Birthdays

Scott and I have always enjoyed having back-to-back birthdays, and this year was no exception.  I think the girls appreciate all the birthday fun too.  Millie woke up this morning and asked who's birthday it was today :)

June 16th -- Scott's birthday

making pizza for Scott's party

Cake time!

enjoying some cookie with Grandpa

Merrill and Gray going on a date ...

... chaperoned by big sister -- and going to see Gray's mom :)

hanging out on the patio

BR and Mary

Millie after eating sugar ...

June 17th -- my birthday

We kept things pretty low-key for my birthday since it had been a pretty full week for us already.  After the party Thursday night, the girls and Scott slept in a bit and I got to spend a quiet 30 minutes by myself :).  After a trip to the gym, the girls and I headed to the park for a playdate and picnic.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we made a quick get-away back to our house for an indoor picnic.

After the picnic, Merrill and I got a nap and Scott and Millie went to my parents to pick up Merrill's new bed.  Then Friday night, Scott took me out on a birthday date to Terrene in the Central West End. 

It was a beautiful night to sit on the patio and enjoy a leisurely dinner

the menu

This restaurant is touted as one of the best restaurants for vegetarians in St. Louis.  The food was definitely good and the atmosphere was wonderful, but I was disappointed by the main dish vegetarian dishes which consisted of just one pasta dish.  That being said, I wasn't disappointed with the food I did get -- a beet salad, grape leaves and mixed vegetables.  Scott opted for the steak.

 We even treated ourselves to a bit of dessert -- salted caramel ice-cream.  Now that was divine!

  We had a great couple of days to celebrate our birthdays and tomorrow we get to celebrate Father's Day!  June is an awesome month :)

35 Blessings

In honor of turning 35 today -- 35 ways in which I am blessed :)

1. My family (I could totally cheat here and list them all individually, but that shouldn't be necessary)
2. Being married to an amazing man who is my best friend
3. Being a mother to two bright, funny, stubborn and loving little girls
4. Getting to stay home with those little girls everyday
5. My friends old and new, near and far
6. My health and the health of those I love
7. My home
8. My education -- all of it!
9. All of the children, families and colleagues I have met over the years of working
10. The opportunity to feed my body nutritious food
11. The opportunity to workout on a daily basis to make myself stronger and healthier
12. Living close to family
13. Having a family that values being together
14. Having had the chance to know and love my grandparents
15. Getting to watch my own children develop their own relationships with their grandparents
16. The chance to share my passions with my children
17. Gaining an adult relationship with my parents 
18. Growing up with siblings
19. Knowing those siblings as adults and now friends
20. Being a part of Scott's family
21. Knowing that I'm soon going to be an Aunt
22. The ability to provide my children with a warm and loving home
23. The ability to give my children an education that is a good fit for them
24. The opportunity to keep in touch with so many people through the wonder of technology
25. The chance to travel to Chicago this past spring to visit friends
26. The chance to travel to Denver this fall to see both friends and family
27. The opportunity to take some time for myself and be in a book club with some fun and amazing women
28. The opportunity to meet new people through the girls' friends
29. The joy of watching the girls learn something new
30. Having my girls so close in age 
31. Watching the girls build a relationship with each other
32. Having a husband who does laundry :)
33. Getting to "play" with children whether I'm working outside of the home or staying home with my own girls
34. Getting to wake up every morning snuggled with my favorite people in the world
35. The opportunity to experience all of these blessings and more for another year

 I am beyond thankful for these blessings and more!

Happy Birthday!!

Good thing he had help with all those candles ;)

Blank Slate

With Merrill getting a "big" bed for her birthday, we have decided to re-do the girls' bedroom.  This weekend we said "goodbye" to the red, white and blue walls.

The before.  I always liked the red and white gingham and it was so serendipitous that the walls in the girls new bedroom coordinated perfectly.  Millie, however, was ready to move on and incorporate some of her favorite colors (pink and purple) into the room.  So, we cleaned the slate this weekend

Two coats of primer and the stripes were gone. Now to re-invent this space into one that is sufficient for two little princesses :)

Sprinkler!

Photos from our trip to the local park last week where the girls enjoyed playing in the sprinkler

 as you can see, they don't so much run THROUGH the sprinkler as they dare the water to come and get them :)

24

24 hours.  That's how long I lasted away from the girls this past weekend.  This is not to say that I didn't thoroughly enjoy my time with Scott; time with no little voice saying "mommy," no little hands and feet crawling on me all hours of the day and night, time to have adult conversations and move at an adult pace, time to breathe ...  It was all wonderful.  Amazingly, given the chance, we didn't sleep in on Saturday -- I was up at 6:00 as usual.  And I can't say I slept soundly through the night -- I woke up several times throughout the night.  I'm not going to lie, though, it was still a much more restful night than most around here as we are actively working on night-weaning with Merrill and it hasn't been an easy road.  And our night was definitely more restful than then one my parents had.  The girls had a blast playing with my parents Friday afternoon, enjoyed their dinner and bedtime snack, but bedtime was a bit difficult.  We all knew that would be the tough part of the night and given this was their first overnight we all felt that it went pretty well -- it just didn't result in a lot of sleep.  So, it was probably in everyone's best interest that we didn't try for a second night right away.  We were happy to be greeted with enthusiastic smiles and abundant hugs when we got to my parents house Saturday afternoon.  We'll definitely be trying more overnights soon!

Millie gathering a pretty bouquet in Grandpa's backyard

Merrill enjoying the water fountain

Fun in the tub

topping the night off with a bedtime snack

Our dinner at Cedar Lake Cellars

My handsome date

 

Perfect ride back to the cabin

a morning hike around the lake

A big thanks to my parents for making our 24 hour get-away possible!

{Simple}

 

Give my girls some dirt, water and a few containers and they will be happy (and very dirty) for hours.  

It's the simple things in life ...