Birthday

My day. It's a little awkward (for me, anyway) to plan your own party, but somehow things just sort of materialized this day. We had planned all week to go to Chuck E Cheese at some point, and decided to do it with some friends. Turned out the best day also happened to be my birthday, so we asked a few more to join us and voila! A little party. Thanks, Aubrey, for baking some delish cupcakes. And thanks to Kendra (not me, the other one) for the fabulous sewing book by one of my favorite designers, Amy Butler (did I mention it's autographed?) But mostly, thanks for spending time with us!

Stella & Ella riding in a car

Stella, Addie & Ella on a roller coaster

Matt took me out for dinner (Shake Shack!) & a movie (Doubt) in the evening. Thanks to Aunt Allie for babysitting! The next day we headed up to my mother's house where we girls went out for manis & pedis, and had a fabulous dinner & incredible brownie & ice cream cake. And mom bought me a new dress. Watch for it!

Baby Powder

In your face, baby.



(she did this to herself during a diaper change session)

Drawing Lessons at Pepsi

Can't remember exactly when this happened- but we had the chance to go to Pepsi to take a drawing lesson. Subject matter: Pepsi products. You may have noticed by now that Pepsi has a new logo. Many of their product's packaging has changed. The kids could enter their drawings in a contest and the winners were to be featured in the Pepsi Shareholders annual report.

Alexis chose to draw a Sierra Mist can.
Here she is getting some pointers on perspective from the teacher.

Drawing with Grandma looking on.

Ella just sat and patiently ate snacks almost the entire time we were there...

The USS Intrepid

Every February, the public schools get a week off. Legend has it that years ago when it cost so much money to heat the building, the Department of Education decided to close the schools for a week in the middle of the winter in order to save on heating costs. Whatever the reason, it's always nice to have Matt & Alexis home with us! On the first day of the break we went with Aunt Allie to explore the USS Intrepid.

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is one of America’s leading historic, cultural and educational institutions. Opened in 1982, the Museum has welcomed more than 10 million visitors. The Museum is centered on the aircraft carrier Intrepid (CVS-11), one of the most successful ships in US history, and now a national historic landmark and one of the most unique attractions in New York City. In 1943, Intrepid was commissioned and served proudly in World War II. She went on to serve as one of the primary recovery vessels for NASA, three tours of duty off Vietnam, and submarine surveillance in the North Atlantic during the Cold War.

It was recently refurbished and they were having Kids Week with extra exciting activities- including a puppet show, face painting, crafts and a visit from Mr. Met (although we only saw him walk by).

Valentines

Lexi and I made some chocolate lollipops to give to all her friends at school for Valentine's Day. We were lucky to get some valentines in Lexi's High Five magazine (a publication from the people behind Highlights), so we paired them together for a cute little treat.





And this is how I found Ella a little while later...

Wacky Week

This week Lexi's school participated in Wacky Week- every day was a different theme and allowed them to be a little wacky.... Luckily, her teacher took many photos and I was able to download some of them for our posterity:

Mon: Pajama Day
Everyone got to wear their pajamas and bring a stuffed animal to school- Lexi chose to wear the nightgown I made her for Christmas.



Tues: Twin Day
The teacher assigned pairs of twins (and 2 sets of triplets) and we got in contact with the other parents to plan out something to wear. I wanted to base it on clothes that we both probably already owned (what a cheapskate I am!), but in the end we opted to peruse Old Navy and found some adorable dresses that the girls fell in love with.




Wed: Professional Day
This was the day to dress up as what you want to be when you grow up. Alexis has been enamoured with the idea of being a paleontologist since she was 3. So, she wore a dinosaur shirt, jeans, and I made her a little utility belt where she stuck her tools- a paintbrush & toothbrush (for sweeping away dirt), a hammer, & a magnifying glass. She also wore one of my sunhats- a khaki gardener's type.



Thurs: Inside Out Day
This was the day to wear your clothes inside out, but Alexis absolutely refused. She thinks that's so weird.

Fri: Friendship Day (wear red for Valentine's Day)
No pictures of this day, either, but Alexis wore a red dress that she got from Grandma Susan a while ago. She loves it and was so happy to have a reason to wear it to school.

And this is the class while getting ready to go home at the end of the day:

Unfortunate Incident

So, last week we had an unfortunate incident. I discovered bedbugs in our sheets as I was throwing them in the laundry. Which, in a nutshell, meant we had to wash & dry everything. We also had to throw out our mattress & bed frame and some of our pillows. We cleaned out our bedroom and vacuumed and washed the floor. It seems that the *outbreak* was pretty small and well contained to just our bedroom, so that's good (knock on wood). Anyway, we're on an air mattress now, but are in the market for a new bed. Our budget is very small (about $500 if possible- thank goodness this happened at tax refund time!).

We're considering this mattress from Costco. But since that's just a top mattress, we'd need to also purchase box springs & a frame, or a platform bed. I'm leaning towards a platform bed, though, because I like the idea of not having box springs. And we think we'll stick with a queen size.

Can you tell me about your experience with a platform bed or that mattress? Do you have any other advice?