Thursday, November 18, 2010

you wanna cat coookey?

{as told by Cutie Face}

You wanna cat cooookey, Cute-CakesCakes?


ooohTAY. Come det dit!


{thinks: i'll keep eating dese. she's slow}


you need help, CuteCakesCakes? Here, i help ya


Dere. {shoves cat cookie in Cutie Cakes' mouth}


NO!!!! DESE MINE (note: we've moved past "myese")


*ding*  *smile*
(can't you just see the glint in her eye and the little mischief in her face?)


Wednesday, November 10, 2010

9-month cutie cakes

today (4 days late) we had Cutie Cakes' 9-month appointment. At 19lbs (and 12 oz) and 28.7 inches, she's quite a bit smaller than Cutie Face was 18-months ago. But she's living up to her name and that's kind of cool.

waiting in the dr's office

She is no longer the toothless wonder (having broke her first tooth on the 25th of October).

She started babbling with consonants about three weeks ago, as well. The cute thing about her is that she practices and practices her skills. Cutie Cakes had been pushing her tongue against her lips for a month or so, trying to push out those consonants while making hilarious attempts. Now everything is dada, baba, and gaga.

never met a puzzle she didn't love

Today she waved for the first time (!) and played along with "How big is Cutie Cakes?" "Soooooooo BIG"--raising her hands whenever we'd say that. Sooooooo big AND so cute!


didn't love to eat, that is. Gotta love germy doctor toys. Gross

Still not technically crawling, she half crawls, half army creeps herself wherever she wants to go in record time. Cutie Cakes loves to pull herself up on everything and squeal with delight and pride when she accomplishes her goal.

kind of Norman Rockwell-esque if only you could see Big C!
She's such a happy baby who smiles and laughs at everything...unless someone she knows starts crying, and then she'll cry along with them. We hope that means she'll be a sweet empathetic lady as she ages. We are so blessed to have her in our family!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Homecoming 2010!

It isn't too shocking that we went to homecoming this year--we've each attended all but one of our homecomings after our respective graduations. 

This year, however, was a little different--J was an honored alumnus, feted among other alumni (and one alumna)! 

The looong weekend started with a car trip. J and I have decided that car trips with two babes are best done when you can incorporate an afternoon nap AND bedtime. So we left at almost 2 and the kids slept for 2+ hours. not bad!

We arrived uber early the next morning (1:30 AM on Friday) but the girls didn't seem to mind the late night and awoke bright and chipper at 6. Lovely.

Since J drove the whole way, the least I could do was occupy them outside of the small confines of our rooms. So we headed to breakfast at the college cafeteria (where we would eat roughly 75% of our meals that weekend). 

not a pic from breakfast but wanted to show all the alums the new saga
Friday was the coldest day of the weekend but, for mid-November in Michigan, we couldn't complain!

The girls loved feeling the invigorating air...

Cutie Cakes hung out in the Pop-a-Tot


check out the hat. fancy, no? (actually it's quite ridiculous)


and Cutie Face ran around the quad for old times sake
(or for my old times sake)


sadly, the lack of sleep meant increased crankiness

and Cutie Face was not immune from time out


it helped to take a "rest" at our bookstore
since, it turns out, there are a lot of books that aren't just for collegiates

Speaking of co-eds, we hired a fantastic babysitter with the help of J's mom, and headed to the awards banquet early Friday evening.

J was blessed to have a lot of friends attend!


i'd say his mom was most proud of him!


not to mention his mentor, who stuck with J through his (self-declared) major


i was pretty pleased to be at his side, too


the next morning there was a tree planting in honor of the alumni
so the Cuties and I showed up to represent J (who was...sleeping).


Turns out, ironically, he didn't get a tree! so we felt a little...silly 

to redeem our (humiliated) camera-toting selves,
i snapped a few pictures of the campus eagles 
(which you'd think would be our mascot but, no, that's too easy)


Cutie Cakes liked them, too


finally it was time for some real homecoming festivities
like the KKG brunch!

Cutie Cakes met Grandma Sally for the first time...
while Cutie Face took a few minutes to reacquaint herself with Sal


NB when the day was done, Cutie Face was giving out hugs to Sally and lots of smiles


maybe because she got to eat lots of food that never shows up at our house...
like Kappa cheesecake and french toast sticks

and she also got to play the piano


yes, believe it or not, there was more to the day than eating

how about some football!?!


Cutie Cakes was pretty camera shy--
she was too busy exploring the president's box


the rest of the weekend, we spent bumming around
the girls loved waking up at 4:50 AM on Sunday (daylight savings time)
which was...rotten for us parents

believe it or not, Cutie Face managed to turn on the TV to Busy Town (a new obsession)


side note: never thought i'd dry diapers in the campus hotel
(double side note: the hotel is typically off-limits to students 
so i almost felt illegal staying there!)


a true highlight for Cutie Face was hanging out with Grandma's dogs



Cutie Cakes liked them a lot, too!


poor, sweet, tolerating doggies


Before we left on Monday, we had a few hours to play in Grandma's office


envision the future as a legacy student


and give Churchill a hug goodbye
phew what a trip!



Thursday, November 4, 2010

Remember, Remember the...

...1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of November

(though, technically, the date to remember is the 5th)

Really, this will be one of my most incoherent, meaningless posts. 
Many of these pictures bear posting but they don't bear stand-alone posts.
Hence, a hodgepodge smattering of (HEADLINE!) miscellany.

Here goes

remember remember the 1st of November

Poppy visits on the way out of town!


Cuties have a blast!


Cutie Cakes sports a 1980 vintage Aunty Hunny dress!


remember remember the 2nd of November

Fall comes to the ATL!


Cutie Face wears poncho and isn't too hot!


remember remember the 3rd of November

Cuties and Cousins unite at Sweet Tomatoes!


J finds the infamous "disappearing chef", Peter Chang! 


remember remember the 4th of November

Cutie Face takes 1st sip of Starbucks!


Cutie Face goes back for more!


Cutie Face is a messy face!



Mother drops child off at school with caffeine buzz--doesn't wait around to see consequences!

* * *

Now what happens on the 5th of November?! Fun things...stay tuned!