Happy Birthday...

...to this lovely lady She's so crazy, and I'm so glad she's my sister :)

Family

Recently my brother, his wife, and little girl came up to visit us. It was an utter BLAST having them...they really live too far away. My grandma Jane who lives in South Carolina came up to New York for her 86th birthday.

I got a shot of the four generations: Ted, Grandma, Mom, and Zoe.

The whole gang:

Michelle and Ted (they're too dang cute)

I kept trying to take a photo of Sarah and Jordan...but they kept laughing. I rather like the outcome of this one though. Better than a posed portrait? I think yes.

The oldest and the youngest: Ted and Anna.

sister, sister "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." -Anthony Brandt

Christmas Morning

There's something about a pile of wrapped gifts under a tree that makes me happy. Especially when they weren't there the night before. Even if they weren't for me I'd be happy, it's just a lovely sight no matter what. Of course Bing Crosby singing "Mele Kalikimaka" in the background also adds to the happiness. After the Santa hats were distributed, we commenced the opening.

Anna's "surprise" gift, a new snowboarding jacket.

We've used a combination of about 4 sets of silverware for the past ten years, and slowly our stash has been dwindling. We can't imagine why forks get lost so easily, unless the boogieman steals them, or more probable: they get thrown out with paper plates by incompetent people. So this year someone had the brilliant idea to get mom a silverware set that actually matches!

Me with the best movie of the year: Up. It's pretty much amazing.

It was a very merry Christmas.

(FYI: Sarah and Emily were there too, but somehow evaded the camera. Oops.)

A Week In Fastforward

Although it's been two weeks since Ted, Michelle, and Zoe were here, I just needed to post some of my favorite pics.

Of course we have to start out with one cute family:
And I'm afraid the rest are of Zoe, she stole the show. :) She makes the best faces.

And when she feels like she's been left out of a conversation, she let's herself be heard.

She looks so intelligent. I think she knows something I don't.

With Grandpa.

With Aunt Sarah.

Rockin' her shades.

I miss my baby already...

On the Carousel

Ted, Michelle, and Zoe were just here to visit and we went up to the Carousel Mall on Friday. Of course we had to take Zoe on the carousel. She liked it.

Ok, she loved it. She's totally ready for roller coasters. Whoohoo!!

Mom went too.

Grandma and all the aunts with the babe.

And with Mommy.

Of course Anna and I had to go on.

It was rather thrilling.

She Turns 14

The baby of the family turned 14 last week.
Here Anna is putting good use to her presents. All at the same time. (I mean, who doesn't drink tea with chore gloves on while reading a book?) Getting some last rays of Summer.

All of the sisters except one.

The birthday Girl:

Happy Birthday...

...to my favorite little sister! She hath lived 14 years upon the earth.

Happy Birthday to Mom

Last night we celebrated Mom's birthday with king crab legs, chicken parmesan, a delicious trifle, and a game of Loaded Questions. The trifle was made with homemade (from scratch) angel food cake (which took an insane amount of egg whites) and chocolate pudding topped with strawberries. It was quite delicious. Birthdays are a great excuse to pig out!

6 months

Zoe is 6 months old!

Sarah is out visiting Ted, Michelle, and Zoe right now and sent these pics.

Sarah's helping Zoe with her expressions.

Zoe pics

My neice Zoe is now 5 months old, isn't that crazy? I think it is anyway... :) Here are some recent pics of her:

Web Caming

My mom did a very grandmotherish thing when Ted, Michelle, and Zoe left a month ago. She got a web cam and Skype, and now we get to see this cute face "live" on weekends: It's kind of weird with the delay, the video is more like a series of pictures pieced together every few seconds, and sometimes the sound goes in and out, but hey! at least we can see Zoe!

So many aunts

Zoe has 6 aunts and no uncles. Michelle only has one sister, and Ted has five.
Here's a picture we took when they were here earlier this month. I meant to post this a long time ago, but never did.

Open House

We had an open house on Sunday so people could come and meet Ted's wife and baby. Michelle and Ted ready to meet lots of relatives, friends, and acquaintances.

Aunt Patti, Aunt Connie, and Mom with Zoe.

Laura, Emily, and Jessica.

Sarah hogged the baby for a good chunk of the time. :)

Anneke, Michelle, and Anna all in one chair.

Meeting baby Zoe.

Natalie, me, Judah, and Michelle. We had very interesting conversations... :D

Somehow Jordan ended up with the baby.

And then the gift opening began. They got TONS of clothes! And I'm pretty sure that all of them were either, pink, brown, or green.

Natalie with Zoe.

Zoe looks a little bit worried. Anneke looks slightly amused.