Doubled up on fun AGAIN!

Just like our double holiday celebrations, we had double the birthday parties. With a visit from Gramma and Opa last weekend, almost the whole family (we missed you Uncle Michael!) was here in Indy for the girls' birthday dinner/Easter egg hunt. Dani and Alex are already pros at opening presents and eating cake and it was definitely amazing to see how much they've grown in one year. Here are a few memories from last year:




This year we started with an egg hunt and they were actually able to look on their own and find almost all the "easy" ones we hid. Being 'I Spy' aficionados has definitely helped their hide and seek skills!
Alex finds one:

Dani too:

Alex looking at her stash:

Dani's first peep:

Dinner and cake followed.

Alex, by Dani's request, got to have her birthday song sung first this time:

Then Dani got her turn. They both, eventually, blew out their own candles this year, but Dani did quite a bit of the ole' bottom lip blowing up into her own hair technique before hitting the candles:

This year, for cake, they were using FORKS!

Presents galore followed. They now each have their own aprons (mini versions of Mommy's new one!) and they seem to like them - the next day they helped make ham balls for Easter dinner.



It's hard to believe it's been 2 years since that snowy day in Tucson (that's right - it SNOWED in Arizona the day they were born). Year 3 will hold many more surprises, I'm sure. In a few weeks, they'll be big sisters!

Just 5 more weeks to be preggers

We finished painting the new nursery this week (pictures to come) and it's feeling very real now. So I guess I'll post the first professional maternity photos I've ever had taken. Big thanks go to the lovely ladies at m cubed photography, aka my sister-in-law (and sister at heart) Jean and her talented business partner Nelly. May their new business grow as big as my belly has.

The Two are Two!

"I'm two!"


"I'm two too!" says Alex.


Ok, we're two and a day as of this post. Mommy is a bad blogger. But
here's our party yesterday. We blew out our candles really well. (Note
from Mommy: Listen close during the birthday song for Dani and you'll
hear Alex reminding everyone that it's her turn next.)

We made mini-pizzas!

(And cleaned up afterwards. Good helpers!)

Happy Valentine's Day...

And Happy Birthday to Uncle Mikey!

Bye Bye BaBa's

On January 27, the girls took their last drinks from their bottles for breakfast.



Then after nap they helped me put all their bottles into a box, tape it up, and they said bye bye. Then we had a bye-bye-baba party! They enjoyed cookies and juice and had a good old time being "big girls" with sippy cups while sitting on the counter. ;)

A new era is dawning - they now seem ok with being big girls. A few short weeks ago, when asked whether they wanted to be babies or big girls, they would answer "babies". Now they ask for big girl cups at dinner and they're progressing slowly but surely in their potty training. Dani went poo in the potty chair for the second day in a row today! Yeah Dani! And Alex is doing well too. They enjoy keeping each other company in the bathroom. With enough books on hand, they'd stay in there all day!

Winter blues... and yellows and reds!

With the frigid cold weather, we've been having lots of indoor fun, and
the girls get more creative every day. They get artistic:




And they get downright silly:

We do everything in 2's

As we do every year, we had two Christmases, one in Chicago with Gramma, Opa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Irene, Cousins Olivia & Ariel, and GrandOmi & GrandOpi, then another on new year's eve with Ama, Akung, Aunt Jean, Uncle Aaron, Clay & Owen. The girls enjoyed both and were quick to learn how to open presents, even saying Tankoo by the end. During both holidays, they also stretched their culinary skills - cookies at Christmas (thanks Gramma!) and on New Year's they made sushi and pigs in a blanket (thanks Ama and Aunt Jean!). We've all been enjoying our new toys and books since the holidays which is good since it so COLD that we never play outside anymore. :)

Christmas Eve & Day - states represented: Illinois, Indiana, Idaho, & Missouri!

Gramma & Opa

Cookie Time!


New Years Eve - the presents continue...

...and so does the food. My fav meal of the year - Sukiaki! And this year, Clay and Owen added cheesecake. What more could we want.

Then Jack's fav day of the year - New Year's Day with family, football, and food. The girls' first sushi making day!

So that's the holiday wrap up. It's only taken a month to get posted. :)

Since then, the residents of Weiville have been working on potty training. The big phrase around here is "Special Treat" which is code for "I get an M&M when I pee-pee". We're no where near ready to get rid of diapers (we tried) but little by little, the girls are growing towards independence. I'm sure I'll post big exciting pictures when they finally get #2 into the pot. ;)
Stay warm everyone!
PS: Congrats, Lilie! The girls will try their best to give you the day of your dreams.

The Office

What you are about to see constitutes about 20-30 hours of Jack's free time. So it's a darn good thing that I'm in love with it! My new office/studio feels like the first real space I've had to do my work, rather than something cobbled together quickly and piecemeal. The desks are (xplane style) made from doors that he custom stained to match the trim and the shelves are hand picked as well. Only the white wire shelf above my drafting table is something we repurposed, but that fits in with everything and will look even better once we get the white blinds delivered. It's a fun, functional, high-crafted space and I'm super happy with it (and its creator). :)






Ahead you can see the current view from my drawing table. In the spring, it'll showcase our beautiful front yard pond which is frozen over right now. So the fish and I will get creative together! Actually, in the spring, I probably won't be sitting there much unless it's to nurse... maybe summer. ;)


Hmmm... it'd be fun to see all my past office views... I'll have to dig up some drawings from St. Louis someday. I was in the digital photo world for Philly... and my Tucson view showed the pool. 



Guess I've always been very very lucky no matter where I live! Enjoy your spaces, everyone. Home is wherever you stash your daily tools. :)

Stuff I should have posted in 2007

Happy 2008! Hard to believe the 90's are almost a full decade past now... they were such formative years for me. But now that our kids are around, the early 2000's seem more important. Life without the girls is hard to remember, and I'm sure we'll feel the same way about the new baby once he or she makes an appearance. (Thanks for the input Renee! I'm starting to feel more confident that I may know enough this time to keep it around longer than a few months... LOL!) Anyway, below are a few picks from December that should have made it onto this blog a long time ago. I'll show off holiday pics and MY NEW OFFICE in another entry as well as OUR NEW CAR! That's right, I'm a minivan mom now, but as Rachel said to me - it's a car even a "cool car guy" like her hubby appreciates, so maybe I'll maintain whatever small snibbles of coolness I had before kids... HA! Well, it is a very cool car; let's leave it at that. As is my office. BIG kudos to Jack for his late nights and hard work to get it done. 2 more rooms to go! Guest room is next - all you loved ones who come in 2008 (Please! Come!) will enjoy his expert paint choices. History has proven over and over (and over) that I stink at it.

Dani left, Alex right:

Alex:

Dani:



A true Daddy-driven snowman - m&m's for a mouth and girl scout cookies for eyes...


EDIT: I added names before pics above. I just realized I haven't been good about that lately.