Gypsy!

Last night, Ula and I went to see Gypsy starring Patty LuPone, who won the Tony this year for her performance. (We got tickets through Leezie). Though it's a Broadway classic, I'd never seen it, so I was eager to check it out. Patty was amazing as Mama Rose and I loved Laura Benanti as Gypsy Rose (Louise). She really transformed herself from a dowdy tomboy to a glamour girl by the end and her voice is beautiful. I was completely enthralled and did not snooze once even though it was a longer show and I've been going on an average of five hours of sleep a night. Someone likes to get up at 3 or 4 a.m. these days...and I haven't learned to go to bed earlier!

It was a nice night out for me, as I had a meeting beforehand in midtown and then visited Leezie and Tracy at their office before hitting the theatre. Where was little E, you ask? Being tended to with great love by his aunts UlaBec. I don't think they needed the earplugs this time around. Phew! I'm so lucky to such have capable babysitters on retainer...

Finger-lickin good

Eamon is obsessed with his hands these days. Whether it's clasping them, raising them over his head, or trying to get his whole fist in his mouth, he's all about his digits! When he first discovered them I thought he'd be a thumb-sucker (like I was), but instead it's the index and middle fingers that he loves. Here, I caught him in the act this morning during an impromptu photoshoot.

Together Again...

We had a GREAT time getting together with Ashley, Erica, Shannon and their respective husbands/kids/bump/puppy. We hadn't all been together since Shannon's wedding in October '06, so we were well overdue for a gathering. We chose the Farm as a central locale and met up on a very rainy Saturday afternoon. Mark made his famous chili and we just hung out, caught up, and admired all of the babies (Ashley's twins, Hanna and Olivia, are now 6 months old and Jack is 2). Shannon & Jeff came all the way from Ithaca with their 11-week-old puppy, Darla; Erica & Dave came from not-too-far away Ellicot City with a baby on board! (Erica's 23-weeks-pregnant); and Ashley & Joe hauled over from Western PA. The only ones we were missing were Michelle & Chris, who are also expecting--meaning next time we do this, there will be at least six little ones among the five of us!

As fun as it was to be together, I was sad to see everyone go. It made me nostalgic for those crazy four years at the Mount and wishing we could just hit the rewind button and relive some of those days once more.

From eamon 12 wks

I recently discovered this cool new photo editing website called Picnik. It's kind of a poorman's Photoshop, but I like it because it's free and super-easy to use. Plus, you can do fun stuff, like turn photos into jigsaw puzzles and upload right to facebook or a photo printing site, like Snapfish. I just spent a half-hour or so tooling around with some pictures I took today of Eamon--here are the results!

Aleta's eye

Aleta has some pretty stunning pictures from yesterday at the Farm on her blog. She really has a great eye for capturing such priceless moments, especially among the kids. And after seeing this picture of Eamon, I'm thinking of hiring her to take some professional pics. Forget Sears Portrait Studio! Hee hee.

Fun times at the farm

We had so much fun at the Farm yesterday...it was kiddie central as all of the littlest cousins (minus Sam, who we missed, and including Anna and Alex) were there and running around like crazies--blame Halloween candy and cupcakes! It was such a nice time and a great chance to get together with Sissy and the twins before they head home to Cali. Even Corinne and Erin (who brought E the most adorable Penn State hat and t-shirt) stopped by so we had a packed house--thanks to Jeanie and the 'rents for whipping up a yummy BBQ complete with turkey sliders, sausage, potato salad, and more good stuff...

Continuing the party....

After dinner, we cruised over to Bethesda to meet up with Sissy and Corinne who were out to celebrate Sis's last hoorah in MD. We wound up barhopping to Barking Dog then Union Jack's, where people were getting their dance on (many in Halloween costumes!). Because of the big meal and the semi-late night out on Friday, I was pooped and couldn't really hang like I used to. No dancing on table this time around...

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Saturday night was spent at Fogo de Chao, an all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse in DC. The occasion? Mike's 32nd birthday dinner, a surprise set up by his lovely girlfriend, MK. We of course couldn't miss it and drove down early Saturday to make sure we were there. After an afternoon with the Flynn's, we went to the 'rents and dropped off Eamon, then hit DC for the dinner. It was as delicious (and gluttonous!) as anticipated, and so much fun to spend time with our dear DC friends and fam!

Partying with the babes

I've been lucky enough to meet some great girls in the neighborhood who all have babies born within two weeks of Eamon. On Friday, one of the girls hosted us all over to her place for a Halloween party. She is a party-planner extraordinaire and had every detail covered from the delicious spread to the perfectly-decorated apartment. The best part was that all of our husbands got to meet and we were all able to have fun while the babies--all six of them!--hung out (or, as the case was later on in the night, slept!). We left around 11 but could've stayed much longer--the party was still in full swing, but we had to get home to pack for the weekend!

Eamon's first halloween

Here are some pics of our little dragon on Friday for Halloween. After much deliberation, we opted for this outfit over the original owl get-up which was adorable but much too big for our little guy (I think he can still wear it next year). As you can probably tell from these pics, as cute as it was, Eamon wasn't really feeling the look. Maybe because it was, oh, seventy degrees and the outfit was made of plush fleece that would be more appropriate for a blustery winter day. So he spent most of the afternoon wearing the pants only and later on in the night after our little party we put the entire costume back on and took some pics.