Tell Me What You Want

It seems that all of the sudden Jill is putting her jacket on by herself, singing (sort of) her ABCs and counting to 10 (most of the time).  She tells me what she wants and quite clearly tells me what she doesn't want.  She knows parts of her favorite books by heart.  She says some of the key words just before or as I say them.  She tells Tony, Rachael and me that she loves us.

Yesterday at drop off - as told by Tony - Jill was a showboat.  They arrived a little bit late so other kids were playing and running around the room.  Instead of joining them, Jill quickly and quietly pulled out a chair and sat to eat her bowl of green grapes, looking quite pleased with herself all the while.

First Snow

Rachael was thrilled this morning and Jill just looked ... well ... confused.  She stood at the front door in awe for several minutes before heading to the truck.  I think she's going to have a lot of fun this winter when she figures it all out!  Jill & Tony - shoveling buddies!

An Abnormal Weekend

Some pictures from the weekend:

new towel from Nana

Tony and I had were invited to the Bruins/Canucks Saturday afternoon "rematch."

We met Heidi and Kyle at Hurricane's before the game. The drinking continued at the Garden. It was too convenient. Our section had a server!

As you can see, I was excited about this.
Also very happy about our club section seats!

We had a center ice view of the fights, and there were plenty.

We had a view of the attractive Senator Scott Brown.

The game was such a cool experience, we almost didn't notice the Bruins lost 4-3.
Almost.

After the game, we headed to Clarke's where we met up with Brian Gallagher and Corey I-Don't-Know-His-Last-Name but he went to Westfield, Ethan, Jenna and Tim and Ali and Mark.

It was so much fun to see everyone! From there we headed to the Seaport, where Kyle lives. We checked out his apartment and roofdeck. The water views are amazing and it's the perfect spot to listen to a summertime concert at the Pavilion. On to Legal Test Kitchen for dinner.

Then to Whiskey Priest to meet up with Ela and Heidi's other friends. A familiar face - my cousin Hilary! It was very nice to run into her! Our night ended there where we decided to call it quits around 11:30. Out for 12 hours straight - not bad!

Meanwhile, my cutie pie had a sleepover at Granna's house. We brought her there Saturday morning and she had no problem saying bye to us. She knew she'd be spoiled by Granna for the day. They also visited Gi-Gi Furze in Dighton.

the studious one, looks just like Tony as a baby!

a ponytail. Can you stand it? She looked SO grown up!

Playful 'Sisters'

Let your kid dress herself. 

Give her stickers during playtime. 

See what happens.

I Resolve

Did you make New Year's resolutions?  Did you already break them?  Resolutions can be tough to keep.  That's why they need to be realistic.  I didn't sit down and intentionally make this list.  Actually I didn't want a list of resolutions at all.  But the more I thought about it during our morning commute, the more I realized I had already consciously started doing things a little bit differently this year.

1. To make my bed. Every day.

2. Reconnect with friends.

3. To help Jill continue to learn. To keep reading. To correct her pronunciation when she says “cah” and not “car.” We can at least attempt to raise a child without a horrendous Bahston accent.

4. To appreciate Tony. Every day. So what if he throws his dirty jeans inches from the hamper and can’t complete a home improvement project to save his life. He’s a wonderful husband, father and friend. Jill and I are very lucky.

5. This is gross but to wash my hands. Every time. You can judge but I know at least some of you don’t do a full soaping every single time you go to the bathroom.

6. To feel confident in a bathing suit. This has never been the case. Maybe when I was 10 before I got my period. I’m not going to worry about the scale anymore. Lose weight, put it back on, gain muscle, however it may work itself out. I’m going to add more lifting to my workouts and throw in some different types of cardio. Maybe even feel sexy in a bathing suit. Maybe.

7. To take my vacation time. All of it.

8. For God’s sake, it’s about time I learned how to manually operate my fancy shmancy camera.

9. I’m 31 and 32 is peaking around the corner. I should take a multi vitamin. Every day.

10. Ease up. It’s ok to leave the dishes for tomorrow and to skip the gym. It happens. Life happens.

Family, friends, fitnesss, career: what are aiming to accomplish this year?  What's your focus for 2012?  Post a comment to share!

Happy New Year, my friends!

Having Fun in 2012

 Play-Doh pancakes?  Don't mind if I do!

Today is the New Year holiday.  Everyone I know has the day off from work, except Tony.  Jill and I drove back to Patriot Place this morning (we were there on Saturday) and met my Mom at Bass Pro Shop. 

Jill was honestly not impressed in the beginning.  I couldn't even get her to crack a smile at the fish tank.  But then, when she saw my Mom her attitude completely changed.  She couldn't stop smiling.  She took my Mom by the hand to show her the turtles.  She put bright yellow sunglasses on upside down, walked into the cave and tried to scare the bear.  "Roarrrrrrrrrrrr!!"  She ran in and out of tents and found the tree house for the first time.  How had we missed this?  She sat in all three chairs before settling on the middle one.  My Mom and I were not allowed inside.

spaghettttttttiiiiii

In Comes a New Year

New Years Day 2012

Visiting the Duvals is always a good time!  The girls get along well and it's so much fun to watch them have fun! 

Here they are a year ago.

New Years Day 2011