The Best Kind of Day

After the girls went to bed last night I was thinking about the day and realized that it was the perfect kind of day. Nothing huge took place but the memories are all in the small things that happened. All 3 of us danced around the living room listening to Taylor Swift. Aubrey with George, Lolo and I...it was something we do just about every weekday but yesterday it was sweeter. Lolo was sitting on the floor and doing her own little dance that she started doing recently. It is a little bit of bouncing and arm swinging. It always makes me laugh to see her happy and doing her own thing. We spent some time outside and I think spring might really be here. Aubrey loves to be outside. Her brain is working overtime while we are out there and she gets really excited. When I checked on them for the last time before I went to bed my heart just felt so full of love. I want to freeze that exact moment in my mind and heart forever, to remember Aubrey at 2 and Lorelei knocking on the door to her first birthday, the peacefulness on their faces while they were sleeping. Yesterday was the best kind of day I could ever ask for. Thank you Aubrey and Lorelei for loving your mommy and being so forgiving of my faults. I love you!

Happy Birthday Aubrey!

Today my baby is 2! We are having a very low key day. We had some cake last night and Aubrey opened her presents today. We bought her an Elmo's World DVD, a Disney Princess coloring book and a new pair of jammies. She was more impressed with the Little Mermaid wrapping paper than she was with the gifts though. The simple joys of being 2. Happy Birthday Aubrey!

Cleaning is so not my thing!

When I was working I always told James that if he wanted a spotless house I needed to stay at home or hire a maid. Working all day and then coming home to clean was just not high on my list. I realized that staying at home does not equal a clean house for me. I try. I really, really do but life just seems to get in the way. We are not eating on dirty dishes or anything like that but my living room looks like a tornado has blown through it every single day. Today I cleaned half of the living room, yup, that's right...half of it. I tried cleaning the other half on Tuesday. Our living room is big but I should be able to do it all in one afternoon. Instead I have sectors because the girls just seem to keep one sector cleaner than the other. They are just all over the place. Nothing is safe from their little fingers. It is all part of having a toddler and mobile 11 month old. Many things in life are unexpected but my messy house is not a surprise to me anymore.

Here is something that is not messy.....a scrapbook page I did for Aubrey's album from her first Easter Egg Hunt last year. I am going to say this many more times in the next several weeks as we celebrate both Aubrey's and Lorelei's birthdays...time goes by so fast!

Where has it gone?

It is very hard to believe that on Sunday Aubrey will be 2 years old! The time has gone by so fast that it makes me sad when I sit down and think about it. She has grown from a completely helpless newborn baby to a very independent (and opinionated) 2 year old girl. Can you believe we are already have battles over what she wears when we go somewhere? More than once she has attempted to leave the house in her Hello Kitty jammies. I have had to compromise with her and just let her wear the shirt! I wasn't expecting that battle for another 2 or 3 years. She is also a very good little helper. I was out shoveling the snow and the girls were inside with James. I heard the door open and looked up to see Aubrey sprinting out of the house with nothing but a diaper and her Disney Princess vest on! She brought James the vest and he put it on her, she blew her daddy a kiss and sprinted for the door! By the time he figured out what she was doing she had already grabbed the broom to help me out! We got her properly dressed in a snow suit and finished the driveway.

Aubrey today

Saturday Morning Nonsense

JG brought my package of scrappy goodness home yesterday. That was the best part of my day. I like ordering scrapbook supplies but I love it even more when they arrive. I think it just might be because the company takes pride in their product and wraps everything in tissue paper, ties it with a bow and sometimes adds little treats to it all. Emmas Paperie (http://www.emmaspaperie.com/) is by far my favorite place to purchase supplies, I am sure much to JG's dismay! The website even lets you create a wish list of supplies and saves it until I am ready to purchase so now I don't forget what I want to buy because it is all saved for me. It is the simple things that keep me happy!

Unfortunately when I woke up this morning it was snowing. I had hoped with the week of spring temps and green grass that we wouldn't see any more snow. I like the snow so I don't mind it but we have had alot of snow this winter and I am ready for spring. I need to let Aubrey get out there and run around like crazy every day to wear her down. The forecasters called for a trace of snow so maybe it will stop soon but we all know how often the weatherman is wrong!

