HOT Weekend!

S A T U R D A Y

This weekend was HOT - highs in the 90s! It certainly did not feel like April, but July or August.

On Saturday night, Jesus and Debbie brought Josh and Ethan over for the evening so they could attend the 50th Anniversary of St. Francis Academy (the Catholic elementary school where Jesus and John went). The boys and Reagan had fun playing the Wii most of the night.

Avery was dancing around with the boys, having a great time! I love these pictures of the boys, since they used to refuse to have their pictures taken ... now they smile and say "cheese!"

Avery got ahold of the boys' V-Tech hand-held video thing (not sure exactly what it's called!) and sneaked away with it into the tent ... when I stuck my head inside to take this picture, she had it up to her ear like it was a phone. She does this with almost anything that remotely resembles a phone (remote controls, the Wii controller, etc.), then pretends to talk to someone by jibber jabbering!

Reagan bowling on the Wii

S U N D A Y

Sunday was another hot day, so I put the girls in these matching summer outfits that my mother sent them for Easter ... thanks Mom!!

It was so hot during the middle of the day that I opted to stay inside until it cooled off. I let the girls play with edible playdough! My little sister Camille gave me the recipe, since she does this with her girls often. We used to play with this when we were little ... the dough is actually just cream cheese mints and it's very easy to make. Here's the recipe if anyone wants it:

• 1 3 oz pkg Philly cream cheese
• 1 lb powdered sugar
• 1/2 cube butter
• 2 caps peppermint

I was worried the girls would eat too much and get sick, but after sampling it myself, I realized this was impossible ... it's fairly rich, so it's easy to make yourself stop.

Once they were finished, it was time for the clean up ... this is one of Reagan's favorite activities: playing in the water at the kitchen sink

... and since Reagan loves to do this, Avery loves to follow

Awww, isn't that cute?

Love, Love, Love this picture of Avery out on the trampoline! I especially love that I took it with my iPhone and it turned out so great!

This was after Avery's nap, in the early evening hours when it wasn't quite so hot

We watched Papa mow the very long grass!

It must seem VERY odd that I'm posting this picture, since you can hardly make out what's going on (a very poor quality photo from my iPhone, due to too much movement and no flash)

But I had to post it because it was such a cute moment ... completely on their own, Avery grabbed onto Reagan's waist and followed her around like they were a train. I tried to take this picture just as the moment was coming to an end and Avery was taking her hands off Reagan's waist ... in the picture, Reagan is reaching back, trying to get Avery to continue. And yes, Reagan is wearing my shoes, something that she does almost every single day :) She is SUCH a girly girl, insisting on wearing dresses everyday and always clicking around the house in my heels.

Picnic at work!

My office is in the background

One of the benefits of my job is that my office is conveniently located right next to a playground! This playground is for the benefit of the nearby neighborhoods, not a part of the office complex, but it sits right behind the parking lot, so I can walk there easily in a matter of minutes. I've been waiting for a beautiful spring day to ask John to bring the girls here during my lunch hour and today worked out perfectly! It was only a high of about 68 degrees, but it felt warmer in the direct sun. He picked up Reagan from preschool and was at the playground by 11:40. The girls played on the equipment until I arrived at noon, then we sat down for a picnic lunch. Reagan was too hot in the sun, so we moved our blanket underneath the slide for some shade :)

I took all these pictures on my iPhone ~ not bad quality, right?

I love this picture of Avery going down the slide!

Slide-induced STATIC hair!

Avery and John

She's getting good at posing, right?

One last turn on the swings before it was time to leave ... as you can see, Avery was pretty tired!

It was such a great break in my day, but it was really hard to return to work ... Reagan started crying, telling me she wanted me to stay with her. Luckily, a woman at the park started blowing bubbles with her grandson, so the bubbles distracted Reagan from being sad and allowed me to leave.

A Perfect Day (minus pics)

Today was a glorious day! I woke up in the BEST mood and the weather couldn't have been more perfect: 74 degrees and sunny. I got the girls dressed and packed the diaper bag with all the necessities. I looked at my big camera and debated whether or not to take it. It was quite the dilemna. I knew I could get some great shots, but I had more important things to focus on: quality time with my beautiful girls. Weekends are now precious and I was determined to have a wonderful day with my girls outside and I didn't want to be distracted by my quirky obsession with always trying to capture every moment on film (guess I can't say film anymore, so I'll say "memory card"!). Anyway, I opted to leave the camera home and although it was slightly painful to do that, I was also happy that I got to be completely involved with them all day, rather than be kind of an observer behind a camera.

