Merry Christmas part 4 and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nora is really enjoying her new piano. She just bangs and bangs on it when it is near by. It is so funny. She looks like she is really concentrating on the keys in this photo so I had to post it. Yesterday, she even played chop sticks by herself! Okay, maybe she didn't, but it was still music to my ears. :)
Grandma and Grandpa LaDuca came to Chicago to celebrate Christmas this past week. They were so excited to see Nora. Here we are beginning to celebrate Christmas part 4 with Nora. It feels like the holiday that never ends. We are truly blessed with a healthy baby girl that everyone just loves to pieces. Our family has been so very generous to her and us.
Some new duds for our little girl. No worries- I will be sporting some very pink bows in her hair when she wears this. Of course, her daddy just LOVEs the outfit. (I must say, it is pretty cute)
WE took a trip downtown Chicago for the day to eat under the tree at Macy's with my mom and dad and TJ's mom and dad, Nora (of course), and my cutie patutie cousin, Maggie. This picture is representing a few people's first El ride into the city!
Here we all are(except Maggie) in front of the gorgeous tree. Unfortunately, the wait was 3 hours, so we ended up going to a nearby restaraunt for lunch. We had a lot of fun!
Little Maggie-doodle is such a cutie. She is actually a Sophomore in high school and not so little anymore, but to me she will always be my little Maggie-doodle.
Okay, so I decided to glue an ornament together that broke-big mistake! This is a ski totally super glued to my middle finger. I am not very crafty. I can't believe I actually super glued my finger to the ski. Gorilla glue is really good stuff.
Happy New Years! Wow! What a wild and crazy time we had. My parents and sister came over for dinner. We had a lovely dinner, chatted, and then some individuals fell asleep prior to the ball dropping....

Wow! Aunt Melissa is a party animal!
Yup, the grandpa's are really crazy too.
Oh well, our life has changed a lot, but I would have it no other way. Have a wonderful New Years everyone! I have 2 minutes to the New year and must give my hubby a kiss. Cheers!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Merry Christmas! I must say this is by far the most exciting Christmas for TJ and I. Experiencing the joy of Christmas with our daughter has opened our eyes to a whole new spirit of Christmas. While we were sad we couldn't be with some of our family and friends from Buffalo at the same time we were with those in Chicago, we still loved sharing this day with Nora. The excitement was similar to what we felt as children. Although, Nora had no idea what was going on, it brought back many childhood memories for us and we loved showering our baby girl with gifts, love, and attention. In fact, Nora was quite spoiled by every family member.
We started our Christmas celebrations last weekend with Tara and Steve.
Christmas Eve was spent at my aunts house with most of my relatives. Santa even came to visit! This is one of those family traditions that has stayed around since before I was born. It got a little weird during the few years there weren't many kids, but now there are plenty of kids and they really enjoyed Santa.

This is Christmas Eve at The Smith's House
Daddy and Nora pre-party


Nora visiting with Santa. She received a ton of presents which was so generous of everyone. She missed quite a bit of it though because she fell asleep. But Santa came really late-10:00 is way past this little one's bedtime.


This is Christmas morning at our house. Nora of course woke up before 7:00 despite the lack of sleep we all had. It's as though she new it was Christmas. I think she enjoyed the wrapping paper more then the actual presents. After we opened gifts and ate breakfast, we headed to my parents house.
Nora is hanging out with Uncle Charlie in this photo and quite excited about this little ball she got from my mom and dad.Here Nora is playing the piano at my aunts house. Apparently she does this often when my aunt watches her. My mom thinks this is so cute that she bought her........

Her FIRST piano! She actually LOVES it. It is hysterical to watch her bang on the keys.
Our little Motzart!
I have absolutely no musical talent- AT ALL. However, my mom is quite talented with music. I hope Nora gets some of her abilities in that department, TJ can carry a tune too. We shall see if this little piano is a prelude to a musical child!

One other great part to this Christmas...it's not over yet! Nora's Grandma and Grandpa are coming in from Buffalo tomorrow!!! We can't wait to see them.
Merry Christmas to everyone!

Thanks Aunt Tara and Uncle Steve for coming to visit

We had such a great time this past weekend with TJ's sister Tara and her husband Steve. Nora received some very cute gifts from them- including distressed jeans...so cute!
Aunt Tara and Nora all dolled up!
Uncle Steve and Nora just relaxing. Nora was definitely putting on the charm for her Uncle Steve.
Nora is chewing on one her finger puppets that Auntie Tara gave her, I think she likes them!

