i love family. i am so excited to have olive grow up with her wonderful cousins r + b. on a beautiful sunday afternoon, we were able to get together and hang out. reagan just loves little olive. he loves holding her! whether she’s calm or crying, he just smiles contently to have olive in his arms!
on this particular day, i dressed olive in her pink ralph lauren dress that auntie kim and thuy had given her {at one of the baby showers in honor of olive}. r + b came on over to grandma and grandpa’s house dressed in ralph lauren themselves! how adorbs…coordinating cousin outfits!
[bennett, reagan, and olive all in ralph lauren]
[reagan loves olive!]
we couldn’t resist a little photo sesh with these cuties! cousin bonds…you can’t beat that true love!
the second half of our vacation was filled with rain, intermittent sunshine, and sporadic warm temperatures.
on wednesday, after a homemade breakfast by the hubby himself, we decided to head back to the outlet mall. just hc and myself. last time we were there, it was a bit difficult to shop with all the kids. so we wanted to head back to really take a look at stuff, take our time, and get a chance to try things on. it was a lovely day and it was very nice to get a chance to spend some alone time together.
i got olive dressed and left her with gramma and papa to have a day at kiddie land! she had a great time with them while we were away having some fun adult time!
[olive wearing corduroys due to the cooler temps and pretending to be shy]
after some shopping, we came back to relax. everyone kind of did their own thing that day, which was a change of pace. later on that afternoon, hc and i went on a walk with olive and jane. something we haven’t been able to do at all with the long winter that we have had!
[a lovely, lovely walk on the beach…olive loves the ocean!]
after a stroll on the beach, we came back and i did an outfit change for miss olive. she had to get dressed up for her first time at a bar! her outfit du jour was a gift from grace marie herself!
our restaurant of choice was duffy’s. home of “world famous” burgers. a dirty little bar joint. it had lovely plastic chairs and bleached cleaned table tops. it had a very simple menu, burgers and chips…no fries! i ordered the mushroom swiss burger and a side of potato salad. yummy…but i wouldn’t call them world famous. i’d call them good burgers.
olive was a hit at the bar. a lot of the patrons just adored her, how could you not love a baby in a cute outfit like that?!
[duffy’s tavern…world famous burgers]
[olive’s first time at a bar! she was most interested in sophie]
after dinner, we came back to the house to…guess what?! yesss, relax. we got comfy and chilled. olive was so relaxed that she found it super funny pooping while sitting on daddy’s lap! so classic and i’m so glad we snapped a pic of that special moment!
[olive literally pooping on daddy’s lap with a very content smile on her face]
on thursday, it was olive’s four month birthday! yay! papa always insists on having cake on olive’s special day. so that morning, we had a breakfast coffee cake to celebrate! i also dressed the little peanut up and shot her four month photos! i love my cutie pie.
[olive’s four month photo on vacay]
this day, we had tickets to the pittsburgh pirates and new york yankees pre-season game, thanks to aunt wendy.
[exhausted from her all day birthday celebration at kiddie land with grandma and grandpa]
it was raining from the moment we woke up, but we were on track to go to the game. we bundled up {it was much colder than i thought…such a bummer since we were going to be sitting outside! the weather report lied to us! it was suppose to be 70 and sunny!} and headed out to the field.
we got there and right away, we had to get our hot dogs and beer! after noshing on our bites, we headed into the stands to find our seats. we sat there in the rain, watched them play ball, and ate a lot of junk food. an american classic outing. after a few hours, we decided to head out but not before we perused the souvenirs shops.
[me and gracie trying to keep warm and dry at the pirates and yankees game]
[classic – baseball and hotdogs]
[rich and grace]
[go cubs go!]
we then ran into an area where they were selling memorabilia and auctioning off baseball souvenirs. missy was eyeing a ryne sandberg autographed framed photos and rich was interested in a ron santos signed baseball.
the starting bid for the ball was small, so rich decided to bid on it. missy decided not to buy the ryne sandberg frame so hc and i decided to buy it for her! it would be an early birthday/christmas gift! i snuck off to buy it while rich led the group the other way. when they came back to the memorabilia area, we surprised her with it!
rich won the bid on the baseball, missy had her ryne signed frame, and we were ready to go home!
