New Years Eve Snowman

Today we headed outside again to enjoy the snow before it melts. The weekend will be warm for New England and I'm sure the snow will be gone by next week. No worries though, we are sure to get much more snow this winter.

As we played outside and I watched my husband and daughter my heart felt so full. This year has been a great one and spending our last day in 2010 as a family feels so right. We are definitely blessed and I couldn't be happier with my life right now. There is nothing I want more than the family I already have. I hope 2011 will be as good to us as this past year has been.

Dwight and Anya made their first snowman together!

New England Aquarium

Today Dwight and I brought Anya to the aquarium for the first time. She loved it! We had such a great time watching her see everything for the first time.

After we had seen every inch of the aquarium we walked to Fanueil Hall for lunch. Our server put balloons in her hair!

Herman loves green beans, salsa, and soup?

Share

Today Dwight and I were trying to give Anya lessons on sharing her toys with us. We must have used the word, share a lot. When Anya was brushing her teeth tonight, I went to help by taking control of the toothbrush. She looked me right in the eye and said, no... share, in a serious voice. I couldn't help but laugh. :)

First time sledding

We have been hit by a blizzard. Yesterday we spent the day playing inside with all of Anya's new toys, watching a movie, and relaxing. Today we ventured outside to let her experience walking in the snow and sledding for the first time. She was a bit unsure on it all but seemed to enjoy sledding.

Okay, all done!

Christmas Day

We had a nice time celebrating Christmas with my parents. We were bummed that my sister and Marty could not make it (my sister got the horrible bug). We will just have to celebrate with them next weekend!
Here are some photos from our day.. :)

Christmas Morning

It was surely a memorable Christmas morning. I woke up at 4am with excitement of the day ahead and could not fall back asleep. I eventually gave up on the idea of sleep and got the coffee pot running while I cooked up some breakfast for us. Anya woke up around 7am and I let her totter her way in to wake up her daddy. When we went downstairs and she noticed the gifts her first word was Elmo. She then named the other Sesame Street characters that she could find on the wrapping paper.

She did a wonderful job in opening the gifts. She really enjoyed pulling gifts out of her stocking. For the wrapped gifts she would open one, have us take it out of the package, and play with it for a minute or so. After she was done she would walk over to the tree and bring us another gift.

We had so much fun watching her open her gifts and get excited about each one. After the presents from Santa were opened we brought her downstairs for our special surprise. She loves her new play area with kitchen!

We are off to my parents house this afternoon for more celebrating :) Have a wonderful day! Take in the time with your family today. I feel very blessed. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Today we had family over for some Christmas celebrating. Anya woke from her nap to join the party and was unusually clingy to me. I am not used to this happening and wasn't sure what was going on with her. We put on a Rudolf movie and about ten minutes later she was off playing with Eddie. I guess she needed to warm up and/or wake up a bit.

She loves her uncle Eddie so much..We ended the night with church (Anya sang along to some of the songs, hehe, and did pretty well with sitting for being a mover) and playing with some new toys that she got today.

Santa has already arrived!...

Children's Museum

Today started Dwight's 5 day holiday weekend. :) We wanted to do something special with Anya. We headed to a children's museum and after had lunch at Wendys. She loves fries and chicken nuggets.

We had a great day!

Digging for dinosaur bones..

Cats!

Huge train table

The King

The Queen and Princess

When we got home we worked on the playroom. It is Anya's Christmas morning surprise. I can't wait to see her expression :) Here is a pic..

Gingerbread House

Today we made a gingerbread house together! I was a little nervous and wondering if I am crazy for trying it with a 19 month old. In the end there was a bunch of candy and frosting on the floor.. but who cares? It turned out great. I would put frosting down and tell Anya to place a piece of candy on. She was all smiles, which made every second worth it.

an ornament, toy train, and a stuffed bear

These three things all belong in the.... toilet?
According to Anya they do!

byebye bug

Over the weekend we had a horrible house guest arrive... a nasty bug!! It seems to be making it's way out, thank goodness. It started on Friday night when Anya woke up twice throwing up, crying, and scared. There is something about rubbing your little ones back, voicing soothing words, and cleaning up after they are sick, that makes you feel completely like a parent.
By Saturday night the bug wrapped it's way inside of me keeping me up sick throughout the night. It felt like hell. Sunday morning came and I was weak, achy, and ill. Dwight took care of his two girls all day. We watched Toy Story 3 and snuggled on the couch. If there is one good thing out of the nastiness it is that sickness = snuggles. Our girl is a mover so it is rare for her to curl up on my lap for over a half hour on the couch. I ate up every moment of that. By Sunday night the bug was trying to get Dwight. He fought back and only got half of it (fingers crossed). I woke up this morning feeling 100 percent. Anya woke and I felt her sheets.. dry. Her temp is still a bit raised so she is still fighting the last of it. It is almost gone from our household and we are all saying good riddance. I hope this winter brings no more stomach bugs to us. Santa is making an arrival this week. We want to be healthy for all of the fun to come. :)

Lunch at Aunt Betty's

Today we headed to my Aunt Betty's house for lunch. It was great to see family and Anya and I both had a wonderful time visiting.
After lunch Anya and Jessica watched some Caillou on tv...

Madelyn and Anya's play date

We had our friends, Madelyn and Janice, over for a play date today. We had a wonderful time. The girls really enjoyed playing together..
I love this next picture...

I'm so happy to have them as friends :)

Thanks for the pictures, Janice!

Friends

Here is another picture from yesterday. It is Anya and her buddy Kayla. Steph took this picture of our girls together. :)

Mrs. Clause

It's official, my camera is no longer with us. It's dead. I am officially getting a new one for Christmas. This means getting pictures in the next couple weeks will be difficult. My new camera is wrapped up and hiding until the 25th. Today Anya met Mrs. Clause at a mom group outing. She had the BEST time. It was an indoor play space. She is a fireball of energy and ran from one activity to the next. She had a cookie, tea (apple juice) and got a special bell ornament from Mrs. Clause. Our friend Kelly took a photo of us together today...