Happy 4th of July - Weekend!

Happy 4th of July everyone (a day late, per usual on my part). I had the best weekend! Completely relaxing & full of friends and family... Friday night, Trevor had to go into work so Amanda, Delaney, Hunter and I went over to my Mom's house for a nice swim. After that, the night was pretty uneventful and Hunter and I headed home to snuggle.

Saturday we woke up and did our new "morning routine", which consists of getting up to play on the deck while Buckley does his "business" out back.

Then we hung around for a bit, and then packed it up and went to my Mom's house. We had dinner, swam and just relaxed for the day/night. (Trevor had to go into work at 4).

Sunday, you guessed it... more of the same! Although Sunday I did run a few errands (probably my longest stretch of being out of the pool all weekend). I had some coupons/giftcards to Macy's, and they were running a nice little 4th O' July sale and i wanted to cash in. I ended up getting an awesome comforter set and some sheets (still a FAIL on my part from the bridal shower) and this adorable "H" pillow. I found it on the clearance rack, it had an original price tag of $70 but was marked down to 50% off of the original, and then 40% off of the clearance price. Oh yeah, and I had a 20% off per item coupon as well. It matches his "colors" perfectly, and oh look at that... his name begins with H. What a coincidence?

After the mall trip on Sunday, we went BACK over to my Mom's to swim. Since it was Trevor's only full day off that weekend, we had some friends over and turned it into a little swim party. Amanda's Dad joined us, & ordered us all pizza. Yum Yum & more Yum.

Monday was probably the "most fun" out of all of them! We had a 4th of July BBQ at, you guessed it, my Mom's house. We had a bunch of friends over...Amanda, Delaney, Devon, Al, Kansas, My aunt Melinda, Paige & Nathan...it was a blast! We ate clams, and some amazing salads. Not to mention our "pool side" beverages consisted of our newest finding.....

Yes my friends, that is a vodka that tastes like CAKE. We also conveniently found a little card attached to it that has several different mixes that taste like various forms of cake. Our favorites were the Key Lime Pie & Pineapple upside down cake.

We all spent the day swimming/tanning/snoozing (hunter of course), & snacking. Not a bad way to spend a day you are typically at work.

One of the best parts of the weekend was that Hunter FINALLY gave into the pool. For whatever reason, he hasn't liked it thus far. He has a little kiddie pool that my mom got him and he loves to play in that, but whenever we tried to bring him into the real pool, he would scream his head off.

Well that all changed on Monday. For whatever reason, when I dipped him in the pool he didn't scream. So we tested it out a little further...and he was still fine. Even ENJOYING himself. Folks, that was the end of his fear. He is now a little swimmin' man!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Thanksgiving Recap.

Thankful,

This year I am thankful for a lot of things! Just to name a few...

-My son (who is the light of my life)

-My fiance Trevor, who I am excited to start a new chapter with

-My family-my brother, my twin sisters, my dad & mom and their spouses, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins... the list keeps going!

-My great group of friends.

-My best friend who I've known for years & gets to be my MOH in my upcoming wedding.

-My co-workers, who make each day of work something to look forward to...
-Having a car that gets me to and from work each day with minimal distress. (Now if only we could adjust gas prices/thruway tolls)
-A warm house that we can decorate & entertain in... our way.

And that's just the beginning...

On Thanksgiving Day I went over to my Mom's house to spend a few hours with my family. Hunter & I visited with my Aunts, Cousins and Brother for a bit then headed over to Trevor's Moms (who lived coincidentally about a mile up the road!). We had some wine, watched some football & relaxed. The food was great of course! Hunter Charles sure enjoyed it as well...Later that night we headed home and I took a "nap" for a few hours because Amanda and Delaney were due to my house @ 11:00ish so we could head to the Mid-Night Madness Black Friday Outlet Mall extraveganza!! We did the whole "Black Friday" shopping last year and we actually scored some good deals. So, we took off around 11:45 (most stores opened at midnight) and stopped for our annual "starbucks run" (on the thruway of course) and 25 short minutes later we were pulling into complete madness. The place was packed, we had to circle forever before we finally found an acceptable "illegal" parking spot.

