Sherrie and John's New House

As many of our family members know, my Aunt Sherrie and Uncle John have been moving into their new house this past week. They lived in their former house forever (well, my entire lifetime) and we all have so many wonderful memories there.

We were all surprised initially to hear that they would be moving, but after seeing their new place, I agree with them that it was the best choice. Their new place is just as amazing if not more so, and I am already looking forward to all of the family gatherings we will be attending there in the future.

This morning Kerriann, Christiane and I made the trip to Buckhannon to see if we could help with the move, and to check out the new place. Kerriann amused herself by looking out the window and of course getting in everyone's way at the old house.

When there was nothing else we could do to help, we headed over to check out the new place.

I won't spoil the grand reveal of the house by showing the photos I took, but they have a huge and gorgeously landscaped yard, and an open floor plan with plenty of windows. This afternoon we all took advantage of the view and watched the snow fall as we ate cookout food (which was delicious, despite the weather).

It was so great to spend the afternoon with family, and to see the new house for the first time. We are really looking forward to making many more memories at your new place, John and Sherrie!

Wordless Wednesday: Bath Time

January in iPhone Photos

1. Rainy drive to Poolesville
2. Kerriann on the move
3. Kerriann reading with Aunt Patty
4. Kerriann and Mommy
5. Being silly
6. All dressed up for pictures
7. Shopping at IKEA
8. D is for Diva
9. Pizza!

Valentine's Day 2012

Kerriann woke up on Valentine's Day to a pile of sweet gifts from a few special family members.

First she opened gifts from her grandparents. A Dora jewelry set from Grandma and a cute red dress from Grammy and Papa (which you'll see in pictures in the future!).

Next up was the package from Aunt Julie and family... markers and chocolate, two of her favorite items!

And finally... presents from mommy. A box of princess chocolates and a new pair of "sparkly shoes" since her black ones are getting tight. I knew we would need replacements before too long!

Kerriann and I both got cards in the mail from Kevin. It is always such a treat when we get mail from him and it made my day! He's also treating me to a day at the spa... if I can just find a few free hours to go. Even though he is so far away, he knew exactly how to spoil me this year. I was worried that Valentine's Day might be depressing for me, but the little things he did meant so much to me that I still had a great day. Hope everyone else's Valentine's Day was filled with just as much love as ours was!

On the Eve of Valentine's Day

The day before Valentine's Day I picked Kerriann up from school and took her to pick out Valentines to give out to her classmates for the first time. 

We went to Target (where I was extremely disappointed with the selection) and she picked out Disney princess cards. 

She was so excited to open the box and start addressing them when we got home. Her teachers sent home a list of names, so I wrote them out and then she signed her name in purple.

I put some Valentine's Day themed cookies in the oven to bake as we worked, just for good measure.

I had so much fun making cards with Kerriann for the first time. Next year I'm hoping to get more creative and help her do something homemade for her friends and teachers.

Happy Valentine's Day (And KA's pro photos)

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our family and friends, near and far!

I have many pictures to share, but unfortunately I forgot my memory card in the computer lab on campus, oops! Luckily one of my friends had a night class and was able to grab it for me, but my Valentine's Day photos will have to wait.

For now, check out Kerriann's Valentine's Day Mini Shoot with Tyler Plank Photography by clicking HERE. This was our second session with Tyler and we love how our photos turned out. She is so great with toddlers and really captured Kerriann's personality.

Pink Day

Today was a really great day, because not only did I see one of my best friends, but I got some really exciting news which I'll share soon.

My friend Molly made a last minute trip into town this weekend and we met up with her at the WVU gymnastics meet. We don't get to see her often because she lives in NYC, so we wanted to take advantage of being in the same city for the first time in ages! It just happened to be pink day at the meet (in support of breast cancer), which was perfect for Kerriann.

She was so excited to put on her pink "party dress" and then proceeded to pick out her "ballet shoes," a pink bow and some rhinestone bracelets to complete the outfit.

Apparently she was thrilled to get out of the house after being trapped there all day with me the day before, because she also got out her purse and a pair of sunglasses and started gathering items to take along.

I told her to slow down at that point, because we still had a few minutes before the meet started, so she spent a little time playing with "Mick" and Minnie in baby Jesus' manger.

The following photos are stolen from Molly's Facebook page... hope you don't mind! ;)

We had a great time catching up with "Aunt Molly!" 

Kerriann loved watching the gymnasts perform and dancing along with the music. She was so worn out that she actually napped when we got home (allowing me to write a paper due tomorrow, yay!). 

It was so great catching up with Molly, and hopefully we will see her again soon!

A Day at Home

Kerriann and I spent the entire day at home. It snowed last night and all day today, so there wasn't really much we could go out and do. I didn't think to bring her snowsuit home from school yesterday and it was really too cold to go out and play without it. Besides, the wind was pretty brutal so it wouldn't have been much fun for either of us.

Instead we spent our day cleaning and watching TV in our pajamas. Though I was kind of mopey all day, I think it was exactly what we needed. A day free of homework to just snuggle. That doesn't happen very often. I probably should have been doing homework, but I really just needed a mental health day.

