Kinder Farm Park

The fall weather was calling us yesterday so we made a trip to nearby Kinder Farm park.

Mary-Catherine was very excited to get out and run around.

Fall Festival 2010

We visited the local Fall Festival this afternoon. At a balmy 79 degrees it felt like autumn in California but it was still lots of fun.

The past couple years we've been to the pumpkin patch MC didn't show much interest in the pony rides. This year was a different story.

The Pumpkin Express was a big hit too!

A little face painting helped Mary decide what she wanted to be for Halloween.

I just can't believe how quickly she is growing. Here she is at the same pumpkin patch two years ago..

Ahhh, those were the days. She still ate fruits and vegetables, had never heard of time out and certainly didn't request Lady Gaga when we got in the car.

Thank goodness she still lets me put silly bows in her hair :)

Happily Ever After

Our niece Muffie got married to a fantastic man on September 25th. We were lucky enough to have a front row seat to all of the festivities as I was the Matron of Honor and Mary-Catherine was the flower girl.

Muffie is the oldest of eight children, six of which are boys which means this wedding was...... a BIG event.

I can't get enough of the vintage cake topper. The wedding had a late 1950's flare. Wedding crashers were welcome as long as they looked like Don Draper or Roger Sterling.

Heading into the church for the rehearsal. Muffie rarely takes a bad picture and I'm a brat. Sorry Muf.

The soon to be Groom, Bride and Mother of the Bride.

Nana, Mary-Catherine and my sister, Mother of the Bride. Half way through the rehearsal dinner MC asked my sister if she could be her other mother. Which seems weird unless you take into consideration her current mother is a cranky pregnant lady who doesn't allow her to have popsicles for breakfast.

The adorable bride was the picture of grace on her wedding day. Thank you Muffie and Dan for sharing your day with us.

iPhone Pictures

I just hooked up my phone to my macbook because it was acting a little weird and took the opportunity to upload these super duper random photos.

This was just the other day at the pool. When I tell you she refuses to look at the camera I'm not kidding.

Right after she finished this snack she asked some strangers at the pool to buy her something from the snack bar. Parenting can be so embarassing.

This is how the first half hour (ok more like hour) of Mary's day looks. Max and Ruby are STILL her favorite show.
When not watching too much tv and asking perfect strangers for treats she does learn cool things like how to write my name.

I realized I never documented Chris's running the Marine Corps Marathon on here. He ran it, even faster than his first marathon. Mary wanted to wear his cool medal to bed.

I took MC to a puppet show at the University of Maryland in April. She really took a liking to the campus. Fingers crossed UMD is an all girls school by 2025.

We are BIG Caps fans in this house. Sadly the they lost in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs to the Habs just hours after this picture was taken.

Oh and these little Hello Kitty cupcakes? I just thought the interwebs should know I made them. They were covered in fondant so they tasted dreadful but look at the cuteness!

Time Warp

It's been about a year since I gave this blog any attention. Here is a photo synopsis of the past year...

Chris ran in the Parks Half Marathon at the end of the summer. He had a fantastic race but Mary seemed more impressed with her pink balloon. Go figure.

In the fall Chris and I went to New Orleans. We are still talking about the bread pudding at Brennan's and the Swizzle Stick cocktails at Commander's Palace.

Then came the holidays. We spent ten days in New Hampshire for Christmas. It was fantastic aside from a trip to Urgent Care for an ear infection. We got to enjoy the Christmas preparations with our "Up North Family". We went to see the Nutcracker. It's great every year but this year was extra special because my sister's youngest, Harrison was IN the ballet.

Then we got to have a grown up dinner in Muffie and Dan's new house. It was a great night.

Here are the lovebirds on Christmas morning. We can't wait for the big wedding in September!

I got to bake with my two sisters. This was like an early Christmas present. We made a fantastic gingerbread cake. While Yvonne and I finished the cake, Robin whipped up dinner for fifteen. Dinner for that many people would have taken my at least three days. It took her about an hour. She is truly a domestic goddess.

We waited way too long to take this picture. I love you ladies!

While we were in NH, Maryland got hit with a major snow storm. I was so bummed. I love a good blizzard. Mother Nature must of heard me and delivered not one but two blizzards in February. It was so fun. I can say that because I wasn't the one doing all the shoveling.

In April Mother Nature bestowed upon us a little "I'm Sorry About the 4 Feet of Snow" gift. Spring came early and everyone cheered!

We had great weather for Easter this year. Mimi was so excited to wear the beautiful dress Noni got her for Easter. She would have worn it to bed the night before if I let her.

After church we went to Noni and Pop-Pop's for an egg hunt and dinner.

Pop-Pop really went the extra mile. After MC found all of her eggs it was a little anticlimactic for her. Sensing this Ken grabbed her basket and hid all of the eggs all over again.

After a costume change we headed back outside to play some ball.

The next weekend my two sisters and my nephew Ben visited for my birthday. Yvonne's visit was planned but Robin and Ben were a BIG surprise orchestrated by Chris. Thank you honey!

Believe it or not, this is the only picture I have to commemorate their visit. Clearly the Nikon DSLR was money well spent.

That brings us to yesterday and the Memorial Day BBQ at Aunt Tammy and Uncle Timmy's house. She needs a haircut and nine times out of ten refuses to look straight at the camera. Also, she was wearing a pajama shirt.

I caught up with the family while she played with her cousins Brian, Daniel, Kevin and of course Little Uncle Dave (sorry David, she had to come up with something to delineate between her two uncle Dave's) in the Brooks's great backyard. Chris was at home with a 102 degree fever. He seems to be doing much better today and has already made breakfast, mowed the lawn and washed the cars in the 90 degree weather. You just can't keep a good man down.

So there you go, you're all caught up.

We do have one more tidbit to share with the interwebs.... Mimi is going to be a big sister! We are expecting the newest Parks' around Thanksgiving. Gobble gobble!