Weekend fun (image heavy)

This weekend was really, really wonderful...and incredibly busy!  I spent part of Friday with my sweet Amber Joy, went down to Phoenix and helped my Mom throw a bridal shower for my sister, spent the evening with two of my oldest, bestest friends and our families, got some shopping done for the house, and got in a lot of family time.  I feel accomplished.  And tired!  Here are some photos from the past few days:

Henry and I got a little photobooth crazy ;)

 

 

Later that afternoon Amber came over and we spent the afternoon running errands, eating frozen grapes, and looking through interior design photos. So much fun. Now I just need to find her a Prescott guy to marry so we can both be housewives and live next door to each other and do this everyday.  haha.

 

 That night Hank, Henry and I headed down to Phoenix.  The photo below is from the next morning, as I was Moby-ing while helping my Mom get ready for Lauren's bridal shower.  Henry seriously looves his Moby Wrap and loves spending time in it.  And I absolutely love it too.  It's great to be able to move around freely while keeping him snug as a bug (in a rug?).

Henry and his Great Aunt Pat, Great Grandma, and Grandma!

Lauren! The guest of honor.

a bit of the food table.  My Mom did SUCH a great job with everything on her own, since we live hours away.  She's amazing.  If you're curious about the little sign below, I wrote that so guests would write a little wish for the couple (like "always love unconditionally") on the rocks I provided and place it in the glass container.  It's a really cute keepsake for the bride.

already giving his Dad looks like this- we're in trouble! ;)

below is a quick game my Mom had everyone play- different teams make wedding dresses for the MIL-to-be and the Mother of the bride (Aunt Pat also participated).  It was super silly but a fun little ice breaker.  Afterward I did some trivia on the couple, read a sweet letter from Abe to Lauren out loud, and then quizzed Lauren on some "Abe facts."  All in all it was really fun and went quite well.

the winner of the dress making contest, Abe's mama

Lauren's bffs since elementary school/bridesmaids Kelli and Kristin

Lauren and the two Moms!

opening up her presents

Henry spent the afternoon upstairs entertaining his papa while the shower was going on. So cute.

Later that night we headed over to the Loops to enjoy Autumn's delicious homemade chili and hangout with all of our families.  Here's my little goddaughter Chloe in her new kitchen and apron (from us, from Anthro- I forgot to rip off the tag, oops!).  She loved it.

playing Wits and Wagers- have you ever played this game?  We LOVE board games and somehow hadn't played this one before.  I'm definitely going to go pick up our own from Target this week to add to our collection.  Lately I've really been wanting to start a regular board game night.  Who's in? ;)

We tried to get a photo of the boys but Carter was squirming and Henry was tuckered out.

I love this picture of Shirley and her fiance Nate- they're getting married in the fall and I'm so, so excited to be a bridesmaid. Shirley is one of the most amazing people I've ever known in my life, and I'm just ecstatic to be a part of their big day.  Nate's such a wonderful person too, and hellooo, how adorable will their future offspring be?!  Seriously.

Henry LOVES his Aunt Shirley so much. He went right to sleep and was so comfy.

The next morning my family and I went to IKEA so we could get some odds and ends for our home. Can I tell you how much I love that place?  It's so fun to just walk around and get ideas.

Annnd, after a long, long (fun) weekend we are finally home, safe and sound.  Henry is sleeping peacefully next to me, and I'm going to go ahead and join him in a moment.

Goodnight everyone, I hope you had a wonderful, wonderful weekend. xo

Three's Not a Crowd

I met a trio of friends hanging out in Penn Station in early October, waiting for their train back to Rhode Island.



I spotted Darius first, which was understandable, as he has seventeen tattoos. Kenny and Katie, his friends, each boasted a modest three tattoos apiece, and offered up theirs as well.



Let's start with Darius, who has this traditional Mom and Sparrow tattoo on his forearm:

He said that he and two other friends got the same tattoo.



This was done by Jae Audette at Mcinnis Tattoo Company  in Providence, Rhode Island. Work from the shop appeared previously on the site here.



The other tattoo, on his bicep, is this set of brass knuckles that says "Knuckle Up":

This was done by Forrest Curl at Altered Images Tattoo Studio in Cumberland, Rhode Island.



Also from Altered Images is this still-in-progress rib piece on Kenny:

This is a depiction of The Crimson King from Stephen King's Dark Tower Series. As you would imagine, Kenny is a huge fan.



Rob Young is the artist who is working on this piece.



Katie then generously offered to show me her tattoo, which runs down her spine:

When I asked if she wouldn't mind sending me another photo, since the tattoo was partially obscured by her bra strap, she didn't hesitate to unhook it so I could photograph the whole tattoo, unobscured:

Katie explained that her heritage is Armenian, and that the letters down her spine spell the word for "family".



She added that two of her cousins have the same tattoo, but inked on their arms.



She also noted that the infinity symbol at the base of her neck speaks to the Armenian text and symbolizes, for her, "family forever".



She did not recall the name of the shop where she had this done, but recalled it was on Long Island, New York, and that the artist was "Joey D".



Thanks to Darius, Kenny and Katie for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Three's Not a Crowd

I met a trio of friends hanging out in Penn Station in early October, waiting for their train back to Rhode Island.



