Projects

When I was pregnant with Angelique I decided to make a quilt for each baby. I am not crafty at all so this was quite a stretch for me. With Gigi I made a rag quilt and it really couldn't have been easier. I was able to do the entire thing on the sewing machine and my friend Jacque Halloway literally held my hand through the entire process.

When we were living in Illinois my friend Tiffany Peterson had a beautiful quilt that she had made for her daughter. I LOVED the pattern and enlisted her help to make the same one when I found out I was pregnant, even though I didn't know what I was having. This was a much more difficult quilt to make because I had to cut out each piece and sew it all together. She helped me get started, but then we moved to Philly so I was on my own.

Enter Megan Hayes :) I have been really blessed to find really talented friends to help me with my quilting endeavours. I decided to hand stitch the quilt together and Megan showed me how to do it.

I really enjoyed making the quilt, ironically the easiest sounding part was the most aggravating for me -- the binding process. Argh! I would rather hand stitch a million quilts than bind one. I am really happy with how it turned out and even happier that I'm having a girl so that I can use it now :) Oh and yes an additional ultrasound has verified that we are having a girl for sure!


I don't know if you can see the hand stitching, but I really like that it shows the outline of the flower on the back.

I have gotten really excited about sewing now. It has become a good outlet for me to feel like I'm doing something productive other than clean the dishes for the hundreth time.

I just finished making some stockings for us. They definitely look homemade, but it was mostly fun to do.




Now I'm working on a twin size quilt for Gigi to welcome in her new bed when we take her current bed away from her and give it to the baby. Hopefully it will go better than it sounds.

Please Touch Museum

In Philadelphia they have a great museum for kids called the Please Touch Museum. They recently renovated it and changed it's location to a much larger place. For my friend Lynette's birthday we took our kids and had a complete blast!!
A few of our favorite things were:

A shopping area where the kids could literally go shopping with shopping carts and a whole room full of fake food that you could pretend to buy.

A medical center where kids could dress up like doctors and take care of babies or take turns being the patients themselves.

An Alice in Wonderland maze complete with shrinking rooms, a place where you could dress up and have a tea party with the mad hatter, a hall of mirrors and much more.


A water works area where kids could put on tarps and play in the water. There were clouds in the sky that would rain down on the area occasionally.

A mechanic shop with a real bus and car for kids to try out and drive. They also had a car that you could repair. Gigi's favorite car was the pine wood derby type car that you could change the wheels and accessories on. They also had 2 backhoes that the kids could operate to pick up and dump balls.


Full scale kid size houses with front porches where you could even plant flowers.

We were also able to see a play about the sun that was stolen from the sky.

All of us inside the museum. (Bethany, Gigi, Julie, McKenzie, Lynette)

It was really fun to spend the day with our friends at such a neat place.

Turkey Day

On the 4th of July David took Gigi to a local parade and she loved it! Ever since then she has talked about parades and spent a great deal of time pretending to go to parades. When we found out that we would be moving to the East we decided that we needed to take Gigi to the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.
Before going we asked a ton of questions about how to travel to NYC, where to watch the parade from, etc and had a good plan in place.
Gigi was SOO excited not only for the parade, but for all of the fun ways of travel that we would experience before arriving at our destination.
First we passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then we walked through the Lincoln Tunnel. (sorry just had to throw that in for David :) )
Okay, so really here's how our trip went:
Thanksgiving morning we woke up at 3am, got all packed up and headed to Staten Island. We were extremely naive in thinking that Gigi would sleep well in the car. She quickly burst that bubble by giggling and saying, "Gigi sleeping in the car? That's silly!" and laughing hysterically. We were all a little loopy I have to admit, but we had a good car trip :)
We were able to park at the Staten Island ferry station and got right on the ferry with no complications.

David and Gigi on the ferry. I love the sleepy, but thrilled look in Gigi's eyes.
The ferry took us to Manhatten and from there we took the subway to Times Square.


I think Gigi was a bit dissapointed with the underground train that we had promised her. It was pretty dirty and smelly, but hey it's authentic.

