Oh yeah, that happened

It's been busy what with the holidays and all, so we've been in the swing of things with people to see and place to go.  Here's what's happened in the last week or so.

• Dave had a birthday party. It was fun and everyone showed up (except Ben because he forgot).  I made awesome cupcakes because I finally "applied myself" so Cindy can shut it. :)
• Dave's party was great until Mia made everyone leave because she kept farting and her butt smells like rotten eggs rolled in moldy bologna when she really gets going.
• I told you about Mia's meet and greet.  So we still have her.  Santa may or may not have gotten her extra gifts because of it.
• Dave had a birthday. He's old.
• Dave's cousin Mike and his wife Donna came to visit us on Friday.  We hung out for a bit, they spoiled Mia by letting her lick and give them kisses.  Then we went to Madaline and Ernie's house for dinner and had a simple Christmas evening with them.
• We took Mike and Donna to Nashoba Valley Winery at 10 am where we made them do the tasting before they picked which wines they wanted to buy.  In our defense, Donna was the one that suggested going there in the first place.  Note: Dave and I did not do the tasting, in part because we could still taste our toothpaste.
• Mike and Donna headed out to her sister's for a party, so we went to my aunt and uncle's house for their holiday party.  We were thoroughly entertained by a former Pan-Am pilot who had some pretty amazing stories.
• For Bud and Sandy's party, I made this appetizer because it was simple, cute, and I had all the ingredients.  One of the guests actually paraded it around the room before anyone was allowed to eat it so everyone could see how cute it was.  Then she let people eat and by the time it made its way back to the buffet, only one-third was left.  Hilarious.  Who knew?
• The Baltimore Ravens lost.  

I think that sums it up.  This week will most likely be the LONGEST.WEEK.EVER. and not just because Christmas is nearly upon us, but because WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!  On Christmas Day, Dave and I are flying to Charlotte where we'll meet my parents and my sister and her family.  We'll drive part way to Orlando on Sunday and then the rest of the way on Monday.  We'll meet my brother and his family in Orlando and spend a week with the Mouse (and friends).  It'll be awesome. I'm anticipating lots of blog fodder, if not from my family then from random people at the parks.  

Bad Influence

I've never crashed a party before I met Cindy.  You may remember the time Dave and I crashed a wedding because Cindy wanted more friends there.  Well, on Saturday I was sharing with her that I had no plans for Sunday because Dave and his friends were making a pilgrimage to their temple, the Harpoon Brewery in Vermont.

Cindy: I'm going to a baby shower tomorrow if you want to come crash it.

Me: A wedding is one thing, I'm not going to crash a baby shower.

Cindy: It's Dawn's (her coworker who I know).  She won't mind.

Me: I wonder if I have a gift...

Cindy: It's from noon to three.  Let me know if you want to come.

So I went home, noticed that I did in fact have an appropriate baby shower gift in my stock of "gifts I buy because they are cheap and I might need them in case I have to crash a major life event or forget someone's birthday" and also remembered that I had some extra yarn left over from a recently completely baby gift (that I actually was invited to the shower for) and a pattern to make up a quick baby hat.  Game on.

I texted Cindy to find out what time I needed to meet her.  Then she asked me if I had any extra baked goodies stockpiled in the freezer because she and Dawn were remembering some of my yummy treats and she knew Dawn would appreciate something.  Except I didn't have anything made.  I asked Cindy if it was potluck, because if so I would definitely bring something.  She said it was potluck, but I didn't need to make anything because I was her guest and she had it covered. Like that would stop me, I set about to find a yummy treat to make for the party.

Which I did.

And I crocheted a newborn hat.

And I wrapped it with the gift (a book and toy).

Crap, I need a card.

So Sunday morning when I arrived at Cindy's to go to the shower, she laughed at me because while I had an appropriate card and gift (wrapped in appropriate paper) and I made a baby hat and dessert even though I'd just been "invited" the day before (unbeknownst to Dawn), she on the other hand went to wrap her gift and found out she did not have appropriate wrapping paper.  Or a card.  She ended up having to use part plain Christmas wrapping, a gift bag with realistic fish on it and a "Thinking of You" card.  And she lost the recipe for the side dish she made, so she went purely on memory and was hoping it didn't suck (it didn't).  It was comical.

The shower was lovely and Dawn was happy to see me there (and not at all offended that I came without an invitation).  And she loved the dessert I made, which was probably the most important reason she wasn't offended. 

So now I've crashed a wedding and a baby shower of two of Cindy's coworkers.  Her other coworkers better consider what life events they have coming up because I'll probably be there too.

Bouncy

Last week Dave and I went to North Carolina. It was so much fun.  My sister lives there with her family (we stayed with them) and my uncle and his family live there too.  My parents also joined us, since my cousin Angela graduated high school.  We're the kind of family that travels for a party.  And yummy cake.

We also got a chance to visit our friends Kate, Andy, Brandi and Seth, which was a lot of fun.  We got to meet Kate and Andy's baby, Chad, who is super adorable.  I wish we'd had a chance to spend more time with them, but alas.

Anyway, back to the party.  Angela and her sister Nikki have a trampoline in their backyard.  This might be the only reason that my niece Abi agrees to visit them.  We were there for about 5 hours or so and I'm pretty sure Abi spent at least 3 hours on the trampoline (1 hour was spent doing Just Dance 2--so much fun!--and the other was spent being mad at her mom because she wouldn't let her on the trampoline in the dark).

