December Festivities

I am going to post some cute pictures from some the fun we've had in the last 2 weeks or so! The wintery looking pictures were taken last Sunday, the 16th when we weren't having our holiday open house due to the weather! Yesterday you wouldn't have even known that we'd had that much snow because it rained all day and you could see the grass and the leaves we didn't rake! Now this morning, the lake effect snow kicked in and it looks like we'll have a white Christmas after all! it's never a dull moment in WNY!

We went back to dance class on Saturday for a Christmas party. The kids got to wear their Christmas dresses rather than dance wear and each group did a little number. (I'll try to upload the video!) Then we sang carols and saw Santa. (Sof didn't talk to the man or even really look at him, but I think he knows what she wants this year!) Later that day we went to a party at our friends in Webster. It was fabulous, babies, kids, people everywhere eating and being merry! The PJ picture is from that party. Sof and I stayed late and jammied up before getting the car as did our buddy Elise-y-lou and Kaitlin, our hostess! Fun fun!

I had to throw in one more picture of Sof in another Xmas outfit because she was shaking her head to make her jingle bell barrettes jingle, too cute. She wore that one to her sitter's for the last day before break.

We are biding our time while German plows, then we're going to get dressed up for dinner at Gramma's and church and back to our house to sleep and wait for Santa! I wish you all a festive, blessed and safe holiday! I'll be back soon with more Christmas fun.

Dance class video

Proud mommy blog

Well, Saturady was not only my birthday, but it was a special day because I got to watch Sofia's dance lesson! I loved it! It was so exicting to look forward to and to talk to her about. She was excited that I was there and that Daddy and Grandma joined us. We don't get to stay and watch each time like some schools, and it was easy to see why. Sof was very preoccupied with either waving at us or watching herself in the mirror! She was the biggest talker in the class and was probably the most distracted! (Real typical for a teacher's kid!) I thought every move she made was adorable and hearing her little voice float up to us from the gym floor was a hoot! They tap dance to the song 'Lollipop' and of course when the "sweeter than apple pie" line came up she went into a long drawn out story about how Gramma makes apple pie for Thanksgiving and she loves it! I took some video and lots of pictures! I'll attempt to upload the shortest video-- I couldn't get it to work last time around!

Reverse Blog

Ok, some of you haven't seen Sof in her Halloween costume and even though it is not the season, I thought I'd post a couple of pictures for you. On the Sunday before Halloween we went to the zoo and trick-ot-treated there with Grandpa. The weather was beautiful and we saw lots of animals, the rhino was out, the tiger was perched on a big stump supervising the action, and the polar bear joked around gnawing on a pumpkin. It was a great day. I was happy with Sof's Dora coastume, she actually left the wig on for awhile and enjoyed trick-or-treating on the actual day! She spent most of September and all of October anticpating the big day. "Is today Halloween, mommy?" Now that Thanksgiving is past, her new question is the obvious, "Is today Christmas, mommy?" "no?--but it is snowing!" We got a nice dustin two nights ago and when she woke up to about 4 inches today, she was sure that this was it! Especially when Daddy began plowing the driveway. We are going to Christmas on the Canal this afternoon, as long as the freezing rain doesn't stop us. So hopefully I'll have some more timely pictures to post soon!

Christmas tree-as per request

Here is our tree this year. We changed it up since last year, in the living room rather than the family room (since it has furniture this year!). We had a lot less drama so far when it comes to the tree. Last year we bought a real tree which tipped over as I was finishing the decorating and broke several ornaments, which made me cry. Then, we got it to stay put and the sucker dried out like you wouldn't believe, can you say fire trap? So German brought home a fake tree that I hated and vetoed immediately. Luckily it went back to the store easily. We went out and bought a tree at Target and were happy with it. This year it seemed much easier. Dad and G. put it up-did you know that the branches are color-coded to help you put it together? Who knew?! I decorated it (with some help from Sof) and we were basically done! The lights were a bit of a trauma, German had to mess with them a bit three nights after I thought we were done! Keep your fingers crossed for us that nothing crazy happens this year! The lights outside the house are a story for another time!

Fall walk in the woods

Ok- I have torn myself away from the finale of Dancing with the Stars to enter this blog. On the day after Thanksgiving, my dad suggested we take a hike in the park near my house that we cross country skiied in last winter. Rather than brave the crowds at the malls, I thought it would be great! We bundled up and hit the nature trail. Here are some shots from that day. It was snowy but sunny and SUPER cold. There isn't anything I'd rather do on a day off than spend it with such nice scompanions!

Testing with a picture!

AS you can see I am being cautious about how easy this is to do. I am going to add a cute photo of Sof and later I'll upload some more recent pictures from our camera. Sof's shirt says Born to Read (for those of you that need translation). She is a hoot and having fun learning her letters and sounds and insists on being read to every night, even if she is practically asleep already! Right now she is "helping" me with Christmas decorations by wrapping herself up in bead garland! More to come! Thanks for your patience!

First new blog

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I am again attempting to find a way to blog about my life to share with people far away (Andy, Novaks) and those I don't see enough who are close. So here's another try!

After our leftover dinner, I'll try to add some lovely pictures of a walk we took in the woods today!