Summah Catch Up + Top Secret Revealed!

Hello friends. Sorry for the delay in updating. It has been a whirlwind 6 weeks for us. We returned home from our trip to Rosemary Beach (and after Ash had interviewed in Atlanta), to the slow fastness of change. We couldn't talk on the interwebs about it, so that was our top-secret project. We had to wait until he could tell his employers to actually say anything on FB, which is just the world we live in now. Crazy. The new firm is Square Feet Studio in Inman Park and Ash seems pretty excited about it. Lots of high end restaurant and modern stuff. I think. Less educational institution work. So we have been in logistics mode big time, so that's my excuse for not blogging. Once he accepted their offer, we flew down to look at homes to buy. That was a gigantic waste of time b/c the inventory in our price range absolutely sucks in Atlanta/Decatur right now. Really surprised by that. So we are renting for 6 months while we figure out the area more. We are moving with another move to come - glorious. UGH. Basically, I'm packing up everything except the essentials b/c I do not want to unpack it to pack it up again. Slim living we will be doing. We will be living less that .3 miles from Ash's new work, so hopefully we will see more of him b/c he will just walk to and fro and we can stay a one car family a little longer. YES!  I thought I'd let you see some pics of the other fun things we've gotten to squeeze in as we finish out what is left of our Boston summer. I am glad to move back, but I think I was SO looking forward to the Boston summer that I'm disappointed in the timing. I know I'll be grateful in Jan/Feb, but really, we are moving to Atlanta in their HOTTEST month of the year. Moving in Nov. would have made me feel like I was escaping winter. Oh well. Enjoy the pics!

Here are some pics of our little super-hero (we are attempting this in lieu of princess mentality. We'll see how long it lasts):

 I think she just looks like a baby hipster right here, minus the fanny pack and awkward glasses.

For Father's Day, we rented a boat and rowed around the Jamaica Pond in our neighborhood. :)

This is from the week we spent in Atlanta looking for houses. Ellery hung out with two of her favorite people all week. Noah and Jonah, who also fancy her just as much. Yay cousins (and Unkie and Anise!) We were so thankful they were so willing to hang out with her all week while we trekked through homes out of our price range and awesome, or ones that fit our budget and smelled like cat-pee. Awesome.

I'm including this one b/c this is what I walked in to find one morning. She really does wake up happy most days. And this day was ridiculous. LOVE her. And not totally sure how she did that with her shirt. She is starting to get obsessed with taking her clothes off. 

We had a slow weekend of July 4th and just hung out together and enjoyed the city. Sat morning we went to the Franklin Park Zoo (yes, the one where they filmed that new Kevin James movie, Zookeeper. Re: stupid). Anyway. She loved it. And we loved the baby gorilla they had there too. As my friend Candice would say, Adorbs.

We went down to Horseneck Beach in Westport, MA one morning too. It was REALLY foggy until about 11am and surreal. You couldn't even see past the shoreline out into the water. Props to my friend Heather for getting Ellers this cute suit.

Last weekend, we took our last trip up to Rockport, which is one of our favorite places to visit. Just an old fishing village...

Thanks for keeping up with us. We are sad to leave our Boston friends. Very sad. And though we've wanted to move back to the South for sometime, this is way harder than I imagined.

Free trip to Paris, anyone?

Oh happy day!


http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris

The past 6 days have been so fun. Holly came to town and we have been together nonstop. Without even a tiff, which normally happens about 2 days into constant Amy/Holly time. I think b/c I have been so starved of time with much of anyone but Ellery & Ash, her presence felt like sunshine to my soul. I swear I feel like 2 of the six months of winter have been peeled off of my heart. I love that girl. And it was so fun to see Ellery wake up everyday and run to her door to wake her up saying, "Lollylollylollylolly." She left this morning and I am more sad than I thought I would be, especially since I'm going to see her again in just over three weeks. What can I say, I'm selfish. And weepy. But she left me clothes and shoes to wear until I see her again.

(thanks for making us smile, then capturing the moment, Steph)

So, Easter happened as well this weekend. And we took pictures of all the cutesy stuff that went down...