I spotted Darius first, which was understandable, as he has seventeen tattoos. Kenny and Katie, his friends, each boasted a modest three tattoos apiece, and offered up theirs as well.



Let's start with Darius, who has this traditional Mom and Sparrow tattoo on his forearm:

He said that he and two other friends got the same tattoo.



This was done by Jae Audette at Mcinnis Tattoo Company  in Providence, Rhode Island. Work from the shop appeared previously on the site here.



The other tattoo, on his bicep, is this set of brass knuckles that says "Knuckle Up":

This was done by Forrest Curl at Altered Images Tattoo Studio in Cumberland, Rhode Island.



Also from Altered Images is this still-in-progress rib piece on Kenny:

This is a depiction of The Crimson King from Stephen King's Dark Tower Series. As you would imagine, Kenny is a huge fan.



Rob Young is the artist who is working on this piece.



Katie then generously offered to show me her tattoo, which runs down her spine:

When I asked if she wouldn't mind sending me another photo, since the tattoo was partially obscured by her bra strap, she didn't hesitate to unhook it so I could photograph the whole tattoo, unobscured:

Katie explained that her heritage is Armenian, and that the letters down her spine spell the word for "family".



She added that two of her cousins have the same tattoo, but inked on their arms.



She also noted that the infinity symbol at the base of her neck speaks to the Armenian text and symbolizes, for her, "family forever".



She did not recall the name of the shop where she had this done, but recalled it was on Long Island, New York, and that the artist was "Joey D".



Thanks to Darius, Kenny and Katie for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Moving!

Well, this weekend was a wonderful, busy one...and quite the important one, since we spent both days moving into our new home! So yes, we are officially here and officially home owners. What a happy, exciting time. I'm so thankful it all worked out, and just overjoyed with everything. It's still surreal. I had no time to blog all weekend, and besides we had no internet but I have to say how much I enjoyed just focusing on my family and our huge task at hand, rather than being online for any amount of time. Even though I am a obviously a huge of the whole internet world, I also really like taking breaks from it and I think its necessary in order to keep enjoying it. Besides, the "real world" is so much more fun! But anyway, my parents and sister came up for the weekend and helped us pack and move into our new place, get our old place cleaned and in order, and just overall were the biggest help in the entire world. I'm so thankful for them.




I am currently typing this from new family room and like I mentioned above it's truly surreal to be here, getting settled into our HOME! We've been busier than ever these past few days getting everything done, from our appliances getting delivered, furniture, utilities, you name it. Hank and my Dad also spent some time starting to put together some of Henry's baby furniture. It's crazy to go into his bedroom and just think about the fact that he is going to be here so soon, in that room, in that crib, using that changing table, having clothes in that closet. Madeline is also loving having all of this space and she runs from bedroom to bedroom exploring and re-exploring. It makes me happy to see her so happy!

I will be back tomorrow with Tattoo Tuesday, but I wanted to make a quick update before I head to sleep. Goodnight!

Happy Father's Day!

This weekend Hank and I went down to Phoenix to spend time with my family in celebration of Father's Day! We had a nice, relaxing weekend and ate at Green twice. haha. Hank is newly addicted to their espresso barbeque sandwich- he used to always do the spicy Poor Boy but has turned over a new leaf. Once wasn't enough for him so we found ourselves in there two times in the span of 24 hours. Silly. But so delicious.

This morning we woke up early and headed over to IHOP (my father and Hank's choice...disgusting in my opinion but I kept that to myself since it isn't my day! haha). Our group consisted of my Mom, Dad, Hank, me, my sister Lauren and her fiance Abe. Breakfast was fun and it was so wonderful to have two dads at the table now, with Hank being a proud papa-to-be! It's seriously melting my heart to see him so excited about being a dad and today was extra special since we find out if we are having a daughter or a son in five short days!

Afterward Hank and I headed home and I fell asleep hard for the entire drive. I haven't been sleeping well lately so I've been feeling pretty tired for the past few days, which I hate...but I better get used to it, right?! When we got home we went grocery shopping quickly at Fry's and New Frontiers. We've been gone so much that our fridge was empty so we had to stock up. Now Hank is golfing with his Dad and we he gets home we'll be enjoying a nice evening walk downtown. So...that's OUR Father's Day! How was yours? I hope all of you are having a wonderful day and have a great rest of your night!

Some photos from today:

Nanny at breakfast






We were laughing because my Mom and sister accidentally got Hank the exact same card and almost wrote the exact same thing in them! Too funny.


my Dad and me! Happy Father's Day :)


my Dad is an avid gunsman (is that the term?) so Abe and Lauren got him a BB gun that he had when he was a kid! Great present. We got my Dad some home gym equipment.


my cute parents- married 31 years this past Friday!


Lauren and Abe! :)


Hank and Nanny- this photo makes me so happy!


annnd...the men of our family!


Again, Happy Father's Day everyone!

and ps, if you could click this banner below to vote for this blog, I'd truly appreciate it! They reset the count so we have to start again! :) It's a neat way to meet more Moms in the Mommy-blog world...and it's also a great site to check out if you're expecting or are already a mama. All you have to do is click once and click again to vote! Thanks so much everyone!