My friend Jessica passed a fabulous recipe on this morning for homemade soft pretzels. It's a multi-step process, but they turned out great. Everything in our house has been revolving around hearts this week for Valentines Day, so I decided to make pretzel hearts! Marin loved helping out & was very patient with all the steps in the process. Rolling the dough w/ our hands was a treat but she especially loved when I dropped them into the boiling H2O before baking them. It was fun for her to watch. The end result was delicious, we'll definitely make these again sometime soon. Tomorrow the plan is to frost all the cookies we baked yesterday during the snow storm. More pics to come!! xoxo

Today was also Marin's first sledding experience with Daddy. As they were walking up the hill she was saying "I don't want to go sleddin Daddy." Gary's response was "Ok, you can watch then," as he placed her onto his lap & proceeded to slide down the hill! You couldn't wipe the grin off her face, she was sooo excited. Of course then she wanted to keep going & going & going. Gary ran 14 miles earlier today. I don't think he knew he was in for workout #2. I had just as much fun watching with Miss Margaux. Unfortunately, I didn't bring her gear & had no idea it was going to be so nice out today. It still felt cold to me, imagine what it would feel like if you were 17lbs like Margaux... sorry baby! xoxo

This morning we went to my Aunt Amy's house to meet the newest edition to their family... Buddy the dog! He's soooo cute & tons of fun. Marin had so much fun playing with a lazer & watching Buddy chase it. I am in love with the picture of Marin & my dad. Priceless! Margaux was not as excited as I thought she would have been. Probably b/c he's such a small puppy & was overly excited to see little people!! Lots of jumping & playing. xoxo

We had a fun time @ the Humane Society today. I knew the girls would like it there, but I didn't know just how excited they would be! It was fun watching their reactions to all the adorable little animals. Margaux was especially excited at the sight of anything that moved. She was pretty funny in the kitty room walking around with her little hat on saying "kitty" repeatedly. I didn't think Marin would go as far as asking to take an animal home... but she sure did! I explained to her that we don't have a good yard for a puppy, but maybe someday we will. (Probably not!!) The little puppies pictured above were so excited to see the girls. We sat & watched them for quite some time. They were so playful & just adorable. I def. thought about how fun it would be to take one of them home. Again, we're not ready for that just yet!! xoxo

With the way this little girl climbs on things one would have thought she would have had something like this a long time ago... but nope! Here is Little Miss No Fear with her first wound. She fell into a book case in Marin's room. It was terrible & swolen instantly. I am quite surprised she didn't wake up today with a huge shiner. (I'm thankful she didn't.) It's amazing the places she can get herself onto/into. She's often seen on top of the table in Marin's room, on Marin's bed, she's made it onto Marin's nightstand once (that I've seen), in the bathtub & even up on the toilet seat. But the latest was a few days ago when I found her on top of the water tank of the toilet!!! WAY UP THERE crying because for once she was actually scared. Margaux our little dare devil that keeps us on our toes & whom we love SOOO much! xoxo

Today the girls did this...

While I made this...

I really disliked a framed photo that I had hanging in my hallway for the past how many years. An old IKEA print that I've been sick of for a long time. So this morning I decided to paint the mat green & frame a great piece of fabric that I picked up a few days ago @ good ol' JoAnn Fabric. Easy project & I'm fairly happy w/ the outcome. Much better than what we've been looking at for years! What's even better is the girls played so well in Marin's room the entire time. I love the time they spend playing together w/o me. It's so cute to listen to the conversation from the other room. xo

With the freezing cold weather we decided to take a trip to the Milwaukee Public Museum this week. We are members, but haven't been there in quite some time. Marin was soooo excited to see dinosaur bones & all the big "pretend" animals. Amazingly, she was not afraid of any of that suff... but she was terrified of the butterflies in the live exhibit! Teeny little butterflies, who would have thought. Pic #2 is her standing in one place. She would not move from that spot unless I held her hand. Margaux on the other hand, LOVED the butterflies & was seconds away from tearing several of them in half. She's reaching for one in pic#1 above. I had to watch her so closely. (If you look close you can spot it!) It was a great morning, hopefully one of these days we can all enjoy the butterflies, they are so fun!

