Florida Bound!

Such a big day! Andy had to leave for Argentina yesterday night (boo), and this morning I set the alarm for 5am to wake up the kids and get to the airport for our big flight to Florida!! Our good friend Ken was our hired chauffeur :-), and he got to the house right on time at 5:30. Both kids were in great spirits, and we had such a nice drive to JFK - no delays to speak of, and great conversation with Ken!

We arrived around 7:20, and within a few minutes we got a call from Mom and Dad, Ian and Eli, whose flight had just arrived from Portland. Before we knew it, we were all having a jolly breakfast in a little aiport cafe. The flight was quicker than expected, but we had a few delays after that....

first our booster seat wasn't with the rest of our luggage, but they gave us a loaner and we'll get ours back on our return; then we had to wait for AGES for our rental car to turn up... but finally it did and we were on our way to Marathon! It was already about 2pm, so we were hungry for lunch; after we were about 20 minutes from the airport, we started looking for a place to stop. We pulled off for a Burger King sign, but then veered off towards a promising looking strip and happened upon a fantastic little Cuban bistro called 3 Vs Cafe.

What a great lunch! Jorge, the owner, was so friendly and nice, and he brought us samples of the soup of the day ("Dirty Potato") and was so attentive. We got a free Cuban coffee on our way out, as well! On the way to Marathon we stopped in Key Largo at the Jewish Community Center where Aidan was preparing for the bar mitzvah with his mom, Jessica... it was so lucky we

stopped, because Ian, Mom and Dad will all be participating in the service, and they needed practice! It was wonderful to see Aidan and Jessica, and Ollie was overjoyed! After that we finally got to our house in Marathon, got the bags into the house, and headed to Aidan's house for an impromptu barbecue that Jess and her husband, Roger, had arranged for us... everything tasted so good! Both kids had various minor meltdowns as the evening progressed, but that's to be expected when you're soooo overtired and overexcited! What a fun first day!

Big Progress!!

So after months of (me) talking about using the toidy, Maddie has finally decided that she's ready!! Just like her big brother did right before he turned 3, she went from nothing to everything in the blink of an eye. Maddie has been peeing like a pro for several days now, and has even had a dry pull-up for 3 mornings in a row upon waking up - that's been the biggest surprise! She isn't quite ready yet to have a poo on the toilet, but I'm sure that will be any day now. We are so, so proud of our big girl!! Ollie is her biggest fan, very encouraging and full of praise. Your sticker chart is filling up fast, Maddie Boo!

Just Because

Just looking through some photos, and thinking about how sometimes the little moments get lost, in favor of larger events that seem to grab all the attention. We have so many photos that capture special moments - like this first one of Ollie, ready for trip out and taking special care of his stuffed doggy, Honey. What a sweetie.

And here's lovely Maddie, sitting at the breakfast table, with morning light streaming in on her. Oh, how we love you both.

And so it begins!

It's potty training time!!! Just like her big brother, Maddie is pushing three years old, and we're spending lots of time *talking about* using the potty, but not a lot of time actually doing it... Since Ollie enjoyed filling up his "Toidy Chart" (getting a sticker for each successful use), we thought we'd do the same for Maddie. She was VERY excited to find Thomas the Train stickers, and now she also loves the Peppa Pig stickers we found. Her FIRST EVER pee on the toilet was on Christmas Eve in Maine... it was after a bath, and I asked if she wanted to use the toidy, and she said yes!! Lots of smiles and high fives and encouragement followed, but it was a few weeks after Christmas before she went again. To date, she has 8 stickers on the chart, all from post-bath pees. We're getting there!!! I'm sure one day, just like Ollie, she'll announce that she wants to use the toilet, and that's that.

Addie's Princess Party

One of Maddie's best friends, Addie, turned 3 right after Christmas, when lots of her friends were away and things were just too busy to have a party, so Carol and I plotted to have a little party for her in January. It had a princess theme, and since Maddie doesn't have a princess dress, she (happily) wore her bumblebee costume, and with a crown on she became a bumblebee princess. Ollie was the resident pirate, also very pleased with himself. Addie always LOVES an excuse to be a princess... we love you, Addie, and Happy Birthday!!!

Thumbs Up

It's Friday morning, and Ollie's already excited about starting soccer again this afternoon... and I start to think about the "practical" side of it, what I need to gather so he'll be dressed for it and we'll be ready to go. Only then do I realize that he has no sneakers. So we left home this afternoon with an extra half hour or so on our hands to dash to Kohls and pray they had something that fit at a reasonable price. I was shocked to find most of the decent sneakers there were at least $45 (??!!), so when I found some at $32 that I didn't loathe, we went for it. These are his first ever shoes in a boys size 1... a bit step!! I think he has a bit of room to grow into them, thankfully... hoping they still fit him fine for spring soccer in several months. He had a great time today with Pre K Kickers, already can't wait for next week.

Girls' Night Out

I had a fantastic night out with my friends Jen, Chloe and Tiffany a few days after Christmas - our 2nd Annual Girls' Night Out! We met at Badger's in Union, my old hometown... it was so nice driving through the town common and seeing the same decorations that have always been there - little pine trees scattered about, decorated with big colored lights. When the four of us get together, we just laugh and laugh, and we had EXTRA fun this time because we happened to be at Badger's on "Quiz Night,"which costs $2/person to enter if you choose to play, and winners get a cash prize. The restaurant was packed, and pretty much the whole place participated. Our team name was "Kick Ass on the Cutting Room Floor" (long story). There were 6 sets of 5 questions, and they were hard! However, we had Chloe on our team, so we were golden.... and we came in second place, only a point behind the winners, I think! Here's to next year, ladies!!