Mosiac

Last month I was in Katie Mason Epstein's wedding. As a gift to each bridesmaid she gave us these awesome photos. See that photo up there. That's Katie and me.

And when you look at it up close you see it is made up of lots and lots of tiny photos from experiences and events Katie and I have shared together.

Up close its hard to see the whole picture.

But when you step back, there it is. I love it!

Dutch Oven

Scene: We're in bed and an unidentified rumbling noise comes from under the sheets on Martin's side.

Me: Did you just fart?
Martin: No. It was my stomach.
Me: Oh. It sounded like a fart.

a few seconds pass and Martin then lifts the blanket up over not my head but his own head. Seriously toxic gas is released.

Me: Ugh! I thought you said you didn't fart?!
Martin: Well. I wasn't really sure if it was that bad.
Me: Why did you just Dutch Oven yourself??
Martin: I'm not sure. I felt like I should take pride in it. I just didn't realize it was going to be so bad.

Beautiful

I took this picture on Sunday of my grandmother's roses at our apartment on the farm. I'm not usually a huge fan of roses and I would typically prefer to receive a different flower in a bouquet. But this bush is gorgeous.

99 Cents to Heaven

On Sunday I discovered these babies. They are 99 cents. I realize this is a rip off in some respects because I could get a whole tub and the price would pencil out to be much cheaper. But when I'm looking for a quick ice cream fix in the middle of the day. This is like a 99 cent ticket to heaven.

6 months going on 16

 Swinging is the best

 I'm gonna be just like my daddy someday!

6 months going on 16.

For months, Martin has been telling everyone who asks how it is to be a dad  that he can't wait until he starts getting stuff that says WORLD'S GREATEST DAD. Naturally, I couldn't wait until Aubrey was old enough to pick this out on her own.

I had a very specific present in mind. I wanted a white mug with black block letters that said World's Greatest Dad. I would also have settled for number one dad. Point being, I wanted a really old school 1970s look. That proved difficult to find. In fact, mugs that call out to your father are really on short supply these days.

I ended up just getting a white mug and writing on it myself. My artistic skills aren't the best (or even average) so it sort of looks like a little kid drew it. That would be great if it were even halfway believable that my six month old child wrote on the mug.

Anyway, he really loved it.

Clean

On Saturday morning while I was waiting for my english muffin to toast, I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to grab the softscrub and start frantically cleaning the kitchen.

Me: Hey, pretty (talking to Aubrey) this is what happens when your mommy gets in a crazy I am not an adequate woman mood and decides I need to meticulously clean everything immediately. You'll probably get moods like this someday.
Martin: Oh. great.

a couple minutes later..

Me: Just to warn you before we get in a fight later. I am going to clean the entire house today. And then I am probably going to be a complete bitch and yell at you everytime you don't put something away or make a move towards messing it up at least until Tuesday.
Martin: Ok. I can live with that.

It's nice when we can knock our arguments out of the way before they even occur!

 I had an amazing father's day weekend. In part it was amazing because Aubrey and I gave Martin an amazing present for his first father's day (more on that later). It was also amazing because it was just so relaxing.

We spent Sunday lounging by the lake with the whole family.  I read. and ate kabobs. and got a little color. like I said. amazing.

Garrett strapped Aubrey into her life jacket.

She looked partly ridiculous and partly just ridiculously cute

Sliced Cheese

Yesterday, after enjoying a particularly nice Father's Day we stopped be Martin's homestead to bring an ice cream cake to his father and say hello to his mother.

Mary: It's like the best thing since sliced bread. or sliced cheese.
Me: Yeah. Not to cut in, but sliced cheese really is amazing! I love that stuff. I don't know if it's because we never had it when I was growing up. But it is so great. You just take a slice and it is the perfect size for your sandwich. Amazing.
Mary: It doesn't really take much to please her, huh? That's a good thing

Sleeping Beauty

 

This is a late. But in all fairness, my internet wasn’t working rendering me completely unable to post a picture of my cutie on Friday. No worries.

I love this picture because it was taken on Tuesday evening. Aubrey was playing with her toys on the floor and I got a phone call from my sister-in-law about 40 minutes before she was to board a plan for Afghanistan where she will be deployed with the Army for the next year. During our conversation, Aubrey got a little fussy for a minute or two and then quickly fell forward and passed out on a teddy bear. And yes, she still has no hair.

