Cousins Visit from MA

Liz, Mark, and Liam made their annual visit down to NJ/NY from Massachusetts this weekend. Saturday was a great day to spend in NYC. It was clear and not even too cold. After meeting up with Maura and Mike, we made our way down to the big tree at Rockefeller Center.

 Maura & Mike

 Group Shot

After seeing the tree, a quick stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral, walking up Fifth Avenue, and checking out the Plaza Hotel, Liam was out for a nap. 

 We stopped in Time Warner Center briefly.  Not a bad view and I liked how these stars changed colors.

 We all had a great lunch at Serafina's and then it was time for the Natural History Museum.

 I'd been there once before, but not with a kid.  Definitely cute to hear Liam asking "Where's Steggy?" and then saying "Bye Steggy" once we'd seen the Stegosaurus.

 T Rex!

 Ever wonder what a baby ostrich looks like?  Here you go!

 After the museum, we hung out at Maura and Mike's place and enjoyed her homemade macaroni and cheese and then chocolate lava cake for dessert.  A full, fun day!  And a few more pictures just because Liam is that cute!

 Yep!

It sure was fun to talk baby with Liz and Mark since they've done it once and are also expecting a couple months after us!  Happy times!!

28 Weeks

It feels good to be entering the third trimester!  We're in the home stretch and both Pat and I are getting more and more excited to meet our little guy.  As for our nursery, we have our paint (a light green) and we have someone coming to refinish the hardwood floors soon (we're ripping out the carpet).  Hopefully by the end of the year we'll have made some major progress.  We are taking a tour of the Palisades Hospital Maternity Ward later today.  And we're signed up for a few classes over the next couple months as well - Prepared Childbirth, Infant Care and Safety, and Breastfeeding.  We need to find a pediatrician still, but I do feel like we're tackling things which is good.  And I am feeling good too which is a huge relief! :)

Sunday Creative

I'll eventually get back to the correct date for these posts...but do I enjoy participating in these.

This week's word prompt:

Frozen…adj. 1. treated, affected, or crusted over by freezing 2. subject to long and severe cold 3. incapable of being changed, moved, or undone: fixed 4. not available for present use 5. expressing or characterized by cold unfriendliness

I know Pat has some shoveling in his future this winter.  I'll take the pregnancy excuse on this one.  :o)

Popcorn substitute

I wanted to sit down and watch a little telly this afternoon, but instead of the typical "popcorn and a movie" I went with pomegranate.  I had never tackled one before and pretty much all I know about them is from my sister...such as taking them apart under water to avoid staining anything with their red juice. 

They were a lot of effort, but these seeds sure were tasty! 

I had a great weekend and hope you did too.

Baby Shower

Let me start out by saying how lots of people have asked us if we've decided on a baby name...and if we are sharing it.


Well, we are!  See if you can figure it out from this picture...

It's Charles.


And little Charlie already has lots of people who love him.  :o)

My super sister, along with cousins Sarah and Rachel, and BFFs Lanier and Kate threw us a wonderful baby shower the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was at my Aunt Carole and Uncle Robert's house. Their house always looks so nice, but it looked especially great decorated with cherished books from when my cousins were little.

And of course the yummy food didn't hurt, including mini cupcakes from Gigi's (thanks to cousins Julie and Jan!) and my favorite, pecan shortbread squares made by my baker friend Claire (check out her sweet shop, Dozen).

Lanier, Me, Kate:

Me, Lanier, E:

Aunt Annie right as she arrived (you remember her from the tea, right?):

Cousins Jennifer and Brandi:



Mom with Aunt Joann

Cousins Paula, Jenny, and Rachel:

 

My HS friend Nathalie:

Rachel and Jan:

Aunt Carole, Mom, Me, Aunt Jo:

Cousins Monica Ann (my birthday buddy, we share June 27th) and Kristin.  They were at the name tag/book signing station.  There were 3 books on display for people to write notes in the front cover to us and/or Charlie.  Make Way for Ducklings, Goodnight Moon, and Where the Wild Things Are.  I loved reading through those later that night!

And my NYC friend Molly who's currently in her first year at Vanderbilt Law:

Everyone gathering round to watch the adorable gifts being opened:

"I was born Cute" and "Life of the Party"

Cousin Kendall, Aunt Ebby, Cousin Mary Byrne, Aunt Joann

Kate, Gail, Rachel:

Let us not forget that this is a Hoosier baby! 

Cuddly stuffed animals.  Aunt Monica looking so sweet:

Lanier and Kate and all our precious mommies:

USN Crew!  Lanier, Kate, Me, Freya, Nathalie, Claire (sorry Lacie, you missed this shot):

And always a favorite of mine, the "bathing beauties" pose (by the way, if you ever wondered why we call it that, it's because we have a picture of us in our swim suits from when we were little girls in this same pose). 

The shower invitation that my sister sent out had an adorable rhyming poem on it that she wrote...and my Mom surprised me by writing a continuation of that poem.  I LOVED it and everyone really enjoyed hearing it.  :o)

I am incredibly grateful for so many family and friends coming together (even those that couldn't make it in person) to celebrate and shower us with useful and adorable gifts.  I am so looking forward to using them!  I had a wonderful time and THANK YOU to all!  And especially you, E!  It was a good thing we drove because we needed our car to get all the goodies back to NJ.  I thought about trying to take more pictures of everything, but figured it would be even better with a baby in the photo later on, right?

