Happy New Year

Hope you guys had a great night! We spent the night with good friends -- eating good food. Seems to be a trend with us! We did fair the cold weather and walked to Grand Army Plaza (in Brooklyn) to see the fireworks. The show wasn't that spectacular but we felt like kids cheering and hugging and just plain being goofy!

Gabe did swing me around in my puffy coat sending me flying into our very good friend Aubrey...bad news was he also sent Aubrey's camera flying (yes we broke it)! Wish we had a picture of that!

I think that means that 2009 will be filled with a little bit of wackiness and understanding...sounds good to me!

Settlers of Catan

Just for the record- I have now won twice in a row...
This is not my favorite game but always play bc Gabe loves it so much~ he may not be loving it so much anymore!

Merry Christmas!

Today you will find Gabe and I stuffed to the brim enjoying Gabe's folks company....
games, movies, walks...food and more food!
It has been a perfect little Christmas (we always miss the family we aren't with though)...here are a few pictures of our pup in the snow!
Love to you and yours!

A song for Dakota, by Gabe

To the tune of "Butterfly Kisses" (the chorus)

Belly scratching after bedtime prayer
Picking dingle berries from her derriere
Walk beside the curb, daddy, it’s my first time
I know my paws are muddy, daddy, but I sure tried
Oh, with all that I’ve done wrong, I must have done something right
To deserve her dump every morning
And slobbery kisses at night

Belated Halloween post

My best friend from college came to town with her husband Joel, and pup Scout! We had a fantastic time doing nothing at all....it was great- we didn't even venture into the big bad city (which to be honest Gabe and I don't enjoy doing all that much).
My favorite thing (no, not beating everyone in a game of Settlers of Catan) was around 11:30 on Halloween night we made some hot cocoa and went on our stoop to watch the folks in costume going to the bar down the road. The dogs came out with us, we were all bundled up drinking a warm treat, and we saw crazy costumes.
We made some pretty yummy meals, went on a long walk, played games, cleaned out the closet (thanks Kelli for letting me throw stuff at you:)Then on Sunday morning it was the annual NYC marathon- this is the Robinson's favorite thing to watch (Kelli and Joel were huge sports although they probably wanted to kill us after an hour)
We were so glad they made the trek and the dogs were fast friends!

D and her Momma

Dakota (the pup) and I are chilling at home this weekend while Gabe is in Florida with the Rob's. Unfortunately vacation days aren't in abundance and he had to use them before Jan 1st- and I have to save them...so he went to play without me~I had to push him and re-assure him a million times that I didn't mind:)

Sounds like they are having a great time, he and my 8 year old niece went on space mountain. That brought back some memories. The first time I rode on it I was probably around the same age and I was with my step dad. This roller coaster is in doors and pitch black and I was terrified but also super excited. I remember swearing the whole time (thankfully pops couldn't hear me)~ and I am pretty sure I wanted to ride it again right away!

I need to really go back to my last post and fill in some blanks (we had about 3 other out town guests since then)but as of right now, D and I are going to bed so maybe that will happen tomorrow night....

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our family to yours....
Hope this finds you in your pj's, sipping on coffee, surrounded by smells of turkey and sweet potatoes -- Or whatever you enjoy doing on holidays- any great Thanksgiving traditions that you would like to share?

Gabe and I were both discussing some of our more memorable Thanksgivings last night....

Our next visitors....

The CA Miano's were in for a wedding and spent Sunday with us in the neighborhood. We read some books, went to a local Buffalo, NY bar for some beef on weck, played at the playground! I feel like I was really able to see them a lot this past year.
Oliver is getting so big! He got to meet our pup and had a good ole' time with her.





Oliver took this pic for us!

More Halloween fun

Our annual party....
Our friends had some terrific costumes- mine was lame and I don't have any pic's. Gabe was pretty proud of himself even though nobody knew who he was~ Any guesses?

O what a night....

Pumpkins. As long as I get to gut and Gabe gets to carve we are happy! We had a few friends over for some chili and pumpkin carving!