Mother's Day Collage

I know, Mother's Day was a long time ago. We're rounding up on Father's Day now it was so long ago. But for some reason unbeknowest to me - I'm just finally getting around to posting about this now. That beautiful collage up there. That was my mother's day present from Aubrey. I absolutely adore it.

You see, my mom is one of the most thoughtful people I know and she took Aubrey in secret to her good friend, Laura's, one afternoon. Laura just happens to be a professional photographer and my mom just happened to bring Aubrey's baptismal gown with her. (this turned out to be a double blessing because Aubrey was so completely miserable the day that she actually had to wear the gown to be baptized in, it was nice that we got some pictures beforehand this way). Laura and my mom spent over an hour doing a photoshoot with Aubrey and then Laura put this collage together and framed the photo. My mom gave me this present from Aubrey two days before mother's day.

Martin and I just happened to go over to visit friend', Katie and Ryan, for a dinner party with a group of people that night.

Someone in attendance at dinner: What did you get Jenna for mother's day?
Someone else: Oh yeah. It's her first mother's day.
Martin: You know. Jenna should just be married to her mom because her mom is a lot more thoughtful than I am
Someone in attendance at dinner: You still have a couple days.
Martin: eh. What's the point?

I know these photos I'm posting on here aren't the greatest but I took them with my phone and was having a significantly difficult time with the glare on the glass. Regardless, I think Aubrey's beauty shines through my poor quality pictures of those high quality pictures. Apparently, they spent over an hour getting Aubrey to fall asleep so they could put her in that wagon.

And this one of her holding the gown with her lips pursed is my favorite. Not sure why. But I absolutely love it!

Labor Pains

On Saturday night Katie and Ryan came over to our house for dinner. We had a great time catching up on all sorts of gossip because I haven't seen either of them in very very long. Katie is having a baby in July and she looks so cute. At the end of the evening we had taken our conversation up to the living room.

Katie: Is labor painful?
Martin: No. It's not that bad.
Me: looks incredulously at Martin
Ryan: Now would probably be a good time for you to stop talking.
Martin: Right. Well. Yeah. I've personally never been in labor. That's true.

The Perfect Host

On Friday night my parents, brother and Uncle Andy came over to our apartment for pizza. Martin and I proceded to pass out on the couch. When we woke up everything had been cleaned up, everyone was gone, and the lights were out.

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On Sunday morning Aubrey and I went to church with my mom while Martin worked on the farm. There were a couple other babies there and everytime one would shout out Aubrey would wait a second and then yell back. It was basically the most adorable thing I've ever heard!

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I went a little crazy buying red peppers for some random reason and I'm going to be making lots of kebabs to use them up. Who wants to come over for dinner?

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Happy Tuesday!

Italian Sausage = Fair = Summer

In my mind, Italian sausage is a summer food. Whenever I think of Italian sausage I am reminded of growing up and spending a week at our county fair and nothing says summer to me like the sweet blissful freedom of spending a week almost parent-free at the county fair as a teenager. This year, Aldi has sweet italian turkey sausage as a summer meat item. It's like Italian sausage's healthy brother, and it is amazing. If there is an Aldi within a 30 mile radius of you - I urge you to run (or drive if it actually is 30 miles) and snatch some of this up!
 

 Slap this on the grill and saute up some onions in peppers in the handy dandy burner attachment on the side of your grill then load up a roll with your sausage, vegetables and a strip of mustard - and what you'll find yourself eating is an incredibly delicious summer meal!

And eating leftovers the next day basically completed my life.

Farmgirl

Aubrey is definitely going to be a farmgirl. The child loves to spend time outside and can't get enough of being around the farm. She seriously would have let that calf suck her arm off if I hadn't intervened. And riding on the lawnmower with Grandma, fun, but not nearly as exciting as riding in the tractor with Daddy.

top photo taken while Aubrey and I were feeding calves on Tuesday. Bottom two taken during our walk on Saturday morning.

