I Chop Some Parsley While Listening To Art Blakey's Version Of "Three Blind Mice": 2011

The last couple of weeks have been filled with wedding planning and studying and birthdays! So many birthdays. So far in 2011:

Caroline Pate Polansky 1/1
Mary (me!) 1/24
Iliana Pate 2/14
Momma 2/19
Benjamin Polansky 2/23
Beatrice and Leonora Pate 2/24!

It has been exciting to celebrate them all, although I feel as if I have had enough cake for the rest of the year!
Here are some pictures that I have separated for each child.

Iliana:

Verena:

This was Verena's Birthday card to Grandma. It reads: Dear Grandma, Happy Christmas, Uhoh I mean Birthday. It was SO funny and she was so proud of herself for making a joke. It was great!

Eoin:

I think he looks like Iliana here, staring off into space

This was probably my favorite moment of the night. I was talking to Eoin and asking him if he remembered who Jamie was (Jamie wasn't able to come down for my mom's birthday). He held up his little hand, all wide spread and said, "Jamie give me high five". It was adorable! Then I asked if he liked Jamie and he said, "Yep, and I like you too!" I just want to eat him up!

Beatrice:

Jamie always manages to get his hands on Beatrice. She loves being held by him.

Leonora:
This was such a cute series of pictures. The Flash on the camera kept her eyes wide and interested.

Here Laurel is holding her:

Not too much else to offer. I ordered my wedding ring today and Jamie has almost finalized his. AND we opened a joint bank account! Big step! We celebrated by getting Apple Fritters from the Donut Den. So amazingly delicious.
Hope all is well with everyone! Much Love,
Mary

It has been a very full last couple of months and I have much to report. After our trip out to San Diego (in the fall!) it was back to the grind with school work and tests. I had an overwhelming couple of weeks and it was a nice relief when I was able to travel to Sewanee to visit my siblings for Halloween. Tom and Christina came into town with Elowyn and we had such a great time with lots of babies!!

Grandma with Verena and Leonora

Christina with Elowyn as Ursa Minor

Flying with Verena

Iliana as Ms. Medlock from the Secret Garden

Granny sitting with all of our pumpkins

Jamie (in mid jump) playing hide and seek with Eoin

Eoin hanging out-keeping his hands warm

Leonora

Dan carving with the kids

Beatrice

Iliana and Verena as a Brown Bear

Tom with little Ursa Minor

Then it was off to Boston in November for a Food and Nutrition Conference. I was sick for the trip but had a great time at the conference; learning a lot as well as bringing home lots of free stuff!

Loot from ONE day!

We then ate with the Ferriera and Smith family. They were so kind and welcoming and we had a great meal.

Cannolis from Modern's Bakery. They were PHENOMENAL!

Jamie and I walked by a church in North Boston that had some of the names from his relatives: Guercio and Profita. It was so amazing to be around so much of his family history and we had a great time checking out the church.

I would say the BEST part of the trip though, and the best experience of my Life was when we came upon this bridge:

Located near Harvard Yard in Cambridge, MA. This is where Mr. James Q Bennett got down on one knee and asked to spend the rest of his life with me. (It was amazing. I am tearing up now!!!).

Of course I said YES!!!

Beautiful! I love it!

Documentation

Back at home. I took a lot of pictures. I am still beaming!

I finally finished up the semester and was able to relax over the Christmas holiday. We got LOTS of snow on Christmas and although I got a 24 hour bug, the next day we all played in it and had a fun time sledding:

Annie and I on our Sewanee Bobsled team.

Peggy Sue even got in on the action. (Go Momma!)

Jamie and Mary Sledding

A successful run!

Before going on a group walk. Pictured from Left:
Benjamin & Caroline, Christina, Mary & Jamie, Annie & Brown

Jamie and Mary

Christina, Tom and Elowyn

I walked down to our wedding site and it was a winter wonderland.

This is taken from a the audience's point of view

This tiny waterfall is over to the left of the site

Pretty Icicles

And Snow Angels...

Finally...because we had so much fun sledding down the driveway (and making it into an ICY ramp) vehicles had a bit of trouble getting out...sorry GLENN!!

Glenn's Car in the ditch...oops!
All the boys helping to pull it out.

Another Angle

Because it was so Icy we didn't want anyone else driving up, so we had to give Granny a ride! She had the time of her life!

Here are some other random pictures throughout the holiday visit:

Annie and Brown by the fire

Jamie and Mary making gingerbread houses

Verena opened up the thread and needles I gave to her for Christmas. (If you notice her attire, you can see that she is in a princess phase)

Beatrice being the Smiley Baby that she is.

Iliana sitting a top a tree on their adventure to find a Christmas tree. (They always chop one down on Christmas Eve and make a whole day of it)

I was told I needed to clean out some of my closet in my old bedroom over the break, so here I am modeling an outfit from my Junior Girl Scout days. The Badges never made it on to the vest.

Did I mention that it has become a tradition to put on a play at Christmas? Well, this year Iliana, Verena and Christina made one up and here Verena is dressed up like the Princess. (That is one of my old dresses). She was stunning. (More pictures were taken, but I don't have them).