Its not me, its you...

Yes, I did in fact turn thirty this January. And with little emotional fanfare as I tend to look forward to my birthdays (although I did freak out a bit when I was turning 27 and had no idea how to take care of my soon to arrive 1st born). I attribute my ability to ease gently into my thirties to the fact that I am in just the perfect spot in life. Not too many kids, not to few, good guy at my side, a cozy little house in a great cit - and - unless you look really closely in the right wrong light, no gray hair.

However.

What is really wigging me out is that all of YOU are turning thirty. I can turn thirty. But when my entire peer group, in a single years time is blogging, facebooking and txt msging about the big 3-0 I suddenly realize - I am friends with old people.

So, I'll continue to age gracefully, thank you very much. But if the rest of you could stop, that'd be great.

Happy Birthday to me, from my my raisons d'etre.

Christmas? Do you still want to hear about Christmas?

A few months ago a lot of my friends celebrated a holiday called Christmas. We decided to join in on the festivities.

The week before Christmas our friend Maria let us invite ourselves to join her cookie baking extravaganza. Here is Tessa (who actually smiled after about 15 non-smiling shots) hard at work sifting flour and powdered sugar.

And her feet...

(As a side note - while preparing this post I got to feeling very excited for Christmas, only 9 more months. I also feel very embarrassed that I am posting about this in March - get it together Emily.)


Behold - The Christmas Tree



Christmas Morning

7:30 am

8:15 am - Discovering Meg's short attention span and playing with Santa toys.

9:00am (after breakfast)


11:00am (after Meg's first nap)


1:45 pm (after Meg's second nap) - looking for creative ways to open MORE presents.

Finally we finished opening most of the presents at 3:00pm.
(Tessa still had two gifts that, by that time, she refused to open so we put away for her Birthday.)

Thanks for hanging in there with me on this slow posting...

December Visitors

In late November Aaron was asked to be a Stake High Councilor so his Mom and Dad flew out here the first weekend in December so that Grandpa U could ordain Aaron. Because our plan was to stay in MA for the holidays it was especially nice for us to have some family visit during the season. Their trip also coincided with the Christmas in Salem Holiday House Tour that I the non-profit that I work for hosts each year (this year was the 30th annual tour) so they got to see some of the really cool historic homes in Salem.

A hottie keeping my cutie warm.

Does it look cold? Oddly enough two days before this picture we all went to the park and enjoyed 70 degree weather (yes, in December).

What a pretty dress! Tessa was going through a "not looking at the camera" phase.

Cute pic headed into the Aquarium

A-DOR-ABLE candid shot. I turned around and she was sitting patting this penguin.

Okay - and now, some of you may not like this but I'm going to post a bunch more pictures of the trip on facebook - see you there.

Where to begin? (November)

It has been at least two months...no, more...since I really, really REALLY updated. Am I even capable of catching up at this point? I guess I'll only know if I try.

November

Quick trip to New Hampshire with some friends and some outdoor activities (I love "unseasonably warm" and "November" in the same sentence).

Playing like she is an angel.

When in fact these two screamed the entire way up.
Can you say "I'm not kidding - I'm going to turn this car around."

Poor Meggie - I forgot to pack her a coat.

Tessa is multi-tasking on a Nap/Hike.

Oh yes, and Thanksgiving - the last we'll have with our "family" Dusty, Crystal and Avery. We've eaten every Thanksgiving and Easter dinner with them for at least 4 years. Sniff.

What is a post about Fall in New England without the requisite foliage picture?