NY International Auto Show

Ever since I can remember, I've had an interest in cars. Not in the Nascar sense, or under-the-hood-look-at-the engine interest, but just an appreciation for cool design styles, and different makes and models. We used to play a game when we were kids, that we called the commercial-game. While watching TV, we'd race to guess what the commercial was for. Any car commercial I'd win in seconds flat. I can name just about any make and model from really far distances. Totally weird, and no clue how it began. My sneaky little "talent" I guess. You know whats even weirder, both my girls can do it too! It's not like we talk about cars a lot but starting at like 3yo, Madelyn could recognize any like car on the road to one in our family. "There's Mimi's car" "that car is just like Gramma's" Maybe they are just observant, but it makes me smile :)

Anyway, my parents were (and still are) of the leasing mentality. I take after my Dad with this whole car thing, and he wouldn't have it any other way, getting into a new car every few years. Then, I met Brian; who, though his family has a thing for BMW's, they are more of the financing mentality. I may have opened his eyes a bit to my world, but he is still pro-buying. There is NO twisting his arm when it comes to putting money down on a lease, that is a: no-way-Jose!

That said, leasing has still been a great option for us financially. In a few short months, our Acadia lease is up, so that means its time to start thinking about what is next! Eekkk. For someone into cars, it's an exciting time and I get totally into it all. Brian recently goes "they all look the same" and I was so defensive... how could he not notice (and appreciate!) the differences :)  A Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot do NOT look the same.

Last time we jumped from one Acadia lease to another because we were happy with the car and they offered us a good deal. This time though, I'm ready to move on. Our Acadia is probably the most common SUV on the road and this car hasn't held up great. I had a light bulb last week during the NYC car show, that in order to avoid spending lots of summer Saturdays at dealerships, we could go and look at all 15 at one time. Surprisingly Brian was into it and we were lucky my mom was free to hang with the girls for a few hours in the evening.

Unfortunately, it took us 2.5 hours to go all 38 miles to the Javitz Center, because it was pouring and traffic was horrible. But we parked 1 block away and got to see all our favorites up close and personal. Sort of a different date night, but it was fun! The real fancy show cars actually only had a small area set up and the rest of the show was all the common cars you see on the road. It was incredibly helpful and we've narrowed it down to 2 or 3. Now, it's just a matter of do we wait until August 31st to turn mine in through GMC, or do we hop into a new lease now and do a swap a few months early. The impatient one in me wants to go for it, but we might save $20 a month by waiting... so we'll see :)

Here are some pictures of the ones we made a point to see up close:

Lexus GX 460

Mazda CX9 

Honda Pilot

 Toyota Highlander

 Nissan Pathfinder

 Infiniti QX60 (all the <3 eyes for this one!)

 Volkswagen Atlas

Have a favorite?

Thankful for Spring!

I don't think I give Spring the credit it deserves. This year, after a pretty illness-filled winter, and cold weather that lingered a bit, I am so beyond thankful to welcome the season change. Obviously you look forward to longer days and warmer weather. For some reason, I can't remember a time that I was so desperate for it, and thankful that it's here! It's been an instant mood-booster in our house.

With Spring comes Easter celebrations, and Brian's birthday, so those are fun to look forward to. This year, we have Sara and Scotts wedding just a month away - so we're also busy with all the last minute prep for that! With busy weeks and weekends, both March and April have just flown by. Usually, it seems like a chore, but I am actually looking forward to the tedious task of spring cleaning. Hopefully, I can find some time to start this weekend or next, because we're a little behind the ball :)

Some pictures of Brian's birthday dinner and the fun we had on a gorgeous Easter day!

Have an awesome weekend!! XO

Channeling summer

Sorry Spring, I am already looking full-speed ahead, to Summer. Over the last few days we've had a little taste of the warmer months to come and its like an instant mood booster. I even saw there are 70's in next weeks forecast - yippee! Anyway, I wanted to share this really simple recipe for a yummy dessert, that is the perfect ode to Summer - S'mores Pie.  For any gatherings you may have coming up, that you are hosting or bringing something to, this is a must! It really is so good, and equally as easy to make!

S'mores Pie:
Serves 6 - 8

• 1 stick softened butter
• ½ cups white sugar
• 1 whole egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 7 ounces of marshmallow Fluff
• 8 whole (1.55 Oz Bars) Hershey's chocolate bars
• 1 cup marshmallows
• ¼ cups chocolate chips

* Preheat oven to 350 - and spray 9 inch pan with baking spray

* Combine butter and sugar, then add vanilla and egg and stir well. Then, add flour, graham cracker, baking powder.

* Divide the dough in half - press half the dough into the bottom of the pie pan. Evenly spread out the fluff over the bottom. Seperate the Hershey bars evenly out on top of the fluff. Then, spread the marshmallows on top of that.

* Spread the remaining half of the dough out over the marhsmallows (likely will be holes for mashmallows to poke through) and then top with chocolate chips!

