Cousins

Danielle, Ethan and Brittany came for a visit last weekend and the girls had so much fun with their cousins! This was the first time that they had seen the girls since they first met them when they were 12 weeks old (for their baptism). I wasn't sure how it would go since there is a pretty big age difference between the cousins (Ethan is 12 and Brittany is 10), but I can honestly say that they all had a great time!

The weather wasn't great while they were here, but we still managed to have a fun-filled long-weekend. On Thursday & Friday while Randall and I had to work :( they took a trip to the children's museum & went to Ault Park with Sara and the girls. On Saturday we went to Hyde Park Square for breakfast and Brittany ran in the kids race as part of the Blast. She did great! We had planned to all walk the 4 mile race together, but we didn't make it in time for the 8am start :)




In the afternoon we went to Parky's Farm. The kids had fun petting the baby goats, playing in the barnyard playground, watering the plants and checking out the horses and other animals.




That evening we went back to Hyde Park square to watch the bike races as part of the Blast.


On Sunday we went to breakfast at Joseph Beth and afterwards the kids played in the bookstore (since it was raining out). In the afternoon, once the rain cleared out we took a trip to the zoo. The animals were all out and about for the afternoon sunshine and everyone especially enjoyed the giraffe encounter.







Thanks for coming to visit Danielle, Ethan & Brittany! We wish that we could see you more often!

Isle of Palms - Part Three

These are the family pictures that Sara took while we were on vacation. Unfortunately we waited until the end of the week to take family pictures, and Lexi came down with a double ear infection and was really not feeling well. But Sara still got some wonderful shots that I will treasure forever. I love how carefree the girls were on the beach. They loved the ocean and the sand! I love my girls and my husband! Oh what a lucky family we are!

Isle of Palms - Part Two

Here are some wonderful candid pics that Sara took while we were on vacation. I am so happy that she took these pictures especially since my camera broke midway through the week. They will bring back wonderful memories of our first family trip to the ocean. I will forever remember my carefree Kenzie running along the water, her excitement visible all the way through her fingertips! The image of Lexi "seriously" at play in the sand & water is forever etched in my mind. I am so thankful that both Omi K and Granny were there to witness Kenzie & Lexi's first beach experience. We had such a wonderful week together. Wish we were still there ... it seems like ages ago already.

4th Annual Crawfish Boil - Part 2

Sara took some great pics at the crawfish boil that I wanted to share. It was so great to have her there to help with the girls and to take pictures so that I could attempt to be more of a hostess :) If you haven't noticed, Sara is my life-saver on a regular basis. Here are some pics of her with the girls. They adore her. Thanks Sara for the all you do for us!

overwhelmed

Most days I feel like I have it together. Most days I feel fortunate because I am able to balance work life and home life pretty well. I am so lucky that we have an amazing nanny and that I know that Kenzie & Lexi are well taken care of (& enjoying their days with Sara) while I am at work. And I am lucky to have such a great boss, who is also a working mom, who helps me balance things and keep my priorities straight. I don't worry about the girls while I am at work because of Sara and am therefore able to focus on work while I am in the office. On the flip side, when I am at home and the girls are awake I am 100% focused on them! Nomatter how tired I may be when I get home from work I give them 100% of my energy. I make dinner and then we attempt to do some sort of fun activity together every evening. Sure it is hard to work full time and to be a mom to 15 month old twin girls, and there are many days where I wish that I could spend all day with them. But most days I feel like I am doing exactly what I should be doing ... and I feel proud that I am able to be a great mom to K&L while also being successful professionally.

This past week was not one of those weeks... this past week I have felt overwhelmed. Between late night video-conference calls with Asia, hosting book club, preparing for meetings with out-of-town bosses, spending 13 1/2 hours at the office on my birthday, preparing to host out-of-town guests, yucky-rainy weather & somewhat cranky girls ... I have felt overwhelmed. I have felt like I need to be in 2 places at once ... I have felt guilty for being at the office when I should have been with my girls and have felt guilty for not being at the office when I knew everyone on my team was still there working. I felt like a bad friend/hostess when I had to forego my grand plans to make a Spanish themed homemade dinner menu (for which I had already purchased all of the ingredients) for book club, and instead had Randall pick up Dewey's salads & pizza on his way home. And I felt like a bad aunt & sister-in-law as I was not able to take time off work when they were in town. Sorry for the long vent ... sometimes writing things down makes me feel a bit better.

At the end of the day, I guess these feelings are normal and I need to realize that sometimes it is going to be impossible to do it all. I went to a women's network event at work a couple of months ago where the keynote speaker talked about work-life balance and her key message was "you can have it all, but not all at the same time." I need to remind myself of this when I am feeling overwhelmed. My family will always be my number one priority and at the end of each week I hope that they know this through my actions and words.

It is always nice, that nomatter how tough the week has been, that we always have the weekend to spend together as a family. I love those 2 days each week where I get to be with them all day. We always find fun ways to fill our time together and this weekend was no different .. more to come in another post.

And if there is anyone out there that knows the secret to making it all work, all the time please let me know :)



Our fun activity of the night ... a trip to Lunken Field for a family run followed by fun at the playground.

everyday fun

We had such a fun week together as a family. I love how we are together on an "everyday" basis ... just enjoying being together. The weather was beautiful this past week so we enjoyed as much time outside as possible ... despite everyone still being a bit under the weather.

On Sunday we went on a family walk to the farmer's market in Hyde Park Square and Lexi, Kenzie & Tobi all wanted to go for a dip in the fountain. Later that day we took a trip to the zoo, and then barbequed on the back porch (the girls enjoyed corn on the cob for the first time). During the week, we went for a picnic dinner in Ault Park, went for walks and played in the yard, went to Mio's in Mariemont for the first time for Wednesday family night(since it was rainy & gloomy on Wednesday). We went to happy hour at the pool on Friday and celebrated at the Lambert Place annual block party on Saturday. Wow, it was a busy and fun-filled week!

We had an especially great time at the pool on Friday. It was our first trip to the pool this season and given how much the girls loved the water while we were at the beach we anticipated that they would enjoy the pool. They loved it! Especially the splash pad! They have no fear ...

Since my camera is still broken all photos from this week were taken with my iPhone. I had fun using the Hipstamatic & Shake It photo apps, but I miss my camera :(