Happy Birthday Gracie!

Grace with my mom at her 2nd Birthday Party

Yes,
I could be better rested,
my house could be so much cleaner,
be less late for work in the morning,
read interesting books more often,
catch up on my favorite TV shows,
take naps on the weekends,
ride my bike around the neighborhood more often,
try on clothes when I go shopping,
eat at fancier restaurants,
watch movies with your daddy,
take my time enjoying meals,
flip through magazines,
referee fewer fights,
put away fewer toys,
wipe up fewer messes,
wash chocolate milk from the sofa slipcovers less often,
spend more time and money on myself....

....but you are sooooooooooooo worth it, Gracie!

Happy 2nd Birthday, my little baby!  When you read this one day, I hope you know how much I love you.

Instagramming

School Pictures

The kids' school pictures came in!  These are Grace's first school pictures ever and both of their first times at their new preschool.  See the little tear in Grace's eyes?

Museum of Natural History

Darren and Sophie studying the whale.

DC Day

We spent most of the day (starting at 7:30am!) in DC today, doing everything from breakfast at Eastern Market to exploring the Museum of Natural History to picnicking in Georgetown.  It was so tiring, but so fun!  Sophie and Grace are incredibly lucky to have so many cousins their age who all get along and love to play together.  It seems as if every few days it's something fun with another cousin.  Thanks to my own cousin Quynh who invited us to come along and encouraged us to get out and about early this morning!

Carny

Pics from today...including the annual Fairfax Fair we enjoy every year!

 

Memorial Day Weekend

Every year for Memorial Day weekend, my family usually gets together at my aunt's house in New Jersey for a mini family reunion.  This year, we'll be having a real family reunion in Cancun later this summer, so our annual New Jersey trip was cancelled.  Being the person that I am, I couldn't just sit around and do nothing for Memorial Day, so I took my family to Virginia Beach for the weekend.  We had just come home from Orlando, but Darren amiably agreed to make the 3.5-hour drive to the beach anyway.  We had a great time! Even my sister's family and my parents came along...it couldn't have been better!

Orlando Trip

We took a whirlwind, last minute trip to Orlando this past week and it was Sophie's favorite vacation yet!  It felt like the surface of the Sun for Darren and I, but Sophie didn't seem to notice (Grace probably didn't even know we were on vacation).  She spent time floating down the lazy river at the hotel, received Hermione Granger's magic wand at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and met Disney princesses at the Magic Kingdom.  This was the first time she did not want to come home, which is a great sign that she had a fabulous time.