Our missing pieces

Our two older kids, Kahn and Olivia, went to Orlando with my mom and sister on Monday and Kahn and I have been home, basically kid-free all week.  We had been dreaming of this week for a few months now.  We've only had Madeline at home which when you have 3 young children and you suddenly only have one, it feels like a vacation. 

It's been great to spend some time with Madeline.  She is honestly the most perfect baby in the world.  I know you probably think I'm exagerrating, but it is absolutely true.  She is perfect...I literally can't say anything negative about her...I'm trying to think of something, but nope...nothing!  We have been really blessed with baby #3.  And this week she has received all of our attention (which is rare since she normally has to share us with her two older, much needier siblings).  I'm really glad we've had the chance to spend this time with her, and to play peek-a-boo, and read her books, and to spoil her and kiss her and hug her and just love her as much as we can.  She has definitely been our little baby girl all week.

Although Madeline has been sick this week, it has been a great week. We have really enjoyed the peace and the quiet and the relaxation.  The quiet house is almost foreign to us.  We haven't had to break up fights, or endure toddler tantrums.  We haven't had to clean up a million toys all throughout the day and sweep the floors nightly from all the grass and dirt they bring in the house.  We haven't had to do bathtime and the ever exhausting bedtime routine.  We haven't had to fight with the kids to eat their dinner, or put their dishes in the sink, or to keep their hands to themselves.  We haven't had visitors in our room in the middle of the night or had to go to anyone else's bed to comfort and assure no monsters are in the closets.  The laundry is actually manageable this week. We've been able to watch grown-up shows, movies and eat in the living room.  We've ran errands and went to a dinner party. We've had lots of grown-up conversations.

This week was simliar to what I vaguely remember our lives to be like prior to having kids.  It was simple, quiet and relaxing.  It is not our life.  Something is missing.

In the end, we've missed the kids.  A lot.  And in the wake of last weeks tragedy, we miss them more than we ever imagined we'd miss them.  We miss their hugs and kisses.  We miss holding them and kissing them good night.  We miss storytime. We miss Dora and Umizoomi and Mickey Mouse and Little Einstein. We miss them coming into our rooms in the morning to wake us up.  We miss their humor, their laughs and their smiles.  We even miss the chaos and tantrums.

And unlike those parents in Newtown...we get to see our kids tomorrow.  And I can't wait to hug them and kiss them and tell them I love them. 

Not that I ever needed the assurance, but this week has proved that I need my kids in my life...that having a house full of kids is what I was supposed to do.  And the Conneticut tragedy reminds me to never take my kids for granted; to enjoy them everyday; to put down the electronics; to complain less...because as we all saw last week, they can be taken from us in an instant. 

I will forever enjoy the chaos of my life with kids.  I am blessed beyond belief.

And I can't wait to see Kahn and Olivia tomorrow.

'Tis the Season!

Two weeks ago we put up our Christmas tree.  Yes, I know it was early...but considering my dad put up 3 of his Christmas trees on November 1st, I was late.

As everyone knows, I LOVE Christmas time! I've been conditioned to love Christmas thanks to my dad making Christmas special every.single.year. Even now in my 30s, he still makes sure it is magical and unforgettable. So this year on the suggestion of a friend who 'does' Pinterest, we started what we hope will be a new tradition to kick off the holiday season!  And it was super fun and the kids loved it.

Last Friday night, we put up our Christmas tree.  The kids love putting the ornaments on the tree.  Of course, they only put the ornaments on the bottom foot of the tree, but they love placing every single ornament on the tree (and in many instances, many ornaments all on one branch).  After putting up the tree, we had hot chocolate and cookies and then read the Elf on the Shelf book.  We got the kids really excited about our Elf coming the following morning. It was a really fun night!

The following morning, "Jack", our Elf on the Shelf, made his debut!  The kids were so excited when they woke up and ran downstairs to look for Jack.  Jack brought the kids little presents to kick off the holiday season and wrote each of the kids a sweet note.  Thankfully, they don't know my handwriting yet!  We had a big breakfast to celebrate his arrival too.  It was super fun and Kahn and I loved watching the expressions on their faces as they were greeted by Jack that morning and as they were opening their little gifts from Jack.

I'm not sure what we will come to call our kick-off to the holiday season when Jack makes his arrival, but I am excited to start a new tradition.  As it does every year, putting up the Christmas tree gets me so excited about the upcoming month of Christmas festivities and all the memorable and magical moments that the holiday season brings!

I love these three little angels more than life itself and I look forward to making the holiday season as special and magical for them as my dad did for me all these years.

Happy Holidays!

Rockin' the Vote

Call me crazy, but I voted today with 3 kids in tow!  Three kids 3 and under! And it was a success! (Well, I guess it will be officially a success--or not--once the winner is decided later tonight...)

