Blast from the Past: Baby Charlie and Emma

I found this folder of pictures of Charlie and Emma when they were little baby KITTENS. They are so little and CUTE. This first batch of pictures was from the first time I met them. My mom had informed me that the cutest kitten she had ever seen was up for adoption at the vet. I went to go check him out. She sure was right! Aw, little baby Charlie in a cage.



It turned out there were actually TWO kittens there. Emma, too!



Awww. Obviously I had to get both.



This picture kills me because I feel like Charlie is hoping with all of his might that I will adopt him.



The first time I ever picked him up!



LOOK AT HOW LITTLE HIS PINK NOSE IS!!!!!!!!



And here they are at home, peeking out of the windows!



So fuzzy in the window.



Charlie in the sink!



SO LITTLE IN THE SINK!



Little Emma!



Little BABY Charlie.





Eeeeeeee look how SMALL. And his marshmallows are so big because he hasn't grown into them yet!!!!



Man, I love that cat so much.





And finally, a bunch of cute pictures of them cuddling.

Good Luck Pork

Mom and Dad had us over tonight for the annual tradition of pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Eve! Yay! We had champagne, too. Now we will all have good luck this year!



I think it may be the best batch that they've ever made. SO DELICIOUS. Happy New Year, everyone! I think 2011 is going to be AWESOME.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tried out another cookie in my new oven today! Chocolate chip! They were PERFECT. Seriously. Whoa. I think it may have been my first ever batch of chocolate chip?!? Or at least that I can remember. We're having Summer and J over for a NYE dinner tonight, and these will be the dessert. YUM!

Banana Bread Beer

Today, Summer stopped by with a little engagement present. Banana Bread BEER!



It is incredible. It tastes like a delicious loaf of banana bread, except even more delicious because also it is BEER. I highly recommend.

New Curtains

Mom made us some more new roman shades for our house! And they're awesome! Here are the ones in Ben's office:



His are blackout shades so that he can geek out in the middle of the day if he wants to. Very cool.



And mine are my favorite Marimekko print EVER, that I've had in the past two places I've lived. Sadly, it is very hard to find now, and I was bummed thinking that I had used it all up in places that I've moved away from. Now I'm settled, and I wasn't going to be able to have curtains made from my favorite fabric! But them Mom found a little stash that she had forgotten about, and it was JUST big enough to make curtains for my office. YAY! MEANT TO BE!!

I'm engaged!!!!!

After Christmas Dinner over at my folks' house last night, Ben and I headed home to open our presents to each other. Afterward, he suggested we play some Bananagrams. Yay, I love games and especially Bananagrams! So, we were playing for awhile, when suddenly he pushed the tiles aside and set a little special pile of tiles in front of me. He asked if I could figure out what they spelled and I was like, "Of course! I'm super good at word games!" and I started spelling some different words with them. Then he said, "Here, I know what they spell!" And he made them spell THIS:



WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was like "OF COURSE! YES! YAY!!!" I was so surprised!! It was unbelievable. Definitely the best game of Bananagrams EVER!! After he spelled it out, he pulled out a ring box. He had made a temporary ring, knowing that I'd want to be in on any jewelry choosing efforts (correct!). He should be a jeweler, look what he can do with cardboard and glitter!





This morning, Dad made us a little celebration breakfast.



Aw, yay. I'm so happy! We're getting MARRIED!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!! We headed over to Mom and Dad's early for some holiday fun!! Look, there's Santa!



Brown rice and beans for breakfast. YUM!



Opening stockings!



YES!! Subway gift cards!



Kate got to be in charge of choosing and distributing gifts.



She was great at it!



Uncle Mark!



PRESENTS!!



Open it!



Kate got some bubble wrap for Christmas because she likes to pop it.



Mer got me a snake bracelet!



Kate got an umbrella. We had to teach her about not poking peoples' eyes out.



Distributing more presents!



A present for Grandpa!



Mer has a roll of the best wrapping paper on Earth. SANTA KITTIES.






We took an afternoon break so that Kate could have a nap. Mer and Pete gave me a ride home.



While I was at home, I took the opportunity to enjoy some kitty snuggle time.



Then it was back to Christmas Land! And this time there was a cheese platter!!



And champagne!



Happy little family.



Dad's cooking up some Christmas dinner!



YUM!



Kate LOVED the mashed potatoes. I think she had five helpings?! She kept saying "MORE MASHED POTATOES!"



Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you had a wonderful holiday!