Not Fans of Solid Precipitation

To be fair, it was 25 degrees and sleeting when we ventured outside this morning. Ben was thrilled for about ten minutes, before deciding it was too cold, and he couldn't even be coaxed into joining some of the neighborhood kids for sledding. Rebecca observed the snow from the safety of the garage for the most part, venturing out onto the snow only briefly. Joel decided to pick her up and carry her, which proved to be a very bad idea. She screamed and thrashed until she was safely in the garage again. She thought Ben's snowball throwing antics were funny, but didn't seem to quite know what to do with the snow herself so she decided to ignore it and play baseball. That was about when I said, uh, why don't we go back inside ;) The kids obliged without hesitation.

What's New

The answer to that question is, unfortunately, nothing much. The week started out very busy at work, and I spent a couple of long nights working until almost midnight trying to meet unrealistic deadlines. By mid-week I was cranky and sleep deprived, and feeling like senility was rapidly setting in and all of the non-work balls that were up in the air -- field trips, birthday parties, school projects and about a million other little things -- were about to all come crashing down on me. I am happy to say that I have somewhat recovered from this feeling of impending doom ;)

Last night I went to dinner at Fiamma, a cute and yummy Italian restaurant, with all of the Moms in Rebecca's preschool class as well as her teacher, Miss Lindsay. It was a lot of fun, and so nice that all the moms were able to make it! I told Rebecca this morning, "I saw Miss Lindsay last night." She narrowed her eyes and pouted for a moment and replied, "MY Lindsay!" She is very possessive.

Snow is in the air, supposedly. Or rather, snow, sleet and freezing rain -- two to four inches possible starting late this afternoon and continuing through much of the day tomorrow. I thought about the fact that I don't have a snow shovel, or a sled, and whether or not I have boots that fit either of the kids is questionable at best, but then decided that if I attempted to procure any of these items none of them will turn out to be necessary. So, unprepared is how we shall remain.

Triple Threat!

The triplets turn 2 - Happy birthday Brody, Cameron and Lanie! Thank you for inviting us to share your special day!

All Dressed Up

As promised, here are Joel and I all dressed up to go to the Make A Wish Foundation's annual Wish Ball. (Of course, the kids had to get in the picture too).

Joel is the newest Board Member of the North Carolina chapter of the Make A Wish Foundation, and since I am a dork, I took a picture of his name in the program:

Turtles in January

Mother nature has finally started making up for the cold snap she put us through a couple weeks ago... after a week of high temps in the 30s, my trip to Boston last week didn't seem all that much colder than what I'd just left. But the weather this week so far has been downright warm. Today it was sunny and in the mid 60s. I took advantage of the warm weather to take a lunchtime walk around the lake in our development, where I saw the resident blue heron stalking some fish. I also saw a cute little turtle sunning himself on a rock.

Let me repeat that: A cute little turtle sunning himself on a rock. IN JANUARY!!!! Does that not just blow your mind? I mean, how COOL is that? Okay, I admit, I may be more fond of reptiles [excluding snakes] than the average person. And just rather kind of weird anyway. But -- TURTLES IN JANUARY!!! Come on, people! One of you has got to find that as awesome as I do.

Celebrating MLK Day the American Way

(Shopping).

The kids and I were off from work and school today. Ben had camp at the JCC, leaving Rebecca and I to have a rare "girls" day together. Though really at this age it's less of a "girls day" and more of a "mom trying to avoid/minimize her two year old's frequent tantrum day". We started our day at a new restaurant near the mall called Terrace Cafe, where I had the California french toast and Rebecca had a fruit cup and a chocolate chip muffin. The food was very good, but the service was haphazard -- Rebecca's muffin required two reminders after I'd gotten my food before it was actually brought out. (Honestly - WHO MAKES A TWO YEAR OLD WAIT FOR A MUFFIN?!)

After breakfast we headed for the mall and Nordstrom's, where against all odds I managed to successfully purchase a dress and shoes for a black tie charity ball that Joel and I are going to on Friday night. With a lot of help from the sales staff, who brought me tons of dresses to try on, as well as a balloon for Rebecca to play with.

Rebecca got a little antsy in the shoe department as I was trying to find shoes to fit my short, wide feet (I got news for you kid, you have my same feet). Every time the sales girl would head back into the store room for yet another pair to try Rebecca would look up and ask hopefully, "All done yet?" I rewarded her patience with a visit to the fountain afterwards -- Rebecca loves fountains and she sat on the side of the fountain for half an hour trying to dip various body parts and toys in the water whenever she thought I might not be paying attention.

After such an exhausting morning we came home and took a two hour nap (both of us) -- a fine way to round out the day.

Easier Said Than Done

While I was in Boston this past week Joel mentioned that his parents wanted to take Rebecca for a hair cut. "Sure," I said, neglecting to mention that there is a REASON why Rebecca was desperately in need of a hair cut... namely that she screams and thrashes when approached with scissors, and the only way you can actually manage to get the job done is to sit with her in your lap and attempt to hold her still and keep an eye from being poked out. So anyway I forgot to mention that small detail, and the hair cut was not successfully accomplished. So this morning I took her for her hair cut myself, and held her down while she screamed and thrashed and managed to get her bangs trimmed and the ends of her hair trimmed a little. Afterward she was very happy to tell everyone and anyone that she got a hair cut and you never would have known from looking at her happy, beaming smile HOW GODDAMN DIFFICULT IT WAS.