I set off for the polling place prepared with a bag full of snacks and toys and books and the iPad and the Kindle and was expecting to wait at least 30 minutes to vote.  I was dreading that 30 minute wait, in the rain with 3 kids, but much to my surprise and apparently my impeccable timing, we had no wait...walked in and walked out!  The kids didn't even have a chance to act up.

No matter what the outcome of the election ends up being, I am thankful to live in a country where we can vote and today I am so, so, so thankful for all 3 of my children cooperating and not throwing a complete tantrum at the polling place so I could exercise my right to vote!

Here's a few pictures of our adventure today!

Thanks for rockin' the vote with me today, kiddos!!!

(un)Happy Fall!

Well, another year passes where I don't get the super cute picture of my kids at the pumpkin patch that I have been dreaming of! With the way this particular day started, I should have known it was going to be a complete disaster.  Of course, Kahn and Olivia wouldn't cooperate and instead of the fun, memorable pumpkin patch visit that most families have, my kids whined and fought and ran around like complete monsters and did everything in their power to ignore the camera.  Bribing didn't even work.  Ugh!

So this is as good as it got this year...

Really makes me look forward to trying to capture our annual family picture for the 2012 Christmas card! That photo session's going to be a complete joy!

Happy Fall!

Another year older...

I was lucky enough to spend my 35th birthday...on a girl's getaway...with some of my very best friends...on a beautiful beach...with perfect weather...for three days...with no kids...and lots of laughs...and bottomless cocktails!

It was relaxing.  It was fun.  It was much needed.

It was heaven.

Just sleep...in the bed!

"Oh, Olivia!"  It's literally a phrase we used every.single.day.  And lately it is used frequently around bedtime or naptime for Olivia.  

About 2 months ago, Olivia started climbing out of her crib.  Ugh!  So annoying!  I really wanted to keep her in her crib until she was much closer to 3, but that apparently wasn't Olivia's plan.  Since she was so skilled at climbing out of her crib, we didn't take down her crib right away.  Literally, the girl climbed out of it better than I probably could...we never worried about her getting hurt or falling at all.  She's that good!  We first thought that the novelty of climbing out of the crib would wear off and she would stop, but that didn't happen.  So, two weeks ago, we took down her crib and put her in a big girl bed.  And that has been an adventure!

Prior to last night (finally!), Olivia has refused to fall asleep in her bed.  Most of the nights she falls asleep in Kahn's bed and for her naps, she hasn't slept in her bed yet.  She sleeps on the floor!  And usually right next to her door because we can see her hair sticking out under the door.  Why?!?  We always ask her after her nap where she slept and she very proudly tells us she slept on the floor.  Honestly, I don't really care where she sleeps as long as she sleeps.  And I am very blessed that all 3 of my kids are great sleepers (most of the time)!

As I mentioned, Olivia climbs into bed with Kahn every night.  Some nights he kicks her out of bed and she'll pout and get in her bed...other nights he lets her sleep there.  We always move her to her bed when we go to bed though.  It's really sweet that she likes to sleep with him, but a twin size bed is not made for two and she needs to sleep in her own bed.  And she bothers Kahn when she lays with him...she climbs on him, talks, sings, plays with her toys...all while laying right next to him, sometimes on top of him, and usually while he is fast asleep.   

I will admit, they are super cute all snuggled in bed together though.

And here's a few pictures we captured of Olivia during nap time...

...On the floor!

....Under the bed!

...And here's the best one--on the floor, in her closet, with no pants on!!!  

I guess I shouldn't be complaining because she sleeps, and she sleeps well.  But come on, Olivia....get in your damn bed!  

Oh, Olivia!!!

The last days of summer

I'm really behind with my posts, so my next few entries may seem out of order, but since we just got back from our beach vacation and it's fresh on my mind, I'm going to write about that.  So here it goes...

Pensacola Beach...our end of summer vacation!  I had never been to Pensacola Beach and honestly, prior to moving to Atlanta, I hadn't really ever been to the panhandle beaches.   When you grow up in Central Florida, you just don't go way up there since Daytona and New Smyrna are so close as well as Clearwater and St. Pete.  And, I wasn't even a big beach person when I lived in Florida.  But after visiting the panhandle over the past 6 years, I have really grown to love going to the beach and really have very little desire to ever visit another beach area in Florida.  You just can't beat the beaches in the panhandle...the water is beautiful and calm, the sand is so white, the beaches are clean and just the whole environment is much more laid back than the highly commercial/super busy beaches on the east coast.  And I think they are just better for kids since you don't have the waves you have on the east coast.  If you haven't been, you need to go!  Seaside, Sandestin, Seagrove, Navarre, and Pensacola beaches are all beautiful!!

