MLK Weekend at the Beach

Last Friday Noelle, Maddie, and I got up for a 3:30 am start to the OBX to visit mom and dad Hayhoe, Uncle Mike, and the huskies. We hadn't seen my dad and brother since before I went back to work and had promised to visit when we broke the news that we wouldn't be traveling for Christmas this year. You might be asking yourself, why would you start driving anywhere at 3:30. If you have heard Noelle scream in her car seat (shriek might be a better description) when she realizes you aren't just going down the street to daycare or Target, you would know why we try to travel in the dark of the night. My decision to leave during sleep time was confirmed at about 8:30 am when the sun was brightly shining, Noelle was more than a little annoyed to wake up in her car seat, and poor Maddie with her super sharp hearing was forced to sit next to the little one for the last 45 minutes of the drive...

But we soon arrived in NC and had a great long weekend with the family. It was finally warm out - in the 60's! and we enjoyed lots of walks on the beach and through the neighborhood. We also were able to go to church as a family and the mass was in memory of my grandmother who passed away this fall. We played some cards, watched some football (boo Colts!), and watched lots of HGTV. I am obsessed with House Hunters, although it makes me sad that basically everywhere else in the country is like 50% less for a house...oh well!

Here are some pictures of Ellie enjoying her weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, and the huskies.

Go Ravens!

If you know Bryan and I well, you know we don't watch a lot of sports. Perhaps this is because growing up I watched nothing but sports, but these days it is rare that we will sit down and watch an entire game of anything. Now that little Noelle is in our lives though, sports have made a comeback. Particularly football. Since she was about 4 weeks old, football has always had a super calming effect on our lovely daughter. What this means for the future, I'm not sure, but for now it basically means that Saturdays and Sundays (at least for a few more weeks) at the Saxton house consists of much football watching!

So we were excited to see the Ravens make the playoffs. We knew the game was at 1 yesterday, but were finishing up a movie before the game started. We didn't even know it was 1 yet when we heard our neighbor joyfully yelling. It was 1:04. We turned to the game quickly and saw that the Ravens scored in the first 20 seconds of the game. And then we watched some unknown team (clearly not the Ravens we know and love) destroy the Patriots. It was awesome. And the best part of it was watching Noelle sit and stare at the game. When she got sick of her sitting position, she went to her new favorite place, under the coffee table. There she can lay next to the table legs and cheer. So here are a few pictures of Noelle watching her purple and black kick some New England butt this weekend.





And to complement the Noelle pictures, here is where Maddie spent Sunday.



I think at one point she actually contemplated laying on top of the flames but finally decided against it! Our dog and daughter are definitely silly creatures but we love them!

New Blog, But Maintaining the Old One

After some persuasion by Laura and some friends, I've decided to train with Laura and run a half-marathon in October. It is at none other than our favorite place, Walt Disney World. There will also be a wine and food festival involved, so it can't be all bad. To help me stay motivated, I started a new blog this morning. Feel free to check it out http://bit.ly/RunningBlog. Now, though, Laura is worried about us falling behind on this blog. So, this post is to notify all of you that we are going to continue to post and do so on a regular basis! No falling behind for us, at least not because of the other blog!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 Everyone! One of our resolutions is to try to blog at least one time a week so here goes!

Right after Christmas we spent Sunday partying with the Gidjunis clan. We had a lovely drive up to NJ near the shore and spent some quality time with my Uncle Joe and Aunt Peg while we waited for everyone else to get there. Noelle mostly spent the time playing with her new toy and we were surprised to find that the Gidjunis kitten loved Noelle. Apparently they are now best friends. If only Maddie would be so interested in our child!



Noelle also enjoyed getting some love from Great Grandma!



We had a nice day, but a less than nice drive home. I am still amazed at how you can be in a traffic jam the entire time you are in a state! I know Delaware is small and all, but seriously, there were no traffic problems in MD or NJ, why should we sit for 1.5 hours in DE? We weren't too happy about it, but eventually made it home. Noelle slept the entire car ride, which meant she didn't want to sleep during the night. This made for a long Monday at work for both B and I, and I think we both thought about taking up coffee drinking for the day!

After another short work week, we spent the four days we had off for the New Year holiday lounging at home. We seriously wore our pajamas for almost the entire time! We watched lots of football (Noelle's favorite past time) and snuggled up trying to stay warm! Noelle has decided that she is too cool for her swing now that she can sit up on her own!



She also has decided that teething hurts a lot! Our previously always happy baby has been a bit of a grump lately. We haven't seen a tooth yet, but between the amount of drool coming out of her and the fact that she is trying to bite everything in site (including her feet - see below!) we are pretty sure one is on it's way! Here are a few pictures of our little one during happy moments during the long weekend!

Five Years!

This Wednesday, Bryan and I celebrated our fifth anniversary! It is hard to believe that it has already been that long. We are so excited that we found each other (even if it wasn't love at first site!) and I know B is thankful that I tricked him into going out to dinner for our first date! We have had some great years together already, and are ready for the next five and beyond! To celebrate, we went out on our first "date" since Noelle arrived to our favorite restaurant, Iron Bridge Wine Company. We enjoyed three small plate courses each and sampled some lovely Pinot Noir. Here are a few pictures from the beautiful day we go married!