Thanksgiving Fun

We celebrated this Thanksgiving in Cary, NC with my Dad and Amy, my sisters, Grandmama Donna, Aunt Debbie and cousins. It was so much fun to have everyone together!! We ate great food (Amy's cooking is amazing!) and just relaxed with family.

Before I get to pictures and in the spirit of Thanksgiving....Kate has started to spontaneously pray about some of things for which she is thankful. Her little prayers are so sweet and Robby and I love to hear what she is thankful for each night--you never know what it will be!

One of her firsts and my favorite:

"Dear God, Thank you [for] Dada, Mama, baby sister, Ivy, pacis, cookie monster, EE lovie and God"

Latest additions, also include Frosty the Snowman, "Chritmas" Trees, and our ipad:)

Below are a few (okay a lot!) of pictures from our trip:

Amy, the master chef! I would love to be able to cook like her (and I am quite certain that Robby would love it too!;))

My beautiful sisters, Caroline and Merideth

Our cousins, Maggie, Ryan and Donna Catherine

A pre-dinner walk around the pond

Kate adores Maggie, and she pretty much stayed by her side all weekend

All the kids

We loved being with Grandmama Donna! Kate and Grandmama Donna share a lot of the same spunky characteristics...so they had a great time together!

Dad, Amy and the girls.

Of course, I could not end this post without a picture of our favorite cockapoo, Charlie (or as Kate says, "Chardee").

Little Miss was loving all of the attention!

Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkey and her parents!

In a New York Minute

Today, I officially joined the "thirties club!"

To celebrate, Robby took me to NYC over the weekend. And while our weekend flew by, we had an absolute blast!! My mom kept Kate for us (thank you, Gigi!!), and although we missed our little girl terribly, it was wonderful to have a little time with just the two of us!

We saw a play, ate at some great restaurants (still dreaming of that shake from the Shake Shack!:)), shopped, walked and walked and walked, and saw some of the sights!

I also went on my very first train ride! Upon our return, Kate welcomed us back at the train station, and so she has been talking about "going train" non stop! We have been playing trains, coloring trains, but as Kate likes to say next time, "I'll come with me!" :)

Below are a few pictures from our trip

Waiting for the train in Charlottesville

In front of Rockefeller Plaza... It was so fun to see all of the decorations!

On "Top of the Rock"

And it was all just in the nick of time, since I don't think we will be traveling too much in the near future...

Because in what feels like in a New York Minute (but is really more like three months from now), our lives are about to change in a major way--as we are expecting our second daughter in February! :)

Kate could not be more thrilled about her baby sister, and while NYC was fun, we could not be happier to be back at home with our happy little girl!

Stay tuned for family birthday pictures!

Happy Halloween!

Our little monkey had an absolute ball tonight trick-or-treating on the UVa Lawn and in our neighborhood! :) I don't think we have ever seen her so excited...and this child gets excited pretty easily! She loved seeing all the costumes, the "pumpins", and of course the "treats."

When we got home, she dumped out all of her candy and sorted through it. Our conversation went something like this:

Kate: "I got dis one and dis one and dis one...."

Claire: "Wow, Kate, you have so many treats."

Kate: "Good job, Mama, I'm powd of you."

I think she was actually proud of herself, but I guess Robby and I get a little credit for taking her around!:)

Enjoy some pictures from the evening!!

Fun on the UVa Lawn

This way, Dada!

Playing with her cousin! These girls have so much fun together!

Look at all of my treats!!

Back in our neighborhood...Kate was still having a blast!

She loved seeing all of her neighbor friends and the carved "pumpins" at their houses! The treats were also a definite bonus!

Showing off her very own"pumpins".... she especially loved her cookie monster pumpkin!

Happy Halloween from our little monkey and her parents!

Bald Head Island

Last weekend we travelled to Bald Head Island for our friends, Vanessa and Josh's, wedding. We had a wonderful trip, and it was so good to see so many of my Carolina girls again (and their boyfriends/husbands)!:)

While Robby and I were busy with wedding events, Kate and her Gigi were busy exploring the island together! Thank you, Gigi, for watching our little monkey! Kate had a great time feeding the birds and fish, riding the golf carts all over the island, and "checking it all out" as she likes to say!

The happy couple! What a gorgeous pair!

All the girls!

And their men!

My college roomies, Marie and Emily!

The band was awesome--time to shake your tail feather!;)

Meanwhile, Kate and Gigi got to explore the island! Kate loved "going cart" and pretending to drive!

Ready, with her bag of bread, to feed the fish!

It turns out that fish don't really like bread...so the search was on to find an animal that would eat Kate's "treats."

And at the beach, Kate and Gigi found a very lucky bird...

Who gladly accepted Kate's bread and even invited some of his sea gull friends to join him.

And Kate was a happy camper!

Elephants, Camels and "Tigers"...OH MY!

Last week, we took Kate to the circus, and she LOVED it! Kate is still talking about all of the animals that we saw there. She especially likes to tell everyone about the elephants, camels, and tigers (the funny part is that we didn't actually see any tigers there...but whose counting!;)). We had a great time, and while I didn't get too many pictures, her smile during the show was priceless!

The elephants made quite an impression!

Look at that smile!

The Pumpkin Patch

Today we took Kate to Chiles Orchard in Crozet and let her "pick" her own pumpkin. Kate was very excited to pick out an orange pumpkin (good thing she wanted an orange one or we might have been in trouble)! But she was most excited that her friend, Kira, and her Gigi came to pick pumpkins with us! Kate LOVES her friends (and her grandparents too, of course!:))

The weather was beautiful, and we had a great time! Enjoy a few pictures from our morning!

Robby carting the two cutest pumpkins in the patch!

This way to the patch!

Come on, Dada!

A little pumpkin for our little girl (she really wanted a baby pumpkin)!

This is so fun!

Especially when you have a buddy to share it!

Gigi had her hands full!

That's a lot of pumpkins for one little girl!

Kate and Kira climbed into the box of pumpkins and had the best time giggling together!

What fun!

And on the way home, this silly girl pretended to be asleep. I love the grin behind her pacifier...what a nut!

Night night!