After getting off the subway we walked a few blocks and set up. The worst part of the trip was waiting for the parade to start.



David was sweet to stand to hold our place the whole time while Gigi and I sat on the curb (I looked a little homeless, but my pregnant body was grateful for the pavement).

Our friends loaned us their backpack carrier and so Gigi was able to see the big floats and balloons from a 6'3" perspective. It was awesome!! She loved the music and the floats. It was pretty chilly, but luckily we dressed pretty warmly. In fact, I think Gigi was a bit too warm (maybe 4 layers plus a snowsuit and coat was a bit much?)

Here's a fairly good reaction to one of Gigi's favorite balloons, Dora. The ironic thing is Gigi has never seen the Dora show, she was just given a dora doll and some books and she is in love with her. This movie illistrates how well she could see. She started yelling about Dora before I could even see her. It made me laugh that she would get so excited to see the balloons turn the corner that by the time they would get close to us she was sick of looking at them.

Of course, Buzz Lightyear. A parade just isn't a parade without him :)

After we all got a glazed over look in our eyes we called it quits and headed home. We made it home by 4pm and had a nice Thanksgiving meal. (I cooked it the night before) and then put Gigi right to bed. David and I relaxed by watching Hancock. A much better film than I anticipated.
A few things I learned to be grateful for:
Not getting mugged.
Being able to stay close to my family.
Making it off the subway in one piece (apparently there were some new terrorist threats that the subway would be attacked).
Going new places with such an awesome family!

Hooray for friends!

A few weeks ago one of my dearest friends, Jess, came to visit us, along with her 2 adorable boys, Bjorn and Matej. We met in college and became fast friends during our horrible ICU nursing rotation. We went through pregnancy together and after finding out that she was having a boy and I was having a girl we decided that our kids must be destined to get married :) Luckily, they seemed to hit it off quite well and Gigi managed to get Bjorn to kiss her and ask her to marry him. I guess we'll see what happens :)
Jess's husband is a pilot and so she was able to visit us without too much expense, although traveling alone with 2 kids is quite a sacrifice by itself.

The first night that they arrived Bjorn and Gigi couldn't get enough of each other. Jess and I were talking in the living room and I happened to peek into Gigi's room while she was taking off Bjorn's shirt and replacing it with one of her favorite pajama tops. (Gigi has a HUGE obsession with pajamas and often goes through 2-3 pairs a day, at least she is learning to be independent right?) Luckily Bjorn thought it was great and they loved running around the house together in her clothes. (sorry Leon!)


In contrast to Gigi's girlie influence, Bjorn taught her a bit about Spiderman.

The next day we just hung around and then went out to dinner. I really wanted Jess to try my favorite sandwich here, which is called a schmitter. The first time David and I had one we talked about it for at least a month afterward. Unfortunately it was quite the ordeal getting there, but after a long drive, a crazy walk in the rain and Candy and Tony taking care of the table situation we were able to enjoy the sandwich. Poor Jess wasn't able to fully appreciate her's though because her 9 month old managed to tip most of her sandwich onto the floor :( Luckily we still do believe in the 5 second rule.
Jess and me with our kids outside the famous McNally's bar where the famous schmitter is served.

The next day we went to church and headed over to a friend's house for an amazing italian dinner. David and her husband both served in Italy and of course Tony being from Italy we decided to have a pot luck dinner. It was quite incredible!! Too bad we didn't get any pictures :(
The last day we attempted to see the sights, but the kids weren't quite up to it so after being kicked out of the Independence Hall tour we called it quits and headed home.

Bjorn and Gigi loved helping Jess get packed up to go home.

All in all it was an awesome adventure. We LOVED having them over and I'm surprised Jess and I didn't go hoarse from all of the talking that we did. Our poor kids had to listen to us jabber on from morning until night, I think the earliest we got to sleep was 1am. Anyway thanks Jess for coming to visit. You guys ROCK!!!!

