{"happy mothers day, daddy!"}

We celebrated Fathers Day with a trip to the Farmers Market. We enjoyed Belgian waffles and crepes as the girls danced to live music and played in the fountain. The perfect way to celebrate an amazing Daddy!

Apparently the girls are not able to say Father (I guess it is a challenging word), because all day they were wishing Randall a “Happy Mothers Day, Daddy!” Too cute!

For Randall’s fathers day gift I took Kenzie, Lexi and Tobi to a local portrait photographer to capture his 3 children together. I think the photographs turned out great and Randall loved them.

Happy Fathers Day Randall! Thanks for being the best dad, husband and friend I could wish for. Our girls (and Tobi boy) are lucky to have you as their daddy! xoxo

{island in the sun}

We had such a fabulous week on Isle of Palms. The weather was beautiful, it was fun to spend the week with Randall’s family, and the girls LOVED the beach!

We decided to return to Isle of Palms and stay in the same house as last summer, because it was familiar and easy and hey, why fix something if it isn’t broken. I wasn’t sure how the girls would react to the beach and ocean since they hadn’t been to a beach since Thanksgiving (in California) and hadn’t been swimming in the ocean for a full year. No need to worry because they jumped right in, literally. They were so excited I don’t think they stopped running all week!

From playing in the tide pools, to jumping in the waves. From building sand castles with Daddy and their cousins, to riding bikes on the beach. From bocce ball to collecting seashells (& 2 sand dollars). From ice cream cones to dancing at the pavilion. From a trip to the Angel Oak tree to dinners out. From swimming at the pool to spotting deer, alligators, turtles and dolphins. From a catered low country boil to Pop Pop’s homemade meatballs & spaghetti...the girls really enjoyed their time at the beach with Granny, Pop Pop, Ethan, Brittany, Aunt Danielle, Uncle Mike … and of course Mommy, Daddy and Sara. Randall and I even enjoyed a date night in Charleston. And I got to go running 6 out of the 7 days. Too many fun memories to capture them all. I decided the best way to preserve them was by creating video/photo montage.

Enjoy! We sure did!
  (ugh... Vimeo is not cooperating ... will upload video later)

{road trip}

We survived 1,260 miles of road travel with 2 twenty-seven month olds. Yay for us (and Sara)! We decided to leave at 5am so that the girls could sleep for a few hours in the car. We snuck into their room and planned to carry our sleeping pajamaed babes out to the car. However, the second we stepped foot into their room, Kenzie shot up in bed yelling, “Hiiii! Going to the beach? Soooo happy!” We didn’t get the hoped for slumber, but how could you be too upset about that enthusiasm?! Besides the fact that Kenzie got sick 4 times within the first 4 hours of our 11 hour drive to the Isle of Palms, and the fact that the girls didn’t nap at the same time for even a minute during those 11 hours, the way there was fairly smooth. With a dose of Dramamine in her system Kenzie stopped getting sick and apart from one major meltdown as we were stopping for lunch, the trip was much better than expected.


The way home was a bit less ideal. Besides the fact that we were leaving "paradise" (“No go my house! was the oft repeated phrase of the week), we also had one constipated 2 year old and lots of roadwork to contend with. Thankfully we had a visit from Omi, Inken, Andrew and Grady to look forward to :) The lowlight of the trip was at the North Carolina-Tennesse border, about halfway home, when we hit standstill traffic right after both girls had finally fallen asleep for a nap. They both promptly woke up and started yelling “I want to get out now!” only to be broken up with the occasional “My poopy hurts!” from Lexi. This made the next hour and a half in which we progressed exactly 4 miles quite fun. We did eventually make it home – safe and sound. And while I could think of countless better ways to spend 12+ hours, the great times that we had this past week at the beach far outweighed the downside of road tripping with 2 toddlers.

More about the good times in the next post!

{parties & pool time}

We have been busy.   Between work trips, hosting the crawfish boil, preparing for vacation, etc., we have also found time for birthday parties, pool time and the farmers market.  The weather has been gorgeous and we have made the most of it.

Kenzie & Lexi had a blast at Grace's 6th birthday party.  Between the bouncy house, trampoline, swingset, balloon animals and magician they weren't quite sure where to go next.  They felt pretty special hanging out with all of the big girls.

Opening weekend at the pool was hot and crowded.  The girls could barely contain themselves.  They were back and forth between the splash pad, baby pool and big pool.  They are little fish and would live at the pool for the summer if we would let them.

We drove down to Louisville to visit the Schlegel's in their new house and to celebrate Maddies's first birthday.  Kenzie got sick in the car on the way (an increasingly common occurance) but didn't let it deter her from having fun.  She arrived in her ruffle butt and party shoes ready for a good time :)  It was great to catch up with Kyle and Audra, see their gorgeous new house and celebrate with the cutest little one year old around!  I love watching the girls interact with her.  Lexi was especially sad to leave Maddie.  The girls were partied out and fell asleep in the car before we even got out of their neighborhood.

Today was the first farmers market of the season in Hyde Park Square.  We loaded up the stroller and went for a run to the square on this gorgeous morning.  Kenzie & Lexi enjoyed a belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast had fun playing by the fountain.  This is one of my favorite things about summer in Cincinnati!

{5th annual crawfish boil}

It was a hot one!  70 lbs of crawfish + 45 lbs of shrimp + 20 lbs of catfish + a jumbo pot of jambalaya + 100 friends & neighbors = a successful 5th annual crawfish boil!  Here is a recap instagram style ...

A big thanks to Gene & Gail who drove up from New Orleans once again to make this happen!

