Love

Happy Valentine's Day from Nora and her very first balloon, courtesy of her Daddy and 1st Valentine!

Christmas - with the Wells'

2nd Christmas - at Mom's house with Aunt Marge and Fred. Opening presents for the second time in one day was just as fun for Nora. I think it is pretty clear by the smile on her face that she enjoyed it all. She especially loved her new helicopter and spent a lot of time playing with it while the rest of us opened our gifts. 

 Like I have said already, we are so lucky to be able to get to New York to celebrate the holidays with our family. And Nora is so lucky to have so many people who want to be with her for these special events!

Nora with Gramma and Aunt Marge

Christmas - with the Bendons

Christmas! We love Christmas. Last year we stayed in Illinois because Nora was just a few months old. It was very cozy and relaxing and sweet. Since Nora is older and has flown a few times already, we decided we would spend the holiday in Upstate New York. 

On Christmas Eve we had dinner with my Dad, Aunt Mary Anne, Great Gam Gam, and Grandpa. Then we enjoyed our annual viewing of Christmas Vacation. It just isn't Christmas without watching Clark Griswold!

Christmas Morning
Waiting to open presents

Nora had fun opening up her gifts and playing with each one for a little bit before opening the next. Of course she loved the "dog dog" that Gam Gam and Grandpa gave her. She also got some Little People, Weeble Wobbles, and a fun "learn to dress" kitty.

Presents!

We are so lucky that we were able to travel for the holidays so Nora can build memories with our family. And so that our family can see how much Nora is growing and changing.

Merry Merry!

Fun with Gam Gam!

Visit with Grandma & Pop Pop

Grandma Linda & Pop Pop Saul came to visit for a couple of days before heading South for Christmas and the winter. There was a LOT of playing during the visit. Play, play, play was the theme! And it was a lot of fun for everyone. Nora even had her first trip to a local indoor playground. 

Since we were heading to Upstate NY to see my family for Christmas, we had our own celebration a little early in Illinois. This is the face that Linda and Saul got to see as Nora spied her gifts:

The bubble gum pink piano from Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Bill, Jake, and Mckenna was an immediate hit. Nora also enjoyed sitting in her very own chair playing with her Leap Frog Move and Groove toy. Another big hit of the day was the peanuts that were used to pack some of the gifts. :)

We can't wait to head to NY for the rest of our Christmas celebration!

Decorating the Tree

I'm not sure words can capture the joy of putting up our tree the way that this picture does:

Thanksgiving in Baltimore

For this year's Thanksgiving holiday we traveled out to Baltimore to visit Jeff's family. Nora spent time with so many people! The pictures we have don't even do it all justice.

My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is watching the Macy's Parade. Although Nora still likes playing with her toys more than the parade, she did enjoy the giant hot air balloons.

The Thanksgiving crowd at Linda and Saul's is usually a big one! And this year we had two babies in the bunch, Nora and Saul's great-granddaughter JuJu. Nora enjoyed olives and pickled tomatoes for the first time and had some play time with JuJu. She was also eager to give fist bumps to all of her cousins.

The Rubel-Dalnekoff Clan

We also had play-time with Grandma Linda, Pop-Pop Saul, Uncle Bill, Aunt Cheryl, and cousins Jake & Mckenna. Grandma Linda had a big box of building blocks that she's had since Jake & Mckenna were kids and they were still a hit after all these years.

With Grandma Linda

Playing with Mckenna and Uncle Bill

Hiding in the big box of blocks was a play necklace. Nora found it with an "Oooooo" and put it on immediately.

There are a lot of things we didn't capture on film...such as Nora's first potato latkes at Grandpa Sheldon's house, visiting with with Daddy's best friend Doug and his family, and hanging out with Mommy's BFF Hope and her family. What a fun trip!

The Swarm

The Swarm, The Hyman Hive, The Bees

Trick or treat from the Swarm! Our family of bees enjoyed going from door to door up and down our street saying "Trick or Treat." Nora was grinning from ear to ear the entire time  and we got lots of props for our costumes. Nora especially enjoyed putting her treats in her bucket.

Candy!!

The biggest hit of the night was the glow sticks that Daddy bought for us. Nora ended up with three and held on to them all night. In fact, it was a little traumatic when it was bed time and she couldn't take them with her into the crib. :(

Glow Sticks

It was a lot of fun having themed family costumes. I think we'll do that again next year...and until Nora won't tolerate it anymore.

Independence Day

Sweet Ride...

The 4th of July.

It. Was. Hot.

Too hot.

So hot that we spent most of our time indoors, away from the festivities. We did venture out a bit in our new wagon. Isn't is amazing?

It's so hot, I can't even smile.

Father's Day

Nora wanted to start Daddy's first Father Day with snuggles and by delivering all of the cards that were sent to him. Nora especially enjoyed chewing on the cards before giving them to him. Before we got  out of bed to start out day, Nora made sure to tell Daddy how much she loved him and how lucky she is to have him as her Pops.

Happy Father's Day to the #1 Daddy!

Sweet Family

Merry Merry!

I. Love. Christmas. I love the lights and the tree and the food and the time with family. And I am so excited to experience this, and all, holidays through Nora's eyes.

Although this and the next few Christmases will be ones that Nora won't remember, we wanted to start a family tradition of our own: Christmas Pajamas.

Our plan is that on Christmas eve we'll open our pjs and wear them that night and the next morning. This year's theme was Sock Monkeys. It was great cozy fun.

Nora has enjoyed looking at the lights and ornaments on the tree this season. She even has a few ornaments of her very own, including this one:

Thanks to all our friends and family who sent us warm wishes and thoughtful gifts for both Christmas and Hanukkah.

Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah

Nora was all smiles for her first Hanukkah. Here she is wearing a big grin and a bib from Grandma Linda. I think she's so happy because she knows that next year she gets to eat latkes and applesauce.

Linda and Saul paid a visit to spend some time with our little one. It was a day and a half of non-stop playing. Grandma brought Nora her very first Menorah and we lit it every night of Hanukkah. She loved looking at the flickering candles.

The First Thanksgiving

Yes, Thanksgiving was 2 weeks ago and I'm just now posting about it. What can I say; life is pretty busy with a baby.

We started the day with some Mommy/Daughter time watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I love the parade and hope Nora grows to love it, too. That way we can enjoy this tradition together every year.

Jeff's dad Sheldon came to visit for the weekend and got to meet his little granddaughter for the first time (look for a Grandparent's post for a picture). He and Jeff did some dude stuff like picking out a snowblower and cleaning up the garage so it would fit. He also took a family picture for us:

As Jeff prepared our delicious vegan Thanksgiving dinner, Nora and I played dress up and took some pictures in her turkey hat. Here is one of my favorites from the many (many!) pics we took:

Although we are thankful for our little tofurkey everyday, Thanksgiving is a good reminder of how lucky we are to have Nora!

Halloween was a Hoot!

Hoot Hoot! I'm an owl.

Boy, this trick-or-treating stuff is exhausting! Good thing my costume is a cozy sleep sack.

I must admit that dressing up one's baby is great fun. While I was pregnant Jeff bought this adorable little owl sleep sack and hat. When he showed it to me I knew we'd have to use it for Halloween. Nora got lots of "oos" and "aahs" and "look at those cheeks" from our friends and neighbors. This girl is magnetic, I tell you! :) Although no candy this year, it was fun to walk our street with some neighbor-friends and their kiddos. We saw a ton of super hero and dinosaur costumes this year. I can't wait until next year when I can realllllly get into the costumes with Nora. I'm pretty sure all three of us will be dressed up and coordinated. Mwahahahahaaaa!