Red Heart

February is Congenital Heart Defect Month. Abby got a limited edition Charlie Hustle red heart shirt to help raise money for The American Heart Association as well as raise awareness!

Dad Retires

The end of February marked the end of Dad's work chapter! His office threw his a very heartfelt goodbye party and they even invited us to come! Ben made BaPa a sign and was so excited to bring it to the party! The babies were both sick and had to stay home. Aunt Becky graciously volunteered to watch them so Vince & I could both go to the party! It's not very often you get to celebrate one of your parents lifetime achievements. I was so happy to help celebrate my Dad close the work chapter and move on to the retirement chapter! After the party we went to dinner and a few days later had another celebration for him at The Bristol! The boys and I wrote a toast to read to Dad at the Bristol. Then Mom framed them for him so he never forgets how much we appreciate all the years he sacrificed to give us the wonderful life we had!

On this day we get to toast you, Dad. We toast in celebration of your retirement and we toast the wonderful role model you have been for your children & grandchildren. We toast to the roadmap of strength, determination and sacrifice you have laid out for us. I can only hope that I can live up to your roadmap and that my children will be as proud of me as I am of you. Your countless sacrifices are never forgotten as I look back on my childhood and see all that it afforded me. Dad, I will never be able to find the words to express what an honor it is to be your daughter. And finally we toast to your next chapter. The chapter full of more father/daughter lunches, more play time with your grandchildren and new adventures in teaching, learning and volunteering. I can't wait to see what this chapter brings for you!

I love you,

Sarah

Palm Springs

Vince had a work trip scheduled in L.A. and asked if I wanted to tag along-of course the answer was yes! I was excited to see one of my best friends Jaclyn who lives outside L.A. and to spend some kid free time with Vince! Vince's mom & his cousin Kelly graciously offered to watch the kiddos for us! We are beyond grateful for everyone who helped out and this possible for us! We left early Thursday morning and landed in rain (boo-but yay for California getting some rain). And somehow they rental car place screwed up and we ended up with a bright yellow Camaro convertible-lol! As soon as we hit the road to Palm Springs the skies turned blue! We made it to Palm Springs and checked into our Boutique Marriott-by far the nicest place we've stayed (minus our amazing temporary housing in Center City when we moved to Philly)! We had our own beautiful little apartment with a gorgeous balcony! Minus a little work for Vince we had had a nice relaxing few days in Palm Springs! Pool time, site seeing, all farm to table dining and a little outlet shopping! On Saturday we headed west to Riverside to see Jaclyn! I haven't been out to see her since Ben about 2 1/2 so a visit was long over due! Jaclyn took us on a quick tour of her apartment and then office and then to my favorite... In N Out burger for lunch! Then we headed to Temecula for some wine tasting! Our first stop was Mount Palomar Winery-it was literally the most beautiful place I have ever been! I kept asking Vince if we could get "remarried" there! We enjoyed a great wine tasting where I fell in love with their champagne! We spent some time on the grounds just catching up and enjoying the wine! After that we headed to Old Town Temecula and hit another winery that Jaclyn is a member of. Besides a wine tasting they also offer a olive oil & vinegar tasting-I was in heaven! WE of course stopped off to watch the KU game before we left Temecula! But we left Temecula with a bottle of champs & a few bottles of olive oil! Then we headed off to the  Mission Inn for dinner with Jaclyn to end our trip! It was an amazing long weekend made even better by getting to spend time with Jaclyn! I was torn when the trip ended- I missed the kids but also was enjoying the break and the alone time with Vince. The kids were so excited to see us when we got home! Nothing is better than those welcome home hugs we got! Again a giant thank you to Carol & Jimmy, my parents, Kelly & Matt, Maria and Elysa for watching our brood so we could escape and recharge our selves! Especially since Will ended up with pink eye on Friday-thank you Angela for calling in his eye drops!

Abby's 1st Official Haircut

A few weeks ago Vince was going to get his haircut and I asked if Hong had room for Will too and upon further thought I asked if she had room in her schedule for both Abby & Will. Grandma Marq had cut a few crazy "baby hairs" right before Abby's 1st birthday but it was time for a little trim in the back just to even things out. Abby did great as did Hong! I still can't believe that Vince agreed to letting us "cutting" Abby's hair! You can't really tell we cut it which was the goal-but its now even in the back which was the goal!

Selfies

I learned awhile ago that if my phone is left unattended for any amount of time that I will find some selfies. Abby is the selfie queen- that girl loves to ham in up for the phone! And Ben knows both our iPhone passwords so he's also all about the selfies! A few weeks ago I ran upstairs and returned to a phone full of selfies...527 to be exact (yes I counted)! Here are a few of my favorites!