I took them to the Wyckoff nature center where we got to see various wildlife. One of the small exhibits had 3 peacocks, one of which was displaying his beautiful feathers. I told Reagan that it was the boy peacock and the girl peacock was the one without the colorful feathers. She looked at me as if I were crazy! Then she argued with me about it, absolutely sure that the female peacock HAD to have the beautiful feathers! It wasn't until we got home and John confirmed this that she finally accepted the truth.

After the wildlife, we picked up some food for a picnic at the park. We went to a wonderful park behind the fire station in Wyckoff, sat at a picnic table and had our first picnic together! It was cute to see both girls sitting on either side of me on the bench - I couldn't believe Avery was big enough to do this! We ate our lunch, then it was playtime on the playground. This was the first time Avery had ever been able to maneuver around a playground (last year she was just a baby and only went in the swings). She was quickly a pro at climbing up the stairs and going down the slide all by herself. She wanted to follow Reagan on just about everything and insisted that I help her do everything her big sister did.

It was such a great day and I really enjoyed every moment with my girls. I guess that's the good thing about working: when I'm with my kids, I don't take any minute for granted.

When we got home, I was able to transfer a very sleepy Avery from the car to her crib. Then Reagan and I joined John outside in the driveway while he finished cleaning out the garage and then the cars (he stayed home to start on some projects). It truly was the perfect day! Now it's time to go get ready for my night out with my girlfriends ... I'll make sure I take my camera for that one :)

Easter Egg Hunt in Westwood

S A T U R D A Y

You may remember that last year I showed up at the River Vale Easter Egg hunt one week early ... this year, I missed it! I looked on the RV website last week and discovered it was held on March 28th (Easter isn't until April 12th! Talk about EARLY!). So, I made sure I made it to the Westwood hunt, which is the town next door. The only bad thing was that the town decided to reschedule the event because the weather was too cold! So, here's Reagan, decked out in her red winter gear, participating in a MOCK Easter Egg Hunt in Westwood on Saturday. We met Nicole and Bennett there (Mia was at dance) and Nicole was smart enough to bring some Easter eggs.

Bennett found all the blue eggs and Reagan gathered all the pink ones. After this, we went to Mara's Cafe and had bagels. I guess it's a good thing the Easter bunny wasn't out, since it was very cold and windy. After the bagels, I took Reagan home and picked up Avery. Avery was off to the doctor's again (I think this was the 6th time in the last 2 months - at 30 bucks a pop, it really adds up!). This time she was diagnosed with Croup. Gotta love that seal bark! She was given a steroid shot, poor girl. After the doctor, I came home and did the switcheroo again, leaving Avery home to take a nap and taking Reagan with me to the pharmacy and then the grocery store. I didn't get home until after 5:00 and then I cooked dinner for Maribel and Marcelo ... Marcelo's mother Norma passed away on Saturday, March 28th in Florida. We feel so badly for Marcelo right now. Norma experienced severe sciatic pain last summer and then was finally diagnosed with various types of cancer in September or October. The cancerous spots were very agressive and spread throughout her brain and her body. It was difficult on Marcelo to be so far away from his mother and brother while she suffered, but he did try to spend as much time as possible with them during these last several months. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time.

S U N D A Y

Today, we went back to Westwood for the re-scheduled event. It was a beautiful spring day, about 62 degrees. Reagan was ecstatic about seeing the Easter bunny! She was jumping up and down, completely giddy ... it was pretty dang cute. I wish Avery could have come too, but since she'd been sick, we figured it was best to leave her home.

We got there a little bit early, so the Easter bunny was just standing around. Reagan ran right up to it and grinned from ear to ear. She didn't want to leave its side. Thankfully, I got the pictures of her with the bunny above, because shortly after I took them, the bunny sat down on a bench for kids to come sit on its lap and the longest line I'd ever seen formed very quickly!