[missy and rich attending the pirates and yankees game and going home with cubs memorabilia // an autographed ryne sandberg and an autograph ron santo ball]
once we got home, we were inundated with fun stories of olive’s great day with gramma and papa! they ‘took’ olive to ‘kiddie land’ {aka she rode ‘roller coaster’ rides on a blanket pulled across the floor! so cute!}.
missy, jane, and wendy decided to go for a walk and then sit outside at the bar and have a drink. i debated on going with them but decided against it. it was a bit too chilly for me to sit outside…walking outside, yes, but not sitting. so they left for their walk, while the kids, rich, and papa were at home.
rich and i decide ourselves to go on our own walk with little miss olive. it was so lovely! we had such a great time walking through the neighborhood and checking out the local shops {knick knacks, surf shops, restaurants}. we found some fun ornaments, magnets, and shoes to buy! it was so awesome to walk around, enjoy the weather, and spend some alone time with hc and olive!
while we were at the surf shop, hc found these awesome minnie mouse type sunglasses for olive! when we got home and walked through the door, i called out to jane. she came walking over and yelled in joy how cute olive looked in her new sunglasses! i agree…she is so cute!
[i wear my minnie mouse sunglasses at night]
[look at those cheeks!]
instead of heading out to a restaurant to eat for dinner, we decided to order food from skinny’s. after placing our order, missy and hc drove over to pick up our food. it was quite yummy but you definitely don’t stay skinny eating from skinny’s!
[dinner from skinny’s]
on our last full day of vacation, again the weather was not good beach weather, so we decided to check out the northern part of the island. i was super excited when jane presented to me that morning the onesie that i gave them for mother’s day last year! she had brought it with her on vacation! i gave her that shirt on that celebratory day last year to announce i was pregnant with little miss olive! i was so excited for her to wear it…it was her size, perfect timing!
[gramma brought the onesie i gave them. it was a baby announcement that i was pregnant, a gift for her on mother’s day! it looks perfect on olive!]
we drove up north to anna maria pier {which took 7 minutes from our beach house!} and walked the town and headed our way towards the pier. it was quite lovely walking it! after the pier, we found a restaurant to eat at, the waterfront.
olive was high maintenance during our lunch! she needed her diaper changed and there was no changer in the bathroom! that is so annoying! so hc and i walked around the corner {we were eating outside}, and put our portable changer on the sidewalk and changed the peanut! after that, she needed a feeding! so as usual, i fed her while i ate. we like to eat together 🙂
[a walk on the pier]
after walking the pier and eating lunch, we wanted to walk the area…there were a lot shops to look at! half of our group got tired out. so jane, missy, and i decided to stay and continue to shop. we had a really great time! there were a lot of cute island shops to look at.
the last store we looked at, i found some really, really cute stuff for olive! there was this darling animal swaddle blanket from angel dear. it was their farm yard swaddle…so charming! i had to have it for her! i also purchased this beautiful wood puzzle toy for her. i am obsessed with wood toys and especially this brand of toys. it reminded us of a banyan trees in florida!
after shopping the town, we headed back to the car and took the short car ride home to the house. olive was up and doing some tummy time…isn’t she’s so darling?! before our hodge podge of a dinner {clearing out the pantry before we headed home meant a mixed bag of goodies for supper!}, hc and i decided to go for a final walk around the island. we strapped olive in her carseat, took out the stroller, and enjoyed a very serene, beautiful walk around the area {being at the beach and ocean is so gorgeous!}.
[olive doing some tummy time…so adorbs]
when we got back, we finished packing for our trip back home and snacked on very random food for dinner! we woke up very, very early the next day and packed up the rest of our goods and headed to the airport. so sad…bye bye anna maria island, it was a very good time!
olive was a doll on the plane ride back! she fed, she slept, and she cooed. when we landed, it was home sweet home chicago! annnddd it was cold! yuck!
