in an old house in philly all covered with vines

Last year, after I'd already made our Halloween costumes, I came up with this year's costume idea. Fortunately, Rhoda's just as into Madeline this year as she was last year (if not more so) so I kept it relatively simple and didn't deviate from my plan so I could get started early on our costumes. I found two pretty simple tutorials online to make Rhoda's outfit (this tunic + this cape) and spent a couple of days in October watching Jane the Virgin and going on a sewing frenzy. After scouring the internet for a yellow toddler hat and plain black Mary Janes I felt like I had the perfect ensemble for the tinest Madeline.

I was Miss Clavel and Robbie was the tiger in the zoo ("to the tiger in the zoo, Madeline just said 'Pooh-pooh!'") My veil was just a rectangle of fabric sewn onto a headband, and Robbie borrowed the tiger costume from a classmate. Also, a lot of times none of us were instantly recognizable. I can understand the confusion about Robbie the tiger/Tigger/Tony the Tiger (a little obscure...) and me the nun, especially in a city where everyone is Catholic, but come on! What's with you people not reading Madeline to your kids??

We got a ton of mileage out of our costumes this year. We had a party for the school's kids club, a Halloween party at church, and before trick-or-treating in our neighborhood (which is the BEST on Halloween) we had donuts and cider at our friends' house. Basically by the time Sunday rolled around we were all in a sleep-deprived sugary haze.

Posin'

Talking about important toddler things (candy) with her equestrian friend Harper

The best kid

Making the mistake of waiting too long to take a picture resulted in this episode

PS—further evidence that Rhoda is a mini-Robbie:

oh rhodie

I understand now why lots of people stop blogging once they have babies. (Though I guess I was tapering off for a long time there already...) And I have lots more respect now for people who blog for a living and have babies. I don't know how they manage to post anything on the internet that you can't do from a phone. Speaking of which, if you are interested in seeing more Rhoda and hearing less Hannah, you can just check out the pictures I post on Instagram, which is just a lot easier to keep up with these days.

Four weeks have come and gone, and so have our month's worth of visitors. Robbie is back at work today and Rhodie and I are all on our own for the first time. It's been okay so far but during one of her naps this morning I heard a mouse trap go off in our laundry room and I wanted to scream (it's the fourth mouse we've caught this week). I also really want to take a nap but I can't seem to fall asleep, thanks to the man operating the jackhammer right outside our window (SERIOUSLY??). But it's okay. We're having a good time here together and settling into a normal routine. I think it will be even better once Rhoda has the coordination/ability to put her binky back in her mouth when it falls out. That's probably the most important milestone of babyhood, right?

I also went back to church yesterday for the first time in a month. Physically I was ready but if it weren't for the promise of Christmas music every week I'd probably wait a little longer to go back, as long as we're being honest here. The problem with going back to church after a baby break, as my mom warned me, is that people assume that you're ready to serve in the same capacity and with as much energy as you had before baby. Turns out moms have a really good sense about these things because she's right—both about not having the same energy and about people suddenly wanting to ask you to do stuff. I'm just going to have to get real comfortable saying "no" or—easier yet—ignoring my email inbox. Don't judge.

But overall, motherhood has been a very pleasant experience so far. Rhoda is a great baby. She likes taking baths, she is a good nurser, she seems to sleep well, and everyone comments on how pleasant she is. We took her to the movies which is as great as everyone says it is (the experience of taking a newborn baby, that is) and it probably helped that the theater we went to had leather recliners and reserved seating. She is starting to smile back which is really gratifying. She has gotten way taller than chubbier each week, so it's getting to the point where I wonder if I'm soon going to have to wrap her around my body while I feed her. And on top of all these great things, it's Christmastime and everything is just infinitely better with a Christmas tree in your house. I guarantee it.

treat yo self tuesday

"The best day of the year!"

It's my birthday today and I find that the older I get, the more I just want to get a massage and a pedicure and treat myself. So, I'm gonna do that today. If you want to celebrate my birth and do the same, I wouldn't blame you at all. In fact, I highly encourage it.

forgotten treasures

I have been backing up old photos from my phone onto my computer for the past few months and for whatever reason they don't magically organize themselves into chronologically-ordered folders, so I forgot that I had some funny family pictures buried deep in my folders left over from our New Year's trek to Monrovia. My sisters and I must not stay up late very often because the weird sister poses seem to happen every year. And on the same piano bench too?

Here are a couple of good ones of all the Terrill sibs and my poor parents squished by us on the couch.