Aubrey is feeling better now and was back to her ol' self yesterday. I don't like it when my babies are not feeling well but to be honest I enjoyed the slower pace. Aubrey and Lorelei keep me busy all day long.

Just another day

Aubrey has been running a fever for 2 days now and she just didn't want to sleep last night. I went to bed around 11:00 and 20 minutes later she was in bed with us. She dozed off and on until around 2:00 and then was wide awake. I gave her some baby tylenol and a drink then we came out to the couch so she could watch The Little Mermaid. At some point we both finally fell asleep and James shut the TV off when he got up. I have been wanting to pop in a workout DVD so James tried to wake me up before he left but my body was just not having any of it. I am exhausted but Aubrey seems to be feeling a little better. She is more active today than she was yesterday.

Since we haven't done anything this week I thought I would share one of my most favorite scrapbook layouts so far. This one is for Lorelei's album and I love how it all come together. Slowly, and I do mean slowly, I am getting some work done on the girls albums. I am trying to do at least a scrapbook layout every week and sometimes I can do more. I never find scrapbooking to be a chore just frustrating at times because I can't run to a store to get what I may want to complete a page.

Love Lived Here

This is where many of my childhood memories took place. This is the home where we spent every Christmas and Easter. I can still see my entire family gathered around the table, laughing as the food was passed around. My Grandpa saying a prayer, grateful for another chance to be together. My Grandma fussing over the food and making sure there was always more than enough. This was the best place to be. There were always treats to be eaten and lots of hugs to be given. Two of the most amazing people lived here and now they are gone. Some days it is hard for me to accept that a very important part of my life is gone forever.

Thank you Aunt Barb for mailing me the box full of memories and keepsakes! I will cherish them always and can't wait to share stories of our amazing family with Aubrey and Lorelei as the grow up.

Black Forest

Our trip to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) was a little disappointing for me. Call me a travel snob if you want but I really expected more. It really reminded me of Western NY because there were lots of rolling hills and lots of trees so I didn't dislike it but expected something more.

Our first stop was in Baden Baden. It is a cute town famous for its spas and casino. We didn't spend much time here because the main part of town is pedestrian only but I would like to visit there again and be a tourist. If I was much thinner I would love to visit the Roman-Irish bath for a relaxing 3 hours to myself. Unfortunately we ended stuck in a Stau (traffic jam) for nearly an hour as we left the town. We stopped at the House of 1000 Clocks to take a look at some of the famous Black Forest Cuckcoo clocks. After that we were off to our hotel (Hotel Silberkonig). We had a cozy room and a fantastic dinner at the restaurant downstairs. I had venison in a gravy with mushrooms and sour cherries. Along with that it had a appley purple cabbage and a side of a pasta or potato type noodle. I was in heaven. James had trout and Aubrey had some black forest ham. We shared a sundae with sour cherries and chocolate sauce for dessert and then we all went to bed stuffed and happy!

View from our hotel room

On Sunday we drove through Freiburg (FRY-burg), a busy college city, on our way to Staufen. Staufen is an adorable town. This town had a pedestrian only section as well and we strolled through. Aubrey was fascinated with all the dogs she saw while James and I enjoyed the view of castle ruins on a hill over looking the town.

Staufen Castle Ruins

After we left town we drove around and ended up at Burg Hohenzollern. This is an impressive structure that we could see from many miles away. It stands alone on top of a hill overlooking a valley. We toured this castle and no pictures were allowed of the inside. It was a short tour and we missed the english version so went along on the German tour with a little book describing all the rooms in english. This castle, just as with Neuschwanstein, is relatively new. It was rebuilt on top of castle ruins in the 1860's.

Burg Hohenzoller

We made home in one piece minus an incident with Aubrey in the car. Lets just say, I think Aubrey is most definitely, for sure, one little girl who will need some Dramine in the future. Lesson learned to open a window and pack more than 1 set of extra clothing.