Melina and Elana's House

Alexandra and Isabel are seriously lacking in the girl cousin department. We finally added two baby girl cousins this year but due to the huge age difference, they don't exactly have much in common. So it really works out that I have two cousins, Melina and Elana who are almost exactly the same ages as A and I. We don't see them often enough, but the girls just have the best time when they are together. There is nothing that compares to pretty little ballerinas dancing around! We stayed with Melina and Elana where the girls dressed up, danced, dressed up and danced! My Aunt Christine, who is a professional photographer also managed to take pictures while we were there. Her business is based in MD so if you are ever around the area and would like to get some very nice photos.. let me know!

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more pictures from barefoot images..
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Grandmother Elizabeth's House

During my short break in between semesters I try to visit family whom we don't get to see very often. This past week, myself and the girls stayed the night over at my Grandma's house. As a little girl, I remember staying at my Grandma's house for days even full weeks at a time because we had so much fun being with her. So it's pretty neat to see my girls so excited to visit and doing many of the same things I used to do. Grandma always let us fix her hair and Alexandra and Isabel were totally up to that challenge. They put every clip they could possibly find in her hair. They also enjoyed watching movies.. The Wizard of Oz being one of their picks. And Grandma never ceases to amaze me that she has more energy than I do and does not sleep! She had the two days planned with activities. The first day, she took us to Chuck E Cheez where the girls received 100 tokens and all the pizza and salad they wanted. I even managed to get in a few games of b-ball. We stayed there for 3 hrs.. something I am not a custom to doing.. staying in one place for that long! The next day, Grandma took us to the best McDonalds around.. i've never seen a larger indoor play place! We ended up staying there for about 2 hrs which once again, i've never done before. The girls really really enjoyed being able to get all of their energy out w/out me rushing them out the door. When we were at her house, the girls stayed busy w/ the mini trampoline and the many many toys Grandma keeps for all the kiddos. Aunt Linda even stopped by w/ Angelica for a quick visit! What a great time!

Fun at the Farm Show

I think we've made it an annual event to visit the Pennsylvania Farm Show. The kids love it! We of course saw the usual, cows, horses, pigs, ducks, etc. The girls' favorite events were watching the tractor pull and of course watching the chicks hatch from their eggs. They also really enjoyed visiting the piglets after just seeing the movie Charlotte's Web. This year, they also provided a cow for the kids to milk (fake of course). Isabel was completely soaked by the time she was finished. Finally, we saw an amazing sculpture completely carved from 1000s of lbs. of butter.. pretty amazing!

Our Anniversary in NYC

(view from our hotel)

January 5th we celebrated our 6th year anniversary! And since we don't usually get a night w/out the girls, we decided to take a weekend trip to the BIG APPLE! Michael booked our stay right across the inlet from where the twin towers would've been, so actually in Jersey.













We've stayed in NYC many of times but the Hyatt across from NY gave you the whole view of the city, the waterfront, and little noise.. it was awesome! Saturday morning, we took the Path to NYC which went right through the twin towers construction. We then walked to Times Square, where we saw where the Macy's Parade is held, had to of course visit all of the tv stations for Michael's sake, and finally went up the Empire State Building which Michael had never done before. We luckily had 70 degree temperatures but it still made for a chilly and windy experience high up over top of the city!

(view from Empire State Building)

With not much shopping to do, we went to see the movie PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS which I have been dying to see! Great movie! It definately teaches you not to underestimate yourself. And after all was said and done, we went back to our hotel where we enjoyed a gourmet dinner at the Vu. We don't typically eat at fancy restaurants where we can't take kids, but I would compare our experience to the movie Last Holiday! We each received an appetizer and cheesecake compliments of the chef! We're talking, the water and lemon were better than normal.. don't ask me how that is. I ordered flounder and crabcake while Michael order sausage w/ pasta.. and it was delicious! Best of all, we had an extraordinary view of NYC!

New York City continued...

Sunday we checked out of our hotel and began our crazy drive through NYC to Broadway where we went to see the Lion King! No words can describe this show! It was amazing! With tickets priced very high, Michael and I still find it hard to believe that they are making money from this show because costumes are so elaborate and out of this world. If you get the chance, this is a must see! Tons of kids also went to see it and loved it. This was definately the highlight of our trip!

The New Years Kiss..

Did you get your tradional New Years kiss this year? Alexandra anxiously awaited her kiss as Noah made his rounds!













We had a blast spending New Years with the "G" Family along w/ Michael's family. Alexandra and Isabel helped prepare for the festivities by stirring and tasting all the sides.

We had quite the variety of food and spent the night playing Rook, ping-pong, and Anya's charades game. I must add that the girls, of course, took home the win in our very competitive game of Rook!! And when the morning drew near, we lit sparklers and grabbed our pots and pans, and awaited our kisses to help bring in the New Year! We were definately the loudest on our block! Then boy did we have one massive sleep over.. Happy New Years!