8 Months

My sweet Mally Mal, as she is affectionately called...where have these eight months gone?  WOW!  How can I put this precious girl into words - bubbly, bouncy, everything an eight month old should be.  She loves her big sister, no one makes her laugh louder...that laugh, ohhh that laugh, right from her belly, just gets me everytime, there is no sweeter sound.  There are times where I am pulling my hair out and frazzled and tired, REALLY tired, but these are the days, I tell ya.  I take a deep breath and try to soak in the memories - the laughs, the little moments, and even the down right dirty duties.  I am knee deep in the mommyhood, but there's no place I'd rather be!

Live from the Ice

I couldn't very well break into Jenny's Blog without leaving my mark now could I?

It's Andrea coming to you live from somewhere warmer than this....I promise!

Love ya Jenny - Miss ya!

I guess breaking into your blog is the closest I'm going to get to breaking into your house...for now anway!  Put a honey crisp on a plate for me wudddya?

xoxo A.

Portland

Last week we tagged along with Brian and his parents to a tradeshow in Portland...we mix business and pleasure in our family.  Anyway, I looooooved Portland.  I had always heard how great it was and finally got to see for myself.  If you like Seattle then you'll love its sister city to the south...great restaurants, shopping (no sales tax!), practically free public transportation and just a super cool vibe, I'll definitely want to go back soon!

Monday the skies were clear so Debbie treated us to an afternoon at the zoo...Liv loved the elephants

I will spare you the many animal pictures i took, but check out this orangutan.  He was too cute just staring through the glass

On Tuesday I go to see my friend Julie.  Her and I go way back and have mostly kept in touch thanks to blogger and facebook...love it!  We share a special bond as two LA girls transplanted to the Pacific Northwest.  Julie has an adorable family and she is definitely a mentor to me as a wife and mom!  She invited us to lunch at her in laws AMAZING penthouse condo in "The Pearl".  Check it out! 

The Dining Room and Living room - yeah I was in a real life Architectual Digest spread!

Kitchen

Love this carpet

Stunning views of the city...the only way to showcase Portland in my opinion!

A quick pic of us and our girls, she also has two adorable boys.  Love you Jules, thanks for an awesome day!


Nothing like a mini vacay to recharge the batteries!  A big thank you to my mom in dad in law for always being so generous and including us.  It was a blast!

Brownies and Hair Gel

Kinda sounds like a bad 80s movie...nope, just a few happenings in the life of Livi.

Deep concentration..or I could not get her to look at the camera!

Tada! This is right when I offered her a lick of the batter to which she replied, "NO! It has raw eggs in it!"

Then there was hair gel...I'll let the pictures do the talking. Word to the wise, when there's too much quiet in the house, it almost always means trouble!

And just so we end things on a positive note...

Gami's Here!

This week my mom is visiting...we sure love when she does! Somehow the house gets a little cleaner, the laundry piles magically get folded and put away and I get a some much needed rest. I even got to go see a movie with a friend, a late birthday present, and I got a lovely evening out with my man...wore lipstick, earrings and all!


Liv trying out Gami's glasses and cel




Playing with Mal...





You never appreciate your parents more than when you live far from them. I treasure these times so much, especially that my girls get time with grandma. Now that both my grandmas are gone, I know how special it really is!!

Mollie and Malory

We love when Aunt Mollie comes to visit...




well, we love when any aunt, uncle, cousin, grandma, grandpa or friend (big hint!) comes to visit! We get to see Mollie more often because she lives just two hours away in Seattle. Mollie is our little sister, well Brian and Jen's, but I have adopted her too. She is fun and her nieces sure know it...



we love you Mol!!

This and that

When it feels like this...



And looks like that...



and this...


There's a lot of extra time for this...




and that...



and especially this...



2010 will definitely have...



a whole lot of that!

Happy New Year!!