[olive on the plane ride home…so cute!]
it was quite bittersweet, we were so happy to be back and sad to not be on vacation anymore! it was a wonderful week, lots of relaxing, shopping, and exploring…the beach and ocean were amaze. thanks dick and jane for an amazing get away! we love you both so much!
ta da! that wraps up our spring break trip! until next year!
woooooo! we were so excited for our spring break vacation! after this very long, very cold, very awful winter, a getaway to a warm destination was in order!
the locale of choice was anna maria island, off of florida. i am thankful to my in laws for coordinating this whole vacation! olive is a lucky gal to have pretty awesome grandparents who love her so much!
we headed out on saturday morning {4:30 am wake up call anyone?}, off to the airport we went in our pimp escalade limo ride. olive was riding in style! we got to the airport quickly and checked ourselves in. getting through security involved a lot more than we thought. it being the first time we have traveled with olive, we weren’t quite sure what the process looked like. not only did we have to do our usual thing {shoes, laptop, coats, etc.}, we had to break down the entire stroller, take off a wheel, flip the carseat upside down, and i had to walk thru the detector with olive and then get my hands wiped down for any dangerous chemicals! nutty. well, we made it through with no problems {no crazy chemicals on my hands…phew. i didn’t have to brawl with the tsa!} and we merrily went on our way to the gate {way to vacation!} . i immediately was on a mission for coffee. starbucks and food was in order!
[olive’s first time in the airport // breakfast at berghoff cafe]
we waited in quite a long line at berghoff cafe. rich ordered an egg and bacon croissant sandwich with a side of hash for the both of us. we ate and waited for the rest of our party to arrive. once everyone was there, we settled ourselves into the terminal to wait for our boarding time. oh boy…olive started to get fussy. it was past her feeding time and i really wanted to feed her during take off. our timing was a little off and while we were waiting in line to board, she had a melt down! i saw all the passengers eyes widen as this baby of mine shrieked so loud! oy. once we neared the plane, though, she actually calmed down. phew!
[family selfie]
i got to feeding olive right away. she actually fell asleep during take off and was quite calm during the whole flight. only for a few minutes did she fuss but then calmed down. woo! it was a great, non-fussy flight with little miss olive. what a good little traveler!
[olive representing the cubs // take off]
[sleepy olive]
[cutie pie waiting for daddy to rent a car]
[the scary road over the water]
we landed and were so excited to finally be in warm weather! it was warm and a bit humid. we got our car rented and started en route to our destination to the beautiful house on the beach!
the palm trees are such a treat. a novelty for us after a looooong winter in chicago! buuutttt after experiencing florida traffic and how cray cray they drive {i mean seriously cray}, i definitely can say…i wouldn’t want to live that everyday!
we finally arrived at our destination and got to explore the house. it was spacious and new. i loved our bedroom…it was big, had it’s own ensuite, a large flat screen t.v., and a lovely veranda! we were steps away from the beach and the house also had it’s own private pool! sweet!
[olive and aunt missy matching each other and the couch // us checking out the house]
[the beachy fun house decor // relaxing by the private pool]
[this was our walkway from the front of the house!]
[checking out the scenery // palm trees usa]
[we love our selfies]
the most exciting part about arriving in florida?! meeting up with olivia and aaron. since they’ve relocated to fort lauderdale, we haven’t gotten a chance to visit them in the sunshine state. they timed their travels to match ours, they got there just a tad earlier than us {due to our unnecessary detour to the cracker barrel…long story not worth sharing}.
olivia texted me that they were chillin’ at a bar across the street from the house we were renting. she insisted that she would she us pull into the house. so, as we pulled in…i looked around and saw only houses. olivia and aaron were no where to be found. after we got inside and looked around, i texted her, wondering where they were at. sooooo typical olivia, they were at the wrong location. i have no idea where she got the address she had! they weren’t far from us and soon they arrived at the house! yay!
we spent the day basically chillin’. our only big mission for the day was to grocery shop. there was a local grocery store called publix nearby. hello spring break! it was a madhouse there. literally. it seemed like half the island was there stocking up on groceries! we fought our way through and survived. hundreds of dollars later and two full carts filled with food, we were on our way back home.
