2013 at a Glance

I think it's safe to say that 2013 has been my favorite year EVER. A beautiful baby girl. Watching my "big" baby girl grow up and becoming more and more of a beautiful young lady every day. A marriage that gets stronger as time goes on. A new place to call home. A new car. A 16-year friendship that has never been more solid. Celebrating my one year anniversary at my job. God has been good to my family this year, that's for sure!

So here it is, my favorite photos from this year (I was going to do one per month, but who am I kidding?!):

January
January was spent getting ready for Addison, celebrating my birthday, and just enjoying the last few weeks of being a family of 3!

February

February brought the sweetest little Valentine I've ever laid eyes on. I can not believe I was so nervous about not loving Addison as much as I love Aubrey. I just did not think it was possible. But the second I heard that little cry (that turned into a 45 minute sob fest that the nurses thought was hilarious), my heart grew two sizes. Addie has been such a blessing. She is the perfect addition to our family!

I was lucky enough to have a friend getting her photography business off the ground and she offered to do hospital and family portraits for free, and she did an amazing job! While going through photos to add to this post, I realized that I haven't shared our family photos with anybody! There are a few that I used as my cover/profile photo on Facebook, but there are so many gems that nobody has seen. I'll be posting those for sure!

March

March brought us a new place to call home and a couple first holidays for Addie! I was amazed that Aubrey's 6-9 month "My First St Patrick's Day" onesie fit my little chunker. Easter was a lot of fun. Aubrey had a blast finding all of her Easter eggs, as well as Addison's! 

April

April was Team KRJ's second annual March for Babies walk. We went with a Red Sox theme for the shirts and I love how they came out! I can't wait for the third annual, which is coming up soooon!

I also couldn't resist throwing in this gorgeous picture of Aubrey. When did my baby get so grown up?

May
May brought lots of nice weather and trips to the park! It also brought my first Mother's Day as a mother of two, and the annual Memorial Day Parade that goes right by Rachel's house

June 

June was a big month for my girls! Aubrey had her first dance recital and Addie Grace got baptized (and of course they both happened on the same weekend! Talk about busy!) We also celebrated Keith's first Father's Day as a father of 2 :)

July

July was another huge month. Aubrey turned 4, which was celebrated with a trip to the New England Aquarium in Boston and a Littlest Pet Shop birthday party! I also had an amazing week-long vacation in which we went to the beach, I went to Warped Tour with Rachel and had a blast, and Addie had her first tries of solid food!

August

August was a pretty low-key month. We celebrated Madden's 7th birthday and Aubrey got her first hair cut! I also took a day trip with Rachel and another friend up to York Beach in Maine. It was our first time up there and we decided that it definitely wouldn't be our last! We are hoping for an annual trip every summer. We stopped at a local seafood restaurant in Kittery and had the most amazing lunch. Definitely a great bonding day!

September

September was so much fun! The start of the Patriots season, seeing TWO amazing bands live, and a trip to the biggest fair in New England! Aubrey & I were on the hunt for a farmer's market the Sunday of the first Pats game. We found one that offered free cupcakes and face painting! Score. Keith & I went and saw Yellowcard play an acoustic set of their Ocean Avenue album and it was amazing. Rachel & I saw Young London (a local band) for the third time and we had way too much fun singing and dancing along in the front row, and before the show we had dinner at the cutest pub ever. I went with Keith's family to the fair (Keith had to work) and we spent all day there and had SO much fun (minus the little incident where Aubrey disappeared for a couple of minutes in a sea of thousands of people - holy shit those were the worst 2 minutes of my life)

October

October was another busy month! We had a freakishly warm day that we took advantage of by going to the park with NO jackets, decorated pumpkins, and the 4 of us went apple picking with Rachel and Mackenzie. Aubrey WON a coloring contest that our local grocery store puts on every year and got herself a sweet gift card to Toys R Us. For Halloween we toted around a beautiful Smurfette and a plump little strawberry :) And the most exciting part? A new car!

November

November apparently involved a lot of shopping (because I have a ton of "girls in the shopping cart" photos, and a lot of Aubrey not wanting her picture taken! We celebrated Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time with family! November also marks the beginning of Addie's Olivia the Pig obsession!

December

December was such a blur. Between Christmas shopping, cookie decorating, and trying to take approximately 566452 pictures of the girls in front of the tree for a nice Christmas card.