Baby News

Finally after waiting 25 weeks we had an ultrasound done today. We had to wait this long because we moved to another state and had a hard time getting our insurance switched, but luckily that headache is over :)

The great and most important news is that the baby looks completely healthy. I always convince myself beforehand that something horrible will be wrong with the baby so it was a tremendous relief that everything looks great. The bad news is that the baby was in an awkward position for detecting it's gender. The technician was really nice and patient and after poking and prodding for quite a while she seemed fairly confident that it is a girl. They are going to do another routine ultrasound in a month so hopefully they will be able to tell for certain then, but for now we're thinking it's a girl.

We are really excited! David and I have been hoping for a girl because we already have the clothes, toys, etc and I especially have been hoping for a girl because I have no idea what to do with boys. I do hope that someday we will have a boy, but for now I will enjoy basking in the frilliness of my 2 girls.

Of course, that being said I may need to rescind this post if they find a few little extra parts at our next ultrasound :)

Boo at the Zoo

Since we live so close to the city we decided to take advantage of one of the best things Philly has to offer kids...the zoo! The Philadelphia zoo was the first zoo in the US and it is pretty incredible. Not only do they have tons of animals, they also have a lot of other things to do, including a zoo balloon (a hot air balloon that is anchored to the ground), horse and pony rides, camel rides, a train, a new carousel and a few other things for older kids. We bought a yearly pass that includes all of the rides, every time and will get 2 visitors in free each time as well. We are pretty excited about it if you can't tell :)

Gigi and I went last week for the first time and while we were there we found out that on the weekend before Halloween they have something called boo at the zoo where they encourage you to dress up in costumes and they provide additional activities, prizes and trick-or-treating booths. David went with us and we had a lot of fun.

Here are some of the extra-fun things that we did:

Gigi got her face painted like a flower. She loved getting her face painted a few months ago so since it is close to Halloween we splurged and she got her face painted again. This time she handled it even more professionally. She sat just how she was told to sit and held still the entire time. Too funny!



She got a ton of treats at the booths and of course saw many animals, but she was most excited to see the elephant. Last time the elephant wasn't out so this time I was really hoping it would be, especially since she dressed up like an one.


Because of the season they had pumpkins in with some of the animals. Check out this cougar digging into one, it was pretty funny:




The highlight of the day was when she was able to be in a parade with some other kids, including a sweet little girl named Liliane that was dressed up like Mulan. She seemed to really think this kid was Mulan and was thrilled to hold her hand and be in the very front of the parade. Ever since David took Gigi to a 4Th of July parade Gigi has done a lot of imaginative play about parades, so it was pretty cool for her to be in one in real life.



A radio station was there and their mascot, a bee, danced with the kids. Gigi really got into it!



After the parade Gigi rode the brand-new carousel. She and Liliane held hands all the way to the carousel and even rode together on an alligator. She smiled and waved the entire time.


The only bummer about the day was that it was a bit rainy so the other rides were closed. Last time Gigi was able to ride on a horse and she was very excited to ride on "Boo" with Daddy, but she handled her disappointment very well. David was pretty bummed to not be able to ride the camel and I was sad that the zoo balloon wasn't open again (it is closed if the weather is at all questionable, which it has been both times that we have gone). Other than those small things we had a perfect day at the zoo!

Our poor little elephant really wore herself out!


So here is yet another reason why you need to come visit us in Philly :)

Friend in Philly

Our good friend Brad from Illinois came out to New Jersey for a job interview this week, so we showed him the town. The company gave him a rental car, but we helped him find a good parking spot at 30th street station so he could just enjoy seeing the sites.

We started with a drive to the other side of the city to help him experience Philadelphia's unique flavor. We went to a great place for cheese steaks, then headed to the famous Rocky steps at the Art Museum. He loved it!


Angelique was hilarious. She wanted to run up all of the steps all by herself. And at the top she knew to jump around with her arms up. She even started yelling "I'm like Rocky!" (I swear I don't watch the movie that much!) It was awesome.


After this, we drove past the Pennsylvania Penitentiary. It was the first prison in the US that attempted to reform prisoners instead of just, well, imprison them. It dates back to the 1700's and even has gargoyles on the front. It was still a functioning prison into the 1970's and Al Capone stayed there.