Fashion Forward

When Ingrid was in town, we went shopping at the outlets. One of my main missions when shopping was to get cute flat sandals. I have this problem and that problem is I’m really attracted to heels. Unfortunately, my life doesn’t facilitate that attraction very well. Usually it’s A. Unpractical to where heels given the terrain I will be walking in. B. Unpractical to be wearing heels given the length of time I will be in said shoes C. The outfit in question will be just a little too dressy in heels. or D. All of the Above.

Therefore, I was looking for cute, flat sandals. Sandals that would allow me to venture on unchartered terrain for long periods of time while simultaneously looking cute, but not overdressed. I made the mistake of calling these type of shoes Fashion Forward  sandals and Ingrid continued to ridicule me about this word choice for the remaining 6 days of her stay in the states.



But fashion forward or not, I was able to score three super cute pairs of sandals each for no more than $7. I’d call that a success.

Me: I love these new sandals. I think they make my feet look so pretty.

Martin: Well. Aren’t you modest?

Holding To A Pattern

My best friend, Caton, has a blog which she posts to pretty infrequently. But, she recently decided to start it back up again for the summer. In an effort to hold herself more accountable to posting on a daily basis, she came up with certain topics that she would discuss each day of the week. Because I have recently been having difficulties making time to blog on a regular basis, I thought maybe it would be a good idea if I did the same. So. Here's my list. If I stray, please don't hesistate to give me a virtual slap on the wrist (or a literal one if you're blessed enough to be graced with my presence!)

Meal Monday: A restaurant reveiw/ meal recap/ drink recipe/ random and loose association to food. Basically, Monday posts are going to be in some way/shape/form related back to food and eating. One of my absolute favorite things to do!

Tale Tuesday: There's usually always some sort of tale that I feel is worth telling in my life. So on Tuesday - you're going to hear about it. Most likely this will be a tale of something that happened on the weekend, but hey - you never know, my weekdays have the potential to get exciting

Witty Wednesday: Fine, so witty is a little stretch. My conversations are generally humorous due, in a large part, to their complete lack of wit. But, On Wednesday's you're going to get a conversation and, even if it's not full of wit - it will most likely make you laugh. And if it doesn't make you laugh you probably have no sense of humor it will at least make you smile.

Thing Thursday: This one is ridiculously vague, so we'll see how it adds to the "structure" of this blog. Having alliteration on every single day for some reason was really important to me when making this list. I toyed around with Thankful Thursday or Thoughtful Thursday, but writing down things I was thankful for on a weekly basis seemed like it might get old fast. or boring. or become a random list. or in general just turn this blog in a direction I don't neccesarily want it to go. But then again, I do really like lists. So maybe I should reconsider that choice. Anyway. On Thursday's I'm going to write about some thing that I either find interesting or am recently obsessed with or maybe even am thankful for. To paraphrase, Thursday will be about Something (clearly I'm already getting the structure I need)

Photo Friday: Can I go a week without posting about Aubrey? probably definitely not. However, I will try to at least designate her a day. And that day will be Friday.

Sensational Saturday and Singing in the Shower Sunday: These are freebies. I can post on these days or not post. I'm not gonna hold myself to a topic here because, a girl can't have too much structure in her life!

Robin's Egg Blue

 At the request of the Bride and Groom, Martin and Gabe wore Robin's Egg Blue suits to the reception at the wedding this weekend. Apparently, Alan and Lindsay were really interested in having guests that resembled used carsalesmen.

 Gabe poofed his hair back and looked like he was ready to go pick his date up for prom in 1979.

 And if the moves they were busting in the room is any indication, they were both ready to schoowap and dance the night away. And they definitely did.

 It turned out to be a lucky move for Gabe that these blue suits make an appearance because the real suit he had brought for the ceremony was not quite at its finest.

You see, Martin, Gabe and I
shared a room. Before the wedding, to which Martin and Gabe planned on wearing black suits, we were all changing in the room. Gabe was in the bathroom changing when suddenly we hear:

O....no! Shoot! Ohh Ahh. Ugh. Damn. Egh.
Me: What's wrong Gabe
Gabe: Oh. Ugh....I grabbed Carlton's pants. Oh. Shoot.
walks out of the bathroom with pants on that are just a little too short.
Gabe: Oh. Man. I really hope I have my jacket. Oh. Man.....Oh. Ok. Good. This is my jacket.

a few minutes later

Gabe: Do I look like a total idiot?
I look over to see Gabe in a black jacket with blue pants that are about an inch to short. To top it off, the buttons on the jacket are buttoned up wrong causing the jacket to be lopsided. It did look pretty comical at that moment.

