Celebrating Kelli's 30th

My sorority sister, Kelli (pictured below on the far right) turned 30 today and we celebrated last night. We went to dinner at Estia's in the city and finished up at the Black Sheep. Pictured below are my KKG girls. Happy Birthday Kelli.

Let's Not Forget About Luke

Luke was cool as always this weekend - sitting, laughing, putting things in his mouth, eating, and sleeping. Check out Luke's first video on the blog.

Where's Goldbug

This past Christmas, my Aunt Marilyn brought a book that she uses with the kids she teaches. It is called Cars & Trucks & Things That Go. But along with all the fun cars and trucks, there is a little surprise on every page - a little goldbug that is tucked away for you to find.

Well, when my Aunt Marilyn showed us the book - Brian got really excited. He remembered it from his childhood and when we got home to Philadelphia, he went searching for the book at his dad's house.

So we pulled it out for Ava - and found she really enjoyed searching and finding goldbug. And when we game back to Mr. Kenney's this weekend, Ava remembered searching for goldbug and wanted us to 'find the bug book.'
But it doesn't stop there - this picture was taken on Christmas Eve and is a picture of my cousins Nancy & Harold. But can you find the BrianBug?

A Geography Lesson

Bob, Ava & Luke came down to Mr. Kenney's on Saturday for a visit. With the visit, Ava gave us a geography lesson of the United States. From what Bob tells us, Ava likes to put her United States puzzle together a few times a day. They have helped her associate everyday things she knows & loves with the states - for example, Bob went to Arizona for work so when she places Arizona on the map, she says that is where Daddy goes for work. Some other fun associations are - California & strawberries, because her strawberry container says they are from California; Hawaii & Mommy's sugar, because Mary's sugar packet says from Hawaii; Idaho & potatoes (for obvious reasons); and below you will be able to watch and listen to others.

Living Life in Blog Posts

After starting a blog a little over a year ago, I used to joke with Brian that everything we did became a blog post in my mind. I'd be crafting the post as we were going through the motions. All activities became blog worthy so I'd want to make sure we had fun & different activities planned out for the weeks ahead.

Which brings me to the realization that the past week has been kind of boring - hence no blog posts. Sorry to those that are frequent readers. But I didn't want to bore you with nothing really new and exciting to say. Unless you just wanted to read about Brian and me sitting on the couch watching TV or going out to dinner to a place we've written about before.

I'm finding as we circle back into another year that we may find ourselves writing about similar activities. So hopefully we will find a fresh spin to it so it's not like deja vu for you.

But I will say that while I did not want to rub it in last week with a post - I am extremely excited to say that "Pittsburgh is going to the Super Bowl! Yippee!"

Val Roethlisberger

Val sported her Roethlisberger jersey for the Steeler victory.

AFC Championships here we come!

The Picture Says It All!

GO EAGLES!

NFC Championship here we come!

Dinner with Neighbors

Living in a house that is a twin, you hope & pray for good neighbors. At the very least, you hope you end up with neighbors that don't drive you out of your mind or even worse, out of the neighborhood.
Well, we lucked out! We have really awesome neighbors that are not only great to have connected to your house, but they have become our friends as well.
Last night we enjoyed a mexican feast at one of our favorite spots. Margaritas, good food, and good friends make for a nice evening.

New Year's Resolution - 2009

Many of you know that Brian and I have a pretty thick folder of takeout menus in our kitchen cabinet. This folder holds all things italian, chinese, thai, american, greek - but mostly italian. Between 5:30 - 6PM, I typically get a text from Brian that reads, "dinner?" Then for the next few minutes we go back and forth asking what the other person wants, and based on the list above, whether we really want it or not, we typically end up with italian and I always pick up on the way home from work.

So today I was reading an article that said people who write down their new year's resolution actually have more success in fulfilling their mission. So in 2009 - Brian and I are changing it up. While the folder will still exist in our cabinet as a safety net, 2009 is all about home-cooked meals during the work week.

And already we've had success with some awesome meals this year.

So watch out Rachael Ray, Giada, Ina Garten...I'm taking you down!

Bath Time

When we say the word, "bath" to Val, she runs away and shakes in fear of getting splashed with water. That is not so for Luke & Ava. We went over to Mr. Kenney's house for dinner and had lots of fun playing with our niece & nephew. The night ended with a bath in their Pop Pop's tub. Ava called for Val to come up to see her, but since Val heard her least favorite word, she wouldn't even come close to her nemesis - the tub.

Some fun highlights - if you ask Ava where Uncle Jimmy lives, she says "Colowado" and when you ask her where Ariel (from The Little Mermaid) lives, she says, "New Jersey Jersey."

High on Helium

We had such a good time last New Year's Eve at Helium Comedy Club that we decided to do a repeat to bring in 2009. It was a really good decision because 2008 ended with tons of laughs because Tom Rhodes (the headliner) and the other two comics were hilarious.

But thanks to our experience in 2007 we were much more prepared in 2008. I'll explain.

In 2007, we planned to eat the hefty appetizers they offered in the ticket package as our dinner. Being that they didn't really plan the ratio of food to people - it left us starving and Brian on the hunt for anything to eat before the ball dropped. So this year (2008), Brian stocked up on some treats so when we got home we had enough to tide us over before 2009.

In 2007, I fell asleep before the ball dropped because I was so tired. So this year I napped for a few hours before we went out so I could count down with Brian and Val.

As you can see, lots of learning in just one year. It was an excellent way to end 2008 and bring in 2009. Happy New Year!