Snow Day

As everyone knows, today was a snow day! As luck would have it, I had the weekend off!

I had plans for a cookie party, but that didn't quite happen. Instead, we woke up to hang around the house. Ryan and I took Jude out in the snow for a little bit, but he didn't have gloves and it was just a little too chilly to have him out for too long. While I'm sure he didn't 'get' it - Jude seemed very interested in what was going on around him. He had been in the snow a couple of weeks ago, but nothing nearly as significant.

Later in the day, Ryan went sledding while I hung out in the house with the little guy. When he got home, I warmed him up with a cup of homemade hot chocolate (ground cocoa from Costa Rica, Milk, Brown Sugar and a dash of Vanilla!)Now we've been spending the rest of the day hanging around the house watching movies.

All layered up - double chin exposed:

A break from shoveling:

"mommy - what's the crazy thing on your head?"

Might as well get a little time IN the snow before going inside...

clearly, he loved it:

Of course Buddy had his turn:

Our wint-o-wonderland from the back door:

Uncle Bryan and his matching hat:

Tree Time!

In keeping with the trend...

This past Saturday Ryan and I went to get our Christmas tree. We invited my brother Bryan and his fiance Katy along to help. We seemed to have picked the perfect day - it wasn't too cold, but was just cool enough to make it feel right.

A guy that I used to work with (and Ryan currently works with) works at a farm down in lower Delaware. His wife's family owns the farm and so we figured we'd go there as we have in the past. Their trees are reasonably priced ($35 for any size), they're a very low-key operation (none of the fancy gift shops, etc that most other farms have) and so I feel good helping them out. I know that they don't get nearly as much traffic as some of the larger local tree farms, so every little bit helps.

They have multiple fields, but the field we had to chose from was the same as the one we picked from last time we went. All the trees in that area were a variety of sizes from little saplings to full grown. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted. We had two options for our tree this year.

Option 1: Put the tree in the front room (the 'formal' living room). This room we NEVER go in. It has borrowed furniture, holes in the wall (where Ryan is fishing wires) and is not decorated at all. The benefits of this room though is that we could pretty much get any size tree we want and it'd be on display through our large front window (so suburban of us...).

Option 2: Put the tree in our family room. This is the room that we spend all of our lounge time in. It's (pretty much) totally remodeled, and would allow us to see the tree every day. This room would mean we had restrictions on how big we could go, Jude would possibly be crawling after the ornaments and all of our Christmas decorating would be centered in spot.

Up until we got to the farm, I had no idea which direction I'd go, so we just found the tree that we liked best and I figured I'd worry about the rest when I got home.

Here's Katy and Jude (all bundled up):

A little out of order, but here's (from the left) Bryan, Ryan, Neal and some other dude shaking the loose needles:

Here we are with our perfect Christmas Tree (my brother said that it was the most perfect pear shaped tree - he also said that they went to a more well-known tree farm, spent 10 bucks more than we did and they weren't AS happy with it... so...)

Here's Bryan and Jude chopping it down:

Our little family:

I insisted we get a picture of the three of us dragging the tree to the place where they bundle it up:

We ended up putting it in the family room... here it is all light up:

And of course our little man in front of it mid-decorating:

and with the flash this time...

Fire pit/Kid Friendly

This past weekend, Ryan and I invited a few people over for a little firepit.

Ryan got his firepit, I think before he even moved into our old house. It has always been a backdrop to us and our drunken friends acting like idiots. This time though, it took a turn to 'family friendly'. Ryan invited our friend Matt, his fiance and kids and his niece and nephew and the W Family. With all the kids, it was a pretty good turn out.

Being prepared for the kids, we got an abundance of hotdogs, ingredients for s'mores and juice boxes. I'd say aside from only having one roasting skewer, we were pretty set. They all seemed to enjoy themselves! Jude only lasted for so long... but he too was mesmerized by the glow of the fire.

Matthew and Jacob:

Trent liked his hot dog...

Jude and Matt

Joey:

Kennedy and her hot chocolate:

A Lovely Bash

This past weekend Jude and I went to a Birthday party for a lovely little lady: Ava Noelle.

I met Ava and her mother through Barbie. Barbie knows a group of mothers who all have kids around the same age and I was lucky enough to be 'accepted' into their November-Baby group.

The party was held in Nicole's house and it was a sweet little party. It felt like there were kids EVERYWHERE in the house. They were all rolling and crawling and walking (and in one case practically running) around the living room.

Jude with his new found mobility kept to himself but was getting around pretty well.

Weekend

I am one of the few people who look forward to the middle parts of the week (as opposed to the weekends). Typically we have a variety of things to do during the weekend, maybe I have to work, etc and so Monday is usually the day that marks my five days of rest. Don't get me wrong, we have our share of errands and such, but for the most part we're in no rush for any of these.

