Solitary Snow...

It really only snowed with a little accumulation once this year. Atypical for Maryland but then again the very definition of Maryland weather is "atypical."

Little-to-no snow didn't keep us from having s'mores about 432 times starting in October and well into March!

January - Celebrating "The King"

Aside from something charitable, we started a new educational tradition this year with the kids to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King.

We took the short (but long when you're 2 with a 2 year old bladder) road trip to D.C. will go on record as THE COLDEST day of the year (and in my memory) other than the day of Obama's Inauguration (UNREAL--and I didn't even leave the house).

We had a great time...MLK, Lincoln, and Vietnam memorials, and finally National Harbor--for lunch and kiddie crafts.

I love this one. Had no idea what I was capturing at the time.

These kiddies never once cried or complained about the cold.

Merry Excess

Santa overdid it. I'm going to have a long talk with that fat old man because it will be impossible for us to continue what we started this year--nor do we want to.

The problem is we never, ever buy toys. Nearly all of our children's toys have been gifted to them. However, this Christmas, it became obvious to me that Olivia and Lucas could use a few nice toys when I:

A. Realized it will peacefully distract them and allow them to learn, discover, and imagine--independently.

B. Observed Olivia listening to her brother's hearbeat just like their doctor does--but with a leftover silver ribbon from an old gift box. ( I'm actually proud of her for this one.)

C. Caught Olivia and Lucas fighting over (and nearly decapitating) this...

What is this you ask? Flat Stanley? No. This is a fake baby doll that came with a shopping cart that a friend gave Olivia for her birthday in August. It was merely a placeholder in the packaging to demonstrate where you put your baby doll in the shopping cart. Just a mere piece of cardboard to us, but to Olivia and Lucas---a dear, dear friend. If you could only see how excited Lucas gets when he sees this little girl. Olivia has a real baby doll, by the way.

So, a generous Kmart gift card spending spree, and two over-the-top grandmas later...this was our Christmas set up (BEFORE the grandma's added even more presents vtech stuff, pillowpets, tents, play tunnels, art supplies and play food, etc. ).

That damn (beautiful) doll house was my bright idea and nearly ended my marriage. It took us 5 hours to put that bee-otch together. We had planned to drink wine and enjoy our rite of passage as parents on Christmas Eve.

• Olivia's Dora Tricyle? Easy (I did it). 
• Lucas' Baby Car? No Problem (Charm City Daddy did it).  
• Personalize and Set up Olivia's InnoTab? (Fun! me again) 

About 30 minutes into assembly of the doll house...how do I say this...shit got serious. It was only in hour 3 that I finally burst into hysterics laughing myself to tears when I realized we hadn't even touched our glasses of wine.

We made it but many lessons learned for next year.