Can you tell me how to get?

Oh, how Charlie and Lily love Sesame Place! The season passes? Totally worth every penny! Especially on days like this past Friday. Joe was off from work and we'd planned on hitting up Sesame Place to do the water activities, but that morning the weather was gray and drizzly. We decided to skip the water stuff but hit the park anyway, and we're so glad we did! There were basically no crowds. We walked on to every ride, Charlie and Lily got to visit with Abby Cadabby and Super Grover and we sat front row at the Elmo Rocks show. It was a great morning!

So excited to ride the carousel.

The teacups! (Joe sits out any ride that spins fast, lol.)

Ooooh, so close to the action at Elmo Rocks!

Strolling down Sesame Street.

Yay, Super Grover! This was the first time that Charlie and Lily got to meet him.

Lily was desperate to see Abby. She talked about her all day long, so we were excited to find her right before we were ready to leave.

NICU Reunion 2012

On Sunday, we attended our third annual St. Peter's NICU Reunion. We love the reunion, as it gives us a chance to catch up with our favorite doctors and nurses and also with some of the families that we got to know during our stay.

Charlie and Lily both wore new outfits to the reunion, although Lily seemed to think her bloomers looked better on her head than on her tush.

We were happy to get to spend some time with Charlie's primary nurse, Sue. Sue spent countless nights at Charlie's side while he was in the NICU and was always kind enough to wait to take her break so she didn't miss my nightly 3:00am paranoid check-in phone call.

Then Charlie and Lily had their first bounce house experience, although this was as far as Charlie got before deciding that the bounce house wasn't for him.

Lily, however, couldn't get enough of it!

After bouncing, Charlie and Lily helped me make their scrapbook page, which will be hung in the hall of the hospital for current NICU parents to see.

And of course there were treats. My kids may or may not have had cookies and ice cream for lunch. And Charlie had his first taste of cotton candy. Needless to say, he was a fan.

We also spent some time with friends - this is Juliana and Nicholas, NICU grads of a friend of mine!

The highlight for Charlie and Lily was riding the train around the reunion site. We rode twice and they loved it both times!

But for Joe and I, the best part is always seeing Dr. Hiatt, the head of St. Peter's neonatology. Charlie and Lily are alive today because of him and we will never forget what he did for our family.

Mother's Day Weekend 2012

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there - I hope you had a wonderful day and were spoiled rotten. Since you all know by now how awesome Joe is at spoiling  me, I had a great Mother's Day, although it was actually more like a Mother's Day weekend. We kicked things off on Friday when I ran in a neighborhood 5K to benefit Charlie and Lily's future preschool. (They'll be in preschool in 4 short months - omg!) The kids were excited to cheer me on, and Lily took her role of cheerleader very seriously. 

Joe had special Mother's Day shirts made for me and the kids and surprised me by bringing Charlie and Lily to the race wearing their shirts. The shirts had pictures of me with the kids on the front and then a collage of words on the back highlighting the things we do together - music, library, munchkins, etc. Adorable!

Searching for Mommy among the runners

While the race was being run, Charlie and Lily worked on their speed with Crackers.

When the race was over, Charlie and Lily were able to go cross the finish line. Lily sprinted ahead yelling "I very fast!" Charlie wasn't as concerned with being fast, lol.

The following day, Crackers was kind enough to babysit while Joe and I went to dinner and a movie at the dine-in theater. Have you ever been to a dine-in theater? If not, I highly recommend it. It's the only way I want to see movies for the rest of my life. Leather recliner seats, people. That's all I'm saying. Before we left though, I gave Lily a little pampering with a pedicure. She's so proud of her pink sparkly toes.

On Mother's Day morning I was treated to some great gifts, including personalized "to do" list paper with Charlie and Lily's pictures on it a awesome running watch.

After a pedicure of my own, we all headed over to the lake for a walk and to feed the ducks. It was a beautiful day!

Waiting for the one lone duck in the lake to come close enough to feed. He never did.

My cool note paper.

And my fantastic shirt!

I also want to take a moment to recognize two of the very best mothers and grandmothers I know, Crackers and Mom Mom. Thank you for all the love and support you give to me, Joe, Charlie and Lily every day. We would be lost without you both!

Happy Mother's Day

Who is Perfect Mom? 

Perfect Mom raises happy, healthy children.  Perfect Mom teaches her children to be lovers of life, excited to wake up every day and excited to learn and laugh.  Perfect Mom will put her children's needs before her own and leave no question as to the most important things in her world. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Perfect Mom.  

 Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful, saintly wife. Our children are who they are (smart, fun, happy, healthy) because of you.   We love you completely!

May!

And just like that, it's May. (Charlie and Lily will be 3 next month!!! 3!!! OMG!) And okay, I realize that it's actually 7 days into May, but I'm a little behind here. We've been very busy here, but mostly with our normal day-to-day stuff. Charlie and Lily keep pretty active regularly - they go the kids' club at the gym, the library, music class and the playground. But this past week they've also been to Aunt Jill's house and Nana's house, had a few play dates, had lunch at Wendy's and gone to opening day at Sesame Place. On the agenda for this week is attending their very first circus, among other things. I'll be sure to post an update on that - I hope they like it! Until then, here are just a few pictures from our week:

Wet willy at Wendy's. Many thanks to Aunt Jill for encouraging this. :/

Fridays remain Donut Day. Last week's chocolate glazed were a big hit!

Easter bonnet, Ugg boots and plastic Mardi Gras beads - this look is all the rage with the toddler set.

Over these past months Charlie and Lily have really begun playing together instead of just near each other. They truly enjoy each other's company, and I hope it always stays this way.

Look! Lily finally has enough hair for an honest to goodness ponytail! She loves this style, although she calls it a "buggytail."

And I just had to share this shirt, from my mothers of multiples group. It makes me laugh.