hallZOOween

We took our little lamb & pig trick or treating at the zoo on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day and Kenzie & Lexi's costumes were quite a hit!

We took some pictures at home before leaving for the zoo.



Lexi wasn't too sure about her hat. Kenzie was mesmerized by her hooves. Notice they have their kitchen utensils in hand... you need to have something to eat your treats with, right? Smart girls.




The girls enjoyed playing with their baby dolls from Granny who have matching pig & lamb costumes. This was their reaction when we told them it was time to put away the strollers & babies because we were getting in the car to head to the zoo. End. of. the. world. Needless to say the babies ended up accompanying us to the zoo.



We had a great time at the zoo.


Lexi was especially excited to get to touch a "tur - tle." This is by far her favorite word to say. At night after we put the girls to bed we can hear Lexi talking about turtles as she drifts off to sleep. The girls also both touched a snake, and it was so funny to see how differently they approached it. Lexi was the first to spot the snake in the zookeepers arms, and rushed over excitedly. You could tell she really wanted to touch it, but she was apprehensive, stopping her hand just a few inches shy of actually touching the snake several times. Kenzie on the other hand, ran over when she saw what her sister was doing and (somewhat agressively) grabbed the snake. Seeing her sister touch the snake, gave Lexi that little extra confidence boost to actually touch it .. and she did so with the most gentle touch.




This same level of confidence carried through to our experience on the carrousel. The girls were both really excited when they saw the carrousel and ran towards it. However, when it was time to get on the ride Kenzie was excited and giggling, whereas Lexi was suddenly terrified. Kenzie did not even want me to hold onto her, while Lexi was much more comfortable riding on Daddy's lap.



On the other hand, Lexi was much more confident when it came to trick or treating. She marched around with confidence, swinging her little pumpkin bucket. Lexi also was quite curious about her tail. When she first discovered it, she was litterally chasing it in circles (I so wish I had this on video). Then once she got a got of it she enjoyed holding onto it while she walked. Kenzie preferred to be carried most of the time.




Both girls are really into checking out the animals nowadays and they especially enjoyed watching the animals eat the pumpkins.


The one thing we learned, is that both Kenzie & Lexi are not fans of scary costumes. At one of the trick or treat stations the woman handing out candy was dressed as a leopard with a painted face. Kenzie was too terrified to even approach her. Lexi had enough courage to approach, but then ended up dropping her bucket and running :) Let's hope there aren't too many scary costumes on Halloween itself.

We had a great time and by the time we drove home our little sheep was counting sheep. Both K&L ended up napping for 3+ hours that afternoon ... that's how much fun they had at HallZOOween!

indian summer

It was a perfect weekend. Temperatures were in the mid eighties with the sun shining bright during the day, but the mornings and evenings were crisp. The leaves are changing and falling. The colors are vibrant and the crunch underfoot is audible. We spent lots of time outdoors enjoying this Indian Summer, soaking up the warmth in order to sustain us through the long cold Cincinnati fall and winter which is surely around the corner. Even when we were inside we occupied ourselves with activities inspired by the time of year … we baked pumpkin muffins and bread, filled our home with the scent of pumpkin candles, and did some arts & crafts using fallen leaves collected on our walks.
It was one of those weekends where we didn’t do anything remarkable, but I still wanted to capture everything because they were moments that I never want to forget. So here are lots of pictures of us enjoying the Indian Summer …

Baking pumpkin muffins on Saturday morning ….


A morning outing to the playground at Kilgore Elementary. The girls are such great climbers now. And enjoyed running around the schoolyard with jump ropes left behind from recess. Daddy met us at the park for a picnic lunch … L&K sprinted towards him when they spotted him. They adore their Daddy!





The girls are such good mommies to their baby dolls. They love feeding them their bottles and taking them for walks in their strollers.


Sunday morning family walk to brunch….


Followed by a trip to the playground …





More time playing outside. Having fun collecting acorns and leaves in our new Halloween buckets ...





Creating some fall masterpieces with maple leaves...



Kenzie & Lexi ‘s approach to artwork is similar to their approach to cooking. Kenzie isn’t afraid to get fully into it. She ended up with paint all over her hair, belly, and face and saturated her paper with so much paint and so many brushstrokes that she nearly created a hole in her ‘canvas’. She did not want to stop painting, and when she finally decided her masterpiece was complete she ran to where we keep the paper and wanted to start another one. Lexi was more cautious in her approach, initially painting in only a small quadrant of her ‘canvas’. When she did get more into it and ended up with paint all over her hands she quickly let me know that she was not happy about the situation and that we needed to wash her hands asap. Of course as soon as they were clean she wanted to return to painting :)

In addition to all of the fun moments captured here, we also enjoyed 2 outdoor dinners this weekend. Can't say that too often in October in Cincinnati!

a perfect day with my girls

Sara had the day off on Friday, which meant that I got to spend the whole day with my girls! We started the day off with music class. The girls definitely prefer the dancing part of music class vs. the sitting still in a circle part ... but overall we all had a good time. Afterwards we went straight out to Burger Farm. The girls had such a great time visiting the animals, playing on the 2 playgrounds and picking out lots of pumpkins, squash and mums (since last time we visited the pumpkin patch we were too frozen to pick out anything).

