[selfie time // bruce the cutest puppy ever]
[hc and aaron holding their babies]
[olive’s curly q hair, thanks florida humidity!]
[olive’s first time at the beach!]
[the cute couple before they leave back to ft. lauderdale // as you can tell, olive is super happy]
the rest of the weekend, we walked the beach, we explored the island, lunched outside, and spent time together with this great duo…the best news yet?! olivia and aaron are moving back to chicago! woo hoo! see ya guys in a few weeks!
[aunt wendy consoling olive]
[neidre and olive…she was in desperate need of a nap]
right after olivia and aaron left, hc’s old friend from school stopped by to visit. neidre lives in tampa; she drove in and spent the late afternoon and evening with us! we drank wine, chitchatted, and caught up on life’s happenings. neidre is such a great gal! we love her! the last time we saw her was when we visited her brother, jason, in miami. that was an amazing trip as well {sunshine, beach time, and awesome weather}! one of the days, while in miami, we drove half way from our destinations and met neidre and her beautiful daughter, khaliya, for dinner. that was a great time together, it was my first time meeting neidre and khaliya and we had such a blast with them.
[blast from the past // miami ’10]
we cooked in and spent a very lovely evening together. after many hours of drinking, noshing, and non stop yakking, neidre decided to head out and home. so bittersweet. it was so awesome to see her and so sad she was leaving. it was a marvelous time spent together.
[hanging out with this lovely lady]
[super excited to be shopping]
since the weather wasn’t quite beach weather {bummer because we had a house on the beach!!!}, we did a lot of shopping. we explored possible shopping venues around the area. on monday, we went to breakfast at peach’s and then took off for the outlet mall right outside anna maria island. hc and i had a great time shopping around. there were a few stores where we found some great stuff in. the whole family enjoyed perusing the mall. good or bad news but everyone found something to buy!
[her pensive looks]
[bad news bear…a stop at wendy’s was no buenos! my favorite comfy target pants!]
on tuesday, we explored the southern part of the island. it turned out to be a very sunny day {although it was a very rainy morning}! we had a great time walking around the area. i found some great smelling body butters and lotions at a place called naples. of course, when we stumbled upon a macaron shop, i had to get a dozen flavors!
[relaxing in her stroller ride around the island // yummy macarons]
after shopping all afternoon, we came back to the house to relax. rich, grace, and daniel hit the beach. olive and i tried to sit out there but it was so windy, it felt like the sand was exfoliating our faces, so that was no. we headed back into the house to chill while rich and the kids played out at the beach.
a little bit later, before we went to dinner and after the beach, rich, jane, and olive went for a walk {a favorite activity of ours since we wanted to take advantage of this weather!}. it was a bit chilly {for florida!}, so we bundled olive up in a cute little hoodie. so adorbs.
[getting ready for her walk on the beach with daddy]
for dinner, aunt wendy wanted to go to the sandbar restaurant but it turned out to be a debacle. the wait was one hour and forty five minutes! no way with the babes could we wait that long for a table! so we ended up down the street at a place called sharkey’s.
it was a tasty place…i ordered the fish and chips {tilapia!} and it was delicious. after dinner, we headed home to relax {the theme of our vacation!}.
[having dinner at sharky’s]
[selfie at sharkey’s}
so, there you have it! the first half of our island vacation! lots of shopping, a lot of relaxing, plenty of walks on the beach, too much noshing, and loads of quality time together as a family {the most important part!}.
