to make heart-shaped french toast with berries before my 6am workout. I hung up Charlotte’s homemade Valentines on the window and put their Valentine’s Day gifts up on the counter. Everything was set.

When I got home from my workout, the kiddos were in a blissful state. So happy with their breakfast and SO pumped to open their gifts.

Charlotte had been oogling this absurdly soft teddy bear named Puffles for weeks. She’d asked for it many a time and the answer had been no. SO… of course, I had to get her the damn bear for Vday… because she just loved the stupid thing. AND, a pair of stuffy slippers.

Hem got a light-up book, a wind-up dinosaur and a pull-back monster truck.

However, my favorite gift of the morning (besides my new leggings from hubby), were the socks I got for Marky! SO funny!

The kids spread love all day with their Valentines.

I also made chocolate covered popcorn with V-day sprinkles with little tags that said, “You Make My Heart POP”… but of course, in the fun of it all, I forgot to take a pic (although you can see it in the picture of Mark’s socks!)!

Then, at dinner, they got their favorite meal, which is noodles with fake butter. Seriously… favorite meal. AND, Marky and I got our favorite meal: RAMEN!!!

It was just such a good day. It might not seem like much, but there was just so much happiness oozing all over the place.

CharlotteISMs

Posted on February 21, 2019 by playinghousewi

As C&H get older, it seems as if their word quota for any given day has increased. They are constantly talking, and with that, comes some pretty hilarious/ridiculous moments.

Here are a few of Charlotte’s recent gems…

“My tummy says if I eat anything else it will B-splode” (read: explode)
Charlotte got sent to bed early one night due to the fact that she did NOT want to listen. After a minute in her room, she comes to the kitchen and demands fresh water. Wearily, I get her the water. “With icecubes,” barks the princess. This is where I decide to draw the line. With fire in her tiny eyes, she looks at me and says, “I’m gonna punch you in the stomach in the morning…”
Mommy: <blank stares as C walks away>
5 minutes later she’s back…
C: “Sorry I said I was going to punch you in the stomach. I wouldn’t do that.”
M: <hugs C>
C: “Hopefully I don’t forget not to punch you in the stomach in the morning…”
M: Uhhhhhh
Charlotte came up with a game the other night… Henry had to close his eyes, put any number of fingers up in the air and guess how many fingers he was holding up… He won… EVERY TIME.
Charlotte calls mommy and daddy on the phone from Grandma’s house and has full convo while RUNNING nonstop around the house.
Charlotte snuck one of her new toys on the bus and let her friend “borrow” it… back in December. She has yet to see said toy. This morning she decided she wanted to write her friend, Henry, a note to remind him to return it to her… which ended up looking a bit like a ransom note.
Mommy: “Mommy gets to go to Charlotte, the city!”
C: “Is that where I was born??”
Charlotte learns how to do jumping jacks…
C: “Hemery, wanna color with me?”
H: “No..”
C: “We can draw some H’s!!!”
H: “Okay!!”
She’s the spunkiest little love. Full of personality, full of spice, full of SWEETNESS, full of love.