Greetings from February!

Hi, all! Look how happy we are that we survived January!  (You know, just to be in the middle of a big old blizzard now.) BUT we aren't letting all this crazy weather get us down. It's Thursday, but I feel like we are still coming off a great weekend. Joe did not have to work THE WHOLE WEEKEND! He took the girls to the gym on Saturday and I was able to get a lot of cleaning done. We ran some errands and had a pizza and movie night, which in my opinion, are the best kinds of nights.  (We watched How to Train Your Dragon 2... I totally cried.) 

On Sunday, we continued errand running (Menards! Wahoo!) Joe did have a lunch meeting and then a gym visit planned, so I took the girls to Wood Lake Nature Center since the weather was gorgeous (40 degrees! Could have worn flip flops). We even "hiked" around outside for a little bit. Cece is a pretty cute wilderness explorer if I do say so myself.

And look who came by all the way from Chicago Sunday night just to bring cheesecake and read some bedtime stories? The girls were so happy to see Grandma.

Since the weekend ended, Cece has been back to school and it's back to business as usual around here. (Grocery shopping, bringing in the car to be fixed AGAIN, and then getting a root canal done today... the glamorous life.) We haven't had a good romp in the snow yet, but I did introduce Rosie to shaving cream while I was desperate to get the dishes done one day and that went over well.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but Rosie has been aggressively demanding requesting snuggles a lot lately, and I literally always give in. She pronounces it "NUGGLES!" and spreads her blanket on my shoulder so we can properly cozy up. I'm pretty sure my productivity around the house has decreased about 75%. And I don't care, because I love snuggles too.

Lastly, here are some beautiful flowers that Joe and Cece picked up for me last week. They cheer me up every time I look at them!

That's all for now, folks! 

Snow, Snuggles, and Swimming

Hey, all! It's been a couple weeks since a post, but I'm happy to report that life is good and January is almost over! Is that glass-half-full thinking or what?

Our activities were low-key during the middle of this month. We only got out of our PJs when it was truly necessary. Like when we had to register Cece for kindergarten. Figured we shouldn't show up in our bathrobes.



And I also suited up when  Joe took me on a date recently. We departed from our beloved sushi spot and ate at The Cheesecake Factory. Post dinner, we even caught the movie Daddy's Home.  Although it we had a fun evening, I have no pictures of said date. I was trying really hard not to be that person who takes pictures of their water, breadbasket, appetizer, waitress, etc. Because I usually am that person.

So, yes. It's been cold, but the cuteness and coziness has been strong around these parts. There's been lots of tea-partying, soup-eating, robe-wearing, and snuggling. Can't complain too much!

Then last week Joe had some vacation time. So we packed up and headed to see my family in Chicago for the week. We stopped in Wisconsin Dells on both ends of the trip and the girls didn't mind some January pool time one bit. 

Oh, and they love hotel rooms too. Why are they being so cute??? I look at this pic and I'm like, "I'll have a dozen more of those, thanks!" Like they are donuts or something.

We stayed at my sister's which meant top-notch hospitality and delicious food at all times. 

And we visited Robbyn at the bakery. She really couldn't get away from us.

We also had lots of family and friends visit us while we were there. It was fantastic to see all of your lovely selves at to catch up!

On our last day in town we went to PGN Fun Village with my Mom and sister. The girls experienced their first-ever ball pit. Rosie kept declaring that the whole ball pit was "MINE!" I tried to explain that it wasn't all hers but... Sharing doesn't exactly come naturally to that one, I guess.

I haven't been there  to PGN in years and it's like walking back in time into the 90s, but the girls had fun playing in the indoor park and then also accumulating tickets in the arcade.

"TICKETS!" Rosie would yell as they dispensed. And then she waved them around victoriously. Goofball.

 And I'll end this post with one last pretty picture of winter. I briefly visited Lake Katherine during our trip to take some photos. This is the only one I got on my phone, but it makes me realize that this is how I want to spend winter... by looking at pictures of snow on a screen/ behind a window instead of actually standing in it and freezing my extremities off.

