Our Weekend Away....

So now that we are back I will share that we went away for the weekend.  I don't like saying we are going anywhere until we are back because you never know who is reading and watching what we are doing but we went to the beach this weekend for the first time as a family of four, plus we took my mother in law with us as well.  So Rich, my MIL, and the kids went down Friday afternoon because I had to work Friday night, I went down after my tasting.  Friday night Rich sent me the below picture in an e-mail from his blackberry as they were gathering shells on the beach, she really liked that and we have a whole Ziploc bag to show for it.

Then Saturday morning we got all the beach gear packed up and Rich and I braved taking 2 children to the beach alone, I have to say we did an amazing job!  Although it felt as though we had to pack half of our house to go to the beach and half of what we took to the condo to be able to go to the beach, that part was exhausting for both Rich and I.  Here is a picture of Avery's first beach trip and then below that is a picture of both girls.

The pictures below are of Jolie and Rich playing at the Beach on Saturday morning, they both had a great time building sand castles and digging in the sand.  I have to say that the weather for the weekend was amazing, it was even a little cool in the mornings and evenings and wasn't super hot in the middle of the day.

After a morning spent at the beach with both the girls we came back to the condo, got some Chic-fil-a lunch, ate and then we ALL took a nap!  Even Avery who normally isn't a very good nap taker, took an almost 2 hour nap, it was AMAZING because Mommy actually got a nap too, that was awesome!  After great naps we all went out to the pool for a while, below are some of the pictures of Avery's first trip to the pool.

Saturday night we ordered some takeout and then had a family walk up to get some ice cream, that was fun!  Then it was back to the condo and we put the kids to bed.  I have to say a vacation with 2 small children really isn't a vacation.  Sunday morning I took Jolie out to the pool for about an hour, we cleaned up the condo, packed up, and headed home in time to make it home to eat a quick lunch and for the kids to get nap time.  So currently the kids are both sleep and so is Rich!  We have started laundry and I am about to start cleaning my house and making my grocery list.  So it is back to the norm around here, this afternoon it will be clean, shop, clean, shop, and not fun shopping grocery and household supply shopping.  But at least we got a little get away in as a family.  Rich and I were able to squeeze in a beer together on the couch of the condo on Friday night so it was kind of like a date, it was just him and I in the room, does that count??

The Royal Wedding....

So I am currently sitting in my bed with both of my daughters watching the Royal Wedding. I wish I could sit here the rest of the morning and finish watching all the coverage and love on my girls but with today being the last selling day of the month that won't be happening. Jolie came in my room about 20 minutes ago and I told her a princess was getting married and she has been glued to it ever since. Although she did tell me she wants to be a princess too. I guess we all kind of doing....however, I just hope she grows up feeling as special as a princess everyday and that wil be enough for me.

Is it a full moon????

Just wondering if there is a full moon going on...such weird things have happened to me over the last few days....here is my list of recent craziness and just all around funny stories!!!

1. This morning I got up, got dressed, I picked up Avery, her boppy pillow, my pump bag and started down the stairs in my super cute kelly green shirt and white skirt. About half way down the stairs I hear Avery have a blowout in her diaper, I don't thing much about it, this happens all the time, she is a 4 month old infant. I get to the bottom of the stairs, I put down the pillow and other things and look down to realize there is poopy on her leg, outside of her diaper, I still don't think too much of this, I grab her extra outfit, put her on her changing table and begin to change her diaper when I realize that not only is poopy on her leg, it is on my green shirt and ALL over my white skirt. So obviously Mommy had to come back upstairs and rework the outfit for the day. I then had to wash out/rinse my clothes and start laundry, not a good start to my morning!

2. Tonight, Rich and I had just finished eating dinner when I noticed our two cats were messing with something on the floor by the dining room table. I walk over there and they take off to half way up the stairs, one of them has something in his month. They get half way up the stairs and stop and play with something. I look...only to realize it is a real large half dead/half alive lizard. I of course immediately insist Rich take care of this situation. Rich gets it way from the cats and throws it out the front door...who knows where that ended up.

So after I re-read my short list of oddball occurrences I have just realized maybe it isn't a full moon....it must be some sort of black hole on my staircase, about half way up.

