Chowderfest, the Superbowl...

...and an adorable toddler, and a mommy who is in desperate need of more time... for things like writing blog posts...

Last weekend was Chowderfest.  Last year we went with MiniM.E. and it was fun to be downtown with a lot of people, but there were long lines and we only got to taste a few chowders.  I wasn't really thrilled with the experience.  BUT, we decided we would go again this year... and hope for a better experience.

We planned to be downtown right as the festival started and it was a great plan.  We had already tasted 3 chowders by 11:15!  We had everything mapped out but we had to take a duck detour which pushed our schedule back a bit.

Waiting outside Ben & Jerry's for ice cream "chowder"

Intently watching...

Yay! Ducks!

But we ended up tasting about 6 chowders and managed to squeeze in a much needed Druther's stop before we headed home.  MiniM.E. even took a cat nap while we relaxed for a bit.

Sunday was, of course, the Superbowl.  I'm not into football... Bob isn't really into football (though he did a good job pretending)... but MiniM.E. really seemed to get into it.  Or maybe she was just into the TV being on.  I'm pretty sure she said "wide receiver".

Trying to score the best seat in the house

Resigned to sitting in her own chair

Intently following the game

Our littlest football fan (not MINE, our friends')

Other than that, it's still winter... not a lot of snow, but enough cold to keep us inside....

Look what I found in the "baby" box!

Pantsless reading: a new favorite pasttime

Attempting to fingerpaint

Except that Mommy made it, and it was more like J-ello than finger paint... fail...

Window clings!

Snack time! I'll just help myself...

MiniM.E. has been posing for some adorable photos.

And we've been keeping busy by going to playgroups.  MiniM.E. finally seems to notice that there are other kids to play with.  Or at least other kids to steal toys from...

And we went to the mall...

This was our whole trip.  Really.

And to another mall, with a playground.

And... MiniM.E. has a new teddy bear obsession.  Mostly the tan one, but lots of times Two Teddy Bear has to come too.  They come everywhere.  To swimming, to bed, to lunch, in the car, to the grocery store.  It's pretty cute.  Though I'm not sure about the reason for the tan one... I don't even know who gave it to us.  It came in a ceramic mug with footprints on it.  I think it was from the military?  Or it had a tag with a flag on it... Anyway, point being, it would be cuter if it was a bear with some sentimental value.  Oh well.  Still cute.

Lastly, I have a couple pictures of my super cute kitties.  HUGGING.  Because what's cuter than cats hugging?  Not much.  Except MiniM.E.  But after all, before MiniM.E. my cats were my babies.  So here are some pictures of my other babies.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

I might be a Christmas-aholic.  Every year on the day I put away the Christmas decorations and turn off the Christmas music, I start counting down until Christmas again.  This year is especially exciting because the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is so long!

I was so excited this morning that I jumped out of bed, turned on the Christmas music, and put up all our decorations after I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30, made some coffee, and finally felt human again, I was actually pretty excited to go Black Friday shopping even though that nasty cold snuck back up on me and I'm not feeling tip-top.  Fortunately, the Christmas season is pushing any phlemy-sniffly-icky feelings out and replacing them with sniffly-warm-happy-winter feelings (sort of).

This year, my Christmas shopping is almost done (online... which I never imagined would be as fun as going to actual stores... until I had a one-year-old an the thought of Christmas shopping with her in tow made me shudder), so I will fill my Christmas season baking, card-sending, and wrapping.  Amongst other things like visiting NYC, picking out a tree, and attending holiday festivities.

My type-A personality loves making lists around the holiday season, and as a heads up to my loyal readers, blog posting will probably make the list, though might be considerably lower than, say, watching Elf or eating cookie dough.  SO.... hang in there, posts might be few and far between, but you're probably busy with your own lists anyway...

We've already been busy the past week or so...

We went to NH because after all the busy-ness before the holidays, I needed a little break.

Then, this week, Bob has been home hanging with us and having Mommy-fantasy-camp.  (Which is actually nothing like my normal days, especially since MiniM.E. has been napping like a champ- she might be a little under the weather too- and we've just been doing fun things and skipping the not so fun things like laundry and grocery shopping.)

There's the occasional melt-down that comes from changing up our schedule

Really, we've been having fun and keeping busy...

petting the kitties

watching the squirrels

looking out the window

playing with toys

going for wagon rides

climbing at the park

sliding at the park

just being cute (actually, refusing a jacket)

stroller walks at the Spa Park

carrying monkeys around

and playing precariously on benches

And yesterday we went to our friends' house for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was nice that even if we weren't celebrating with our actual family, we had our "second family" to spend the holiday with.

bringing our mess of toys to another house

examining the wine cork after smelling it

watching football

...after dinner, MiniM.E. was pretty much done...

and almost fell asleep on the floor

This weekend we're kicking off Christmas with our 2nd annual trip to NYC.  And I thought going to New York with a two-month old was challenging... this is a whole new ball game!

I'm just hoping she doesn't cry so much this year that Santa refuses to hold her...