On a dreary day like today...

doesn't everyone need fresh flowers?

Oh my goodness...

I still have butterflies when I'm around him...

Wordless Wednesday: Ice cream makes everyone happy!

Book group

I received several e-mails about our book group and what we've read, so I e-mailed my go-to girl, Bonnie for a list of books we've read. I am SO impressed with how organized she is in her list!! She has a list of every single book we've read since we formed the book group in September 2002, everyone's rating of the book and the average rating for that month - SO impressive!! Thanks, Bon!

Here is a list of some books that received higher ratings:
* Highest rating
**Second highest rating
Bold - above 8.0

Empire Falls
Founding Brothers
Seabiscuit
The Secret Life of Bees**
Pope Joan
Tales of a Female Nomad
The DiVinci Code
The Power of One
Plainsong
Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman
My Sister's Keeper
Life Is So Good
The Kite Runner
Keeping Faith
All American Girl
Good Grief
Peace Like a River
Me and Emma
The House of Sky
In the Time of Butterflies
The Glass Castle
The Year of Pleasures
The Breakdown Lane
Where River Turns to Sky
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Snowflower and the Secret Fan
The Tender Bar
Water for Elephants
Sister of My Heart
Eat, Pray, Love
Digging to America
Those Who Save Us*
Winter Wheat
Revolutionary Road
Loving Frank
The Rope Walk

A little something...

I got this little survey from this blog and enjoyed doing it! If you want to participate, leave a comment so I can check out your answers :)

Something I want:

A bread machine. My SIL made me some awesome bread for my birthday and since then I've been obsessed with learning how to make homemade bread. I would love to make my own bread and have Miss Acadia help me out :)

Something I need:

Completely boring, but I need a fence! We need to fence in our front yard by next summer. I can't imagine how I can safely watch a 1 and a 3 year old each every day without a fenced in yard.

Something I'm looking forward to:

A trip with my two girls! We are hoping to take them camping this fall which I'm really looking forward to. I'm also looking forward to our first "real" trip with them next summer as a family of four. Any suggestions on where we should go?

Something I am doing tomorrow:

Watching my friend Jo's daughter Eden and taking the girls outside to play in the sprinkler

Something I am going to do next week:

Go to a concert at Snowfarm Vineyard - so fun!

Something I am going to do next month:

Go to my sister's wedding!!! Can't wait!

Something I wish I could do:

Sew or knit. I wish I had more time to learn! Someday....

The truth hurts

I have a friend visiting from out of town, who I haven't seen in a year. Her son is going to be 3 and Acadia just turned 2, so they are both in the "terrible twos" stage. The other day while they were visiting, her son asked for a cup of juice and when she handed it to him, he screamed that he needed the blue cup, not the red cup. She just stared at him and told him that the blue cup was fine and he could drink his juice in that. He threw a fit and rather than hear him go on and on, she just gave him the red cup. He took it happily and walked away.

She just stared after him and said, OMG. He. Is. SO. Annoying.

LMAO!!!! I just burst into laughter and for some reason couldn't stop. As parents, we have ALL felt that way before and it was just hilarious that she said it out loud!!

I must say - Acadia has been AWESOME lately and has been really low maintenance - not at all like she was when she was 18 months old. But still. For the record, I had to list some of the annoying traits of Acadia lately -

~"I do it!" for everything. Pretty much the only thing she hasn't told me "I do it" for is cooking or cleaning. I think she's smarter than I give her credit for.

~Taking off her damn clothes. Seriously. For 5 minutes could you just wear them? You look like white trash running around in your diaper. There. I said it.

~Playing with her yogurt. Squishing it between her hands and rubbing it on the table. Am I your bitch? Is that what I signed up for when I had you? Honestly, child. Please just pick it up with a spoon and insert it into your mouth. It's that easy.

~Laying on Emma. If poor Emma makes it to her 2nd birthday without the giant (ie. Acadia) breaking her arm or leg by laying on her, I will be happy.

~Not sharing. Come on, kid. You haven't touched that toy in 4 months, then we have a play date and your friend uses it and you throw a fit because you want it. Sigh.