{missing my girls}

I had a last minute work trip to Geneva this week. It is only the second time that I have had to travel for work since the girls were born, and I must say that I am happy that I don’t have to do it often. I just don’t like to be away from my babies. It didn’t help that on Monday the day that I left, I decided to go have lunch with the girls before heading to the airport. They were still sleeping when I left for work that morning, and I wanted to see them and say goodbye before leaving for the week. Well this was a mistake. Kenzie & Lexi knew that I was leaving and this is the first time that they really understood what that means. Lexi immediately started being very clingy and when I went to put them down for their nap she started sobbing saying, “Mommy, no go bye bye! No go bye bye!” I would rock her and get her to calm down and she would say, “Mommy go bye bye. No cry.” But as soon as I would lay her back down in her bed the tears would start again. I finally had to leave her crying so that I didn’t miss my flight. Talk about mommy guilt.


There were moments on the flight where I teared up thinking about my girls…missing them already. At 8:30pm I thought about how they would be taking their bath and getting ready for bed. I wanted to be there with them. I really don’t like the flight time – the feeling of being completely disconnected from them and not knowing if something is wrong. Of course everything was okay, but I don’t like the unknown . I said a prayer and asked God to watch over Randall and my babies.

While in Geneva I had the chance to go for a run one evening. It was a gorgeous night and running through the old familiar places made me very nostalgic for our time in Geneva. So many memories in the cobblestone streets of old town, our old apartment overlooking Tobi’s park, around the lake … Being there made me want to live there again with our girls. I thought about all that I would show them, all of the new experiences they would have. I thought about them learning to speak French, trips to the market to buy fresh baguettes and cheese, teaching them to ski. It was so fun to daydream as I ran. I want to show my girls the world and share new experiences with them. Living abroad with Randall and our girls has been added to my bucket list. Not sure when but hopefully one day. At minimum lots of travel. .. maybe not when they are two but soon.

I am on my way home now … wishing away the 9 and a half hours until I get to see my girls & Randall & Tobi again. I love to see the world but I also love to return home (especially when those that make my home a home aren’t traveling with me). And I am returning home to a busy weekend … our 5th annual Crawfish boil is tomorrow. That means 100+ people will be arriving at our home in ~24 hours. I owe Randall big time as he has been doing a lot to prepare this week while I have been gone. Excited to celebrate with everyone tomorrow … let’s just hope I’m not jet lagged :)

{mother's day in the windy city}

We celebrated mother's day weekend in the windy city.  We talked about our plans to go to Chicago for several weeks before we departed and by the time we loaded up the car to go the girls were quite excited about "Cago!"  We stopped at a rest stop about 2/3 of the way there and the girls were soooo excited.  They were running around, doing somersaults and yelling "Cago!"  I think they thought we had arrived and they were not disappointed :)  They were however disappointed to have to get back into the car, but when we did actually arrive in Chicago their excitement returned.

The girls were so excited when we checked into our hotel room. The hotel that we stayed in had a “VIK” (very important kids) program so we had adjoining rooms and the girls room had child sized furniture, games and was decorated with an aquarium theme. Kenzie & Lexi loved it! They also loved looking out the window and were mesmerized by all of the tall buildings and quite excited that they could see the lake and boats from our window.

When we starting talking about going to Chicago one of the things we mentioned was that we could go on a boat tour while we were there. Somehow that stuck with Lexi and she had been talking about going on a “boat ride in Cago” for weeks. So that was our first order of business. We walked down to Navy Pier and took a skyline city tour by boat. The girls were very excited, but not very happy about having to stay seated while on the boat.

As we were disembarking the girls spotted the Thomas the Train ride, so that was our next stop. They marched right onto the ride … no fear or hesitation.

We then walked and found a nice spot for dinner and then made our way back to the hotel. To keep the excitement going we took a trip up to the pool on the 42nd floor for a pre-bedtime swim. This may have been their favorite part of the day. Our girls are little fish and did not want to exit the pool. Swimming with a nighttime view of the city was also pretty cool – even for Mom & Dad.

Saturday was rainy but we had big plans and didn’t let the rain get in the way. First stop, brunch at the American Girl Store. The girls got dressed up – we loaded them in their raincoats with their Itty Bitty baby dolls into the stroller and were off. It was a fun experience. AG is really marketing genious … and executed with perfection. Brunch was really fun – the girls had a blast, the food was actually pretty good and I loved all of the little details. After brunch we told the girls that they could pick out a new outfit for their babies, but they really had no interest. Lexi spotted the Lego store next door and said “I want to go there!” So we got some new legos instead of new doll dresses – our girls prefer their dolls naked anyway :)

We did a bit more shopping … as much as is possible with 2 two year olds in the rain … and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. After nap time we made our way to the Aquarium. It was a really impressive aquarium and we all had a great time (except Kenzie who got a bit scared in the dark exhibits).

Then it was time for dinner and the hotel recommended a great little Italian place – super kid friendly & yummy!

Sunday was Mother’s Day. I didn’t want to do anything fancy, just wanted to go somewhere where we could all hang out and enjoy time with my girls. It was a glorious day – bright and sunny – so we walked down to Centennial Park and just relaxed and had fun.

We stopped at the “Bean” – which is where we came up with “bean & sprout” (the girls’ nicknames when they were in my belly) on a visit to Chicago over 2 years ago, - played in the fountain, walked along the lake and then came back to the fountain for some more fun! It was perfect. My girls were happy and therefore I was happy. As I sat in the grass with the sun shining down upon me – my 2 beautiful daughters playing in the fountain, squealing with delight, only pausing to run over to me to give spontaneous hugs every now and then – I was so happy & so grateful. I am one lucky momma. I am so blessed.

It was a perfect Mother’s Day weekend ! I love watching my girls experience new things – and there was lots of that this weekend. Watching their wonder and amazement s my heart burst. One happy momma :)