In other news....Rich is surveying his week of Daddy Daycare with the girls although with the exception of Monday he has only ended up having one girl most the day, I will however give him all the credit in the world though because he is handling it all like a champ. The girls are having a great time. Jolie got to spend yesterday with some Daddy time at the playground in the mall plus some arcade time and a little food court lunch while my mother-in-law watched Avery. Then last night Jolie spent the night at my Mom and Dad's house and then this morning Poppy took her to the Aquarium and for a Trolley ride from downtown to Ybor City and back and some lunch and then a nap at Mimi and Poppy's house, she had a great time. Tomorrow the girls will be with Rich all day but I thing the plan is to stick around the house and play. Rich has recently taught Jolie to play Mario Kart on the Wii so I think there maybe some racing in store for them tomorrow. I on the other hand have 2 long, hard, important days ahead of me at work, it is the end of the month, the end of our goal cycle and 1/3 through the final quarter for two of our largest suppliers, needless to say the pressure is on!

Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe

For Easter Lunch at my Mom and Dad's I need to make an appetizer so like any girl in a hurry I googled "easy spinach and artichoke dip recipe" from the grocery store because i almost forgot about it and the first option on the list was a recipe from www.allrecipes.com....so since I was in the grocery store and the ingredient list was fairly simple I went for it but did make one change. So here is the recipe as I made it....

Easy Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:
1 cup Sour Cream
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 envelope vegetable soup mix (I picked the dried peas out because I hate peas)
1 (14 ounce)can artichoke hearts, drained
1 package frozen spinach leafs, thawed and drained
1 cup Italian Blend Shredded Cheese (6 cheese)

Directions:
1. Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, and soup mix in a large bowl, mix well.
2. Stir in artichoke, spinach, and 1/2 cup of cheese.
3. Cover and heat in microwave for 3-4 minutes. Then sprinkle remaining cheese on top and place in toaster oven on broil until the cheese on top is melted and slightly browed. Serve with yellow and blue tortilla chips.

Enjoy!!! I have to say it was a hit, our family totally loved it. I will also say I doubled the recipe and we have tons left over but I don't mind because I really loved it!

1 Year Blog Anniversary

In the craziness that has been our month of April, it has just been so busy,I forgot to make mention that on April 21st our little family blog turned 1 year old. We started our blog just a mere 5 days after we found out we were expected little Avery (it was long before we even knew she was a girl or had picked her name)as a way to chronicle our lives as we made the at times not easy transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4. We were so excited then to be expecting her and now we are just thrilled to have little Avery in our lives, she truly completes us. And then there is the fact that Jolie was just 2 years old then and now a year later we are about to celebrate her turning 4 and that alone is just so hard to believe.

Back to the blog....it has been a monumentous year in our lives and I think the little blog has been there every step of the way to document, it hadn't always been pretty but it has been real and it is my life and I am loving it! So Haapy Birthday The Perillo 4 Blog, cheers and here's to many more years of journaling our lives!

Happy Easter!!

I hope everyone else had as great of a day as The Perillo's did! Rich and I even commented this afternoon that this may have been one of the best holidays in recent memory. We had a great lunch at my Mom and Dad's house and a little Easter Egg hunt for Jolie. It was real nice and Dad got some great pictures on his camera so I don't have one to leave you with but I will add one soon, promise. But let me say both girls looked so cute in their Eater dresses and hair bows, I loved it!

Happy Easter!!!!

Daddy's Afternoon Off

So since Rich was on Daddy duty with Avery all day yesterday and has both kids all next week for Spring Break I thought it only fair that he get out of the house for the afternoon today.  So he choose to go down to the Horse Track to watch a few races and have a couple of beers with a buddy.  He has texted me a few times for some numbers for races so I am kind of there in spirit.  Avery is currently sleeping and I am about to start with house cleaning, my least favorite weekend project, I keep saying I am going to get a cleaning lady so I don't have to spend my weekend cleaning but I still haven't done anything towards that, oh well, I digress.  But below is the picture he sent me from the ticket line at the track with the following message.

Can I get a 2, 4 exacta box please?  WTF?

So apparently even the Easter Bunny likes to wager on the horses?  Guess it is a good thing the Bunny isn't at the Dog Track....ha ha.  Happy Holy Saturday, maybe not the best activity for the day but nonetheless at least my husband is having a nice afternoon off.