We stopped for a picnic lunch on our way home from the pumpkin patch. It was a perfect day for it! After lunch the girls had fun chasing the butterflies who were attracted to all of the surrounding wildflowers.









After the girls napped we played outside and arranged our new pumpkins and mums.





I love fall and nothings beats spending a beautiful fall day with my girls!

{wordless wednesday: i love this picture that sara took because it is just so THEM}

struggles of a working mom

I have been back to work for over a full year now. And while we have our routine down, have a super nanny that we feel 100% confident leaving the girls with, and I have a pretty good work/life balance … it does not make it any easier leaving my girls every day. Part of me aches to spend my days with them. When Sara texts me pictures of the girls throughout the week it brings a smile to my face, but also pangs at my heart (don’t stop sending pics if you are reading this Sara – I love receiving them :)). I should be the one who is taking them to feed the ducks at Eden Park for the first time. I want to be there riding on the train with them at the zoo and to witness Lexi say “tur-tle” for the first time. I long to see them develop their skills at gymnastics and music class every week. I should be there to snuggle them when they aren’t feeling well and discipline them as they are becoming more opinionated and strong willed. It is these ordinary moments that bring me such joy, and I hate to be missing out on so many of them throughout the week because I am at work.



On the other hand, I do enjoy my work (I like the challenge, I like the adult interaction, I like the fact that my paycheck affords us nice vacations, nice things – but is any of this equal to the pure joy of those everyday moments?). I also wonder whether I would be good at being a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom). Would I have the patience and the energy to be with the girls every day? Would I still get the same amount of joy from those ordinary moments if they happened 24/7? Would the girls be missing out on development opportunities by being with me all day every day? Would I ever be ok not working, or would I want to be a WFHM (work-from-home-mom) … only to deal with the same struggle all over again…. SIGH … so many thoughts …

I imagine this is the struggle of every working mother. But for some reason this struggle has become more of a burden for me over the last few weeks. Maybe it is because I have been particularly busy and stressed at work. Maybe it is because the girls seem to be developing exponentially and I am afraid that I may miss something entirely just by being away at work for the day. I don’t know… I don’t have the answers but thought it might help clear my head to get this out there (if anyone does have the answer or any advice please let me know). In the mean time I will continue with our routine and will enjoy each and every ordinary moment that I get to share with the girls each evening and every weekend.

Last night’s favorite moments included a pre-bathtime dance party turned sister giggle-fest and bathtime sillies, captured here via my iPhone:





This week I get the added bonus of getting to spend all Friday with the girls as Sara has the day off. Looking forward to a full day with just my girls. Love them!

my kind of sunday

Sunday was a perfect day. There wasn't anything extraordinary that happened, but it was just the right mix of lazy time at home as a family, a fun outing into the beautiful fall weather, and fun time with friends .. to make for a perfect ordinary day.



The girls and I started off the day by making waffles for breakfast while Daddy did yard work. The girls both love "cooking" but have such different approaches. Lexi is very methodical about it...carefully mixing her ingredients and quickly wiping up any spills. Kenzie on the other hand is the type of chef who likes to taste her food along the way and makes a mess during the process ... to the point that we had to remove her dress and allow her to cook in the buff :) We had a great time and had the bonus of some delicious pumpkin waffles as a result.





After breakfast the girls did some drawing before we all got ready to head out to the Hyde Park Art Festival. This is one of our favorite events in Hyde Park each year and it was a perfect day for it. We had fun walking around checking out the various artists booths and then enjoyed a family lunch out at the Cock & Bull.



After the girls napped, we hopped into the car for dinner with the Stealey's at their fabulous new house. We had such a great evening. While Lexi was a bit shy for the first 2 minutes, as soon as Brooke welcomed the girls into her room filled with exciting "big girl" toys they both knew that this was going to be fun and quickly warmed up. They had a blast checking out all of the fun new toys in their huge playroom as well. I didn't think we would ever be able to get them to leave :) We had a delicious dinner of butternut squash chili, which was followed by a Rio dance party. By this time Kenzie & Lexi were both hugging Brooke and climbing all over her ... I think they both found a new best friend. Brooke is so sweet with the girls and they certainly adore her. It was so fun to see all 4 kids playing so nicely together. I'm thinking there will be a lot of similar get-togethers and dance parties in our future!







The only downside to such a perfect Sunday ... it only makes going back to work on Monday that much harder...

The girls are 19 months old today. We celebrated with a family walk and dinner at Zip's.

welcoming fall with a trip to the pumpkin patch

Nothing says fall like a trip to the pumpkin patch. We had a fun trip to the Berries & Blooms pumpkin patch on Saturday morning. We took a hayride out to the patch where the girls picked out 2 perfect pumpkins. Kenzie & Lexi also had a lot of fun going down the slides and playing the various pumpkin games. However, while we thought it felt like a nice crisp fall day when we left home, after being out on the farm for about an hour we were freezing and clearly did not dress in enough layers. We decided to head back to the car to thaw out and then headed into Loveland for lunch indoors. While it wasn't a complete success, it was still a nice way to welcome fall. Looking forward to this time of year and all things pumpkin!