Happy Mother's Day

I had such a wonderful Mother's Day - spending time with Mark and the girls, my parents, Yiayia and friends, sleeping in (hooray!) and even doing a little shopping! It was perfect! Here are a few pictures from the weekend ...

This is a favorite - all the mothers with Evie and Nora at church today. This is the famous stained-glass window we always take photos in front of, dating back to my parents' wedding and my baptism. It has history! After church, we came back to our house for a BBQ and then a very long nap! Thank you for sleeping girls - and at the same time no less! What a gift!

OK, this is too funny - me holding both girls after church, them trying to hug/strangle each other. They really do love each other, I promise!!

Saturday night, after our trip to the Plaza, we had dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant Accurso's. I love this one of the two Evelyns - Evie and her Yiayia. These two are joined at the hip!

And to kick off the weekend, we visited our friends Chris, Lynn and Ellie at their new house (welcome to the burbs!) While the guys painted, the little girls shared pizza and even a chair! Aren't they adorable?! Meanwhile, Nora was destroying their kitchen island, spilling coffee, playing with power tools, etc., etc. Sorry guys!

"Evie's Friend Natalie"

In Evie's world, there are "Mommy's friends" and "Evie's friends." Today was an "Evie's friend" day with the visit of Miss Natalie! We had such a fun, sun-filled morning and afternoon, blowing bubbles, playing on the swing set and even swimming/splashing in the baby pool. Lovely how Natalie's hair remained perfectly styled during pool time while Evie's was plastered to her head after repeat self-dousings! Seriously, my girls are little fishies! Thanks for the great play date Natalie and Kristine - looking forward to Friday!
 

Girls Trip to Denver!

I've never run a marathon before, but surely it's similar to the sense of accomplishment I felt after two successful SOLO flights with the girls! OK, runners out there are shaking their heads at me, but seriously, I wanted to channel Evie today and say: "I did it! I did it!" The girls and I (just me, no Mark) flew to Denver this week to visit our good friends Becky and Ella Herb, - without any major meltdowns or diaper drama - on the flights at least! Here are the girls at the KC airport, very excited to see the planes and "Evie's friend Ella."

Fortunately, Evie was feeling gracious and said Ella could be Nora's friend too.

Our trip was so wonderful - plenty of timeouts for Evie and Ella (Evie mostly!), but Becky and I managed to laugh through it all. Lucky me was able to drink a glass of wine at the end of each long day as well. But, all things considered (3 girls 2 and under sharing the same space for 3 nights) - we all survived and had a great time in the process! Evie and Ella now have a love-hate relationship I'm sure will continue all through life, especially if Evie continues to be so loud and naughty and Ella continues to be such a goody-goody! Just kidding, Becks, Ella is the most polite, well-behaved toddler I have ever met! Maybe Evie learned a thing or two??! Wishful thinking!

One of our favorite memories from the weekend was the first night when we thought it would be so fun to have the older girls share a room for the night. We were laughing so hard we were crying listening to them singing and talking - and Ella telling Evie to be quiet, lay down and go night, night. It was hilarious! Until 6:00 a.m. when Evie woke Ella up and they woke the rest of us up.

Here are the two buddies hugging (Evie is such an intense hugger!)

Thank you Becky, Ella and Mark (sorry if Ella learned some new bad habits!) We had such a lovely time - thanks for putting up with the Cowie girls!!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Today, Evie and Nora helped their good friend Ellie celebrate her 2nd birthday with pizza, Dora and balloons! Here are a few pictures from the big day, including the most adorable of all - Evie and Ellie hugging at the end of the party! So sweet!

The Most Perfect Lunch Ever!

Happy Easter!

For the first time in a long time, Greek Easter was on the same day as American Easter so the girls and I were torn between two families ... We ended up spending the weekend in St. Louis with the Cowies and, although we missed our Greeks, we had a wonderful time with the Cowie cousins - including our newest addition, Mr. Mason, with a headful of dark hair and already a way with the ladies - check out Nora pulling up to get a closer look!

We spent Saturday afternoon hunting for Easter eggs at a beautiful park in Des Peres and enjoying delicious crepes with Grandma Easter morning in Clayton. Seriously, Evie is smiling in this picture! We have to work on proper smiling for pictures before Aunt Melina's wedding!

It was a gorgeous weekend, and we had so much fun! You can tell by Nora's "snort!"

A Change of Pace

Mark and I recently had the amazing opportunity to spend a weekend in Florida with some of our closest friends. The goal - to celebrate two 30th birthdays ... and a mini break from the responsibilities of parenting! Sorry to say girls, but it was lovely!! To better illustrate just why the trip was such a pleasant departure from everyday life, here are two pictures:

one of dinner on a normal evening (cleaning up sticky mac and cheese is no fun Nora!!)
and one of Mark and I at a romantic dinner at a restaurant - no clean-up required!!! And we're relaxed, sunkissed (ok, burnt!) and probably a little tipsy from wine! LOVELY!!!