So, when we heard that Pearl Jam was playing at the DeLuna Fest in Pensacola Beach, Kahn and I bought tickets and booked our trip to Pensacola Beach!  And I am so glad that we went.  We stayed at this awesome, awesome resort on the very east end of Pensacola Beach, Portofino Resort and Spa.  It was luxury at its finest.  We got a great deal on a condo that looked out onto the gulf (view above), but also had a view of the Bay.  The resort had 8 pools/hot tubs with a main clubhouse with two infinity pools, two hot tubs and a bar! If you know Kahn and I, you know we loved the bar, especially a bar, with a waitress that served us cocktails in the pool!  And of course, the kids loved the beach and the pools!  It was so relaxing (heaven, actually) laying out by the pool, with drink in hand, watching the kids have the time of their life every afternoon. And we couldn't have asked for better weather.

This was actually the first time my kids really enjoyed the beach and the water and the sand.  They LOVED the water this trip and the waves (which were super tiny but they thought they were huge)...we literally had to fight with them/bribe them to get out of the water each day.  We spent every morning at the beach, came home for lunch and naps and then headed out to the pool in the afternoons.  To say my kids were completely exhausted by 6pm is a complete understatement!  We definitely could have stayed a few days longer though...it was sad leaving paradise this morning!

I also should mention that my parents met us there and spent the weekend with us.  We asked them to come to help us watch the kids when we went out at night, but it was also just a really nice time for them to spend some time with the kids.  My kids adore my mom and see my mom a lot considering we live 500 miles away. But they don't get to see my dad as much as he doesn't come up as often as he works and it's harder for him to getaway.  So, my kids loved getting to spend 4 days with Pop Pop and I loved that he had a few days of down time to relax and be lazy at the beach.  And we definitely needed the help with 3 kids, 3 and under, on the beach and at the pool.  The extra pair of hands was necessary!

So in between just an awesome family vacation, Kahn and I were able to sneak away two of the nights to go to the DeLuna Fest.  We saw Pearl Jam on Friday night and Zac Brown Band on Sunday night.  They were both GREAT shows.  I've seen Pearl Jam two other times, but it had been a really, really long time since I'd seen them.  Kahn and I had a blast and literally danced and sang the entire show.  I wanted to include some video of Pearl Jam performing that I took on my phone, but when I watched it back, I realized that you couldn't hear Eddie Vedder at all, but instead me and Kahn screaming/mumbling along with the band.  So I will save you all the pain of hearing "Kahn and Trish singing Pearl Jam".  And Zac Brown Band on Sunday night was great too.  I hadn't seen them before, but they are so talented and their music is so fun...we had a blast!  The concerts were definitely worth the trip down to Pensacola.

So, so long summer! Our Pensacola Beach getaway was a great escape to celebrate the end of an amazing summer!  We had such a great time with the kids and we look forward to our beach vacations next year!  As Zac Brown would say, "Life is good today".

Celebrating with Wine!

It was a day to celebrate Kahn's MBA graduation.  It was a day full of wine. And as you can see by our table at lunch, lots and lots of wine!  Maybe a bit excessive?

But for Kahn's graduation, I surprised Kahn with a day of wine tasting in the North Georgia mountains.  And it was just one of those super fun days that we'll remember and probably talk about forever!

We gathered a group of our friends, rented a 15 passenger van and headed up to the mountains that morning.  We surprised Kahn in the Minihan's basement at about 10am.  He had no clue what I had planned so that was kind of fun.  We had donuts and bloody mary's and mimosas to get us warmed up for a day of drinking.  About 11, we loaded up the van (with us and our booze) and headed north.  We had lunch reservations at Monteluce at 12:30 and ate lunch on the terrace overlooking the vineyards.  Lunch consisted of great food and about 6 bottles of wine.  All delicious!  And the views of the mountains and vineyards were spectacular!

Following Monteluce, we headed over to Wolf Mountain for a tasting and then ended the day at Frogs Town winery.  We tasted lots and lots of wine, met lots of great people and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  We had an absolute blast!  And at about 6pm, we headed back to Atlanta.  The van rides may have been some of the most memorable parts of the day, and I vaguely remember the ride home, but what I do remember is that we laughed a lot...a lot.

You may be wondering about the wine in Georgia.  It's actually decent and the wineries are absolutely beautiful.  I wouldn't lie.  We've been to Napa and Sonoma and Oregon wine country and the Georgia experience isn't too far behind.  As everyone knows, Kahn loves wine and actually knows a lot about wine from his many years of working in high end restaurants.  And even him, with his experienced palette, thinks the wine in Georgia isn't that bad.  And even if you don't love the wine, the views from the wineries are beautiful and it's just a really fun experience tasting wine all day with some of your best friends.  I highly recommend everyone that lives in Atlanta to spend a day wine tasting in North Georgia.  It's a great time! But definitely have a designated driver.  Thank you, Tomis, for driving our crazy group through the mountain roads!

Here are some pictures from the day.

I am so proud of Kahn for finishing his MBA and giving us an excuse to celebrate all day with endless glasses of wine!  I love wine and I love you, Kahn!  Congratulations on your MBA!

Now who's ready for Napa?