Life Lately in Pictures

Forgive my absences, which seem to keep getting longer and longer. Sometimes I think my blog is dying a slow death but I do really love coming here when I have time, so I'm soldiering on for now!

Here are a few photos from our November!

Blurry photo but this is everything to me. Their bond is growing and they are REALLY playing together now, sometimes even for extended periods of time! There will always be sibling stuff, I'm sure, but I have been able to slip out of police mode (sometimes) and have really been loving seeing them play and enjoy each other.

Parents out on the town! It was our college's annual rivalry football game (Lafeyette-Lehigh...go Pards!) and my parents were kind enough to keep the girls for an overnight so we could attend the game and a tailgate with friends. It was so much fun! On the drive there, we stopped for bagels and were still in our default high-strung mode and Nick asked me as we pulled into the parking lot, "Do you want to go in or do you want me to?" We then realized we could BOTH go in, laughed, took a deep breath/sigh of relief, and really enjoyed our kid-free weekend. Thank you, Cookie and Pop!

Checking on our neighbor's chickens never gets old.

More playing! This was such a happy moment and is the first time I've ever not hated Play Doh as a parent. They had had their breakfast and I wasn't ready to take them outside for our morning walk yet, so I plunked some Play Doh and dough tools down and they went to town! I got to drink my coffee SITTING DOWN and even stamped and sealed all our Christmas cards! It was truly glorious. And as I'm typing this it's comical how my perspective on productivity has changed over the past three years.

Something about this angel child in hats. It's so cute to me, it hurts. Also, Amelia is my first climber. She climbs EVERYTHING. Her current favorites are the stove and her sister's bed. I was strategizing on the phone with a friend the other day what I will do if she attempts to climb out of her crib--this is new territory for me!

Thanksgiving Eve. In a very atypical moment for our family, we were all in the kitchen baking pies and it was relaxed and dare I say enjoyable? Eloise is at the point where she can actually be helpful in the kitchen, which made all the difference. She cracked the eggs (no shells!), peeled some apples, mixed, and did the eggwash. Now if only I hadn't gotten sweetened condensed milk mixed up with evaporated milk, resulting in what tasted like a sugar-free sweet potato pie. Not too optimistic that we will be on pie duty again next year!

Friday night is always pizza night at our house. In days of old, Nick and I would make our own pizzas. In recent years, we've been ordering from our town pizza shop. A few weeks ago we tested the waters with homemade pizza again and it was a huge hit. Nick is our resident dough maker (or if I buy the dough, he rolls and stretches it...and sometimes tosses it) and he is teaching Eloise his ways. She also loves to help spread the sauce and sneak the mozzarella, above.

We were spoiled with not one or two but THREE Zia visits this month! Nothing like a sister. I am forever grateful to be raising sisters and hope they have the special bond my sister and I have.

We've gone back to our pre-kids tradition of cutting our own tree. Not sure why I thought this would be too difficult with young children (maybe because everything is?) but it was really quite easy and fun.