Reagan ~ waiting for Mia and Joaquin to arrive

The organizers were smart and they made two different sections for the kids - Reagan and Mia got to go in the gated off "4 and under" section, while all the big kids went nuts on the larger roped off area.

LOVE this shot of Reagan and Mia! They were SO impatient, waiting for the egg hunt to begin!

Watching these young ones wasn't anything like watching the big kids ... it was relatively calm and slowly-paced, so I'm glad no one was trampled! Reagan collected a whole basket full of eggs, all pink and orange colored ~ when she realized she had 1 blue egg, she wanted to give it back.

Aside from the eggs, there were also small containers of bubbles with Easter eggs or bunnies on the top. Reagan picked up one of these (as you can see in her hand in the above picture), but Mia ONLY picked up bubbles and 1 egg. It's so funny how different they can be ... Reagan loves candy and was determined to eat each and every piece before we got into the car.

Nicole and Mia

Maribel brought Joaquin, but he fell asleep in the car, so she didn't bother to wake him up. She came and talked to Nicole and me for a little while, while Joaquin slept in the car with Marcelo.

When we got home, I pointed out the newly blossomed flowers to Reagan and I decided to attempt some artsy photos ...
Reagan smelling the hyacinths, one of my absolute favorite flowers! Hydrangeas are probably my favorite flower, with hyacinths being a close second.

The tree in our front yard had just bloomed with these beautiful little pink cherry blossoms.

As you can see, Dawson was enjoying the beautiful day too ...

A few flowers on the Magnolia tree had also bloomed :) I'm sure more pictures of spring will be appearing on the blog soon, since it's my favorite time of year!

First Warm Spring Day!

I must say, it's been a very cold winter here in New Jersey. My favorite season has always been SPRING, especially since I moved here. With so many trees, the winter is very brown and dismal. Usually around April, the landscape goes through an extraordinary transformation and everything turns green. It is so beautiful and it really makes me appreciate the season.

I wish I could say we've been having an early spring here, but we've really only experienced ONE great day so far this year. It was Saturday, March 7th and it reached 70 degrees! What a perfect opportunity to take the girls outside to play in the yard :)

We started in the driveway and Reagan had to put on her sunglasses (of course!) ... my sensitive-eyed girl always cracks me up with her true need to wear sunglasses. These things are purely functional, not fashionable :)


Avery was pretty happy to be wandering around outside too ... yep, she's teething, so the fingers are always in the mouth!

Here's the Escalade we got Reagan for her 2nd birthday and she's finally figuring out how to maneuver it. As you can see, Avery was trying to figure out the radio on her side of the car.

Then we moved to the trampoline and Reagan discovered how hard it can be to jump while managing her accessories!

Whenever we play outside on the driveway, I try to let Dawson out to play with us too. He has so much fun chasing the girls in their cars, biting at the wheels the entire time. He's such a good dog and loves to be outside, basking in the sunshine.

Funny expression of Reagan ... as you can see, we still have a LOT of stuff leftover in our garage from the Garage Sale for Charity that we did last June! We really need to get rid of it ... poor John had to park in the driveway the entire winter :(

My sweet Reagan

Reagan and Dawson

I tried to teach Reagan how to throw a stick for Dawson, but she kept throwing it behind her

We all went inside for lunch and Avery went down for her nap. After Joaquin woke up from his nap, Maribel brought him over to play outside too. Avery woke up shortly after they arrived and we all had fun playing outside with toys, bubbles, cars and each other.

Joaquin laughing as he drove the car

Avery on the pink car

Since Reagan had 2 pigtails, she suggested we do the same to Avery's hair once she woke up from her nap ... I had never done this to Avery's hair, so it was an experiment.

Avery can make the funniest expressions

Here she is deep in thought

Reagan and Avery enjoying the wagon together

I have no idea why Reagan was making that face, but I thought it was funny :)

Avery was loving the wagon ride ... everytime we stopped pulling her, she frantically signed "more"

Joaquin had fun pushing Avery on the trike

She's getting good at posing for my shots!

Once it started getting dark, we came inside and threw some dinner together, after which all the kids enjoyed popcicles. I was surprised how well Avery did, holding the popsicle all by herself. It was a lovely afternoon and I'm looking forward to many warm spring days in the near future!!!