Then we finished off the night, of course, with the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The Bell is surrounded by large windows, so even at night when the building is closed you can see it fine. Independence Hall was pretty cool, too. We tried to look philosophical, but I don't think it worked. (It was Brad's idea.)


The best part was just having a good friend visit. Hopefully, Brad will get the job and they will move out here. The place he would work is just on the other side of Franklin Bridge, so it would be easy to hang out often.

Cindergigi

I haven't been the best parent about getting Gigi to help me around the house. At first she was pretty interested, but because it was such a hassle I sort of stopped. For example, I got really sick of folding laundry 5 times because she kept unfolding laundry and insisted that she was "folding" it. I eventually resorted to picking up when she was sleeping. I often wonder if she even notices that the house magically is clean after every nap, but she has never commented :(
This last week I started feeling guilty and decided to enlist her help. She actually was able to fold a few washcloths for me and did not destroy my piles of laundry when I explained that they were already folded. She even helped me clean.
When we moved here we got rid of our mop and decided not to buy one here since we have so little moppable space. Anyway I just get down on my hands and knees and do it. I asked if she wanted to help and she eagerly said "YES!" After a few minutes she decided that she wanted to get her own bucket. She took off and I figured she just went off to play, but a while later she emerged with her own bucket, full of water from the bathroom sink and went to work. I have now decided that she is my Cindergigi and will slowly get her to do all of my work :) Just teasing, but really isn't that why we have kids?

Oh and by the way, she's pretty good with a tractor if anyone wants to hire her.

Family Home Evening

One luxury that we have been enjoying is weekly family home evening. When I was working it seemed like we could never fit everything in and we would often not get around to having it. Now that I am home all of the time we have been having it every week without fail.
This last week we painted pumpkins. Gigi had a blast...well actually we all did :)

Welcoming in a new decade

This is a bit late, but my husband is officially 30. I have to say that this has been weirder for me than for him. I didn't like turning 25 and the idea of being married to a 30 year old was just a bit strange. I have to say though that David is still just as handsome and fit as he was at 29 and really, men typically have the advantage of getting better looking as they age.
Because this was such a monumental birthday I wanted to do something special for David. However, he didn't really want a party, which was good since we have basically no money and few friends here, but it also meant I had to think a little harder.
His birthday fell on a Sunday, which was perfect because we could actually spend the day together. The Philadelphia Art Museum is free on Sunday so we invited Tony and Candy to celebrate by going there with us. Tony drove, which was really awesome since it is a bit confusing and frustrating driving in Philadelphia. David LOVED the museum and he kept commenting on how much his dad would love the museum, so Don if your reading this, please come visit us and we'll just drop you off for a few days at the museum and then pick you up when your done :)


The gang outside the museum.

I had to post this picture because David got in trouble for taking it. He didn't realize the flash was on and the guard not only got mad at David, but he kept following us around the museum...too funny. The paintings done by Monet here were beautiful!
Afterward, we went back to Candy and Tony's for a wonderful steak dinner, compliments of the Rombola's. It was a simple, but great way to celebrate my amazing husband!

The Fair

Have I mentioned lately that I the most awesome sister ever? Well I do! Case in point- Last week she found an advertisement for a free fair and so today we went. It was sponsored by a Senator who is up for re-election. It was really, REALLY amazing!!
It was about 40 minutes away and the drive was beautiful. I'm still not used to all of the trees out here. At the fair there was free food (hot dogs, chips, popcorn, drinks, and cotton candy), face painting, balloon animals, and a bunch of booths where people kept giving us free things.

First we went to get Angelique's face painted. There was a sign showing all of the options. I suggested some of the nice things like butterflies, flowers, etc, but Gigi saw a pig and she was all about becoming a little pig. It turned out quite cute though :)

Here she is getting her face painted. She held still the whole time! I was amazed.


Here's my little piggy :) She does a really good piggy impression now complete with a few oink oinks.



We got some food and went to all of the booths. She met Ben Franklin, who let her spin a wheel, where she won a coloring book and crayons.


