Bittersweet

At the end of February, my brother-in-law left for 4 weeks of training and then deployed to Afghanistan for 6 months. Having a six month old little boy, my sister decided to leave her job and come live at home while her husband was deployed. The situation was bittersweet. We obviously didn't want him to be deployed, but we were grateful for the time we were going to be able to have to spend with my sister and nephew.

And so we did just about everything together for 7 months. Audrey and Blake became the best of friends. Audrey and her Titi developed such a special bond! But we knew it was only for a short time.

As we started to anticipate my brother-in-law's return home, we decided to do a special photo shoot with my sister, Audrey and Blake, to remember this special time we had together. And we got some really beautiful photos.

My brother-in-law returned home on Saturday the 13th. A few days before that, we packed up all of their things and they moved back to Maryland. Again, it was bittersweet. We are so happy that their family is reunited and that he has returned home safely to us, but it was incredibly hard to say goodbye. Thankfully, we have these beautiful photos to remember the 7 months we had together.

Wedding Dress

My husband and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary 3 months ago, and I am just now getting around to having my wedding dress cleaned and preserved. I know, I know, it took me long enough! But I had seen some pictures online of little girls in their mother's wedding dresses, and I knew I wanted to do that with Audrey. The thing is, I never got around to it.

Then it was the day the dress was going to the cleaners. We were both sick. Audrey was feverish, fussy and had the sniffles. But I sat her on the floor, put the dress over her, and took about 30 photos in about 3 minutes. They are not perfect by any means, but I am SO glad I took them!

I'm having my dress preserved because I hope that someday, Audrey will want to wear it. I'm not getting my hopes up. If she wants her own dress, she'll have it. But how special will these photos be if she does decide to wear it?!

Anyway, here's a little peak at some of my favorites!

A day at the museum

Mass MoCA is the largest center for contemporary arts in the United States. Not only is it a really cool place to visit, but it also holds a special place in my heart because I worked there in high school with my two best friends, April and Kristen.

Yesterday was the museum's annual Free Day, so my hubby and I took the opportunity to introduce Audrey to Mass MoCA for the first time. I didn't realize it until we got there, but my husband had never been inside the galleries either! I hadn't been inside in years, so it was quite a treat despite the many people taking advantage of the day!

They had lots of activities going on, but we just wandered around on our own. I only brought my point and shoot with me, but we did get a few pictures of our fun afternoon. When we were in an area that wasn't too crowded, we let Audrey walk around. She seemed to really like it and she was very good about not touching anything.

Daddy and Audrey in front of Nari Ward's Nu Colossus

This was my favorite! So cool!

Audrey exploring Nari Ward's Mango Tourists

Sanford Biggers' The Cartographer's Conundrum

Audrey was more interested in her shadow

than she was this exhibit.

By far, Audrey's favorite

was Sol Lewitt's

A Wall Drawing Retrospective.

Pretty colors, Mommy!

Natalie Jeremijenko's Tree Logic has been there since I worked there,
and I've always loved the upside down trees!

There were, of course, some things I didn't care for, but all-in-all it was a fun afternoon for all three of us! Just walking around in the buildings and tunnels of the former Sprague Electric company complex, that is now Mass MoCA, is so interesting and full of history. Thank you Mass MoCA for Free Day!

Christmas Card Outtakes

I'm sure you've all seen the photo on Pinterest that was the inspiration for my Christmas cards this year. It was not quite as easy to capture as I wanted it to be! I did get a couple nice photos and our Christmas card is so cute, but today I thought I'd share a few of the outtakes.

"We're inside, Mama! I don't want to wear a hat!"

And when I did manage to get her to keep the hat on,

the lights went in her mouth and she decided to get
in some crazy position!

After only about 5 minutes she was much more interested in looking out the window than anything I was doing to try and get her to smile at me!

pumpkin patch

A few weeks ago, my sister was here visiting so we decided to take the kiddos to the pumpkin patch! Blake is still too small to really enjoy it, but Audrey had fun! And of course, we got lots of pictures!

We saw goats...

 

...and sheep...

...and a pony!

Audrey just LOVES animals! She's not afraid at all!

Then we saw pumpkins bigger than she was!

It was an absolutely GORGEOUS sunshiny day and we all enjoyed the pumpkin patch!

the little details

I came across The Paper Mama's blog via Pinterest recently. It's such a fun blog that it has become one of my new favorites, so I decided to participate in her photo challenge this week. This week's theme is "the little details."

I love this photo of Audrey's hands just after she picked some of the petals off of Grammy's new mums! And I think it fits the theme perfectly!

 

It's A Boy!

No, not for us! Our little girl is more than enough for us right now. But my baby sister is due in September and they just found out yesterday that they're expecting a little BOY! I am so ecstatic for them! I love my little girl, but I think a little boy would be so fun too, in such a different way! I can't wait to meet my nephew and spoil him rotten!

If you read my post yesterday, you know that my sister and her husband were here for Easter because they are Audrey's Godparents. My sister's little 20 week baby belly was so cute that I couldn't resist taking some photos of her!

Fenway

My husband and I started dating during football season. Don't believe me? I'm a Yankees fan and he's a Red Sox fan. Yes, you read that correctly. Baseball season is interesting in our household. But we live just outside of Boston, so I'm a bit lonely here in Red Sox Nation!

Anyway, last Tuesday, my hubby and I went to a Red Sox game. He got free tickets from someone at work, and despite my team loyalties, I love Boston (the city) and going to live baseball games, so we made it a date!

As it turns out, Ali from the Bachelorette was throwing out the first pitch at that game. Ali grew up in the town right next to where I did, and my husband grew up with her, so he knows her and her family. So it was exciting to see a little of our small-town roots in the big city!

I, of course, brought my camera, and had more fun taking photos than watching the game. (Though, I have to admit, I enjoyed the fact that the Red Sox lost!) But enough chatter...you probably just want to see the photos...

Our baby girl's first baseball game!
(23 weeks)

Ali and Roberto

Warming up.

I don't think he'd be smiling and waving at me
if he knew I was a Yankees fan! ;)

Just before Ali threw out the first pitch!

LOVE :)