Snow Day!

We had so much fun enjoying our snow day yesterday. Snow days are extra special because I get to stay at home with the babies! I miss them sooo much when I'm working and love being able to play with them at home (and get lots of stuff done around the house!)

This baby didn't get the "sleep-in-late" memo. Jay brought him to our bed around 6:30 and he snuggled/annoyed the dog until Emma Cate finally woke up around 8.

Playing cars on Sophie's leg. 

Sophie is SUCH a patient dog! Sometimes she drives me crazy because she has just recently started chewing EVERYTHING (she never did this before) but she really is so sweet with the kids.

We had fun playing puzzles and working on shapes and colors.

Sassy showed off her gymnastics skills.

Here Holden, let me do it!

Gigi came over after breakfast to play in the snow with the babies! I am so thankful for her energy. She pulled the kids up the hill a million times.

loved how sweet she looked in all her snow gear.

She did NOT want to leave her gloves on and after she took them off, she fell and her hands were freezing. She cried and cried and I took her back inside. After watching through the front window, she decided she would rather be outside but still wouldn't do the gloves. Fast forward to last night, she found the gloves on the floor and WOULDN'T take them off. She went to bed with gloves on last night.

This guy LOVED the snow! Can't wait to take them somewhere next winter. I'm not sure if they'll be old enough for ski school yet but I'm hopeful :) He ran and played and would have stayed out there for hours. He kept signing "more" after each ride down the hill. He would also scream Wee and OOOhhh each time he went down.

looks like such a little boy. I can't get over it. Where has my baby gone!

we tried to get a pic of the three of us but my mom kept recording instead. I think this is the best one we got. My arms were going to fall off. Holding "three" babies is no joke!

My mom treated us to cheesecake factory for lunch. I asked for a plate of strawberries for the kids and they brought them out with whipped cream. To say Holden loved it is an understatement. The kid went to town and all the waiters came to visit our table to see the "messy baby". 

It was SOOO nice to be at home yesterday! I got all of the laundry done, the upstairs vaccummed, my pictures uploaded, and dinner made (plus watched a show!) during nap time. Jay was thrilled that we didn't have any "chores" to do after we put the babies down. I think he is just as excited as I am for me to stay home soon! 

I cooked again last night and made SkinnyTaste's Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken last night. It was so good. The babies ate a ton of it. I served it over brown rice with greek yogurt, cheese, and avocado as the toppings. I started it a little late so it only cooked on high for around 3 hours but were perfectly fine.

What We've Been Up to (1/24-1/28) Photo Dump

Here's a little more what we've been up to broken down into the second post! I'm trying to get all caught up with what we've been up to!

Friday 1/24

Another day at work. It took me forever to get home! I had to pick up a bunch of rental items for my sister's party and got stuck in 4:30 traffic. Ugh! Shortly after I got home, Jay arrived and we headed to my parents house for dinner and party prep. My mom has a nursery setup at her house and it's nice to be able to go over there and stay past bedtime. The kids are great about being transferred from the cribs at Gigi's to the car and finally to their own cribs. 

We wanted to blow up a picture to put behind the window frame and kept texting pictures back and forth to my sister to get her approval. I love this shot of her and Brett!

Mom ironing table runners

My sister Bo and I got Allie a gift certificate to have one of her engagement photos made into a water color painting. We LOVE how it turned out. Check out this Etsy shop for such a special gift! A little funny story behind this. I was reading one of my friend's blogs and noticed a comment someone had made. I clicked on the comment and started reading this other girl's blog. It was about her life in Dubai and I thought it was really interesting. She had a portrait made of her and her husband by this same lady and I knew it would be a perfect gift for my sister Allie. I emailed my sister Bo and she agreed we should do this for Allie's Christmas gift. Over Thanksgiving, (Allie was in Cochran, GA with her future in-laws) Bo was going through her instagram and showed me a picture of this girl riding a camel in Dubai. I was perplexed and wondered how Bo knew this girl. It was the same girl whose blog I had started to read. Turns out she was a sorority sister of both my sisters at Wake. So crazy that we didn't put this together until seeing that picture.

This was a fun little decoration. You put pictures in a mason jar and fill it with cooking oil! It keeps the picture and looks cool.

We made custom wine bottle labels and had to soak off the original. 

Saturday 1/25

We spent the morning at gymnastics and I treated myself to a little manicure during nap time. We spent a lot of the day just lounging.  

We headed over to my parent's house for the engagement party. The twins and Daddy all got matching outfits for Christmas and I thought this would be a fun time to all wear them together. Emma Cate's was HUGE but we made due and laughed at her just a bit :) 

We keep promising that we are going to get rid of the pacies once and for all but something always comes up where we think we need them. We've decided we'll do it after our upcoming flight to Philadelphia. I'd hate to have those babies screaming on the plane during take off because their ears hurt.

my mom loves pictures but HATES when everyone just stands in a line. Right before this shot was taken I had been trying out some new poses to change it up. Bo and I thought it was pretty funny. Also notice how I am a full head shorter than everyone in my family!