She also met the little mermaid, who made her a special princess crown, and Cinderella (well, Cinderella for the second time :) ) She was in awe!


We went to the fireman booth where they gave her a cool hat. Outside the fair there was an ambulance and firetruck to look through, but we ran out of time.



The Philadelphia zoo and the Franklin institute of science both did presentations. Angelique saw a chinchilla, a dove and an armadillo.

She got a balloon animal, well 3 actually, the guy kept asking her what else she wanted, so she got 2 penguins and a huge flower.

To top it off, Elmo, from Sesame Place (it's a great attraction park here with all of the sesame street characters) made a special appearance. She was thrilled!!


At one of the booths they gave us 3 coupons for free water ices from Rita's (water ice is essentially a really good snow cone), but the catch was that it was only good at 1 location, which happened to be around the corner from the fair. Since we figured we wouldn't want to drive 40 minutes just to get a free snow cone we decided to go. Gigi chose Chocolate and Candy and I both chose Mango. YUMMY!

Gigi fell asleep in the car, but was only able to sleep for about 15 minutes before we got home. When we got inside she was too excited to tell her daddy about her day to sleep, so needless to say she was wired the rest of the night.

While I made dinner David and Gigi played fireman rescue, essentially they would take turns hiding and say help me, help me and the other person would wear the fireman hat and find the one hiding. It was TOO funny seeing David running around in a kid's fireman hat.
To be honest I think he had more fun playing the game than Gigi :)


It was my first real outing since I have moved here and I have to say if all of their free attractions are like this one it is a pretty awesome place to live :)
Oh and I guess I should put a plug in for the senator- Go Senator Chuck McIlhinney!!!

Marriage

Last Saturday Candy and Tony had a ceremony to renew their vows. Before the big day Angelique helped Candy and me prepare for a party that would follow the ceremony. She helped clean, shop and cook. She was really excited for the party, but we hadn't really talked much about the fact that the ceremony had to do with their marriage. The ceremony took place in Tony's church and it was great. The priest talked about how Christ's first miracle happened at a wedding, which I hadn't really realized.
Of course, Candy and Tony cried. It was really sweet to see how much they still love each other.
After the ceremony there was a big party outside, complete with tents and tons of ribs and yes David was in heaven!!! They even had a cake made with a picture of them cutting their cake at their wedding:) The whole thing was lovely. I forgot my camera however and so I have no pictures from the event. Hopefully Candy will post some on her blog soon :) (hint, hint)
On the way home Gigi piped up- Mommy and Daddy are married. I turned around and she had a gigantic grin on her face. It was adorable to see her so happy about the fact that David and I are married :)
Well, later that night Angelique got to the clean clothes basket (which was full of sheets and blankets because Gigi had thrown up so much we had to wash a lot of them). Gigi found one of her fitted sheets. It was white and she put it on her head. She then asked for flowers. I really had no clue what she was doing until I gave her the flowers. Then she explained that she was getting married. It was really cute to see her walk around really seriously talking about getting married. We joked that she could marry Bjorn (my friend's little boy, whom she hasn't seen for over a year) and she got really excited about the idea. The whole next day she kept reciting, Bjorn, Bjorn, Bjorn. It was fun to see her so excited about getting married :)

Mommy, I burped.

2 nights ago I woke up to Gigi calling out, Mommy, Mommy. I reluctantly got up out of bed to check on her. When I opened the door my pregnant nose smelled an awful, familiar smell. She said, Mommmy, I burped. There was throw up all over the bed, but because she has never thrown up she didn't know what she had done. She then went on to say, but my duck is okay. She has a favorite stuffed animal and she was more concerned about it than herself. She stayed so happy during the whole ordeal. It made me realize even more how blessed I am to have such a great kid.
After cleaning up the bed and getting her in the bath we stayed up and watched The Incredibles until 4am and then went back to bed. She is almost over whatever she has and I may have it. It's hard to say because I throw up so often anyway, but needless to say we both feel a little yucky. David has stayed with us all weekend and taken care of us beautifully. I don't know what I would do without him.