The ladies visit

My two good friends from highschool (really the only two I stay in really good touch with) came up for a long weekend! We had a good time catching up, getting out and about, stuffing our faces (Fat Witch Brownie- YUM!)....you get the idea!

We went to the Chelsea Market for brunch but that was a little disappointing so we got dessert there as well. We then walked to Union Square to check out the Farmers Market- we were attacked by zombies so we shopped a little to get in doors!







Check out the artwork behind us!

Better late then never

As we predicted October and November have been busy and super fun!
I'll share a few of our pics over the last month~

Apple Picking in Princeton NJ was the first of our fall plans:
We look forward to apple picking every year with the church! I love the fall and it always feels good to get out of the city and see a little country.


Part of the gang!


My husband is hot!

Prom @ UCP

For the past two years I have been chaperoning disco's at UCP,NY- this past Friday we had a prom. Had to share a few photo's of my gang!

Pictures of life over the last few weeks....

Guess who?

Katie's birthday



Nanna- Gabes grandma in her new "I Love NY" t

Nonsensical

I don' even know if that is a word~ but some random thoughts going through my head:

*Feist is amazing, I can't help but dance when I listen to I Feel It All (this usually happens on the subway- and for some strange reason this embarrasses Gabe)

*Swollen Lymph nodes kill when you get them in your armpit (I know not to use anti-perspirant- to all those who want to recommend to me)

*I love the fall! Dakota and I enjoyed a nice walk to the park this morning....the crunching of leaves beneath your feet makes me smile

*October is a bit over booked- all really fun stuff but no doubt it'll fly by and I'll wonder where it went

*I think I know it all- hard to break yourself of this lie, I need to learn to respect my supervisor even when I think she isn't the brightest

*While having lunch with a good friend from college we spoke about our 20's...we were saying how it was a real "soul searching" stage of life. This is true, I tend to always think- am I doing enough, am I good person, will I look back and regret things I did or didn't do! It's kinda scary, I look forward to getting older and wiser

*I think it's important for people to have hobbies- I really don't have one but have been contemplating taking a dance class

*If I think my dog is the cutest, smartest, most lovely dog in the world- is that okay? I know people must think that about their kids- I can only imagine! I may be the most cocky mother ever (I know that's not good)

I have some more 'randomness' but I'll save them, these are things that usually go through my head when I am trying to pray..

I'm a little bit tired and a little bit OCD

So tonight my dear friends you can find this girl eating pasta (no sauce just butter- strange NEVER used to go that route), cuddled up on the couch with some music and some work (I didn't want to work late bc being cuddled up on the couch was more attractive).

This past weekend I was back in NC for Katie's (my sis) birthday. My mom and I had talked about this party for months ahead of time and although it was really just a dessert drop by I think our "talking" helped bc it went really well! The reason I am tired though is that I took it upon myself to clean clean my parents house. It wasn't dirty at all but my OCD kicked in and I thought that all the base boards, chair rails and window sills needed a good wiping down. Mom was super sweet and kept saying that it wasn't necessary but I was a girl on a mission. If you could see my apartment though-- you wouldn't be impressed, why is it that it's always more fun cleaning somebody else's home?

As a kid I used to make Katie sit on my bed while I cleaned up my room. I would tell her to pretend we were on a talk show and that she (the host) would need to say things like "OK- you have 20 seconds to pick up all of your clothes and put them on the bed", and then "You know have 15 seconds to fold all of the clothes" and lastly "10 seconds to put them away"She of course had to add many sound effects and would frantically tell me if the time was running out......it was so much fun and made cleaning a cinch-

I better let Gabe know that he's busy this weekend, he better be ready to be my talk show host!

All of this to say I'll post pics later, and hopefully a great video of Mr. Rob (Gabe's dad, not Gabe) singing along to Nirvana on rock band!

A few other photos

These are kids that we used to babysit in NC- we love these two! Gabe is with Folger and I am with Hugh-Michael and their dog who looks a bit like D.




Sue (Gabe's mom) and Aunt Diane!


John (my step-dad) at the Robinson's with our girl!


Crazy Dakota sleeping in our bathroom- this is her favorite position.