These pictures pretty much tells you how Easter went for Ellery. BUNNIES! (or as she says, "munies!") Nathan and Liz brought bunnies to our brunch. It went exactly how you think it would have gone. Snuggles and squeals and more....with most of the squealing from the adults present getting a moment with the bunnies. Not sure how the bunnies felt about it.

sweet face

The next few photos are all out of order b/c blogger is acting funny today. This is a quick trip over to Harvard Square for some fun on Friday with Holly.

singing on the train.
seriously having a good time on the train.

more singing. i think.

entertaining Hols with her antics. as well as everyone else.

All dressed up for the brunch in a dress I wore when I was little. It was one my mom made, unsurprisingly.

A few shots of her enjoying her Easter "basket" goodies. A basket that may or may not have come together just minutes before presenting it to her...notice the Christmas pjs. Apropro, I think.

she was double-fisting the peeps, but then again, aren't they made to be double-fisted?

we made birds' nests from our faithful haystack recipe, with the addition of jelly beans for brunch. And a bunny cake. Obvs.

Saturday trip to Rockport. In the cold, drizzley rain. I'm not really sure why we did that again, but we got out of the house, which is never a bad thing in my opinion. Either way, Ellery was content to just stomp every puddle she came across. Winning.

I love this look she has. Like she somehow already knows how cheesey it is that we would be entertained by putting her in a picture with a stuffed bear at the Rockport fudgery.


Also on deck was our Thursday trip to the Sam Adams Brewery Tour. One I have been on more times than I can count. But fun. This is Ellers holding a rootbeer. I have to say that on here b/c I know random people can find this blog and will think I actually gave my child beer. And others that will argue that giving a 20 month old 2oz (of a 12oz bottle) of sugary rootbeer is probably worse than the beer. I'll stick with the lesser of the two judgements. So here it is again, ROOTBEER.

We did also make it to the Harpoon beer tasting on Monday. What can I say? Do you know us? I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter weekend. I'm leaving you with two of my favorite pictures of the weekend:

my beautiful sister. a girl who is stronger than she thinks she is. and is in store for an adventure far bigger than she thinks in the months ahead.

And my two favorite girls in the whole world.

Hols, we miss you already. Come back soon (and stay longer).

Rainy Days...

 So today is this cold drizzly rain in Boston, hence we are staying indoors. And trying to find something to do other than watch TV. Anything. So we have been painting. And I have to admit, she gets it honest. Or maybe she just "gets" the opportunity to get dirty honest. At any rate, I haven't posted much about this darling little girl, so I wanted to today. I really do enjoy my time with her, despite my general frustration I have with the suit of motherhood overall...

 This is one of the few pictures I could actually get her to look up at me for...this girl is intense about her artwork.

 I love that smile, even if I had to act REEEdiculous to get her to do it.

 Nom nom. I love watercolors.

I love this little girl. I know you're like, yeah, we get it, you're her mom, of course you love her.  I can't help how squishy lovey dovey she makes me feel. Somedays I really can't contain it. It makes it easy to slough off the sarcasm and frustration I so often feel.  As she gets older, I am overcome by the thought of how limited my time with her really is...even with as loooong as rainy days indoors can seem. I'm thinking we need a dance party if the rain doesn't let up after her nap. 

And if it does: puddle-jumping!

Welcome Spring

So the weather has been sloooowly getting warmer. As a welcome tribute to Spring, my friend Christi and I decided to make some wreaths to brighten up our entryways inspired by this blog. My other friend Heather joined us that night too for a full on girls' night in. Two bottles of wine + brie + cookies = crafting=interesting creations. Please excuse the "not so fresh" from the gym look I'm rocking and the quality of pictures as well. The lighting in our apt sucks.
 

mine got a lot more swirly than i had originally intended.

 in case you can't tell here, C is a graphic designer.

 

and H is a grad student studying costume design...

I should post some of our wreaths on our doors too, shouldn't I...?

Oh, in other news. We are having an Easter brunch. One of our guests is going to rent a bunny (a real one, not a creep in a costume). I'm sure pictures will be posted of that as Ellery has a slight obsession with "munnies" these days. Oh and said Easter brunch guest also recommends this site. Hilarious. Almost as hilarious as this used to be.

There are only 8 days until Holly arrives too! Woohoo!