This weekend was no different in that we were busy, busy, busy.

We started the weekend on Friday with a little quality family time. My brother Bryan was watching my younger brother Scott and so them and Katy came over for a little fire pit action. I don't see my brother Scott too frequently, so when I do, it's always nice to catch up (on things such as school, girlfriends, etc). This time though he kept telling me how 'grandma' I was :(





Either way, it was a good time. At one point one of our neighbors came over and complained about the fire. He didn't think it was a 'good idea' to have it and since he hadn't seen anyone with a fire pit before he assumed they weren't allowed? It bothered him so much, that he decided to call the cops... who showed up and told us we were fine.

After a wonderful evening, we woke up bright and early. I was invited to go to a "whale of a sale" in Wilmington with Meghan. I really didn't know what to expect, so brought a little cash a long just in case I came along something. When we got there, there was a huge line (that moved quickly) just to get in. When we got in though, we quickly determined that it was nothing more than a one day goodwill. However, others were unaware of this. There were people staking out huge piles of goods. I specifically was checking out one little item in a stack of goods and was advised that the entire pile belong to one woman. WOW.

Between the three of us (me, meghan and her mom) we found maybe 10 dollars worth of stuff and as we headed to the end of the line we decided it wasn't worth it. We would have had to waited in about 45 minutes worth of a line... so we just put our goods back and headed home.

After arriving home, I decided to make some 'homemade' spaghetti. A couple of weeks ago, I made meatballs for the Halloween party. Unfortunately most of them went to waste and so Ryan has been asking me to make more. I figured if I'd be making meatballs, why not do the whole she-bang. Once in the past I tried this and it was a huge failure. This time I seemed to get the double thumbs up (for any one who cares to know, 3 cans of tomato paste, 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, 1 can of tomato puree, 7 cloves of garlic, a bundle of oregano, salt, pepper, basil and parsley gave it the perfect flavor. Meatballs were a blend of the same spices, about 3 pounds of ground beef and 2 cups of Italian style breadcrumbs fried in veggie oil, then added to the sauce).

In addition to making a fancy little dinner, we had a birthday party to go to that afternoon. Our little buddy Trent was turning one! It was a lovely party at the Woodland's. There was delicious cake, oodles of presents and plenty 'o food (unfortunately I think I ate too much considering the big pot of spaghetti sitting at home).

Jude and the b-day boy.

Trent (as with any 1 year old I'm sure) was very easily distracted during present time.

Yummmm

One of the cutest cakes I've ever seen

I was a HUGE fan of the doggy ears.

and so was Ryan...

After spending some time, we headed home to do a little yard work (blah). ALL of our neighbors rake their leaves... we never did last year, and used the "we just moved in" excuse to get away with it. This year, it was really on Ryan as to whether or not to do it. We did. Not exactly the whole front yard, but we cleaned up the driveway a little and some of the leaves around a tree in the front yard. Lucky for me, this allowed me to mark another item off my list! Jude and I did a little leaf playing/jumping!! I put items like this on my list of 101, not specifically to do it just ONCE, but to hopefully make these things part of our lives... I'm very eager to do such little things like this with Jude as he gets older and can do them on his own.

I can't really tell if he loved it or hated it. I was a new feeling, he was hungry and it was noisy...

but he sure thought they were delicious...(no I didn't let him eat them... but he sure got close)

Here I am "jumping" with Jude:

So, a birthday party, leaves, and yummm spaghetti dinner!

Finally came Sunday. I had to go to work and so Ryan was left to tackle some projects around the house. A few weeks ago we picked up some electrical goods and so he was attacking those projects today. I was glad I wasn't here, because these projects require a NUMBER of holes to be cut in the walls. Basically to get wires into our first floor walls, we need to come up from the basement. So, to get to the ceiling we need to cut holes to get there. I came home to a swiss cheese house. However, the good part of this is we will soon have hardwired smoke detectors, new receptacles, possibly some new lighting and much more. Even more exciting is that one of the main reasons I have not decorated most of the rooms in our house is because I knew these holes were coming. So, once the rewiring is done, we'll be able to patch the holes and I can begin picking out paints and decorating! I don't see it all being finished at once, but we're headed in the right direction!

In conclusion: it was a busy/lovely weekend mostly spent with the loves of my life and some dear friends.

Ahhh Autumn

Today, Ryan and I took Jude man to Milburn Orchards. It wasn't Jude's first trip to Milburn, but it was his first apple picking trip and we got him his first pumpkin. It was probably one of the most perfect days to go. The weather was great!