Merry Christmas take 1

Nora's NEW TUTU!!!!!! This is the adorable tutu Nora received from her Secret Santa. We dressed her up while her Auntie Tara and Uncle Steve were hanging out with us today.
She wasn't all that thrilled with the tutu photo shoot.
Auntie Tara bought her some cute little bummy covers. They are SO Auntie Tara. We think these are quite snazzy.
She was very tired because she did not take many naps today. Aunt Tara was able to rock her to sleep.
We are having a few Christmas events this year. One with Aunt Tara and Uncle Steve who came in from D.C.; one with the Bosko side of the family (Katie's side), and then T.J's parents come in after Christmas for yet another Christmas celebration.

The first Christmas party

Nora loves to eat all sorts of yummy foods. This pic. was taken before Nora's first Christmas party
These are not in the correct order and I don't have time to switch them. But, this is actually the gift Nora received from her baby gift exchange- it's a tutu my friend Jessica made. IT IS AWESOME. Just wait for the pictures from that photo shoot!
The dad's and the babies
The mom's and the babies. They are all getting so big. Nora is the youngest of the group.
I think they had a blast at their Secret Santa party. More fun to come for this little one, her aunt Tara and uncle Steve come in this Friday...Yeah!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

We are starting to get ready for Christmas around here. TJ and I set up the Christmas Tree while Nora watched intently.


I thought this picture was too cute to not post.Look at that little belly on her.

Okay, so this isn't a Christmas shot. But come on that hat is hysterical. I think she even thinks it's funny. You think she is going to be mad at us one day for posting this?
She loves the beads on the tree.
Oh Nora, just wait to see all your presents sweet pea. I have almost all our shopping finished but only just started wrapping gifts. She thought this gold paper was pretty neat.
Nora are you excited???
She loves her shoes~ eating her shoes that is.
She helped mommy decorate the tree.
She loves all the lights on the tree. Our tree looks so small and skinny in this picture. We aren't the best at taking pictures I suppose. But, they do capture what is going on.
Merry Christmas everyone. Hope everyone enjoys the holiday season! We'll post more later.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving weekend was full of adventures for our little family! We took a long car trip to BUFFALO to see Nora's Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Lesli. I was really nervous about the long car ride because Nora is not a huge fan of being in her carseat. While I will say packing up for a trip and driving a long distance with a 6 month old is not the most enjoyable thing to do, Nora did GREAT and we have had a Wonderful time.
We had to break up our trip for Nora. In the past we would have drove 9 hours straight, but we stopped every 2.5 hours. We stopped at Notre Dame for Lunch.
We then drove to Toledo and stayed the night. Nora was able to take a dip in the pool. She didn't seem incredibly excited, but she didn't cry either. Mommy was a wimp and didn't go in all the way, but TJ did.
She slept in a VERY big bed. I joined her later in the night for fear she would really roll.
The next morning we drove to Cleveland and were able to go to Gabe's parents' house for lunch. They were so kind to have a wonderful lunch waiting for us. I love you all Stocum family. It was so great to see all of the. I haven't seen Gabe's family since college. Gabe and Rich now live in Pittsburgh and shared WONDERFUL news with us! COnGratUlaTiONs to the parents-to-be! They are due in Late May and we couldn't be more happy for them. You are going to be such amazing parents. God Bless you both and enjoy the pregnancy!
We got to Buffalo on Wednesday night. Nora was tired but not too tired to play with Grandma who was VERY excited to see her.
I think this is my very favorite picture of Nora. I swear she is the happiest baby ever! She doesn't take naps real well lately but you wouldn't really know it because she talks all the time and smiles CONSTANTLY!
She had fun playing with Auntie Lesli on Thanksgiving Day.
She partied so hard,she just couldn't stay awake a moment longer.
I actually never thought I would see Nora fall asleep anywhere other than in our arms, her carseat, or her crib. But alas, she was really tired today and actually fell asleep sitting up in Lesli's arms. Way TOO funny! She was actually doing the head bob. I totally did the head bob all through college during boring discussions. Nora takes after her mommy in some ways already. :)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are so very thankful for the friends and family we have in our life. We are very blessed.

What's cookin'?

Happy Ravioli Day!
Every year my family makes homemade ravioli for Thanksgiving. The following people are always present...My mom, sister, and brother Tony. My aunt Vera and her daughter- Erin. This year...Nora joined in. She had so much to contribute!
The process takes a very long time. This year everyone but us started at 11:00 and we went till 6:30. I think we made over 400 ravioli....YUM!
I thought this was funny that my sister and I have the same open mouth expression.
Go Go Nora!
They are too cute. The loves of my life!