Tuesday, August 31, 2010

We got a "kee-kee"!

For the past few months, Aubrey has shown a great deal of interest in kitties. My father-in-law's house is home to two cats that she absolutely adores.
Here's a picture of her with one of the cats, Taz:


When I was at Target with her last month, I was browsing through the children's department and looking through the Fall clothes they started to put out.. and that's when I saw it:

For $4, I couldn't say no!

But anyway, so Keith & I have been looking here and there for a feline addition to our family. I was going through Craigslist pet ads and found a woman that was looking to find a "forever home" for her 1 year old Calico. She was already fixed and she was adorable. I emailed right away and made plans to meet her/pick her up that night. Before heading over, we stopped at Target for all the cat necessities and we pondered potential names the whole ride there.

I would like to introduce the latest addition to our family, Phoebe!




She is a really calm and loveable cat and Aubrey has fun chasing her around. She runs around the house saying "kee-kee" (kitty).. even Madden likes her!:


Do you have any pets? <3

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Maine! & a (failed) attempt at a family portait

Every August, we go up to my mother in law's house for a family reunion. Last year, we couldn't really do much because Aubrey was just a month old, but this year was a lot more fun!
Warning: this post will be very picture heavy!

We started our journey at 11:30 Friday morning. We drove up with our friend, Katy, because our car is acting funny and we didn't want to take it on a 4 hour trip. We stopped at Dunk's for coffee before hopping on the highway.

The weather up there is a big difference from down in Massachusetts, so we had to pack a ton of warm clothes, which I LOVED seeing Aubrey run around in! Nothing warms my heart more than seeing her playing in her footie pajamas :)

We got there around 4 and everyone was playing the Wii. Aubrey wanted to join in on the fun!


I made spaghetti for dinner and it was a huge hit. I used 2 boxes of spaghetti and it was ALL gone within 20 minutes. I'd like to thank my mother for teaching me how to make the best spaghetti in the world ;)

The best thing about Maine is, we all just sit around and talk while playing card/board games all weekend. Serious family bonding! While we were playing a rowdy game of Spoons (a really fun card game! If you've never played, I highly suggest it!), Aubrey explored under the table and played with her Grandma






Loves of my life:



Saturday morning was a lazy one! We hung around, had cereal for breakfast, and napped





Late morning/early afternoon, we all headed outside and played a bunch of games similar to those on a popular game show, Minute To Win It. Basically, contestants need to perform stunts using household items within a 60 second timespan.


This particular game involved 5 paper grocery bags cut to different heights. The object is to move the bags from the ground to a table using only your teeth. Your knees/hands can not touch the ground. It's harder than it looks!


Aubrey had fun with the paper bags! (though, nobody told her she could only use her teeth!)


For this game, two pennies were dropped down the legs of a pair of (unused) pantyhose. To win, you have to stick your whole arms down the legs and get the pennies and then bring your arms back out of the pantyhose within one minute. You can't use any other part of your body to help shuffle your way out. I didn't try this one, but it seemed tricky!

Aubrey had a blast playing in the grass all day.


We had a horseshoe competition going on until dusk. I was paired up with Keith's stepfather. We were doing really well in the beginning. We ended up winning a couple games, but by the time the last game came around, he had a bit too much to drink so I had to carry our team and we ended up losing. Oh well, maybe next year :)

As the day went on, the weather got cooler. Aubrey's summer outfit quickly turned into a quarter sleeve shirt, jeans, and sneakers. She looked so darn cute in her Boston Celtics shirt!


She LOVES "talking" on my cell phone!


Aubrey spent a good part of the weekend playing with my mother in law's dog, Lucky. He definitely sensed that she was a lot smaller/more fragile than everyone else! While he jumped up and gave the rest of us kisses, he was very gentle towards her and even let her jump on him and pull his tail!


Sunday mornings up in Maine are usually pretty slow-paced. His mother cooks a big breakfast (though, I didn't really eat much of it this year. I'm trying to be good since there is only TWO weeks left in the weight loss competition I'm in and I'm in the lead!) and we spend the last morning together just talking and getting everything ready to leave (and, of course, Aubrey plays since she can't pack just yet ;))


After breakfast, we pack the cars up and say our goodbyes.. then we're off on another 4 hour car ride. We stopped at the first rest stop we saw to fill up on gas. This particular rest stop happened to have a Starbucks so I stopped and got a skinny cinnamon dolce latte to warm myself up since it was cold and rainy. I also pulled Aubrey's blanket out of the trunk and she took a nice, long nap. :)

Sunday night consisted of grocery shopping, dying my hair, shopping for new outfits to get our pictures taken in, a pretty late bedtime for Aubrey, followed by a game of Monopoly for me & Keith. This is our favorite game to play. We get pretty competitive (all in good fun, of course). Keith had Monday off so we planned on doing family portraits. I got up early Monday morning and got my haircut. It had been over a year since I got it done last (before my baby shower!) so needless to say, a lot was cut off because it was dead. I left the salon with my head feeling SO much lighter! It's amazing what a good hair cut/style can do for the soul ;)

Our photo appointment was for 1:20, so at 12 we got ready to leave so we could have a quick lunch beforehand. But of course that didn't happen the way we planned.. We spent half an hour trying to find the car keys that Aubrey so sneakily hid in my underwear drawer. Luckily we found them and got there with plenty of time to spare.