PS Today I am getting the maternity dress from all these pictures hemmed up to a better length. I have found that I love maternity clothes! I've pretty much stuck to Old Navy and Target.  Let me know if you know of other great spots.

Have a stellar weekend.

Sunday Creative

The weekend is almost here (woohoo), but I can still submit a photo for this week's Sunday Creative.

Material: 1. A textile fabric 2. Materials, the articles or apparatus needed to make or do something. 3. Relating to, concerned with, or involving matter.

I couldn't help but think of a beautiful quilt cousin LaShanta made us before our wedding in 2007.

 
And totally unrelated, but I find this interesting.  We got a thank you note from the couple that BOUGHT our trundle bed on Craiglist.  I wouldn't have been surprised to receive a thank you if we have given it to them, but we sold it to them.  They just wanted to say they've had some guests stay on it and no complaints, they are very happy. :o)  So that was nice. 

I'm Back and Blogging! Thanksgiving 2010

I know I am due for a big blog post, but gosh it's already December? Wow!

Pat and I hit the road early on Saturday, November 20th.  Destination: West Virginia.  My cousin Sarah and her husband Bryan kindly offered to have us stay with them for the night.  It just so happens they are exactly half way between my NJ and my TN home.  I hadn't seen Sarah and her little one Lucy in a year and had never been to their Lewisburg home.  The small town was beautiful and has a lot of history.  We were able to walk around a lot and grabbed a fabulous dinner.  And how cute is Lucy?!

Here is the nearby Greenbrier Resort which we checked out on Sunday morning.

And here is their gingerbread house version:

I'll go ahead and admit it now. Pat drove the entire way from New Jersey to Nashville. And the entire trip back (which we did in just one day!). I promise I offered to drive, but he was just in the zone. :o) So... we arrived at my parent's house on Sunday afternoon to beautiful weather and happy parents.  We had a great few days with Mom, Dad, and E and prepped for family to arrive on Wednesday. 


Wednesday was also the day of the most anticipated 13th Annual Thanksgiving Tea, hosted by my cousin Kendall (and my Aunt Ann).  This is an exclusive invite that doesn't come around every year, so I was pumped when I received my invitation several weeks ago.  It had a french theme and most of the invitation and the menu was en francaise.   



When we first arrived, my Uncle Jack was dressed in a tux, serving as the official photographer and there to help serve.  We had Kir Royales to start - here is Sarah, E, and Rachel enjoying theirs.  Mine was champagne free, with sparking grape juice instead.  Still yummy!

 The table was set and looked amazing:

Along with the personalized menus, each guest had an edible tea cup or "cup cake" and a party favor.

It was almost too pretty to eat, but I found a way.  Before eating this, we enjoyed cucumber sandwiches, Croque Monsieurs, smoked salmon canapes, cranberry scones, lemon tarts, chocolate covered strawberries, and of course tea.

Here are most of us, minus 4.  My little cousin Kendall is now a college freshman and towers over me.  I used to babysit her!  That was such a fun party and I'm so glad I got to be there.

----

I usually only see my Dad's side of the family about once a year, on Thanksgiving.  So it was nice to have a few days full of visiting, games, and FOOD.  My Dad and Pat smoked a couple pork butts on Wednesday and we had a great meal that evening.

Cousin Peter III mid bite:

 E and sweet Libby

 Uncle Peter and cousin Tennyson

 Dad and Aunt Patty

 Libby taking down a gingerbread man.

Sarah's popular Lane Cake which we transported from West Virginia (since sadly she couldn't come).  This is something my Grandmother "Nanny" used to make and Sarah is the only one who still knows the recipe.

Thanksgiving morning we had 3 participants in the 5 mile Boulevard Bolt.  I opted to skip it this year because I thought it might rain. 

 E, Pat, and Uncle Peter earned all their Thanksgiving food. :o)

 Tennyson, Pat, Dad - under a massive tent we'd set up in the backyard (to avoid rain)

 Russell and Emily

 Libby and Henry

 Pat with a fried turkey (we had 2, mmmm mmmm)

 This year we didn't do 1 super long table spanning multiple rooms, instead we were seated at the main dining table, this kitchen table, and the kids at the kitchen island.  Here is E, Kate, Allison, Emily, Aunt Barbara, and P3:

 Main table: David, Gail, Aunt Patty, Bob, Uncle John, Dad, Uncle Peter:

It has been decided by Pat that I must learn how to make my Mom's frozen cranberry salad and her sweet potato casserole.  As always, the food was all amazing!!

We didn't get one large group shot out on the steps this year, but this is from Friday morning.

 And later that day, the rest of the gang:

 

 E and her precious dog Briley.

I'm mostly spent on blogging right now, but I promise to do another big post with pictures in a few days - all about my wonderful baby shower!

Lots of other fun stuff going on too - Straight No Chaser concert at the Beacon Theatre last night, dinner date tomorrow night at La Sirene, and a movie with girlfriends on Friday night (Pat has his company holiday party - no spouses)...until next time my friends.