My kind of town...

I took Aidan and Reese to Chicago for the weekend for my nephew Tristian's birthday party.  I knew it would be an adventure. We stayed with my uncle Jeff (aka Batman) and aunt Jill.

Our first night we went to one of my old favorites for dinner, Portillos! Notice the t-shirts on Aidan and Jeff-they love their Batman gear!

I've been craving a Chicago-style Italian Beef forever! Their french fries are also amazing and I usually get the hotdog, but for some reason, the Beef spoke to me.

My cousin Kelsey is a licensed hair stylist and she offered to cut and color my hair while I was in town. What a treat!! I was so excited and so proud of her for gaining the skills to do something that she loves doing for a living and I loved reaping the benefits. She did a fantastic job on my hair! She also gave Aidan a quick cut. It was great to be able to see her in action!

Birthday present time at Tristian's party. All the kids flocked to the center of the room as soon as they heard the tearing of the wrapping paper.

Brian and Kelsey at Kobe Steakhouse.

Jill & Jeff at Kobe.

Jeff tried to feed Reese her Goldfish Crackers with chopsticks.

Aidan, Shanna & Reese ready for the chef to start the show! Reese freaked out when he set the table on fire, but I clapped and got really excited about it and she got the picture and loved the whole scene! She clapped and Aidan ended up catching the shrimp in his mouth!

Aidan loved the "red sushi" as he calls it. Most of the time he won't eat steak at home, but he ate more than half of my filet minon that night. Little man has good taste, what can I say? He also likes his steak medium rare.

On our last day, we visited with my Papa and Nana. I always love visiting them, they are so much fun!  I brought them Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. This is another treat as I haven't had it since I moved from New Jersey almost 4 years ago.

We had such an great trip. I loved seeing my family, celebrating Tristian's birthday and on the way out of the city, I took the long way and drove through downtown Chicago just because I love it.

Happy Birthday Parker!

My friend Nikki's niece Parker's first birthday is today. Parker was born an angel on March 5, 2009.


Not a day goes by that I do not think of this beautiful baby.  I have the same a picture of her at my desk that was taken by a local Now That I Lay Me Down To Sleep photographer. I highly recommend that if you experience the loss of a child that you contact a local photographer that is part of NILMDTS. Nikki said that the gorgeous photos that her sister Amy and brother in law Jim had taken of Parker really helped in their healing process.

I am impressed and inspired by the strength that this family has. This little girl made such a big impact on so many people, including the Gourleys. I attended her wake and we attended a ceremony for a bricks that were imprinted in her honor and are part of the Angel of Hope Park in St. Charles, MO.  At her funeral and at the Brick Ceremony they released balloons in her honor. 

Whenever we get balloons, Aidan and Reese release them and send them to Parker. We get balloons all of the time and my kids love to cheer as they blow away. This happens about once a week, if not more often. Teaching this to my children is one of my very proud mommy moments. Not only are my kids the only two children in the world that do not cry when their balloons fly away, but we remember Parker at each balloon release.  We cheer and celebrate her!

I took Aidan and Reese to her grave two days before her birthday so that we could leave flowers and release balloons. Aidan and Reese colored happy birthday notes for Parker that I tied to her flowers.  The flowers are very similar to the one in her hair on her photo. At her grave site, Aidan started singing "Happy Birthday" to Parker, if I knew how to upload videos, I would upload it. I did email it to Nikki because I thought it was to precious not to share.

Aidan held the balloons and started singing "Happy Birthday!"

Our balloon release at Parker's grave.

We celebrated her again today on her first birthday. Nikki invited us to have lunch with her sister Amy and their friend Jen. I picked up cupcakes from Jilly's Cupcake Bar and we met them for lunch. It makes me cry that Amy can't watch her daughter smash her chubby little fingers into her cupcake.  We shared joy and tears at lunch and I am so blessed that they invited us to share this very special day.

Happy Birthday, sweet Parker!

Potty Training Take 2

My second attempt to potty train Reese turned out to be an epic fail. I tried a Potty Party with Aidan, loosely based on the Dr. Phil Method (a suggestion by my friend Erin). The Potty Party did not work as planned with Aidan and I spent the next 6 months doing a lot of laundry. I figured it was a waste of time with Reese so I thought I would be able to lure her with Disney Princess paraphernalia and because we tried it before, and everyone tells me girls are easier, I thought it would be a piece of cake. 

WRONG! She went only 4 times during our "Training Day" and by the next day I was so paranoid taking her out in underwear that I took her to the bathroom every 20 minutes, but she wouldn't go! The later it got in our journey out the more nervous I got and the more convinced I was that the next time would be it and she would just "get it." She never got it. We pulled into the driveway and I knew I should take her right to the loo, but instead I let her walk in the house by herself and I gathered the groceries. The second I walked in the house, there she was standing there with wet pants.

I later got a phone call that we were accepted to participate in a 3-day diaper study that paid handsomely. I decided to put the training on hold and hoped that the torture of the study would convince her that the potty is the way to go.

Gold Medal Ribbon

Our friend Abe is really into the Olympics, so his mom (and my friend) Jenn, hosted an Olympics themed playgroup. She DVR'd the opening ceremonies and we watched them during the party as background noise.

 

When Jenn suggested the party, my creative juices started to flow and I figured out what I could do with all of my leftover Hanukkah candy! I glue ribbons to the gold covered chocolates, and voila, gold medals!

 

Abe won as many medals as Michael Phelps did at the 2008 Summer Olympics!

