Who's happier?

My Aunt and Uncle bought a weekend house on the Eastern Shore about 2 years ago and I'm not sure who's happier about it-us or them!  It's only about 40 minutes from our house which is awesome. We've been there for countless weekends, day trips, and overnights at this point and it's such a relaxing place!  It's walking distance to the river and has a huge pool where we pretty much live when we're there.  It's been great to spend lots of time with my Aunt and Uncle too (and we're well matched in Wii games which is a nice perk for the rainy days too!)  We spent Memorial Day weekend there (and Father's Day weekend too!) and here are some of the pics.

My 92 year old grandmother LOVED getting to spend the weekend with Ella and Sadie and see them in action for much longer than our average visit.  She was in heaven (though their clutter stressed her out but she hid it well!)

Marissa's roommate came for the day too-we love Mr.Jason :-)

Aunt Barbara, the grill master :-)

Sadie tried asparagus for the first time and loved it!

I have a feeling I'm going to have lots of smirking, patronizing pictures like this in the years to come. Oy.

I love this picture!! My grandmother specifically requested S'mores because she hadn't had them in decades and it was so much fun to watch her indulge and enjoy them SO much!  She ate ate least 2 or 3 :-)

Sadie and my grandmother bonded big time.  Well, Sadie's always liked her quite a bit.  Maybe she senses that she's where she got her light hair and blue eyes!

Reading the paper in the morning

GG

I know I just posted recently about my grandmother but she's just that cool and I have more cute pics to show!

Ella has invited GG into the current silly bands fad! It cracks me up to know people from 3 to 91 are wearing these things!

Showing off her pink patent leather shoes which my grandmother would totally wear if they came in her size. I think they have a similar sense of style :-)

First Snow 2009!

It SNOWED! I am obsessively in love with snow so Saturday was pretty blissful for me. The weather people are almost always wrong about snow. Usually they overestimate how much we'll get and it just rains. But this time, they said rain turning to snow mid afternoon and we had 2 inches by 11am! Glorious mistake I tell you!

We had a blast throwing snowballs, catching flakes on our tongues and just running around like crazy people!

Chris created a Ziploc contraption to keep the camera dry :-)

It was a BEAUTIFUL day and some of the snow is still around! I'm fine with the weather deciding to be cold finally, as long as we keep getting snow!



And now two completely random pictures but too fun not to share...
#1. My 91 year old grandmother cracking up. I LOVE this woman!


#2. I've been told since college that I have a "look" that I give at times. I think this infamous death look has now been captured.

Happy December everyone!

Mother's Day (numero dos)

After church we went to my grandmother's house for a belated Passover Seder/Mother's Day celebration :-)


My grandmother striking a pose-she is SO hysterical!

Ella was so excited for me to read the card she and Chris gave me.


Finally! A recent pic of Chris and me!

Ella found the "afikoman" (hidden matzo-part of the passover tradition)

It's really fun to do all of the same things I grew up doing and passing on the traditions :-)

Easter with my Fam (Egg Hunt #3)

We went to my parents church for an Easter Service on Saturday (it was a VERY intense reenactment play-I got spit on by a man playing a centurion-that's how intense). Afterwards we met up with the rest of the fam for Chinese food-SO tasty. Ella ate a shocking amount of food and actually likes wonton soup and egg rolls which is VERY out of the box for her!

My grandmother hid eggs all over her apartment and Ella had fun being the only kid so she could get all the spoils! (and did she ever-in addition to the eggs filled with candy, my grandmother ALWAYS has ice cream and Hershey kisses on hand any day of the week to dole out to everyone)

The Easter baskets I made for Ella and Chris (Chris specifically requested one last year and this year when I asked if he really wanted one again he said "of course!")

Egg Dyeing! I was very impressed with the colors this year-we followed the directions for the brightest colors and it really worked. I'm not a pale pastel sort of girl so I was excited to get some vibrant colors. The trick seem to be lots of vinegar and less water :-)

Finished product :-) Nothing fancy but lots of fun.

Rockettes Christmas Spectacular!!

The Rockettes show was nothing short of spectacular. I don't usually rave about shows but this was really wonderful. It's a huge feat to keep everyone in my family literally ages 3, 29, 65, and 90 totally engaged in a show for 90 minutes. We all loved it! How likely is that? It was a fabulous way to get in the Christmas spirit (it helped that it was snowing when we left too!). With every part of the show there was some new surprise that kept you fascinated. There were live camels, sheep, and donkeys, ice skating on stage, amazingly precise, synchronized dancing, elaborate costumes, great singing, fireworks, shooting streamers, a huge screen with a ton of cool 3D special effects...it was awesome. I brought all kinds of things to placate Ella during the show if need be, but she didn't squirm or look away from the stage once! It was fabulous. It also meant a LOT to be there with my grandmother (who also bought us all the tickets-thanks!!) since she was a Rockette in New York 70 years ago. Somehow the fact that she's a former Rockette came up when she was in the restroom there and people started asking her for autographs!! I LOVE that we have this legacy passed down to us. I hope we can make a trip to this show an annual tradition. Who knows, maybe Ella will follow in GG's high-kicking footsteps and become a Rockette (or at least a dancer) herself!


Chris, Ella, and my dad pre-show

The finale of the amazing nativity part of the show-surprsingly reverent and biblical!

The screens made it look like there were 100 Santas instead of 25!

Ice Skating on the front part of the stage!

World's Best Grandmother!

Nails and Cake

We recently got to go to a fancy dinner out for GG's 90th birthday celebration and also spent a fun afternoon at her house painting our nails! Ella is a big fan of birthday cake and pink nail polish so both were a great time for her :-)


All dressed up at the fanciest restaurant Ella's ever been to!

After dinner they wheeled out this beautiful bouquet and cake for my grandmother! It was beautiful and tasty!

Nail painting party! Chris sat in the corner and took pictures and handed us things while our nails were wet-such a good guy :-)

Blowing Ella's toenails dry had her laughing hysterically

All done with our matching manicures. Lots of fun and great memories!

Outing with GG

My sister, Ella, and I had a fun visit to see my grandmother yesterday. Ella let GG teach her some choreography and they danced together for quite a while! Ella loves running around GG's house from interesting "toy" to toy. We went out after that and we had a 45 min wait at Outback. Ella did pretty well...I was kinda surprised we didn't leave regretting it. Go Ella! She hasn't napped in 10 days which is HORRIBLE but her behavior has been better the last couple days. Chris has been out of town this whole time so I'm hoping that once things are back to "normal" she'll start sleeping again. Here are some pics from last night.


GG and Ella cheesing it up

GG, Ella (not looking at the camera this time-but she is getting better at posing), and Marissa

Reading while we waited for our table at the restaurant

GG's House

Ella has taken well to calling my grandmother "GG" for Great-Grandma. Before that it was a very confusing affair since we call her Mama but Ella calls me Mama and Chris' grandmother is Mom-Mom. Anyway we went to visit Mama last week and had a great time playing with stickers, eating Hershey's kisses, and playing a little bit of dress up.

GG saves all the stickers she gets in the mail from charities she gives to and let Ella make a "book" on some blank paper, she LOVED it and does it almost daily at home now

Ella wearing my grandfathers tie and GG's hat that they wore in their wedding!


GG trying on her hat from her wedding over 60 years ago

The wedding picture that hangs over the bed