lots to share

It was a big weekend in our household this week. Thursday night, we took the girls on a special treat...a trip to the circus. Laney LOVED it. She was captivated the whole time. She thought the "head" clown was hilarious and now aspires to be the "princess" that rides on the back of the elephants. Alie liked it, but was ready to go at intermission. We stayed and she perked up when the tigers and elephants came back out. She also really liked the dogs. Since I knew we would be out pretty late, I had taken Friday off as a recoup day...which was nice. The girls and I got all of the grocery shopping for the next few weeks out of the way.

Friday night, Auntie Wen came up for her bridal shower. We had pizza and breadsticks from Little Ceasars (a new favorite of mine) and of course, some wine. I picked out an organic wine in a recycled bottle especially for Wen, and it was delish! Saturday Wen, Cirucci, Jenny and I headed to Ellicott City for the mini-bridal shower...afternoon tea at a delish location. The food and tea were great and I'm hoping that I will find some time this summer to visit again and maybe sit on the back deck, overlooking the Tiber ;) Saturday night, we stayed up way too late (of course) chatting, and drinking wine and playing games. Laney and Alie spent the night (they love sleeping on Cici's pull out couch with mommy). It was truly an awesome girls night!

Now we have entered into that week...the week leading up to my comps. I have to excuse myself ahead of time for my behavior this week, which surely will respemble the behavior of a crazy person. I have made a study schedule and hopefully, by the time I walk into the exam on Saturday morning, I will feel sufficiently prepared.

Just a quick note

Things at work and school have been CRAZY this week. I was busy all day yesterday and today, and took tomorrow off to study for the comps which are approaching fast a furious. Unfortunately, at this point, I have very little studying done and I am trying to get on top of that. Too bad that I can't pull any of my time away from work to study or get any schoolwork done (not that I really should be doing that anyway).

I am excited for a nice break tonight. The fam is headed to the circus. The girls are looking forward to it and have been talking about elephants all week. Wen is coming up for her "shower" on Friday...so it will be a girls weekend all around. Just what I need after a busy couple of days. Too bad those stinking comps are always looming over my head!

Alright, I'm off to what feels like my nine millionth meeting recently.

Wonderful Day!

Today was really a wonderful day. After breakfast and coffee, the girls and I baked a special treat from each of their cookbooks. Alie chose Friendship Fairy Bread and Laney chose tea cookies decorated with frosting and sprinkles. After getting dressed up, we set the table with a fancy tablecloth, tea cups, saucers and plates. We put on the princess tea party music and enjoyed some delicious raspberry tea (Laney's choice) while we waited for Cirucci to join us. The special treats were delish and very well decorated!

After the tea party ended, the girls went up and took a nap while Cirucci and I watched "Australia". It was such a nice day. Now to get back to folding the laundry and studying!

New car

I am officially obsessed with my new car. It is soo fun to drive and it has so many fun things inside that I'm just not used to (like I can change the radio channel from my steering wheel). I'm getting really excited for Wendy's visit next weekend. Cirucci and I were originally planning to host a larger shower, but since it seems that noone can come. Now we're planning on going for an afternoon tea. I have not been to tea since I was much younger (probably 10 or 11) and I think a cute tea party will be very fun.

Last weekend, the girls received two fun cookbooks from Barb, a Princess cookbook and a Fairy cookbook. I know the girls love the cookbooks and I can't wait to help them make something from them. As long as I get a lot of my schoolwork finished today, the girls and I are planning a fancy tea party tomorrow and we will be using two of the new recipes for some tea party treats.

Finally, I was so touched yesterday at work. Brian L forwarded me an email reminding me that Twilight was being released this weekend. Then, a few minutes later, Gustavo sent me an email about a new Orioles song. Sounds kind of cheesy, but its always nice to know that others are thinking of you. I finally feel like we have a fun group in the admissions office again. I haven't felt like that since Katie and Michael S. left.

Happy Spring!

We did it!

We did it! We bought our new car and I'm so excited. We went with the CRV as planned in the light blue color. It has a grey interior and after only driving it a few miles so far, I already know it was the right choice. The whole family will be much more comfortable with this new addition. Plus, the one car thing was getting kind of old. I would like to give a shout out to the helpful people at Norris Honda. We had a great car buying experience there. This is my very first brand new car, so I'm super excited about that!

Focus

I need to regain my focus on school, just until I finish it, because I don't want to have to do another semester. I sorted out the situation with my comprehensive exam, so it is on for April 4th. I feel like late March and early April hold the keys to the end of my semester and I can't get my mind off of them. Maybe if I work really hard this weekend, I will feel more prepared and feel less anxious. We can hope right.

In the midst of all of this academic craziness, Carl and I are in car buying craziness mode. We are trying to find the best interest rate on our loan, but at the same time, the best price on our car. This is making life pretty hectic as I have been busy with college fairs and bridesmaid dress craziness. And then of course there's Laney and Alie's preschool stuff that we are getting together to mail back. If I can keep it together and buckle down, all of this craziness should be over soon and life will be way more relaxing. Grass is always greener, right?

Have I mentioned...?

I LOVE the entertainment book! I used the discount (50% off) for the Disney on Ice tickets AND I just bought tickets to the circus, 50% off AGAIN! There's tons of other stuff in there that I haven't used yet, but plan to. The book is AWESOME!

