fEaster

Thanks for all of your suggestions on footwear after Friday's post. I'm sorry to report that I wore my new high top Converse for most of the weekend and today my feet are killing me...please send help!

I love holiday weeks.
The streets are quiet, the trains are empty and there's excitement in the air!

This weekend, we celebrated Easter a week early with my side of the family...or as I'm lovingly calling it, fEaster (as in fake Easter). The whole family (minus a few) gathered at my aunt's house for a long day of eating, beveraging, scavenger hunting and, well, more eating.

 

Saturday was absolute perfection in the weather department and it was so refreshing to just be outdoors after such a long and trying winter, especially at their house in western Jerz. So much open air and land, it sometimes makes me wonder why I love city living...

Though this wasn't Penelope's first Easter celebration, it was the first in which she kinda sorta figured out hunting for Easter eggs. And by that, I mean we laid a bunch in the grass for her to pick up and immediately devour their contents.

My aunt prepped such a sweet mini egg hunt for her, filling up patterned plastic eggs with special toddler-friendly treats. Among them were animal crackers, gerber nuggets filled with blueberry jam, and Penelope's favorite, yogurt melts.

Penelope soon realized that not all of the eggs were created equal and proceeded to open and pour out the animal cracker and nugget filled eggs. She'd drop them right in the grass and then hunt for more of the yogurt melt variety. Once she found any of those eggs, she proceeded to immediately devour the melts on the spot.

She also had to fend off fun with Jake, my aunt's French bulldog, and one of the sweetest dogs around. He wasn't raised around kids or babies, but he is so calm and gentle around Penelope and she loves feeding (or fake feeding) him and trying to do 'gentle' while petting him. #penelopelovesjake #getthiskidadog

In the end, this pretty much summed up Penelope's day:

We also celebrated my cousin Alyson's birthday...

And dined on lots of Eastery treats, like these cutie bunny and chick cupcakes that she made:

Along with a bunny Peeps cake that my mom made:

Since my life is sadly no longer condusive to baking (sniffle), I picked up this Ube Overload cake from a bakery in my neighborhood. So Eastery, right? And so yummy to boot.

 

It was a great day and we were all completely spent by the time we arrived home late Saturday evening. I'm still recovering today, and am also excited that we still have actual Easter to look forward to this coming weekend!

Have a great week, everyone!

Happy Passover to those who are celebrating this week!

How did you spend your weekend?

Christmas 2013 Recap

I took a nice long break from blogging (and real life!) over the last couple of weeks and celebrated a wonderful Christmas with my family. Today I'm back in action and although everyone has moved onto New Year's, I'm finally getting around to sharing our Christmas 2013 Recap.

Since my office was closed during the week of Christmas, I ended work on December 20 feeling so ready to welcome the holidays in all of their glory. I spent most of Saturday cleaning, organizing and prepping snacks for a visit from my favorite West Coaster, and my long time bff, Catherine. She was in town for Christmas, and man was it so great to spend a few hours with her! Of course, I didn't get to snap a photo this time, but here's a sweet throwback from my bridal shower back in 2008:

 

As usual, time was too fleeting!

Sunday we headed to Brooklyn for brunch at Kimberly and Nick's apartment. Once again, I was having too much fun eating and mingling to remember to snap a few photos, but I did steal this photo of their beautiful (and enormously tall!) tree. Gotta love apartments with high ceilings!

 

Monday was spent relaxing and doing that last bit of gift wrapping while also making this awesome corn dip for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Again, no photos. Sorry! Just trust me, it was so so good and with a couple of edits, this is my new favorite dip.

Tuesday morning, we were up and out bright and early for our annual Christmas Eve breakfast with my family. My dad started taking us to breakfast on Christmas Eve as kids in order to give my mom some solo time at home to prep for the evening's festivities. Now that we're grown, she joins us. And I was really excited to introduce this tradition to Penelope! 

Lots of Christmas Eve breakfasts in her future, for sure ;)

 

I cannot get over her. Sigh.

After breakfast, we headed back to the house to prepare for the evening. We chopped, plated, decorated and set the tables for a night of food, drink and merriment. 

Of course, Penelope was the belle of the ball.

And her sweet Christmas dress didn't last long...instead, she was in her Santa's Little Helper shirt & leggings in no time.

Though Penelope didn't quite get the whole 'opening presents' thing this year, she did enjoy her fair share of paper (ripping and eating). 

 

We got our first taste of 'put-this-together-right-now' fun, with the whole family cheering us on.

 

Unfortunately, P wasn't so into the put-together version of the toy to actually sit on it and play, but she did admire it from afar.

We also took some photos by the Christmas tree.

Tough to get a good one with a 10 month old in tow.

 

We did manage to get a nice group shot on the stairs:

Late in the evening, Shaun went to church with his family and I stayed behind to relax with mine. Around 1AM, Shaun and I exchanged our gifts. My favorite gift? A new soft and snuggly blanket for our evening couch relaxing. My man knows me so well ;)

On Christmas morning, P actually slept until around 8:00. She then proceeded to actually hug and snuggle with me in bed for a little while.

It was the best Christmas gift I've ever received :)

Once the family was up, we all headed downstairs for leftover cookies, coffee and gift opening.

Santa brought lots of gifts to us all, especially for Penelope.

Note her reindeer feet. #whyarebabypajamasthecutestever

After some relaxing, we got dressed and headed over to Shaun's parents house for Christmas Day celebrations.

Penelope once again received so many generous gifts. That is one lucky girl.

And I, of course, got to dress her in yet another adorable Christmas outfit.

I think I was pictured out by this point, because this is where my photos end. We had a great day with family and headed home late that evening. 

Unfortunately Shaun had to head back to work on Thursday, and I spent the rest of the week snuggling with my little bear. Now it's off to celebrate the New Year! I hope you have a fantastic and safe New Year's Eve...I'll be back in the next couple of days with my hopes for 2014!

xo,

Rachel

Merry Christmas!

...from our family to yours, wishing you a wonderful holiday filled with peace and love!