[my mom is on the left in the striped dress, my dear o vuong is in the red skirt // can you guess where i am?! // sam is in the gold and red áo dài // my sisters are in the the red jackets and skirts with the big, satin navy bow]
the other day, my friend sam {who lives in austin}, sent this picture to me! our friend vy had sent it to her. it was at my parent’s dear friend’s wedding {dìthu and chúthong} in texas. holy moley…it was delightful to see this picture! i got a good laugh from it.
i love the fashion and styles going on in this photo. the ruffles, the prints, the big collars, oh my! and how young we all are! my how time flies by. it’s overwhelming to see an old picture like this and to think how innocent and unknowing we were as little kids; and how lovely our lives have turned out so far. i’m feeling very blessed and thankful for my parents, my family, our beautiful healthy daughter, and my loving hubby charming {who is seriously the most caring man ever}.
it’s awesome how a picture can evoke so many memories and emotions from the past and present. so cool.
so, baby olive laughed out loud before her third month birthday. it was quite a special moment we all shared together. since then, her lol’s have been far and few in-between. she laughs when she feels like it and you never know what will make her giggle.
the other day, sister grace spent the weekend with us. while i was away, daddy and grace played away the day. grace has become quite fond and comfortable with little miss olive. grace was sitting on the couch, holding her, saying funny things, and it was making olive giggle a lot!! the adorbs moment was captured by grace herself! what a precious moment between them two! i love this!
i love the very end of the vimeo, where olive is just dunzo. her look is too precious…she’s like ‘ok, grace…i’m done. like now’.
what a cute vimeo of these two wonderful kids! sisters are the best!
we trekked our way to jay and lori’s house a few weeks ago for a birthday party! it was aj and jake’s birthday! aj turned 7 and jake turned 3; they are getting so big…my how time flies! it doesn’t seem that long ago when i first met aj…he was barely two years old!
we drove and drove and drove to their house {close to a two hour commute!}. we finally got there and the party was in full swing, everyone was already there. the fun part about this party? it was a baby land. lori’s sisters, kari and christi both have little babies! kari’s baby is two days older than olive and christi’s baby is about a month older than both. here’s a crazy fact: gunner and olive are about the same age but he is almost seven pounds heavier than o!!! he was a brick house compared to little olive. wow, i know boys are bigger but wow!
[olive getting ready to party!]
[grandma and olive, the few minutes she let someone else hold her!]
we mingled with everyone and ogled all the babies but poor olive, she was not having it with other peeps holding her! maybe it was overwhelming for her but she was not happy being in other’s people’s arms. she let grandma and grandpa hold her when we got there, but after that? nope. she only wanted to be in momma’s arms. oh olive. you will learn, i cannot come to the rescue like that {um, like when momma goes back to work!}, although i wish i could.
[pizza and salad]
[aj and jake ready for their birthday cake!]
after a dinner of salad and pizza, we had cake and ice cream {it’s a birthday party, duh!}. now this was too funny, when it was time to sing happy birthday to the boys, poor jake had a freak out. little fellow was not in good spirits! as we were singing, he cried and then hid under his chair! so, that is why you only see aj blowing out the birthday candles!
[lol, jake freaked out so aj blew out all the candles!]
[opening up a lot of ninja turtle toys!]
[momma with a tired olive]
it was wonderful to see and hang out with everyone. it’s always great to chill out with family, to see beautiful babies, and celebrate special occasions together!
the other snowy day, we ventured out to the land of nod to take some vday pics! here’s a sample of pics from the photo shoot from this past post!
the store had created a fetching backdrop for the pictures; patterned chairs, heart pillows, and darling stuffed animals to pose around with for the photos! katherine salvatori was the photographer who captured the fun pics for valentine’s day! the photo shoot was quick {the store was quite quiet, making it even better for us to play and shop!} and our afternoon evolved into a great time together.
the pictures turned out quite festive. here are a couple of the charming snapshots:
ya gotta love all of the festive stuff going on here. hearts, dogs, red, pink, oh my!
i love this one of grace. so precious!
happy love day to all! i hope everyone had a wonderful february 14!
i ventured out to my sister’s house this past week to celebrate a little love with the nephews.
i hit the roads during rush hour {ugh}; it was congested but not so bad! i was constantly moving and it didn’t take that long to get there. i was, at first, hesitant to travel out there because it was suppose to snow during the late afternoon, which is a recipe for a driving disaster!
i brought over valentine’s day cupcakes and i set the boy’s presents on the console as i walk in. it was too cute, they kept asking who those presents were for. i told them it was for two boys named reagan and bennett, i asked them if they knew who these two boys were. bennett looked confused but reagan blurted out, “that’s us!”. i told them there are more little boys out there name reagan and bennett, which made them giggle. 🙂
[it’s fat free…yum]
[olive chillin’ while we ate our dinner]
after a healthy dinner of portillo’s, we exchanged presents! it was so fun! i gave the boys their gifts, and they gave olive her gift. thuy had brought the boys and olive presents too! there was a lot of exchanging and gifting going on, the boys screamed out, “is it christmas?!”. lol.
