So, our website was down for a few days due to some technical difficulties.  For a while, I thought maybe it was the blog software running this site that was bringing it down.  I'm happy to report, however, that after making a few nerdy configuration changes (memory heap settings), we appear to be back in business.

In baby news, the baby is moving A LOT!  Not only can Mary and I feel it moving, but we can SEE it moving every night!  I'm not sure if we're seeing feet, hands, head or rump, but there is definitely a lot of visible movement.  Mary is 35 weeks along now (which translates to just over a month to go until the due date for the non-baby crowd), and we're getting pretty excited.  Aside from boxes of Christmas decorations, the baby's room is really coming together.  Once we finish getting Christmas things up, I'll try to post some pictures.

I have been a bad blogger.  Thank goodness for Jack who has kept our blog alive over the past month or so with his entries or everyone might have given up on looking at our blog (if they haven't already)!  The summer seems to be flying by and I am embarressed to realize that my last post was back in May.  I cannot believe that July 4th weekend has come and gone.

Since then, my trip to New Orleans to work with my dad went really well.  I love working with him, we had some good meals and got to spend a lot of quality time together. 

Once I arrived home, I quickly got ready and headed to the rehearsal and dinner for Kristen and Jay's wedding that weekend.  The following day I was back to work for part of the day, headed to meet the girls for manis/pedis and headed home to get ready for the wedding weekend.  We got to Kristen's parents' house bright and early to start getting ready and everything went very smoothly.  Kristen looked absolutely fantastic - a picture-perfect bride!  They had beautiful weather that day, things went very smoothly (minus a few bumps that thankfully didn't impact the success of the day) and a wonderful time was had by all.  The food was delicious, the DJ kept us on the dancefloor, and we all got to take cupcakes home with us, along with some candy from the candy buffet they had put together.  Jack and I stayed in one of the hotels right next to the reception and the following morning we went to meet everyone for breakfast.  We assumed that we would be lucky enough to say "hi" to the bride and groom amongst all the family, but somehow we lucked out that just for 4 of us sat at a table and we got to hear what they thought of their big day. :)

The following weekend, my immediate family got together to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary!  I had originally offered to throw them quite a shin-dig, but they opted for a dinner at home with just the close family.  Since this was to celebrate them, I wanted them to have what they wanted.  They also wouldn't take no for an answer and provided the main dish for the meal (steak, scallops and lobster for all!), and my brothers and I made up all the rest of the food for the event.  We had the most perfect weather that day, so we spent most of our time on their deck and just enjoying one another's company.  They said that it was exactly what they wanted, so I couldn't ask for a better reaction than that. :)

To say the least, May was QUITE a month!  June seemed quieter, but we had a number of items we were working to accomplish and some fun times with friends and family.  We have also been working on finalizing our wedding album so that we can receive all the digital negatives from the photographers and be able to share them with everyone.  You would think this would be an easy task, but I assure you, it is not!  We were lucky to get to visit with my Uncle Paul and his family while they were in town from Texas, we spent Father's Day with Jack's side of the family and then some time the following weekend with my parents and grandparents to celebrate.  We had dinner with the newlyweds (Kristen & Jay) that Jack blogged about, Jack had a guys' night and a boating outing, and I spent an evening with Gina shoe shopping and having dinner. 

I am looking forward to what the rest of the summer holds for us.  I'll save all that for some other blogs. :)

Last weekend Mary and I finally decided it was time to take down the Christmas decorations.  We started Friday night by removing all our ornaments from the tree.  While Mary packaged them up, I removed the lights from the tree and the windows.  I love the way Mary puts lights on the tree, but it made for a bit of a task when taking them off!  It wasn't much, but it was a good start.

Saturday, I took down the lights from our balcony railing.  Never again, will we wrap them around the railing, especially since we bought net lights after Christmas!  I brought out the big storage containers while Mary diligently organized and packed everything up.  Not only did we finish packing up all our decorations on Saturday, but we also got our dining room chairs delivered!  After hours and hours of searching and selecting just the right chairs for our dining room table, we FINALLY got them! 

Ok, so furniture shopping had its fun moments, but I'm definitely glad we now have most of it out of the way.  Should we get leather?  Are those chairs too dark?  Are those chairs too light?  Are we contemporary or rustic?  Modern or traditional?  What do those words even mean?  All the things to think about, I'd almost rather be back at Target with a wedding registry gun!  (Just kidding, Mary)

But I digress...Christmas is now over, and all that's left is the cruel and unforgiving cold!  Oh wait, it's in the 20's this week!  Nothing like a January heat wave :)

Although this was a couple weeks ago, it still deserves mention.  For Mary's 28th birthday, we went out to dinner with several of our friends.  There were 12 of us in total, and we went to Scoozi! after having a great meal there with Mary's Dad a few weeks earlier.  It was also fun because some people stopped by our place beforehand for a drink, and the rest stopped by our place afterwards.  All in all, a great evening with good food and good friends!

On a side note, Mary and I both had the exact same food and wine as our previous trip to Scoozi, tagliatelle bolognese and the gnocchi trio.  Maybe we'll try something different next time!

I have been fortunate to have almost the entire last two weeks (except for one day) off from work.  I took my birthday off right before Christmas, but my job gives all employees off from Christmas Eve through New Year's and because of how the days landed this year, it was extended through this weekend.  So, today was my last day off.  Anytime throughout my life when I would have vacations, time off of school, or even just a long weekend, I would come down with what my mom called "Sunday Night Syndrome" in that I would just start to feel punky about the fact that starting the following day, I would have to go back to normal life, be it school or work. 

I got to thinking today though about what has filled my time the past two weeks.  Clearly, Christmas celebrations with families take up a good amount of time, along with the final preparations for Christmas, such as wrapping all the gifts just right,  but I would not have any of those events any other way.  Then there was a case of food poisoning or something that really made me somewhat useless for a few days (yuck!).  Jack and I were also able to do some furniture shopping.  All of our shopping around paid off in the last few days in that we finally found some things we liked and made some purchases (hooray!).  I am not so great yet at adding pictures to our blog, so I might have to leave those to Jack in regards to the items we bought and such.  Let me just say though that we are quite pleased, and I would guess that Jack is somewhat relieved, that we won't have to keep shopping for dining room chairs.  Our New Year's Eve celebration with friends was of course a lot of fun and we only wish we could have spent it with all of our friends.  Jack and I also had a wonderful home-cooked meal on New Year's Day involving "super colossal" crab legs - yum!  My parents have long had a tradition of having their own new year's eve celebration at home involving lobster tails and crab legs, so now that I have a husband and a home, I felt compelled to institute a similar tradition for us. 

There are always things I don't get to on breaks like this.  I start it with the best of intentions and a list a mile long, but the time available and my expectations never match.  There were boxes I didn't get unpacked like I thought, though I did get to some, so I have to be at least glad for the progress.  There were things that we did get to do that weren't in my original plan for these weeks that I am glad we were able to fit in.  Tonight happened to be one of those items in that we got to take Jack's parents out to dinner to Cooper's Hawk in Burr Ridge.  It was a nice leisurely meal with wine, good food, and even better company.  There was never a quiet moment and I even learned some things throughout the night.  I am sure I will have a lot of nights in the future with them where I will learn something though.  I will say that, in and of itself, it was a great night, but it was even better for me because tonight's dinner provided just the right amount of distraction to my "Sunday Night Syndrome".  I wasn't left to stew at home on the thought that my vacation was ending, but rather, I was able to end my vacation on a high note.

Now that I have spilled my guts, what did everyone else do on their Christmas/New Year's time off?  (Leave your answers in the comments section please)