Like many people, January is my least favorite time of the year. All the excitement and build up of the holidays is officially over and I have to do my least favorite chore- taking down Christmas decorations. So, in an effort to avoid that task, I'm blogging!
December was full of lots of trips, parties, family and the longest, worst head cold I've ever had. All in all, it was a fun month (aside from my ear infection that turned into a ruptured ear drum!) We started the month with a trip to NYC. Despite the super cold weather and huge crowds, it was a fun adventure- we even took the train into the city. It takes about 2 1/2 hours from Lancaster and is so much easier than driving!
We also got to see one of my besties Lindsay (got to have girl time with her at an afternoon tea and meet the Duchess of York!!) and get our Christmas pictures done in Central Park.
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| FAO Schwartz, Big piano. A must see! |
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| Rockefeller Christmas tree... Very pretty, very crowded, very tired Brady. |
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| Freezing cold carriage ride. Brady does not look amused here, although he did get a kick out of our horse. |
One thing we knew we wanted to do this year was cut down our own Christmas tree. It's not something you can really do in Florida, so even though it's a little pricier (you pay for the experience!) we had to do it at least once. We did it at a place called Elizabeth Farms and you take a ride on a horse drawn carriage out to the trees. They provide the saws and then bundle up the tree for you after. They had hot chocolate, a petting zoo and Santa! Such a cute place!
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| Brady reeeeally wanted to help daddy with that saw. |
One of my favorite things about December is how cozy and warm our house feels. I realized that I haven't taken any pictures of the inside of our house so I figured I would post some with our decorations up. It's still a work in progress and even more packed with toys since Christmas, but it's getting there.
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| Our living room...not to be confused with an HGTV ad. |
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| Our dining room. It's in between the living room and kitchen and I'm happy to report that we actually eat dinner at the table every night (We used to eat in the living room) and love that it's the table my grandparents used to have in their house. Still trying to decide what to do with the awful light- refurbish it somehow or just replace it? |
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| Gator corner in the dining room. Notice all the ornaments start 2 feet up...ahem, Brady. |
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| Brady's playroom. Still in need of window treatments and new paint on the toy shelf. |
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| Another view of the playroom. |
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| The kitchen. Love that I had a window to put my very Floridian pink feather wreath on. Love that my hubby actually lets me hang that thing each year. |
Our Christmas and New Years week was filled with visits from my dad and step mom and then my mom. It was so great to finally have our first visitors in Pennsylvania! Brady had so much fun playing with all his grandparents. We also got to enjoy a white Christmas. We did some sight-seeing, lots of eating and of course opening and playing with Brady's new toys.
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| Chris doing his obligatory snow angel. |
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| Christmas Eve snow. |
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| First thing Christmas morning...Brady's big gift. So BIG! |
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| Opening his stocking-super excited about the Nutter Butter cookies. |
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Bubbles! Or as Brady calls them, BUB!
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| Brady sharing his toys with daddy. |
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| Grandma got him an inflatable duck! |
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| Brady and Grandma. |
I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday with their family. Our new year's goals are to get a little more organized and work on our littlest man's nursery. Now that we are all healthy and Christmas decorations are on their way out, I have lots of house projects in mind to get done before baby boy #2 arrives in less than 3 months! Happy 2013 everybody!