* bake for 20 - 25 minutes until lightly browned - may not be totally firm so let cool completely. 

(recipe from The Tasty Kitchen)

ENJOY THE GOOEY-NESS and cheers to warmer weather!!

XO

T H R E E!

Our sweet baby girls is 3! There is something a bit more emotional (to me) about 3. By now, they lost any baby fat, are likely close to being out of diapers, communicating with you, etc. All the baby-ness about them is gone, and you have a true toddler on your hands. I didn't really cry this year, as I expected to with this big milestone upon us. Maybe because we had lots of fun things planned, or the fact that she still likes to be rocked before bed. Either way, 3 is a big deal and we celebrated big! It was awesome!

After Madelyn's 3rd birthday party, she started to be disinterested in birthday celebrations and all the attention. We had a small party at home when she turned 4 and this year, we had just moved and she didn't want a party. It just so happened, this year for Anna's birthday, we did the opposite. Last weekend, we had our first birthday celebration (outside of our home) and it was a big hit! 

Her birthday fell on a Friday, so we had a family celebration that night, her party on Sunday morning, and then dinner with my family at my parents on Sunday night. Unlike her sis - she absolutely loved every second of all the celebrations. From her birthday outfits and bows, to the balloons, being sung too, and all the sweet treats, she didn't want it to be over! Madelyn almost had as much fun, so I'm hoping for #6, she might be a little more open to doing something similar :) I'm a big fan of birthdays and all the fun, that goes into making the day extra special. Next up - it's Daddy's turn in 2 weeks. Nothing planned as of yet.... I should get to work ;) 

Here is an overload of pictures from Anna's celebrations:

Well behaved

Recently, we took the girls out to an early dinner at 5:30pm to a great pub near our house. It's so popular there was a 20 minute wait at that early hour. The girls probably could have handled the wait, but I couldn't - I was too hungry :) So, we opted instead to sit immediately at a high top table in the bar. I wasn't sure how other bar goers would take our young family sitting in their area, but we sat anyway. We quickly ordered their dinner, an app for us and our dinners. There were TV's nearby, and lots of people around that thankfully the whole area was sort of noisy and I figured any outbursts would be less noticeable!

For the most part, our girls are usually pretty good when we eat out (which we probably should do more often, so they get even better at it! ;) Even still though, I'm always a little nervous with fingers and crossed that we can get in and out without any big issues! We can count on the girls for about 45 minutes of good behavior at a restaurant, depending on the time of day, and their moods. I like to hold off  resorting to phone-watching for as long as possible, and maybe all together when we can. But, sometimes it really is a life saver and I'm not ashamed of that at all. So, we started off playing with the trinket the restaurant provided and we were off to smooth sailing. 

While we were waiting for our dinners and the girls were munching away, I started to notice a middle aged man sitting very close by at the bar by himself. He was drinking a beer flight and chatting with the bartender. Every so often he would adjust and smooth out, his very well groomed handlebar mustache. I even nodded to Brian to check it out, because it was so unique. He seemed like a regular, hanging in the corner of the bar chatting with everyone. Every so often the girls voices would escalate to unnecessary levels and I was worried about annoying him in particular, since he wasn't fully in conversation with others the whole time, and looking to relax at the bar. 

Meanwhile, our food comes, the girls start to get a little antsy as they wrap up their dinner, and we turn over our phones. Instantly, a little calm comes over our table, and we chat and eat. As we are waiting for the check, Mr. Mustache gets up from his seat and pays us one of the nicest compliments we've received in recent memory. He says he 'has young nieces and nephews, and he knows what its like.... our kids are the best behaved kids on the planet. They're cute, sweet and so well behaved.' We just sort of smiled in shock and said thanks and he was very persistent 'no, I mean it.... whatever you are doing, you are doing something right. Honestly" I nearly had tears. Our kids are far from perfect, and this parenting thing is no joke... more often than not these days, I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. Not to mention, at the very minute that he was paying us this compliment, both girls had our phones less than 5 inches from their noses... and still he kept going. So whatever possessed him to be so kind, I'll never understand but I appreciated it beyond comprehension. It was a big old pat on the back that I think I really needed :) I feel like I walked out of the restaurant with my head up a bit higher and feeling a little relieved... maybe we're doing just a little something right...?

Vacation blur

It's so crazy how you can look forward to a vacation for so long, then it comes and in a blink of an eye, you are back to reality. Granted this was a quick trip, but we've been back for a week and it already seems a distant memory... boo! Anna was under the weather and so I was consumed with worrying about her and her meds, etc. However, the weather was beautiful, Madelyn literally didn't leave the pool, we had a few dates and had fun catching up with Gramma and Grandpa. Even though we jumped right back into our routine and I'm looking forward to our next break... it was short but SO sweet! And, now it's March :) So, that means warmer weather isn't too far away! 

Some pictures from our travels - Happy Hump Day!