We've survived September

Still alive here! I've once again slipped into my infrequent posting ways. September has been a crazy month! Here's a quick run down of the month:

We spent Labor Day weekend visiting Joey's family in Mishawaka, Indiana and attending his brother Aaron and sister-in-law Michelle's couples' baby shower in anticipation of the first grandson on Joey's side, soon to arrive in mid-October. 

The second weekend of September, my friend Anne and her boyfriend John visited Nashville and treated us to an amazing Ben Folds concert with the Nashville Symphony. Then it was back to Mishawaka the following weekend for the Notre Dame/Michigan game - otherwise known as Moonsoon weekend. The area received 11 inches of rain within 48 hours, and we were poured on during the 3rd and 4th quarters of the game - but managed to hang in there until the end, despite being soaked head to toe, as the game was awesome and we had 50-yard line tickets.

Last weekend was a big first for me in that I left the girls overnight for the first time (in the wonderfully capable hands of their grandparents) to join Joey in attending a wedding in Baltimore of a friend of his from law school. And despite the fact that I pined for the girls the whole time, thought about them incessantly - particularly during their bedtime, as that felt like the hardest time to be away - and had to physically restrain myself from stopping and cuddling every baby in a stroller we encountered in our walks around the Inner Harbor, I enjoyed the time away immensely. We slept in both mornings, enjoyed long, leisurely brunches with coffee and the paper, strolled around Fells Point with no particular purpose, ate the best crab cakes we've ever tasted at a local favorite, danced the night away at a fabulous outdoor reception under a beautiful tent (at a completely amazing venue), stayed up late partying with friends, and noticed how easy it was to get ready for a wedding without 2 babies whining at your feet. And though it was a nice reminder of how uncomplicated life is when traveling without children, I can't tell you how much my heart pounded with joy to pull into the driveway Sunday evening and see these beautiful little gals running to the car to hug us.

I've got so much updating to do - the girls are doing all kinds of funny things that I've wanted to make note of - but for now I'll leave you with some great new photos (click here!) that my friend (and our favorite photographer) Kim took of the girls. Kim was in town over the past 3 days and stayed with us on Thursday and Friday night, which was so fun - and so we managed to squeeze in a photo session and finally (!), after 15 months, get a nice family picture of the four of us. Thanks, Kim!

Hoping to write more soon...but in the mean time, we're truly enjoying being in town this weekend and just hanging out together as a family.  Have a great rest of your weekend!