Auckland fun!

We are absolutely in awe over the beauty of this country! It is the end of summer right now, and windy, cool, hot during the day, sunny, gorgeous! We are typically in sundresses or shorts! Everything is new and an experience for the girls.

This past Saturday, we knew we wanted to find some city Farmer's Markets. I'd heard there was one near Jacob's office, which is a walk down Albert Street from Chifley Suites where we're staying. It was a sunny and warm morning, everyone revved up for the "daddy day" (heehee - the day Jacob's not working). We happened upon all of these tents! It was beautiful! The view of the water in the morning - Auckland Harbor - was so pretty! There were tons of little vendors. We told the girls they could walk all over - choose one thing to eat. Mae quickly decided a Hungarian Hot Dog. You could choose a french bun or regular bun, then all of these neat sauces, grilled onions?? She went for plain. Plainer. And plainest. She took a bite and fell in love. I took a bite and had to go back - I got mine with everything (keep in mind we'd already eaten at home haha) Onions, capsicum sauce (? gotta google that). It was heavenly.

Issa chose a smoothie, and didn't love it. Mae finished that off and then Jacob got Issa a hot dog too. We chose some cheddar bagels, kept walking all over.

There was a teeny Italian pattisserie-man? Selling all of these exquisite desserts. Flowers, peanut butters, fresh fruits and veges (that's what they say here!). It was so fun.

Then we walked on to the Viaduct Harbor, where we happened upon the Auckland Fish Market. One half is kind of like the Fresh Market, one half is like a HUGE fresh fish market. It was amazing. we chose some sushi for lunch, and the girls' favorite was the RAW SALMON - a beautiful art-looking piece with sticky rice tucked under it. There were these teeny little soy sauce containers that were shaped like little fish, the girls loved them.

We then walked and walked and walked. There are rugby stores everywhere. No football, Jacob misses watching football, but we have decided we could easily become rugby fans (Go Blues!). It is intense and all-contact, and fun! There is also TONS of Cricket on TV! Who knew?

We are *homesick* for home. (well let's get honest, the girls aren't... I'M homesick for my Mom!) But we are loving this beautiful, romantic country, with the seagulls in the city and the city sounds right outside of our window!

Exciting Adventure Awaits!

Leaving blogworld today with a recent favorite picture - this weekend of Bibi with her 4 grand-girls.

The Allbrittons are set to move to Auckland, New Zealand! Jacob's job is moving us there for about a year, and we couldn't be more thrilled! We are so ever-thankful for our families because of all of the recent help (as always!) with the girls, with packing, with support and encouragement! Stay tuned!

Christmas cards - w00t for Shutterfly

Time to think about Christmas cards!!! Every year around Thanksgiving, I start to think about a picture card for the girls. For a long time, I only had the girls on the card. Last year, after receiving so many neat Christmas cards of my friends and their families, I figured I’d try the 4 of us. It was *okay*.

My sweet sister in law, Rachel, has a sister who is a fab photographer. Catey Hall Photography – google her b/c she’s awesome! She followed around my girls at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and then captured a photo of all of us laughing while she said, “WAR EAGLE!” (she’s a huge Alabama fan).
Merry Christmas from the Allbrittons 2010


Next = where to order them.
On a budget.

A girlfriend of mine told me about an awesome Shutterfly promotion, where you can earn 50 free Christmas cards!
Sign me up-
Shutterfly has some incredible cards out there. Last year I got mine from a competitor, and the quality wasn't as "original" as some of these!

I have gotten so many baby announcements recently, too - the ones here are precious. And original.

Who wouldn't love to drink coffee out of this? I remember my brother gave my Dad a "photo mug", probably 20 years ago. It was basically a shell of a mug, and you could put the photo down into the mug. It may have been the first one of its kind invented. They have come a long way!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Head on over here to check out Shutterfly's incredible promotion and to win your code that you can use towards 50 free cards!

sweet Katelyn - catching a fish!

I love lake weekends, where the focus is relaxing and making sure that the coffee is within reach during the mornings. That's it. And reading, and playing and watching the occasional football game whenever. Relaxing. This particular trip was filled with excitement, as Katelyn caught a fish!