Isn't it weird to think that once upon a time it just used to be the eight of us? And now there are like 25 of us? My parents and older siblings probably think it's weirder than I do because I don't actually really remember when it was just eight of us (since my sister got married when I was five). 

Anyway, my family is awesome. Can't wait till we all get together again!

i bought myself a onesie for christmas

Hey there! Remember me? I'm back from my holiday travels and I've got the holiday sinus infection/cold/whatever it is to prove it. Thanks, sickness, for waiting till I was no longer on vacation to rear your ugly head.

Robbie and I spent Christmas Eve and morning here in DC. We celebrated the eve by decorating cookies and having a fancy dinner with friends, and came home later that night to open the traditional Terrill Christmas Eve pajamas. I figured that our first Christmas with just the two of us should have some old family traditions incorporated so I bought us matching onesies. Unfortunately, I accidentally bought women's sizes and Robbie's didn't even make it up to his shoulders. If I were a cruel person I would have gotten a picture and posted it on the internet, but you'll just have to imagine that the two of us couldn't stop laughing for a good five minutes. Also, wearing a onesie to bed in winter is like the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Christmas morning brought beautiful, clear skies and we opened presents together around the world's best Christmas tree (really, we struck gold this year) before heading to brunch hosted by some other friends. After a merry meal and some sad goodbyes to friends who are moving (what is it with people leaving me? I can't handle it) we hopped on an evening plane to Utah to begin our holiday travels.

The holiday celebrated with our little family (I feel weird calling just the two of us a "family" but it is what it is) was a lot of fun. We love to be with extended family but it was kind of nice to test out a new tradition, especially since staying at home was something that both of our families did growing up. It was also nice to spend the holidays with our ward "family"—a funny term that I know a lot of Mormons use with reckless abandon, but I really feel close to the people in our ward and spending such a special holiday with those we love was the perfect way to celebrate. 

Merry belated Christmas to all of you!

have a cup of cheer

I love this video so much. It's almost as weird as three Elvises playing the violin. But ugh! Sufjan! I love you.

we interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you christmas

I have more Turkey pictures to share but I need a break and there is lots to talk about so indulge me for a bit. Thanksgiving was hardly cold in its grave when I mentally threw November aside and welcomed Christmas with a hearty "ho, ho, ho!" I'm serious. Let me show you.

We bought a Christmas tree. Our tradition is to get a tree from Eastern Market on the day after Thanksgiving while my parents are here for the long weekend. When I was growing up my parents sometimes wouldn't get our tree up until Christmas Eve so I am generally kind of adamant about getting the tree up over the holiday so we don't run out of free time. Please note that our parsley bush is OUT OF CONTROL. Let me know if you need some parsley.

We decorated the tree. Isn't Ida cute?

I started my Christmas crafting. As you probably already know, I can't ever shake the urge to craft and Christmas just makes it worse. I made some ornaments on Saturday and now our tree looks SUPER awesome.

We went ice skating. A new rink just opened up in Georgetown and it wasn't super crowded, so we had a last-minute date and hit up Baked & Wired for cupcakes too. It was a good night.

And last but not least... SUFJAN! I was so excited for this concert and it didn't disappoint. There was a sing-along and he played old and new stuff and there were costumes and dancing and unicorns and confetti and bubbles... and this was printed on our sing-along program:

I just love that guy. Here's an oldie but a goodie that he played on Saturday:

I think this is going to be a great Christmas. We've got concerts and parties lined up for December and Robbie's already planning his sugar cookie extravaganza. Plus I'm kind of happy to bid farewell to a hectic 2012 and Christmas means we're closer to ushering out the old and welcoming in the new on a high note. Am I jumping the gun with these thoughts? Don't answer that.

i can never win

A couple weekends ago we chaperoned a Halloween-themed stake dance and dressed up with our friends as LOLcats:

I actually spent a lot of time coming up with stupid phrases for our captions and we all got a good laugh out of how funny they were. Or so we thought, because it turns out LOLcats jumped the shark in 2007 when I was busy making my own captioned LOLcats with our cat Lucille because no one knew who we were at the stake dance. Some cute teenagers came up to us and said, "Excuse me, we've been trying to figure out what you are dressed up as, but it looks like it's supposed to be funny." (This actually happened three or four times.) Sigh. Also, I think that a few of the teenagers didn't know we were chaperones because our ward's chaperones were the only ones busting a move on the dance floor, so that made for some funny/awkward moments during the slow dances. Which makes me think, we should just host our own ward dances because I was having a good, sweaty time.

