friday/anniversary date night!

We had a pretty fantastic Friday! Karl came over for the first time in at least a million months (he’s been busy working so hard)! I’m happy to say that Kaya is officially over the “stranger danger” phase, because although she didn’t remember Uncle Karl, she fell in love with him again pretty quickly. She kept “asking” him to help her stand up!_MG_6047 Michael kept teasing about having some sort of surprise date night in honor of our anniversary. As usual, he didn’t disappoint- he took me out to the best Greek food in town. Mmmmmm. If I ever make it back to Europe, revisiting Greece is at the top of my list.IMG_20130524_222204

The next part of the date was a complete shock- he drove to our Institute director’s house and we left Kaya with his family! It was the first time we’ve had a date without her… which was strange at first, but it let us relax a little more. We had a great time just joking around without worrying about pacifying a sleepy baby! (Of course, we had to go to Dairy Queen. It’s not a real date if you don’t.)IMG_20130524_201245After ice cream, Michael surprised me again by bringing me back to the very place where we both realized we’d marry each other. We sat under the same little tree (well, we at least tried to pick the same one) as nearly 5 years ago now and just talked.20130524210125251I loved having some special time with my buddy to just reflect on the past few years. Thanks for the fun night, pal!

birthday party weekend!

I haven’t even had my REAL birthday yet, but we already celebrated it with both sides of our immediate family this past weekend! We had a little party on Saturday, but the whole weekend felt like a celebration to me- I got to run while grandparents watched Kaya, we ate a million of my favorite foods, and we had ice cream or cake (or both!) every night. Yeah… I’m spoiled.

Chinese-food buddies! (We are also mac ‘n cheese buddies…)

PHOTO_20130208_132601

Just before the party, everyone banned me to Kaya’s room so that they could decorate. I was pretty excited to see all the hot pink streamers and so many of my photos covering the walls.

IMG_2407 IMG_2381

I was even MORE excited to see THIS sitting in the middle of all my gifts!!!

_MG_8795

No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you… really! Michael surprised me with a Canon 5D Mark II, and I still can’t believe it! I’ve joked about wanting this camera for over two years, and it’s finally in my hands. I’m really looking forward to using it for both future photoshoots and just my own personal photos. My buddy is the best.

_MG_8721 _MG_8775

I also had a fudge brownie ice cream cake (and I didn’t even make it myself this year)! Mmmm. (Not sure what happened to the “h”… I never saw it. Oh well! Guess it’s my “birtday!”)

_MG_8725I love all these crazy people and feel so blessed that they could be with me for my birthday. They make me feel so loved. I’m also so thankful that I now have a sister and a daughter to celebrate with!_MG_8760

Aaaand you know we can’t pose without doing something crazy.

_MG_8766A few other photos from the weekend:

Grandparents can’t get enough baby cuddles!

_MG_8688 _MG_8696

IMG_2339

And apparently Karl can’t get enough Juni cuddles.

_MG_8771Then Mom and Karl were cuddling each other (are you seeing a theme here?)

_MG_8785

And I have been cuddling with using my 5D Mark II. I can’t believe how sharp it is!
IMG_2397

week in review

Although I haven’t blogged much in the past week, we’ve still been up to a lot! I figured I’d just lump it all together in one post, so prepare yourself for a gazillion photos. Here are our highlights!

Michael traveled for work for the second time this year so far. He was only really gone for a night, but he made sure to get extra baby cuddles before he left! (Check out his bedhead… I mean, handsome smile!)

_MG_8556

Most wives would revel in the luxury of having the whole bed to themselves. I’m not really “most wives”, so here’s what Michael’s side looks like when he’s not here. I have to fill the space up or I don’t think I could sleep. (I know you’re jealous of my giant stuffed dogs. Admit it.)
IMG_20130117_003647

We’ve also had some great brother and sister time!
_MG_8571

And a whole lot of exersaucer fun.

_MG_8577

And more…_MG_8593

…and more…
_MG_8603…and even more that’s not pictured, because really, how many pictures of a baby in an exersaucer do you need to see?

Michael and I had our first-ever XL pizza! I don’t think I’ve ever even seen one, let alone eaten it. We had a coupon to get it for free, and that just made it taste even better.

_MG_8596

Uncle Karl came over and we had a Mario Kart party… which really meant him and I were playing against other random people in the world. And by “playing against”, I really mean losing pathetically. Yep._MG_8612

Baby Bird is serious about her playtime. (This rattle is actually her favorite toy right now!)

_MG_8581

We’ve been working on sitting up, too._MG_8586

But mostly, she just falls over._MG_8563There’s been a lot of toe-grabbing going on, and apparently it’s only cool to wear socks that are soaked in drool nowadays.