Christmas of long ago

Even though we are fast approaching Christmas 2010, I found this cute one of Christmas 2009 at the lake, and it reminded me of the mild day in late November last year when I took this picture. Sweet little bare feet and sisters - the girls were 2 and 4 in this picture. Still holding hands and loving each other tons... most of the time!

lil girls

3 1/2 and 5 1/2 Life.is.good.

first day of Kindergarten

Sweet little girl. Our baby started Kindergarten in August. Her uniform in the mornings makes outfit-picking extremely easy!

Our little girl is growing to be a compassionate and sweet young lady, always concerned about how others are feeling.

Mae's class pet

Sweet picture of Mae and Issa when Mae brought home her class pet. I can't recall the name of the stuffed animal. Apparently that's what happens when you don't blog for a year!

sweet changes!

Lots of sweet changes have happened in the Allbritton house - so much to update.

Issa started Kindergarten this year. She's going to IHM and loving learning about letters and reading and math. If you ask her, though, her favorite is "lunch, or maybe recess".

My second neice was born this past year, too. Baby Sarah is loved by all, but *especially* Mae. Mae loves "watching" her, and playing with her. Sarah is just as sweet and smiley as her big sister Katelyn was/is!

Grossly overdue...

My sweet Valentine girls- my Mom made their Christmas/Valentine rompers! They are exquisite.

We have had a busy past couple of months! My camera went haywire and after arguing with Kodak about it for 1 month, they sent me a "refurbished" one, but it is incredible. No blurry pictures anymore, even with digital stabilization and brush-ups on camera classes... :)

So I'm so happy to have a camera again-

I'm signed up for the ING Half Marathon at the end of March. I love the long distances! But not a full marathon - 26 miles?! Good grief. I'll stick to my 13.

Work is great still - love how I can balance mommy and work and still have our sweet Yanina, who is here with the girls on my days off. Issa still loves school three days a week. Last weekend she had a Princess Birthday Party to attend, which was full-out amazing. She had a blast.

What a fun holiday!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving this year, as always! It's always wonderful to spend time with the family that you are so thankful for, and remember all the incredible blessings in your life. With two small children, I am always reminded of our blessings - a strong marriage that we put ahead of our children, two girls that keep us laughing, parents who are so helpful and a joy to help raise our children, siblings that we love dearly and who love us just as much - our blessings are abundant, and we remember it every single day.

On Wednesday (I only had to work Tuesday last week, Jacob a 1/2 day), I enjoyed lunch with my 4 friends from UGA, and all of our children (11 altogether!). We had a great time catching up. Wednesday afternoon my brother, sister in law, and neice Katelyn got to town. We had a huge pasta dinner here at our house for dinner that night.
Thursday morning I ran my first half-marathon. Stephanie, a friend from high school, and I ran together. It was an incredible experience of setting a goal and achieving it. We ran a consistent 10 minute mile the entire way through the race, and at the end were Jacob, Issa, Mae, my parents, my brother, Rachel and Katelyn. It was exhilerating.
Then we headed home - we had a later Thanksgiving dinner, around 5 PM, so the kids could get in a good nap. Mom cooked an incredible turkey, with fresh herbs (dill, rosemary). It was incredible. The spread of food was more than the table could hold!
We enjoyed visiting together as a family, and then went to Stone Mountain to see the Christmas lights, although the lights were a bit more sparse than in years past.
Friday morning, Rachel, Mom and I headed out at 4:45 AM to go shopping! We got lots of presents for Christmas, and enjoyed the time together.
When we returned, Jacob and the girls and I packed up and headed to Birmingham, to spend time with his family for the holidays. We enjoyed our time with Nanny, Aunt Suney, Uncle Barney, Juju and Kyle, nana and big, Becky, Skeet/Nancy, the list goes on! The girls had a blast playing. We enjoyed keeping Katelyn on Saturday while my brother and Rachel went to the AU/AL game.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving - giving lots of thanks for all of our blessings in life.