Stella was stella

Winter storm Stella was legit. It started snowing in the middle of the night Monday night and didn't stop until Wednesday evening. While not being super excited for a huge snow storm in the  middle of March, this one was surprisingly quite fun. You'd think we would have all gone stir crazy being inside for 2 days straight, but there was just something about watching the snow fall ALL DAY LONG that made us all just want to hibernate inside (and take advantage of the fact that daddy was home with us for some of it--mostly in the bed room working on a paper, with occasional visits). 

And while we were mostly inside, we did step out a few times to take in the snow. On Tuesday the kids went out and played on the balcony for a bit.

We had planned a little pie party with some friends, but ended up cancelling because no one could drive. Good thing since I burned my  Triple Berry Pie! (While watching the Great British Baking Show no less! How embarrassing!) We still ate it and just scraped off the burned parts. We did end up rescheduling our party for the weekend and I made Mel's Magnolia Lemon Pie which was heavenly. Definitely making that one again. (Funny side note, the other three families all brought Peanut Butter Chocolate Pies! So funny because that is what I almost made until one of my friends said she would be bringing one. I guess we all had peanut butter on the brain).

On Wednesday we played inside in the morning for a bit while also people watching from the kids room (one perk to our apartment living is our huge bedroom windows). At one point our neighbor was out there trying to dig out his car with his ice scraper so I jumped out to help him while the kids rooted us on from the window. After coming back inside, the kids said they wanted to go out and "help" also and I figured, why not, they could use some outside time. It ended up being so fun to play in the deep snow. Shae and I did quite a few cannon balls into the parking lot.

This last picture is from Saturday. We went out and climbed all the massive snow piles all throughout our apartment complexes. Pretty sure they will be here till the first day of summer...

It's sunny and 45 today so it feels like spring really is coming (yay!) except it's supposed to snow again tomorrow... 

This kind of snow is kind of what we expected to be normal here in Ithaca, good to know that normal it is not.

Belén Turns Two

It was so fun celebrating Belén on her birthday. She seemed more than prepared for it too. With Shae's birthday just 3 weeks before and two friend birthday parties between that time, she seemed to really get what was going on. As in, she knew the birthday song VERY well (except she sings it "Happy Shoo Shoo Shoo YOU," and knew that presents, cake and ice cream were involved.

She received a bday package from Aunt Amelia a few days before her birthday. We opened it up and put the presents on our bookshelf. Every single day she would go over to them, point at them and sing "Happy shoo shoo shoo...mine." 

When she woke up, we all went in the room and sang Happy Birthday to her before getting her out of her crib. She didn't seem to like that too much. Haha, she fussed and whined and said, "No!" I guess the three of us coming in in the morning was a bit too much for her.

She did, however, get excited when she walked out to see streamer and balloons in the hallway. We let her open up her birthday cereal (which Darin did a great job picking out just for her--I was really rooting for Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but he chose Rapunzel instead. She appreciated it. I, however, am not a fan of marshmallow cereal).

Grandma and Khun-Ta came in to town right around lunch time. When they arrived we went ahead and gave her her other presents. My mom found this little kitchen right after Christmas for 75% off and got it for her. The kids both love it. 

They especially love making things for others and taking them over to them and hearing their reactions about how good the food is. Shae keeps making a drink called a snapper...not sure where that came from.

Cheers.

Opening the presents that she had been staring at on the bookshelf for a few days by this point :).

Lathering up with the chapstick. 

Ever since getting a membership to the Y Shae has wanted to go as a family for open swim. We just could never seem to make it happen, until the day of Belén's birthday. We wanted to do something fun with my parents in town, but it was 15 degrees outside, so our options were limited. The pool was the perfection solution.

Shae gets to do swim lessons often, but she hasn't had a chance in the pool yet and she loved it. It was really fun to play with her in there and to see all the things that Shae has been learning in his lessons.

When we got home we had some dinner and did cake and ice cream. She helped me put the final touches of the blueberries on the cake. 

Her birthday was simple and sweet. It was so nice that my parents came up for the weekend to celebrate with us, that in and of itself was enough of a treat for her (and us). 

We are so in love with this sweet girl and still can't believe that she is two! 

Happy Birthday Belén!!