An Interesting Weekend

This weekend I visited my parents in "Stars Hollow, Connecticut". I am leaving to go back home today. Why am I here? Glad you asked! My little sister is in town!

Hannah, as well as LAUNNICK (Madeleine believes them to be one person making her understanding of the sacrament of marriage greater than most Americans), arrived early Friday morning, we are talking like 3:30, so we didn't get to see them until we woke up.

Still, the girls and I got in Thursday night waaaaay before the newlyweds and the curly blonde head so we had to find ways to entertain ourselves.

Carly had been working at a Halloween event in town and had come back with a bunch of temporary tattoos. Naturally, Carly thought it would be an awesome idea to use them on the girls so now Madeleine has a butterfly in her chubby belly and Juliette has a panda bear tramp stamp. Madeleine is very proud of her tattoo and lifts up her shirt to show it to us every ten minutes or so. And when we really tell her how pretty it looks on her she goes up to her sister and lifts up her shirt as well.

In typical fashion we spent half of Friday eating and the other half trying to figure out what to do in the evening because "Trunk or Treating" on the Town Green had been canceled due to weather. Now, I know what you are thinking. "Why were you going to something called 'Trunk or 'Treating' to begin with. That sounds like you would be walking around taking candy from strangers cars and isn't that the opposite of what we try to teach our children?" I don't know. And yes.

Saturday is when the real snowfall began. I had told my old nemisis SNOW that I refused to be put down by it this year. That it could do it's worst and I would still go out. So naturally, when the one inch it had dumped in the morning coated the street and we were trying to figure out if we should all still go shopping I laughed in the face of danger.

We got halfway there, turned around, and came home. You win this round SNOW but I will win the war.

I found out on Sunday that my power had gone out back in Massachusetts so I decided to stay the extra night here. Kyle was going to be picking up an extra shift anyway to help with the havoc the SNOW had unleashed on the airport (or more like the crazy-a people who go to the airport in the snow when their flights have been delayed or canceled just to scream at the people who work there. mess with my husband and the next time I am pregnant I WILL sit on you).

Since I was staying the extra night my mom asked if I wanted to lead Mafia at the Life Night. Since I am obsessed with crime shows (current fav, Criminal Minds. Dr. Spencer Reid. I've got a thing for tall, awkward, nerd types) I got reeeeeaaaaally into it. When it was my turn to play and someone else to lead I picked out who was in the Mafia correctly by the end of the second "night". Either I am a brilliant detective or I played waaay too much in college. I'm kind of betting the latter.

But today I am taking Elmo and Cookie Monster (or Cookie Hat as Madeleine calls the character) home to go Trick or Treating with their daddy. We miss him like CRAZY and are so excited to see him! It should be lots of fun, lots of candy, and wicked cold.

And a warning to SNOW... I'll get you next time.

Vacation all we ever wanted

So this past weekend we got the chance to put all of my travel tips to the test as we jetted off to Steubenville, OH to see out foster mother (alma mater). I'm going to be honest... we are awesome at traveling. Even going standby, using my tips made us completely efficient and relaxed. Go us!

I mean, our travel savvy awesomeness means we schooled business men traveling alone when we went through security. We were scanned, baby food and all, with our shoes on before the guy four people ahead of us had even put his laptop back in his travel bag.



Kyle was in 7th heaven because his little miss mini me Madeleine was Ob.Sessed. with the planes. This was her first trip where she was really excited to be flying. The plane we were on had two seats on each side of the aisle (my nerd husband tells me it was an Embraer 190). Kyle and Madeleine sat together on one side and Juliette and I were across from them. Juliette slept the whole time and Kyle did a photo shoot with Madeleine. Since we were on JetBlue each seat had it's own TV and I was able to watch Criminal Minds and drool over Dr. Spencer Reid in peace.




When we arrived we got settled and heading to campus to pick up Hannah. Madeleine was freaking out. All week long I had been telling her we were taking a plane to go see Lauren and Nick and Hannah so as soon as we landed she started almost chanting, "Laun! Nick! Haaaaaan!". It was 9:00 pm but no matter! Hannah thought it would be an AWESOME idea to give her some of her mocha. This lead to my two year old running around the student center screaming, "MOOOOOOOOOCHA!!!!" at 9:30 at night.

We ran into some old friends and some people we had never met before who all ohhh and ahhhed over our children and then it was time to hit the hey.

Over the weekend we stayed with Lauren and Nick, the sickeningly cute newlyweds. Lauren is the resident homemaker and has turned her house in the Steubie projects into a master piece of Martha Stewart proportions. Madeleine is obsessed with Lauren and Nick but can't seem to tell them apart. We credit this to her obvious deep understanding that when they got married they became one person. She is a theological genius.



The weekend included a very fancy type date with my adoring husband at Casbah in Pittsburgh (thanks to Andrea for the treat and my sisters and brother-in-law for baby sitting), Lord's Day with Love of the Lamb, and watching Hannah dominate at tennis.

Now, for those of you who don't know Hannah and really all you know of her is that she has great hair and you only know that from reading my blog, she is an amazing tennis play. And has an introverted phlegmatic personality. Combine those two things and you get the most entertaining tennis match you will ever see.

I would hate to play against her because not only is she good but when she is beating you she doesn't even look like she is trying. Heck, she doesn't even look like she cares. You are running around and panting and she is checking her nails and YOU GET SERVED (tennis pun intended). I was a very proud big sister.

The last noteworthy part of the trip was our adventure into the Trinintine mass with our two little Behr cubs. It went surprisingly well. It was a beautiful mass and although I prefer Novus Ordo, it was nice to switch it up. The only hitch came not from the Latin but from the incense. It sticks to be a Catholic allergic to incense because not being able to breathe does not lend itself to a prayerful and peaceful spirit.

Since we've been back we've enjoyed some time with Kyle's household brothers in the New England area. Sunday we got off our plane at 8:00 pm and drove straight to the Johnson house where I won exactly half of the Apples to Apples games I took part in (okay, it was only two). Yesterday the boys did something involving beer and today we all went to see an old, old wooden ship. I think it's called Diversity? Then the boys came back to our place and ate and drank more beer.

One more day until Kyle goes back to work. I'm not looking forward to it but I've kind of gotten the kids used to having a home and eating food so I'm thinking we may need the money to keep that all up.