Merry Christmas!!!

We had a great Christmas!!!  We made our way up to Buffalo Friday afternoon.  Jim did very well on our 9-hour drive home.  Christmas Eve / Saturday we fun!  We pretty much just hung out, enjoying each other's company until it was time to get ready to head to Church.  Jim did help us make our gingerbread house this year!!!  Chris came over for a bit, and he exchanged gifts with his person since he supposedly was going to be with his family for Christmas Eve...Jim finally decided to nap on our way to Church, and slept through the first part of it!  And then he was very well behaved once he woke up!  We got home, and Chris had candles and rose petals all set-up on the back deck and he proposed to Allison!!!!!!!!  She of course said yes!!!  Christmas Eve dinner followed, which as usual was very yummy!  The aunts/uncles got Jim a train table - I am very excited to put that together for him!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun!  Jim had a good time opening up presents, and helping everyone open theirs!  Christmas breakfast was very yummy, as usual!  And before you knew it, it was time to pack up the car and head up to Albany.  We made it up there in 4 hours - and again Jim was very well behaved!  He's such a good traveler :)  We exchanged gifts with everyone there - and then the rest of the Sector's came over for Christmas dinner. 

Monday we hung out during the day!  Jim was busy playing with all his new toys.  And then in the afternoon we made our way to the VZ's for our final Christmas celebration.  Jim spent the first part of the time there running in big circles through the kitchen, hallway, and living room.  He was a big fan of their dog too! 

Tuesday was our drive home.  Again, Jim was very good in the car, considering we were there for 8 hours!

All in all we had a great Christmas!!!!!! And with that, I'll leave you with some pictures!  It's hard just to choose a couple to post - we have a ton!!!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Apparently this is what happens when you fall asleep on the couch...and Mark is busy watching the Syracuse basketball game.  Jim did bring that gold star over to me, and I just figured he took that one ornament off the tree.  But when we were getting ready to go upstairs, I had to laugh at the pile of ornaments that were laying on the floor.  He must have been having a good old time...And being very quiet about it.

This is the bare bottom of the tree that's missing all of the ornaments...

Now, that's much better after I put them all back on.

What a little stinker he is!!!!

Our weekend in review...

Here are some pictures of our weekend...We are getting ready and excited for Christmas!!!!!

 Jim enjoyed a couple bites of pizelles - guess he did get some of my Italian genes!!!

 Jim started to get his bags packed to head up to NY for Christmas!!!!

 Helping daddy outside with the yard work.  (I took this picture from inside - that's why it's a little blurry.)  It's only like 40 outside, and he's still out there having a ball!!!

 Self portrait time.  (Ignore my hair...)

 Jim found one of the Christmas presents I wrapped and started opening it.  He's a little too early though!!!

 Then he decided he wanted to get into his jumperoo - he was having a grand old time!!!

And he was wore his hair (or as he was calling it - his hat).

Baking

Jim helped Nicole & I bake some Christmas cookies on Saturday!!! He was a big helper :)

He woke up Saturday morning with some lovely bed head hair!  It is getting longer!!!

Here he is helping to roll out some dough for our reindeer cookies...

 No Mommy, I didn't try any of Rudolph's red noses!!!

 Helping Nicole smash/roll oreos for our oreo truffle cookies...

 After awhile Jim got tired of being inside, and needed some time outside -

 He was Daddy's big helper!!  Helping him rake up the leaves.

 And here's our final spread of cookies...7 hours, 6 different cookies (gingerbread, chocolate crackle, reindeer cookies, candycane cookies, pizelles, and oreo truffles...mmm!!!  I love the holidays!!!!!!

Our evening in pictures...

First Jim did a little bit of reading.  Note all the pillows stacked up behind him.  

 Then he played with his firetruck...

 Then he was looking through his tunnel that Mark built for him, waiting for his train to come through.  (I love that smile!!!!

 Then he was Mr. Train operator!!!

 Oh no, his train broke - he had to do some fixing!!!

 And the night ended up with some cheese for the camera!!!  I hold up the camera and tell him to say cheese - and this is the face I get!!!

It was a great evening!!!!  (Mark had a dinner he had to go to for work, hence it being an evening of just Jim & I...)

'Tis the Season

This weekend we decorated our house for Christmas!!  It's definitely a fun time of year - especially now that Jim understands a lot more and is into it more.  On Saturday I was going through all my decorations while Jim and Mark were downstairs working on Mark's train table.  I had a huge pile sitting in the family room, and Jim came upstairs and goes - "whoah!  cool!"  He was impressed by everything!

He really didn't want to hang any ornaments on the tree - but when I broke out my box of plastic candy canes, he was all over that!  Here's a picture of him hanging those up!  

I was hoping to put a train under the tree - but the way we have the tree set-up and the size of the track, it didn't work out.  So instead we put it up in his playroom - and he loves that thing!!!

