FLOR for the Nursery

Savvy parents have used FLOR carpet tiles for years,  knowing that it's easy to clean, and ultimately swap out if, for example,  something truly gross like poop gets on the rug.  Now the floor covering company has fully embraced nursery style with Project Nursery, an album of truly adorable nursery and playroom looks.

Dynamic Duo Rug Set

Toy Poodle

Look, assembly is so easy even a pregnant woman can do it!

FLOR squares assemble quickly and use non-toxic adhesive, and the tiles have low VOCs and no off-gassing chemicals.

http://www.flor.com/

Sophie & Sienna's 3rd birthday fiesta

Who would have thought that planning a three-year-old birthday party could be so fun? So fun in fact that it's kept me too busy to blog! Labor Day weekend marked three years since the birth of our twins, and what started out as a little party, became a full blown fiesta!

All the girls cared about was having their favorite people, a purple cake, and a bounce house.  This is all fairly standard, but I like a theme, so my task as mother of the birthday girls was to figure out what makes a fiesta different from a typical birthday party. So here it is:


Birthday girls and friends

Goody bags, loot, and the pinata

Craft table: decorate your own maracas

Remember making tissue paper flowers in elementary school art class?  My favorite detail: religious candles of La Guadalupe!

Grownup fun

Post party: tired girls

My girls and their boys

I'd like to borrow a three-and-a-half year-old or four-year-old boy to play with my girls five days a week (okay, maybe three days).  After a couple of really successful play dates where I witnessed my girls having rambunctious fun, I realized that my husband and I coddle them quite a bit, and I love the outrageous play they experience with their boyfriends.

How we coddled them:  We slowed them down on steps and slides.  We followed them to the top of climbers.  We didn't let them run around swinging plastic bats or sticks. 

These are all things they love doing with their boyfriends, and I now let them, and they LOVE it!

Sienna and Aidan goofing around.



Sophie, Sienna, and Joe going for a ride.

 It looks like we're guilty of being a little sexist.  When I told my husband how delightful (meaning they're busy, interested, and not getting into trouble) the play dates are with their slightly older, very physical friends, have been, he admitted to worrying about their safety a bit more since they're little girls.  According to him boys are supposed to get bumped and bruised and his little girls are aren't.  Subconsciously, I guess I had agreed, but not anymore.  Now Sophie and Sienna have the well-deserved scabs on their knees to prove that they can keep up with the big(ger) boys.

Never a bridesmaid

I'm finally going to be a bridesmaid!  I've been invited by my friend Polly to be in her October Virginia wedding.  Polly and I have been friends for many years, and bless her heart (very Southern) she's the epitome of being type-A, and it's serving her well in planning her wedding.  I won't spill the surprise details, but so far everything from the save-the-date to the location (a vineyard in rural Virginia) has been ideal.

Polly and her groom, Theo, both hail from Virginia, and it was love at first sight when they met a little over a year ago in NYC.  Polly had held on to a "Virginia is for lovers" postcard all these years, and they used the design for their save-the-dates.  Polly created a website http://www.pollyandtheo.com/ that tells their story.



Polly's done all her work down to the last detail, but now I have a big decision to make: which dress do I wear? The bride had the good sense to choose bridesmaids dresses from J Crew, and now I get to choose!  She's sent me two dresses that were available in my size.  All the dresses (there are a couple more styles that the other ladies will be wearing) are champagne, so do I go with Bow Monde or Mika?

Bow Monde




Mika



 Feedback would be greatly appreciated.





Potty training

We're doing it!  Dare I say, a bit half-assed, but at least we're trying.  We have potties everywhere, but the only place (other than their diapers) the girls consistently "go" is outside on the lawn, standing straight up, the way all their little boy friends do it!

Our other small successes have come thanks to the Potette Plus (toysrus.com, $14.44) that I bought months ago at the advice of a friend.  It's a portable potty that folds down to fit in my diaper bag, with absorbent baggies that you can toss in the trash.  My girls use it just about everywhere: you can spot them peeing along the side of the trail at Drumlin Farm, in the parking lot at Walgreens, or in the car in the Nordstroms parking garage (below).

It's also come in pretty handy for their mom who always has to "go" and seems to never be near a bathroom.  I should have bought a Potette Plus and a mini van with tinted windows years ago!



The right decision

Sometimes it's so hard to know if you made the right decision, but other times it's so clear.  When I see my girls playing with our new neighbors, making friends, and trying new things, I'm so positive that the house and location we chose were the right ones.


Playing with our 7-year-old neighbor and her friend.  Sophie & Sienna love big girls!



Sienna going for a ride with her new friend Gracen.



The girls at a nearby playground.



Boring works for me

Deciding on an exterior paint color isn't as simple as looks.  I did everything right: visited the paint store multiple times, bought samples, painted blocks of my house, looked at them at all different times of the day, asked the opinion of anyone and everyone who would listen, however when the painter started priming with tinted primer my husband and I knew it was a big uh-oh.  Deep Silver was actually kind of purple. 

The wrong color: Benjamin Moore Deep Silver

After many, many arguments and agreeing that we'd get marriage counseling, my husband and I decided to change it before the real painting commenced.  It took my husband saying, "I just don't want to live in the whimsical house" that actually made sense.  I think I might have wanted to live in the "whimsical house" but for how long?

The right color: Benjamin Moore Platinum Gray



My house (not quite finished with plastic over the windows and doors) in Platinum Gray

Platinum Gray has brought peace back to our little house (for an additional fee, of course).  It's a little boring and safe but I really like it anyway.