Christmas in Buffalo! Big POST!!!

We took a road trip in our new minivan to Buffalo for Christmas this year! Yes, I said minivan. I so didn't want it prior to the purchase, but the fact is... it's pretty frickin' great to have right now. It has all these fun "extras" that made our road trip quite bearable. In addition, Nora truly seems to enjoy it. She says "van" often, and likes to make the doors open. So, we started off for our trip early Wed. morning with a bunch of fun activities in stow.
Despite the many fun toys I packed, 7 hours in called for 30 min. of an Elmo dvd. I thought she would fall asleep-but no. Nora took 1 nap (1 hr) in our 9 hour car ride. The nice thing however, she was in a great mood the whole time. We FINALLY arrived in Buffalo!
Nora absolutely loved spending time with her Aunt Tara- "ra ra", and Uncle Steve, a.k.a-"steeee". They came in from D.C. and Nora kindly woke them up on Thursday morning!
We were also able to visit Nora's great grandma Edna. Nora was a huge hit at the nursing home. Grandma couldn't get enough of her. She even took Nora for a little ride on her lap in her wheelchair.
The whole gang out to dinner! This restaurant was a VERY small, delicious Italian place. So, by the time we left, I think Nora made friends with every one seated in the place. I'm not kidding.
Yum! A face only a mama could love. :) She loves her pasta! Typically, she is quite a neat eater, it's just that darn sauce gets EVERYWHERE!Nora LOVED Grace. The poor cat tried to stay clear of Nora. But, every morning, Nora knew exactly where to look for her and if she wasn't there, Nora would shout..."meow, whe a ooo" (where are you). She just loved her! Aunt Tara and Aunt Lesli even showed Nora where to find the cat and how to get to her....UNDER GRANDMA'S BED!!!!! That was a fun discovery.

We took Nora sledding too. The plan was to take her skiing. TJ REALLY wanted to. But, it just didn't work out and what else do you do in a place that tops the chart for snow? She enjoyed this as well. Future dare devil I think.
All dressed up for our Christmas Eve party. Nora loves her Aunt Lesli. And, she says her name pretty well. We had a great Christmas Eve. Went to church and then a fun party that went way past Nora's bedtime. We had a great time visiting with friends we haven't seen in a long time.I had to post this picture because it pretty much resembles what Nora's life is like right now. Everyone gives her a TON of attention...all eyes on her, pretty much all the time. She is one lucky, blessed, and very loved child. Perhaps this is just what happens when you are the first grandchild/niece in the family. This was taken Christmas morning. We figured she should eat first since we had to tackle MANY MANY presents that Santa was so kind to leave for her all the way in Buffalo!
And the pure excitement of Christmas morning! To be honest, I'm not so sure if she was excited about all the beautifully wrapped presents, or the cat seated on the couch.
Santa left Nora a very special gift-Bitty Baby. I'm not sure how her Grandma and Grandpa new, but they bought her a beautiful carriage for her baby. She loves pushing her baby around and putting it to bed in the carriage.

Another "had to" picture. Have I mentioned that Nora LOVES dance parties, and singing. This picture shows one of MANY dance parties we had over the week. If the music was on, she would grab "steee" (steve), who I think, became one of Nora's very favorite people. I think we all got a bit tired of hearing her say "steeee" countless times throughout the day. But, she doesn't like to dance with just one person, she thinks everyone has to dance with her. If Steve comes, so does Tara (Nora thinks they go together, which they do) and Lesli would have to come, and anyone else that was in eye shot. We would typically have to distract her with something else for the dance party to end.

Grandma, who she started to call "nana" on the trip all on her own, couldn't let her go.
We had such a wonderful Christmas and are so blessed by all the love and a happy and healthy little girl.

Sorry for the long post, but it was a busy week.
Nora got a tea set too and loves to have tea parties while I'm trying to cook. The real water required a tablecloth...didn't help much though.

A visit with Santa and Friends.

"Ho Ho Ho" as Nora says when we mention Santa. But, try to get this little girl on the Ol' man's lap and whisper her Christmas wishes, NOT A CHANCE!!!!!!


But, after visiting Santa, we had a lunch with Nana and Papa and she got some little Kittens from Nana for our manger. Yeah, our manger has kittens. We had a fun surprise on our outing too. We were in the car driving home and I saw this beautiful carriage and the Charles Dicken's characters along side the train tracks. I made T.J. pull over so we could visit them. Nora enjoyed this and especially the HUGE horses much more than Santa.
She sat on that Carriage so nicely in her pretty little outfit.
I feel like she should be in the Anne of Green Gables story with this photo (loved that movie when I was little)
"So, where are we off to Sir.?"
She helped me bake cookies today. We are laying low on the cookies this year. Only 2 different kinds. I think that will do just fine. Some for daddy and some to share with friends-just fine.
We went to an annual Christmas party today. Nora had so much fun. This party is with some of my friends from work. We all had babies the same year. One wasn't here because she had her 2nd baby just weeks ago. Nora had a great time playing in the bumbo chair. It's so funny what she remembers. She never even sat in her bumbo much when she was younger, but loved it today.
OOH, grab bag with friends. Nora received a fun tea party set.
The babies growing up.
Last year's party. What a difference a year makes.
A tea party with a friend. So much better then the kind we always have which includes mommy, Nora, and a few stuffed animals. "sugar please".

