Downton Geekery

On Sunday, Bryan and I took the girls to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  The girls run hot and cold with regards to visiting the museum.  One day they love it there and then all of the sudden they don't like the museum and it's boring.  I love going there and I Bryan enjoys it, too.  He and I differ in what art we like, but typically we can find something we like in whatever wing it was that we didn't want to visit.

We wandered into a wing that was a bit more modern (modern being 1700-1800's) that I'm sort of iffy about.  I like the English manor rooms, but I'm more impressed with the wing on the opposite side of the museum.  As we wandered through the rooms, I saw a plaque that stated the picture above was of Lady Grantham.  What?!  So I did what any self-respecting Downton Abbey fan would do.  I grabbed out my phone and snapped a picture.  And now, I'm sharing it with you.  Sure, this Lady Grantham is from an earlier date in history, but you won't mind.

Not only did the girls enjoy this latest trip to the museum, [Katie was largely unimpressed but she just doesn't know any better.] but I also found a nod to a favorite show.  And I thought the hidden Mickey that I spotted on an altar screen was cool.  I had no idea what was waiting for me just across the way.

Hidden Mickey is dead center above the peak.

Marital Life Lesson

When your husband has shaving cream on his face and you hear the water running in the sink, it is not a good time to smack him in the butt.  Why, you ask?  Well, as obvious as this may appear to more observant people [self not included], chances are your husband DID NOT put shaving cream on his face to brush his teeth.  If you hear running water and you just watched your husband put on shaving cream you can probably expect him to pull out a sharp razor [I vaguely recall seeing him replace this just before he went to "brush his teeth"].  Fortunately for Bryan my total lapse of brain activity did not result in an injury.  I think he's often amazed at how quickly I can forget what is going on around me.

Quick Takes Volume 30

~1~

I've come to the conclusion that I don't like when my babies start to get big.  I spent some time last night going through 6-12 month hand me downs for Katie.  How is my baby who is not even five months old yet moving into 6-12 month clothing?  And, where did the last five months go?  Katie was due exactly five months ago today.  Of course, she decided to take her sweet time and arrive a week later.

~2~

Yesterday was a beautiful, but windy day.  It was so warm out that our house was 76 degrees by around noon.  Windows are rarely open in our house, but yesterday they were open for the majority of the day.  It was warm enough that some of my crocuses bloomed.

~3~

Two weeks of wearing a sneaker did not cure the problem with my foot. Why am I not surprised? I took the advice of a friend and saw a chiropractor today.  Maybe now I'll start to see some improvement with my foot.

~4~

It's a Friday, and true to form I've been thinking about meat and cheese all day.  I don't know what it is about Fridays in Lent, but knowing that I can't eat meat makes me want it.  It's odd considering I rarely ever eat meat on Fridays.

~5~

I cannot get Katie to belly laugh for me.  She laughs at Bryan, but not me.  I guess I'm just not funny enough for her.

~6~

Tomorrow is going to be a soccer filled day.  Madeline has training in the morning, followed by an afternoon away game.  Bryan has a soccer coach meeting for Ellie's team in between Madeline's soccer obligations.  

~7~

We went to Target tonight and Bryan suggested we look for meal ideas that don't have cheese.  That was  probably not the best idea.  I found myself drawn to meal after meal that contained cheese.  I guess I miss cheese more than I thought. 

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Visit Soule Mama to see more moments.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life.

{pretty}

A cute baby wearing a dress that once fit both of her big sisters.

{happy}

Ellie was one happy helper last Thursday night when she was entrusted with the important task of making sure none of the fries overlapped or touched.  She was my fry girl.

{funny}

Some of us can stick our foot in our mouth without even trying [figuratively speaking], but for others, this task requires considerable effort.  

{real}

Ellie is trying to bond with Katie.  Lately she's been avoiding the rest of the family at night preferring to go off into a dark room and sleep.  She's having a hard time adjusting to having a baby sister.  She's feeling jealous and I think, a little depressed.  It's taking a good deal of effort to help Ellie cope with the new family dynamic. 

I don't like seeing my Elsie looking so glum.  I'm hopeful that she will return to her happy-go-lucky self sometime soon.  

I Found My Old Blog!

Shortly before Ellie turned one year old I started a blog.  After the first blog post, I couldn't figure out how to get back into the blog and it took me a bit of time before I found my way back.  After I got back in, I once again forgot how to log into it and so my little fledgling blog was abandoned.  Three years ago when I decided to give blogging a try once more I couldn't find my original blog.  I was disappointed because I had like the blog's not incredibly creative name "The Adventures of Madeline and Ellie."  So I decided that I would shake things up and start a new blog with the innovative and uber creative title that you see above. (Proof that I'm not as creative as some people might claim.)

I was looking for excuses to not fold the laundry had a few spare minutes today and decided to use the google machine to search for my abandoned blog.  It wasn't until I used the title of the blog and the year it was written that I was able to find it.  I kept getting all these pesky returns for some blog called Karen's Adventures in Mommyland.  Apparently this hack of a blogger has two kids who she claims have the same names as my girls.  She even calls her baby Elsie! Oh wait, I'm talking about myself again, never mind.

While my original blog is only two posts long, I still enjoyed looking back on it to see where I was nearly six years ago.  Now I have to try and see if I can get back into this blog and find a way to merge the posts onto this one.

Small Successes-March 8th

Celebrating the little things in life that add up.

1. I finally folded and packed Katie's outgrown 0-3 month clothes into a rubbermaid tote for storage.  These clothes have been sitting in my living room, mostly unfolded and overflowing the tote since early January.  My motivation for packing away the clothes is the simple fact that Katie is outgrowing a lot of her 3-6 month clothing.

2. I tried another new recipe for dinner this week.  It was delicious and liked by everyone, even Ellie!  I know Bryan is already looking forward to the next time I make rosemary lemonade chicken.  I tweaked the recipe a bit and seasoned the chicken with rosemary from my garden.

3. I took Katie to Mass all by myself last night.  It's ok, you can take a moment to stop, scratch your head and try to figure how a mom of three sees taking a baby to Mass by herself as an accomplishment.  This was the first time I didn't have someone else with me to operate as an alternate source of amusement.  She did just fine.  No wailing or crying.

4. Ellie came home with a very nice progress report for the third marking period.

5. I finally wrote up a couple of reviews that I've been meaning to do.  You can find them here and here.

6. Katie not only belly laughed for the first time early this week, but she also managed to put her foot in her mouth on Tuesday night.  She was so happy once she got her toes in her mouth.  She's such a silly baby.  This girl LOVES her feet!  She spends a lot of time holding her toes or just looking at her foot move.  She's fascinated by them.