Thanks again to my sister for hosting us last week and to everyone who drove out on a weeknight to come see us. Can't wait to come back in the spring!

Poncho Pals!

Today, the girls were the epitome of winter fashion and function as we tested out their new ponchos from our favorite new small business Tinley. We ended up getting so many compliments while we were out today that I figured a blog post was necessary in case anyone else wants to get in on this cold weather couture!

 

It was so nice not to deal with "bunchy sleeve" frustration, removing layers once in the car, or juggling extra blankets. Toss over the head and you are good to go! They are super cozy due to the double-lined fleece. Car seat buckles can also be securely fastened underneath the poncho.  For a mama who doesn't have an attached garage, any small thing to make loading kids up in the winter is much appreciated! 

Cece picked out this fabric herself as purple is her favorite color. I think she made a great choice! And to her delight, the ponchos twirl like a big skirt which she is loving.

Thank you again, Kristina, for turning my girls into cozy princesses in plaid! Let me know when you start making adult-sized styles! (Just kidding... sort of.)

Check out ponchos and other awesome products for kiddos here!

Sledding and Snowmen

Last week may have been the most relaxing week of winter. With Cece out of school, Christmas being over, and no more planned activities we got to finally just relax at home instead of running around and enjoy the snow that had finally fallen.

As you can see, we took the girls sledding a few times and they really enjoyed themselves. (Or if I'm being honest, Rosie had a blast until she toppled out of the sled once. She was fine, just cold and mad.) Cece and I even sledded together a few times and all went well. These experiences also made me realize that I need to do a lot more cardio. Apparently eating lots of Christmas cookies and only thinking about going to the gym does not sufficiently train you for pulling two children uphill in a sled .

Cece has also been my shoveling assistant and snowman sculpting helper. Look at the new cute friend we made!

  

We had one last fun winter activity before Cece had to return to school. Joe spent yesterday afternoon baking and making brownie snowballs with the girls with Olaf decor. This was his idea and specified that this was a Daddy-led project so I didn't have to worry about anything  (which initially made me worry as I think this was a multi-step process and also the first time he had ever baked.) But everything turned out great! Well-done, Joe!

How cute are these little fellas? If you need someone to cater confections at your next event, just contact Joe ; ) Hope your new year is off to a sweet start too!

The 12 Dates of Christmas (Part II)

What a holiday season it has been! I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas (and I REALLY can't believe my shopping is done and holiday cards are out.) Below is the second half of my alleged
"12 Dates of Christmas."

Date #7: Christmas Tree Shopping! Ok, so we actually have a perfectly sized artificial tree at home. But still, the girls and I still had fun perusing trees, purchasing  a nice big wreath, and then having an excuse to make some fancy hot chocolate at home (since we had spent all of 12 minutes in the cold.). Later that day, I attended the Exultate holiday concert (but I won't consider that a Christmas date since I went by myself.) Still, I look forward to it every holiday season. It was a beautiful concert and a wonderful musical experience.

Date #8: Cookie Baking Date! With Azure's help, we made a LOT of cookies last week. We distributed them to Cece's dance teachers, the childcare providers at the gym, our mail carrier. and the garbage man. I'm extremely proud that we didn't eat them all ourselves. And I'm very proud of Rosie for not bopping Cece on the head with that rolling pin.

Date #9: Lady Date! Our monthly lady date was a small one, but a good one. One snowy romantic evening last week, Emily and I went to Bonfire on Grand Avenue. It was fantastic. We chatted and caught up with each other, shared food, and enjoyed the falling snow outside. Can't wait to get the next ladies night on the books!

Date #10: Bestie Palooza! Sarah and Will hiked all they way from Chicago to pay our little old selves a visit this past weekend. We stayed BUSY! There was a trip to Good Times Park, a play date with other littles,  a maternity photo shoot, dinner out with kids (Chipotle), dinner without kids (Crave. Thank you Joe for watching the kids!) We also attempted to play in the snow and succeeded in eating all of the yummy food while catching up. Thank you so much for visiting us!

