Christmas

We're having such a great time at the Flynns that we've decided to extend our stay through the New Year! Eamon has never had more fun running laps around the house and entertaining his always-adoring aunts and grandparents. He has probably logged 50 miles since we've been here--I've never seen his legs move so fast!

Here are some photos from the past week, including some shots from our lovely Christmas Eve dinner hosted by Uncle Joe and Stella. Happy New Year, all!

http://picasaweb.google.com/swassner/Christmas2009?feat=directlink

Videos

I realize now, two days after posting them, that the videos below were marked as private. So none of you could see them! I've made them public so you can now enjoy 'em.

Taste Test

Documented here is Eamon's very first taste of snow. Yesterday when I asked him, "where's the snow?" he pointed to the inches that had piled up just outside our kitchen window--guess he had been listening when we mentioned it earlier on. So we propped him up and let him explore and discover all of the icy wonder of snow. Of course, this lead to a little taste test, which continued later in the day when we eventually made it outside.

Snow Day!

We were so excited to take Eamon out in the snow! His only other exposure to it was last winter, when he was too young to realize how much fun it could be. Despite some protest at the 100 layers he had to wear outside (who likes getting stuffed into a snowsuit, anyway?), he perked up once he got to freely roam around the park--and through the 7 or so inches that had piled up on Saturday. Wasn't much of a fan of making snow angels, but did love tasting the snow--until the icy stuff hit his toungue, to which he proclaimed "COLD!" Yes, it sure is! Didn't stop him from trying another taste, of course!

Eamon clips

Here's some live Eamon action for all of you who haven't seen him lately. As you can see, he's a pretty good mimic and he (oddly) loves to shake hands. In one of the clips, I was going through names of various family members, and he nailed a few of them. We didn't quite make it to "Speed" or "Diz". Next time.

Enjoy!

Home for the holidays

Another weekend, another trip down the Turnpike (I think I've written that in a previous post, I'm starting to sound like a broken record!). But, as in all our trips "down south", it was well-worth the time in the car and away from home. This past weekend was spent seeing friends and fam and enjoying the holiday season. On Saturday, E had fun spending some extra hours with his Grandpa and Grandma Flynn as Mark and I enjoyed our "adult" time with our friends (I went to a bachelorette party; Mark hung out with Chuck).

On Sunday, I visited with the O'Connells and enjoyed their amazing spread and beautiful home all decorated just so--then just chatted away with Sissy as the kiddies played...and played...and played. Sophie and Lucy are adorable and had Eamon in stitches--so fun to see them interact. And to think that soon there will be yet another little Kenny to join in on all the fun! S & L will be great older sisters.

I stuck around for another day to spend time with Daddy, who is "all alone by the telly-phone" as my mom is playing Super Nanny in Germany. He's doing great and spoiled E and I rotten, as usual. See below for more on that.

We'll be back down in the old 'hood next week for Christmas...we just can't stay away!!

Whooping it up

Some shots from MK's fab bachelorette party. Bliss spa in the new W in DC is awesome! As is the restaurant OYA, which provided a customized menu for the bride-to-be. I had a blast doing nothing but girly stuff all day long (it's been a while!) and meeting some of MK's very cool sisters and friends. Safe to say the that the wedding in March in Rhode Island will be very, very fun. Can't wait!

Fab Dad

Just have to put it out there: I have an amazing dad! He is quite busy these days living his bachelor life and studying to be a docent at the Library of Congress, but dropped everything to be with me and Eamon on Monday. We took a trip down memory lane with a visit to the Village, catching up with Felice and Dana then stopping by Lakeforest Mall to get Eamon's first haircut. We then visited yet another mall (I'll let you guess which one) for a dinner out and then some more shopping. When I woke up this morning in the comforts of my parent's guest bed, I thought for a moment about sticking around...for good. But alas, it was time to go back to Hoboken and off we went this morning after a quick to the library with a car stocked with food and drinks, courtesy of you-know-who.

Eamon is smitten with his "Papa" and mentioned him quite a few times after we left. He especially liked seeing him light up the Hanukkah candles and sing the prayer...Daddy, you'll have to teach him some soon!

Christmas cutie.

Here's E getting into the seasonal spirit with his Christmas sweater. I put it on him for the party, but he only lasted about 30 minutes in it before it was time for beddybye. So we're repeating today for a trip to the mawwwl to see Santa.

(BTW, this adorable little chair came from the Flynns--he loves it! It's just his size and he sits in it with his snacks and watches telly. Too cute.)

Holidays in Ho-Ho-Hoboken

Here are a few selects from our holiday party on Saturday. What was originally set to be a low-key "Ugly Sweater" gathering with a few Hoboken friends turned into a much livelier evening once the McFlynn crew decided to drive up from NoVa. They are such great friends! I then invited a few more of my local nearest and dearest and we wound up having around 16 people and 2 babies. Pretty much maximum capacity for our apartment.

Everything turned out well. We had a delicious array of apps including prosciutto cups with apple, crostini with goat cheese and fig compote, mini corn cakes and lemon thyme dip with winter crudites. That on top of Mark's most excellent Cincinnati-style chili. For desert, I made the same apple cake Ann baked for Thanksgiving, complete with the warm caramel glaze (yum!), and friends brought over some extra treats and snacks so we were well-satiated. Oh, and of course, the bar was stocked with cranberry and pear Bellini's, Cosmopolitans, beer and wine.

I really cannot take credit for anything, though, because I had some wonderful helpers. I put our guests to work! Kristen and MK pretty much spent the afternoon in the kitchen with me, but we had fun. And the good times continued until midnight! I'll be recovering from this one for a while. :-)

I'm usually the Queen of last-minute Christmas prep, but because we had a little holiday party for over the weekend, I had no choice but to break out the decor out even before the calendar flipped to December. Mark and I put our tree up last weekend, and I spent the spare hours of the week arranging and hanging and stringing and bow-making. I went with a color palate of sparkly gold with pops of red to go with my overall "Classy Christmas" scheme. Yes, I put a lot of unnecessary thought into this.

I'm happy with the way everything turned out and am kicking myself for not taking any pictures of our spread and party set-up. Even though our apartment is pretty cozy (AKA, small!), it lends itself to small gatherings and we somehow managed to feed (and seat) 16 people.

Here are some shots of our festive home. The table and bar looked much prettier at the party; they're a little barebones sans tablecloth and servewear.

Thanksgiving 09

Thanksgiving came and went way too fast! As usual. We were missing many key players at the Farm this year, but still had an awesome time pigging out, laughing, playing and just hanging out in Thurmie. Bubba, Stella, Uncle Joe and my parents worked so hard to get the Farm ready to go for the three-day party...thank you to them for everything. And thank you to everyone who slaved over the hot stove all day so we could have a most delicious meal! With all of the running around we did, I didn't even have time to make my (usually standard) seven-layer dip, so I arrived feeling especially empty-handed. Oh well, next year I'll make the turkey! hah hah.

Some photos below...enjoy!