family

happy birthday, baby.

February 23, 2012 By Melissa 1 Comment

Slow down, please.

Its going too fast.

How are you nine? NINE. I see the teenager poking through, whether its begging for an iPod for your birthday, dancing to Taylor Swift in your room or giving me “the look”.

But you still love stuffed animals. You still snuggle up to me when we watch a movie. You still play on the tire swing. You still hold my hand.

You still hugged Big Bird. Even when your sister wouldn’t. And when “big kids” were around. I love that.

Slow down… just a little. Don’t grow up too fast. I’m not ready to lose you.

Filed Under: motherhood 1 Comment

This afternoon we had no school (insert daughters doing cartwheels here) so we hit up the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Now, I would never tell you to play hooky. But if you ever have a random day off, go into Philly and hit the museums when they’re not crowded. Even if you’ve been somewhere twenty times, it is incredible to have it practically to yourselves.

The dinosaurs were awesome of course.

Except when they tried to eat Ellie and Grace…

Then we headed up to our favorite place… the Outside In! We met some new friends. Ellie was watching this cute bird play in the water – and it splashed her right in the face! Hilarious!

We got to pet a legless lizard, a box turtle, this swimming turtle I forget the name of…
and THIS GUY:

Can you believe how brave Grace is??

I was brave enough to touch it with one finger, but if that thing had climbed up my arm, I would have probably shattered glass with the high pitch of my scream! (I am NOT a bug person!! I prefer my wildlife cute and furry, thanks.)

We had so much fun – what an amazing day! The Academy of Natural Sciences remains one of our favorite outings in Philly!

Check out the girls’ blog – they wrote about our visit as well!

disclosure: we received a complimentary admission from visitphilly.com. all opinions are our own.

Filed Under: family fun, philadelphia, travel reviews 1 Comment

my week in instagram

February 16, 2012 By Melissa 1 Comment

it was a pretty calm week this week.

i learned how to play racquetball which, sadly, i do not have a picture of. four days later, i can lift my arms again.

we had my husband’s parents over for dinner and we were trying to have a conversation
and i couldn’t stop laughing at how colin was climbing over grandpa -
like he’s a jungle gym -
and grandpa was just continuing his conversation.

i went to a fashion event and met some twilight stars.
this picture was taken solely make my sister, amy, super jealous.

we taught the kids to play monopoly.
grace totally kicked everyone’s butts.

colin’s new favorite hairstyle – a faux-hawk.

Filed Under: family fun 1 Comment

three year old boy playdate

February 13, 2012 By Melissa Leave a Comment

I remember preschool playdates with my girls. Maybe we’d have a tea party. Or a princess dress up dance. OR they’d color, make necklaces with beads or play Barbies… Colin had a preschool playdate today. I was stabbed twice, had my arms cut off by a knight, was shot by a pirate, got shot numerous [...]

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my week in instagram

February 9, 2012 By Melissa Leave a Comment

busy week. lots going on! friday we had so much fun on colin’s first trip to nyc. he loved times square, despite the chill. runs in the family. saturday i went to my friend kassel’s birthday party. love that girl. it was nice the other day, so we spent lost of time outside, swinging and [...]

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happy birthday, elmo!

February 6, 2012 By Melissa 4 Comments

On Friday my little man and I took the train up to New York. He was very very very very excited about the train. The commuters in our car were all giggling at his excitement. He waved to people on the platform at every station – and you would be amazed how many people waved [...]

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Filed Under: events, family fun, reviews 4 Comments

my week in instagram

February 2, 2012 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Featuring mostly my cats. Hum. Ellie was trying to get Sadie to eat her math homework. It didn’t work – apparently she just likes to eat ants and spiders. Is that normal for a cat? Our cats gobble up ants like they’re cat treats. Perhaps they’re not getting enough protein. At the car show, Ellie [...]

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i see a teenager poking through

January 31, 2012 By Melissa 4 Comments

She may only be turning nine, but she is rapidly turning into a teenager. Check out “the look”: Can you tell how COMPLETELY TRILLED she is to be at the auto show? And “the look” is just one thing… I’m getting the eye roll. And the “I know, Mom!” And the “I need my privacy.” [...]

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Filed Under: motherhood 4 Comments

lost and found

January 30, 2012 By Melissa 19 Comments

I had one of my scariest moments as a mother. We took the kids into Philly for the car show. We’ve gone a few times before and its always a really fun day. Minutes after this picture was taken, we were over in the Subaru section and I noticed Grace wasn’t there. “Where’s Grace?” I [...]