Date #11: Children's Museum at the MOA. I'm thrilled that there's another Children's Museum location where I can use my membership card (and is extremely close to our house!) They have a very cool storybook exhibit there right now which Cece keeps talking about returning to.

Date #12: Look at Christmas Lights! The girls and I managed a drive through our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. I had wanted to do this with Christmas tunes and hot chocolate. Christmas tunes we had, however, we had just been at the gym, so they happily settled for protein shakes as their beverage instead of hot chocolate and were plenty content. For a whole 20 minutes ; )

Well, as you can see, it's Christmas Eve and I'm off to bed so that Santa has a chance to get here. I wish you joy and peace as well as fun and good food with family and friends tomorrow!

Merry Christmas!

The 12 Dates of Christmas (Part I)

Last year, a few bloggers that I follow were writing their versions of the  "12 Dates of Christmas." Many were actually going on 12 Christmas-themed dates with their significant other during December and taking magazine-quality pics to include in their posts. I think it would be seriously impressive if Joe and I were able to manage 12 dates in one calendar year!

However,  I really like this idea, so I've definitely expanded the definition of "date" to include play dates, lady dates, and basically any family outing or times with friends this month. (Just you watch. I'm really stretching with some of these ; ) 

Date #1 : Family sushi dinner! Ok, there's nothing remotely Christmas-y about this, but it was still a great time. If you haven't noticed by now, Joe and I have basically traded in our 10-year obsession with Chipotle for an obsession with Kyoto. Whenever I'm not up to cooking... we kind of always end up here and now the kids really like fried rice.

Date #2: Meeting Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton! I don't think this qualifies as a date really by any means... more like a lifelong dream come true! He was in town promoting Nationals next month and I heard he was making appearance in a couple of northwest suburbs. And I kind of dragged the girls with me to meet him. Honestly, Cece was way more pumped about meeting Snowplow Sam. I, however, couldn't stop smiling and was as starstruck as a girl gets and wanted to tell him my whole life story and all about my mediocre skating career, but that didn't happen. Instead, I told him about Cece's upcoming dance recital and he got down to her level and wished her good luck. Heart melted. he's just as nice in real life as he is on TV. I'm so glad we got this opportunity!

Date # 3: Cece's winter dance recital! (Do we know how to embrace arts and culture or what?) This was previously posted on the blog, but it deserves another mention as it was adorable. (And the pizza after-party at the Olsons wasn't shabby either.)

Date # 4: Daughter date to the Children's Museum in downtown St. Paul! There is a cool new Medieval exhibit there, but the girls' favorite activities always seem to be the ones that include splashing around in water. 

Date #5: Night out at Cece's preschool Christmas program! I love that her school does this. Being one of the big kids this year, she got to shake some jingle bells in addition to showing off her singing skills. We attended a little Christmas cookie reception afterwards and I think that was Rosie's favorite part.

Date # 6: Dinner at Barrio in Edina. And it was a real date; I wore a dress and lipstick and we got a babysitter and everything. We ordered too many tapas (or at least I did) , had some uninterrupted conversations, dessert, and didn't have to do any dishes afterwards. The only downside to this date was that Joe decided that he loves Tres Leches cake and wants me to learn how to bake it. (HA!)  It was quite an indulgent date, and you bet I made it to Zumba this morning to work off all those tacos.

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The following pics have nothing to do with the "12 Dates of Christmas." They are just some more fun shots from my phone, including my holiday manicures (wahoo, Jamberry!), some cute Christmasy pics of our house, a mall outing with Rosie (we got lucky and got to listen to some holiday music!), and lots of cozy snuggle time and story-reading. Winter is sure the best time for snuggling. Cuddling in the summer just makes people hot and crabby in the I've found...

I know your December is probably crazy busy, but I hope you've had some moments of calm and coziness in between all of the festivities!

Stay tuned for part II of the 12 Dates of Christmas!