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.