Black Friday Shopping

Today was "The Day After Thanksgiving" and you know what that means...SHOPPING! Now, some might call us crazy to venture out on "Black Friday", but the women in my family have done this for years and we have turned it in to a lovely little tradition that I cherish. We do it in memory of my Grandma and we do it to be together. Quite honestly, we don't shop so much as wander the mall, eat lunch, laugh, stop for coffee, laugh some more, search for all party members, stop for more coffee...you get the idea. This year, Ally was initiated into the tradition and she did GREAT (she is a born shopper)! She even shared a little "latte" with Grandma C. and cousin Abby (well they had fun with the photo op at least). It was a really nice day and as usual it was great to spend it with all my girls (well, minus Ashley, but she was there in spirit!). I love you all and you each mean so much to me! Thank you for sharing in this tradition every year with me!

So, they tell me I am 31!

Yes, it's true...today I turned 31 years old. I guess I could be upset about it, but really isn't 31 the new 21? So really, I should be out doing shots, right? Ha!
Truthfully, I feel pretty good about turning 31. I am in a really great place in my life...wonderful husband, who is also my best friend, the most amazing baby girl and great family and friends. Things could be worse!
I had a really nice day today. I had a few surprises waiting for me on my desk when I got to work this morning (Thanks, Christy! You are such a sweetheart!), I got to do lunch with my girls and then my mom and dad watched Ally for us, so David and I could go to PF Changs for a nice dinner. After dinner, David and I went back to my parent's house for ice cream cake and my sis Laura joined us. I got some very nice gifts, including a family zoo membership from my sisters! I am really looking forward to taking advantage of that when the weather warms up.
Thanks so much to everyone for making my birthday so special! It really was a great day!

A Twin Shower

Today, Ally and I went with Julie and Jillian to a baby shower in honor of David's cousin Melissa. She is having twin boys!!!! The shower was originally scheduled for another day, but Melissa ended up in the hospital, on bedrest, so we brought the shower to her! It was a very nice shower and Melissa ended up with a TON of nice gifts and a whole table full of diapers! It was nice to see some of David's family from his dad's side and I got some cute pictures of GG Truitt holding Ally (unfortunately, I did not get any other pictures! What??). Congrats Melissa and Jason! We can't wait to meet the boys!

Little Dolly

Ally loves her little doll baby...

Thanks Amy, James, Ryan, Mitchell and Charlie!

Happy Birthday Papa!

Today is my dad's birthday and we celebrated with a very yummy Mexican themed dinner at Laura and John's house. It was a great meal and great company! Granny and Grandpa came up from the Nati to spend one last evening with us before they head south for the winter and it was so nice to see them. Thanks to Laura and John for hosting such a nice dinner. I think Grandpa C. enjoyed himself and he got a shiny new red I-pod to play with!
Happy Birthday, Dad! We love you!!!

Happy Birthday, Paw-Paw!

Today is Dan's birthday! Happy Birthday, Paw-paw! We hope you have a really great day and we love you!

Sauerkraut Festival!

Every year for at least the past 5 years, my cousin, Alecia and I, have gone to the Waynesville Sauerkraut Festival and spent the day wandering the streets of Waynesville together. We have turned it in to a tradition that I anticipate as soon as late summer rolls around. We used to attend the festival with our Grandma and we think of her every year when we are there together. It is always such a fun day full of yummy food (German Sundaes, Sauerkraut pizza, homeade pumpkin bread...yummmmm), fall weather, gorgeous scenery and some neat arts and crafty type things. Plus, it is the one day of the year that I know I will get to see my cousin, who I don't see nearly as often as I would like. I even announced my pregnancy to her on "festival day" last year (to which she immediately responded how the baby would be able to come to the Kraut Festival next year!). :-)

In addition to our tradition, we have turned it in to somewhat of a tradition for the hubbys too. For the past three or four years, while Alecia and I are off festivaling, the guys have played golf together, which seems to make them pretty happy. It's a nice day for everyone!

This year, we obviously took Ally with us, but we also brought along mom, Laura (who was sporting her own 'bun in the oven' this year), France, Megan and Aunt Nana Sue (my Uncle Dave's sister)! We had a great time, although I will definitely bring a smaller stroller next year, because the festivals VERY crowded streets and big bulky travel system stollers just don't mix. We may even have two strollers next time! I'm pretty sure at least some of our newcomers will return with us next year!

Looking forward to the Sauerkraut Festival in 2009!!

A few pics from our day...

A Trip to the Apple Orchard

Today we made a trip out to Lynd's Fruit Farm with Grandma and Grandpa C., Aunt Laura and Uncle Johnny, for a little apple pickin'! It was fun, but VERY windy. Little did we know that later that day we would have a wind storm that would do serious damage throughout Ohio and knock power out for days, for some (more to come on that in another blog entry, though).

