A Sweet Weekend

We had a great weekend. My parents came up on Saturday afternoon, went out to lunch with us...then stayed with the girls while Chad and I went out on our Valentine's Day date! We drove to Martinsburg for some dinner at Texas Steakhouse and a movie. It's amazing how much you can enjoy a dinner out when you don't have to stuff your face while holding a baby or keeping a toddler occupied. We had to wait about 30 min. or so for a table because it was crowded...but even that didn't bother us because we didn't have the kids to worry about. Then after dinner, the movie theater was PACKED...I mean every single seat in the theater was full. The manager had to come in and ask us (and others) to move over, eliminating that nice personal space that one or two seats between couples create. Normally this would have really irritated me....personal space is very important. Not to mention- we were one of the first people in that theater (we got there an hour early)...so don't think it's fair at all that we had to move over for a couple that showed up 5 minutes before the movie started and didn't want to sit in the front row. But neither Chad or I cared. The movie was pretty good and we had fun.
The next morning, Hannah made everyone pancakes for breakfast. She put all the ingredients in and stirred it herself. She had a nice visit with her MomMom and Grandpa. She adores them! Yesterday, we went shoe shopping at the mall. Shoe Dept. was having a huge 50% off sale of all kids shoes. I bought a pair of summer sandals for Hannah for 7$!! I also found a pair of Tommy Hilfiger (sp)? flip flops for 19$ for me to wear to Vegas...awesome! :)
Not much planned this week...it's supposed to be dismal and COLD still. It actually looks sunny and warm outside today, but the high is only like 40. Very deceiving.

Yum Yums

I'm having a bit of a tough time getting Sadie to accept food as a way of life. She could care less about anything except her bottle. She usually will either spit the baby food back at me, or just open her mouth and push it out with her tongue. So, I was really entertained tonight when she decided to chow down on some pizza crust. I was scared she'd choke on a piece of the dough, but she just gummed it and spit most of it out.


Then Chad convinced me to let her have a lick of Hannah's lollipop...which made for a cute Valentine picture. Then I had to literally pry it out of her hands while she yelled....lol.


Sadie's been pretty fussy during the daytime, lately. I guess she must be cutting more teeth, although I can't see or feel anything yet.
Yesterday, Hannah had a Valentine exchange with her friends at school. It was super cute to watch. They all sat in a circle while the teacher handed out all the Valentines, ...then they stashed them all in their little book bags. Hannah was excited to show me all her treats ...and the Valentine she'd made for me! I also made a pink, sparkling cake last night for dessert. It was a Funfetti cake, with strawberry icing and shiny pink sprinkles. I actually made dinner last night, too!...cheesy chicken casserole. I was feeling like a domestic diva.

Sadie's 7 months old today! Is she cute or what?! I mean, I know I'm a vain mommy and everything..but I think most would agree that she's pretty adorable. She's also been taking semi-decent naps lately..which is very nice. It's not so cute at 5pm and she's grumpy from having no nap, and I'm trying to make dinner and supervise Hannah at the same time.
We booked our plane tickets to Vegas yesterday...whoohoo :) My Mom is coming up to keep the girls for a weekend in March, while Chad and I head west for some slot machines and stiff drinks. hehe I'm excited- a little nervous to leave Sadie overnight for the first time, but I know she'll be fine.
The best part is that I'll get to wear flip flops again! Man, I'll need to get a tan though...If I wear shorts, I could possibly blind the whole city.

Museum Trip

Today we ventured into D.C. to the Natural History Museum. We learned a few things.
#1. Never attempt to navigate your way around the big city when you've become accustomed to the slow pace of Winchester.
#2. Try to visit the museums during the week, instead of a semi-warm Saturday....the throng of people was pretty thick today.
#3. Always check to make sure the elevator is working before you park on the 3rd floor of a parking garage...that way you won't have to lug 2 kids and a stroller up a zillion flights of stairs like we did today.
#4. And, pack a lunch...otherwise, you'll be spending 4$ for a hotdog and nearly 6$!!! for a Sprite.

Anyway, we did have fun...Hannah loved all the animal exhibits. Sadie did great...she slept for a bit and the rest of the time, she just did this....


They had this really neat Discovery Room..where they had hands on exhibits for kids. Hannah liked the crocodile head....She said "Oh No, where's his feet?!"


We went upstairs and saw the Hope Diamond, then to the gift shop...where there were tons of "precious" and "rare" rocks to look at. I think this was Hannah's favorite part of the whole day. She filled up a little bag of stones to take home.


Had fun, but we'll definitely be taking the train next time.....and Hannah's portable potty. :)

Photography by Hannah

Today, Hannah lined her dolls and stuffed animals up on the couch and asked me for the camera. She snapped about a million pictures before I realized that she had the camera turned backwards---so I had to delete a bunch of pictures of her neck and mouth. I showed her how to turn the camera around and look at the screen to find the things she wanted to take a photo of. This is what she came up with ...all by herself!








On a different, but very important note-- Hannah finally conquered her fear and peed on the school potty today!! Woohooo! If I had known that all I had to do to get her potty trained was tell her we're too poor to buy her diapers, I would have done this a year ago!

Fishies

Here are Hannah's new fish. Boots is the beta, and Dora is the black guppy. Hannah has her own little chair beside the fish tank and she likes to sit and watch them for a few minutes in the morning when she wakes up. She says good morning and goodnight to them and feeds them every other day. She also helps me keep the cat away from them-lol. So far, they are all still alive. :)
Hannah's been saying the funniest things lately....The other day there was a commercial on tv for some cool, new toy. Hannah said "Listen, Listen, Mommy-- I want that for Merry Christmas next year!"
I said "Well, your birthday is next month, maybe you'll get it for your birthday."
She said, "Okay, that sounds good. Write it down on a piece of paper."
LOL
It's so funny to hear her speak in complete sentences and use new phrases. She sounds like such a big kid.

Road Trip!

Well, I had a really nice day today. Anna (my college roommate, and one of my best friends) is having a baby in March--and today was her baby shower. She lives in Alton, VA..which is a 4 hour trip each way....So I left this morning and headed down. I really enjoyed the road trip by myself. I could blast the radio and sing really loud. Of course, most of the drive is in the sticks...so the radio stations were mostly fuzzy gospel songs, or really twangy country music. Luckily I had Chad's mix to listen to :). So, I bee bopped my way down to South Boston listening to Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Britney Spears, and some rapper ....I have no idea what he was singing about.
Anyway, I had a really nice visit with Chad's family, ate some lunch, and then went to the Shower. My gift to Anna's baby was the first blanket I ever crocheted. I took a picture of it before I wrapped it up :) I'm really proud of it..and almost didn't want to part with it. But I hope their little lovebug enjoys snuggling with it.


From what I hear, Chad had a pretty good day with the girls. He bought Hannah her first fish....3 guppies, and a male beta. Hannah was awake when I got home tonight and was just dying to show me her fish. The male beta is green and she named him Boots. The black guppy is Dora. And the orange and blue guppy have yet to be named....My money's on Swiper and Map, though :) She cracked me up..she said "Mommy, Boots and Dora are really nice, beautiful fish." I'll post pictures of the new pets tomorrow. Off to bed....