Some more good news

Laney and Alie were accepted into our first choice pre-school this past week. Carl and I are so thrilled and it is right near my work, which make things even better! Also, Theta Chi may be re-opening (fingers crossed). Carl received a letter from his national indicating that alumni would be meeting to discuss the potential of the house re-opening this fall! Of course Carl is super excited...so we're headed to the 'burg in late April so he can attend his meeting.

its Sunday

Its Sunday and I'm at home...finishing up a negotiation paper and beginning to study for my comps. Yesterday the weather was absolutely beautiful and Carl, the girls and I headed down the the playground for the better part of the morning. The girls really had a blast and are able to do a few more things than they were able to do last fall. They love climing up to the slides on all of the different ladders now, which is great. While they still obviously require supervision, they are much more able to do everything!

After the playground, the girls and I headed to Sams while Carl got the oil changed...very exciting! We do have brand new winshield wipers, which we've needed for over a year (we're so slow to get to everything!). Carl grilled dinner for us, hotdogs, asparagus and potatoes with onions..delish! We really enjoyed the spring-like day....so I guess its ok that i'm inside studying today.

Nothing to do

This weekend the weather is supposed to be beautiful and we have nothing to do...well I have to study and write a short paper, but other than that. I finished my book club book yesterday, and I'm not allowing myself to start another book until after comps. I find that pleasure reading, more than anything else seems to keep me from doing the things I should be doing.

Anyway, back to the weekend. I think we might get the girls "bi-cycles" (as they call them) out of the basement and spend some quality time in the alley. Perhaps, if the ground is less damp by Sunday, we will make our way down to the playground.

I am actually loving this whole carpooling to work thing recently. Yesterday Inda picked me up and drove me home. This morning Alex picked me up and Brian will be driving me home...such wonderful friends! I am loving having the social interaction on my way to and home from work....maybe we don't need a second car after all. Just kidding!

Brand New Blog background

I'm pretty excited about my brand new blog background, so I thought I would list some of the other things that I'm excited about right now.

1. I ordered some things for my girlies big girl rooms! They won't be making the transition to true big girl beds until December but Carl and I have been purchasing pieces of the sets we've chosen for them. I'm excited that their rooms are becoming more complete. We will be painting their furniture soon too.

2. Wendy's shower and wedding. I think both events will be very fun. Especially her wedding because it will be beautiful and we'll be staying in a lovely condo on the beach.

3. Our Disney trip this November. I'm really enjoying planning it at this point and I love showing the girls all of their different options for when we go. Alie is excited to ride the Haunted Mansion and Snow White's Scary Adventure. Laney is not so sure about those rides, but thinks Peter Pan and Mickey's Philharmagic sound pretty good. I think Carl has three very excited ladies on his hands for the next 9 months!!

4. Our trip to the beach with Carl's family. Everyone is going...Dan and Mindy, Sue and Carl, all of the cousins and aunts are uncles are assembling in Rehobeth in a gigantic house! My girlies love the beach and I know there will be plenty of time for reading, relaxing, playing in the sand, swimming and cooking (all things that I love!).

5. The spring. I think my girls and I have cabin fever. It's supposed to be much warmer this weekend and we are planning to spend a lot of it outside (well and studying for finals...why did I want my masters again?!?). As the summer approaches, I know my girls will want to help me plant and water flowers (its one of their favorite things to do with their grandmothers) and I'm looking forward to sharing that with them too.

6. Our new car! Next month we will be purchasing a brand new CRV and I can't wait. It will have plenty of room for our girls and it really seems like it will fit all of our needs. As most everyone knows, we are a drive everywhere family and this search for the perfect car has been quite long. It will be nice to have something a little larger than the jetta that I love (as opposed to the explorer that I absolutely hated!)

That's all for now. Perhaps later this week I will work on posting pics of my lovely girlies!

snow days!

Monday was a snow day! School was closed and I was able to stay home and play outside with my girlies. Laney and Alie tried to play in the snow in their pjs and socks while Carl was shoveling the front walkway...luckily he saw them before they got off of the porch and ushered them back inside. As soon as the girls and I were finished breakfast, we were out back and on our way to the hills. We had the best time having snowball fights and making snow angels. It was a partial bummer that the snow wasn't snowman-making snow, but we had a great time trying!

The girls could have played outside all day long, but I was freezing so I wrangled everyone in after an hour. The hair that was hanging out of Laney's hood was frozen and both of their little cheeks were bright red, but they would have been happy as clams to stay out. We had a tea party with my grandmother's fancy tea cups to keep their mind off of the snow outside. Laney really enjoyed the peach tea. I'm not sure if Alie liked the tea, but she sure loved the idea of a tea party while we listened to princess music (i can't believe how quickly my little girls are growing up!!!). We played outside again in the afternoon and headed to bateman's for wings for dinner because I was soo tired from walking around in the snow, I didn't feel like making dinner.

Yesterday afternoon, since I was working from home, the girls and headed to my parents house for some sledding. They tried to pull each other in my old sled, and it was hysterical to watch. They kept falling over and laughing and I couldn't help but laugh right along with them. We played follow the leader around my parents house and followed different tracks, trails and footprints we had made in the snow.

The snow day was such a treat!

Today

Today, I had eggs for breakfast. Today I smiled as Laney proclamed that eggs were her favorite food. Today, I relaxed, read a book and drank coffee as my girls watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Today it is snowing. Today I am heading with my girlies to Cirucci's and then out to buy Wen's bridal shower invites. Today I am researching the Jewish-Muslim conflict in the Middle East for a paper about conflict for my class. Today I am "cyber-meeting" with my group. Today I am preparing for my conflict negotiation taking place tomorrow evening. Today, I snuggled with my girls. Today, I enjoyed chatting with my husband over more coffee. Today, I listened to my girls beg for a juice box (and indulged them). Today my girls told me they loved me. Today, I feel blessed :)