we couldn’t really go out for phil’s birthday this year what with his current long work hours, a wigglesome toddler, and a newborn who currently thinks she needs to be held *all* the time.  so… i tried to make him a restaurant dinner at home. prime rib, lobster tail, tomato mozzarella caprese salad, oven roasted rosemary parmesan potatoes, garlic bread, and chocolate cake.  all of phil’s favorites! the food was a hit and phil was happily surprised.  the company, well, that was a miss.  mikey decided he was done two minutes after we started to eat and KEPT asking for cake the rest of the time, and allie made sure we could hear how…

it’s been absolutely gorgeous here the last couple of weeks!  it seems as if we’ve sprung right over the usual slushy, chilly, gray and rainy spring right into june weather.  that’s normally when it warms up to mid 70s, bright beautiful sunny skies, and the best part, no mosquitos or humidity yet!  it’s been the nicest april we’ve had in the five years we’ve lived here.  i told phil i’d totally love living here if it was always like this.  he replied that it’d be a lot more crowded and expensive to live here as everyone else would want to live here, too.  good point.  to celebrate feeling WARM again, i’ve been taking…

ok, so to get one semi-decent family picture (see above), we end up with numerous shots more like this:   our morning: a photo essay.  easter outfits hung up and ready… time to wake up mikey! one kid’s all ready! now the other kid’s all ready and hanging out in her favorite spot– the swing. allie telling mommy a humorous anecdote just before heading off to church. He is risen! 

is it mid-april already?!  things here have been really really good.  BUSY, but good.  phil’s mom’s 9 day visit went well and it was great to have her here to help out.  she took mikey to the park every afternoon, giving me a couple hours alone with allie.  even when it was 38 degrees out!  i just made sure mikey was extra-bundled up.  hee hee.  i think they both enjoyed spending time with each other.  and it was sooo nice that she cooked dinner for us every night.  that was the best!  so to recap… mikey and me with the birthday cake phil brought home grandma tsai with mikey and allie dressed up and ready…

so here it is… my daily schedule with boy-bert and baby-bert.  note that all times are VERY approximate and tend to vary day-by-day.  especially with the time change (which phil and i both completely forgot about for the third time since we’ve been married! ) and with phil’s mom being here for the last week and a half. 6 am — daddy gets up and leaves for work. 8 am — wake up allie, nurse, change diaper, back down to sleep.  mommy brush teeth, gets dressed, and ready for the day. 9 am — get mikey up (he’s usually already awake by now but waits in bed for me), sit…