All of the "kids" at the engagement party. Allie and Brett have a super fun group of friends and their wedding is going to be blast!

We totally forgot to do something with the ends of this banner but I thought it was a cute way to introduce the wedding party (we missed a few groomsmen pics. whoops!)

After the party all of my sister's friends headed uptown to continue celebrating. Jay and I enjoyed a few moments of quiet before taking the kids home. Yes, we are old.

Sunday 1/26

The morning started out with a pretty crazy dance party! Holden LOVES to dance. We skipped church in lieu of eating breakfast with my family before Dad and Allie had to leave to go home. 

check out my spin move Emma Cate

We headed to breakfast at Toast and entertained the people waiting for tables outside. These kids are crazy!

Jay bent down to put clothes in the dresser and Holden climbed on his back to get a closer look at the TV. The things he'll do to be closer to Jake.

Watch Emma Cate in the next series of pictures. We decided to bring their chairs up from the basement because they didn't seem to use them as much down there as they did when they were upstairs. I think we've recreated our YMCA gymnastics class.

Monday 1/27

Back to the work week :0 I was really dreading this one because it seemed like the first week I'd have to work 5 days without a day off. This teaching/holiday schedule can really spoil you!

I decided this week to be diligent about meals. I hadn't been cooking at all and was feeling so guilty about the stuff my kids were eating. I made this yummy tater tot breakfast casserole on Sunday night and my kids ate it up! I'm going to search for more clean eating breakfast casseroles to make because they are super easy, my kids get a great breakfast, and I don't have to cook every morning!

The temps reached the 60s so we had some fun playing outside! I asked them to sit together for a picture and this is what I got. 

Daddy came home while we were playing outside and they twins ran for his car. They love to play in there!

We made dinner together as a family and Holden was super fussy so I let him help. It didn't make the sorting process any easier but he had fun until he got in trouble for dumping the bowl of green beans and throwing them... oh the joys of a little boy!

The dumping in action

this is not her best face but this girl LOVES apples (see the video below of her sweet voice!). We gave her one because she was screaming and dinner was running a little late. We'd never given her a whole apple before but she LOVED it. She ate the whole thing, core included.

I fixed one of our favorite weeknight meals. Turkey and sweet potato meatloaf with maple roasted green beans! So super easy and pretty healthy and the kids love it!

emma cate and her apple

Tuesday 1/28

I went to school with HUGE hopes that we'd leave early for a snow day. Around 10am our principal came over the intercom and announced we'd be leaving at noon! Woo Hoo! I rushed through carpool duty and was able to pick up the babies from preschool and take them home for a nap!

This one woke up super early and we got to spend a little one on one time together and watched the snow fall! Emma Cate ended up sleeping until 5!

My sister Allie is doing a clinical rotation in Atlanta and this was her google maps picture of her commute home!

While the kids were sleeping, I did some ArtKiving. I love this app. I take a picture of all of the art they bring home and then I'll print out a book at the end of the school year. I am keeping the special pieces that mean a lot to me but decided to trash the smaller (look he made dots) pictures and have these books made instead! It stores all the artwork by date, child, and also how old they were when they created it.

NO NO! (snow, snow!)

Jay and I had planned a date night far in advance and decided to leave the kids and my mom with Chicken Pot Pie soup from Skinnytaste. I didn't eat much because I was saving my appetite for Chima but Jay said it was sooo good. It's on the menu for leftovers tonight.

These two were sitting here just hanging out while Emma Cate and I cooked.

Took a little break to watch the snow with my sweet guy.

She's never liked celery before but was hungry enough that she ate almost the whole container.

The kids were getting a little restless waiting for dinner (I've got to work on my timing) so we entertained them with kitchen chores. Holden's favorite is closing the dishwasher.

I made crescent rolls to top the soup with. The kids thought it was delish!

working on those spoon skills!

we had to laugh because of course we were "those people" that ran out in the middle of a snow storm to buy milk. 

We added on to our patio last spring and it was so weird how the snow stuck to the new patio but not the old part. Makes me wonder what is in that cement! 

We found this guy snuggled up in EC's chair after we had put the kids to bed.

Off on our little date night!

uptown was really pretty in the snow!

I splurged and had a soda. This Brazilian cherry ginger ale was sooo good. Too bad it has to be imported!

We hardly ever eat red meat because 1. It is expensive  2. It's not super healthy and 3. I prefer someone else to cook it for me. If I'm going to eat steak, I want it cooked to perfection! I pretty much ate my weight in sirloin. All the chicken waiters would come by and I'd quickly dismiss them in order to make more room for the steak gaucho! 

Can you see the "snow effect" that picasa added to this picture? Too cute?

Snowy house pic. Too bad it didn't even snow enough to cover the grass!