This year is going to be hard to top, but I have high hopes for 2014. Two BIG DEAL birthdays (1 and 5!), a BIG DEAL wedding anniversary (5!), starting to save for our first BIG TRIP (Disney World 2016!) and finally hanging printing out pictures and decorating the place we have called home for the last 9 months (yes this is a big deal. It has been at the top of my to-do list forever!)

I'll post my 2014 Bucket List tomorrow, but for now I'm going to soak up the last few hours of 2013. Happy New Year, friends!

Christmas 2013

...and just like that, the day that we spend planning for has come and gone!

{the morning of our Polar Express breakfast at a local movie theatre!}

Our Christmas was amazing. Out of the 26 Christmases I have had, this had been my favorite, hands down. Not because of the material things.. in fact, Keith & I only got each other one gift each and didn't spend more than $30. Watching the magic of Christmas through both of my girls' eyes was just the most amazing feeling ever.

 

This was the first year that Aubrey really, REALLY "got it". Nonstop talk about Santa, making her own list (and not just things that I wanted for her or knew she would like), getting starstruck when meeting Santa, decorating homemade cookies with friends, doing a Christmas countdown on a chalkboard, helping Addie open her presents, and seeing her eyes light up at every Christmas display put so much joy in my heart.

Addison enjoyed her first Christmas as much as a 10-month-old could. She loved looking at the tree and her favorite activity day in and day out was dragging the tree skirt around the house.

{womp womp}

This was also our first year with a real tree! We took our artificial one out and I spent an hour organizing the branches just right, only to plug it in and have two consecutive rows of lights not work! I just wanted to lay down right there under the tree and cry. We tried switching bulbs, tightening them, loosening them, nothing worked. So off we went to pick a real one! Vacuuming around the tree every day was a pain but I loved being greeted by the scent of pine whenever I walked in the door.

Seeing both of our families on Christmas Eve was amazing. We were blessed with the most amazing people in our lives!

I'm not going to sit here and list everything we got for gifts but I do want to note our favorites so we can look back and remember!

Aubrey loves her LeapPad 2 and My Little Pony Tent. Especially sleeping in it.

Addison can't stop playing with her Olivia the Pig lovey and Fisher Price barn (okay, so they both love that).

Keith looking mighty fine in his Adam Levine hat

I'm obsessed with the Alex and Ani bracelet that Keith got me, as well as this adorable apron that Rachel made for me and the Chocolate Bible I can't wait to make some recipes from!

I was excited to do our Christmas traditions, and even start a new one this year with the reindeer food that Jingle brought for us!

This weekend will consist of taking down the Christmas decorations, organizing a play area for the girls in our living room and doing some much-needed cleaning!

{ho ho ho! bubble beards!}

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

A letter to Dad

Dear Dad,

It feels so strange writing that, since you've been gone so long now. I'm sure you are looking down on us and watching your two granddaughters grow up. I wish they would have gotten the chance to meet you. I'm sure Addison would have gotten a kick out of you sticking your dentures out of your mouth and moving them around, and Aubrey would have loved playing "beauty salon" and putting barretes in your hair while you slept on the couch. I'm sure they both would have loved you pulling them out of school in the middle of the day to come home and play board games and Nintendo. 


Things didn't end on the best note between us, and for that I have stayed angry with myself for the last 14 years, and probably will continue to do so for the rest of my life.

I remember the months of September and October of 1999 so vividly that it feels like it was just a year ago. I remember when Uncle Jimmy brought you home from the fair because you were sick. I remember you being admitted to the hospital because you were diagnosed with cancer, and that it was too advanced to do anything. I remember going to that hospital every day after school with mom. I remember doing my homework in a wooden chair with green padding. I remember rolling my eyes when mom would pick me up at school and say that we would be spending another night at the hospital. 

I remember when you were able to come home and they put a hospital bed in our living room. I remember you sitting up in your bed with a smile on your face and saying that you were starting to feel better (a calm before the storm, I guess). I remember sitting at the kitchen table with mom and Dawn and hearing the words, "he's going to die soon" come out of mom's mouth.

But the morning of October 21st sticks out so clearly in my mind, because that was the last time I would ever talk to you. And when I think of that morning, my heart hurts. I remember getting so angry at you because you wouldn't eat. I took offense and walked out of the house without a goodbye kiss or an "I love you". I remember being in class when the guidance counselor called for me to come down to her office. I made it about halfway before realizing what it was about and I remember stalling at the top of the stairs that led down to her office because I didn't want to face what was about to happen.

I would give anything in the world for just one more day with you. I would tell you all of the things that I've wanted to say over the past 14 years.