~Coloring on things that are not paper. The other day she colored on the dishwasher. Thank God it came off, but that didn't stop me from putting her in timeout and then telling her she had to apologize to the dishwasher. That's right. Mom's need their revenge. I laughed my a$$ off when she apologized to it.

~"No! THIS way!" When we're driving in the car, she'll randomly tell me that I'm going the wrong way. Really, Acadia? Really? Do you really think that you know more than I do about where we're going? Arguing with a two year old about the fact that I know where the hell we're going is actually pretty funny. Even funnier is that normally she wins the argument....

Well, I love my girl, but those are the annoying traits as of late.

What are your children's annoying traits?

Play date at Shannon's house

Last week my friend Shannon had us over for a play date. She made edible play doh for the kids (she's so crafty!) and Acadia LOVED it! It was made with peanut butter and as soon as Acadia realized it was edible, she dug into it :)

Investigating with the binoculars

Trying out the play doh

Her buddies

Hanging out, watching the big kids

My friend Lindsey had a little girl 6 weeks after I did - Emma and R are going to be BFFs!

Emma Joy

Book group

Book group on Monday was hosted by my friend Darci. She has a beautiful home and we lucked out and had a picture perfect evening! (Very rare lately here in VT!) Darci is one of those women you constantly pinch yourself for "getting" to be friends with...she's funny, smart, caring and someone you could talk with for hours and hours - I love that girl!! We had an awesome night - good wine, great food and amazing women - what could be better??






Some of the most amazing women I know!

Girl power!

I am fortunate enough to have an amazing group of girlfriends. Some are older than me, some are younger, some are from different countries, some have different religions - I love them all and feel so lucky to have them in my lives.

Last week, I was able to join some of my girlfriends for a mom's night out at a local Mexican place. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! And I love to laugh, so that says a lot about how funny that night was :)

Cutie pie

When you catch her doing something she shouldn't be, she gives you the guilty look (exhibit A)...but not for long! She turns on the charm within seconds and suddenly you forget what you were upset at her for!

Exhibit A. Not sure what she was up to, but I'm sure it was no good!

If you've ever wondered

if people are less stressed out the second time around when having a baby, I believe this video is evidence. I love it how in this video Acadia seems to be the only one concerned....poor Emma!

1, 2, 3 GO!

Emma's first craft

I wish I could remember where I found this craft so I could post the link for it. We made little lobsters yesterday with the girls' hands and feet. SO cute! Acadia loved "doing crafts with her feet" This was Emma's very first craft :)

2 months old

Emma turned 2 months old this week! It's hard to believe it's already been 2 months, and at the same time I can't remember when she wasn't here with us. We are having a lot of fun with her!

I "stole" this little idea from my friend Cindy - it's a great way to keep track of milestones!

Stats -
Weight: 10 pounds 1.5 ounces (50th percentile)
Height: 22 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Schedule -
Surprisingly, she's already started a schedule of her own. I don't think Acadia really had much of a schedule until she was older. Emma normally wakes up around 6am to nurse. She lays in bed with me nursing for a while then is up at 7am to nurse again. After this, she's usually asleep until 10am. She nurses again and hangs out - she's usually awake until about 1:30ish then is down for several hours. She wakes up and nurses again and is up until about 9:30pm. She has slept through the night for the last 2 nights! She is an awesome sleeper! I think I can say this with confidence - her colicky stage is over! **Knock on wood** It's been a week and a half since she's been fussy at night, so I'm hoping this lasts!

Recent accomplishments -
-In the past month, she has slept through the night 5 times.
-She started smiling!!! It's so cute!
-She has become SO alert and has a huge interest in her big sister
-She is cooing big time and Matt and I swear she's trying to laugh

Emma's first hug

Can Emma breathe in this picture? Debatable.

Sometimes

Eating cinnamon raisin bread brings out the rock star in us...

Wordless Wednesday: Summer

Snow Farm

Last week we went to Snow Farm Vineyard with our friends Jamie and Ken and their children. If you're from VT, I highly recommend going - it was SO much fun!! They have free concerts every Thursday evening and we will definitely be going again. The kids had a blast!!

After the concert we took the kids to a local ice cream shop - Acadia talked about her strawberry ice cream for days!