Aidan is so proud of his accomplishments at the Winter 2010 Olympics. He decided that he wants to be a bobsledder.

  

For our art project we each made the Olympic Rings Logo.

Abe, Carson, Reese & Aidan posing in front our finished artwork.

Go TEAM USA!

Will you be my Valentine? part 2

Have I expressed to you how much I love Valentine's Day? We've been doing fun little activities leading up to Valentine's Day and Aidan keeps asking each day if today is Valentine's Day, and finally IT IS VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Pappy & Mimi gave them balloons, which after a few days of trying to keep from floating to the top of the vaulted ceilings, we released them (I'll post more about our balloon launches later.)


Pappy & Mimi also gave them these Whitman Samplers. Reese's response... "Oooh, MY candy!"

Reese got Belle (aka Beauty & The Beast) from Daryl and I.

We gave Aidan a few cars from Cars The Movie and this 100 piece Spiderman puzzle. He literally gave it the "thumbs up" and said "check out my awesome puzzle!"

It was a great day and Daryl and I even went out on a date. We are really trying to watch our budget, so we tried to think of a place that would be inexpensive but still good. Joking, we suggested Olive Garden. It seemed like the perfect date in high school and since we didn't know each other in high school, so this little joke turned out to be our Valentine's Day dinner. As we were in the car heading to OG, we started having second thoughts, but a huge snow storm was brewing and as we were driving in the thick flakes, we finally came the conclusion that we were okay with driving the 0.93 miles to OG instead of spending the rest of the night trying to drive back home. Please remember that there is only 1 snow plow in all of St. Louis, so the roads would not be clear when we were ready to come back home.

One thing that I will never understand about Olive Garden is why the long wait to get in? It's not really that good. It's not really that cheap, it is actually quite expensive. I'm just a little person, I can't consume enough "unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks" to really get my money's worth. Everyone talks about how delicious those breadsticks are. Are we all really standing in line for 45 minutes for breadsticks? Can't someone post the recipe to that on the internet just like those $250.00 cookies from Neiman Marcus and shut this whole thing down. I don't want to put OG out of business, I would just like to get a mediocre dinner there from time to time and not have to be handed that little pager when I walk in the door.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Olive Garden, I also love McDonald's, but why the 45-60 minute wait at OG? I've been dining at OG for over 15 years. Every once in a while I just have to have it. When I was pregnant with Aidan, I used to go by myself to the OG in Time Square and eat at the bar (I didn't have to share my breadsticks or the croutons). I fell in love with the Stuffed Shells at first bite, until they took them off the menu in the late 1990's and then I switched to 4 Cheese Ravioli. I've been eating the 4 Cheese Ravioli since then, but for our Valentine's Day Dinner, I thought I should step out of my comfort zone and order something different. I ordered Manicotti. I know, I'm a risk taker.

WILL you marry me?

I frequently joke with my girlfriends that have sons & daughters that are close in age to Aidan and Reese that they will get married some day. My friend Holly took it to the next level. This is the Valentine her son Will sent to us.

Reese said YES! The future Mrs. Will Davis, ladies and gentleman. When your first offer is a good one, you have to accept it, even if you are only two years old.

To Noah Stark, Ollie Geheb and Jude Rappaport, you'll have to submit a better offer, besides being so handsome, Will has an apartment in Brooklyn, NY. Your friend, Reese.

Will you be my Valentine? part 1

What happens when an event planner is unemployed? She goes overboard planning a Valentine's Day themed playgroup.

I made these t-shirts for Aidan and Reese.

I also made these mailboxes for the kids to deliver their valentines to their friends.

Here's all the mailboxes set up and ready for the party. Our original guest list included 16 kids and 8 adults. Due to illness and inclement weather, our guest list was drastically reduced. I was a little disappointed and secretly relieved as I wasn't sure how I would seat that many people comfortably.

Heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with wheat & white bread. This one was for Abe R. I always use wheat bread, but Abe dined at our house a few weeks ago and refused my wheat bread because it looked weird and had nuts in it. In my defense Abe, that was an off week and typically my wheat bread does not have nuts in it, because I do not like nuts either. I didn't want to chance it, so Evie & I made a few sandwiches with white bread, just in case. (a huge thank you to Evie for coming a few minutes early to help me set up!)

The sweets. L to R... M & M's, Frosted Sugar Cookies, Chocolate covered pretzels, and Cake Pops. Evie calls Cake Pops 'the devil.' I have to agree with her. They are delicious and because they are only a bit or two each, you think, "what's one more?" You can keep them in the freezer and they don't get frozen solid, so it is easy to grab just one more after glancing at them when you grabbing ice from the freezer.

Before eating the cookies and cake pops, we needed to eat our lunch.

Carson hid under the dining room table playing "Hide & Seek."

We took out every toy. Once again, the Batcave was the favorite. Whomever had their hands on it acted like it was homeplate and they wouldn't take their hands off of it until the ref called "safe!"

Jude. I love this shirt. You can almost see the "Mom" tattoo on his bicep through his shirt.

Now onto making Valentines.

Abe used too much glitter and his card wasn't dry when they were ready to leave, so we had to bring it to him a few days later.

Owen was concentrating pretty hard on his Valentine.

Reese put foam hearts everywhere. Two minutes later she dumped the entire bucket of foam hearts on the floor and dumped a box of sequins on the floor to finish the job.

Reese in her Valentine's Day T-shirt. Who wouldn't want to be her Valentine?
I was so exhausted after all of our guests left, I took a nap with the kids. This happens once in blue moon.