Nine years

I moved to Chicago a little over nine  years ago with my best friend from college. Within a month of moving here, my college boyfriend dumped me. I was 22 and convinced I would be single forever.
My roommate and I lived in a family/residential neighborhood that was nice but not a lot of fun for two young girls. We usually spent our weekends younger,  hipper neighborhoods like Lakeview or Lincoln Park.
On the weekends that we were short on cash,  we would go to the neighborhood bar down the street - the drinks were cheaper and we didn't have to pay for cabs. Of course, we were less likely to meet new friends/a new boyfriend for me.
One weekend in March (9 years ago today), we decided to hang around the neighborhood. We had thought we had seen some cute new guys moving into our building that afternoon so we made a toast on a shot of Malibu that we would meet our new neighbors (we were watching a lot of Friends at the time and we were looking for our Joey & Chandler). On a whim, we also made a toast that I would meet the love of my life that night.
We sat at the bar and after a little while two guys started talking to us.  It turned out that they actually lived downstairs from us. (The cute guys we thought we saw moving in were never seen again but these guys were really funny and were always willing to lend us their laundry room key when we lost ours.)
We laughed about how we had talked about meeting our neighbors and probably would have left it at that but then two more guys walked in and started talking to us. One of the guys told me had just moved back from Florida. We started talking and then it was closing time. I wrote my number on a piece of paper and told him to call twice because I probably wouldn't answer the first time.  He called me the next day and we've been together ever since. 

Exhausted

I put the girls to bed tonight at about 9:30 tonight (which is pretty much their regular bedtime). Then I sat there and tried to figure out why I felt so exhausted.
Let's see...
Maggie and Lucy woke up at 7:30 this morning. After breakfast, we went to the Chicago History Museum where the girls ran around and fell asleep (for five minutes) on the way home.
I tried to get them to nap while we watched Cinderella this afternoon but they stayed up and watched the whole movie instead.
Then we went out and played out in the snow while I attempted to shovel the sidewalk.
After dinner, the girls painted while I cleaned up the kitchen. Then we had baths and I made cookies.
Never mind,  I remember why I'm tired.

Seriously, the giant hot dog at the museum gets me every time.

This old house

Our house is 94 years old.  The people who lived here before us bought the house in 1942 for $7000. They kept the house up beautifully but they did little to update it throughout the years. Although the vintage-ness of it is a big part of what drew us to the house, it also means we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

Last spring we renovated the kitchen. It was a huge project but it is so much better than it was! We now have counters, and a dishwasher, and a refrigerator that's taller than five feet.
This year the big project is our main bathroom. The sink and toilet are probably 50 years old each!

I've also been thinking of repainting the dining room. We painted the whole house in the first two days after we moved in. I picked all the colors out quickly before we even moved in and I didn't really think out the way they would flow.

I'm still deciding which color will look best although I'm leaning towards gray. One thing is for sure, it looks like the girls agree with me. 

School night

Tomorrow we are going to visit preschool. The preschool I hope to send both girls (and any future babies) to. I have been stalking preschools for a while and this seems to have what we want.
Maggie is so excited. I am too. I loved school and I want her experience to be amazing. I want her to make friends and have fun and maybe learn a little too.

OMG. How is my baby almost old enough for preschool?!?! (In six months.) (And it's totally ok if she doesn't go because not everyone goes to three year old preschool)  I think she's ready.

P.S. I love you.

Maggie was almost two months old for her first Valentine's Day. As the first child/first grandchild/first great-grandchild she had her fair share of Valentine's outfits and dolls.  So of course, I took tons of pictures and sent them out to close friends and family in Valentine's cards. And thus a tradition was born.
Maggie and I went shopping this weekend for their shirts.
Today I attempted to take their pictures. Thank God for digital cameras because I took more than 100 pictures and I'm still not totally in love with what I got.
Oh well. They're really funny if not model perfect.
My little loves. 

Snow day

I worked today but my husband got to take Maggie in the backyard.
They built a snowman.
It's days like this that I hate working. I wish I could be home with the girls building snowmen and drinking hot cocoa.
But now I have three days off so I'll have to fill them with fun!

Winter Warm-up

Last week it snowed. Today it is sixty degrees. The girls and I took advantage of the weather and went to the park this afternoon. They had a great time running around and playing in the puddles. They got really muddy too but luckily oxi clean was on sale last week.
Unfortunately, just as Maggie was starting to really hit it off with another little girl Lucy started falling asleep and we needed to get home to lunch and naps.
I can't wait for her to start making her own little friends. Next Friday we have a tour at the preschool I hope to send her to in the fall.