Christmas pictures

This was the closest we got to "family" pictures for Christmas. Joel was drowning in his outfit, but I think he looks pretty handsome. Nicole was in love with her dress and cried for a good half hour when we made her take it off. Poor girl.

Merry Christmas!

We had such a great time celebrating the holiday in our own home this year. We were able to start some family traditions, and it was such a relaxing holiday. Nicole was so excited for Santa to come and I think she thought Christmas day was just about the most perfect day ever. And to top it off we had a sweet baby boy here with us.

Christmas Eve. We built a fire, drank hot cocoa, read 'The Night Before Christmas,' and the story of Jesus' birth, sang some Christmas songs, and opened pjs.

Christmas morning.

Nicole played with her new toys all morning long.

Holiday Visitors

My mom, sister and brother-in-law came out to visit around Joel's due date. My mom stayed for a week and a half, and Megan and Andrew did a long layover on their way from Ireland to Utah. Nicole loved having so many people around to play with! Here are a few pictures from their time here.



Megan and Andrew were scheduled to fly out the day Joel was born, and weren't going to get to see him. Conveniently the flight was full and they couldn't fly out until the next morning so they got to come back and visit us in the hospital.

Baby Joel

He's here! After sitting around waiting for this little guy to come, he decided to make his entrance 4 days after his due date. He gave us a little bit of a scare when he was born, and we are so blessed that he is here with us. He's absolutely adorable and we're all in love with him!

Joel Ando Robertson
December 15, 2010 at 2:37 pm
8 lbs 6 oz
21 inches long

Pumpkin carving

We spent halloween night carving pumpkins, eating spooky dessert, and handing out candy. Nicole loved running to the door whenever we had trick-or-treaters. I think we got a total of 12 kids - the most we've ever had. We were pretty excited!

Happy Halloween!

From our cheesy Japanese Princess

The ward trunk-or-treat

Ride 'em cowgirl!

Success!

Pumpkin Festival

We decided to go to a pumpkin festival on a beautiful Saturday morning. The weather was perfect and Nicole loved combing through the patch looking for pumpkins.


She got to ride the tot train ride, and was a bit terrified at first. But she got over it.

She also got to go into the petting zoo, and petted some pretty sad looking animals. She loved it.

Boston

I was getting that travel itch again, so I convinced Alex to go to Boston with me over Labor Day weekend. Neither of us had ever been to the Northeast, so we were pretty excited. We picked Beth up in New York, and made our way up the coast driving through a total of 6 states in 6 hours. Awesome. You can only do that here.

We happened to be arriving in Boston around the time that Hurricane Earl was supposed to hit, so we spent our first night indoors. This worked out fine because there was a swimming pool in the hotel and Nicole LOVES swimming. And she loves her "Bethy."


The next day we did the city and made our way along the Freedom Trail. This has to be the coolest idea ever. They have a red line going through the city that you follow to see all of the historical and must-see sites. When you actually visit the sites, it makes history become so much more real. Now I know where the famous "one if by land, two if by sea" lights were hung, and I have seen the path that Paul Revere rode to thwart the attack by the Brits. Boston was absolutely beautiful.

Walking through one of the many burial grounds

Paul Revere with the Old North Church behind him

We found this little park with some water fountains and let Nicole run around for a little bit. She was soaking wet by the time we left!

In case you can't tell, Nicole was in love with this little duck, from the "Make Way for Ducklings" statues in the Public Garden. We also took a ride on the swan boats for the fun of it.

On Sunday we drove out to Lexington and Concord and toured through those areas. We picnicked on the Battle Green in Lexington, and ended on a high note at the North Bridge, site of “the shot heard ‘round the world'.”

Beth and Nicole having fun on the Battle Green

Cheers! Enjoying "tea" at the Hartwell Tavern

The North Bridge

Our view of the Concord River from the bridge

We made the trek home on Monday, but not without swimming one last time, and stopping at an orchard on the way home to grab some apple cider and cider donuts. Yum!

Our Last Hurrah at the Please Touch (Me) Museum

Our membership to the children's museum was running out at the end of August, so Nicole and I made one last trip out to have some fun. It's really tempting to get another pass, but I might hold off until after the new baby and he is a little older.

Philadelphia Zoo

Alex's work paid for us to go to the zoo yesterday, and we had a blast! It was our first time there, and we were a bit spoiled - they fed us lunch, paid for us to ride a hot air balloon, gave us free amusement rides, and Nicole got to have her face painted and ride a pony! It was great weather, and Nicole loved seeing the animals that we always talk about, especially the giraffes.

Nicole loved this goat. It was the first one she petted, and then other goats would come along and she'd look at them for a little bit and then run after this one. She followed it around for a good 5 minutes.

She wasn't quite sure what to think of the face painting. She really wanted to do it, but when the guy started painting, she didn't like it. I think it just felt a little too weird for her. It looked pretty cute, though!

We were all pretty excited about the hot air balloon ride. Alex and I have never been on one, so we got to enjoy something new.

Nicole's first pony ride. She was scared to get on, but once she did she loved it!

Nicole

Here are just a few random pics from the past couple of weeks I wanted to get up here.

Splashing in the rain puddles!

She's gonna be a soccer player!

Big girl bed that she absolutely loves!

4th of July

What better way to spend the 4th of July weekend, than picking blueberries at a pick-your-own farm in NJ?! Beth was going to come down from New York for the weekend so we drove out to Princeton to pick her up, and on the way we stopped at a blueberry farm. Nicole had a blast picking berries, and we found a few "presents" in our pockets later that day. She thought it was so funny to pick the not so ripe green berries and put them in our pockets.


Nicole loved playing with her "Bethy."

We hit the Glenside parade and Nicole still talks about it every time we drive through Easton Rd. We decided to let her stay up for the fireworks that go off behind our house. She was pretty excited, but I think the fireworks scared her a bit. She just cuddled up with her daddy, and she wanted to go back in before they were over.

We're gonna have a baby!

We found out yesterday that we're going to have a baby boy, and we couldn't be happier! I'm due December 11, so it should make the holidays pretty exciting!