Leading the Double Life: summer

MDW 2015

On the eve of our summer vacation, I figured it was time to share how we kicked off the summer this year.

This time last year, we were having a moment. A high stress moment. Jane and Emma had just turned the big ONE, and we were focusing on getting the seller of our house to closing. So much has changed in a year!

This year we enjoyed an extremely relaxing long weekend. Other than one double-trouble meltdown, the rest of the weekend was stress-free.

On Friday, we met our friend Erin (who is now expecting a set of twins of her own!) with her little girl, Olivia. Feels like yesterday we were at Erin’s baby shower excitedly waiting for little Livy’s arrival! We took the trio to our local zoo, where the lines were long but worth it to watch these little peanuts roam throughout the animal exhibits, holding hands and sharing snacks.

On Saturday we went to Livy’s (the girls call her “Via” because they can’t pronounce Olivia) house for a BBQ. We spent the day lounging next to the pool, wishing it were just a teensy bit warmer so we could dive in. The girls didn’t notice, and spent the afternoon playing in the sandbox and begrudgingly taking turns in the tree swing. They even got to play with their newest tiny friend, “Baby AJ!!”

The day inevitably ended in Meltdown City after VERY short naps in pack n’ plays, but we put them down and enjoyed a little bit of adult time with some of our favorite friends, after we took these blackmail-worthy photos of the twincesses.

Sunday we took the girls to the park for a bit where they ran wild for an hour before stopping at the farmers market for some “wallamelon”. That afternoon we lounged in the yard and watched Jane and Emma run back and forth between their 3 different water tables, swing set and okay house that Aunt Suzanne gave them for their birthday. I also finally got to kick back and take a little snooze in my hammock!

Monday, our last day of “vacation”, we spent playing in the yard. We did sidewalk chalk, colored in coloring books, and blew up their little pool for some real water play.

It was so hard to go back to work yesterday, but the girls were definitely looking forward to returning to school with their friends, and we are officially less than one month from summer vacation!

Last week we welcomed our new baby cousin, Brayden Hershey, to the family, and Jane and Emma are so excited to get to spend some time with their baby cousin! We haven’t been able to get down to the Philly area yet to see him in person, so we are looking forward to spending lots of time with him this summer at the beach house.

Above all, we were so grateful to have this past weekend to spend together, made possible by the sacrifices of others for our country and our freedom.

What did you all do for MDW weekend? Were you afraid of turning into a hot dog like we were?

Hope you’re all enjoying the beautiful weather here on the east coast, and if you’re in Texas or Oklahoma, we are thinking of you!

Happy Thursday!

photo http---signatures.mylivesignature.com-54493-79-BE2F1C230B2E09DDB90549082CF6E130_zpsogacqeac.png

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2:08 PM
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So Long Summer!

2014

Here we are -- the Eve of going back to work. I have shed so many tears today. To think that my day will no longer be filled with the pitter-patter of little chubby bare feet across my living room floors breaks my heart. But I know there is another group of kids waiting for me who miss me just as much as I miss them, so I'll have to leave my babies for a few hours a day to go hug my other babies all day long!

I would be lying if I said that this was the best summer of our life. On the contrary, this summer was rough in a whole different way than it was last year. Last year, the girls were BRAND NEW, sickly, and I was terrified to leave them.

This weekend, our last weekend of summer, the girls have had runny noses and been SICKKKK all weekend, and Hershey has bronchitis. Awesomesauce. We have been trapped in the house all weekend, missing parties with friends, cookouts, and the last of the beautiful weather before it gets hot as heeelllll here in dirty Jersey for the next few days, which I will be spending in hot, sweaty classrooms with a bunch of hot, sweaty adolescents. Ew.

In honor of the last night of summer, I decided that now would be a good time to reflect on this past two months and recognize the good times that we had, although they seem few and far between. Here are the top five things that rocked my socks this summer.

1. AMINALS! We have a family of deer who live in our neighborhood. Four 8-point bucks, two females, and two babies (who one of our neighbors informed us are TWINS! How cool is that??!?!?!). They come to our yard often, playing in the girls' blow up pool (which we had to deflate) and drinking from their water table (which we had to empty). But they come SUPER close, and I swear I would sit there and watch them for hours if they would stay.