_MG_8550

Kaya also had her first-ever playdate! Little Mia came over and we had a lot of fun. Kaya just couldn’t stop looking at her and smiling._MG_8625

She also wanted to grab Mia’s face and clothes…_MG_8632Some other things that I don’t have photos for:
– This weekend, I did my first 6-mile run since Kaya was born. It went really well and I felt so good at the end of it! I just might incorporate longer runs into my weekly regimen again.
– We went to Dairy Queen. Yeah… how can that not make the list? I have a problem.
– We also went to The Children’s Place, and they had a pretty big rack of clearance items for $3. Kaya really needed some jammies in bigger sizes, so I was super excited to see that there were a bunch left! We also found a dress and a couple of shirts. Our receipt told us that we “saved” about $101 off of the original prices- whoa! I love deals on things we actually need.

the 5 c’s

I  am the happiest girl on earth now that Lelia, Jeff, and Karl are in town and available for a little fun! Because the newlyweds have been busy cleaning and setting up their new apartment, I figured I’d have them over for dinner one night. I invited Karl too, since he can’t cook I love him so much.

I made my own version of vegetarian chili! (recipe to come soon)! It was a big hit with cheese, tortilla chips, and cornbread._MG_8107After dinner, Baby Bird got a whole lot of cuddles.
_MG_8095 Uncle Karl wanted to read Kaya a story (I think he just wanted an excuse to read the Pooh Bear book, because apparently you can’t open it if there’s not a baby on your lap)!_MG_8097 Jeff and Lelia made some delicious chocolate-chip cookies!
_MG_8098 We played cards (the name of the game is “BANG”! We’ve loved it for years and finally got our own cards for Christmas)._MG_8099 And well… there was a whole lot of CRAZY. I love my family so much!_MG_8103

Christmas cookies

Decorating gingerbread cookies at Christmastime is a big tradition in my family. I can’t even remember a year when we didn’t do it! It’s something I’d like to continue with my own little family, so this weekend I made the dough and invited our brothers over to cut and sprinkle them!_MG_7039

Uncle Karl hadn’t seen Kaya for a little while, so he was extra excited for baby cuddles!_MG_7006 Jeff might’ve been eating his cookies as he was making them…_MG_7023I never realized what a giant mess this whole process makes. I guess my mom always took care of it, so we never noticed when we were kids! Now I get all the fun of clean-up for myself._MG_7031Somewhere along the way was a tray we forgot was in the oven. Burnt to a crisp! It really was alright though (besides the smell!) because we had waaay too many cookies as it was.
_MG_7022Kaya’s patiently awaiting her turn to decorate next year.
_MG_7029They’re not the most artistically-deocrated cookies we’ve made, but they still looked pretty cute…_MG_7032…except for this creepy snowman!
_MG_7033

7 days to go!

Christmas parade!

A couple of weekends ago, we went to the town Christmas parade! This has been a tradition for Michael and I ever since we met three years ago. My brother even happened to be in town!

You can never NOT have fun with these two!

One of my favorite parts of the parade is always the decked-out jeeps and antique cars!

And of course, we are always so anxious to see Santa at the end of it, riding on a firetruck. When Karl and I were young, Santa came around the whole town on his firetruck, giving people candy canes.

I always anticipate seeing the horses all dressed up, too.

6 days to go!

happy happy birthday karl!

On Friday, Karl came over and stayed the night, so that on Saturday we could have a birthday party! He even got to play some football with Michael and other friends of a friend. I made him a special chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. I know I’m not even close to becoming a professional cake decorator, but at least I’m improving!

He originally asked for a New York Giants cake, since that’s his favorite team, but this was as close as I got. We also didn’t have any candles… Oops.

This was the first birthday I was able to celebrate with my brother in about 6 years, so I’m really glad he came over.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARL!!!!

After the party, he asked us if we could drop him off to visit with some of his friends. Michael willingly took him, and he knew he was responsible for getting on the bus that would take him back home. About an hour later, he called and admitted he was lost while trying to find the bus that was leaving in under ten minutes! Lelia yelled “Get in the car!”, and out we went to rescue him from his wandering. When we found him, we had two minutes to make it to the bus stop. And, of course, once we got there, the bus was pulling away! Karl insisted that we chase it down, so we did! After he had run out of the car twice on Main Street in an attempt to get on, the bus driver finally stopped one last time and he made it! It was crazy, and so many people were staring. I sure wish I had thought to take video of all that insanity!

lowered ears

My family is pretty crazy. Now, when I say family, I’m talking about the lucky people who have had to put up with my antics since I was born, my inlaws who will now have to put up with me for the rest of eternity, and of course, Lelia! She has all but officially been adopted as our “daughter” and I couldn’t be any happier about it.

We have some pretty hilarious times together.

But some of the most hilarious moments come when you get Lelia and my brother together.

This past weekend, amidst all the laughing and poking fun, Lelia told Karl she wanted to cut his hair. This was only her third time ever cutting hair, but he was all for it!

She looks pro!

He looked good in the end!

Like I said…. CRAZY!!!