I had time to play with my camera for the first time in ages (other than assignments for school), so I took full advantage and got lots of cute shots of Kerriann throughout the day. I really need to make more of an effort to pick up my camera and take more for Kevin. I know he really enjoys seeing them.

I do send him a lot of iPhone pictures (which I'm also going to share soon) but I don't put much into those.

Seriously, could she be any cuter? I wish we had more days like today.

PS I think it's safe to say that she's POTTY TRAINED! She hasn't had an accident for the past couple of weeks and has even been waking up dry every morning. I'm so proud!

Congratulations, Monsignor Paul!

Last Saturday Kerriann, Christiane, my mom and I went to Wheeling to take part in Kevin's Uncle Paul's ceremony to become a Monsignor in the Catholic church. This is a very high honor and we were so happy that we were able to be there to witness the ceremony and to attend the reception afterwards.

 

The mass was held at the beautiful St. Joseph Cathedral in Wheeling.

After the mass, we all went next door for the reception where each of the three new Monsignors gave a toast.

Monsignor Paul toasted Bishop Bransfield.

Kerriann with her Great-Grammy Hudock. She did well during the mass but started to go downhill during the reception. Too many cookies and not enough sleep that day!

Kerriann and me together and with Bishop Bransfield.

Kevin's Aunt Patty and Uncle Denny were also there to celebrate. It was so great to see them!

Congratulations again, Monsigner Paul! So glad we could be there!

A Day in the Life

Wake up, take Kerriann to school, homework, class, homework, pick Kerriann up, dinner, bedtime, more homework until my bedtime. This is what my life looks like every day lately, hence the lack of updates.

I'm really hoping to make some time to blog this weekend. At this point I know that I'm never going to be ahead on my school work, but I think if I get to the point where I am almost caught up I can do a little blogging without feeling guilty.

I hope everyone else is doing well!

Disney Trip Day 1

On December 17th we left our house before sunrise to make the 7am flight from Pittsburgh to Orlando.

We were originally scheduled for a flight that didn't depart from Pittsburgh until 8:30pm, so we felt blessed to be able to fly stand by on a flight so much earlier in the day. This would give us an extra half day to explore Disney World. Kerriann did so well during the flight and all of the other passengers loved her. Since we flew on stand by, we ended up in the very last row of the plane. She definitely kept everyone company as they were waiting for the bathroom-haha! 

The journey from the airport to the hotel took much longer than we anticipated. By the time we got to our hotel and freshened up it was late in the afternoon. Though we were all tired (especially Kevin, he wasn't even home 24 hours before we left for FL) we were running on adrenaline and decided that we would check out the Magic Kingdom before dark.

Before boarding a shuttle bus, which was our main form of transportation during our stay, we posed for a few photos with the patriotic Mickey statue in the lobby of our first hotel, Shades of Green.

We loved staying at Shades of Green, and we definitely would like to go back one day. This hotel is for military personnel and their family and they really took great care of us during our stay. The rooms were spacious, the hotel was beautiful (especially decorated for Christmas), and the food in the restaurants was amazing. The chef was even very helpful in helping select gluten and dairy free meals.

After a ride on the shuttle bus as well as the tram connecting the bus stop to the Magic Kingdom gates, we were ready to do some exploring. We made it into the park just in time for a parade in front of Cinderella's castle.

The parade was the perfect way to kick off the visit. Kerriann loves parades, and all of the characters. You could tell that she was in awe.

A tip for those visiting the park and watching the parades... make sure you are on the outside of the parade, rather than trapped on an "island" inside. This will be extremely helpful if you want to leave before the parade has ended. It will also get you out quicker even if you choose to stay for the duration. People start lining up for parades up to 30 minutes in advance and they are PACKED! For this one we just happened to be in the right place at the right time, but we were prepared for the other parades that we saw over the next few days.

Once the parade was over, we decided to walk around and try to plan out what we would do the next day when we came back. The park was extremely packed because it was the Saturday before Christmas. This was probably the worst day we could have chosen to be there as far as crowds. The lines were too long to really do anything but sight see.

As we were walking, we noticed that the line to meet Tinkerbell was only 45 minutes long (which was pretty short on that particular day), so we decided to wait it out. This was Kerriann's first character meet and greet and she did awesome!

I think it helped that Tinkerbell was a real person, rather than a person in a costume. Either way, she had a great time. She got to meet Tinkerbell and another male fairy, though we're still not sure what his name was!

Look at the mark Tinkerbell left on Kerriann! We thought this was so cute!

After our visit with the fairies, we headed back to the castle for another parade. This one was geared towards music and dancing.

Kerriann could hardly contain herself once the music started. She was ready to get down and DANCE!

As the sun set and the parade ended, we all directed our attention to the castle for a skit. Minnie, Mickey and a few of the other characters were dressed in their Christmas gear, ready to light the castle.

The castle was so beautiful once it was lit with the Christmas lights. I have been to Disney at Christmastime before, but I have never seen the lighting ceremony or even the lights at night. It was definitely a memorable experience, and I'm so glad that I was able to share it with Kevin and Kerriann.

After that we headed back to Shades of Green to rest up for day two!