[the boys with their vday presents // s’mores // alien pom growth on r’s face]
kim, r n b, had gotten olive the cutest stuffed animal that came with the most adorable tutu and headband! we dressed her in it and we were just delighted on how darling she looked! it was so precious.
[r + b decorated olive in valentine’s day stickers! // baby’s first valentine // wooden animal blocks]
[love her first valentine’s day card]
thuy had bought olive awesome wooden toys and a lovely outfit {so cozy and cute}. i love wooden toys. i want to stay as close as possible to just buying wooden toys {quite a feat but i’ll try my best!} for olive.
[thuy’s stenciled clutch gift for me! // auntie kim and olive {look at her face and skinny legs!} // adorbs outfit from thuy]
it was a very sweet evening with the family. we had a blast celebrating valentine’s day together. it was filled with lots of love, giggles, and charming fun.
have i mentioned that i loveland of nod?? yes, i did register there but i was in love with this store way before i became preggers.
it’s such a cute, whimsical, fun place.
***
we started out the morning with the hubs. he made banana pancakes topped with shaved chocolate and fresh, sweet bananas. we drenched the pancakes with vermont cinnamon maple syrup…yum! a big shout out to my dear friend olivia, who gave us this wonderful gift for christmas {along with a cook book that hc has used several times…delish recipes!}.
hc then left to go hang out with the bro-in-law, terry. they went to a cider fest at navy pier. so that left me and the kids to have our own fun for the day!
land of nod was offering their customers a chance to take valentine’s day photos with a professional photographer. how awesome! so, i packed up the kids around noon and headed out to the ‘burbs. the one thing that sucked?? it had just started to snow {boo}. that made for some heavy traffic out and i was already running behind {i forgot a crucial component to the bugaboo stroller and i had to turn around 🙁 }
anyhoo. we finally made our way to the store {it was quite pretty, though, with all of the snowfall…i have to find the beauty in the snow that we have been having!!!}. little olive was fast asleep when we got there…i didn’t want to take her out of the stroller {she was a tired peanut}, so grace and i took some photos together and the photographer took some pictures of scrunched face olive in her carseat.
[lol…she looked mad. rockin’ an 8o’s headband look]
after our pictures, the kids played together in the store. there was so much to look at. i was really loving their felt garlands. they had colored pennants, dots, stars, hearts, and clouds! the cloud garland was too darling to pass up, so i purchased one for olive’s room. a perfect addition to her cloud themed chambre.
[thuy just chillin’ at the kids table with her coffee]
[r being cute // photo by thuy]
[b being extra cute // photo by thuy]
we then shopped a bit at pottery barn kids, i had to pick up some gifts for some upcoming events {the next few months for us are going to be busy ones! birthdays, baby showers, vacations, oh my!}. i talked myself out of buying more valentine’s day trinkets {i was totally tempted. i mean, i can always find ways, ideas, or reasons to make or create anything crafty}. pbk has really fun decor but i’m dunzo for now.
after that, we went and grabbed lunch at cpk. the kids had your typical cheese pizza and plain pasta. i split a rustic pepperoni pizza with thuy and kim ordered quesadillas. as we sat there eating at cpk {they have huge windows surrounding the whole restaurant}, i could see that the snow was really coming down! it made me nervous to drive home because of the traffic we would face.
once lunch was done, we traipsed our way over to nordstrom to peruse their departments. i pit stopped at the women’s lounge to change and feed little o. nordstrom has such an awesome women’s lounge! i love their mother’s lounge…a cozy, comfortable place where you can feed the babes. while olive was feeding kim, thuy, and the kids went to west elm to shop around. the kids ended up decorating paper hearts for a good cause!
