The great indoors

The start of spring in Norfolk is lovely but hard. Some days are glorious and sunny and we rush outside right away. Then the next day is windy and cold and it makes you want to hunker down. It's amazing how temperature can be so relative.  After the summer, 50 degrees feels FREEZING but after the winter, it's amazing. Needless to say, when we have experienced a few 70 degree days in March, I don't like to have the windy 30's come back and visit again. So, much of our March was spent enjoying the indoors with the freedom to go outside when it was nice.  

St Patty's day 

my favorite time of day...story time before bed. Full Lap. Full heart. 

 Rachel loves books. Well, she really loves to eat them but hopefully that means she'll love to read. 

 J has been my big baking helper. We've made cupcakes for his school St Patrick's Day party and the Easter party (although the church heater was broken and we missed a full week of school prior to Spring Break). This is how he attacks the bowl when we're finished. Atta Boy! 

 He loves to be helpful with Rachel. Now, if only we could get him to be a better listener

 Sleepover and baking cookies with BB and Grandad. What fun! They play flashlight tag, eat snacks, go to the beach, bake, visit William and Sonoma and do other crazy things. He loves being there and we are so grateful for some alone time with Rachel. We are so blessed to have family close by who is willing and able to help with the kids

 JB and I went to Charlottesville for a few days for my PT continuing ed course and Leadership Retreat. We've had the pleasure of attending this retreat for the past few years, in Staunton and now at the Boar's Head. We made it there Thursday and Rachel went right to sleep. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and March Madness. JB and Rach played around the Inn Friday, Saturday and Sunday with some attempts at naps thrown in there.  It was a great weekend but also stressful with a 6 month old. She didn't sleep great a night (we had to cancel a babysitter we had for a wine pairing dinner on Friday night) or during the day (crying it out works great at home but not when people next to you are paying $$ to be there for a relaxing weekend!). JB did amazing with Rach in a really tough situation. He was a true prince this weekend and allowed me to focus on the tasks at hand (you know, feeding a baby in between planning sessions and meetings).  I really enjoyed the course I took, which is such an answer to prayer. It was refreshing to feel like I do remember how to read, think and learn despite so much time away from professional life.  

Seeing moments like this never gets old

We've followed-through on our new movie night tradition. The first one was Planes and last week's was Aladdin. We weren't sure if J was going to like it or be scared but he didn't take his eyes off the screen the whole time. He now talks about his tiger friend, "Roger".  He was SUPER exhausted from waking up early and not napping, so at one point he said, "I'm going to fall asleep soon" as he snuggled up in the blanket. It was sweet coming from the boy who adamantly protests sleep.  

I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for Allyson with Kaitlin, Heather and Maria. They were amazing people to hostess with as the division of labor made the shower feel relatively effortless. We all needed a nap that afternoon, however :) We're so excited to meet baby Sabin #2 in May! It was lovely to be surrounded by people who I love and to spend some time praying for Ally and her growing family. 

J and JB played upstairs during the shower 

 Our big sitter!