I would tell you that you were such an amazing father to me. I don't ever remember a time where you let me down. I know you would have given me the world (even the pony that I wanted, even though we didn't even have a backyard). I would apologize for being angry with you on the last morning that we had together. I would recount with you all of our memories. How you'd walk to the corner store with me and buy me ice cream. How you'd drive around in that awful black and orange Harley Davidson bus. How you would have yard sales every weekend in front of our house and sell those tacky pictures and ceramic statues. How you'd call be "Dooba". How you'd be up all night playing solitaire and smoking cigarettes in your flannel pajamas.

I think about you every day. I love you and miss you more than you can ever know. I can't wait to share my stories of you with my girls. Even though they won't ever get to know you, they will know who Grampa Willy is.

<3

Life Lately

Life lately (aka my go-to post title when I have been lazy about blogging)

Addie turned 6 months old (!!!) a couple weeks ago! We had her six month wellness checkup this past Monday and... are you ready for this? Check out that WEIGHT PERCENTILE! Oink oink!

As far as foods go, we have added peas and green beans (both a big fat FAIL in Addie's book) and squash, which is a huge pain in the ass to prep but she loved it! I think next time I'll splurge and buy it pre-cut. ;)

She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. She scoots like it's her job. I really need to babyproof. 

Her vocab currently consists of "mama" and "baba". She uses these two words when she's screaming at me to go faster changing her diaper so she can have a bottle. A girl who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to ask for it!

We are getting ready for fall 'round these parts. Children's Place was having a killer sale a couple weeks ago so I got the girls some cool weather clothes! Check out the sneak peak:

I got Addie's shirts in 9-12 months but ended up exchanging them for 12-18 months haha. My little weed!

I love that the mornings have started to get cool. Even if it warms up as the day goes on, there is nothing like baby snuggles with our sliding door wide open and a hot cup of coffee in my hand. I'm normally an International Delights girl (White Chocolate Macadamia creamer owns my heart), but our store was O-U-T out so I picked up these gems. Delish.


Aubrey blows me away with how fast she picks things up. She can sing Maroon 5's "Overexposed" album in it's entirety (okay, minus the Payphone rap. But I make up for that. You better believe it.), oh, and I made the mistake of showing her the Peanut Butter Jelly Time video. Whenever she requests a PB&J for lunch I bust out with the song. One day last week she asked "why do you always sing that?". So I showed her. Now all I have to do is say "Aubrey, WHAT TIME IS IT?"

Did I mention what her self-proclaimed favorite song is? "Push It" by Salt n Pepa. She's got the "ooh, baby bay-bay" down pat. Parenting fail? Probably. Anywho.

This past weekend we celebrated Madden's 7th birthday with PUPCAKES! (Yes, I went there). Aubs & I also went to a baby shower for Rachel's brother's baby. How ridiculous is that bib? I normally wouldn't buy bibs with those kinds of sayings on them, BUT my best friend is gonna be an auntie and it's completely necessary. Oh yaaa.


On Sunday, Rachel & I are celebrating the second-to-last weekend of summer at the BEACH! Kid free! Complete with a sleepover Saturday night with wine. And most likely some sort of chick flick. And pedicures. It will be so nice to be able to go to the beach and RELAX without worrying about one kid drowning or the other face-diving into the sand. This is the first time in 4 years that I've been to the beach without a child in tow. Needless to say.. I. am. PUMPED!

Addie's Eating Solids!

A couple of weeks ago, we decided it was time to start giving Addison some real food! Homegirl would get pissed if we ate in front of her and she would lunge at my hand if I was eating something and holding her at the same time!

I knew that I wanted to make my own baby food this time around. It's cost effective, fun and - most importantly - I know exactly what is going into my sweetie's belly. Plus I got to go out and buy a brand new toy: a food processor. There's a method to my madness, folks.

First up on the list was apples. Obviously she loved them! And I looove these fill-able squeeze pouches so we can take our homemade creations on the go!

After waiting the necessary 4 days, we moved on to carrots! My bff came over and helped me in the kitchen. I decided to make some peaches while I was already in the kitchen making the carrots. 

Carrots were an other win, and Aubrey and Mackenzie both got to feed Addison and did a great job without getting any food on her bib! (Rachel, on the other hand...)

Peaches were probably the easiest to make, and AG eats them right up. She loves them mixed in with a little oatmeal! 

Tonight marks another night in the kitchen, blending away.. We are down to a few cubes each of peaches and carrots and I think I'm going to add green beans into the mix next. I'll be one busy mama, but it's completely worth it to me. I think it's safe to say she isn't going to be picky!