Bundled up

We finally got our first snowfall of the season last week. That Halloween blizzard technically doesn't count, because that definitely didn't happen during wintertime!

Henry and I couldn't wait to get outside and play in the snow, so we got all bundled up.



Henry was only outside for a few minutes before he decided he was ready to go back inside. I, on the other hand, was thrilled to stay outside as long as I could. Look at my snow angel!



The next day, Dad and I went sledding over at the big hill around the corner, and I went down all by myself! Twice! Dad still can't believe I did it, but it was so much fun.

All the snow has melted now, but I hope we get more soon!

Christmas with the cousins

Right after Christmas, Henry, Mom, Babcia and I headed up to Connecticut to visit our cousins (from left) Sophia, Abby, Sarah and Ava. It was great seeing everyone. Here are a few cute photos of all of us together.

Family circus

Last month, Mom and Dad took Julia and I into New York City to see our very first circus, the Big Apple Circus. It's held in an enormous tent that's set up in Lincoln Center. On our way in, we saw a scary yeti!


Oh wait, that was just Julia. Then we got seated and waited for the show to begin.



The popcorn was great, but the show was even better. Horses and acrobats and cars...oh my! I got antsy a couple times and needed to take a break outside, but thankfully I was back in time for the big trapeze finale. I loved watching everyone fly through the air, and especially when they fell down into the net below. That was the best part. Julia was stunned when the little girl they pulled out of the audience early in the show ended up swinging on the trapeze (she was part of the act).

After the show ended, we were in for more treats. First off, Mom and Julia posed in front the Lincoln Center fountain.



Then we went over to Rockefeller Center and checked out the humongous Christmas tree.


And finally, we popped into the New York Fire Department Store, where they have a real fire truck that I was able to "drive."


What a spectacular day!

Christmas goes out with a bang

As much as Henry and I enjoyed the Christmas season, it unfortunately is time to pack everything up until next year. And while it usually takes hours and hours for Mom and Dad to put everything away, I figured out a way to get the job done in mere seconds!



Didn't expect that, did you? Of course the tree didn't really blow up, Dad was using a new iPhone app called Action Movie FX. Henry and I got such a kick out the results that we kept coming up with new scenarios under which we could dodge missles and falling cars. Here are some of the highlights:



Maybe Henry and I will be stuntmen when we grow up!

A Christmas story

On Christmas morning, Julia and I woke up and discovered that yes indeed, Santa came!




First we opened up our stockings. I got a whole bunch of Thomas trains, and Julia got some fun stuff too. Then it was on to the main event: the gifts under the tree. And we got some great ones! Julia got the Playmobil Grand Mansion she had been asking for...


And I got the car transporter I had also wanted for months. Even better, it was Mack from Cars!


Santa also left me a Cars pullout sofa, just like the princess one Julia had. I immediately starting "napping"!


Julia was also thrilled to get the big gift she had wanted all year: the Barbie Dream Townhouse.


She and Aunt Jess played with it a lot that day!


Meanwhile, I was playing with the Cars Shake n' Go racetrack that Santa got me. Uncle Ryan helped me out with that.


Later in the day, we opened our non-Santa gifts, and Julia got an American Girl doll she'd had her eye on, named Julie.


One thing I had problems grasping: I thought if a gift had Cars or Thomas wrapping paper, that meant that something to do with Cars or Thomas was inside. So I was disappointed a lot...but not every time!


Then we tested out one of Julia's stocking gifts: Disney Sing It, a version of Rock Band where you sing tons of songs from Disney movies. We both enjoyed singing our favorite songs from movies like Cars, Toy Story and Princess and the Frog.



And because we forgot to add this to our Christmas Eve post, here's a picture of Julia, Uncle Ryan and Adrienne from the day before.


We split our Christmas day video into two parts. Here's the first one, showing Julia and I going downstairs and starting to open our gifts.



And here's another one from a bit later in the day:



All in all, it was a very, very Merry Christmas. Julia and I loved our gifts and played with all of them, all day long (and more than a week later, we still love them all). Thanks Santa, and thanks to all our family and friends who made it such a great day!

Happy 2012!

Henry and I will get back to recapping Christmas soon, but we wanted to wish you all a happy new year! We had such a fun New Years, spending it with our friends Lucy and Olivia (and yes, their parents, along with some other friends of Mom and Dad's). Lucy and her mom and dad were nice enough to get us all matching pajamas, which we couldn't want to all put on to celebrate the new year.


I couldn't get enough of Lucy. I love that adorable baby, in part because she kind of looks like I did at that age!


In addition to the pajamas, we got some other Christmas gifts from Lucy too. Henry got bristle blocks like Dad had when he was a kid...


While I got what looked like enormous pipe cleaners that you can twist into all sorts of shapes to make super-fancy accessories.


Mom brought party favors and noisemakers for everyone so we were all decked out for the new year.



And finally, it was time for the big countdown:



Happy new year! (Okay, we technically celebrated around 8 instead of midnight, but it was midnight somewhere, right?)