Abi was bound and determined to figure out how to bounce back up to her feet if she hit the trampoline on her bum. I tried doing it myself and almost broke my neck (sorry, Dave wasn't around to take video of me).  I think it's easier for little ones because they're shorter and have less distance to travel to get into a standing position.  But eventually Abi got it.

(By the way, who knew bouncing on the trampoline was such a good work out?  If it wasn't for the fact that I drank so much water and had to pee, I might have spent 3 hours on that thing.)

Super Bowl Sadness

Yup, I'm bummed.  It was a little sad to watch the Steelers lose the Super Bowl on Sunday night.  Especially since we had a big party and lots of Steeler fans (or fans for the day). But I can't be too upset with Green Bay because I do like Aaron Rodgers. 

The Steelers overcame a lot this season to be as successful as they were. I'm not going to get into the Big Ben debate because, well, I don't want to.  But the team (because the Steelers are a team and not just a quarterback with some other guys) had a lot of challenges to face.  Multiple key injuries throughout the season, the best defensive lineman in the league (James Harrison) being singled-out for doing what he's always done--make big hits, and starting the season with second and third string quarterbacks.  And yet they still made it to the Superbowl.  Had they not turned over the ball so many times or if they'd have played the first half as well as they played the second half, they may have won. 

But we had fun nonetheless.  My friend Dina, who is from Pittsburgh but lives in Boston, came out with her friend Gretchen.  Our friends Rachel and John came out for the day, bearing black and gold cupcakes that Rachel actually decorated with Steelers logos.  Cindy and her son came for the night, as did Stacy and her family.  Plus Dave's friends Nick and Ben enjoyed the beer and my crazy cheering.  I think I thoroughly amused Ben for months to come.

Panda did great.  She was a little nervous at times, but settled in ok.  There was a little barking, but I think that was more from being scared when Dina and I screamed and jumped during a Hines Ward touchdown.

My favorite part of the season has to be the combination of hairiness among the team.  Between Troy Polamalu and his crazy hair and Brett Keisel's beard with its own persona, there was plenty of humor to be found.  Even Steelerbaby got in on the action.

Or seriousness, like when Aidan told Amy that he wanted hair like Troy Polamalu's.  I guess he's going to need some Polamalecules.

Halloween Redux

Saturday was our Halloween fun night.  We had a blast.  Our friends Stacy, Rachel and John all came over for dinner.  Stacy had to leave early since she had to get to work at a bar near our house (like down the street near our house), so we promised to come by and see her with our costumes on before we went to the party.

After at least thirty minutes in the bathroom applying my make up with the help of makeupgeek.com (Thank you!), I got my costume on and emerged victorious, despite only having fake eyelashes on one eye because the other kept falling off.

Dave was Mr. Freeze.

Rachel was super excited to be a Sheriff, what with pink guns with ponies on them that made noise.  And John was a great Bill Lumbergh (you know, the boss in Office Space--come on, he looks great!)

Once properly dressed (well, maybe not so proper--it was cold outside and, well, I was dressed up as Catwoman), we headed to the bar to meet Stacy.  We had a few drinks and got to see her in her costume as a cancan dancer, which she hadn't finished putting on before leaving our house.

Everyone looked great, and then our friends Cindy and Keith called to say they would meet us at Stacy's bar, instead of another one we'd planned on.  Cindy is our costumer and made costumes for Dave, Keith, Stacy, our friend Erin, me and herself, among others.

Cindy absolutely outdid herself.  Not just with making so many costumes (she is to costumes as I am to cookies), but her own costume might just be the most amazing thing I've ever seen her make.  It was amazingand I love it.  The absolute best Queen of Hearts.  Initially we were all supposed to be Batman villains (hence Dave and I), but Keith really wanted to be the Mad Hatter, and I'm so glad they went with it.  They looked fabulous.

After another round, we headed to another bar and met up with Erin, who Cindy transformed into a sailor.

They love us at this bar, and the manager took a great shot of us.

We finally headed over to the Knights of Columbus for a party.  It's totally random, but these two guys have been renting out the place and getting a DJ for about 6 years.  It's always more and more crowded and this year it was packed.  We met up with Erin's boyfriend, Adam, and just had a great time dancing and talking to people.

They always do a variety of costume contests.  Last year Dave was in the Best Overall (as opposed to Most Creative and Sexiest) Contest as Beetlejuice and came in second.  This year, Keith made it to the Best Overall Contest.  And again, he came is second.  First place went to Pinhead, which was at least interesting and well done.  I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I don't think it was a mask.

Although there were two guys (I guess they were guys) who had costumes I loved.

Aren't they great?  The Yip Yips from Sesame Street!  Look at how great those costumes are:

from sesamestreet.com

It was such a fun night, as always.  Eventually we got tired of the crowd and decided to head back home.  Rachel and John spent the night with us, and we invited Cindy and Keith back too.  On the way home, we got the late-night drinking munchies, so I ended up making pizza and mini-muffins at 1:30 in the morning.  We ate, watched part of a terrible Halloween movie, and finally called it a night.

Now it's time to think about next year's costumes!