Happy New Year!

OK, I'm a little late. But I guess now is as good a time as any to say that and to get some pictures posted from our past month or so. We were able to spend Christmas in Utah with our families, so we kept busy and had a lot of fun.

We celebrated 4 birthdays while we were there, spent time with great-grandparents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and old friends.

And Nicole? Poor girl. We found out that she had an ear infection and pneumonia while we were there. But she handled it all really well, and did great on both flights. We were lucky enough to have an open seat for her on both flights (I don't know what we would have done otherwise!).

We had tons of fun and are so glad that Nicole got to see all of her family. She learned so many new words while we were there, and there was never a dull moment (except for the time when she fell asleep on Alex's lap while he was playing the xbox - she must have been really sick because she NEVER does that)!

Christmas (a little early)

We are going to be in Utah for Christmas, so we decided to have our own Christmas morning a little early. Saturday morning we woke up to find all sorts of presents under the tree. Nicole had so much fun opening her presents and playing with them. I'm so glad we did this, because for me, Christmas is all about waking up early, going down in your pjs, opening presents, and then having a big breakfast. We made Mickey Mouse waffles and sausage, and then spent the rest of the day playing with our new things.



After Nicole's nap, we went into Center City and saw the Wanamaker lights at Macy's, and headed over to the Comcast Center for their Christmas Spectacular 3D light show. We had dinner in the city, and then headed home. It was about the most perfect Christmas day you could ever have.

Photo Shoot

I took Alex and Nicole out this morning to get a picture for our Christmas card. The rain held for us and we were able to get a few shots.



If anyone wants me to take some pictures for them, I'm more than happy to. I'm still learning, and having subjects to shoot helps!

18 Months!

27 lbs 13.9 oz

32.75"

Favorite things:

Baby Doll

Balloons

Trains

Balls

Handy Manny

Martha, again!

A couple of weeks ago, I went with a big group of friends to New York, and we saw Martha, again! They invited us to come back out, and it was a blast. We got tons of giveaways, and all of us were on camera multiple times. The episode aired on Black Friday, which is why we got so many awesome giveaways. We got a J.Crew gift card, a Greek cookbook (it is the biggest cookbook I have ever seen), a Demy digital recipe reader, an eye-fi card (for wireless transfer of photo from camera to computer), and a wire-free charging station for electronic devices. We also went up to Times Square, the Rockefeller Center, and Chinatown.

The ferry ride

This is the waiting room before you go out on the set

We got front row seats, which is why we were on camera so much. They chose our group specifically for these seats. It was awesome!

Times Square

The past month

I am absolutely loving this stage of Nicole. She has grown up so much and amazes me every day. I don't think I could have asked for a happier, more fun-loving little girl. Here are some random photos from the past month or so of Nicole enjoying life.

Nicole supporting her Phillies during the World Series!

OK, she may not look like she's having fun right here (she started crying when I told her that drawing on the wall is a bad thing), but I know she had fun while she was doing it!

Running around in the backyard.

Who knows?

Dancing with her daddy. Look at that belly!

Playing the guitar with daddy.

Captain Vegetable and Strawberry Shortcake

Do you know who Captain Vegetable is? If not, here's a video.

Alex's lifelong dream was to dress up as Captain Vegetable on Halloween. And I helped him fulfill that dream. I feel pretty special.


We went to our ward's trunk-or-treat (this was my first one ever - how have I never been to one of these before?) and Nicole loved it. She went bobbing for apples and ate a donut off a string. OK, she really just reached into the bucket of water with her hand and she pulled the donut off the string and then wanted to put it back on. But she practically did the games right.



She just plopped down in the middle of the floor after it was over so she could enjoy her dum dum. Smart girl.


And here she is her first time trick-or-treating. She caught on really well and didn't want to let that bucket of candy out of her sight.