Video taken of the girls this morning. Marin has really been interested in reading to Margaux lately. It's cute because most of the time Margaux sits well & is truly interested in what Marin is reading... EXCEPT when mommy gets the camera out!! I love how Marin keeps asking her to sit down w/ her nasal voice. She's a little stuffy this morning. xoxo

Yesterday was my good friend Colleen's "Baby Party" as we were calling it. Baby shower was just way too confusing for Marin, she didn't get it at all. I had so much fun making these yummy cookies & decorating w/ Marin's help eating the frosting. Also pictured, is an advice book that I made with pages for her guests to fill out @ the shower. Name suggestions & advice on each card. It turned out really cute.... I hope she enjoyed the responses & found some good name ideas. I can not belive all the fun stuff they have come out with for babies! It hasn't been that long since my shower & things have changed for the better in that short time. Ah, soooo fun! Happy football day everyone! xoxo

Nothing new with us... thought I'd share a few bath time photos of the girls & one of Marin using her new kids Sonicare toothbrush from Aunt Katie. (We love the perks of having a dental hygenist in the family... cheap toothbrushes & new fancy products! Thanks KT) She loves to use it & definitely makes brushing her teeth seem extra fun. Margaux just cut one more tooth (Center-top) today. So she's up to 3 teeth now... woooo whooo! So brushing is becoming more important for her too. Although it's not fun right now with her swollen gums which I'm sure is pretty painful. Low key week this week, no big plans at all & I'm looking forward to it! Maybe I'll motivate to organize a bit?? xoxo

This past weekend we braved the bitter cold & took the train to Chicago to celebrate our 30th birthdays with our friends Holly & Mike. Although we missed the girls tremendously, (my 1st night away from Miss Margaux) it was great to have a night away. My mom & dad stayed at our house with the girls, which we are very thankful for! It was beyond FREEZING but we managed to have a ton of fun. We spent a significant amount of time @ the ESPN Zone. Lots of football on t.v. that day so it seemed like the perfect place to have lunch. Afterwards, we had a blast playing all the games in the giant game area. Right up Gary's alley...drinking, sports & video games! Then it was more shopping, relaxing, an awesome dinner, a comedy show & more drinking... who wouldn't love that?! Still can't believe I'm 30... you'll probaby hear a lot of this over the next few weeks. It just blows my mind! This past week, our babysitter Rachel said "Wow! Sara, you're going to be 30? You are SO young!" I love her for that.... and of course the fact that she takes good care of my babies! xoxo

Gymnastic Day for the Brown girls. This morning we went to an open gym @ LeFleur in Germantown with the Goninen's. The girls had a blast jumping & running all over the place with their friends Camden & Brinley. In addition to all the gymnastic stuff, they also had a giant blow up slide, jumpy, & maze which Marin just LOVED! After today, I think there may be a future in gymnastics for Marin! She was a little monkey the whole morning. It was a very hard place to leave! xoxo (p.s. By the way... I'm 30! What's up with that??!!)

Lots of snow here already this morning. I wasn't sure if it would be too cold to go out but Marin really wanted to go around the block on the sled. Once we got out there it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. (The temp. is 14 degrees!) We didn't stay out more than a 1/2 hour but the girls enjoyed the fresh air. Some snow for Marin to eat & a little fun for Margaux before we head to the doctor for her 1 year appt. & shots! Poor thing! xoxo

What??? 30??? I really don't feel like we are both turning 30 already this week. So hard to believe that I met him 11+ years ago & now we're 30 w/ two adorable little girls. He's still young at heart... playing Mario Bros. on the Wii until the wee hours of the morning, his need to pick up a ball & throw it around obnoxiously whenever we're at a store to help pass time... I could go on & on! He keeps this place entertaining that's for sure & we love him for that!! Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. xoxoxo

Watching Ice Age in their pj's... Margaux thinks it's the funniest movie ever! Or maybe she's just extra happy because it's her birthday. Then Marin graces us with a "toot".... nice! xo

And... She's 1!!!

It's official, our little turtle is ONE!! We had a fun day celebrating together. Although Margaux had absolutely no clue that it was anything other than an ordinary day... it was special to the rest of us!! Marin made it extra special by opening ALL of her gifts for her. (Just a little jealous) We had a small party this afternoon that included Katie and Dan, Danen's, Suda's & Aunt Lindsay. A Winter ONE-derland theme complete with snowman cupcakes, hot chocolate, TONS of appetizers & hand-cut snowflakes all over the house. So much fun until I put the adorable "1" hat that I made for her on her little head. She HATED it, so she busted into the cupcake w/o the hat on. The pictures make it look like she enjoyed the cupcake, but truth is she wasn't really interested. She obviously doesn't share mommy & Marin's love for sweets! She's the sweetest little girl & she's growing up way too fast! We just love her to pieces... Happy Birthday Miss Margaux!!! xoxo