First we got some of their famous apple cider donuts and then headed over to the apple area to do some pickin'.

Afterwards, we came back to the pumpkin patch and got Jude his pumpkin - we sat him down in a patch of pumpkins and he started playing with the nubby one, so of course we got it for him.

Mommom and Poppop met us there

The Woodlands came along and the boys both likes the little pumpkin.

After all of the pumpkin and apple pickin' and choosin' the Woodlands came over to do some baking with us. I made my apple crisp (#2 of 4 seasonal desserts - winter and spring left to do). It was pretty yummy. The recipe made quite a bit and it's best when warm, so I can imagine quite a bit of it will go to waste unless it heats up well. I can't help but think it would be delicious with some vanilla ice cream... perhaps I'll get some before I make my apple pie later this week

It doesn't look like much, but it's pretty good.

My Lovely Long Weekend

After Thursday’s concert, I took the day off to sit at home and relax with the Jude-man. I had really missed all of our quality time at home together, so it was wonderful to just sit around and play with him, nap with him and just enjoy him.

After a nice and relaxing Friday, we had a birthday party to hit up on Saturday for our friend Milenko’s son. I had not seen this little boy since our company picnic last year. It was amazing to see how much he’s grown in less than a year! He was no longer a little baby, but looked like a person! We spent the greater part of Saturday hanging out around the party and just enjoying ourselves.

It’s always interesting going to Milenko’s because he’s not from the US and the majority of his family is from Europe as well, so it’s never your typical hotdog and hamburger type of picnic. For example when we walked up to his house on Saturday, there was a full lamb being pulled off the large barbeque grill (skull and hooves still in tact). It’s very interesting to be introduced to different cultures.

After our Saturday out I had plans to go dress shopping with Katy, but that got foiled rather quickly. Once we determined that no bridal salons are open on Sunday, I headed home. On my way, I decided to make a pit stop at Babies R Us.

As I had said before, Jude is starting to play with his toys a little. Even if he totally doesn’t understand their purpose, he looks at them, reaches for them and seems to appreciate that they’re there. So, I wanted to see what other goodies I could get for him. I ended up getting him another Lamaze plush toy shaped like a horse (when you move it, it makes galloping sounds – so cute) and a baby Einstein toy that helps teach colors. I think the two of us stood in the toy section or a good 30 minutes as I showed him each toy to see which one he seemed to like the best. He didn’t seem to understand that he could have had ANY of them if he showed interest. It’s exciting to think one day he’ll be really excited when put in front of a huge display of toys (I’m sure when the time comes I’ll be dreading walking into a toy store).

Finally, we headed home to meet up with Ryan who was doing some work around the house! Quite awhile ago we painted and decorated our living room. Ryan never got around to finishing the receptacles in there though, so considering we had all the materials needed to do this project he decided to tackle it this weekend. He got about 90% of the work done and plans to wrap it up this evening. Now, once Jude starts crawling and moving around he won’t be able to get his fingers zapped because we’re putting in tamper resistant receptacles through the whole house.

A busy and enjoyable weekend!

Mom (to-be) Day Out

Saturday Ryan had work and I woke up with no plans for the day. After crawling out of bed a little later than usual I made a point to tackle a little bit of cleaning around the house before I got a call from Barbie asking what I was up to. We decided to head over to Babies R Us to look around as it was such a nice day out. As I posted before, I'd love to get Jude the Jeep walker so I thought I'd check it out. It of course was just as adorable in person, but I wasn't sure that it was something I have to have right now.

I currently have two gift cards/store credits, some 15% off coupons and some 'R Us credits (for spending so much there!) and thought for sure I'd find something that I 'needed'. Honestly though, there's nothing that we really truly need - we were lucky enough to have gotten plenty of stuff for our shower. I made the "responsible" decision to wait until Jude arrives before buying anything else. I figured this way we could get him home and figure out if there's something we'll need that may have just slipped our minds.

After lunch we got a bite to eat and came back to the house to hang out for a bit.

Have I mentioned that Trent was with us through the day? He was such a good boy through all the running around and by the time we got back to our house he was all tuckered out and slept just about the whole time. When Barbie first walked in with him, Buddy was curious to see what was in the car seat. He did his share of sniffing but eventually let him go. While he was napping and Barbie and I were chatting away he would go over and sniff around at the car seat trying to figure out what exactly this thing that occasionally made noise was all about.

He got bored with him until Trent woke up and I was giving this little guy more attention then I was Buddy. He started to jump up on me a little and wanted to get close to Trent, but for the most part was pretty gentle. I'm fairly confident that when we get Jude home Buddy will be very interested in him for the first day or two before losing interest all together (until he gets bigger and starts pulling his tail and becoming friends).