We got some nice apples and even picked up a few treats at the little Farmers Market on the way out. I look forward to this family tradition every year and it was Ally's first time experiencing the apple orchard which made it even more fun. I can't wait to bring her back next year, when she will be running around gathering her own apples! Here are some pictures from our outing...

We Miss Daddy

So, Ally and I are a little blue today, because we are missing Daddy. David is on his annual camping trip in Kentucky right now and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon sometime. We know how much he looks forward to this trip every year and seeing friends he hasn't seen since the last trip and we hope he is having fun at FOTH, but we want him to come back soon! Safe travels, Bud!

(Sorry no pictures for this post...)

Happy Birthday to The Godfather!

Today is Uncle Danny's (aka. The Godfather) birthday and even though we won't see him today, we hope he has a fantastic day! Happy Birthday...we love you!

Happy Birthday TONYA!

Today is Aunt Tonya's birthday! We hope your day is filled with lots of fun! We love you girl!

Happy Birthday Jersey!

Today is Ally's cousin Jersey's Birthday! She turns two years old today. Happy Birthday, Jersey! We love you and wish we could be there to celebrate with you. Have a very fun day!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Ashley!!! 7/25/2008

Today is Aunt Ashley's birthday!! We won't get to be with her on her birthday, but hope she is having a good time in Cali and has a GREAT day! We love you Ash!

It's Our Anniversary!

Today David and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe that it has been 3 years, but then again David and I have been together for so long that it kind of feels like it should be longer than that. :-)

Tonight was our first baby-free outing together and we left Ally with Aunt Tonya and her cousins, Ryan, Alyssa and second cousin, Mary. She did a great job while we were out and had lots of fun playing with her cousins.

While Ally was being entertained, David and I ventured downtown to Hyde Park and had one of the BEST meals of our lives! It was so good...steak and salad and martinis, oh my! After dinner, we took a stroll down to the Surly Girl to see if cousin Carmen was around and to have another drink. We didn't see Carmen, but we saw some others that we knew and had fun playing the little table top video game for awhile. We also saw Sara and Tom (Aunt Laura's friends) when we were walking down high street...small world!

We picked Allyson up from Tonya's around 10:00-ish and headed home to relax before she woke back up and needed to be fed.

It was a wonderful night with my hubby and I really enjoyed the time we spent talking and catching up with each other.

Happy Anniversay, Bud! I love you more today than the day I married you and I look forward to many more happy years together!

A 90th Birthday Party in Cleveland

Today we drove up towards Cleveland for a birthday party in honor of David's Grandaddy. It was a surprise party to celebrate him turning 90!!!!! Honestly, he doesn't look like he could possibly be 90, but they tell me that he really is. :-) We just love Grandaddy and we were more than happy to make the trip up to see him. We got to see a lot of Lori's family that we don't see very often, so that was nice and we took a big family group photo to cap off the day. Happy Birthday Grandaddy...We love you!!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Alyssa Nicole turns 3 today!!! We hope she has a wonderful day...full of fun, presents and lots of cake and ice cream. We love you, Sis!
(P.S. The picture is a little old, but it's still my favorite! How stinkin' cute is this kid?!?)

Meeting the Old Neighbors

Our neighbors from when I was little, The Perkins Family, were in town this week from California visiting family and they made time to join us for dinner at my parent's house. I haven't seen them since our wedding a few years ago, so it was great to get to catch up and for them to meet Ally. Mom and Dad have visited with them in Cali when they were out there to see Ashley, but we don't get to see them very often and it was nice to enjoy a leisurly dinner talking about old times and hearing about what Shannon, Ryan and Mary have all been up to. I must have had a temporary moment of insanity and forgot my camera for this occasion, so I apologize for the lack of pictures! :-)

Lunch with the Cousins

My Grandma's cousins have a neat tradition that they started years ago, where they get together for lunch every few months or so to try to stay in contact with each other over the years. Many of them and their spouses and occasionally children and grandchildren come each time and they usually have a nice turn out. Most of them live in the Cincinnati area, but they are spread out within that region and their adult lives have taken them in many different directions. My Grandma loved attending these lunches when she was alive, as it was always a nice time catching up and sharing stories about new grandbabies and other life events and family meant more than anything to my Grandma.

Since I am on maternity leave, my aunt France contacted me and my mom a month or so ago and made sure we had the summer lunch on our calendars (well, mainly on Ally's calendar :-)) and we were more than glad to add this to our schedules. We made the trip to Middletown to Francie's house, where we picked up France, Evan and Megan and made our way to the Olive Garden to meet the group. There were quite a few people there, many whom I haven't seen in years. One of my second cousins, Eric, who is the same age as me, was in town from Chicago and it was great to hear about what he is up to.

After lunch, we visited with France, Alecia, Megan and Evan for a little while, before heading back to C-bus. Evan and Megan were particularly taken with their newest baby cousin.

It was a very fun day, had by all and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to make it to one of the "Cousins Lunches".