It was definately worth it though, I got some really cute things @ Osh Kosh for Hunter & the other babies in my life. I found (3) really neat hats for Trev (who goes through hats like it's his job) and a pair of $10 jeans for myself. Score. I still have a bunch more shopping to do but hopefully can have everything set a few weeks before Christmas. Tis' the Season!

I have a blog? Really?

Okay, so to say "it's been a while" is the understatement of the century. I think we last left off with a 3-Month old Hunter. Well, needless to say, I now have a very active 14 month old. He walks, he runs, he laughs and tries to speak words. Yes, I have myself a very good little toddler.

Just a real quick update, here is my handsome little man...

The picture was of course, taken by his talented Auntie Heather.

I think he is a good mix of the 2 of us, and a lot of people agree. I'll post more on Hunter, pictures, milestones, etc. when I have some time. For now, I just wanted to jump back in because I knew if I didn't do it now, I never would.

Nothing too crazy has happened since I last left off, as to avoid boring everyone, I will just make a quick list of life events since September:

1. Hunter celebrated his first Halloween. (He was of course, a dragon!) We picked Pumpkins at Wickham Farms here in Penfield, per Trevor's recommendation and I was very pleased. Of course it wasn't too exciting for Hunter who just hung out in his front pack the whole time. But Trevor and I enjoyed the picking him his first pumpkin.















2. Hunter Celebrated his first Thanksgiving. We celebrated with Trevor's family this year, as the timing for dinner makes it very difficult to see both families. Next year, we'll visit my family!



3. Hunter celebrated his first Christmas. This was my First year with a real Christmas Tree. In the past my family has always had a fake one. I loved our tree growing up, but Trevor's family apparently got a real one every year. I made a proposition. This year we would try the real one, and as long as he vacuumed up the needles, and took care of it, we could keep the tradition alive.

Well, he did. I actually enjoyed the smell of fresh pine, and it really did look great with all the lights and decorations on it. Hunter got several "new"ornaments for his 1st Christmas.

This Christmas we will keep both our families traditions alive, as well as start our own new ones.

4. January marked mine and Trevor's 3 year anniversary. Holy crap that went fast! I joke around a lot, but in all honesty I couldn't have asked for a better father and best friend. I look forward to many more w/ him :).

5. In March, Hunter took his first big road trip to Virginia to see Trevor's Southern Family. We stayed with Grandpa, but visited Great Mema & Grandad, Uncle Chris & his family, and had a few visitors stop by! It was great that everyone got to meet Hunter while he was still "small". We wish everyone could have seen him as a tiny baby, but better late than never!

6. May was a very busy month for us! Trevor and I took a trip to New York City to celebrate my birthday with our best friends. [Amanda, Mike, Devon & Al]. We drove down on a Friday morning and stayed until Sunday. It was a short trip, but it was one of the most memorable trips i've taken yet. The only thing I can hope, is that we do it again soon!

I had my first "real" Mother's Day. I put that in quotes because I feel that ANY mother, whether their baby is born or still in their tummy is considered a Mom, so technically last year was my first. But this year was my first with Hunter to enjoy it with.

I turned 23 years old. Oh my goodness! I feel like it was just yesterday I turned 21 and had my first beer. (Hope your reading this mom!).

Hunter turned one year old. I cried for a bit on his actual birthday, remembering what that day felt like a year ago. We celebrated his birthday the weekend before his actual birthday because it fell on a Tuesday. It was a dinosaur theme, and we held it at a park in town. It was a great day. Our families, and closest friends came to celebrate a very special day!

My twin sisters were born. They are very tiny, but very cute. It is unfortunate that they live such a distance, as it makes it difficult to visit.

Also in May, my Nany's birthday (she passed away in 2005), she would have been 59 years old. My mom's birthday brings up the end of May, so essentially May is a super-busy month!

7. In June, Trevor celebrated his first Father's day. Hunter got him a game of Golf at his favorite course. My Dad had his birthday. I co-hosted my first baby shower for Trevor's sister Heather who is due in September! I am so excited to meet the baby (don't know the gender yet!), and look forward to having a playmate for Hunter.

8. This brings us to July, our current month. We took our annual trip to Pocanos last weekend. It was very relaxing. We hung out by the pond, enjoyed some good food, and I managed to take a few naps! I also finished an entire book on the trip! (more to come on that).

So, in a nutshell, that was this past year. I will update more frequently moving forward, so stay tuned!