Last week in review

It has been a whirlwind week. We are back in CT and we spent the day getting ready for the holidays.

On Tuesday, I took the girls to Bounce U, which is a place that has tons of inflatables and you can play and bounce. They loved it, there are a couple of pictures below. As we were getting ready to leave, Aly fell out of the last bounce house and dislocated her elbow. Thank goodness Aunt Brooke was able to meet us at the emergency room!

We had a great Thanksgiving - tons of good food and great company.


This is Brianna -- Thanksgiving Day!

Aly helped us peel potatoes the night before

Bri at Bounce U

Aly flying down the slide at Bounce U

Aly at our house this morning cleaning up all the snow.

In NH

We left on Saturday afternoon to head to NH for the holiday week. We have been playing and relaxing here for a couple of days. The girls enjoy the new toys and they went to school yesterday to see Nonna. Brianna was in and out of every classroom.

They were walking around the house pretending to be shopping - check out Aly's pants. Already falling down!

Is it Bedtime Yet?

So I knew today was going to be a looooong day, when I looked at my watch and saw it was only 9:30 am. It is cold and we are going a little stir crazy due to Brianna's two new teeth and Aly continuing to show us her "strong willed" personality.

Today I think I should get "Mother of the Year" here is what we did-

We went to Dunkin Donuts to load up on extra coffee and munchkins to survive our errands.

We played in Target for 45 minutes - in the Christmas section. Aly turned on all of the musical instruments and Brianna danced. Hmm I was pleasantly surprised they did not ask us to leave. Note- nothing was broken in the process.

We left Target with lunch in hand - Pizza Hut Breadsticks - yes thank you daddy, we cannot seem to leave Target without these now.

We had Breadsticks and fruit for lunch.

So much for nutrition.

Like my big sister

So Brianna loves Aly, which is no real surprise. Most of the time, Aly is pretty good with her. Yesterday our neighbors up the street dropped off a new box of dress up clothes that their daughter had outgrown. Needless to say, Aly was in heaven, and Brianna wanted to get in the mix.

So here are a few pictures of the girls, in their new clothes. They love them and Aly likes to dress Brianna now. Of course, Aly gets the wand and shoes and she is in charge of what they play!

The Terrible Two's

Today was one long day. I think it started around 6 am when Aly woke me up annoucing it was morning. I knew that it was going to be a long day since she was not interested in going back to bed.

Dance was a disaster, she did the tap part but decided she did not want to do ballet. That resulted in no lollipop, which resulted in a breakdown.

We headed home and I think she spent more time in her room than out. We did have a two hour reprieve this afternoon but it was meltdown central tonight.

We have only really had two of these incidents that have been day long occasions, but man are they tiring.

We put her to bed at 6:30 and Ryan and I are headed to bed!

Back from Chicago!!!

I returned from a great weekend in Chicago! It was so nice to be away with no one to interrupt dinner, the opportunity to sleep in - that really didn't happen. Something about the internal alarm clock. I think Tara was in shock when we were getting coffee before 9am on Saturday morning.

We did see this horrible musical, Dirty Dancing. It was so terrible, please do not waste your money on this high school lip synch.

Other than that it was back to reality on Monday night. Ryan did an awesome job with the girls. We decided that this should be an annual event --hmm wonder what Ryan will say about that one.

This afternoon it was raining and we broke out an early Christmas gift from Aunt Tara. A magnetic board. Man, Aly loved this thing. She spent an hour putting the letters on and off.

Brianna Birthday Pictures

TODAY IS BRIANNA'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!

We celebrated Brianna's birthday this weekend, she loved the cake! Ryan weighed her last night and she was ......24.5lbs, Holy Baby! She is walking now - and she goes after everything that Aly has. Here are a few pictures:

This was the cake prior to the attack

PEACE

I am sitting here and my house is quiet. It is sooo nice for a change. Brianna is sleeping, Aly is at preschool and the dogs are snoring by my feet. How I have learned to cherish a quiet house. Of course this afternoon will be nuts, kids everywhere and the house will be a disaster again. Gotta love a little coffee and e-mail time.

Only 2 days till I go to Chicago - YAHOO! My first kid free weekend!