Winter Fun

Alex is having a blast with the snow this year. We got a nice big snow this past weekend-about 12 inches. She is loving it! She's been out several times to play in it both at home with us and at Jammy's house with her little friend Brayden. I've always really liked the snow but I now love it even more because I see how much fun she has and how excited she gets over it.

This past Saturday Alex and I made the trip, along with Rob and Susan and my mom, to New York City. We've never been and always thought it would be neat to see the city decorated for Christmas. I have a cousin who lives in Hobokon, NJ so we drove to their house early in the morning and then my cousin Cameron and my Aunt Red took us into New York for the day. We visited Times Square, Grand Central Station, Broadway, and Rockefeller Center. We also went to see a few of the big stores decorated for the Christmas season. Macy's was really cool-they do some really neat animated decorations in their store front. My brother got to visit the Apple Store which made him happy. While he was in there, we took Alex to the biggest toy store she has ever been to in her life-FAO Schwartz. The best part for Alex, I think, was the Christmas tree. Although she was very concerned that it only had lights and no decorations. That's all she's been telling people since we got home. It was a long and tiring since we were up so early and did so much walking but we had a great time. Alex did a great job and didn't sleep all day until she zonked out on the subway ride back to NJ. We also got to visit some with my aunt and uncle and my cousin, her husband, and their little girl. Their daughter, Sydney, is 10 months old and we had never met her so it was really good to see her finally. Alex had a great time playing with "baby Syd". After a nice dinner, we finally got back on the road around 7:15 and Alex was out cold by 8:00. She was so tired from her busy day she slept the whole way home, went right to bed, and didn't get up until 10:15 the next morning. So glad we were able to do it-it was a very nice day (we just wish daddy could have been there, but it's the Christmas season in retail). Susan, Alex, and Sydney

Enjoying a nice bus ride

Waiting for the bus

On Cameron and Jeremy's rooftop deck

Birthdays

A few weeks ago we went out to dinner with our good friends to celebrate Justin, Lucky, and Drue's birthdays. All of their birthdays are in November so we did one big birthday celebration. We had dinner at Montezumas and it was a great time. Jen made sure to tell our waiter that we had 3 birthday boys-needless to say they weren't too thrilled about this. They got to wear the sombreros while being sung Happy Birthday. Of course we couldn't pass up this great photo op-had to share it with everyone!

First Snowfall of the Year

The first snow this year didn't amount to much but it didn't matter to Alex. She was so excited to go out and play in it. We had to go out while it was still snowing and the ground was not completely covered yet. There wasn't enough to really roll around in or build a snowman with, but she had so much just running around the yard and letting the snow hit her face! She is going to be so much fun this winter! Here's hoping we get enough snow for her to enjoy!

Decorating for Christmas

Christmas is going to be so much fun this year-Alex is really getting into it! She loves all the decorations and the lights and is always talking about how pretty everything is. This past weekend we put up our tree and let her help decorate-what a blast! She could not have been more excited or more helpful! She was so excited to be decorating the tree that she could hardly contain herself. She got the ornaments out of the box one at a time and brought them over for us to help her put them on. She jumped up and down with such excitement and shouting "We're decorating the Christmas tree and it's gonna be Christmas!!". I think this was the most fun I've ever had decorating the tree. We're so glad she is enjoying all the decorations-can't wait to see what she does on Christmas.

Halloween

It's a little late, but thought I should get some pictures up of Alex in her Halloween costume. She went as a mouse this year-she was too cute! She had a great time trick or treating in our neighborhood and then over to see her Uncle Bob and Aunt Sue. She loved their costumes! Mattson stopped by too so we were able to get some pictures taken with him as well.

Newest Addition

Well, we just found out Alex is going to have a little sister!!! Baby Hoke is due to arrive March 16th. Here she is!!

Pumpkin Carving

Our annual Halloween tradition-carving pumpkins with my family. Alex had a lot of fun this year. She was even more into it than last year. She liked sticking her hand down into the pumpkin and pulling out the seeds. She tried to use the knife to carve but needed a little help. She kept saying "This is too hard". We let her choose how she wanted to make the face. She very quickly decided she wanted circle eyes, a diamond nose, and a mouth with 2 teeth. It ended up looking kind of like a bunny but without the ears till we were done. It turned out very cute!