 He was so cute on Sunday checking out all the lights and ornaments on the tree.  It's very hard to get him to sit still in front of the tree while looking at me so I could take a picture - so here's one of him in action!

I also bought him An Elf on the Shelf.  I think he's still a little too young to understand the concept all the way - but every time I ask him where his elf is he gets all excited and points to it, or goes over and looks at it.  Hopefully it'll be a big hit in years to come!!!

Thanksgiving Pictures

I didn't upload any pictures in my last post - so I figured I would do it here.  As you can tell we did have a great time up in NY!!!!  And it's very hard to pick just a couple of pictures to upload!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break!!!!  Mark & I worked a 1/2 day on Wednesday and made our drive up to Mark's parents.  The drive wasn't all that bad at all.  I was prepared for a lot of traffic since they say that it's one of the worst days to travel, but we really didn't hit all that much.

Enjoyed our time up at Mark's parents.  We went over to the Kushner's for Thanksgiving dinner, which was very yummy!!!  Jim enjoyed the applesauce the best, wasn't a big fan of the turkey at all.  I think he took a bite of it and spit it right back out.  Friday we helped them cut down a Christmas tree.  Jim wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first, but than had a great time running around.

We made our way up to Buffalo Friday night after the Syracuse basketball game.  We tried to take Jim to see Santa, but he wanted nothing to do with him.  There were no tears, but as he got closer he kept shaking his head no.  Maybe next year.  Enjoyed each others company on Saturday.  Rob & Dad smoked a brisket for dinner which turned out very yummy!!!

We decided to take Monday off of work, so we got to spend the day Sunday hanging out.  We really didn't do a whole lot.  It was fun watching Jim have a good time with his aunts/uncle/grandparents!  I think he had a lot of fun playing with them as well.

Our drive home Monday wasn't all that bad.  We turned around Jim's carseat, so he got to enjoy a new view!  He did pretty good in the car considering he was stuck in his seat for 8 hours!  It was gorgeous when we got home, so Jim helped Mark with raking the leaves and cleaning up the yard.  He must have enjoyed being able to run around outside after be trapped in the car!

Go Syracuse!!!

These pictures are from when we went up to Syracuse in September...A little behind, but they were too cute not to share.  It's a good thing Jim is happy to be there - because there will be many more trips up there in his future!  Go Syracuse!!!

19 Months...

Just a random list of what Jim is up to at 19 months...

- Still has 12 teeth.  Hasn't had any new ones come in in quite some time.  Am starting to wonder if his eye teeth are going to start coming in soon.

-  As you can tell by the picture above, he absolutely loves being outside!  I think I have said this many times before, but it's wonderful!

-  Another love of his is trucks.  He loves this truck video we found on you tube, and every time he sees us on the computer he asks for trucks...And he loves playing with all the trucks he has!

-  Still is a big fan of reading!  Think his favorite books at the moment are anything that has to do with trucks.  (See, he loves his trucks!!!)

-  Some of his new words as of late - stroller, steam roller, bulldozer, excavator (are you noticing a theme here?!), yellow...just to name a few...

-  He is very good at saying please when he wants something.  (Or if he forgets, we remind him and he says it!)

-  Loves to eat pretty much everything!  And loves drinking his milk!

I know I can go on and on...but we'll leave it at this for now...Looking forward to seeing what the next month brings us!!!!

Marathon Weekend

Last weekend the family came into town to cheer on Ashley & Allison running the Marine Corps Marathon.

They flew in Thursday evening, and got to spend Friday hanging out with Jim. He was a huge fan of the new trucks that he got!!!!

I left work early, and we stopped to get a pumpkin for Jim, and then made our way into D.C. so the girls could pick up their race packets. We grilled turkey burgers for dinner. Our house is great now that we have all the extra room! We had 10 people over and we didn't feel like we were on top of each other.

Saturday was more hanging out...A trip into Old Town to do some shopping at the Gap...We attempted to carve a pumpkin, which Jim didn't want anything to do with so we let him color it instead...Enjoyed some pizza for dinner...And just enjoyed hanging out with one another.

Sunday was the marathon. I dropped the girls off at 6AM, and then we made our way into the city at 9:00 to find a spot to watch them. We saw them at miles 18 & 19, both on the mall, both running together, and then again at mile 26. It was pretty crazy at the finish - but we found them, and made it home around 4:00. Enough time for them to shower, and then head to Southside for dinner. (It seems like we always end up there when they come to visit...)

We are so proud of the two of them for finishing the race!!!! Maybe I can convince them to do another one, and the three of us can run together :)

(It was really cold first thing in the AM, so we had Jim all bundled up...I had to take this picture of him in front to the Washington Monument. (Or the big stick as Ashley would say...))