Cribs are for babies

And Kate is NOT a baby anymore. She has officially claimed her place in the "big girl" world. Her bed is no longer a crib....oh yes folks....she has moved on to a big girl bed!! Its actually still her crib..with the front removed....but she is absolutely tickled with "big girl" bed! We thought it would be a hard transition...with long...drawn out "its time to go to bed" battles and frequent escapes during the night...not to mention the dreaded end to nap time... But to our surprise, She crawls right in her bed at bedtime...stays there all night....and even still takes her naps! She took right to it..no problems. I think she likes feeling like a big girl. The only down side so far has been that she wakes up much earlier, which has been a hard transition for us. Long past are the days of sleeping in until 8-8:30am. Now, we are woken up by a bright and cheerful Kate walking into our room at 6-6:30am as she excitedly greets us...."hi mom, hi dad!!!" Its hard to be mad at your missed sleep when she is so happy and excited to see us in the morning.

My favorite Valentines

We has a wonderful Valentines starting off with heart shaped pancakes topped with strawberries...yummy!! Definately a great way to start the day. Followed by a trip to deliver Nanny her valentine at work, a trip to the aquarium...and a nice home cooked dinner to top it off. Eric even helped me cook dinner which was fun. He has been wanting me to teach him how to cook...and he likes to peel and chop...which definately came in handy that night. Our menu required lots of veggies and herbs in need of chopping and slicing. Instead of going out to fight the crowds, we always prefer to make a fancy meal at home. We usually have a quite candlelight dinner just the two of us...but since Kate doesn't go to bed until 8:30-9pm....we had our little monkey join us. It was wonderful to have my two favorite Valentines to celebrate with. I love them everyday..every minute. They are my joy...and our sweet baby maz too!! We can't wait to welcome our newest little one into our family and love him or her to pieces. Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful day with their loved ones.

Working on her valentines

Looking at her favorite "Nemo" fish at the aquarium

Our valentine menu: Filet Mignon steaks topped with a shallot mustard sauce, potato leek gratin, asparagus, and parmesean garlic bread. Ohhh sooo yummy. (And definately not good for you...the sauce alone has a whole stick of butter in it...and lets not even get into the gratin...)

And for dessert...our favorite chocolate bundt cake!!

Romp to Stomp

Ok..its time to play catch up. This month has been busy...so sorry for the delayed posts. Several weeks ago we participated in the "Romp to Stomp" which is basically the winter version of the Race for the Cure. A breast cancer fundraiser....but instead of of tennis shoes....everyone is sporting snowshoes. It was a blast! Eric and I put Kate in our backpack..and with my mom and Bob along for the fun we were off on a 5k snowshoe. Even though the weather reports were forecasting snow...it turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day. It felt awesome to get out in the fresh air and get some exercise. And Kate loved every minute of being outside...as always.

All the "Survivors"!!!

Good Food, Good Friends

Monday night I went to a cooking class with some of my girlfriends. A birthday present (to my cousin and I) from my sweet friend Lacee. What a fun gift. We had a ball! We all love cooking and getting the chance to learn new things together is even better. Thanks again Lacee.

On the Menu:

Homemade Ceasar Salad (With being pregnant, I had to modify my dressing because of the raw egg...bummer...they said it was really good)

Herb Roasted Chicken

Sweet Potato and Fennel Gratin

and

Chocolate Molten Cakes.

We did all the cooking...and the results were...

Delicious!!!

The instructor was sweet and put candles in our cakes and sang "Happy Birthday". Mishay and I have the same birthday which always makes for a fun celebration.

Movie Time

Last Saturday we decided it was finally time to take Kate to see a movie..in a real theater. The Princess and the Frog was the lucky winner. Eric was fairly pessimistic on how the event would unfold. I was undecided. On one hand..she quite enjoys movies, on the other...she is 2. And that, as any parent knows is enough to be leary of any event in a public place. Luckliy, my friend Tara called right before we left and enlightened me with the secret weapon to a successful movie experience with a toddler....

POPCORN

In their own kid sized bag of coarse.

And I must say, it worked like a charm! Is that bad that I let my child stuff herself on popcorn so she would sit quietly on Daddys lap for a movie???

Some may disagree.. but I say heck NO! Every kid needs to be spoiled with junk food and a movie once in awhile. Thats part of being a kid.

And to our surprise....Kate sat through the whole movie (and loved it)....Well almost. She made it until the last 10 minutes...dang previews...without those, we would have made it all the way. But in the last 10 min...a switch flipped..and Kate was DONE! So Kate and Daddy exited the theater to walk around while I finished the movie.

This is where I found them.

The arcade of coarse.

I wished I had followed my instinct to take a picture by the movie poster...before the movie. But I didn't. And after a movie, loads of popcorn and over stimulation in the arcade...there was no chance of getting my photo op on our way out.