[the kids decorating hearts at west elm for st. jude’s hospital // photo by thuy]
i ended up going to my parent’s house to avoid the crazy traffic back to the city {i did not want to be sitting in a parking lot with the kids in tow} and thuy so kindly took grace, r + b to go see the lego movie, while kim headed out to finish up some things on her list.
[olive showing off her valentine outfit and her vday ‘beer’ belly // be still my heart…i love her so! // cherokee cardigan and pants, carter’s onesie…similar here]
i did dressed o up in a cute valentine’s day outfit for the so-called ‘sleep’ photos at lon! a soft, minty polka dotted onesie with a little mousey holding a heart balloon, a light pink cardigan, and heart printed pants. i also had her wear a flower headband. baby girl was not happy. she doesn’t like things on her head. but it was so adorbs though!
by late evening, we ended up all together, back at my parent’s house! kim came over after she did a few errands, thuy brought the kids back after the movie, and terry & rich came by after their escapades downtown. we then enjoyed the rest of our night as a family 🙂
hc and i were invited to kevin and lisa’s super bowl party.
i had attended their party before many, many years ago. so, i was very excited to be able to go again this year. we met up at the p’s and we all dropped the kiddies off. hc drove us all {as in my sis kim & my bro in law terry} to the party, which was a quick ride to addison. as soon as we got there, the over indulging began!
[double, double toil and trouble…matching shirts and cauldron bubble. apparently someone forgot to give hc the memo that we all were wearing plaid shirts!]
[greeted by renata, the cute and cuddly cat]
as soon as we walked in, we were offered drinks. why, yes of course! my sister and i decided to imbibe some delicious red wine {the boys reached for the beer}. kevin so graciously picked out a lovely bottle for us to drink!
[delicious wine with a great story behind the label, ardently told by kevin]
[enjoying the aroma and taste]
lisa and kevin had so much food! hey, it was the super bowl and over consumption is so american, non?
snacks, upon snacks did everyone graze on. there was guac and chips, dips, finger foods, sandwiches, bugles {yes, i said bugles}, bread, brownies, cookies, mints, candies, and so on! my appetizer of choice were two giant chocolate chip cookies. i couldn’t resist! it was home baked and looked so yummy and delicious. i downed one cookie and had to have another!
[i haven’t seen these since i was a kid! 😉 lol]
the game started and we continued to nibble {so much for watching what i eat to lose this pregnant weight!}. we were all waiting for the biggie food of the night…chili! kevin starts making his famous chili three days before the super bowl! he makes 3 huge stock pots of different kinds of chili. so stinkin’ good! he made a spicy chili, regular chili, and a vegetarian chili. there were also three types of cornbread that were brought by some guests. regular cornbread, hot chili cornbread, and bacon cornbread…wha, wha!
of course they had all the trimmings as well, tomatoes, diced onions, sour cream, shredded cheese, oh my! i tried the spicy {holy spicy!} chili and the vegetarian, both excellent eats! btw, i love cornbread…i couldn’t stop eating the cornbread! i ate it by themselves then crumpled a big muffin of cornbread all over my bowl o chili – excellent!
of the times i did pay attention to the tube, i absolutely loved the radio shack commercial!!!! it was hilarious! really? ‘the 80’s called and they want their store back’?! so freakin’ funny. there were quite a few commercials that were fabulous but this one really made me laugh out loud.
[go ahead, click on it!]
[i had to include this…love their cake topper // from etsy! something similar here. // they just got married – congrats to the beautiful couple!]
[super bowl shuffle]
[i absolutely love that terry is ‘trying’ to cross his eyes!]
unfortunately, the game was very boring. yes, boring. one, i’m not that into football and two, the seahawks just mowed, mowed over the broncos…so it wasn’t even exciting to watch. just painful.
on the bright side, hc and i took home tubs of chili for some tasty leftovers!!! woo hoo!