I wish we would have attempted family pictures when Aubrey was younger (I originally wanted to do them when she was first born, but after having to have a c-section, I was in no mood to get my photos taken!). She did NOT want to sit still! We managed to get a few good ones, but a majority of them showed a very cranky toddler.

Here are the ones we decided to get prints of. The photographer literally had to chase Aubrey around with the camera to get these shots:



Mouth full of Goldfish crackers. These will be displayed in the living room. I figure it will be a good story to tell when people come over :)







And here are a couple of outtakes, just because I think Aubrey is hilarious in them (however, I didn't think so yesterday, but looking back she looks pretty damn cute)




Hope you all are having a nice week!
<3

Thursday, August 19, 2010

We're going on a trip..

I won't be around tomorrow since we are going up to Maine for a Family Reunion so I figured I would post today.

This week hasn't been very eventful, though we did have a going away/birthday party for a friend of ours that is going off to Afghanistan next month. I didn't get a chance to take pictures so I'm going to swipe some from Katy @ Tangerine Hearts :)


The cake that I made. The gel that I got to write on it was horrible. Guess that's what I get for skimping and buying the cheap brand!


The guys. Ryan, Mike, Spencer, Diego, and Jon [the guest of honor] in the front


Me & Holly


Mike & Keith

It was a good night. We left around 11:30 and enjoyed a quiet night at home since Aubrey was with Christina



One bummer about this particular trip up to Maine is that we can't bring our dog since my mother-in-law's neighbors have a dog that they don't like to keep on a leash and it seems vicious, but my wonderful mother is going to come over and house and puppy-sit while we're away.

I'll be back Sunday with lots of pictures and shenanigans to write about :)

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
<3

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Old MacDonald had a farm...

And we went to go visit! Yesterday, my mother & I took Aubrey to Parlee Farms, which is right up the street from our home. I wanted to get some strawberry preserves to make Breakfast Cupcakes and I thought it would be fun to show Aubrey the baby goats.


Getting ready to go, all dressed in her farmer attire. Funny story: I had a different shirt picked out.. a plaid one to go with the "farmer theme" (yeah, I'm a nerd). I put it on the coffee table because Aubrey was occupied playing with one of her toys and I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth.. and she comes in with the shirt and throws it in the toilet! I guess she didn't approve of it. :( But that's okay. I still love her.


^ Me loving Aubrey.


She had fun with the goats.







So I got some strawberry preserves, and they were sampling a bunch of the jellies, so I tried the a hot jalapeno jelly and it was delicious, so I got a jar of that, too. It's so good on my Wheat Thins!

I worked for a few hours earlier & then came home to bake a cake for a going away party that we're attending tonight. Our friend Jon is going over to Afghanistan, and it was also his birthday earlier in the week so we all wanted to get together for one last hoo-rah before he leaves. I'm just waiting for it to cool so I can frost and decorate it. Aubrey is staying with Christina for the night. Hopefully it goes smoothly since she has never stayed there before!

Hope you all are having a nice weekend!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

I'm back.

We were without internet for a few days last week so I couldn't post at all over the weekend or make a Thankful Friday post.

We spent those days playing outside, discovering new toys Aubrey got for her birthday that she hadn't played with, and I got to introduce her to a few of my favorite kid movies. We watched The Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, Lilo & Stitch, and Happy Feet, which Aubrey absolutely loved. I pulled out the penguins that Keith got for me when the movie first came out and she loved playing with them.






She has also been trying a bunch of new foods and loving them all!

Meatloaf, carrots & mashed potatoes


French toast & sausage for breakfast!


Macaroni & cheese with hot dogs!


Over the weekend, we went to a family friends' birthday party. Aubrey was pretty cranky the whole time so we had to leave early and I couldn't get many pictures. It had a luau theme so we threw on a flowery dress and I made her a lei at the party that stayed on for a total of 5 seconds.

(Don't mind our possessed-looking dog in the background)


She wasn't amused.

This week, Keith has been working overnights which is definitely taking it's toll on the three of us. Aubrey knows her Daddy is home and sleeping in the bed, so she sits at the closed bedroom door and cries because she wants to play with him all day. I, of course, can take this for about 5 minutes before it stops being "aww how cute, she misses her daddy" and starts really getting to me.. and of course he's tired because his schedule is all screwed up. Thankfully it's only til Thursday night.

Hope you are all having a good week!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

The Butterfly Place

Last Saturday, we spent the morning trying to figure out what to do. Christina & Michelle were over so we wanted to do something. Keith suggested the beach, but when we go, we like to leave early in the morning so we can walk around before it gets too crowded. Since it was around 11, we decided to save the beach for another day. Another suggestion was the Lowell Folk Festival, an annual event where all the streets in Downtown Lowell are closed off and there is a ton of food, activities, and entertainment. We played with that idea for a bit but finally decided on The Butterfly Place, which is an indoor butterfly garden about 10 minutes down the street from us.


On our way!


She was confused!



Pretty butterfly!


Aubrey loved the pretty butterflies! (And the pretty butterflies loved Christina!)



We had a really nice time and can't wait until she's older so we can bring her back!