2. Play dates. It's been so much fun to watch the girls interacting with each other (finally), and also finding friends to play with! This summer, they played with Hailey and Ryan, Olivia, Mikayla, Callaiopie, Gia, Della, T, Foster, and Adelyn.

3. Ikea. You know that moment when you see something on someone's blog and you think, "HEYYY I CAN TOTALLY DO THAT!!!" and then you go all gung-ho, buy all of the supplies, and with the first brush stroke you think, Oh shit, I'm in over my head? I did that this summer.

I needed a step stool so that the twincesses could watch while I cook and wash their hands at the sink, and this totally awesome chick put together this amazing how-to hack for this Bekvam stool from Ikea, which is so totally cheap and also so totally sturdy. It was a LOOONG haul, but I finally GOT IT!

I used this gel stain in Walnut, and used leftover paint from painting our kitchen to paint the stripes. I have no idea how I measured the stripes out, but it was really frustrating and took me a really long time. I used painter's tape to get the crisp lines. I also added a coat of urethane to make it waterproof, so now any time the girls are playing on it (they like to sit on the bottom step and use the top step as a table), I can just wipe any stains off and not worry about the paint.

Then there was this:

Those of you who know me well know that I am OBSESSED with Little Baby Garvin. I mean, my dear friend, Erin, and I text each other all of the time trying to put the scoop on the Garvs. It's sick. Well, last year, Jess gave Harper this adorable little table and chairs from Ikea for Xmas. She slaved away every night in her garage staining and painting this set. I thought, if Garvs can do it in a month, I can certainly get it done in 2. HAHAHA! Fool me once...

It stayed the natural color for WEEKS. And then I stained one chair. And there the rest of it sat, with the blue painter's tape, waiting to be stained, for 3 more weeks. And the one stained chair laughed at me. I swear it did.

This week, I FINALLY finished it. I have some silver paint to add and some words that I want to paint on the table top, but the stain was the biggest hurdle. The rest I can do in one nap time.

4. SAHMism. Getting to spend time with my girls was the best. I got to know them better, and although I spent some time frustrated (toddlers are SO super frustrating, especially when YOU KNOW they understand you, and then they look at you and do it anyway), nothing can replace the hugs and the smiles and the fun that I had teaching them and watching as they soaked it all up. They are the funniest and quirkiest little kids, and I wish I could have that all day every day.

5. Mexican Corn. HOLY CANOLI guys, have you ever tried this?! I heard about this in passing somewhere, dug up a recipe on Pinterest, and tried it on the LAST NIGHT OF SUMMER. O.M.Geeeeeeeeeee. Are you kidding me?!?! Corn on the cob will never be the same for me, and I'll never eat it with just butter and salt again. The Mexican in me was singing last night.

Honorable Mention: Potty Training! Janey is 5 for 6 with pee-pee on the potty, and although Emma hasn't done anything yet (except stand in it and reach into it while she was sitting on it), we will keep plugging along!

I hope that you all have a wonderful week, and if you, like we, are returning to school this week, GOOD LUCK and take a deep breath. Only ten more months until summer...

Love you all! xoxo

10:06 PM
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New Blog Series: Girls About Town

2014

I've been trying to get into the swing of blogging more regularly, but with Jane and Emma constantly On.The.Go, it's hard to find time to sit down to write. So I started making a PLAN for when I write, and what I write.

This weekend, we were chock full of a good time. We came home from Avalon last Wednesday and got right back into the swing of things. Saturday morning we met up with our friend Erin and her daughter Olivia for a walk at the duck pond. That afternoon, my family joined us for a little shindig because my aunt was in from Texas and she has not met our little twincesses yet!

The girls really took to Aunt Michele.

My Nanny was in all of her glory with all of her girls around her.

Emma hammed it up for the camera.

The next morning, we met up with Erin and Olivia again for a walk at the Ramapo Reservation. My glutes were so not ready for that hike, but the girls were! Despite the looks on their faces, they had so much fun gabbing it up with their little friend Livy.

Emma and Jane absolutely LOVE being outside, so I'm hoping that this beautiful weather that we've been having will last for a while. I cannot believe that next week school starts. Where did our summer go?

What are you doing with your final moments of summer? I'd love to hear from you!

Have a great week everyone! xoxo