Mini Vaca

I was going to include a post with pictures here. But apparently there's some maintenance going on and that is not going to happen tonight Which completely ruins all my posting ideas for the evening.

But I have to post. Because I have been really terrible at it lately. And even if my absence hasn't been bothering you. It has been bothering me.

I need to correct this. pronto.

I went to a wedding in Vermont last night. Yep. A wedding on a Sunday night. A little different. But I loved it. It was a fantastic wedding and a fantastic trip. A little mini-vacation. And we can all use a vacation every now and then.

We drove up with a full car. Me. Martin. Gabe. Garrett. and Aubrey. There wasn't any room to spare. Between dress clothes. and play clothes. a pack and play. baby food. formula. a stroller. five people. a carseat. a bag of party mix and a bottle of gatorade. That Camry was full. But we had a great ride up to my grandparents where we spent Saturday night and then left Garrett and Aubrey on Sunday night while we went to the wedding. We listened to Martin's ipod. We fought about the temperature in the car (Martin swears that for some unknown reason the air conditioner just kept turning itself up with no help from him whatsoever!)

Martin, in an amazing and sudden burst of openmindedness, got incredibly offended when Gabe tried to make a joke about Mormons being polygamists.

Gabe: If they were Mormon it would be double or triple (I don't really remember the exact joke) Get it. Cause they have more than one wife
Martin: in a very angry tone That is such a misconception! They have been trying to buck that for 200 years!


We made amazing time and didn't stop until five minutes before arriving at my grandparents' - at which point Gabe, who didn't realize we were actually in there hometown decided it would be a perfect spot to stop for a snack while Martin was pumping gas.

We got to take a ferry across Lake Champlain which is deeper than Lake Erie.

The wedding was amazing, but I really can't do justice talking about it without including pictures of Martin and Gabe in their fabulous attire so that will have to be a post for another day.

A Change of Heart

My good friend, Amanda, was in town from Brooklyn this week and had never met Aubrey so made plans to visit me and also meet Aubrey immediately. She was completely enamored from the start. During dinner we were discussing life and jobs, etc. etc.

Amanda: Well, my parents' said when I have kids...
Me: Wait. I thought you didn't want to have kids.
Amanda: Well. I've sort of changed my mind lately. I mean. I know I'm not intellectually or emotionally ready to have kids. But everytime I see a baby I can literally feel my ovaries quiver.

Ironic choice of words given Ingrid's assessment of Aubrey's impact on women just a few days earlier.

She'll Understand in 21 Years

This story is old. Really old at this point. But I never told it and it's worth telling.

You see, during our trips to Maryland both for Katie Mason's wedding shower and then her actual wedding - we were accompanied by my good friend Michelle. Riding in a car with Michelle was amazing. Even though we spent two years together in college, I guess I had never realized we had so much to talk about. But the hours flew by with her there. We didn't even bother turning on the radio and searching for a station as we navigated our way across state lines, we had plenty of conversation to fill the air.

However, on the way home from the wedding Michelle was a little under the weather. So, instead of sitting in the front seat and chatting it up with me - she sat in the backseat next to Aubrey and repeatedly spilled the contents of her stomach into a plastic bag.

I'm sure Aubrey had no idea what was going on but someday....in 21 years or so...maybe she'll have an incling

HOT!

It is finally hot here. Except now it's really hot and humid. And I feel disgusting at all times. But I'm not complaining. I am super happy to see summer.

I just need to invest in a really big fan. or possibly several really big fans for our apartment. These window fans just aren't cutting it. According to our thermostat it's 84 degrees in here. Gross.

This warm weather also makes me not want to go to work. Ever. Aubrey is getting so active lately and I basically want to play with her all day long.

Ok. That's it. I'm too hot to think.

Check back tomorrow after I've purchased a fan and have cooled my brain down a little.

and just because she's so adorable. I'll leave you with this.