folks, we have a breakthrough!

so we have some seriously picky kids.  i don't mean, like, only eat chicken nuggets and toast.  just this last week, they ate spaghetti for the first time.  i'm not kidding.  they eat macaroni and cheese (must be panera, none of this kraft stuff), but apparently the long skinny noodles freak them out.  i was making spaghetti with pecorino romano and black pepper -- fancy for an easier/healthier version of alfredo-- for us, and somehow bryan made it look fun to eat.  something lady and the tramp-esque, i think.  i love how there's an 8-year old in my husband's body.  so they tried it, which is usually half the battle, and loved it!!!  i'm pretty sure i cried, i was so happy.  this, along with the fact that we haven't been that great about making sure what they're eating is healthy because we just want them to eat, pushed me over the edge.  although this is probably completely normal to most people, we finally got it together to schedule our meals for the week.  meal number one: cook's illustrated (best. cookbook. ever.) version of chicken parmesan with some spaghetti on the side.  yum.  and the boys ate it!!  (not the tomatoes, but baby steps, people).  we're keeping our fingers crossed that the trend continues!

i know, bad lighting...

kansas city!

just wanted to share with you out-of-towners how awesome kansas city really is... i don't always feel this way, but we're way cooler than a lot of places. (me clearing my throat- kate).  design*sponge is a pretty sweet blog that i follow, and pretty much everyone in the design world knows what it is, so it doesn't need much explanation.  they do a city guide every week and i don't usually pay much attention, but this updated guide to KC caught my eye...  it's not just 'somewhere in the middle of the US'.

it was a good day

 homemade peanut butter cups for my sweetie

and to make it obvious what day it was, 

a sugar cookie made by my lovely neighbor

the guys enjoying their valentine's day treats

(man, could these two be cuter?!)

 that's what i get when i ask for a smile...

i guess it's better than his open-mouthed deer-in-the-headlights look

we got for the first year and a half of his life.

we delivered the remaining pb cups to various neighbors and friends - i had planned to give them all to my valentine, but they were HUGE, and we're still working on the sour cream fudge cake my mom made last night.  yeah, we're kind of big dessert people in this family.  we also visited bryan at work, and only stayed for a bit because apparently there were a lot of lonely sick people today that needed some love.  and tomorrow, for part of my present, i get to sleep in.  i'm so excited i can hardly stand it!


hope you had a lovely day.

a quote

no man is ever truly married until he understands every word is wife is NOT saying.

if i am guilty of anything in my marriage, it's thinking that bryan is on exactly the same wavelength as me and knows what i'm thinking most of the time.  and we do a pretty good job of picking up where the other left off, but of course not all the time.  sometimes i think something is so obvious and a huge fight ensues when i could have just told him what i wanted.  this quote made me laugh out loud, and then made me incredibly grateful for a husband who understands almost all the words i don't say.  i'm feeling particularly valentine-y this year, which is really abnormal.  but i think i'm coming around on this holiday.  maybe it's the babies boys, or maybe i'm just becoming older and wiser and learning to not focus on all the fake cheesy mushy parts of the day and appreciate real love.  speaking of, happy anniversary to my in-laws, who will celebrate 35 years of marriage tomorrow. they will be taking a train to the grand canyon to celebrate, although only seeing it from the top.  fred doesn't want anything to do with the swirling vortex of terror and i don't blame him.  

happy valentine's day.

in complete and total love.

one of my christmas presents to myself was a new return address stamp.  most people don't really think this is that big of a deal, but as a designer and lover of calligraphy (and wannabe totally awesome kick-ass calligrapher someday), it's a big deal.  i was all ready to take pictures of the stamp in action, but then realized i probably didn't want to put my address on the world wide web.  so i borrowed a photo from their etsy site.  i mean, seriously, how cool is this calligraphy?!  their name is primele and it's three sisters, one of whom does the lettering and the other two help with the business aspect of things.  that would really be great, if my sisters would quit the nursing profession and handle my business.  yeah, right. :)

i used her calligraphy for a wedding invite i'm currently working on and i basically want to be her.  it's that simple.  someday...

things i've learned

in the past couple of weeks.

disclaimer: due to the graphic nature of this post, especially if you don't have children and haven't experienced uncontrollable vomit, you may not want to continue.


- that i didn't really know things could get worse than a couple of snow days stuck inside.
- oh, but they can.
- two weeks. one ear infection. one GI bug passed from one boy to the next. and one prescription for amoxicillin that wreaked havoc on liam's digestive system and spread his 24-hour GI bug across 4 days. boo.
- how grateful i am that we are near our families.
- how grateful i am for zumba.  i kicked its ass today. that doesn't even make sense, but i hadn't exercised in a week and man, it felt good.
- i hate exercising, so that's how desperate i was to be out of the house without a poor little man clinging to me.
- i love when that certain little one lays his head on my shoulder and doesn't move for hours on end, but his normal personality is so much more, that i didn't realize how much i wanted my crazy monkey back.
- that even though it may not seem like it, it's better to be thrown up on than to clean up vomit from cracks in your hardwood floors.
- how finn can so easily pick up the slack of liam's missing energy and keep us all laughing.
- how it's really, really hard to have twins. (don't worry, i didn't just learn that one, i was just reminded)
- especially when they're not old enough to realize why their worlds are turned upside down.
- that having your husband around for all of the bodily fluids is invaluable.
- especially when said husband is an ER doc and smells don't bother him.
- that pedialyte is disgusting.
- that i've never wanted to be able to sleep in so badly in my life.
- that i am so extremely grateful for my healthy babes that make me want to tear my hair out sometimes, but really are good, good boys.