ANYWAY.

So after that, I told Robbie that we HAD to dress up as something recognizable so Robbie came up with this idea for our friends' Halloween party and NO ONE KNEW WHO WE WERE:

Anyone? Please don't say a butcher and a cow. For the sake of my degree in American studies, and my useless class on American folklore. You can't see my all-blue ensemble (HINT) or cowbell in the picture so maybe that doesn't help. I guess nothing can beat the year we dressed up as Elliot and Michael from E.T....though no one knew who we were then either?

Happy Halloween!

(And thanks for your messages, etc. during the storm. We emerged unscathed!)

easter morn

This was a great Easter weekend. It was the first weekend in I don't know how long that I didn't have to work or run 20 miles or whatever. So I slept in and cleaned and ate and hung out with Robbie and it was good. Note to self—I need to do less more often.

I woke up on Sunday to Robbie informing me that he thought he heard an animal in the bathroom (would not be surprising) and that I should check it out, which was totally creepy and baffling. He kept saying, "I think there's an animal in there... maybe a rabbit, or something?" Haha. ROBBIE! I love that guy. (I finally found my Easter basket in the dryer.)

After we ate too much candy and I made Robbie some Easter waffles, we went on a walk around our neighborhood. Since we don't walk to church anymore (our building is being torn down and we have to drive across the river to another building), we really don't get to walk around our neighborhood together very often. And it was really nice. There were lots of young people and young families dressed up in Easter clothes, getting ready to go to church. The sun was out and the trees and flowers were in full bloom. I think that it was pretty much textbook weather for Easter.

Church was also pretty fabulous. I played the organ and chose "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" in the hopes that someone who reads my blog would sing like John Daker. The service was beautiful and our bishop asked some women in our ward to read scriptures, sing, and bear testimonies, as an homage to Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary," the women who were the first to see and tell of the resurrected Christ. It was a beautiful Sunday.

As my mom noted, Easter Sunday also marked the 6 month birthday of my nephew Jonah. What an awesome day to remember the Atonement and the beautiful thought that we are a forever family thanks to Christ's sacrifice.

Final thought—I'm going to be totally bummed when all of the blossoms make way for greenery. The neighborhood is just really pretty to look at right now.

more like "best friday"

And now, time to share my favorite Easter tradition—after See's Chocolate Butter Eggs, of course.

Even after 6 years of laughing my face off at this video I am still baffled by it.

warm thoughts

When I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning (and yesterday morning, and many mornings before that), I finally admitted to myself that maybe, just maybe I have a hard time with winter. Have I ever had the winter blues before? Probably. It's just hitting me a little harder this year. I had to remind myself this morning that I don't typically have to lay in bed for 40 minutes before I muster up the courage to put my bare feet on our cold tile floor and face the biting cold outside—and this has been a mild winter so far! Sigh. First world problems.

How about some leftover pictures from the holidays in California to remind us of better times, when it was 90 degrees in December and you didn't need to wear a jacket in the morning?

1, 2. watching the horses warm up at the race track // 3, 4. Newport Beach (yes, we went to the BEACH in DECEMBER and it was WARM and I almost DIED AND WENT TO HEAVEN)

And. Since we're talking about Monrovia... might I make a recommendation? In case you are in the mood for a delicious sandwich whipped up for you by some really friendly, tatted up bikers who have decorated their store with a variety of cute salt and pepper shaker sets and make a mean ranch dressing?

Well then, I know just the place for you—The Market Grill in Monrovia, California, which is conveniently located across the street from my brother's house (where we spent a lot of time over the break). I want to marry that ranch dressing.

Freak, now I'm cold AND hungry.

tucson

1. vitamin C // 2. baby chasing // 3, 4, 5. Christmas, Christmas, CHRISTMAS! // 6. family photo op // 7. Abby the soloist // 8. the in-laws getting crunk // 9. lunch break for a Sonoran and some Mexican sodies // 10. cacti all around at Saguaro National Park (where I also picked up a National Parks Passport!) // 11, 12. zoo time

This is the first year that Robbie and I have been to Tucson for Christmas with his other siblings. It was SO much fun, especially with a baby there to chase around. (We missed Carrie and fam though!) We had a nice mix of hanging out at home and going out to discover the fun things that Tucson has to offer, like cacti and javelinas. (I actually only saw one javelina, and it was dead and lying on the side of the road.) We're excited to check more off our to do list next time we visit!