December fun!

I haven't updated in a while-sorry. I'll fill you in on what's been going on...
Nora's latest interest is FORTS. She LOVES making forts. We have all sorts of versions, some much more complicated then others, however they typically all get the same reaction of giggling and endless excited by Nora. The most simple fort is when we are in bed and we pull a blanket over her-yes everyone, to a 19 month old this is a ghastly good time. I became more inventive and recalled some childhood forts of my own the other day, and we made one killer fort with a big blanket over the couch and chairs-she really enjoyed that one!
Nora also loves, and plays "nigh, nigh" (night night) countless times a day. The game is quite simple if you are wondering... get a pillow, a blanket and even a stuffed animal, put your head down and say "nigh, nigh" then lift your head up...WOW! this excitement can last up to a half an hour believe it or not!
We had our first snow last weekend. Nora was quite amazed and all day said "no, no"~ for snow. We bundled her up and brought her outside. She didn't really know what to do, she just stood. Then, she helped daddy shovel.
She really enjoyed it. I suppose I have to pretend to enjoy it too.
Every year Santa and Mrs. Claus come through our neighborhood in this retro fire truck. Nora thought it was fun. When we say Santa she says..."ho ho ho"
"Head, shoulders, knees, and toes- and belly"
ah. Another hoot of a good time....Nora in her crib with lots of her animals and a blanket...30-40 min. of fun!
She was such a wonderful help decorating our tree. I love when the strand of beads are all bunched together in one area. :)

She's ready to hit the slopes...oh wait, we don't really have slopes in Chicago.
Piggy tale girl. Halloween shirt during Christmas-awesome.
Now when we take our the camera, Nora automatically says "cheese" and squints her eyes while smiling really big, for 3 secs. then turns away. Very difficult these days to get a good shot.

We had a special delivery. :)
Actually, I found Nora like this after turning away from her for 2 min. while I was cooking dinner. She loves boxes!

Nora's first dance

Nora and daddy had their first real dance.
She loves dancing with us. Typically, we all have to hold hands and we just go around in a circle.
But, yesterday morning, TJ was able to get her up on his feet and she danced with him. So sweet. I think it will make an appearance at her wedding one day. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope all our family and friends had a wonderful and happy thanksgiving. We have many blessings in our life and we are very thankful.
We spent this Thanksgiving in Chicago and had a really nice day. WAY TOO much food, but is was so, so good. Plenty of leftovers including the homemade ravioli! YUM! Nora was a champ. With only 1 little nap today, she made it till 7:30 as happy as can be.
A picture with some of her little cousins that celebrated the day with us.
Nora and auntie "Mel Mel".
God, she is getting so old right before our eyes. She is saying 3 to 4 word sentences now. CRAZY.
They are not perfect, obviously. But, we certainly know what she is saying. Most common...
"oh thay it is" (oh there it is) And, "whe ar ew", (where are you). She seems to have a Brooklyn accent.
This morning, she took the box of garbage bags out of the cabinet and had herself a little fun!

growing up.

Nora is in a new stage in which she thoroughly enjoys feeding herself (which she is quite good at) and always wanting BIG pieces of whatever it is we are giving her. An example of this would be the entire banana or cereal bar as opposed to the sections she would get in the past. I remember this from the past when I would babysit kids and they would get so upset if they only received small parts of a whole. I didn't understand then, nor do I now, how children develop that idea of wanting 'more' at such a young age. See people-it starts before you are 2, the American dream of always wanting MORE. ugh.
She went to this play area during the week with her aunt Mel. There were a bunch of crooked houses and activities for the kiddos to do. She loved it I guess and was particularly interested in the register.
Feeding herself again. Daddy made her breakfast like the big kids eat...over easy eggs, toast, and melon. SHE LOVED it! I especially like the jelly all over her face. :)
UH OH!!!!!!!!!!!! CAUGHT IN THE ACT!!!!!!!!!!!! I swear, I left her for 1 MIN. 1 MIN! She got a highlighter off of TJ's desk, took the lid off, and drew on the couch. OOPS! Damage was already done, so I had to grab the camera-wouldn't you?
Not really sure if my "Nora NO NO, we draw on paper not the couch" speech worked very well, but when she saw me cleaning it off-she wanted in on that action too and helped. hmmm. It came out, for the most part.
While the highlighter episode took place, TJ was racking leaves which Nora wanted to join in on after we cleaned the couch together. She wants to do whatever we are doing. This was at 8:00 in the morning. So, I put her boots and coat on over her P.J.'s and she helped daddy rake and throw leaves yesterday.
All bundled and looking cozy. So very innocent right?

Busted again! She took the graham crackers from the cabinet! So very proud of herself.

Today was ravioli making day. We do this every year for Thanksgiving. This is the crew minus my brother-who was taking one of his many breaks. Although, I can't talk, I showed up 4 hours late. Nora didn't join in the action this year but she was there walking in and out of the hectic kitchen. 4 bottles of wine and 450 raviolis later-we are ready for the 1st course of the Thanksgiving meal for the big "get together".